Daily Archives: April 4, 2021

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The banking industry and the world around us has changed faster in the past year than at any time in our collective lives, and will most likely continue to evolve even faster in the future. What was once considered business as usual no longer exists, with the pandemic creating a period of unprecedented turmoil and opportunity.

Financial institutions need to prioritize between short-term and long-term business objectives during a time of economic uncertainty, increased competition, changing consumer expectations, and new technological advances that are opening doors to a complete transformation of the banking ecosystem. The underpinnings of most traditional banking organizations present a challenge due to heavy operating costs, outdated core systems, cumbersome back-office operations and processes, and legacy leadership and culture.

The good news is that traditional banks and credit unions often benefit from strong capital and liquidity positions, scale of existing customer bases, inherit loyalty and trust, management experience and community involvement. The question becomes, can organizations leverage the benefits they have to position themselves for the evolution of banking in 2021 and beyond? Based on research done by the Digital Banking Report, the path to digital transformation may not be the same for small, mid-sized and regional financial institutions as it will be for the largest banks.

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As financial institutions focus on top-line growth during a period of low interest rates, slim margins and diminished demand for credit, many have focused on traditional short-term strategies like cutting costs across the entire organization. In addition to reducing and restructuring investment in new technology and innovation, many organizations also scaled back workforces, eliminated product lines, stopped serving certain segments and geographies, and closed branches.

Recently, financial institutions globally have pursued mergers and acquisitions to create greater scale for future growth while eliminating duplicative costs. In many instances in the U.S. and abroad, the biggest initial benefit from consolidation is the ability to close or repurpose branches, merge back-office functions, and reduce technology spending as a percentage of assets. One of the negative impacts of cost-cutting has been the shift away from less profitable businesses and populations, including less wealthy segments and geographies.

With the onset of the pandemic, financial institutions needed to provide access to virtually all financial services via digital channels. With the restrictions on in-person branches, banks and credit unions needed to transform all processes from account opening and loan applications, to account servicing and sales to digital alternatives. The vast majority of financial institutions globally were unprepared for this shift, Digital Banking Report research found. In many instances, while the ability to conduct banking via digital channels was made possible, the experiences were far from optimal.

According to the World Retail Banking Report 2021, sponsored by Capgemini and Efma, 42% of bank executives polled said that they were not sure how to integrate and streamline mid-, back- and front-office functions effectively, and 46% said they are unsure how to embrace open banking, orchestrate the ecosystem or become a truly data-driven organization. At the same time, consumers adjusted to the lock-down reality by embracing digital experiences that saved them time and money in every industry.

The disparity between the expectations of the consumer and priorities of the banking industry are stark and revealing. The World Banking Report found that, despite being vocal about improving the customer experience, the banking industrys delivery of the key components of a strong customer experience, such as improving transparency and social responsibility, improving customer support and reducing the cost of services falls far short of customer expectations.

To remain competitive, legacy financial institutions will need to increase investment in areas that the consumers value the most. This ranges from improving the speed and simplicity of digital engagement, using data and analytics to provide proactive real-time recommendations, creating new ways of engagement and customer care and exploring value-added ways to make a consumers life easier even beyond financial services. Moving from a product-centric perspective to being customer-centric needs to become part of an organizations culture.

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The vast majority of traditional financial institutions are not structured for a new digital paradigm shift. As consumers became aware of the possibilities created when data, advanced analytics, new technology and digital communication were leveraged by big tech and fintech firms, expectations rose. And they continue to rise. No longer are institutions able to process data fast enough, due to siloed organizational structures and antiquated analysis tools. Quickly, remote workforces have to collaborate and rethink legacy product alignment, repositioning the offering of services and the commitment of resources around the customer.

According to Capgemini, Banking-as-usual is evolving into a digital-first, seamlessly integrated banking experience via coexisting digital channels and modernized branches. A shift to enhance the customer journey by enriching the last-mile delivery will also occur, with product-centric innovation giving way to customer-centric intelligent transformation.

The expansion of the Banking-as-a-Service model across the entire financial services industry is facilitating value creation as well as value exchange between both financial and non-financial entities, with the consumer being the primary beneficiary. BaaS platforms are democratizing the offering and delivery of products and services, accelerating the innovation process, allowing for faster iterations as consumer behavior changes.

The World Retail Banking Report found that two-thirds of financial institutions are currently using a BaaS platform, with 25% stating that a BaaS platform is in the planning or development stage. This has greatly increased the number of incumbent financial institutions that are collaborating with fintech, big tech and other non-banking entities to increase scale, expand distribution options, create new products/services, reduce costs, diversify revenue streams and gather greater consumer insights.

The ultimate objective of a BaaS model is to increase engagement by the customer beyond checking daily balances. Loyalty and overall customer value can be enhanced as financial institutions move more toward embedded finance that is part of a consumers everyday life. Combining financial services with social media, retail, transportation, hospitality, investment and advisory services increases the potential to provide incremental value to retail consumer segments or even on an individualized basis. Part of this value can also include improved engagement and back-office processes, new products and even new ways of monetizing customer relationships.

From Apple, Google, PayPal and Amazon to retailers, telecom companies, fintech firms and old school providers like Goldman Sachs, the number of organizations entering the banking ecosystem continues to expand. Supported by a massive influx of capital through external investments, partnerships inside and outside financial services are leveraging established name recognition, trust and timely niche offerings to meet the consumers lifestyle needs. What must be realized is that digital engagement is at the core of all of these super app combos.

When consumers were asked what banking services they would use from non-traditional providers, the array of responses were far broader than in any previous research. This indicates increased comfort by consumers to expand their financial relationships beyond the traditional banking system.

The impact of this shift is not readily apparent in research around switching of banking providers. In fact, immediately before the pandemic and since, the percentage of consumers switching primary banking providers has remained at an historic low. This is not an indicator of customer satisfaction, but the reality that consumers do not need to close an account to shift (or expand) a relationship. In fact, even the definition of primary financial institution (PFI) should be reconsidered as many Millennial consumers would not consider their PFI to be their checking account bank, but more likely their payments provider (Venmo, Square, PayPal, etc.).

After years of hesitation around the adoption of cloud computing for a variety of reasons, the realization of the benefits of cloud technology are bringing cloud implementations to the forefront. Part of this acceptance has been because major providers have addressed concerns around security, implementation timelines, costs and ROI rationale. In fact, the World Retail Banking Report found that 32% of banking executives were ready to pilot cloud computing, with 56% saying they would implement cloud at scale by 2022.

The benefits most stated for moving data processing to the cloud include faster innovation, reduced costs, improved productivity, scalability and flexibility and robust continuity management (up-time). For most organizations, the move to cloud computing is only a preliminary step towards complete cloud transformation. As the importance of personalization of the customer experience becomes a business requirement, the need to process data and create actionable insights in real-time will require a strong cloud architecture.

Data sources will only become more prevalent in a digital world where the collection, processing and use of data insights for the consumers benefit becomes imperative. The good news is that, if value is provided to the consumer for the use of their private information, the consumer will share more in the future, making relationships even stronger.

As banking becomes more ubiquitous and embedded in customers lives, legacy financial institutions will be challenged to be at the center of that ecosystem. There will be more organizations vying for that position than ever with many not even being traditional financial organizations. The key will be to use data and insights to provide value in exchange for trust and loyalty. This will also require collaboration with players outside of traditional banking that will provide the reason for consumers to be even more engaged with their banking app than they are today. This will require a robust digital CX layer that makes engagement intuitive and easy.

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The Evolution of Banking: 2021 and Beyond - The Financial Brand

Modern biology considers bone cells essential for bone development and health. However, when bone initially evolved some 400-million years ago, these were missing. So why did bone cells evolve?

Artists impression of the placoderm fish living 380 million years ago. Image credit: Brian Engh

Whether fish, fowl, or mammal, all vertebrates have an internal skeleton of bones. In almost all vertebrates (with the exception of certain bony fish), the bone consists of a complex composite of minerals, proteins, and living bone cells (osteocytes) entrapped in the bone matrix.

Bone cells are interconnected by tiny channels so that they can exchange substances and electrochemical signals, allowing the bone to grow and regenerate. Still, this complex architecture of live and inorganic material must have emerged at some point in the course of evolution. A team at the Museum fr Naturkunde Berlin headed by Dr. Florian Witzmann is investigating how and when this happened. Now they have discovered a possible milestone in this development.

They examined fossilized samples of bony armor from two early fish species that lived around 400 million years ago. One sample came from Tremataspis mammillata, a jawless fish that lived in the late Silurian period about 423 million years ago and belongs to the extinct group called Osteostraci. The second, much younger sample, was a piece of bone from the fish Bothriolepis trautscholdi that lived in the late Devonian period about 380 million years ago and belongs to the extinct Placodermi, the earliest group of jawed fishes.

It was already known that these early vertebrates had bone cells, but we knew little about how the cells were connected to each other, as well as anything about the detailed structure of the lacuna, or cavities, in which the bone cells were located in the living animal. In order to be able to make more precise statements about bone metabolism, we had to have far more detailed images of these structures than were previously available, said Witzmann.

To achieve this, Dr. Ingo Manke suggested an advanced imaging technique used commonly in the semiconductor industry called focused ion-beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) tomography. Here, a focused gallium-ion beam continuously ablates the sample surface while at the same time, an electron beam scans the sample and provides data for creating 3D images at a resolution that is more than a hundred times finer than computer tomography.

Physicist Markus Osenberg had previously employed a sophisticated evaluation procedure developed at Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energys 3D Analytics Lab to calculate the image from the measurement data. This is a specially trained neural network, a method borrowed from machine learning, because images of these kinds of samples cannot be calculated using standard methods.

Due to the countless paths through the bone, the sample surface is as full of holes as Swiss cheese, explained Osenberg, who is doing his doctorate in Mankes team. However, after some practice, the well-trained neural network recognizes where the plane of the ablation runs and where the holes are, and reconstructs an accurate image of the ablated surface. In fact, the structures in the bone samples are relatively similar to the structures in the electrode materials of batteries. But the fact that the neural network, which learned on battery materials, can now also image the fossil bone samples so well surprised us, said Osenberg.

Even in the older sample of the jawless armoured fish, the 3D images display a complex network with cavities (lacunae) for the bone cells and tiny channels through the bone interconnecting these cavities. The channels are a thousand times narrower than a human hair and yet, amazingly, they have been almost completely preserved over these 400 million years, said Manke.

Elaborate analysis of the high-resolution 3D images shows in detail how the network was constructed of cavities (lacuna) and the channels between them. This proves that our early, still-jawless ancestors already possessed bones characterized by internal structure similar to ours and probably by many similar physiological capabilities as well, Witzmann explained.

The most important palaeobiological finding is that we can also detect actual traces of metabolism in these earliest bone samples, said Yara Haridy, who is doing her PhD at the Museum fr Naturkunde Berlin.

Through local osteolysis, i.e., dissolution of the bone matrix that surrounded the bone cells, the organism was probably able to cover its need for phosphorus in times of scarcity. This gave it an advantage over its more primitive contemporaries, who had cell-free bone, i.e., whose bones contained no osteocytes.

This advantage apparently led to the widespread establishment of bones with bone cells in vertebrates, as we know it in humans as well. It is an important step towards understanding how our own bone metabolism came about, Haridy explains. Even in early fossil bone, bone cells could dissolve and restore bone minerals, this means that bones themselves act as batteries by storing minerals and releasing them later! This ability provided an undoubtable advantage to jawless fish with bone cells over vertebrates without. This advantage was possibly so profound as to alter vertebrate evolution, as later jawed vertebrates retained bone cells.

Reference: Yara Haridy, et al., Bone metabolism and evolutionary origin of osteocytes: Novel application of FIB-SEM tomography, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb9113

Press release provided by Helmholtz Berlin

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Fossils provide new insights into the evolution of bones - Advanced Science News

Giraffes are in general very alert and exploit their height advantage to scan the horizon using their excellent eyesight. Credit: Mogens Trolle

The giraffe is a truly puzzling animal. With its exceptional anatomy and suite of evolutionary adaptations, the giraffe is an outstanding case of animal evolution and physiology. Now, an international team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Northwestern Polytechnical University in China have produced a high-quality genome from the giraffe and investigated which genes are likely to be responsible for its unique biological features.

The extraordinary stature of the giraffe has led to a long list of physiological co-adaptations. The blood pressure of the giraffe, for instance, is twice as high as in humans and most other mammals to allow a steady blood supply to the lofty head. How does the giraffe avoid the usual side effects of high blood pressure, such as severe damage to the cardiovascular system or strokes?

The team discovered a particular gene known as FGFRL1 that has undergone many changes in the giraffe compared to all other animals. Using sophisticated gene editing techniques they introduced giraffe-specific FGFRL1 mutations into lab mice. Interestingly, the giraffe-type mice differed from normal mice in two important aspects: they suffered less cardiovascular and organ damage when treated with a blood pressure increasing drug, and they grew more compact and denser bones.

Both of these changes are directly related to the unique physiological features of the giraffe coping with high blood pressure and maintaining compact and strong bones, despite growing them faster than any other mammal, to form the elongated neck and legs, says Rasmus Heller from the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, one of the lead authors on the study.

While jumping out of bed for (some) humans might be an effortless and elegant affair, this is definitely not the case for the giraffe. Merely standing up is a lengthy and awkward procedure, let alone getting up and running away from a ferocious predator. Therefore, giraffes have evolved into spending much less time sleeping than most other mammals.

Rasmus Heller elaborates: We found that key genes regulating the circadian rhythm and sleep were under strong selection in giraffes, possibly allowing the giraffe a more interrupted sleep-wake cycle than other mammals.

In line with research in other animals an evolutionary trade-off also seem to be determining their sensory perception, Rasmus continues:

Giraffes are in general very alert and exploit their height advantage to scan the horizon using their excellent eyesight. Conversely, they have lost many genes related to olfaction, which is probably related to a radically diluted presence of scents at 5m compared to ground level.

These findings provide insights into basic modes of evolution. The dual effects of the strongly selected FGFRL1 gene are compatible with the phenomenon that one gene can affect several different aspects of the phenotype, so called evolutionary pleiotropy. Pleiotropy is particularly relevant for explaining unusually large phenotypic changes, because such changes often require that a suite of traits are changed within a short evolutionary time. Therefore, pleiotropy could provide one solution to the riddle of how evolution could achieve the many co-dependent changes needed to form an animal as extreme as a giraffe. Furthermore, the findings even identifies FGFRL1 as a possible target of research in human cardiovascular disease.

These results showcase that animals are interesting models, not only to understand the basic principles of evolution, but also to help us understand which genes influence some of the phenotypes we are really interested in such as those related to disease. However, its worth pointing out that genetic variants do not necessarily have the same phenotypic effect in different species, and that phenotypes are affected by many other things than variation in coding regions, says Qiang Qiu from Northwestern Polytechnical University, another lead author on the study.

The results have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal, Science Advances.

Reference: A towering genome: Experimentally validated adaptations to high blood pressure and extreme stature in the giraffe by Chang Liu, Jianbo Gao, Xinxin Cui, Zhipeng Li, Lei Chen, Yuan Yuan, Yaolei Zhang, Liangwei Mei, Lan Zhao, Dan Cai, Mingliang Hu, Botong Zhou, Zihe Li, Tao Qin, Huazhe Si, Guangyu Li, Zeshan Lin, Yicheng Xu, Chenglong Zhu, Yuan Yin, Chenzhou Zhang, Wenjie Xu, Qingjie Li, Kun Wang, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Rasmus Heller, Wen Wang, Jinghui Huang and Qiang Qiu, 17 March 2021, Science Advances.DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe9459

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The Trouble With Being Tall: Giraffes Exceptional Anatomy and Suite of Evolutionary Adaptations - SciTechDaily

272 pages $24.95 (hardcover)

Reviewed by Lloyd I Sederer, MD

When the fireball of planet Earth cooled, some 4 billion years ago, land (rock) and water (seas) remained. But no life. Yet, our planet was endowed with the climate and chemicals needed to germinate proto-RNA and DNA. Which, in (lots) of time, fashioned the molecules essential for the creation of life, at first free-floating, then enveloping themselves with permeable perimeters to become single cells, then becoming multicellular organisms, and so forth.

It is an incredible story. Treat yourself to reading this book, and its extraordinary depiction of the human brains evolution so farand where we might be going.

After these not-at-all modest beginnings, Stetka keeps us marching ahead in time: He vividly portrays lifes wondrous journey from our likely common progenitor, the sea sponge (titular for him), to the abundance of life we see today. His time-travel depicts, through elegant science reporting and great storytelling, for example, how this improbable organism, without organs or nervous system, launched us. A tortured {evolutionary} mess ensued, which spawned plant and animal phyla, from which we all are descendants. We have in A History of the Human Brain, a Science Bible, if I mayhow A begat B, which begat C, and so forth. Written by a lone man with clarity, brevity, and humanity. Bravo!

Our guide and narrator, understandably, is particularly fascinated by what he calls, Upright Citizens, particularly chimpanzees, bonobos, apes, and humans (all members of the Family of Hominids). I had no idea how I, too, would become enraptured by this odd lot of fellow creatures (and even more enraptured by human evolution) until I read Stetkas tales. It has been said that a great book cannot be great due to its subject alone; the writer, as well, must be passionate about their subject and infect the reader with that same ardor. Stetka is a keen observer and raconteur. This book, his first, is replete with bon mots, phrases, wise asides, and a sprinkling of irony and humor, which make you want to turn to the individual beside you (in my case, my wife) and say, I gotta read you this! That is what awaits you in 229 pages (plus notes, bibliography, and index)lest you think this book is a door stopper of 1000 pages!

Bret Stetka is a nonpracticing physician; a science writer who frequently contributes to Scientific American and NPR, and whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, WIRED, and Slate, among other publications.

His scope in A History of The Brain is massive, including self-awareness, community, violence, attachment, empathy, problem-solving, birth and death (including grief), tools, sex, genetics, neuroscience, competition, language, the ceremony and ritual (thus spirituality and religion) integral to creating society and culture, symbolic cognition (at the root of creativity), mental disorders, and the awesome and fearful germ-line editing and engineering that CRISPR-Cas9 has introduced.

How did we become us? What were the unique and the universal steps along the way? Where on earth are we headed? Crack open this book and take a read. You will be transported, illuminated, and delighted.

Anearlier versionof this review was published by Psychology Today on March 14, 2021. -Ed

Dr Sedereris a psychiatrist, public health doctor, and medical journalist. He is Adjunct Professor at the Columbia/Mailman School of Public Health. The author's latest book (#13) is Ink-Stained For Life. http://www.askdrlloyd.com

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A History of the Human Brain From the Sea Sponge to CRISPR, How Our Brain Evolved - Psychiatric Times

Express News Service

What makes the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) one of the worlds unique cadre-based organisations is its 96-year journey from a small Indian town to a movement with a global presence without once splitting into factions. Founded in 1925 in Nagpur by Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the RSS has been discussed at length by scholars across nations, more so in the recent past where the occupants of two of the highest offices in India, the President and the Prime Minister, have RSS background.

However, few have provided a holistic view of RSS where the narrative transcends a documental account or a historical perspective and offers an insight into the organisation and the factors that led to its growth. Ratan Shardas RSS: Evolution from an Organization to a Movement adopts a distinctive approach by following the heads of the organisations life and works, six since its inception, to give an insight into how the RSS went from strength to strength.

A member of the Sangh since his childhood, Sharda has also met five of the Sarsanghchaalaks, as the head of the RSS are called, and this is what perhaps makes his perspective distinctive and is also the key in getting to know the Sangh. In addition to his first-hand knowledge, Sharda also accessed scores of documents written in Marathi and Hindi, and lays out factual information along with analysis to comprehend the inner workings of the RSS. While there have been numerous books that follow the journey, much of the understanding of how the organisation transformedas Sharda articulateslies in the personality of the Sarsanghchaalak.

In this aspect, beginning with Dr Hedgewar (1925-1940), MS Golwalkar, fondly called Guruji (1940-1973), Madhukar Dattatraya Balasaheb Deoras (1973-1994), Rajendra Singh Rajju Bhaiya (1994-2000), KS Sudarshan (2000-2009) and Mohan Bhagwat, the present Sarsanghchaalak, Shardas narrative rises beyond mere compilations of the heads. Instead, by juxtaposing the socio-political conditions at the time of their tenure with the persona, the book gives an idea and proper understanding of the organisations flesh and bones.

Until the recent past, most studies on the RSS, no matter how detailed, appeared to be from the outside. Although these accounts offered a look into how the world perceived the organisation, they remained distant when it came to the Sangh. Much of this could be attributed to the media, primarily the English press that for better or worse attached its prejudice. The gap between what it was and how it was seen continued and only increased when the views of a large chunk of Indian polity were either disregarded as it constituted the Opposition.

One can disagree with the RSS activities and even their approach; however, it has played a significant role in Indias social and cultural life. Yet it is strange how an organisation with eight million members that come from all walks of life, 60,000 shakhas across the country, and over 1,00,000 service bodies founded or supported by the Sangh, is still viewed as something shrouded in secrecy.

There is much more when it comes to the RSS between the time it was formed or banned following Mahatma Gandhis assassination, a much-recorded event when offering the history of the RSS, to how it is perceived today. Irrespective of ones stand on the RSS, there is a need to bridge the gap between what the RSS is believed to be and how it operates from within or the principles that guide the average swayamsewak. Few can offer insight and perspective into the RSS like Ratan Sharda, and for those seeking an in-depth understanding of the Sangh, here is an excellent reference.

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'RSS: Evolution from an Organization to a Movement' book review: View from the inside out - The New Indian Express

We dont know much about the upcoming game from Frost Giant Studios, but the teams sights are high. One of the co-founders, Tim Morten, former production lead on Blizzards StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void, says the RTS game will build on whats come before.

We very much want to build a game that feels like an evolution of Blizzard RTS games, Morten told Op Attack, but our influences will include Warcraft III, Broodwar, and StarCraft II. We expect to be as different as those games are to each other. Frost Giant was founded by Morten and Tim Campbell, who was campaign lead designer on Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne.

Frost Giant announced it had received an initial wave of funding in October 2020, allowing for early development of the groups prospective debut. More is needed, however, though Mortens unsure if thatll mean crowdfunding. We havent considered paths for pre-release player funding yet, because were so early in our process, He says. Separate from funding, were very committed to having discourse with the community throughout our development. This is currently happening through the FrostGiant subreddit, and through the monthly newsletter that anyone can sign up to receive at FrostGiant.com.

When Frost Giant revealed itself in October, Morten stated the intention is for whatever the game becomes to be something that players canshare broadly with friends.Current funds are going towards building a prototype.

Blizzards own recent endeavours in the RTS space havent been strong of late;Warcraft 3: Reforged was slated by players for missing features. Our Richard Scott-Jones wrote that its off to the worst possible start for a robust remake of a classic. However, the community has been remaking it themselves to fulfill the need. The company is slowing down onStarCraft 2, after ten years, to focus on whats next.

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Ex-Blizzard devs making RTS game that feels like an evolution of Warcraft 3 and StarCraft 2 - PCGamesN

Gavin Mounce, e-commerce design manager at DS Smith, shares his thoughts on the importance of sustainability in the rapidly growing e-commerce channel and what part the creative community has to play in shaping its future.

Waste and pollution are largely a result of the way we design things? Waste and pollution are not accidents, but the consequences of decisions made at the design stage, where around 80% of environmental impacts are determined. - Ellen Macarthur Foundation

You only have to read a statement like this to understand the important responsibility we have as packaging designers. We make decisions that may seem small and confined to our office or manufacturing site, but they are far reaching and long lasting, adding up to have a tremendous effect on the future of our environment.

How has e-commerce packaging design evolved to become more sustainable?

It has been over 25 years since I first started as a home delivery and e-commerce designer. Looking back I can see how the end users expectations have evolved, which has not only driven development in design, but also the materials and machinery used to make them.

One of the most critical elements in this evolution towards greater sustainability is the development of testing for supply chain suitability. The reason this has had such an influence on e-commerce packaging is that, in the early days, there was little to no knowledge for designers in terms of what was happening during transit.

The only way to see if a pack was suitable for the supply chain was to send it by courier and see what happened when it emerged at the destination. Did the person receiving the parcel take images, why had two identical parcels received different levels of damage and what part of the supply chain did this feature fail?

Making the unknown known was why the DISCS (named after the types of testing - Drop, Impact, Shock, Crush, Shake) process and laboratories were created. It allowed thousands of tests to be run, which supported the growth of our knowledge and insights, which in turn then allowed us to develop channel-specific performance solutions. The new designs developed using this technology ensured that lighter-weight materials could be used and still provide the same, if not increased performance in the supply chain.

We know that it is not only the design that has evolved, but there have also been many changes within the manufacturing processes to improve sustainability. One design that stands out for me was created approximately 30 years ago and, as a testament to its design, still today hundreds of millions are being used annually. Due to innovation and developments in the manufacturing process, this simple folder design has become more sustainable by seeing a 32% decrease in paper weight and doubled the number cut in one pass during manufacturing. This not only reduces the amount of raw material required to produce the design, but also CO2 from the delivery vehicles and energy used to power the machines.

What new design features have been incorporated due to this evolution?

This technology enabled us as designers to view up close what really happened at every step of the supply chain and saw the introduction of a number of new features. Webbed corners, waste used as additional protection, or to reinforce weak points, secure and returnable closures that required no adhesive tapes, and paper alternatives to retention films are just a few. Whilst these evolutions enabled new design features, they also allowed us to fine-tune, develop and understand previous ones like perforated multi-depth cases.

Just how much difference did the perforations reduce the performance of the pack and was the reduction of void fill or volumetric capacity enough to offset the increased material requirements? This ability to test, whilst also having the experience and tools, means we can evaluate without prejudice which one is the most sustainable solution.

What are the advantages of designing sustainable packaging?

First of all, its important to highlight that the days of making a pack from recycled paper and labelling it as environmentally friendly are long gone. Sustainable packaging solutions mean so much more and can cover everything from the sourcing of raw materials to right size designs, volumetric size during transit, and ease of recyclability.

Beyond the most obvious advantage of being better for the environment, sustainable packaging can also provide an enhanced customer experience, support reductions in costs, CO2 emissions and energy usage. There really is no negative to choosing a sustainable packaging solution, only advantages.

What does the future look like for e-commerce packaging and sustainability?

Customer demand and needs have already started to go beyond that of the structural design and print, with a move deeper into materials, supply chain testing and circularity. Although home delivery packaging has greatly evolved over the past 25 years and even more rapidly in the past five years, there are still no signs of innovation slowing down.

The increase of customers wanting their ordered goods when, where, and how they want, means the future will need holistic, agile and circular packaging solutions that fix the pain points closer to the source. No single design, material or process will be the solution to solve all issues, but manufacturers using a combination of their innovations, supply chain understanding and tools will ensure they can apply the right solution to the problem.

Recently, there has been a great shift in focus from just the physical pack design, to now one where we develop end-to-end supply chain solutions. Our recently introduced Circular Design Principles are a great example of supporting this new mindset for our designers and ensuring that the optimal amount of material is used to safely deliver the product, whilst also being kerbside recyclable and ensuring recovery of as much fibre as possible.

You may think that as an individual designer you do not have the ability to make a big change on your own but, as highlighted earlier, 80% of environmental impacts are made at the design stage. This means the key to sustainability is not only a change of mindset on how we design packaging, but also in our numbers, as small changes today made by many, result in big differences tomorrow.

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Evolution of e-commerce in 25 years: towards sustainable packaging - Packaging Europe

Karim Benzema has been in searing hot form scoring eight goals in his last six games his best goalscoring streak as a Real Madrid player highlighting his offensive prowess. The strikers production has risen to new levels since 2018 coinciding with the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. The talismans transfer to Juventus meant Benzema was given the keys to offense with the liberty and responsibility to lead the front line and be the main attacking option.

Benzema has relished the opportunity and has been impressive and dominant in the three seasons since (2018-19 was plagued with misfortune and a carousel of coaches so 2019-20 is truly when Benzema began to unquestionably flourish). The added context regarding Real Madrids continued stagnation and lack of fluidity in the offensive third means his contributions have carried an extra weight.

That aside however, the raw stats speak for themselves. Benzema has easily outmatched his contributions in terms of goals and assist since the end of the 2017-18 season. After Ronaldos transfer, Benzema has now contributed to 107 goals (including assists) in 133 appearances compared to 84 in 131 in the three seasons before that. While his increased material influence on the scoreboard is evident, it is also interesting to note that outside of a recent burst and uptick, Benzema was somewhat maintaining a similar trend even prior to Ronaldos transfer.

Despite Benzemas overwhelming contributions to the current version of Los Blancos, comparing the Frenchmans output to the previous primary attacker by looking at Ronaldos last three seasons with the team shows just how otherworldly the latter was.

Ronaldo contributed to a mindboggling 171 goals (!) in his last 138 games which culminated in the 2018 Champions League. While Ronaldos superiority is known, many will often validly point to penalties as being a key differentiating element that favours him over Benzema as Ramos is the current designated penalty taker. Looking at rough numbers, Ramos has scored approximately 18 penalties since Ronaldo left while the Portuguese scored approximately 21 penalties over the three season stretch included. Even accounting for penalties, Ronaldos level was simply unmatched.

Lastly, to highlight both Benzemas improvement as scoring more is not purely a function of playing better but perhaps adapting to a different role we can take a look at performances without goals and assists. Prior to the Ronaldo transfer, Benzema recorded 73 games without registering a goal / assist which have now decreased to 61 to date.

Ronaldo thanks to his greatness and taking penalties which could have been an advantage recorded zero goals / assists in only 46 games. However, the stat that truly captures Benzemas evolution offensively is that he has nearly doubled his contributions to total team goals (42% compared to 24%) since Ronaldos transfer which is almost as high as the five time Ballon dOr winners contribution in his last three seasons.

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Karim Versus Benzema: The Evolution of Real Madrids Striker - Managing Madrid

EASTHAMPTON Janice Beetle, a longtime writer and editor from Western Mass., has released her second book, Willful Evolution: Because Healing the Heart Takes Strength, through her own publishing imprint, Janice Beetle Books LLC.

In 2010, Beetle was laid off from her full-time job in the Valley, and her late husband, Ed Godleski, died four days later. Beetle tells the story of her grief journey in her first memoir, Divine Renovations, published in 2011. Her new book, Willful Evolution, is a sequel that tells the story of the past decade and how Beetle reinvented herself; revitalized her PR and communications business, Beetle Press; and also created Janice Beetle Books in 2019.

On more personal notes, the book shows how traveling, family, a series of adventures and bad turns, and exercise helped Beetle gain physical and emotional strength and survive online dating.

Willful Evolution is both poignant and funny, she said. My hope is that readers will be inspired to find strength in their own lives, take risks, set new goals, and reinvent themselves.

Beetle compares her book to Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle, and Daring Greatly by Bren Brown.

Through Janice Beetle Books, Beetle also helps authors of all skill levels as well as non-writers carry a book idea through to publication. She also offers writing coaching services.

Beetles books are available at janicebeetlebooks.com, http://www.levellerspress.com/off-the-common-books, and on Amazon.

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Janice Beetle Releases Second Book, 'Willful Evolution' - Business West

Webinar Broadcast Date: Tuesday, 4 May 2021

03h00 New York | 07h00 GMT | 09h00 Johannesburg | 08h00 London | 09h00 Amsterdam | 12h30 New Delhi | 15h00 Singapore | Melbourne

60-Minute Session

STS & DLMS are both international open standards and their convergence supports the development of smart STS solutions with two-way communications, powerful smart meter functionality, while retaining proven STS standards that will continue to ensure secure and upfront collection of revenue for electricity, water and gas service providers for many years to come.

Device Language Message Specification (DLMS) defines a standard language for smart devices and just like STS prepayment meters, smart devices need a globally accepted standard language that ensures interoperability and peace of mind for utilities using metering technology developed according to these standards.

The STS standard (IEC62055-41) has been in place for over 20 years and during this time the DLMS User Association published their set of standards (IEC62056 series) for use in smart metering.

With more than 60 million STS prepayment meters deployed worldwide, the rapid advancement of two-way communications between metering devices has enabled the ongoing evolution of the STS technology to form part of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).

While the STS 20-digit prepayment token has traditionally been entered into the keypad of the prepayment meter or customer interface unit, the advancement in communications now makes it possible for STS tokens to be transmitted remotely from AMI systems to the STS meter via AMI communication gateways.

The DLMS gateway also supports the efficient & remote transmission of the TID Rollover key changes.

What will be covered:

Moderator: Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl, Editor | ESI Africa

Speakers:

Dave Tarr, Director | STS AssociationDon Taylor, Director | STS AssociationFranco Pucci, Technical Consultant | STS Association

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Webinar 4 May: Smart Metering | The Evolution of STS | ESI-Africa.com - ESI Africa