Daily Archives: April 2, 2021

The writer is chief investment officer at Invesco

The market consensus will tell you there is no technology sector in Europe. Sure, there is the odd global beacon in ASML, SAP or Spotify but they are exceptions that prove the rule.

If an investor wants technology, growth and innovation they go to the US or Asia. Europe is there in the minds of many investors to provide added cyclical spice at specific points within the economic cycle.

Technology is a broad church, however, and while social media platforms and much of the semiconductor supply chain are US and Asia dominated, there are vibrant technological subsectors such as fintech and healthcare where the field is far more open. And in the case of green innovation and technology, Europe has a genuine opportunity to lead.

The factors behind the establishment of the US technology hub, Silicon Valley, contributed significantly to its success, namely technical expertise, access to capital and political impetus. The region combined a skilled scientific research base in local universities such as Stanford, access to plentifulventure capital, and government spending focused on finding technological solutions to the global military/space race.

Similar ingredients exist in terms of Europes position in the environmental transition expertise from its engineering base, significant funding and the clear political will to drive change.

One could argue that the modern-day equivalent of the space race is the race to carbon net zero by 2050, certainly in terms of urgency.

No other region is so focused on that target as Europe. While Green party politics did not start in Europe (that credit goes to the United Tasmania Group of Australia founded in March 1972), Germanys Green political movement which fought its first federal election in 1980 was the first to gain widespread credibility and influence. As such, environmental considerations have had a seat at the political table in Europe for many years.

The Green revolution is a huge task and extremely capital intensive. According to a report by the Energy Transitions Council, published in September last year, achieving net zero emissions by 2050 would cost an estimated $1tn-$2tn per year, or 1-1.5 per cent of global GDP.

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Rather than private VC firms backing the ideas coming out of a Palo Alto garage, this requires commitment at governmental level to drive the societal shifts required to achieve wholesale transformation; regulations to force changes in supply; subsidies to drive demand, and vast fiscal spending to create the infrastructure required to transition the economy from fossil fuels to renewables in the future.

It is no accident that Europes response to the Covid pandemic centred its 750bn fiscal European Recovery Fund on promoting a Green recovery, combining financial firepower with the full might of regulatory power in pursuit of moving corporates, institutions and investors towards that goal.

Political support for green solutions combines with the engineering skillsets embedded in the great corporate successes of Europe in industries such as chemical, automotive, power generation, industrial, construction and utilities.

Required changes include the mass electrification of power systems using renewable energy which will be the foundation of a net zero economy. Europe is home to leading wind turbine manufacturers (Vestas, Nordex and Siemens Gamesa) while its power generators include super major leaders in green production (Enel, EDP, Iberdrola and Orsted).

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Hydrogen is a strongly emerging theme in terms of greening heavy industry and transportation. Sector leaders in Europe include Plastic Omnium, Elring Klinger and Burckhardt Compression. The region also has leadership in auto electrification with semiconductor companies Infineon and STMicro.

Technologies have been developed to reduce energy consumption in buildings and construction where Europe has companies such as Saint Gobain, Wienerberger and Signify. Europe also is home to worldwide leaders in the circular economy for waste and water management such as Veolia and Suez. And there are so many more across the market capitalisation scale.

Competition in this space will surely increase as the global political impetus and spend accelerates, notably in the US and China. But the growth on offer is an opportunity for shareholders and stakeholders to be truly aligned. European companies will be very much in contention.

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Europe's chance to lead the green technology race - Financial Times

For the past year, the public has looked to the science community to develop countermeasures for COVID-19, from models of the virus structure and how it spreads, to novel tests and treatments. Researchers have risen to the occasion, as exemplified by vaccines produced at a speed faster than many thought possible. But our job is far from done. Americans will depend on scientists for new technologies to help us navigate this pandemic and recover from it, for innovations that can help our economy bounce back, and for solutions to other critical issues facing our country, such as racial equity and climate change.

We are on the precipice of revolutionary advances in science and engineering that will directly benefit the world. And now is the time for a new national commitment to invest in research that leads directly to major societal and economic outcomes. Such an effort will require strengthening our innovation networks at speed and scale.

Curiosity-driven, discovery-based explorations and use-inspired, solutions-focused innovations are indeed the double helix that makes up the DNA of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The scientific pursuit of knowledge and understanding cannot be separated from the development of new technological capabilities. And in turn, those new capabilities allow us to pursue new research questions that were either unseen or out of our reach.

For the past 70 years, NSF has made transformative impacts possible through strategic, long-term commitments to advancing the entire spectrum of research, and through partnerships to catalyze new ideas, new discoveries, and new technologies.

Decades of investment have positioned the U.S. as the world leader in curiosity-driven research and resulted in breakthroughs in emerging fields from renewable energy to quantum computing and artificial intelligence. These discoveries have also resulted in translation of those research and innovations that have changed the world from smart phones to 3-D printing and much more.

To accelerate translation of knowledge to innovation outcomes requires looking at all the components that make it possible partnerships, infrastructure and most importantly, people. NSF helps nourish scientific careers by providing the support needed for researchers to explore bold ideas. Take for example, the multitude of programs, fellowships and career awards NSF provides to strengthen pathways into STEM fields, increase diversity and expand our reach into communities where talent exists.

Or look to NSF Innovation Corps, an education program that endows researchers with entrepreneurial skills to take their research from their lab to the market, leading to the creation of nurse robots at hospitals, the ability to find victims of human trafficking using AI, a device that recycles waste carbon dioxide into chemicals and fuels, and air purification for clinical environments.

How do we scale the impacts of examples like these? We bring more people into the fold, from diverse backgrounds. And we break down barriers between academic researchers, industry, nonprofits, and state and local communities. NSF has experience in this area through the relationships we have built with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and efforts like the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, also known as EPSCoR, which increases research capabilities and capacity in targeted jurisdictions.We see the results in places like Alaska, where NSF has invested$20 million to support a research collaborationto produce improved models of how wildfires spread a critical local issue as climate change shrinks glaciers and creates new risks for forests.

Imagine the impact of creating engines of economic and talent development like these in every state, working on a range of crucial issues facing society and ensuring global competitiveness. Imagine networks of innovation that bring together people from a range of socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds, to tackle such challenges. NSF is taking this model to the next level empowering regional innovation hubs across the country to cultivate the dynamic collaborations necessary to tackle 21st-century science and engineering challenges.

Our nation is at a tipping point. We have a choice to make. We can unleash the full power of U.S. innovation, or we can risk diminished relevance. The choice is obvious, but we need to make it now.

Together, we must leverage all resources to speed pandemic recovery, strengthen our economy, and respond to environmental challenges. We can face these grand challenges together and make incredible discoveries in ways we have never done before. NSF is well positioned and ready to be that catalyst of innovation to make all of this possible.

Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan is a computer scientist and engineer and the 15th director of the U.S. National Science Foundation.

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We need to strengthen and accelerate US science and technology progress | TheHill - The Hill

There are thousands of distortion filters available on major social platforms, with names like La Belle, Natural Beauty, and Boss Babe. Even the goofy Big Mouth on Snapchat, one of social medias most popular filters, is made with distortion effects.

In October 2019, Facebook banned distortion effects because of public debate about potential negative impact. Awareness of body dysmorphia was rising, and a filter called FixMe, which allowed users to mark up their faces as a cosmetic surgeon might, had sparked a surge of criticism for encouraging plastic surgery. But in August 2020, the effects were re-released with a new policy banning filters that explicitly promoted surgery. Effects that resize facial features, however, are still allowed. (When asked about the decision, a spokesperson directed me to Facebooks press release from that time.)

When the effects were re-released, Rocha decided to take a stand and began posting condemnations of body shaming online. She committed to stop using deformation effects herself unless they are clearly humorous or dramatic rather than beautifying and says she didnt want to be responsible for the harmful effects some filters were having on women: some, she says, have looked into getting plastic surgery that makes them look like their filtered self.

Krista Crotty is a clinical education specialist at the Emily Program, a leading center on eating disorders and mental health based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Much of her job over the past five years has focused on educating patients about how to consume media in a healthier way. She says that when patients present themselves differently online and in person, she sees an increase in anxiety. People are putting up information about themselveswhether its size, shape, weight, whateverthat isnt anything like what they actually look like, she says. In between that authentic self and digital self lives a lot of anxiety, because its not who you really are. You dont look like the photos that have been filtered.

There's just somewhat of a validation when you're meeting that standard, even if it's only for a picture."

For young people, who are still working out who they are, navigating between a digital and authentic self can be particularly complicated, and its not clear what the long-term consequences will be.

Identity online is kind of like an artifact, almost, says Claire Pescott, the researcher from the University of South Wales. Its a kind of projected image of yourself.

Pescotts observations of children have led her to conclude that filters can have a positive impact on them. They can kind of try out different personas, she explains. They have these of the moment identities that they could change, and they can evolve with different groups.

But she doubts that all young people are able to understand how filters affect their sense of self. And shes concerned about the way social media platforms grant immediate validation and feedback in the form of likes and comments. Young girls, she says, have particular difficulty differentiating between filtered photos and ordinary ones.

Pescotts research also revealed that while children are now often taught about online behavior, they receive very little education about filters. Their safety training was linked to overt physical dangers of social media, not the emotional, more nuanced side of social media, she says, which I think is more dangerous.

Bailenson expects that we can learn about some of these emotional unknowns from established VR research. In virtual environments, peoples behavior changes with the physical characteristics of their avatar, a phenomenon called the Proteus effect. Bailenson found, for example, that people who had taller avatars were more likely to behave confidently than those with shorter avatars. We know that visual representations of the self, when used in a meaningful way during social interactions, do change our attitudes and behaviors, he says.

But sometimes those actions can play on stereotypes. A well-known study from 1988 found that athletes who wore black uniforms were more aggressive and violent while playing sports than those wearing white uniforms. And this translates to the digital world: one recent study showed that video game players who used avatars of the opposite sex actually behaved in a way that was gender stereotypical.

Bailenson says we should expect to see similar behavior on social media as people adopt masks based on filtered versions of their own faces, rather than entirely different characters. The world of filtered video, in my opinionand we havent tested this yetis going to behave very similarly to the world of filtered avatars, he says.

Considering the power and pervasiveness of filters, there is very little hard research about their impactand even fewer guardrails around their use.

I asked Bailenson, who is the father of two young girls, how he thinks about his daughters use of AR filters. Its a real tough one, he says, because it goes against everything that were taught in all of our basic cartoons, which is Be yourself.

Bailenson also says that playful use is different from real-time, constant augmentation of ourselves, and understanding what these different contexts mean for kids is important.

Even though we know its not real We still have that aspiration to look that way.

What few regulations and restrictions there are on filter use rely on companies to police themselves. Facebooks filters, for example, have to go through an approval process that, according to the spokesperson, uses a combination of human and automated systems to review effects as they are submitted for publishing. They are reviewed for certain issues, such as hate speech or nudity, and users are also able to report filters, which then get manually reviewed.

The company says it consults regularly with expert groups, such as the National Eating Disorders Association and the JED Foundation, a mental-health nonprofit.

"We know people may feel pressure to look a certain way on social media, and we're taking steps to address this across Instagram and Facebook," said a statement from Instagram. "We know effects can play a role, so we ban ones that clearly promote eating disorders or that encourage potentially dangerous cosmetic surgery procedures And we're working on more products to help reduce the pressure people may feel on our platforms, like the option to hide like counts."

Facebook and Snapchat also label filtered photos to show that theyve been transformedbut its easy to get around the labels by simply applying the edits outside of the apps, or by downloading and reuploading a filtered photo.

Labeling might be important, but Pescott says she doesnt think it will dramatically improve an unhealthy beauty culture online.

I dont know whether it would make a huge amount of difference, because I think its the fact were seeing it, even though we know its not real. We still have that aspiration to look that way, she says. Instead, she believes that the images children are exposed to should be more diverse, more authentic, and less filtered.

Theres another concern, too, especially since the majority of users are very young: the amount of biometric data that TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook have collected through these filters. Though both Facebook and Snapchat say they do not use filter technology to collect personally identifiable data, a review of their privacy policies shows that they do indeed have the right to store data from the photographs and videos on the platforms. Snapchats policy says that snaps and chats are deleted from its servers once the message is opened or expires, but stories are stored longer. Instagram stores photo and video data as long as it wants or until the account is deleted; Instagram also collects data on what users see through its camera.

Meanwhile, these companies continue to concentrate on AR. In a speech made to investors in February 2021, Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel said our camera is already capable of extraordinary things. But it is augmented reality thats driving our future, and the company is doubling down on augmented reality in 2021, calling the technology a utility.

And while both Facebook and Snapchat say that the facial detection systems behind filters dont connect back to the identity of users, its worth remembering that Facebooks smart photo tagging featurewhich looks at your pictures and tries to identify people who might be in themwas one of the earliest large-scale commercial uses of facial recognition. And TikTok recently settled for $92 million in a lawsuit that alleged the company was misusing facial recognition for ad targeting. A spokesperson from Snapchat said "Snap's Lens product does not collect any identifiable information about a user and we can't use it to tie back to, or identify, individuals."

And Facebook in particular sees facial recognition as part of its AR strategy. In a January 2021 blog post titled No Looking Back, Andrew Bosworth, the head of Facebook Reality Labs, wrote: Its early days, but were intent on giving creators more to do in AR and with greater capabilities. The companys planned release of AR glasses is highly anticipated, and it has already teased the possible use of facial recognition as part of the product.

In light of all the effort it takes to navigate this complex world, Sophia and Veronica say they just wish they were better educated about beauty filters. Besides their parents, no one ever helped them make sense of it all. You shouldnt have to get a specific college degree to figure out that something could be unhealthy for you, Veronica says.

More here:

Beauty filters are changing the way young girls see themselves - MIT Technology Review

Image by Photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels.

This article was posted as an April Fools joke.

Silicon Valley is disrupting travel with a groundbreaking new technology that could change the way the Washington region gets around.

The app-based travel platform, Chrak, is described as like your car, but better. Travelers on Chraks smart linear ticketed transportation experience will be able to get from one part of the city to another far faster than they would on the highway, all without the hassle of keeping their eyes on the road.

We really think this could be a revolution in the way people relate to their city, their country, and even the world, said Travis Horn, 24, who founded Chrak alongside his former Harvard roommate and self-described software ninja Chad Stephens, 23.

Horn said he was inspired to launch Chrak after looking at his parents daily car commutes with a software engineers eye, and finding them woefully inefficient. To save on fuel and avoid traffic jams, he decided to create a transportation method with room for multiple travelers in each vehicle. In a stroke of inspiration, Chrak was born.

An added bonus: passengers wont have to drive, allowing each Chrak car to become a dynamic multimedia experience. Passengers will be able to read, listen to music, watch TV shows and more, all from the convenience of their smartphones. To make it possible, Chrak will offer Wifi on each car, included with each ticket.

When innovation meets imagination. Image byJan VaekfromPixabay

For those who want a break from their screens, Chrak will post colorful advertisements around each car to look at (an added bonus: those ad sales will subsidize tickets).

So how will Chrak pull off lightning-fast transportation? Horn and Stephens have a (literally) groundbreaking idea: tunnels, deep underneath city streets, that will allow each Chrak car to bypass highway traffic. The tunnels will create a subterranean network, what Horn likens to a physical internet.

To give Chrak cars an extra boost of speed and safety, Chraks tunnels will be equipped with metal tracks (for which the company is named) that will carry passengers quickly from one point to another on a set schedule.

So when will Washington see this innovative technology? Well, time will tell. Horn and Stephens are still looking for financing for the more than $10 billion project, and approvals to dig tunnels under DCs busiest streets are still pending.

To help support that startup cost, Chrak officials estimate tickets will cost about $60 per trip but Horn and Stephens are certain that the time passengers will save by skipping highway traffic will be well worth it.

Asked about Chraks similarity to another, very similar transit system available in the Washington region, Horn said earlier transit methods werent built with the modern consumer in mind.

Were in the 21st century, and my generation doesnt just want to just take whatever transit method is available, Horn said. For the tech generation, its not about the destination, its about the journey.

Maggie Lev is a lightning-fast tech writer with an eye to the future. She has been a frequent guest in both the NBC and CNN lobbies. She is working on an anthology about ghostwriters called "Who did you say you were again?"

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Silicon Valley startup invents 'groundbreaking' new technology that could change the way we travel - Greater Greater Washington

COVID-19 has prompted greater adoption of temperature screening, health screening, visitor management and sanitation technologies.

Last year, organizations from all industries had to face their most significant challenge yet, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Higher education organizations in particular were forced to adapt rapidly, asmore than 4,000 colleges and universities had to end the school year early or shift to remote learning.

In October 2020, 44% of nearly 3,000 campuses were remote-only or primarily remote, while less than 27% reopened with primarily in-person or only in-person learning, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education. With these figures, its not surprising that the higher education industry like other industries has been experiencing financial challenges, as it struggles with enrollment and remote learning. This only enforces the need to prioritize safety technologies on campuses to ensure students feel comfortable getting back on campus.

Before the pandemic, campuses biggest safety concern was finding ways to keep their community and students protected from crime on campus and surrounding neighborhoods. But COVID-19 brought on new threats and challenges, forcing higher education officials to rethink protective strategies, including finding new safety tech to implement across their campuses. Pre-COVID-19, key safety tools included detailed record management systems (RMS) to help campus law enforcement determine hot spots for crimes in the area, computer aided dispatch (CAD) systems to help campus police respond to emergency calls quickly, and campus apps alerting students of local criminal incidents and allowing students to easily report and alert campus police of crime.

With the new threats presented by COVID-19, there has been an evolution to more robust and high-tech campus solutions, including:

Even though there has been a surge of innovative safety technology solutions to aid in the safe reopening of colleges, campuses are experiencing significant budget cuts and are not able to implement them all. According to the American Council of Education (ACE), the financial impact of the current pandemic is expected to exceed $120 billion, much of it due to low enrollment and tuition dollars. However, this only enforces the need for higher ed officials to adopt COVID-safety technology that helps ensure a safe return to schools for students, staff and faculty.

As college campuses across the nation felt the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing shutdowns and moving almost-exclusively to remote learning, the higher education industry has been forced to rethink campus safety strategies, including the implementation of new coronavirus-specific solutions. And, although the financial challenges brought on by the pandemic have made it difficult to determine which tech innovations to implement on campus, the need for these solutions is eminent in the safe reopening of campus, not only to protect against the threat of COVID-19 but future threats, as well.

Richard DeFranciso is Omnigo Softwares CEO.

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COVID-19 Has Forced an Evolution of Campus Safety Technology - Campus Safety - Campus Safety Magazine

The ability to perform together is imperative to any music school experience. So, what happens when a pandemic challenges students from sharing music in the same physical space? Over the last year, staff, students and faculty from The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music implemented innovative technology solutions to help keep everyone connected, despite physical distancing.

The big experiment says Luis Henao, director of Music Technology and Production at the School of Music, was how to play together, but to be safe at the same time. And, the only way to do that is to find technology solutions, which was a big challenge.

To overcome this hurdle, Henao and colleague Jose Carillo, assistant director of Music Production and Instructional Technology, researched various software that would allow students to play together from the safety and comfort of their home in as close to real time as possible. Commercial video conferencing software such as Zoom typically produce a lag time that prevents musicians from precisely aligning their parts. As a result, the technology team consulted with colleagues who were adopting similar technology at other music institutions. The technology team decided the best solution was to move forward with implementing two software programs called SonoBus and Jamulus, which provides low latency. In simple terms, this decreases the lag time for audio and live performance streaming to travel between musicians.

With solutions for remote learning and performing falling into place, it was also important that students and faculty know how to use them. The newly formed 2020-21 Graduate Council noticed the urgent need for technology training following the rapid change to remote learning.

Its a matter of equity, said Graduate Council Secretary Janet Kim. We didnt have any practical workshops in place for this new technology to allow people to understand how to use this software to have a better and more robust experience in a classroom setting. Therefore, the Graduate Council members contacted Inaugural Dean Eileen Strempel, who quickly connected them with Henaos team. The dean supported all of it, said Kim. Shes the one who got the ball rolling.

The outcome was the launch of virtual tech workshops on topics ranging from Digital Audio Workstations Production: Basics to Recording Yourself: Set-up, Hardware, and Connectivity to Telematic Performance: Jamulus, and more. 200 people attended the training boot camps, taught by experts and several members of the Graduate Council.

We wanted to give students and faculty a repository of centralized recommendations to say, Heres what could work very well for you, said President of the Graduate Council Anthony Constantino.

Henao and Carillo also offered customized one-on-one training sessions for students and faculty tailored to their specific needs such as how to install the software or how to connect their microphone for their particular instrument or combo.

As the School of Music moves toward re-opening for in-person and hybrid instruction this fall, upgrades to classrooms and other facilities will also be key to allowing students to perform together effectively and safely. Work has been ongoing behind the scenes to connect pairs of classrooms with low latency connections for real-time audio and video music sessions between those spaces. Henaos team set up six pairs of rooms in the spring of 2020, which will be used for lessons and other collaborations.

The paired classrooms are just one technical solution the team executed. Another, explains Henao, is to send audio through the local network that is called Audio over Ethernet. The same way you can use the local network to print something, you can use it to send audio. This technology allows students and faculty to connect from any room at the School of Music with a data port that delivers real-time audio using the correct hardware and software through the Ethernet. This will also make collaboration possible between multiple rooms.

Henao used Professor of Global Jazz Studies Arturo OFarrills Jazz Combos ensemble rehearsal as an example. Arturo can be in his own studio, and just needs to connect the microphone to the wall, using the data port where you connect your computer. Meanwhile, each student could play from their own classroom or practice room after connecting their microphone with their data port. Everybody can then listen to each other, so they can play together in sync through the local network.

Another vital component to the upgrades is livestreaming. While the School of Music already had the capability of livestreaming performances before the pandemic, all classrooms will now be able to livestream for hybrid classes in the fall.

Staying connected also means staying informed. Those returning to campus in September will notice new high quality digital signage in five locations throughout the School of Music. Monitors in the hallways will display messages about facilities, student services and campus announcements. A new screen in the Evelyn & Mo Ostin Music Center Music Caf will feature upcoming events and public announcements, and a kiosk in the lobby of Schoenberg Hall will show event promotions.

I think its going to be a great way to communicate with students in areas of the building where there is high foot traffic, and also share information with the general public, said Alex Echevarria, operations manager for the School of Music, who is coordinating the digital signage project along with Brian Runt, content marketing manager for the schools strategic communications and marketing team.

These forward-thinking technology solutions and upgrades represent the School of Musics continued investments in producing 21st century leading-edge work. As a result of being at the forefront of implementing low latency connection for the School of Music, Henao is now serving on UCLAs campus committee, which focuses on providing a consistent level of AV technology to all classrooms campuswide. With this swift shift in adapting to emerging technologies, students are also newly equipped with lasting benefits and skills.

After the pandemic is finished, I dont think these new demands for music and audio technology are going to be going away, said Constantino. As musicians, were still going to be expected to work in this way now. Kim seconded that, These are actual tools that are necessary during the pandemic, and moving forward, as students need to send out audition recordings or similar projects.

We are thrilled that our students are prepared to flourish in the ever-evolving musical landscape and look forward to enjoying the upgrades firsthand.

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Revolutionary Technology Upgrades to the School of Music - The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music - UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

HOUSTON, April 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --The Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued two decisions on March 15, 2021, affirming the validity of TerraLithium, LLC's twenty-eight patent claims. This follows five previous Board decisions in 2020 that affirmed patents associated with TerraLithium's lithium extraction technology.

TerraLithium's patent portfolio covers core technologies for extracting lithium from brine sourcesan approach increasingly recognized as critical for expanding lithium production opportunities in the United States, including in California where the Lithium Valley Commission was recently established to explore lithium recovery from Salton Sea geothermal brines.

"We're gratified the Patent Trial and Appeal Board upheld our patents," said TerraLithium Chairman Marvin Odum. "With our strong intellectual property, technology, and know-how, we are open to partner with domestic and international developers who share our vision of responsible lithium production."

A partnership between All-American Lithium and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV), TerraLithium is striving to supply ultra-high purity lithium hydroxide to the growing Li-ion battery market. To produce ultra-high purity lithium hydroxide, TerraLithium combines two of their numerous patented technologies: Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE), which can extract trace lithium from waste brines, and direct lithium hydroxide conversion. The result is a cost effective and more responsible lithium hydroxide production approach that's easier on the land and natural resources.

About TerraLithium

TerraLithium is a joint venture between All-American Lithium and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental. TerraLithium provides a technology platform for extracting lithium from geothermal and other brines to produce ultra-pure battery-grade lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonatea more responsible way to source ultra-pure lithium. For more information visit terralithium.com.

ContactEric Moses(713) 497-2017[emailprotected]

SOURCE TerraLithium

https://www.terralithium.com

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TerraLithium Receives Affirmation of Patents for Foundational Lithium Production Processes and Technologies - PRNewswire

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The promised end of the pandemic draws closer with every shot in the arm. So in the first three months of 2021, traders raced to position themselves for a post-Covid world by girding for super-charged growth and higher inflation.This reflation trade put Treasuries on course for their worst quarter since 1980, with the global bond plunge sending yields surging to pre-pandemic levels. These sharp moves spooked investors, who were already turning away from pandemic favorites, like tech companies, into value stocks poised to benefit from economic reopening. Market fever dreams played out in cryptocurrencies and newfangled ways to take companies public. And even as the U.S. dollar proved its resilience, traditional haven currencies were battered.At the same time, recovery measures of new U.S. President Joe Biden helped to flood money markets and, if he has his way, this will soon be followed by trillions of dollars in additional infrastructure spending. All the while, the Federal Reserve shows little inclination to rein in long-end yields.Generally reflation has been the dominant driver of global price action, said Simon Harvey, senior market analyst at Monex Europe, who revised his dollar outlook this week. What wrong-footed most people coming into 2021 is just how aggressive the U.S. outperformance was going to be.Here are some of this quarters most notable moves:Treasuries RoutWith the size of U.S. stimulus putting the nation on course for a swift economic rebound from the pandemic, its no surprise that U.S. Treasuries led the global rates selloff. Theyre on track to record their worst quarter since 1980, according to Bloomberg Barclays indexes. By comparison, the retreat seen in Europe and Asia was in line with quarterly declines seen in 2019 and 2020, respectively.Treasuries extended losses this week, fueled by Bidens plans to accelerate the vaccine campaign and rebuild infrastructure. The divergence between U.S. and European markets was borne out in the spread between benchmark Treasuries and bunds, which widened more than 50 basis points. That about matched the move seen in the final quarter of 2016, and a bigger jump hasnt been seen since 1993.Read More: Bond Rout Reignites as U.S. Stimulus Bets Overshadow Quarter-EndDominant DollarThe climb in U.S. yields relative to major peers helped to drive a surge in the dollar that ran counter to many expectations for 2021 as the currency turned from a prime haven at the height of market turmoil in March 2020 into a bet on U.S. economic supremacy.Traditional havens of the currency world -- the Japanese yen and Swiss franc -- bore the brunt of the selling, with each suffering their worst quarter in years.The importance of pandemic recovery was evident across currency markets. In a change from last years Brexit wrangling, the outlook for the British pound was all about the U.K.s vaccine drive, which far outpaced the European Unions effort, setting the euro up for its worst quarter since 2015.Brazils currency, which fell more than 7%, was among the poorest performers over the period as the country struggled to contain its mounting Covid crisis. Turkey was one of the few emerging markets whose currency did even worse. While much of that is the result of a shock decision to fire the central bank chief, that move came after the monetary authority raised its benchmark in response to global rate and foreign-exchange pressures.Read More: Dollar Reigns Supreme With Rate Gaps Too Big to Be IgnoredStock RotationsBillions are on the move as investors rotate away from previously high-flying areas and toward pockets of the market that stand to benefit from a brightening economic outlook. In that environment, tech stocks -- 2020s undisputed winners -- have lagged, while smaller companies have outperformed. The Russell 2000 index of smaller firms outperformed the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 for the second-straight quarter, beating it by about 10 percentage points. Value stocks, too, stepped into the limelight, with the Russell 1000 value index beating its growth counterpart by roughly the same amount.We would expect that rotation to continue, said Adam Phillips, managing director of portfolio strategy at EP Wealth Advisors. Moving forward, its going to be more about the recovery plays, and thats not a story thats going away.But the rise in rates rattled more speculative corners of the market as investors started to question lofty valuations. Sentiment soured, for instance, on special purpose acquisition companies, a group that came to symbolize risky behavior in equities. An index tracking SPACs is down roughly 21% since its mid-February peak. Meme-stock mania also cooled: An index tracking companies including GameStop Corp. and Naked Brand Group Ltd. is down about 28% since its recent January high, data compiled by Bloomberg show.Youre seeing corrective phases in those previously hot areas, but its happening through a process of rotation, so the money is just going to other parts of the market, Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, said by phone. There was so much hype and so much appreciation that, yes, I think its natural and healthy to see rollovers in those areas.Volatility EverywhereBut while benchmark stock indexes glide along, the subsurface churn has been extremely violent. A model from Bank of America that plots how much value is being created and destroyed each day in individual stocks shows that 2021 has generated more turbulence than virtually any other year. The volatility -- which is prevalent among small-cap stocks as well -- is just being masked because up-and-down moves in different companies over days and weeks have tended to offset each other.Read more: Blowups and Rotations Making This Market Just as Brutal as 2020Meanwhile, turbulence in the $21 trillion Treasury market has been on the rise. The ICE BofA MOVE Index, a gauge of U.S. bond volatility, has been grinding higher. The measure currently clocks in at 67, higher than its one-year average of 52 and well above Septembers low of 37.Commodities SupercycleRaw materials from copper to oil have started the year off strong, with investors flocking to commodities as a popular pandemic recovery trade and to hedge against inflation.The 23-member Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index in February reached the highest in almost eight years before easing this month, and still remains on track to notch a gain this quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. even went as far as to flag the start of a new commodities supercycle. An upcoming energy transition could constrain oil supplies, while at the same time boosting demand for metals required in renewables infrastructure, JPMorgan analysts said in a report last month.Bond SalesInvestors in credit benefited from a narrowing in spreads to pre-pandemic levels, but that did little to offset the negative impact from the broader rise in rates -- the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate Bond Indexs 5% drop has it on course for its worst quarterly return since 2008.Emerging-market bond spreads drifted wider, but the shift wasnt enough to throw bond sales off track. The gap between emerging-market hard currency debt and Treasuries rose seven basis points in the quarter, according to a JPMorgan Chase & Co. index, compared with a 335-basis point jump the same period last year.That said, cracks have recently started to show on issuance front. Indonesia shrank the size of a debt offering, Russia canceled a bond sale and South African debt saw lower demand than usual.Read More: The Sweet Spot Is Behind Us: Bond Rout Hits Deals Around WorldBitcoin BoomCryptocurrencies have had a marvelous 2021 so far. Bitcoin, the worlds largest digital asset, has doubled since the start of the year, gaining 104% in its second-best quarterly performance since June 2019. Much of its momentum has been driven by wider institutional acceptance, with more mainstream firms taking a greater interest in crypto assets. At the same time, applications for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds also trickled in, with Fidelity Investments the latest firm to join the list of crypto-ETF hopefuls.Meanwhile, fans, including Tesla Inc.s Elon Musk, have argued the coin can be a great store of value -- Bitcoin gained after the electric-vehicle maker said that it put more than $1 billion into the coin.Still, others worry its run up too far, too fast and could be losing its shine as speculation grows that retail investors are becoming less involved in the market. Bitcoin hit a record of $61,742 in mid-March and is roughly 4% off its highs.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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Align Technology to Announce First Quarter 2021 Results on April 28, 2021 - Yahoo Finance

Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket:

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) J&J said a batch of its Covid-19 vaccine that came from a Baltimore factory did not meet quality standards and will not be distributed. The company said the problem stemmed from a quality issue for a vaccine ingredient made by Emergent BioSolutions (EBS). J&J fell 1.1% premarket, while Emergent BioSolutions tumbled 8.5%.

Pfizer (PFE) New data released by the drugmaker and partner BioNTech (BNTX) showed 91% efficacy for its Covid-19 vaccine after six months. Pfizer edged higher by 0.3% in premarket trading, while BioNTech was up 1.1%.

CarMax (KMX) The auto retailer reported quarterly earnings of $1.27 per share, with revenue essentially in line with forecasts. CarMax also announced it would acquire the remaining part of Edmunds that it didn't already own, in a cash-and-stock deal valuing the auto information provider at $404 million. CarMax shares slid 3.5% in premarket action.

Micron Technology (MU) The computer chip maker reported quarterly profit of 98 cents per share, beating consensus estimates by 3 cents a share. Revenue came in slightly above Wall Street forecasts. The company also issued an upbeat forecast amid elevated demand for semiconductors. Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported Micron is exploring a deal for Kioxia that could value the Japanese chip maker at around $30 billion. Micron shares jumped 4.5% in the premarket.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) The Food and Drug Administration approved Abbott's Covid-19 rapid antigen test for over-the-counter sales and use at home for people without current Covid symptoms. The retail price is still undetermined, but a company spokeswoman told Reuters the tests will be sold to retailers for less than $10 each. At the same time, the FDA also approved an at-home test for Covid-19 made by diagnostics company Quidel (QDEL).

Exxon Mobil (XOM) The energy giant released data in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that points to the possibility of the company's first profit in five quarters. Raymond James analyst Justin Jenkins said the data point to a profit of $2.55 billion, or 60 cents per share, with Exxon benefiting from higher oil and gas prices.

FuboTV (FUBO) The live streaming sports TV platform announced an agreement to carry all non-nationally televised Chicago Cubs games this season. FuboTV shares jumped 4.8% in premarket action.

Nio (NIO) The China-based electric vehicle maker said it delivered 7,257 vehicles in March, a 373% increase over the same month last year. Nio surged 5.8% in premarket trading.

Sherwin-Williams (SHW) The paint maker's 3-for-1 stock split announced on March 2 is effective as of today. It's the first time Sherwin-Williams has split its stock since 1997. Sherwin-Williams gained 1.2% in the premarket.

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) The semiconductor maker will invest $100 billion over the next three years to increase manufacturing capacity at its plants, in a move to deal with increased demand and a worldwide shortage of chips. Taiwan Semi rose 2.1% in premarket action.

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Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket: J&J, Emergent BioSolutions, Micron Technology & more - CNBC

NEEDHAM, Mass., March 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ST Equipment & Technology LLC (STET) headquartered in Needham, MA, announces the collaboration of a fly ash beneficiation project with the Phoenix Cement Company, a company of the Salt River Materials Group (SRMG). STET is a leader in proprietary technology converting fly ash to useful products for cement and concrete manufacture. The project will be the 26th commercial-scale fly ash separator installed worldwide by STET.

In 2020, SRMG announced the award of a fly ash contract with a Utah power plant. SRMG is currently constructing a new fly ash beneficiation facility at the plant utilizing the patented STET fly ash separation system. STET is supplying the separation equipment, engineering and commissioning services, and an exclusive technology operating license for SRMG. STET and SRMG are targeting operations to begin midyear.

"SRMG and STET have been working closely to develop a commercially effective beneficiation process improving the quality of the fly ash," says Dale Diulus, SRMG Senior Vice President, Pozzolan Business Unit. "We look forward to many years of fly ash sales into the southwestern U.S. markets."

A recent study1 projects the global fly ash market to grow at a compound annual rate of 6.6%, reaching $6.86 billion by 2026. "SRMG and STET are respected leaders in the fly ash and construction materials fields, and it is a good fit for our two companies to be collaborating on this project," says Tom Cerullo, STET President. "The fly ash separator will be our first in the western U.S. We are excited to be working with Salt River to complete another successful fly ash project."

The STET technology is the most widely implemented fly ash LOI reduction technology in the world. Loss on ignition (LOI) testing is a generally accepted method for estimating the unburned carbon content of fly ash. For over 30 years, STET, and its sister company Separation Technologies LLC (ST), have been leaders in providing dry powder separation equipment, technology and engineering services for the fly ash beneficiation, minerals processing, and now for protein-enrichment of food and feed.

ST and STET are subsidiaries of Titan America LLC(http://www.titanamerica.com), a leading heavy building materials producer in the eastern United States.Titan America is headquartered in Norfolk, VA and its products include cement, aggregates, ready-mixed concrete, concrete products, and fly ash. Its parent company, Titan Cement International S.A. (www.titan-cement.com), headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, is a participant of the UN Global Compact,the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative, based on companies' commitments to implement universal sustainability principles and to support the UN goals.

CONTACT: Mary Beth KramerKramer Consultingfor Titan America, LLC.(215) 431-3946

1 http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4996689

SOURCE Titan America, LLC

http://www.titanamerica.com

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ST Equipment & Technology Teams with Salt River Materials Group on Fly Ash Recycling System - PRNewswire