Category Archives: Evolution

University of Toronto researchers have shed light on the evolutionarytransition of whales'early ancestors from on-shore living to deep-sea foraging, suggesting that these ancestors had visual systems that could quickly adapt to the dark.

Their findings show that the common ancestor of living whales was already a deep diver, able to see in the blue twilight zone of the ocean, with eyes that swiftly adjusted to dim conditions as the whale rushed down on a deep breath of surface air.

"In the evolution of whale diving, there's been a long-standing question of when deep-sea foraging evolved," says Belinda Chang, a professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science's departments of ecology and evolutionary biology, and cell and systems biology. "And it seems that based on our data, this happened before toothed and baleen whales diverged. The common ancestor of all living cetaceans was deeper diving and then later species evolved all the diverse foraging specializations we see in modern whales and dolphins today."

Chang worked with Sarah Dungan, a former member of Chang's lab who has a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from U of T, on a study describing their experiments, computational analysis and results in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Deep diving by marine mammals is one of the great evolutionary transitions, along with powered flight and living on land, and reveals much about how quickly life can adapt in a changing world.

Whales evolved from mammals that share a common ancestor with hippos and that were partially aquatic. The great mystery of their transition to deep-sea foraging was how quickly this ability developed. Dungan and Chang looked at whale fossils on a molecular level and focused on the rhodopsin protein, which absorbs light and sends a signal that travels through the retina to the brain.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this iconic land-to-sea evolutionary transition is that the qualities of the visual environment completely changed, says Chang. This helped to define which genes would be the most interesting for us to target in our studies.

Dungan applied robust data science models to rhodopsin proteins from a variety of living whales and related mammals. This computerized analysis revealed a gene sequence representing the rhodopsin found in the common ancestor of all living whales. She expressed this gene in lab-grown cells to resurrectthe predicted protein and experiment on purified samples.

"The fossil record is the gold standard for understanding evolutionary biology, says Dungan. But despite what Jurassic Park would have you believe, extracting DNA from fossil specimens is rare because the condition tends to be poor. So, if youre interested in how genes and DNA are evolving, you rely on mathematical modelling and a strong sample of genes from living organisms to complement what we understand from the fossil record."

Belinda Chang (back left) leads a lab that focuses on the evolutionary transition of animals' vision.Sarah Dungan (right of Chang) researched whale vision as a former member of Changs lab (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Dungan and Chang were astonished by the biochemical properties of the resurrected protein compared to land mammals. Early whale rhodopsin was more sensitive to the blue light that penetrates deepest into the ocean, to a degree that exceeded expectations. Its biochemical properties also suggested that the retinas of early whales could respond rapidly to changes in light levels.

Early whales eventually evolved into the many kinds of toothed whales and baleen whales we see today. As separate species of whale evolved, they established ecological niches at various levels of the sea and even in freshwater rivers. Dungan and Changs work shows that there were further evolutionary adaptations as members of both groups either surfaced from the early deep levels to hunt closer to the surface or specialized to become even more extreme divers.

"Ive always been fascinated by whales, says Dungan. The idea that there was a land mammal like me that eventually evolved to live underwater blew my mind as a kid, even though I really didn't understand exactly what that meant at the time.

It is amazing that nowwe can have this level of insight into the lifestyle of a long-extinct organism, just from doing laboratory experiments on one protein. Ancestral protein resurrection is an incredibly powerful way for us to interrogate how ancient organisms evolved that most people don't know about, she adds.

Next, Dungan and Chang plan to resurrect the ancestral whale proteins that transmit the rhodopsin light signal from the retina to the brain to provide insights into the neurological adaptations associated with deep diving. They will probe ancient evolutionary adaptations associated with new behaviours and hope to gain greater insight into how animals may adapt to a changing world.

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Whales' eyes offer glimpse into their evolution from land to sea: U of T researchers - University of Toronto

To paraphrase Mark Twain reports of the demise of insurance agencies have been greatly exaggerated.

The local agency has been the backbone of the industry and the target of outside forces that have been trying to eliminate or usurp the work role handled by the agency and staff.

Sure, the insurance distribution model is not optimized, but overall, there is no better approach based on the existing industry structure.

These outside forces are leading to the pruning of ineffective processes and improvements to effective methods. The local agency is still standing and evolving to stay relevant and competitive.

There are several major trends that are impacting the insurance industry.

These include agency consolidation, ease of starting a new business, the age gap, and insurtech and artificial intelligence. The first three trends will re-shape the existing industry and the agency business model and gently morph it into a revised structure. However, proponents believe that insurtech and artificial intelligence are disruptors that could totally change the way business is done.

Agency Consolidation

Big brokers have been buying smaller agencies for some time. Some require the agency to adopt a uniform business model, whereas other buyers let the agencies run semi-independently. Either way, more and more agencies have professional management, access to sophisticated tools and services, and connections to a national presence. This trend tracks with consumer expectations to have access to an organization that has broad support but a personalized approach.

Agency consolidation does create formidable competition for small independent agencies. Those still running their own agency need to focus on personal relationships and create ways to service accounts that make them competitive against larger firms. Unfortunately, the small local agency is less competitive with the larger and sophisticated accounts, which boxes them into working with smaller commercial accounts and personal lines.

New Agencies

Today, the ability to start an agency is as easy as it has ever been due to various options that did not exist 50 years ago. An entrepreneur today can start a new agency and access a wide variety of markets through aggregators, networks/clusters, or similar venues.

Access to good standard markets makes the firm viable right away. In the past, a new agency would have to broker business through another agency until they could get enough volume to have their own contract.

Aside from market access, some of these networks, clusters and franchises offer various types of support and different levels of involvement. They can create the benefits of a large national broker while allowing for independent ownership and control over the agency. Some of these organizations offer back-office support, such as accounting, customer service staff, and agency automation systems. Some networks provide risk management services and other tools that allow the smaller agencies to compete on a higher level.

Also important is that clusters, networks, aggregators and franchises are becoming an incubator for new agencies. In some cases, this could be one producer that has all the back-office support outsourced so he/she can focus on sales.

Age Gap

The third trend is an issue faced by all businesses it is a demographic population gap. Baby boomers have and continue to retire. The first boomers turned 65 in 2011; 10,000 boomers turn 65 every day. The youngest boomers are now about 60.

Millennials are now all in the workforce with Generation Z just entering. The issue is that there is a growing population gap because the generation in between boomers and millennials generation X is smaller than both the baby boomers and millennials groups. So, people in their 60s will be replaced by people in their 20s and 30s, because there are fewer people in their late 40s and 50s.

This age gap means an experience gap. The 25-year-plus seasoned producer or manager will be replaced by a person with less than 10 years of experience. The skills and efficiencies built by experience will be lost, while the younger generation comes up to speed.

Insurtech

Finally, there is insurtech, which is the 800-pound gorilla of these trends. Insurtech is the umbrella term now used to cover the usage of technology in the insurance industry.

This trend is a wild card because all the possibilities are truly unknown at this point. However, it looks like it will have a huge impact in the future.

For example, the wide use of self-driving cars is approaching. These cars are expected to be much safer due to technology, and the liability related to driving is expected to be reduced. Also, because the driver is really a passenger with no control, the liability would shift from the car owner to the car manufacturer. If so, the liability portion of personal lines auto policies will be a thing of the past.

This shifting of liability will repeat with other equipment and devices that we use in our daily lives, because those devices will have some sort of technology built in that can monitor performance, how it is used, resolve problems, evaluate surroundings, etc.

Conclusion

For insurance agencies, most likely the next 10 years will be a gentle evolution into a new form. This will be a result of the first three trends as the primary drivers. The number of medium-sized agencies will decrease and larger firms will control much more business. However, the next generation will see the creation of very small and nimble agencies. Basically, it will be salespeople who outsource the service and back-office work. In the long run, the role and even the existence of insurance agencies are very difficult to predict due to the role of technology.

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The Evolution of Insurance Agencies - Insurance Journal

Heng Huang is the Managing Director of Beijing HOT Mining Tech Co Ltd, one of the most innovative and up and coming players in Chinas mineral processing technology and mining equipment markets. His background includes various roles at JohnFinlay Engineering Pty Co Ltd in engineering and project delivery for coal preparation, handling and washing plants, plus as Sales Director conducting EPC project delivery for mining projects at Taggart (Beijing) Engineering Co Ltd.

He was also Chairman at Alpha Industrial Intelligence Holding Co Ltd which was and remains one of the leading players in underground mobile mining equipment (LHD and drill) remote control and automation systems in China. Recently, Beijing HOT Mining Technology and SDGT group jointly established a production base for underground trackless equipment in Jining City, Shandong Province. The first phase of the production line will be mainly used for the production of underground LHDs, underground articulated dump trucks, and drill jumbos for underground mining. The brand of the joint venture is GOOHOT.

At HOT Mining, which has a manufacturing facility in in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, his main achievement has been the development of X-ray ore sorting capabilities using X-ray Transmission (XRT) technology. Through intelligent sorting with XRT, the grade of selected ores can be improved, a large amount of waste rock can be discarded, and valuable minerals in tailings and slag can be recovered and reused, so as to reduce the processing cost of downstream processes like crushing, grinding and flotation. It therefore can greatly improve mine efficiency with resulting economic benefits, and extend the mine life significantly. It has been proven in precious metals and non-ferrous metals such as gold, silver, molybdenum, copper, zinc, tungsten and vanadium amongst others.

Heng Huang, MD of HOT Mining, second from left

The HOT Mining XRT sensor-based intelligent ore sorter Huang says has already been used at numerous locations, including the Silongduo lead-zinc mine in Tibet, China. Silongduo includes exploits two main deposits as well as several unexploited deposits located in the famous Gangdese metallogenic belt at an altitude of 4,810-5,600 m. It had stopped production for some years due to financial problems before HOT Mining technology was introduced. HOT Mining was entrusted as the long-term partner to carry on the trusteeship and operation of its Silongdo beneficiation plant. Huang comments: We did a deep investigation of current processing technology and concluded that XRT-based sorting technology would be the most effective choice as it can achieve rapid recovery production and lower operation costs. With the application of an XRT ore sorter, Silongduo lead-zinc mine can make a profit of CNY40 million per year with a CNY8/t cost. The rate of recovery of Ag, Pb and Zn is between 95 and 98%.

Moving to Indonesia, a container type XRT1800 from HOT Mining has been used at the Meiji coal mine. Huang told IM: This is a typical case for container type XRT sensor-based ore sorter application in coal processing. The client has 200,000 t of raw coal in the yard which requires gangue removal before it can be sold. The client was looking for processing equipment that would not need too much civil engineering investment, but with flexibility of the utilisation rates. Our container type XRT sensor-based ore sorter ticks these boxes. It can also be put into operation very quickly and offers great mobility for transportation. The container type XRT sensor-based ore sorter was applied to 50-300mm lump coal in Meiji coal mine. After processing by the XRT ore sorter, the lump coal is transported to the lump coal product warehouse by a clean coal belt conveyor, and the gangue is transported to the gangue dump by the gangue belt conveyor.

HOT Mining XRT1800 at Meiji coal mine in Indonesia

A third example is an XRT1600 put into operation at Hongzhuang gold mine in Henan province, China. Hongzhuang gold mine is a typical structurally altered rock type gold deposit. At present, the total amount of gold resources obtained is 40.956 t, where 6.244 t have been mined, and 34.712 t remain. The XRT1600 has been put into operation to optimise the existing beneficiation process and reduce the subsequent beneficiation cost.

The HOT Mining offering also includes CCD Colour Sorting; another method of material separation based on image recognition and machine learning technology. In mining, the ore colour sorter is also commonly called sensor-based sorting technology. Optical colour sorters (CCD colour cameras) combine X-ray sorting technology and NIR (near infrared spectrometry) to pick out the impurities in mined industrial minerals for removal or separate the stream into two or more categories. It can be used to process raw materials for use in the construction, cement and gravel industry after step-by-step processing such as crushing, grading, colour separation and grinding. The preparation of non-metallic minerals is particularly important as after colour sorting, the material has higher purity and a more uniform colour, which can significantly increase its saleable value. The CCD colour sorting technology has just recently been released but is set to be used in quartz, fluorspar and barytes operations.

Last but not least, HOT Mining has an on-line laser-induced plasma spectrometry (LIPS) element analyser. A major issue in coal preparation plants is the accurate online and real-time measurement of ash content. LIPS is an element measurement technology based on the basic principles that the wavelength of the atomic spectrum and ion spectrum has a one-to-one correspondence with specific elements, and the spectral signal intensity has a certain quantitative relationship with the content of corresponding elements.

Aerial view of Silongduo lead zinc mine processing operation in Tibet, China

Using high-energy pulsed lasers (several nanoseconds of time width) to irradiate the coal surface, a high temperature of more than 10,000 degrees is generated in the range of several microns, causing the coal to form a plasma in this area, and various elements in the plasma will emit light. Measuring this spectrum can obtain the content information for each element.

The industrial testing of the LIPS system was carried out in the Pangpangta coal preparation plant located in Shanxi province, China from November 2020 to July 2021. Huang says that the test results show that the laser ash measuring instrument offers simple maintenance and stable working conditions, even with high humidity, high dust, high vibration and wide temperature ranges. For repeated detection of the same coal sample, the absolute error of the machine is 0.2%, and the absolute error with the manual test result is 0.3%, which meets the requirements of the Chinese national standard for detection error. LIPS is also being used at the Yueliangtian coal preparation plant of Panjiang Group in Guizhou Province and the Longwanggou coal preparation plant of Datang Group in Inner Mongolia.

HOT Mining is not the only player in this growing Chinese market a major competitor is HPY Sorting Technology Co Ltd, established in Ganzhou, Jiangxi. It has supplied its HPY XRT Series to ZW Tungsten, Yunnan Phosphate and a number of other sites. It also offers its Circle Series which it says improves ore sorting accuracy and the feed rate while also reducing the space required for traditional XRT sorting machines.

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HOT Mining and the evolution of ore sorting in China - International Mining

First meeting in elementary school, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers began performing by the time they were in high school in Decatur, Georgia, calling themselves a number of different names before landing on Indigo Girls in 1985. The folk duo released their debut Strange Fire in 1987 and a self-titled follow-up by 1989, which earned them a Grammy Award in 1990 for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Now 15 albums in, the Indigo Girls had just released their most recent album, Look Long, when the pandemic hit in 2020, and were forced to cancel their tour. Ray and Saliers regrouped with members of their backing band along with featured guests from around the world to create a career-spanning concert special, Look Long: Together, which was recorded in Atlanta at 800 East Studio and Brighter Shade Studios, owned by Zac Brown Bands John Driskell Hopkins.

On Look Long, Brady Blue laid down drums from his home in Stockholm, Sweden; guitarist Jeff Fielder added electric rhythm guitars, dobro slide guitar, and mandolin from Seattle; keyboardist Carol Isaacs and bassist Clare Kenny sent tracks from London, England; violinist Lyris Hung recorded from New York City. In the film, everyone was streamed in from wherever they were in the world London, Stockholm, and Seattle.

We were so bummed about that summer tour because the band that we had put together our dream band, Ray told American Songwriter earlier this year. Theyre people that were our barometers, our musical parameters in life, and we were just psyched because we hadnt toured with a band in a long time. It was all going to come together, and was a combo of all the people we loved to play with over the years.

Continuing to work on individual solo projects and new Indigo Girls material, Saliers and Ray spoke to American Songwriter about how theyve gotten better at songwriting, remain connected to inspirations and stories surrounding them, and the longevity of Indigo Girls.

American Songwriter: Now 35-plus years into doing this, do you feel like songs come to you in the same way? How has this shifted overthe years?

Amy Ray: Hopefully Im better. I was really faking it till I made it in those days. I was so young and didnt know a lot and was too precious sometimes, and not willing to listen to what other people had to say about writing or production. And Ive learned a lot. Now my writing has changed in that I just am willing to take it apart and really tear it down to its minimal state, to whats working and whats not, and really be willing to give stuff up and not lean on sentiment and try to be objective. I have a few people that I really trust, other songwriters, and producers that I will turn to and say Im having trouble with this, what do yall think? I would have never done that 20 years ago, but my process has changed a bit. Im just more open to criticism and always willing to edit stuff out. I have more curiosity about it, too. I dont look at it as a bad day when I have to lose a chorus or change a bridge. Ijust think of it as a curiosity of what would happen if I did this instead.

Music is supposed to be fun. Have fun with it. Play around with it. Change the chords out. Use a minor instead of a major, and see what happens. Just be curious. It doesnt have to be that heavy. You dont have to be so precious about everything. Its not the end of the world. Youre a songwriter. Youre not like fighting a war in Ukraine. Youre supposed to be providing a haven and some kind of break for people. It doesnt mean you cant talk about the hard stuff. It just means you have to tell the story in a way thats not so hard for people to get.

Emily Saliers: The only difference between now and decades ago is that we both have a sort of regimen where we go into our office, kind of like a day job. When I was very young, I was always writing. The muse was always visiting. Now, its a little bit more of constructing songs with discipline and focus. I think Ive grown as a writer. I think I may have written some songs that are pretty good from way back when. I feel more consistently like the writer I want to be, and Im becoming that writer.

You also keep getting influenced by other artists and art and life and things going on in the world. Theres always something to inspire you. We still both feel very inspired to write.

AS: It sounds like youre both still very influenced by whats happening around you, and within, and can transfer that into lyrics. What else is inspiring you now?

ES: Amy lives in a rural area, and she takes a lot of her inspiration from what she sees around her in the natural world. I do a lot of digging into my past to come up with stuff for songs, but one of the ways I like to grow as a writer is to listen to other peoples stories and write about them as if they were my own. I really love Bonnie Raitts new album [Just Like That]. That song about the guy who shows up with her sons heart [Just Like That]. You wouldnt know that it was someone elses story. I think her new album is her very best. Ive listened to all of her music and love her, but that song is an example of what Id like to do more as a writer, take someone elses story and make it my own.

AS: When do you know a song is resonating with others?

ES: You can tell when a song resonates emotionally with an audience. I feel the utmost gratitude for the people who come to our shows, and who stick with us. There are always people that really want to hear the old stuff, and thats cool. I understand that. Sometimes when I go to see one of my favorite bands, I want to hear the songs that Ive known, that I grew up with, and that shaped my life, but our fans were particularly interested in hearing new stuff as well. They kind of grew up with our music and live with our music, and it allows us to keep playing and they keep coming back to shows, so were really grateful for the longevity.

AS: Now that the songs of Look Long are out, whats next individually and for Indigo Girls?

ES: Im working on two different musicals, so most of my current writing is directed towards that, but Amy and I started talking about when well make our next album. Basically, I set aside a certain amount of time, and then I focus all my efforts into writing my songs for the next Indigo Girls album.

AR: I just finished making a solo record. I have a country band, and I started making solo records in 2000punk and rock stuff, then moved to the country. The stuff I was writing about after Look Long was informed by the dismantling of racism. Some of it was also informed by just trying to write a record that was about comfort, like having camaraderie across divisions because of all the isolation of COVID. Then some of it was informed by things like climate change. Nothing is literal. Its all just images and storytelling because country [music] is different. Its so much about stories, so I wanted to write a record that was about healing, and about people knowing that they werent alone.

I write all the time. During the pandemic, I lived in the woods on 80 acres and had an absolute place of heaven. I was just with my family in a bubble. I built a treehouse and used my dads tools. He passed away [in 2013], but that also made me think about him and want to write about him.

Main Photo: Rounder Records

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Writer's Block: Indigo Girls on Their Evolution of Songwriting - American Songwriter

The research was led by postdoctoral associate and evolutionary biologist Justin Wilcox.

Falcons are an ideal model for studying the process of evolution as there is an ongoing emergence of new falcon species and extreme variation in environments and habitats that falcons occupy, the university said. Additionally, falcons have a unique genomic arrangement relative to other animals, including other birds.

Falcons are important species to the culture, commerce, and conservation efforts in the Middle East and North Africa region, but this studys findings suggest that falcons may also have a special role to play in illuminating how and why genetic material is organised in the way that it is.

In a new paper titled Linked-Read Sequencing of Eight Falcons Reveals a Unique Genomic Architecture in Flux, Wilcox and colleagues presented new genomes for eight falcons, and analysed how the unique genomic structure of falcons has influenced their evolution. The researchers found that falcon genomes are now evolving in a way that is more similar to processes observed in mammals. Specifically, they report falcons as the first birds that demonstrate an evolutionary process known as AT-GC disequilibrium, which is previously only well-documented in mammals.

The team sequenced the genome of the lanner falcon for the first time in the species history, in addition to producing two new genomes for gyrfalcons, three new genomes for peregrine falcons including the first-ever reference genomes for two peregrine subspecies -- and a new genome for the saker falcon and the common kestrel. Together, these species represent all the falcon species most commonly used in falconry.

Falcons are unique in the speed and success with which they have spread across the globe and colonised new environments. Our findings highlight that their evolution is also unique among birds at the molecular level. This research also leads the way for the future study of falcon genomes to improve ancestry tests and hybrid detection, genomic trait mapping, and determination of genomic differences between species, Wilcox said.

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Why NYU Abu Dhabi researchers are studying the evolution of falcons - Gulf News

It is not an entirely new thought, since over the last 20 years films themselves have increasingly sought to establish themselves as incredible, magnificent, unique, and unmissable experiences, in order to make people want to pay for the movie ticket. They have done this with ever more ambitious and expensive productions, stories that are ever more gigantic and technically so complex as to convince audiences that those films deserve the be seen in the movie theatre. Above all, they have done it by relying on powerful marketing, which starts even a year before the films release in the case of the most expensive ones. Only in the theatres can one see Batman, Fast & Furious, or Christopher Nolans latest film before everyone does, and only in the theatres can one fully enjoy their qualities, because these films fully exploit the big screen, great sound, and advanced technologies.

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The future of the cinema lies in the evolution of its architecture - Domus

Ever since she was young, Waldoboro resident Raechale Rae Sage has been involved in a wide variety of ever-changing pursuits in a quest for knowledge and self-improvement.

Sage has always been aggressively curious, she said during an interview on July 19.

Ive always been a person who has to have my hands in multiple things to balance myself, Sage said.

Among her extracurricular activities while in high school at Erskine Academy in South China, Sage was a writing tutor, played soccer, wrestled, founded the photography club, and was in the physics club and National Honor Society, among other things.

I was into everything, Sage said with a laugh.

Nowadays, Sage runs a massage therapy practice, Sirius Somatics, at 49 Main St., Unit 1 in downtown Damariscotta and works at Lost and Found Farm in Dresden.

Since December 2021, the business has grown steadily by word-of-mouth. Sage said she would be comfortable with a few more clients, but doesnt want to become too busy.

I want enough space and energy to give whoever does come to me the best experience and really be as present as possible with them, Sage said.

A reiki class inspired Sage to attend the Downeast School of Massage in Waldoboro last year and incorporate reiki into her practice.

Reiki is a Japanese energy healing technique that promotes relaxation, reduces stress and anxiety through gentle touch, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Sage is also very into swimming in as many different bodies of water as possible and is always looking for new swimming spots to check out.

Ive had so many moments of clarity while swimming, Sage said.

The water is what ultimately brought her back to Maine from South Dakota after six years in the U.S. Air Force.

Sage grew up in Florida on the Gulf Coast, moving around with her family. When she was 13, the family returned to Maine.

I spent a lot of time running around, climbing trees, and eating mulberries, and spending all day by the water, Sage said about her time in Florida.

After one year at the University of Maine in Orono, unsure of how to pay for college and discovering it wasnt a good fit at the time anyway, Sage joined the Air Force in 2014.

She worked in intelligence, analyzing and researching data and alerting others to threats. She was deployed to Afghanistan for a six-month tour, but spent much of the time stationed in South Dakota.

Its a very multifaceted job, Sage said of intelligence.

Sage credits her forged in the fire experience with giving her a concrete sense of what I wanted to do with my life.

Although some of the experience was uncomfortable and unpleasant, Sage said it was ultimately beneficial for developing self-knowledge and learning more about the international community.

Its as important to learn what you dont want to do as it is to learn what you do, Sage said.

After returning to Maine, Sage worked on a few different farms before enrolling in the Downeast School of Massage and eventually buying a house in Waldoboro where she now lives with her partner.

Sage has always been a creative person, she said, and enjoys writing poetry, making short films, and planning parties and perfect Maine days where you swim, then you get some seafood, then theres a music festival, and you spend time with your friends.

Sage is also interested in bringing people together to exchange ideas in person and discuss how people can help each other locally and affect each others lives in a positive way.

For more information on Sirius Somatics, find the business on Instagram.

(Do you have a suggestion for a Characters of the County subject? Emailinfo@lcnme.comwith the subject line Characters of the County.)

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Characters of the County: The Continuous Evolution of Rae Sage - The Lincoln County News

Brad Wills explores some of the pros and cons of using EVs for home energy resiliency

Theres no doubt that demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is skyrocketing. Already over 112,000 plug-in EVs (hybrid and battery) have been sold in 2022. Beyond the benefits this will have on the environment, the trend provides a new opportunity for our energy ecosystem considering that newly developed EVs can be used as a backup power source for the home. However, its critically important to understand what using EVs as alternate energy sources means for the wider grid.

With hurricane season approaching and natural gas prices skyrocketing, home resiliency is already a crucial requirement of homeowners. EVs identified and promoted for their home powering capabilitiesas seen with the recently released Ford F-150 Lightningare swiftly growing in popularity as a potential energy source. Yet, consumers are often purchasing these cars without much thought on the potential safety issues, or what using an EV as a generator means at a granular level. What do these smart solutions mean for our energy ecosystem? What immediate steps must be taken to avoid grid failure?

Although there are high hopes that internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles will be replaced by EVs, their gas-powered generator counterparts still have a role to play in the home resiliency conversation. As many in Texas learned last year, adding a generator to a home electricity plan cannot be an after-thought. Homes must be pre-wired to allow for easy and more importantly safe use of a generator, and roadblocks must be in place to prevent power from streaming back onto the grid.

The truth is that when using renewable energy sources like EVs for power, the installation process is not straightforward. This stems from how homes have traditionally been wired: metaphorically, powering the home was previously a one-way street. As we add more sources of renewable energy (rooftop solar, batteries, and now EVs), that street becomes a highway and more complicated to navigate.

When a home has two or three solutions in play, the system progresses even further and resembles a full-fledged interstate that requires additional (and just as complex) technologies for effective and safe operation. Without these safeguards, theres a heightened risk of sending power back out to the grid, creating a dangerous situation for all. Line workers have been severely injured and killed due to secondary sources of power not being isolated from the utilities electrical grid.

Despite many complexities and challenges, theres no doubt we need to give homeowners multiple options for backup or alternate power, especially with ongoing questions around power grid resiliency and societys growing desire to become more sustainable. However there remains a large aspiration-action gap for sustainable change to happen, especially at the federal level as the US has just begun to acknowledge the need to invest more in its utility infrastructure, with the recent push to modernise and expand capacity of the power grid.

Despite slow momentum in this space, there are solutions available that allow homeowners to use their EV as a source of powertheyre just not as simple as we wish they could be. To properly use an EV as a backup generator, disconnecting other electric lines and ensuring one-way flow is not only necessary, its crucial. At the consumer level, solutions such as Schneider Electrics Square D Energy Centerare capable of streamlining the required architecture to support bidirectional charging.

While there are immediate actions consumers can take to safely leverage their new EVs power, they are only band-aid solutions for the time being. Driving reliable home energy must involve more than just homeowners; governments and suppliers must also play their part. By working in tandem, governments with the power to fund energy infrastructure transformations, suppliers in charge of developing safe renewable solutions, and consumers interested in such technology have the power to make (safe) home energy resiliency the norm. Through this collective effort, interest in energy resiliency will increase along with the necessary funding to make it accessible. Only then will the outages and failures commonly experienced in recent years become less prevalent, and homeowners will be able to live a more energy resilient future.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Automotive World Ltd.

Brad Wills is Director of Strategic Customers & Programs at Schneider Electric

The Automotive World Comment column is open to automotive industry decision makers and influencers. If you would like to contribute a Comment article, please contact editorial@automotiveworld.com

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What does the EV evolution mean for home energy resiliency and the wider power grid? - Automotive World

Business travel changed during the pandemic, but as the industry recovers, many are questioning what changes may be permanent.

While digitalization accelerated as consumers were driven online, expectations of technology and the booking process have increased in parallel.

Creating a leisure travel booking experience for business travel has been the goal for some time, but it remains elusive.

The development of a consumer-grade experience for business travelers was up for discussion by executives from Egencia and TripActions during the Phocuswright Europe 2022 conference.

Chevawn Blum, senior product marketing manager for TripActions, says the industry will know when it has achieved that consumer grade experience through the level of adoption of the technology.

"You need to look at whether your travelers are using the platform. Do I have full visibility? Is everyone booking on the platform? Something that TripActions prides itself on is the adoption of the platform. If youve got a great experience, if youve got a mobile device that works well and if you can book, change, cancel flights, hotels, car - all on the go on your phone, without having to boot up your laptop, you have a really good indication that you have consumer level experience."

Alongside Ronan Bergez, head of worldwide SME sales for Egencia, Blum also discusses how the voice of the consumer, or traveler, is becoming louder in the decision-making process.

Both also see opportunity for the role of travel managers to evolve further with many already seeing themselves as people, experience or wellbeing managers.

Bergez says: "There's a great opportunity for travel manager to now operate as a chief journey officer and at the same time its another opportunity for travel managers to have more impact and connect travel with all of a company's goals - whether sustainability, happiness, sales, retention or innovation - theres now a clear correlation and we believe travel managers who manage to implement a strong travel culture will manage to unlock their companys culture and success."

Watch the full session with Egencia's Ronan Bergez and TripAction's Chevawn Blum, moderated by Phocuswright senior vice president of research and product strategy Charuta Fadnis below:

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Egencia and Tripactions on business travel evolution - PhocusWire

Infillion, an advertising platform built for the connected future, today revealed a new study exploring the evolution of streaming advertising as it relates to more relevant, personalized and interactive experiences.Conducted in partnership with market research providerIpsos, the findings reveal the relationship of ad formats and lengths to attention metrics and explores consumer sentiment around marketers paradox, privacy vs. the clear desire for more personalization.

The study also shows that consumers know their value when it comes to viewing media and that they are willing to share personal data and time in exchange for more relevant advertisements.

Key findings were based on 2,500 U.S. consumer responses and they revealed:

Overwhelming ad frequency is the most widely reported reason consumers avoid ads, while half of consumers see tailored ads as good or helpful if theyre relevant to their interests. The need for outstanding creative has never been more crucial.

When it comes to viewing media, consumers know their value.Consumers want marketers to reward them for their time with more personalized content that speaks to more premium experiences.

Consumers are open to the collection of data for advertising purposes, and as a result, expect more personalized content and offers in exchange for their time and attention.

The research underscores that in a new, more advanced media world, advertisers have an opportunity to capture more, not less, consumer time, attention and data. This is an especially powerful call to arms for marketers who have been focused on shorter, fewer ads and asking for less relevant data. The research clearly suggests that relevancy and innovation are central to engagement in the future, according to Jamie Auslander, SVP, Research & Analytics, Infillion.

In response to the study, Infillion is launchingXtendedViewlater this year, a long-form video ad unit, up to two minutes in length, that consumers opt-in to watch allowing brands to deepen storytelling and education for targeted audiences. Viewers exposed to an XtendedView ad will receive less ads throughout their content viewing experience, focusing their attention on a singular brand message rather than the jarring experience of several ads stacked against each other. XtendedView is purpose-built to address opportunities for entertainment companies to share full-length trailers; for healthcare companies to engage with more personalized stories; for candidates to share their platforms in political ads and for other expressive storytelling.

To download a copy of the full report, visithere.

Methodology: From December 13-December 21, 2021, 2,500 consumers in the United States were contacted via email and asked to respond to a survey about their media consumption and shopping behaviors. Commissioning of the study was completely blind and confidential as the survey was entirely administered and hosted by the market research provider, Ipsos, and Observer team. Respondents were screened to ensure audience sampling was representative of the U.S. streaming video viewer population and additionally balanced for key census-based demographics.

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Evolution of Media in a Streaming Dominated World - Martechcube