The Most Advanced Wearable Fitness Device Is Finally Here – Futurism

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Futurism only supports companies that we like and trust. Biostrapis one of those companies. We may collect a share of the sales from the items featured on this page.Learn about Biostraphere, and use code FUTURISM for free shipping. A New Kind of Tracking

We have reached the point where fitness tracking is ubiquitous in our society. For a relatively low price, its easy to find a wearable device that does basic tracking of how many steps you take, what your heart rate is, what your sleep patterns are, and so on. Such technology has become baseline in wearables. And if youre just looking for help counting your steps, or some inspiration to put more effort into getting a goodnights sleep, the products on the market are just fine they do the trick.

But with only one piece of equipment used to gather data, youre not getting a full picture or really advanced reading of your bodys movements and metrics. To this end, unfortunately, wearing a popular fitness tracker is nothing like going to the doctor and getting a checkup.

Most trackers fall short for this reason: While the consumer industry leaders like Fitbit, Nike Fuel Band, and Misfit have enough technology to document steps and pulses, they dont have the ability to put together the bigger picture of their users health. Essentially, theyre not dynamic enough to be clinical-quality. And when youre looking to track your vitals, why settle for anything short of what a doctor might use?

Thats where Biostrap comes in. They assert that their aim is to change the industry standard, and to this end, they have created a device with biometrics so advanced that physicians actually use the same tech to monitor their patients physical health. So you can count on an accurate and dependable recording, and wearing a Biostrapfeels like youre going to the doctor.

Investing in a Biostrap is taking a fast-track road to getting into shape. While its a bit more expensive than the other trackers on the market, priced at $249, its a serious device thats perfect for people who want to get (or already are) serious about their health.

The Biostrap is a platform of two different devices that work in tandem to capture all of your bodys efforts. Together, the wristband and shoe clip create a precise picture of your every move. To break down the specifics, the Biostrap extracts more than 29 parameters to offer reliable accounts of users Heart Rate Variability, Oxygen Saturation, Respiratory Rate, and more. And because exercise is more than just steps taken in a day its programmed to recognize over 20 different kinds of physical activities. From squats, to strides on the elliptical, to butterfly strokes in the poolthe Biostrap is counting every physical activity its users engage in.

And if it doesnt recognize what theyre doing, they can teach it to. After recording a few reps of the movement, the Biostrap will remember it for the future. Youll never again have to wonder: if you work out and no one else is at the gym, have you even worked out at all? If youre wearing a Biostrap, its always watching. Want one? Use code FUTURISM for free shipping here.

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The Most Advanced Wearable Fitness Device Is Finally Here - Futurism

Facebook Just Filed a Patent for a Modular Consumer Device – Futurism

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In Brief Facebook has filed a patent application for a modular consumer electronic device that could function as a smartphone, GPS, microphone, speaker, and touch display. This device will be similar to the failed Google Project ARA device if it succeeds. Plug-and-Play Smartphones

On Thursday July 20, Facebook published its patent application for a modular electromechanical device that includes a phone, GPS, microphone, speaker, and touch display. This kind of modular consumer hardware would allow users to combine several differentcomponents together on a single device a kind of plug-and-play smartphone.

This sort of modular design is also of interest to Google, who has already made one unsuccessful attemptto bring its Project Ara smartphone to market. Some members of the Project Ara team are now at Facebooks Building 8 including Regina Dugan, the leader of the research lab.Building 8 is Facebookslab for consumer technologies and the epicenter of its futuristic projects.

Several Building 8 employees were named on the patent application. Thefour employees had previously worked for Nascent Objects, a startup that prototyped modular gadgets using 3D printing. Facebook acquired Nascent Objects last year, and a spokesperson confirmed to Tech Insider that the technologies in the patent application were part of that acquisition.

According to the patent application, the device could work as a phone, or it could work more like Amazons Alexa doesin terms of its music speaker function. The application also notes that the components of millions of connected devices could be loaded with various kinds of software as pieces are swapped out.

The modular system also appears to be a move towards more efficient and long-term use of consumer electronics. The application reads, Typically, the hardware components included in the consumer electronics that are considered outdated are still useable. However, the hardware components can no longer be re-used since consumer electronics are designed as closed systems. From a consumer prospective, the life cycle of conventional consumer electronics is expensive and wasteful.

It remains to be seen whether Facebook will succeed where Google failed; just because a patient application is filed, theres no guarantee that a device willactually get made.

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Facebook Just Filed a Patent for a Modular Consumer Device - Futurism

Source of Weird! Signal From Nearby Star Finally Confirmed – Futurism

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In BriefAfter generating a lot of hype over the past weeks, the sourceof the mysterious signal from Ross 128 has finally been confirmed.A second observation concluded that the signal isn't some form ofalien communication, but instead satellite transmissions. Surprise, Surprise!

The detection ofpeculiar radio signalsfrom a dim star roughly 11 light-years away from Earth had the public speculating wildly last week about the possibility that wed finally detected an alien communication.

After looking further into the signals with a little help from theSearch for ExtraTerrestrial Life (SETI) Institute, astronomers at thePlanetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo are ready to confirm the source of the signals from Ross 128, and its not ET.

We are now confident about the source of the Weird! Signal, Abel Mendez, director of the PHL, wrote in a blog post on Friday. The best explanation is that the signals are transmissions from one or more geostationary satellites.

The signal officially named the Weird! Signal was only spotted near Ross 128, one of several red dwarf stars Mendez and his team have been studying, because Ross 128 is close to the celestial equator where many geostationary satellites are placed, Mendez explained.

The PHL also conductedan informal survey of almost 800 participants, including more than 60 astronomers, to find out what people thought was causing the Weird! Signal. Most said it was likely astronomical in nature. This is interesting since in the absence of solid information about the signal, most astronomers would think that [radio interference or instrumental failures] would probably be the most likely explanation, Mendez noted.

Unexplained signals, like the more popular and recently resolved Wow! signal, draw significant attention because many people are hopeful that well find some trace of alien life. Indeed, the unofficial public survey showed that roughly 200 of the 800 participants believed the Weird! Signal was communication from intelligent alien life.

However, as Mendez explained, Unexplained here does not mean inexplicable; it just means we are not able to tell which is the precise source from many possibilities.

Just like the Wow! Signal, the Weird! Signal from Ross 128 demonstrates that theres likely to be some non-alienanswer to many of the mysteries we uncover from the universe.

Of course, this doesnt mean that the search for alien life isnt worth it. Before we can consider any such explanation, however, we need to explore all stellar and astronomical possibilities. Sometimes, these possibilities may take 40 years to be completely explored, as was the case with the Wow! Signal, but such is the nature of scientific inquiry.

This was a great experience of open science, Mendez wrote. Sometimes projects, observational campaigns, or missions do not necessarily reach their objectives. The lesson here is that we all need to continue exploring and sharing results openly. Some people prefer to only learn about the successes, but others prefer science in real-time, no matter the end result.

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Researchers Have Discovered a New Possible Cause of Schizophrenia – Futurism

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In Brief Researchers have found a possible cause of schizophrenia, a mental illness believed to affect 21 million people worldwide. This discovery could have a major impact on future treatments for the condition. Understanding Schizophrenia

While often misrepresented in the media, schizophrenia is a disease that can have a major impact on the lives of those living with it. Around the world, 21 million people are currently living with the mental illness,thesymptomsof which can include paranoia, auditory and visual hallucinations. These symptoms can be severe and debilitating, and can impact every aspect of a persons life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), schizophrenia is defined by profound disruptions in thinking, affecting language, perception, and the sense of self.

An international team of researchers has found that these life-altering symptoms could be caused by defects in glial cells, the cells that support and insulate nerve cells. By using mice with brains colonized by human-donated glial cells, the teams discoverycould greatly impact the future diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia.

Lead researcher Steve Goldman, from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Rochester, stated that It was through studies of mice with human glial cells that we succeeded in testing how dysfunctional glial cells may cause abnormalities in the formation of the brains neural networks, which may in turn cause severe anxiety, anti-social behaviour and severe sleep problems.

Living with schizophrenia can present many challenges for patients, and to further complicate matters, the antipsychotic medications used to treat the mental illness often leadhost of side effects themselves: ranging from severe restlessness to the onset of Parkinsons disease.

The side effects of many conventional, readily available treatments are so severe that patients sometimes discontinue or avoid treatment altogether. As is the case withmost neurological diseases, there isnt likely to beone single cause for the disease nor a single cure-all. But this discovery marks hopeful progress towards better treatment.

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Researchers Have Discovered a New Possible Cause of Schizophrenia - Futurism

The Guardian view on Turkish press freedom: standing up for democracy – The Guardian

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Demonstrators outside Istanbuls courthouse, where 17 journalists are on trial. Cumhuriyet is a symbol of fearless journalism and its staff should be honoured, not treated as criminals. Photograph: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

Putting journalists on trial for doing their job, for informing the public or conveying opinion, is never acceptable. Like the canary in the mine, journalists can serve as an early alert to the erosion of the rights of every citizen. Where media freedom is curtailed other freedoms invariably follow. This may be stating the obvious, especially to those of us who enjoy the liberty and protection of democracy. But it is not an uncontested truth.

Freedom of the press is restricted wherever governments claim its exercise might run counter to political imperatives or what they define as national security. Itis a freedom enshrined in UN texts, but it is far from universally recognised as a basic right. It might be tolerated, but only within boundaries subject to whim, in jeopardy whenever those in power feel their interests might be threatened.

Totalitarian regimes (think North Korea) make no claim to upholding media freedom they dont even bother. But semi-dictatorships do pay lip service, at least formally. Regimes that claim to be democracies, and hold elections, often also work methodically to undermine the fundamental tenets of government by the people and for the people; essential pillars, like freedom of information, are gradually dismantled. Turkey today provides a strong example of just this pattern of behaviour.

On Monday, 17 journalists and executives of the independent newspaper Cumhuriyet were put on trial in Istanbul for no other reason than having done their jobs: for writing articles, publishing pictures, using social media, or even just making phone calls. Cumhuriyet is a flagship media organisation, Turkeys oldest daily, founded in 1924 shortly after Ataturk took power. It is the same age as the Republic and it is deeply committed to its founding promise of pluralism, minority rights, peace with the Kurds and investigating corruption; and it has been a harsh critic of Turkeys slide to autocracy in recent years.

It includes some of the best known and respected names in Turkish media, such as the columnist Kadri Gursel, the editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, the cartoonist Musa Kart and the investigative reporter Ahmet Sik. On Monday they were all in court, charged with having links to various terrorist groups. They face prison sentences of up to 43 years. Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, wants to crush this newspaper, just as he is ruthlessly stamping out dissent everywhere that he suspects it exists. Since last years failed coup attempt, 160 journalists have been detained across Turkey, and more than 150 media outlets shut down. At the Hamburg G20 earlier this month, Mr Erdoan warned that journalists also committed crimes and needed to be punished. No evidence has been produced against these journalists to suggest terrorist connections. Cumhuriyet is a symbol of fearless journalism and its staff should be honoured, not treated as criminals.

Mr Erdoan may seem impervious to external pressure, but Europe could shout louder. As one of the defendants, Kadri Gursel, told the court on Monday: I am not here because I knowingly and willingly helped a terrorist organisation, but because Iam an independent, questioning and critical journalist. Its not too late for retreat, even as the country lurches ever more towards dictatorship: the journalists must be set free. The Guardian stands in solidarity withCumhuriyet.

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The Guardian view on Turkish press freedom: standing up for democracy - The Guardian

Democrats should embrace the freedom to not choose – The Week Magazine

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Democrats came out Monday with their agenda for the 2018 election, and to everyone's surprise, it's not terrible. In fact, it's sorta half-decent!

The slogan is "A Better Deal," and the agenda includes anti-trust reforms, cheaper prescription drugs, and a plan to create 10 million jobs with infrastructure spending and tax credits. There's a lot to like here, particularly in the clever and true way Democrats cast anti-trust reforms as a way to increase Americans' freedom. But Democrats are also missing the chance to sell universal social programs this way. These programs also increase freedom the freedom to not have to choose.

Republicans (and a significant fraction of neoliberal Democrats) often fetishize choice. They use blatantly circular reasoning to present any free-market system as evidence of free choices being freely made. But this is nonsense. Market concentration often reduces freedom.

A deep market with lots of independent sellers is one thing. But a market with just a few or one seller is quite another. (For cable internet at my apartment in D.C., for example, I have the "choice" of Comcast or nothing.) The Better Deal agenda presents this quite nicely, showing that monopolies and oligopolies are not just economically inefficient, but also a sharp abridgment of individual liberty. People are forced not only to pay whatever the monopolist demands, but also to accept its (generally horrible) regulations of service.

Worse, unlike a government-run monopoly like the Post Office or a power utility, people have no democratic say in the operation of a monopoly. Its corporate management gets to invoke the violent authority of the state to enforce its (invariably foot-thick) contracts getting cops to drag a paying customer off a plane if the airline decides he doesn't get to fly, for example while making no concession to democratic oversight. It is, in essence, statist authoritarianism.

But another aspect of valorizing market choices as the fountainhead of freedom is how it implicitly leaves out non-market options in particular, the freedom to not choose. As anyone who has tried to corral a pack of millennials trying to figure out which bar to attend for happy hour can attest, making decisions takes work and the more complicated the decision, the more work it requires. Americans today are constantly forced to make staggeringly complex decisions about the most important issues of life health care, education, retirement, and more.

Even for people with good health insurance, simply accessing it properly is often a dreadful chore. You've got to make sure you've got the right program, correctly navigate the rapidly shifting coverage networks, and schedule an appointment all done under the looming knowledge that one screwup could cost thousands as the provider seizes the opportunity to mercilessly price-gouge an out-of-network patient. Afterwards, there's a good chance you're in for a prolonged battle with the provider and the insurer about who will pay and how much.

Wouldn't it be better and simpler to just have straightforward health coverage ensured by the government and not have to make all these frustratingly complex choices?

The experience of investing for retirement is even worse (though the potential negative consequences not as bad). Which mutual fund to select? What portfolio balance? How much to contribute? Answering these questions cleverly would be extremely challenging for average people even without the associated industry of swindlers who make their money tricking people into high-fee plans.

Then there is the sheer fact of having to interact with financial companies at all. Like many in my generation, coming of age precisely when Wall Street crooks blew up the world economy instilled a strong dislike for and suspicion of the financial system. Those feelings strengthened exponentially as I did more research and discovered the role of Big Finance in skyrocketing inequality, monopolization, and asset-stripping thousands of American companies as well as immense crimes like systematic mortgage fraud, money laundering for drug cartels and terrorists, and market rigging. The fact that retirement tax benefits are thinly disguised tax shelters for the rich, and that banksters invariably get off with, at worst, a wrist-slap fine, added fury to my dislike.

Wouldn't it be better and simpler to just make Social Security more robust and spare most Americans from dealing with these crooks?

Private monopolies that rob consumers of choice obviously limit Americans' liberty. Democrats are right to crack down on corporate America with aggressive anti-trust reform. But not all choice is good. Indeed, for the basics of life education, health care, retirement, and so on people don't want to waste away precious hours and days navigating needlessly complex choices, many of which are deviously engineered to screw over normal working stiffs. Most of us just want decent schools for our kids, good health care for ourselves and our families, and a retirement that won't leave us starved and forgotten. We don't want to make endless choices every step of the way.

A Medicare-for-all health-care system or expanded Social Security benefits (which have increasing support among Democrats, but are not contained in their Better Deal plan) would allow citizens to not bother. Instead of being forced to "take responsibility" for such things individually, they would simply always be there, paid out of taxes. The motivation is not to get "free" benefits from the government. I, for one, would be happy to pay a large premium in taxes to get such benefits, if only to save myself from multiple future stress-induced heart attacks.

I might be somewhat out of the ordinary in just how much I dislike being rammed into Neoliberal Decision Hell. But I think it's safe to assume the percentage of people who actually enjoy figuring out insurance networks or poring over mutual fund packets is small. People have better things to do than become amateur experts in a dozen different white-collar professions. Democrats should realize this. A Better Deal ought to mean saving Americans from ever having to deal with this maddening nonsense.

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Democrats should embrace the freedom to not choose - The Week Magazine

Congressional Budget Office is Freedom Caucus’s target in spending bill – Washington Post

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Conservative hard-liners in the House are hoping to gut the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan scorekeeper whose analysis has recently bedeviled Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, by amending a massive spending bill set to be debated later this week.

An amendment filed Monday by Rep. H. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) would eliminate the agencys Budget Analysis Division, cutting 89 jobs and $15 million of the CBOs proposed $48.5 million budget. A separate amendment filed by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) would also eliminate the same division and specify that the CBO instead evaluate legislation by facilitating and assimilating scoring data compiled by four private think tanks the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, and the Urban Institute.

Both Griffith and Meadows are members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, but complaints about the CBO have been widespread among Republicans in recent months after the agency found that various iterations of the partys health-care legislation would result in an increase of more than 20 million uninsured Americans over the coming decade. Critics have attacked the CBOs analysis and pointed to its projections on the Affordable Care Act as evidence that the office, now led by a Republican-selected director, cannot be trusted to accurately analyze complex legislation.

The criticism compelled the eight former directors of the CBO, which was created in 1974, to sign a letter Friday objecting to recent attacks on the integrity and professionalism of the agency and on the agencys role in the legislative process.

But conservatives say the CBOs scorekeeping function is best left to other outlets.

Theyre the one group that makes a weathermans 10-day forecast look accurate, said Meadows, the Freedom Caucus chairman, during a Monday appearance at the National Press Club. Theres plenty of think tanks that are out there. And so we ought to take a score from Heritage, from AEI, from Brookings, from the Urban Institute and bring them together for a composite score that would represent a very wide swath of think tanks and their abilities. We think thats a pragmatic way to use the private sector and yet let Congress depend on a score that is accurate.

The White House has also attacked the CBOs credibility as the health-care repeal effort has languished. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) at times has criticized the agencys health-care estimates, but he also defended it from attacks last month, telling reporters that its important that we have a referee.

It is important that we have a scorekeeper, he said. We can always complain about the nature of the score.

The amendments are being offered to a $790 billion spending bill that combines appropriations for the military, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Energy and for Congress itself scheduled to come to the House floor for debate on Wednesday. The bill was largely written by Republicans and is not expected to garner support from Democrats, meaning that even if it passes the House, it is unlikely to emerge from the Senate intact. But the CBO provision could become subject to negotiations if it is adopted in the House.

Both amendments take advantage of a recent change to House rules pushed by Griffith that allows any member to target discrete programs or even individual employees for reduction or elimination. The provision, known as the Holman rule, was in effect from 1876 until 1983.

When someone gives you bad advice again and again, why would you trust them to help you make big decisions? Griffith said in a statement explaining his amendment. I believe Congress would be better served if CBO becomes an aggregator of predictions made by third-party public policy groups across the political spectrum, from left to center to right.

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Congressional Budget Office is Freedom Caucus's target in spending bill - Washington Post

Americans’ conception of freedom changes – LancasterOnline

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Its probably safe to say that philosophy is to psychology as the body of a beer is to its head. That being true, then we live in an age in which its fashionable to swim in the foam bubbles of psychology. And thats true because people are fascinated with the subconscious, which has the unpredictability and energy of an untied balloon: In the context of the daily routine of modern life the subconscious adds excitement.

For example, the subconscious is unpredictable and energetic when it answers Socrates very conscious observation that to know the good is to do the good with now wait just one minute ... not always.

But psychology doesnt answer the larger questions of philosophy. For Americans, a large philosophical question is the scope of freedom; Americans love freedom.

Freedom in America has been defined as the freedom to conform to ones religion, freedom from discrimination, freedom of expression, freedom from colonialism, freedom of choice.

Today, the reigning definition of freedom in America is found in economics: the freedom of choice in the marketplace, the freedom to choose among a variety of products. Other concepts of freedom are not as discussed because over the last 17 years theres been a psychological tension between freedom and security: greater freedom, less security; greater security, less freedom.

This tension is not new in America the 1950s Red Scare, McCarthy hearings and Cold War represented a time when Americans reduced the scope of their freedoms to consumerism. Americans in the 1950s referred to each other as hollow man and hollow woman of the consumerist age; Richard Nixon was the hollow man of the 1960 presidential election.

But the 1950s narrow conception of freedom gave way to the larger one of the 1960s, reconstituting the psychology of freedom in the American.

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Americans' conception of freedom changes - LancasterOnline

GOP health bill offers freedom of choice. But what about freedom from fear? – USA TODAY

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Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Opinion contributor Published 2:58 p.m. ET July 24, 2017 | Updated 3:15 a.m. ET July 25, 2017

Protest in Chicago in June 2017.(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)

What is the health care debate all about? Freedom. Specifically two different conceptions of freedom.

One is freedom to buy what you want. In this view, the country is a collection of 325 million individuals, and freedom is everyone pursuing their lives without interference. The other is freedom from worry. It views America as a community, and freedom is knowing you can get help when you are sick and in need.

The difference is illustrated by one of my late patients, DotAhern, whohad chronic myelogenous leukemia. She was kept alive and continued to actively work as a substitute teacher in the public schools ofWorcester, Mass., by a medicine that cost tens of thousands of dollars every year. While comfortably middle class with a suburban house, she could not afford to pay for that medication out of her own salary.

Fortunately, her insurance paid. And her insurance premium was affordable. Why? Because other people were also buying health insurance, but they did not need tens of thousands of dollars in drugs or medical services.

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There is no way of sugarcoating it: The other people buying insurance were subsidizing Ms. Aherns care. Eventually, when they had an illness or accident requiring expensive medical care, thatin turn would be subsidized by still others. Ms. Aherns freedom to have health insurance at an affordable premium required other people to buy health insurance.

That is how all insurance works. Lots of people buy car, homeownersor flood insurance paying premiums but only a few people use the insurance in any given year. Those who dont file claims are subsidizing those who do.

But what if these other people said they wanted the freedom to buy health insurance that covered fewer services, and therefore had a lower premium?

House SpeakerPaul Ryan says the Republican approach is better forthese people: Freedom is the ability to buy what you want to fit what you need. Or as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthyput it: Were taking steps toward a free and open marketplace where families can buy health insurance that works for them.

But if many people decide to buy insurance that covers less, then Ms. Ahern will have to pay more lots more for her insurance. And if this process continues, her premiums will eventually be unaffordable or, more precisely, there will be no insurance. She alone will be responsible for paying tens of thousands of dollars for the drugs thatkeep her alive and working.

The freedom Ryan and McCarthy laud isthe freedom of individuals to buy only what they want at that very moment, and not have to pay for rehabilitative services or maternity care or mental health care or dental care for children or Ms. Aherns expensive cancer drugs. Itmeans that older individuals and people who have cancer, Parkinsons diseaseor diabetes will be priced out and lose the freedom from fear that accompanies having health insurance.

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The fundamental and inviolate law of health insurance is that the only way to ensure that a person with cancer or an older person who is at high risk of having heart disease or diabetes can have the freedom that comes with affordable health insurance is to require other Americans who are unlikely to use much health care to buy health insurance, too and not just insurance that covers the few services they will use. Freedom not to have health insurance for some necessarily, inescapably means the loss of freedom to have health insurance for others.

This requirement can be accomplished in two ways:We cankeepthe Obamacare approach ofrequiringeveryoneto buy health insurance and subsidizingthose with lower incomes so that they canafford the premiums. Or we can adopt the Medicare approach thegovernment providesall Americans with a minimum health insurance package and they canbuy coverage for additional services,such as drug coverage,at subsidized rates.

There are no other options that really work. Approaches that charge much more a penalty payment to people who dont buy insurance immediately are not sufficiently effective. Besides, paying a penalty for not buying insurance looks a lot like the Obamacare mandate Republicans deride.

The basic choice on health care reform is this: We can givefreedom to young healthy people to buy what they want and deny the Ms. Aherns of this country freedom from worry about whether theycan afford health insurance and get theirlifesaving drugs. Or, we can recognize that at some point in our lives, most of uswill be like Ms. Ahern we will contract an expensive illness and need other people to help us by keeping health insurance affordable.

Unless you are invincible, and will never get sick or in an accident and needa doctor or hospital, you too will need the help of others, and the freedom that comes with knowing you will be able to count on them and get the care you need.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, an oncologist, a venture partner at Oak HC/FT and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, advised the Obama administration on the Affordable Care Act. His new book, Prescription for the Future: The Twelve Transformational Practices of Highly Effective Medical Organizations, was published last month.

You can read diverse opinions from ourBoard of Contributorsand other writers on theOpinion front page, on Twitter@USATOpinionand in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

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GOP health bill offers freedom of choice. But what about freedom from fear? - USA TODAY

The unspeakable evil of the Tennessee eugenics program – The Week – The Week Magazine

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Under existing asset forfeiture laws, it is legal for government officials to seize your gambling winnings, your Dan Brown paperbacks collection, your Lucky Charms collectible cereal bowl and spoon sets, or a bag of paper clips you might have lying around. If you want to get out of jail early in White County, Tennessee, you might have to let them take your fertility too.

I wish I were joking. But there is actually nothing amusing about Judge Sam Benningfield's standing order signed on May 15 awarding inmates 30 days worth of credit toward their jail sentences if they agree to undergo a sterility-inducing procedure a vasectomy for male offenders, a Nexplananon implant for females. Both procedures are available free of charge courtesy of the Tennessee Department of Health.

This is not some kind of innovative crime-reduction plan. It is eugenics.

How exactly it is possible for a judge in a general sessions court with juvenile jurisdiction to impose this order and arrange the gratis performance of these operations with state funds is a question best left to legal experts. The ACLU has released a statement denouncing the program as "unconstitutional." The local district attorney has called it "concerning," citing the difficulties of reversing a procedure undergone by impressionable young offenders looking for a speedy way out of their difficulties. But I am not interested in the constitutionality of the program.

It is evil.

Benningfield says his decision followed conversations with the health department, and that he hopes offenders will "make something of themselves." He claims that too many "drug addicts" have come to him unable to pay court-mandated child support. "I understand it won't be entirely successful but if you reach two or three people, maybe that's two or three kids not being born under the influence of drugs. I see it as a win, win."

A win-win for whom? For a young man who on the spur of the moment and for understandable reasons wants to get out of jail but decades down the line finds himself unable to have a family? For a young woman unaware of the long-term consequences for her fertility posed by having an implant? For the taxpayers of Tennessee who would rather pay for one snip or rod than look after children and the poor and the marginalized? For the children who will now never be born?

It has been decades since this country has had anything resembling a serious public debate about the morality of contraception. Even conservative Catholic politicians with rare exceptions feel comfortable not following the logic of the church's teaching about life to its explicit and logical conclusion. Instead their focus tends to be on abortion, something that most evangelical Christians in this country oppose.

The closest we ever come to having it out about birth control is when the question of eugenics is raised. But the two questions cannot be separated from one another given the history of what used to be the contraceptive movement in this country. I will never understand why reputable mainstream politicians eagerly receive awards from Planned Parenthood, an organization founded by a woman who explicitly recommended the enforced sterilization of those she considered "unfit" or "feeble-minded" or "idiots." It would take an act of willful obtuseness to pretend that the practice of hawking free contraception and abortion today can be neatly separated from the ideology out of which the practice arose. Contraception and sterilization are eugenics.

Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, would certainly agree with Judge Benningfield about our moral duty to prevent those convicted of crimes from having children. "I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically," she once told an interviewer. "Delinquents, prisoners, all sorts of things just marked when they're born. That to me is the greatest sin that people can commit."

The lack of charity involved in the assumptions that people who have been convicted of crimes are incapable of repenting and that being parents can only abet their seemingly innate criminality, and that their children are predestined to commit crimes as well, is horrifying. People are not machines. Birth is not a technology that can be harnessed by the state for its sinister purposes. Nor is it a privilege that must be earned by supposedly upstanding citizens, revocable upon the first instance of bad behavior.

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The unspeakable evil of the Tennessee eugenics program - The Week - The Week Magazine

HRBooks review: ‘Imbeciles’ takes deep dive into Virginia’s role in America’s eugenics – Daily Press

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Before I tell you about this historical, shocking and true story of eugenics in the United States, Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck, let me tell you about the author.

Adam Cohen is a former member of "The New York Times" editorial board, a former senior writer for "Time" magazine, author of several books and a graduate of Harvard Law School.

"On May 2, 2002, the governor of Virginia offered a sincere apology for his state's participation in eugenics, Cohen writes.

With the support of medical personnel, lawyers, academics and the courts, Virginia forced the sterilization of more than 7,450 citizens between 1927 and 1979. They were considered unfit, feeble-minded, criminals or epileptics. In the court case "Buck versus Taft," the United States Supreme Court approved the sterilization of Carrie Buck, with some of the most important names in America presiding, including William Howard Taft, Louis Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. The vote was 8-1. Buck was from Charlottesville and taken in by a foster family. When she became pregnant out of wedlock, she was declared feebleminded."

Eugenics is the science of improving the human population by controlling breeding, thus improving the chances of what are considered desirable traits. In the 1920s, the U.S. began its drive to improve the population. Its model came from England and the writings of Charles Darwin. John D. Rockefeller Jr., Alexander Graham Bell and Theodore Roosevelt were among the supporters of eugenics. The methods to improve the U.S. population included changing immigration laws and keeping those deemed unfit from reproducing. In the end, sterilization became the chosen solution.

Virginia was cautious about eugenic sterilization and did not enact it until 1924, 17 years after the first state, Indiana, had started to use the practice. Four of the nations most respected and powerful professions supported eugenic sterilization medicine, academics, law and the judiciary. The U.S. sterilized 60,000 to 70,000 citizens during this manic time in history, according to Cohen.

The Nazi Party used U.S. laws as a model for its own eugenic sterilization program. Buck vs. Bell has never been overturned. There was a tendency to favor the powerful in American law.

This book covers in great detail the famous men who influenced eugenics and the ultimate support of Buck vs. Bell.

The list includes Albert Priddy, Harry Laughlin and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. As you read this book, consider what was occurred during the years of eugenics, how many citizens of Virginia had their lives turned upside down. They lost their right to choose where they lived, their ability to have children and ultimately, the course of their lives.

This country stands for freedom, but where is the freedom here?

Adam Cohen ends this unforgettable book with a long list of acknowledgments and 323 notes and references. This 402 page book includes eight pages of historical pictures. It can be found at Amazon in paperback for $12.14 and in Kindle for $11.99. It can also be reached at Powells Books for $18 in paperback, $19.50 in hardcover, and $45 on CD.

Vicky Coiner has been a school nurse in Hampton for more than 19 years. She has a master's degree in psychology and is working toward a Ph.D.

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HRBooks review: 'Imbeciles' takes deep dive into Virginia's role in America's eugenics - Daily Press

The Long Tail of Philanthropy and Eugenics: Judge Trades Shorter Sentences for Sterilization – The Nonprofit Quarterly (registration)

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July 21, 2017; Washington Post

A recent standing order issued by General Sessions Judge Sam Benningfield allows the prisoners incarceratedin White County, Tennessee, to gain 30 days credit toward their jail time if they volunteer to be sterilized. Reports about the action come even as a memorial was established on Malaga Island in Maine to commemorate the 40 or so mixed-race residents of that island who were removed from the island in 1912. Some of the residents were sent to the then-new Maine School for the Feebleminded. Even the graves on the island were dug up, and the contents dumped into five caskets, which were buried on the grounds of the school, now called Pineland.

So, what connects these two stories? Bill Schambra has explained many times in his treatises about eugenics (in particular, in his 2012 article in Nonprofit Quarterly, Philanthropys War on Community) that the eugenics movement was supported generously by some of the fathers of philanthropy, Carnegie and Rockefeller among them, and that its legacy is still with us in certain philanthropic and public practices. Rick Cohen wrote about this in his article linking eugenics and the practice of real estate redlining:

The Rockefeller Foundation funded German research institutions in the 1930s, some employing well known and future Nazis such as Ernst Rdin and Josef Mengele, while the Carnegie Institution, founded by Andrew Carnegie, provided support for eugenicists for decades. The Hudson Institutes William Schambra adds other foundations to the list of general-purpose foundations that granted philanthropic credibility and capital to the eugenics movement, including the Carnegie Corporation. He has noted in several articles that the foundations that provided support to the eugenics movement, spawning state-sponsored sterilization programs from Virginia to California, have never apologized for their actions, much less provided compensation for their roles.

As Schambra points out,

Malaga is, of course, just one episode in the long and tragic story of eugenics in America. It seemed to justify the mandatory institutionalization of hundreds of thousands of so-called defectives, and the involuntary sterilization of some 60,000 American citizens.

Benningfield, who was first elected to the bench in 1998, told NewsChannel 5that he issued the order after consulting with the Tennessee Department of Health and that it was intended to helpbreaka vicious cycle of drug offenders passing through his courtroom who could notfind jobs or afford child support.

I hope to encourage them to take personal responsibility and give them a chance, when they do get out, to not to be burdened with children, he said. This gives them a chance to get on their feet and make something of themselves.

Hedy Weinberg of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, however, says, Offering a so-called choicebetween jail time and coerced contraception or sterilization is unconstitutional Such a choice violates the fundamental constitutional right to reproductive autonomy and bodily integrity by interfering with the intimate decision of whether and when to have a child, imposing an intrusive medical procedure on individuals who are not in a position to reject it.

The PBS documentary seriesIndependent Lens writes:

Coerced sterilization is a shameful part of Americas history and we dont have to go back very far to find examples of it. Used as a means of controlling undesirable populationsimmigrants, people of color, poor people, the disabled, the mentally illfederally funded sterilization programs took place in 32 states throughout the 20th century. Driven by prejudiced notions of science and social control, these programs informed policies on immigration and segregation.

Many do not understand Schambras tenacious focus on philanthropys promotion and use of eugenics but he firmly believes that until philanthropy owns up to its role in supporting this dehumanizing concept, its ideological fruitssocial engineering, strategic top-down philanthropy, and even more explicit offshoots like this judges ordercannot and will not be eradicated.

The foundations that provided the financial support for eugenics have never issued formal apologies, he writes. Indeed, if you look under e in the index of any of the leading histories of American philanthropy, you will find not one word about eugenics.

Cohen explained the long tail of that in this way:

No one, however, should imagine that the eugenics hasnt spawned successor ideas that have infiltrated into the publics consciousness even now. Polls suggest that surprising numbers of whites believe that the explanations behind racial inequity are the personal behaviors and genetic limitations of black people, not structural issues and policies. There are studies that have revived eugenics thinking as applied to immigration reform, that potential immigrants should be selected based on IQ and other more desirable characteristics so that they would not be a burden on society and on taxpayers, not a big leap from that to the innuendo and more of Donald Trump that Mexican immigrants are infiltrated (a favorite word of eugenicists and redliners) with criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.

Ruth McCambridge

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The Long Tail of Philanthropy and Eugenics: Judge Trades Shorter Sentences for Sterilization - The Nonprofit Quarterly (registration)

New Startups Fuel Growth in the Energy Blockchain Ecosystem – Greentech Media

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Tokyo Electric Power Company has cemented its interest in blockchain technologies with a major stake in peer-to-peer energy trading platform developer Conjoule.

The Japanese utility giant pumped 3 million ($3.5 million) into the German startup as part of a 4.5 million ($5.3 million) Series A funding round alongside German energy company Innogy SE.

Innogy had been incubating Conjoule within its Innovation Hub division since late 2015, after one of the Hubs staffers, Conjoulesco-founder and Managing Director Sam Warburton, came up with the idea for the renewable energy peer-to-peer marketplace.

Using blockchain technology, the Conjoule team [is] building one of the most exciting technology developments to enable new transactional models in energy, according to a press releasefrom Tepco.

The investment, which should allow Conjoule to increase its technical team and launch its platform commercially across Europe, follows Tepcos alliance with Shell, Statoil, Centrica and others in the blockchain-focused Energy Web Foundation in May.

We aim to develop the use cases and the platforms using blockchain technology in the electricity and energy sector with this participation, Maki Murayama, of Tepcos international public relations group, told GTM.

Tepco sees a growing role for peer-to-peer energy transactions in Japan as distributed generation leads to an increasing level of "prosumers"being involved in local production for local consumption, Murayama said.

Conjoule is beta-testing its blockchain-based peer-to-peer platform with a restricted number of users this year, after developing a simulation based on real historic data in 2015 and creating a minimally viable product for real-world testing in 2016.

It is planning to launch commercially in 2018, with an initial focus on Germany and the Netherlands and possible expansion into Austria and the U.K.

Our target is to be the peer-to-peer platform of choice for distributed electricity producers, consumers and prosumers in Europe and in selected markets globally, said Warburton.

He admitted Conjoule was entering an increasingly crowded market for energy blockchain platforms, though. Other startups in the space include Drift, Grid Singularity and Electron.

Nevertheless, Warburton said: We believe our energy market experience, track record, focus on the needs of our customers and improvement of their customer journey with us mean that we are in an extremely strong position compared to many of the other companies.

For now, other energy blockchain players have been broadly receptive to Conjoules appearance on the scene.

Annie Satow, media relations manager for Siemens, which last November partnered with New York-based peer-to-peer platform developer LO3 Energy, said: This announcement is further confirmation of the markets interest in blockchain technology.

Other energy blockchain developers noted how Conjoule might form part of a wider technology ecosystem in which different blockchains are used for different forms of exchange.

Conjoule superficially appears to be very similar to the blockchain-based solar generation rewards program SolarCoin. ButFrancois Sonnet, co-founder of ElectriCChain, an energy generation data project, said there are differences between them.

SolarCoin comes on top of peer-to-peer energy platforms such as Power Ledger, Grid Singularity or LO3 Energy, and provides a solution to the whole solar value chain, utilities and governments, he said. It is distributed on top of government-backed subsidies.

Ian Worrall, founder of an energy blockchain startup called MyBit, which is aiming to raise funds through a token sale crowdfunding initiative, was similarly quick to draw a distinction between his companys offering and Conjoules.

What they are doing is tokenizing energy itself to trade to neighbors, he said. What MyBit does is tokenize the actual hardware so investors can profit from the revenue solar panels produce and make solar panels more accessible to people with financial constraints.

What seems to be emerging is a web of different energy blockchains with very specific applications, such as trading electrons with the person next door, helping landowners raise cash for solar panels or making it easier to take advantage of subsidies.

While this arrangement may suit energy blockchain startups seeking a niche in a bustling market, it isn't clear how so many choices of peer-to-peer systems will make things easier for end users, as all the platform developers claim.

Trying to understand blockchain's role in the energy sector? Listen to our recent episode of The Interchange podcast for a detailed overview.

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New Startups Fuel Growth in the Energy Blockchain Ecosystem - Greentech Media

Alibaba and Tencent are carving up Southeast Asia’s startup … – TechCrunch

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Two global tech forces are putting their mark and money into Southeast Asias nascent startup ecosystem, butthey may not be the Western names that you expect.

Rather than Google, Facebook or Microsoft, increasingly Chinese duo Alibaba and Tencent are the driving forces behind the importing of large sums of capital and vast business experience into Southeast Asias most promising startups.

Both companies, sworn enemies in China, appear to have realized the potential in the region and are now acting on it. That means battles, drama and probably more welcome to Southeast Asias tech Game Of Thrones.

Southeast Asia has long been an area of interest for business for its neighbors. Tech aside, Southeast Asia is home to more than 600 million consumers, with six primary markets Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines standing out for growing economies and rising middle-classes of consumers.

In todays digital era, smartphones have been a key catalyst. Like India, Southeast Asias internet users are primarily on mobile, with most having skipped the PC altogether and jumping straight to phones and tablets.

A much-cited report co-authored by Google last year showed that Southeast Asia has 260 million internet users with 3.8 million more going online per month. Thats tipped to grow the internet population to 480 million people by 2020. Sure, that isnt China level yet the country has 731 million internet users, half of which are mobile but it does mean that, alongside India, Southeast Asia is a region of serious tech development potential.

That same Google report forecasted that the regions internet economy i.e. all business generated from the web will be worth $200 billion by 2025. Thats up from 6.5-fold from 2015, when it was estimated to be worth $31 billion. E-commerce alone is tipped to rise from $5.5 billion in 2015 to $88 billion in 2025, of which half will originate from Indonesia, the worlds fourth largest country, according to the report.

Key slides from the Google-Temasek report on Southeast Asias digital economy

Over the past year, it seems that Chinese companies have gone from scouting the region to actively owning chunks of it.

The first step was Alibabas $1 billion investment in Lazada, an Amazon-like e-commerce company serving six countries in Southeast Asia, in April 2016. The deal represented the first major investment into the region from a Chinese company.

Alibaba has since firmed up its shareholding, paying another $1 billion in June to take its ownership to 83 percent, while, under its tutelage, Lazada expanded its business into groceries with the acquisition of Singapore-based Redmart while it launched an Amazon Prime-style offering in partnership with Netflix and Uber. Amazon is expected to enter Southeast Asia this year, with sources telling TechCrunch an original goal of launching Q1 proved to be too ambitious.

Lazada CEO Max Bittner told TechCrunch last month that his company plans to extend both services, which are currently only available in Singapore, to different markets. Arguably, this is where Alibabas capital and experience is really coming into play for Lazada.

Were found theright balance between us having the freedom [for our business] and falling back on Alibaba as our big brother willing to help us when we need it, Bittner said of the relationship in an interview.

Alibaba hasnt stood still there, however. It has embarked on a series of fintech investments in Southeast Asia through Ant Financial, its financial services affiliate.

Ant Financials global investment spree has included a $1.2 billion deal for U.S.-headquartered Moneygram and Koreas Kakao Pay, but in Southeast Asia it has done deals with Thailand-based Ascend Money, Mynt in the Philippines, Emtek in Indonesia, and Singapores M-Daq.

Then, earlier this month, Alibaba itself opened the coffers again to invest in a $50 million round for online insurance site Compare Asia Group.

Tencent, meanwhile, has a long-standing investment in Thailand-based media company Sanook, while it invested $19 million in a joint media venture with Ookbee, another Thai company. On the product-side, it has aggressively pushed its free-to-play music service Joox in Southeast Asia as a rival to Spotify, while it recently invested in U.S. karaoke app Smule which has strong traction in the region and plans to expand in Asia.

Through their investments and acquisitions, its very clear that Alibaba and Tencent are interested in Southeast Asia. They share our vision, that this region is ripe for opportunities in the e-commerce, payments, and marketplaces space, Vinnie Lauria, founding partner at Singapore-based VC firm Golden Gate Ventures, told TechCrunch in a statement.

Alibaba chairman Jack Ma has led his company to expand into India and Southeast Asia for growth opportunities

That collection of deals is just those that have been reported or made official. There are plenty more either lurking in a press pipeline waiting to be announced, or subject to negotiations.

Through discussions with founders, TechCrunch understands that Tencent and Alibaba have held discussions with at least a dozen startups that operate in Southeast Asias e-commerce or fintech space. In almost every instance, it seemed that both Chinese giants had been in touch with a near-identical set of companies to make investment offers, or to register interest for when the startup in question is ready to raise new funds.

To borrow a phrase from a prominent tech investor, who spoke to TechCrunch on the condition of anonymity to avoid offending either company, Tencent and Alibaba are carving up Southeast Asias startup ecosystem.

The dogfight has spilled into the ride-sharing space, for one.

Alibaba is expected to be part of a group of investors behind a new funding round for Uber rival Grab which could reach $2 billion and is expected to close soon, a source told TechCrunch. But Alibaba is also rumored to have held talks with Go-Jek, a rival to Grab and Uber which is widely acknowledged as the market leader in Indonesia. However, in a twist, Go-Jek ended up agreeing to take investment from Tencent as part of an as-yet-unannounced $1.2 billion round that would value the company at $3 billion, as we reported in May.

In e-commerce, Tencents strategic ally JD.com which includes Tencent among its investor base has been strongly linked with an investment in Indonesia-based company Tokopedia, which previously raised money from SoftBank. However, a source told TechCrunch that Alibaba is also talking to the company with a view to making an investment. Alibabas long-standing relationship with SoftBank, which included an early investment in Alibaba, could prove to be a clincher in this case.

The decision of Alibaba or Tencent is tough one because essentially companies are being asked to join one of two rival sides.

Its akin toa Game Of Thrones-style allegiance.There are few examples in China of companies that share both Tencent and Alibaba as investors both firms own stock in Didi by virtue of a merger between their respective investees, Didi Kuaidi and Didi Dache so the decision of which to go with has real long-term implications on future relationships and investors.

They are clearly drawing lines in the sand with their checkbooks, and we can see a war of these two titans playing out across Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, Lauria, whose firm invested in Redmart, said.

While Alibaba and Tencent are among the first (and heaviest) movers, many are predicting that others from China and beyond will follow the same steps if they havent already.

Singapore, serving as the hub for the Southeast Asia ecosystem, continues to attract major investment interest from Chinese companies and Chinese VCs,Michael Smith, an operating partner with early-stage VC firm SeedPlus, told TechCrunch.

Obviously Tencent and Alibaba are some of the biggest companies looking for growth in areas like e-commerce, fintech and logistics but JD.com is also investing and looking for further opportunities in the region, he said.

Smith also pointed out that bike-sharing companies Mobike and Ofo both selected Singapore for their first overseas expansion, while, outside of the startup space, China-backed consortium Nesta is bidding to buySingapores Global Logistic Properties for around $11 billion.

We continue to believe that Singapore and the companies created here will rise in their attraction to not only Chinese but European and American companies looking for Asian expansion, Smith said.

Uber rival Grab is close to taking investment from Alibaba, according to sources.

U.S. tech firms have increased their presence in Southeast Asia, with Google and Facebook in particular operating local offices in multiple countries, but their presence has centered around product localization, sales and marketing rather than investments.

Google acquired a chat messenger app to staff its Next Billion teamtasked with tweaking existing services and creating new ones for emerging markets like India, Southeast Asia and Africa. (It recently did the same in India, too.)

Facebook and Twitter are among those that have long conducted deep market research projects to learn more about how users in frontier markets use the internet. Facebook even trialled a social payment feature in Thailandto explore the potential of social media commerce.

The results of these exercises havehelped shape products like Facebook Lite, the social networks fastest-growing app, and Twitters new mobile web app, but for now none of the Western tech giants have dived into the ecosystem with quite the impact of their peers from China and were just getting started.

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Alibaba and Tencent are carving up Southeast Asia's startup ... - TechCrunch

Dunes Blog: Learning about the ecosystem by making art – nwitimes.com (blog)

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I wanted to make something meaningful, and this has a lot of meaning to me.

Our campers had spent the morning hiking and exploring the diverse ecosystems of Indiana Dunes State Park and were now nearly 2-hours into their Arts In The Parks, funded ecosystem mandala workshop, led by artist, teacher, and self-described arts activist, Bonnie Zimmer.

Nearly all of Bonnies work is created with natural and found materials harvested from the fields, woods and roadsides near her rural home. By limiting myself to local objects and materials to which I have a deep connection, Ive discovered my ideal media for exploring my sense of place and finding meaning, says Zimmer.

That sense of place and meaning is exactly what she is currently imparting to these eager young artists.

The workshop began with a discussion about the wide variety of plants and animals found in the dunes.

The diversity of the dunes is just mind boggling, isnt it? prompts Zimmer. Youre in a desert. Youre in a forest. Youre beside a pond. Youre at a beach, with waves crashing how lucky are we to have this?

Her enthusiasm is infectious. Soon campers are eagerly perusing a 25-foot long art material buffet, looking for inspiration. While few elected to let the mandala format confine their thinking, all were deeply engaged as they reflected upon their new knowledge, recent experiences, and growing connection to the Park. Learn more about Dunes Learning Center summer camps at duneslearningcenter.org/summer.

Mighty Acorns Nature Camp is made possible through funding to the Northwest Indiana Mighty Acorns Partnership by ArcelorMittal, with additional support from BP, Dr. Scholl Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the IDNR Coastal Management Program, and contributions from parents and individuals. Arts activities made possible with support by the Indiana Arts Commission and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

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Dunes Blog: Learning about the ecosystem by making art - nwitimes.com (blog)

Warming Seas Endanger Antarctic Ecosystem, And Billion-Dollar … – WSHU

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A few small islands off the coast of Antarctica are the incubator for nearly all the marine life around the worlds southernmost continent. Thats according to new research from Yale and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The same researchers also believe that climate change on those islands could have a devastating domino effect.

The first time Yale biologist Thomas Near visited the islands of the Scotia Arc, he said it was unlike any other place hed seen on earth.

Its a very stark landscape. The islands just appear to rise out of the ocean.

He says youd never guess these islands are the cradle of life in the worlds most extreme habitat. Its the home of fish like the Chilean sea bass, popular on plates. Millions of years ago, Antarctica was a pretty warm place. But then it got cold. Massive ice sheets and glaciers crept in from the south and took over the coast.

The near shore areas around the continent are a really hard place to live. If you are an Antarctic fish living along the shores of the Antarctic continent, these communities have continually been disrupted by these advancing ice sheets.

The islands stayed ice sheet-free. They served as an incubator for the fish and other marine life who spread throughout the continent. But Near says the new threat isnt ice sheets. Its warming seas, which put fish at risk and attract new predators to the region. Nears research shows these islands give the Antarctic life, and without them, the whole regions ecosystem is in danger.

This pattern where the islands are the hot spot of biodiversity origination means the biodiversity of the Antarctic is much in peril by potential dangers of climate change.

Its not just Antarctica thats in trouble. Fishing in the Southern Ocean is a billion-dollar industry, and those fish feed bigger animals like whales and penguins. So Near says the health of Antarcticas ecosystem is kind of like a barometer for the health of our planet.

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Warming Seas Endanger Antarctic Ecosystem, And Billion-Dollar ... - WSHU

Universities have deep roots but are part of a fragile ecosystem – Brisbane Times

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Ever tried to grow an orchid? You spend a long time working to create something beautiful, but if you are careless and leave the greenhouse door open for even a moment, the orchid quickly shrivels and dies.

As a Dean of Business, I rarely compare gardening to universities but the analogy currently seems particularly apt.

Our tertiary education sector has deep roots that may look secure; some would even have you believe that the sector is awash with taxpayer money. In reality our universities, which are facing major disruption from the proposed federal reforms, are part of a fragile, global ecosystem.

One can only hope the senate committee currently considering these reforms take into account the delicate nature of this situation as public hearings continue ahead of their August 9 report.

Australia has the third-highest number of international students in the world. They underpin one of our most successful growth industries international education. However, this vital and significant source of university income could evaporate in an instant if negative economic or political winds blow.

Australian universities are now only just able to compete with the costs of studying in the USA. Issues such as a change in our relationship with China, global turmoil or significant currency fluctuations could hit Australia hard.

So, with many variables beyond our control already, why would we want to upset the delicate balance ourselves?

The government is currently trying to secure support for the Birmingham Higher Education Package - a proposal designed to provide budget relief, but which could prune so severely that it kills parts of the very sector it professes to nurture.

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Under the new measures, students will meet half the proposed 10 per centsavings from the Commonwealth Grant Scheme with universities making cuts to fund the rest. The proposed 2.5 per cent'efficiency dividend' will come with a 7.5 per centCommonwealth Grant reduction based on broad, performance-related targets that will be measured in ways still to be announced. Universities unable to secure the performance-related funds will be forced to make even more cuts to their core business.

And that's not all: funding of post-graduate, Commonwealth-supported places will go along with some support for New Zealand citizens and permanent Australian residents moves likely to impact university revenue streams in varying, but significant, ways.

Of course, universities should be held accountable for their performance and the funds that they receive, but it's hard to see how this particular set of proposals will improve the quality of learning experiences and student outcomes, which are major attractions for students here and overseas.

Australia's universities have worked hard to get where they are today. They have continued to improve educational standards while heeding calls to broaden the appeal of their projects, go for demand-driven funding, and encourage a more diverse, representative and larger cohort of domestic students.

At the same time, they've also marketed and recruited very effectively on the highly competitive international stage. Business schools like Griffith, which have been at the forefront of this, now account for more than half of the international university graduates in Australia. In the 2016 International Student Survey, 89 per cent of all international students indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with their overall experience here.

Cutting funding because universities are doing well seems counter-intuitive as the cuts may hurt the very elements that have created the success. They could also create a vicious cycle, but not the same vicious cycle for all.

Leading capital city universities will be able to weather the storm better than their regional counterparts, which contribute so much to our regions and industries of the future like agribusiness. The cuts are also likely to more adversely impact second or third players in metropolitan areas, which often provide higher education access to many students from more marginalised and disadvantaged groups.

Do we want a two-tier system of leading universities with a large number of full fee-paying students at one end of the spectrum and institutions reliant on domestic, commonwealth-funded students who have a small ,but financially significant, number of fee paying students at the other? Future deals done in Parliament may mediate the impact of the reforms on some of those institutions most adversely affected, but I fear that recalibrating in this way will simply result in robbing 'Peter to pay Paul'.

The money made by the international and domestic success of Australian universities has been used to enhance the educational experience and drive world-class research and innovation. it has underpinned much of the past decade's investment in student services, infrastructure and academic talent.

It is no accident that Australian universities punch well above their weight in international rankings and that international education worth $20.3 billion per year is our nation's third largest export.

The Australian university sector has taken years to build. Government and Australia may be about to learn that it will take no time at all to break, and forever to repair.

David Grant is Pro Vice Chancellor (Business) at Griffith University and Secretary of the Australian Business Deans Council.

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Universities have deep roots but are part of a fragile ecosystem - Brisbane Times

ET Startup Awards: Winners demonstrate diversity in startup ecosystem – Economic Times (blog)

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We salute the winners of the third edition of the ET Startup Awards. The jury members, comprising entrepreneurs, investors, an academic and a policymaker, had to work hard to choose the winners from a crowded field. While a chief consideration for the jury was the potential for job creation, the winners show a diverse range of activity, serving to dispel the notion that Indian startups are, by and large, me-too imitators of e-commerce success stories. True, one of the winners, Nykaa, and several contenders Big Basket, LensKart do belong to this category, but the awards shortlist and the final winners demonstrate the diversity in Indias startup ecosystem.

Startup of the year, Swiggy, delivers food, from 12,000 restaurants across eight cities, employing 20,000 people in the delivery business. It catalyses investment and jobs in the restaurant business and in the two-wheeler and accessories businesses as well. The biggest, unnamed winner of this years ET Startup Awards is IIT-Madras. Its alumni have won awards and figure among contenders. This is a most welcome development, as it clearly shows that the culture of the institution promotes entrepreneurship. This is something that other IITs, technical institutions, management schools and medical colleges should emulate.

Top innovators, Bugworks and Pandorum work, respectively, in developing new antimicrobials to combat drug resistance and in 3D printing of human tissue. Both are also examples of state funding being successful in creating socially relevant innovation. DeTect, a company conceived on the campus, serves to monitor large engineering assets using drones and sensors. Wingify helps companies make their websites generate more business. Aibono helps farmers improve yield, by adopting new technologies. NestAway locates rental homes.

Saif Partners Ravi Adsumalli won the Midas Touch award. By allocating global savings to grow young businesses in India, venture funds play a transformative role. As do campuses like IIT-Madras, several of whose alumni figure among the award winners and contenders.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Economic Times.

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ET Startup Awards: Winners demonstrate diversity in startup ecosystem - Economic Times (blog)

Analysis of the $9 Billion C-RAN (Centralized Radio Access Network) Ecosystem 2017 – 2030 – GlobeNewswire (press release)

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July 25, 2017 06:05 ET | Source: Research and Markets

Dublin, July 25, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "The C-RAN (Centralized Radio Access Network) Ecosystem: 2017 - 2030 - Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts" report from SNS Research has been added to Research and Markets' offering.

Estimates suggest that global investments in C-RAN architecture networks will reach nearly $9 Billion by the end of 2017.

The market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 24% between 2017 and 2020. These investments will include spending on RRHs (Remote Radio Heads), BBUs (Baseband Units) and fronthaul transport network equipment.

The C-RAN (Centralized Radio Access Network) Ecosystem: 2017 - 2030 - Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts report presents an in-depth assessment of the C-RAN ecosystem including enabling technologies, key trends, market drivers, challenges, standardization, regulatory landscape, deployment models, operator case studies, opportunities, future roadmap, value chain, ecosystem player profiles and strategies. The report also presents forecasts for C-RAN infrastructure investments from 2017 till 2030. The forecasts cover 3 individual submarkets and 6 regions.

Centralized RAN or C-RAN is an architectural shift in RAN (Radio Access Network) design, where the bulk of baseband processing is centralized and aggregated for a large number of distributed radio nodes. In comparison to standalone clusters of base stations, C-RAN provides significant performance and economic benefits such as baseband pooling, enhanced coordination between cells, virtualization, network extensibility, smaller deployment footprint and reduced power consumption.

Initially popularized by Japanese and South Korean mobile operators, C-RAN technology is beginning to gain momentum worldwide with major tier 1 operators - including Verizon Communications, AT&T, Sprint, China Mobile, Vodafone, TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), Orange and Telefnica - seeking to leverage the benefits of centralized baseband processing.

Key Findings

- Expected to reach nearly $9 Billion in global spending by the end of 2017, C-RAN is increasingly becoming the preferred approach to deploy future mobile networks. The market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 24% between 2017 and 2020. - Small cells are also beginning to be deployed in a C-RAN architecture to leverage the benefits of resource pooling and multi-cell coordination. This trend is particularly prevalent in the indoor and enterprise segments, with a number of dedicated vendor solutions such as CommScope's OneCell, SpiderCloud's E-RAN, Ericsson's Radio Dot, and Huawei's LampSite. - Mobile operators are exploring multiple baseband functional split options for C-RAN implementation, as they seek to ease the transition to 5G networks while reducing fronthaul costs. - By the end of 2020, the author estimates that vRAN/Cloud RAN deployments with virtualized baseband processing will account for nearly 20% of all C-RAN investments. - The vendor arena is continuing to consolidate with several prominent M&A deals such as Mavenir Systems' recent merger with C-RAN specialist Ranzure Networks, which has positioned the company as an end-to-end provider of 5G-ready mobile network solutions.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction 1.1 Executive Summary 1.2 Topics Covered 1.3 Forecast Segmentation 1.4 Key Questions Answered 1.5 Key Findings 1.6 Methodology 1.7 Target Audience 1.8 Companies & Organizations Mentioned

2 An Overview of C-RAN 2.1 What is C-RAN? 2.2 Competing RAN Architectures 2.3 Key Architectural Components for C-RAN 2.4 Baseband Functional Split Approaches 2.5 Fronthaul Interface Options & Technologies 2.6 vRAN (Virtualized RAN): Transforming C-RAN to Cloud RAN 2.7 Market Growth Drivers 2.8 Market Barriers

3 Standardization, Regulatory & Collaborative Initiatives 3.1 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) 3.2 Broadband Forum 3.3 CPRI Initiative 3.4 ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) 3.5 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 3.6 ITU (International Telecommunications Union) 3.7 MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum) 3.8 NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks) Alliance 3.9 ONF (Open Networking Foundation) & ON.Lab (Open Networking Lab) 3.10 OSA (OpenAirInterface Software Alliance) 3.11 SCF (Small Cell Forum) 3.12 TIP (Telecom Infra Project) 3.13 xRAN Consortium

4 C-RAN Deployment Models & Case Studies 4.1 Deployment Models 4.2 Mobile Operator Case Studies

5 Industry Roadmap & Value Chain 5.1 Industry Roadmap 5.2 Value Chain

6 Key Market Players 6.1 3Roam 6.2 6WIND 6.3 Accelink Technologies Corporation 6.4 Accelleran 6.5 Actelis Networks 6.6 ADLINK Technology 6.7 ADTRAN 6.8 ADVA Optical Networking 6.9 Advantech 6.10 Airspan Networks 6.11 Alpha Networks 6.12 Altiostar Networks 6.13 Amarisoft 6.14 Anritsu Corporation 6.15 APRESIA Systems 6.16 Aquantia Corporation 6.17 Argela 6.18 Aricent 6.19 ARM Holdings 6.20 ARRIS International 6.21 Artemis Networks 6.22 Artesyn Embedded Technologies 6.23 Artiza Networks 6.24 ASOCS 6.25 ASTRI (Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute) 6.26 Aviat Networks 6.27 Azcom Technology 6.28 Baicells Technologies 6.29 Benetel 6.30 Blu Wireless Technology 6.31 BluWan 6.32 Boomsense/Bangxun Technology 6.33 BridgeWave Communications 6.34 Broadcom 6.35 CableFree (Wireless Excellence) 6.36 Cadence Design Systems 6.37 Calix 6.38 Cambium Networks 6.39 Casa Systems 6.40 Cavium 6.41 CBNL (Cambridge Broadband Networks Ltd.) 6.42 CCI (Communication Components, Inc.) 6.43 CCS (Cambridge Communication Systems) 6.44 cellXica 6.45 Ceragon Networks 6.46 CEVA 6.47 Ciena Corporation 6.48 Cisco Systems 6.49 Clavister 6.50 Cobham Wireless 6.51 Coherent Logix 6.52 Collision Communications 6.53 Comcores 6.54 CommAgility 6.55 CommScope 6.56 Contela 6.57 Corecess 6.58 Coriant 6.59 Corning 6.60 Dali Wireless 6.61 DASAN Zhone Solutions 6.62 Datang Mobile 6.63 Dell Technologies 6.64 DragonWave 6.65 eASIC Corporation 6.66 E-Band Communications 6.67 EBlink 6.68 ECI Telecom 6.69 Ekinops 6.70 ELVA-1 6.71 Eoptolink Technology 6.72 Ericsson 6.73 Ethernity Networks 6.74 ETRI (Electronics & Telecommunications Research Institute, South Korea) 6.75 Exalt Wireless 6.76 EXFO 6.77 ExteNet Systems 6.78 Extreme Networks 6.79 Facebook 6.80 Fairwaves 6.81 Faraday Technology Corporation 6.82 FastBack Networks 6.83 FiberHome Technologies 6.84 FibroLan 6.85 Finisar Corporation 6.86 Flex Logix Technologies 6.87 Foxconn Interconnect Technology 6.88 Fraunhofer FOKUS (Institute for Open Communication Systems) 6.89 Fraunhofer HHI (Heinrich Hertz Institute) 6.90 Frog Cellsat 6.91 Fujian Sunnada Network Technology 6.92 Fujitsu 6.93 Furukawa Electric Group 6.94 GigaLight 6.95 GlobalFoundaries 6.96 Google 6.97 HCL Technologies 6.98 HFR 6.99 Hisense 6.100 Hitachi 6.101 HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise) 6.102 Huahuan 6.103 Huawei 6.104 HUBER+SUHNER 6.105 HXI 6.106 IBM Corporation 6.107 IDT (Integrated Device Technology) 6.108 Imec International 6.109 InCoax 6.110 Infineon Technologies 6.111 Infinera 6.112 InfiNet Wireless 6.113 InnoLight Technology 6.114 Intel Corporation 6.115 InterDigital 6.116 Intracom Telecom 6.117 IP Light 6.118 ip.access 6.119 IPITEK 6.120 Iskratel 6.121 IS-Wireless 6.122 ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan) 6.123 JMA Wireless 6.124 JRC (Japan Radio Company) 6.125 Juni Global 6.126 Kathrein-Werke KG 6.127 KEYMILE 6.128 Keysight Technologies 6.129 Kisan Telecom 6.130 KMW 6.131 Lattice Semiconductor 6.132 LightPointe Communications 6.133 Lindsay Broadband 6.134 Loea Corporation 6.135 Lumentum 6.136 Luminate Wireless 6.137 MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings 6.138 Maja Systems 6.139 Maven Wireless 6.140 Mavenir Systems 6.141 MAX4G 6.142 MaxLinear 6.143 Mellanox Technologies 6.144 Microsemi Corporation 6.145 Microwave Networks 6.146 MIMOtech 6.147 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation 6.148 Mobiveil 6.149 Molex 6.150 Moseley Associates 6.151 MRV Communications 6.152 MTI (Microelectronics Technology, Inc.) 6.153 N.A.T. 6.154 Nash Technologies 6.155 NEC Corporation 6.156 Netonomics 6.157 NETSCOUT Systems 6.158 New Postcom Equipment 6.159 Nexcomm Systems 6.160 NexxCom Wireless 6.161 Node-H 6.162 Nokia Networks 6.163 NuRAN Wireless 6.164 NXP Semiconductors 6.165 Octasic 6.166 OE Solutions 6.167 Omnitron Systems 6.168 OneAccess Networks 6.169 Parallel Wireless 6.170 Peraso Technologies 6.171 Phluido 6.172 PMN (Private Mobile Networks) 6.173 Polewall 6.174 Potevio 6.175 Proxim Wireless Corporation 6.176 Qualcomm 6.177 Qucell 6.178 Qwilt 6.179 RACOM 6.180 RAD Data Communications 6.181 Radisys Corporation 6.182 RADWIN 6.183 Raisecom 6.184 Range Networks 6.185 Red Hat 6.186 Redline Communications 6.187 REMEC Broadband Wireless Networks 6.188 Saguna Networks 6.189 SAI Technology 6.190 Samji Electronics 6.191 Samsung Electronics 6.192 Sarokal Test Systems 6.193 SerComm Corporation 6.194 SIAE Microelectronica 6.195 Siklu Communication 6.196 Sistelbanda 6.197 SITRONICS 6.198 SK Telesys 6.199 SkyFiber 6.200 Solectek Corporation 6.201 SOLiD 6.202 Sooktha 6.203 Source Photonics 6.204 Spectronite 6.205 SpiderCloud Wireless 6.206 SRS (Software Radio Systems) 6.207 Star Solutions 6.208 Sumitomo Electric Industries 6.209 Sunwave Solutions 6.210 Tarana Wireless 6.211 Tata Elxsi 6.212 TEKTELIC Communications 6.213 Telco Systems 6.214 Tellabs 6.215 Tellion 6.216 Telrad Networks 6.217 TI (Texas Instruments) 6.218 Trango Systems 6.219 Transition Networks 6.22 Ubiquoss 6.221 UTStarcom 6.222 Vanu 6.223 Viavi Solutions 6.224 VMware 6.225 Vubiq Networks 6.226 Wave1 6.227 WiPro 6.228 Xelic 6.229 Xilinx 6.23 ZTE

7 Market Analysis & Forecasts 7.1 Global Outlook for C-RAN Investments 7.2 Segmentation by Air Interface Technology 7.3 Segmentation by Network Architecture 7.4 Segmentation by Submarket 7.5 Segmentation by Region

8 Conclusion & Strategic Recommendations 8.1 Why is the Market Poised to Grow? 8.2 Competitive Industry Landscape: Acquisitions, Alliances & Consolidation 8.3 Setting the Foundation for 5G NR (New Radio) Upgrades 8.4 Integration with MEC (Mobile Edge Computing) 8.5 Towards a User Centric RAN Architecture 8.6 RAN Disaggregation: Blurring the Lines Between Small Cells and C-RAN 8.7 The Emergence of Enterprise RAN Platforms 8.8 Prospects of Cloud RAN 8.9 RANaaS (RAN-as-a-Service): Envisioning the Future of C-RAN 8.10 Enabling RAN Slicing 8.11 What is the Cost Savings Potential of C-RAN? 8.12 Geographic Outlook: Which Countries Offer the Highest Growth Potential? 8.13 Which Submarket will Lead the Market? 8.14 Strategic Recommendations

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xrszrs/the_cran

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Analysis of the $9 Billion C-RAN (Centralized Radio Access Network) Ecosystem 2017 - 2030 - GlobeNewswire (press release)

Cybersecurity ecosystem of tomorrow – New Straits Times Online

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ON July 15, Indonesia announced a partial ban on Telegram, which swiftly responded by shutting down the channels reported by the Indonesian government. The ban seemed a culmination of the governments frustration over Telegrams silence on complaints about channels used to recruit Indonesians into militant groups.

The application was confirmed by Indonesias National Police chief General Tito Karnavian as one of the means to receive terror-related materials in the recent stabbing of two police officers at a mosque in Jakarta. Yet, it is perhaps the lack of reciprocation from Telegram on complaints made since last year, which may have escalated tensions in the spheres of governance in cyberspace.

Telegram is not the first application caught in a skirmish with states over national security concerns. Conflict between the government and private sector occurs due to the structure of the Internet, which is not designed to keep cyberspace secure from threats to networks or discriminate against the transfer of information.

A network for a small community back then, the Internet was created with the presumed understanding that actors belonged in a close circle and were essentially benevolent. However, the expansion of cybersphere in the 1990s migrated more than 50 million users online.

In December 2000, an ITU report estimated that there were four million Malaysian users online and last year, the figure grew to 21 million.

The greater integration of cybersphere in daily life increases the surface for cyberattacks. In 2015, CyberSecurity Malaysia recorded 1,714 incidents, but the first quarter of last year registered 2,470 incidents.

The private sector drives Internet patronage, with technology giants such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook providing essential services for Internet users. The technology communitys large footprint online translates offline and impinges on traditional roles in the security architecture. The governments role as a user of such services presents difficulties to the states responsibility as the protector of the population.

Chinas cyber laws passed last year bring data centres to Chinese soil, where corporations are required to host data locally. This places control over data within the regulations of China, thus empowering the state to secure information systems. However, this is not the case with other nations, as Indonesias situation with Telegram illustrates. States have to work with private companies to ensure the experience online and offline is protected.

Yet, harmonisation can be an uphill climb, especially where interests do not align. The widely broadcasted legal kerfuffle between Apple and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stemmed from the FBIs request to unlock an iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino shooter in 2015. The FBIs concern relates to strong encryption that prohibits authorities from solving cases to stop terrorist attacks swiftly. The FBIs request was for Apple to provide a backdoor to Apples programmes in the interest of national security. Apple declined the request on the grounds of data privacy.

That cyberspace provides an avenue to air grievances outside the control of governments was addressed in the United Nations Human Rights Committee general comment No. 34 following the Arab uprisings in 2011. Encryption and anonymity are attached to the concept of freedom of expression, which is most important to end users.

Corporations, programmers and data centres that are suddenly called to play the role of honest brokers may experience difficulties in suiting up as participants in security. National security issues are not their initial trade, and perspectives on national security may differ in accordance to locality terrorism, its definitions and its amplification is only one national security concern. Additionally, parts of Asia where national security is seen as the sole responsibility of the state may not have the institutional knowledge and mechanisms of a multi-stakeholder system. If there is little trust between stakeholders, there can be suspicion on the part of the private sector towards the intention of states, as the Apple versus FBI case suggests.

Roles and responsibility should link cybersecurity players and authorities in a smooth system online and offline. The fear of over-regulation or being caught amid a political fight may lose private sector interest to participate.

However, failure to construct a healthy ecosystem may affect the direction of policies. While the WannaCry ransomware affected more than 230,000 computers in more than 150 countries, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission did not receive a single report, though this is not because there were no incidents in Malaysia. LGMS, a cybersecurity firm in Malaysia, found WannaCry in at least 10 devices. In the current threat to cybersphere, there is tremendous pressure for the fledgling environment of information sharing between stakeholders in Malaysia to mature rapidly.

The National Cyber Coordination and Command Centre (NC4) was formed with the intention of coordinating cooperation between public and private sectors. Yet, NC4 was created for cyber threats of national proportions and may not be the platform of outreach needed for threats not limited to cybersphere.

Details of the cybersecurity bill passed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali are still pending, but one hopes it addresses the gaps in the ecosystem and aims to remedy them.

With the private sector expected to play a large role in providing cybersecurity services, there has to be mechanisms that ensure national security is fortified without sacrificing private sector innovation. After the Telegram debacle, cyberspace users need the giants to play well together for a safe experience online and offline.

**The writer is an analyst on foreign policy and security studies at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia

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Cybersecurity ecosystem of tomorrow - New Straits Times Online