HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) — Khaden Bennett's 23 points helped Quinnipiac defeat Sacred Heart 83-73 on Sunday. Bennett added five rebounds for the Bobcats (5-5, 2-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). Amarri Tice added 19 points while shooting 6 for 16 (2 for 11 from 3-point range) and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line while they also had five rebounds and eight steals. Paul Otieno shot 5 of 9 from the field and 2 of 4 from the free-throw line to finish with 12 points, while adding three blocks. Amiri Stewart led the Pioneers (4-6, 1-1) in scoring, finishing with 18 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Anquan Hill added 15 points for Sacred Heart. Bryce Johnson also had 11 points. Quinnipiac plays Tuesday against Holy Cross at home, and Sacred Heart hosts Albany (NY) on Wednesday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Marcus Dockery scored 27 points as Howard beat UNC Wilmington 88-83 on Saturday. Dockery added seven assists for the Bison (5-6). Blake Harper scored 18 points while shooting 5 for 11 (3 for 4 from 3-point range) and 5 of 8 from the free-throw line and added seven rebounds. Joshua Strong had 18 points and shot 4 of 7 from the field, including 4 for 6 from 3-point range, and went 6 for 6 from the line. The Seahawks (7-3) were led by Khamari McGriff, who recorded 34 points. Sean Moore added 13 points for UNC Wilmington. Harlan Obioha had 12 points. Howard used a 12-2 second-half run to erase a four-point deficit and take the lead at 82-76 with 2:14 remaining in the half before finishing off the victory. Harper scored 12 second-half points. Howard takes on Drexel at home on Tuesday, and UNC Wilmington hosts FGCU on Wednesday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Five Apple Intelligence Features Coming in 2025
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A second recount of votes in the North Carolina Supreme Court election is expected to be completed early this week, according to the State Board of Elections. By late Friday, 98 of the state’s 100 counties had completed their hand-to-eye recounts, the elections board said Saturday. Two counties, Brunswick and Currituck, are expected to complete the recounts by Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Some election board members in those counties were unavailable to complete the recounts by Friday. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Carbon capture — oh, what a wonderful, magical idea! Take all that nasty carbon dioxide that is making the planet warmer, suck it out of the air, and pump it underground. Presto! Shazam!! Problem solved. Sit back, grab a beer, and watch the global thermometer return to where it was in the ’50s, when father knew best, the family ate dinner together every evening at 6 o’clock, and the future was so bright we had to wear shades! There are a few technical details to be worked out first, like how to actually extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a cost of under $600 a ton or how to scale the process up so that instead of capturing several thousand pounds of the stuff every year, we can address the fact that we are pumping billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air around us every year. But don’t be too concerned about such details. We will solve the technical issues soon enough. While we are waiting for the solutions to arrive, let’s get busy planning how to dispose of the stuff. Here’s an idea. There are a lot of empty spaces underground created when we pumped all the oil and gas below the surface out so we could burn it, which produced all that nasty carbon dioxide in the first place. All we need to do is take the carbon dioxide back out of the atmosphere and shove it back underground where it came from. Right? Well, maybe not. In Texas, pumping carbon dioxide underground might have some drawbacks. Like what? Earthquakes and blowouts, for example. There are so many holes in the Permian Basin that what gets pumped in over here has an effect on what happens over there ? Who knew everything below the surface was interconnected, huh? Shocking, we know. According to Reuters , Texas has seen a surge in interest from companies hoping to bury carbon dioxide in its oilfields, putting the state at the forefront of a government-subsidy program to fight climate change. Republicans — especially Texas Republicans — loathe everything to do with the federal government, especially the communist inspired Inflation Reduction Act . Yet it seems there are parts of the IRA they like a whole lot — the parts where the boys in Washington will send truckloads of federal dollars down to Austin to pay for nascent carbon sequestration technologies. But pumping CO2 into the ground could exacerbate earthquakes and well blowouts already happening in the Permian Basin as Texas struggles to manage wastewater disposal, potentially undermining public support. “Without legitimate oversight of underground injection in Texas, we expect more geyser-like well blowouts, sinkholes, leaks from plugged and unplugged wells, and injection-induced earthquakes,” said Virginia Palacios, executive director of Commission Shift, a Texas watchdog group pushing for tougher oversight of the oil and gas industry. While such consequences have rarely happened as a result of carbon dioxide injection over the decades since the technology was first deployed, the unprecedented volume of carbon now proposed for burial concerns activists and researchers. Carbon sequestration is vital to federal government goals to reduce emissions that cause global warming. The Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act includes billions of dollars worth of subsidies for CCS projects. The next occupant of the Offal Office, however, has vowed to gut the IRA. But energy experts say carbon capture and sequestration subsidies will probably survive because they have bipartisan support. Several companies, including Occidental Petroleum, plan to take advantage of those IRA subsidies to promote carbon capture projects in Texas, where proponents argue the underground geology is ideal for storing liquid and gaseous waste. Over the last 12 months, the number of applications filed with the Environmental Protection Agency for carbon injection permits in Texas has jumped by 63 percent to 43, making it a national leader. However, Texas is dogged by problems linked to disposal of wastewater from drilling operations underground. The Texas Railroad Commission has had to deal recently with leaks and blowouts from orphan wells as well as earthquakes triggered by higher pressure underground form water injection. Reuters spoke with a dozen Texas landowners and researchers who said proposed carbon dioxide projects need more oversight than the state can offer to avert environmental and safety risks. The Texas Railroad Commission is seeking authority from the EPA to oversee its own permitting program for carbon sequestration to speed up approvals. The EPA, which is also reviewing handling of wastewater permitting in Texas following the blowouts, said the request was being considered. The RRC said in a statement it is capable of effectively regulating carbon dioxide injection wells and has hired more staff to deal with the issue. Trump’s victory increases the chances Texas will get this authority, experts say. North Dakota was the first state to receive oversight authority during Trump’s first term, and its governor, Doug Burgum, is Trump’s pick for Interior Secretary, which includes responsibility for drilling permits on federal land. That should be an “ ah, hah ” moment for many. One of the biggest Texas projects is the Stratos direct air capture joint venture in Ector County between Occidental Petroleum and BlackRock. It is expected to inject 8.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide starting in 2025, The county has numerous abandoned wells at risk of erupting if underground pressure rises and CO2 eats away at cement plugs, said oil and gas attorney Sarah Stogner, who represents landowners that have had blowouts. There have been 19,700 wells drilled in the county since 1993, according to data from state agencies. Nineteen are orphan wells, with no company legally responsible for ensuring they remain plugged, including three close to the Stratos site. Raymond Straub, a hydrogeologist who owns a Texas groundwater services firm, testified at an October EPA hearing that he was concerned Occidental did not devote enough attention to the unplugged or badly plugged orphan wells in the project area. Occidental spokesperson William Fitzgerald, faithfully following his paycheck, said the company had done extensive site surveys to ensure it would be safe. “This survey confirmed the location of three wells, which Occidental will address prior to beginning CO2 injection. There is more than 3,000 feet of confining rock layers above the sequestration zone to securely contain the CO2.” A pilot project by Archer Daniels Midland in Illinois, the first of its kind meant to demonstrate the technical feasibility of commercial carbon injection, has suffered leaks and other setbacks, adding to concerns about the process. ADM spokesperson Jackie Anderson said the leaks have presented no risk to surface or groundwater or to public health, and that the company is confident in CCS technology. Dominic DiGiulio, an independent energy analyst and former EPA official who has studied CCS, said that carbon dioxide can corrode the cement casings of plugged wells. “These abandoned wells will in fact leak,” he said. A 2023 paper by Chinese researchers published in the journal Earth Science Reviews found that carbon dioxide injection could also increase the risk of earthquakes . Large leaks could acidify groundwater and suffocate people and animals if it displaces oxygen above ground, according to nonprofit Pipeline Safety Trust. “This is supposed to be permanent storage,” said Carolyn Raffensperger, executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network. “If it can’t even contain it for 10 years, why do we think it can contain it forever?” she added, referring to ADM’s project. That is an excellent question. The latest report from climate scientists suggests that to be effective, any captured carbon has to be locked up and stored for a minimum of 1000 years . Ten years? Piffle. That’s not even a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed. So why are carbon injection plans being promoted so aggressively? If you said “money,” go to the head of the class! It’s just one chapter in the never ending quest to keep burning fossil fuels with vague promises to address the damage caused sometime in the future . In other words, it’s a scam, a fraud, a con, and little more than a way to suck up some federal dollars on top of the already generous subsidies the fossil fuel industries already get. If you think that should be illegal, you’re right, but it shows the extent to which the government of the United States kowtows to the fossil fuel industries and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. What a wonderful Ponzi scheme ! Capture it, inject it, let it escape, capture it again, inject it again. Lather, rinse, repeat, and all of it paid for by US taxpayers. What a great scheme. The gravy train that never ends. What a country! A tip of the hat to Dan Allard. CleanTechnica's Comment Policy LinkedIn WhatsApp Facebook Bluesky Email Reddit
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A major PR and advertising shakeup is looming for several big CE and appliance brands with the tipped acquisition of the Interpublic Group by the Omnicom Group, the move would challenge WPP the owner of Ogilvy & Mather and their Ogilvy PR operations in Australia. According to the Wall street Journal Omnicom is in advanced talks to acquire Interpublic Group a deal that would create the world’s largest advertising company, according to people familiar with the matter, among their clients are Apple, Mastercard, LG Electronics and Panasonic. The all-stock deal is likely to value Interpublic at between $13 billion and $14 billion, excluding debt, some of the people said. Interpublic had a market value of nearly $11 billion as of Friday. At this stage it’s not known whether the deal will lead to job cuts. If the deal is concluded the combined entity would have net revenue of more than A$31 billion, based on their 2023 financials. A transaction could be announced as early as this week, according to insiders. Among the PR agencies that could be impacted by the deal Webber Shandwick and Porter Novelli as well as Fleishman Hillard. The WSJ claim that by combining Omnicom, the world’s third-largest ad company, and Interpublic Group, the fourth-biggest ad company, would topple WPP as the industry’s biggest player. WPP’s net revenue last year was about $15.1 billion. A deal would bring together some of the world’s best-known ad brands under one roof, following decades of consolidation on Madison Avenue. A handful of conglomerates are the power players behind the majority of ads people come across on TV sets, before they can play YouTube clips and on roadside billboards. In addition to producing advertisements, the companies own firms that buy ad space, develop loyalty programs, analyse shopper data, handle crisis communications and tap influencers for marketing campaigns. Omnicom and Interpublic have helped create some of history’s most iconic ads, including “Think Different” for Apple, “Priceless” for Mastercard, “Because I’m Worth It” for L’Oreal and “Got Milk” for the California Milk Processor Board. Omnicom, led by Chief Executive John Wren, includes agencies BBDO, TBWA, Fleishman Hillard, and ad buyer Omnicom Media Group and works for companies including Disney, AT&T and PepsiCo. Interpublic, which CEO Philippe Krakowsky leads, owns agencies such as McCann World group, Weber Shandwick, FCB and ad-buying firm Mediabrands, and has a client roster including L’Oréal, Johnson & Johnson and Geico. Observers claim that merger could help Omnicom and Interpublic become better equipped to deal with an industry increasingly driven by technology, data and artificial intelligence. UKRAINE – 2021/12/20: In this photo illustration, The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. logo seen displayed on a smartphone and in the background. (Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Currently the advertising industry is under siege with companies such as Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms using AI to drive deeper into advertising and media agencies business models. In Australia several media Companies have also lost traffic this year due to Google and big tech Companies changing algorithms so that they can go after media Company business directly. Research Companies claim that Generative AI threatens to disrupt how agencies get paid and could potentially diminish demand for copywriters, graphic designers and the ad buyers, who decide where to place ads to target the right audiences for CE and appliance Companies. Research firm Forrester said last year that automation could eliminate some 33,000 jobs, or almost 8% of the workforce, at ad agencies by 2030, with various forms of AI being responsible for a significant portion of these losses. Currently Interpublic and WPP are struggling to keep pace with rival Publicis, which adapted faster to the technological shifts that reshaped how brands connect with consumers Publicis list Samsung as one of their clients via Leo Burnett. The Paris-based firm has spent billions on buying data and e-commerce companies. It has also targeted companies that specialize in digital transformation advisory work to better position it against consulting firms with a growing presence in the advertising and marketing business. Interpublic has trailed its rivals, losing business from big clients such as Spotify, and BMW. It most recently lost the bulk of its most lucrative account, Amazon ad buying assignment, which was split between Omnicom and WPP. Krakowsky has been actively shopping Interpublic and parts of the conglomerate for more than a year and talking to a range of parties, including private-equity firms Apollo and KKR, according to people familiar with the talks. The company has also enlisted McKinsey to help with a restructuring and cost-cutting initiative, according to people familiar with the matter. The WSJ claims that a deal between Interpublic and Omnicom would likely face government scrutiny, as the combined company would be a dominating force in the ad-buying space. Global ad spending is expected to top $1.03 trillion, excluding political advertising, according to GroupM, the ad buying arm of WPP.
Mumbai wakes up to layer of smog; AQI in 'moderate' categoryA recent study that recommended toxic chemicals in black plastic products be immediately thrown away included a math error that significantly overstated the risks of contamination, but its authors are standing by their conclusions and warn against using such products. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Chemosphere , experts from the nonprofit Toxic-Free Future said they detected flame retardants and other toxic chemicals in 85% of 203 items made of black plastic including kitchen utensils , take-out containers, children's toys and hair accessories. In a blog post, Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society in Canada, explained that the Toxin-Free Future scientists miscalculated the lower end of what the EPA considered a health risk through a multiplication error. Instead of humans being potentially exposed to a dose of toxic chemicals in black plastic utensils near the minimum level that the EPA deems a health risk, it's actually about one-tenth of that. (Dreamstime/TNS) The study initially said the potential exposure to chemicals found in one of the kitchen utensils approached the minimum levels the Environmental Protection Agency deemed a health risk. But in an update to the study, the authors say they made an error in their calculations and the real levels were "an order of magnitude lower" than the EPA's thresholds. The error was discovered by Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society in Canada. In a blog post, Schwarcz explained that the Toxin-Free Future scientists miscalculated the lower end of what the EPA considered a health risk through a multiplication error. Instead of humans being potentially exposed to a dose of toxic chemicals in black plastic utensils near the minimum level that the EPA deems a health risk, it's actually about one-tenth of that. Though Schwarcz said the risks outlined in the study aren't enough for him to discard his black plastic kitchen items if he had them, he agreed with the authors that flame retardants shouldn't be in these products in the first place. "The math error does not impact the study's findings, conclusions or recommendations," said Megan Liu, a co-author of the study who is the science and policy manager for Toxic-Free Future . She added that any traces of flame retardants or toxic chemicals in cooking utensils should be concerning for the public. Flame retardants are getting into commonly used items because black-colored products are being made from recycled electronic waste, such as discarded television sets and computers, that frequently contain the additives. When they're heated, the flame retardants and other toxic chemicals can migrate out. If you're wondering whether your old black plastic spoon or other utensils are a part of this group, Liu shared some more guidance. Generally, how do I know a product is harmful? It's nearly impossible to know whether a black plastic product is contaminated. That's because these products that include recycled e-waste don't disclose a detailed list of all ingredients and contaminants in the product. Liu said it's also unclear how many types of flame retardants are in these black plastic products. Some of the products that researchers tested in this recent study "had up to nine different harmful chemicals and harmful flame retardants in them," she said. How can I find out if black plastic food trays are made with recycled contaminated plastic? Anytime you're looking for the type of recycled plastic a product is made of you're going to look for a number within the chasing arrows (that form a triangle) logo. Recycling symbols are numbered 1 to 7 and we commonly associate the numbers with what we can toss in our blue recycling bins. The 1 through 7 numbers stand for, respectively, polyethylene terephthalate, high-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene or Styrofoam, and miscellaneous plastics (including polycarbonate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene, fiberglass and nylon). The study found higher levels of toxic flame retardants in polystyrene plastic, which is labeled with the number 6, said Liu. When did recycled e-waste begin contaminating black plastic products? There isn't a definitive timeline of when recycled electronic-waste started to be incorporated into black plastic products specifically, but e-waste started to get recycled in the early 2000s, Liu said. The way computers, cellphones, stereos, printers and copiers were being disposed of previously was to simply add them to a landfill without reusing salvageable parts. But as the National Conference of State Legislatures notes, electronics production required a significant amount of resources that could be recovered through recycling. Recovering resources such as metals, plastics and glass through recycling used a fraction of the energy needed to mine new materials. However, the study pointed out that flame retardants and other chemical contaminates have been detected in and near e-waste recycling facilities, in indoor air and dust at formal e-waste recycling facilities in Canada, China, Spain and the U.S. It also noted contamination in soil samples surrounding e-waste recycling sites in China and Vietnam. What are safer alternatives? The safest nontoxic material options for kitchen utensil are wood and stainless steel. The 20th century brought airplanes, radio, television, the internet, and plastic. Lots of plastic. That plastic is now showing up on shorelines, forming islands in oceans, and generating mountains of translucent trash on land. Around 700 species of animals in the sea have been found to interact with plastic daily. Companies across every industry face pressure to reduce the amount of plastic they produce. Seventy-two percent of the world's largest have made voluntary commitments to reduce their plastic waste, according to a Duke University analysis. One industry, in particular, has greatly benefited from advancements in single-use plastic technology: the medical industry. Only in recent years have businesses and academics in the field begun to talk about minimizing their impact on our environment like beverage manufacturers and other consumer goods-producing businesses. Medical Technology Schools analyzed academic studies published in the National Library of Medicine , the American Medical Association , and news reports to shed light on the medical community's use of plastics through history, their environmental problems, and proposed solutions to reduce their impact. And the impact can be significant. A single hospital patient generates nearly 34 pounds of waste a day —as much as a quarter of it is plastic. The COVID-19 pandemic only worsened the problem. The pandemic pushed hospital capacity to the brink and led to a massive increase in personal protective equipment and medical supply usage. Medical-grade masks and other protective equipment like face shields, made mostly of nonrenewable plastics, were in high demand. In 2020, the World Health Organization estimated that the international need for PPE manufacturing would boost 40% to address the public health crisis. Hospitals needed an estimated 89 million masks, 76 million gloves, and 1.6 million goggles every month of the pandemic. To date, nearly 677 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, each requiring their own plastic syringe, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Global consulting firm Frost & Sullivan estimated that the U.S. would produce a year's worth of medical waste in just two months due to the pandemic. The World Economic Forum warned that the COVID-19 crisis threatened to " stall and even reverse progress " to reduce large plastic waste. It's a challenge researchers acknowledge today as they search for solutions. Plastics introduced an era of ultraconvenience to the world. It makes our clothes. It's made bike helmets and airbags possible. And it's a cheap material to produce, meaning it's cheap for consumers too. Almost as importantly, it's durable and incredibly easy to make into complex shapes—a trait that helped plastics invented in the mid-20th century quickly replace more expensive metal and wooden goods. That adoption extended to the medical field, where the single-use nature of plastics represented a move toward more hygienic tools for physicians and hospitals. But it wasn't plastic's sanitary qualities that the industry first latched onto. Like so many other technical advancements, convenience and cost were the initial driving factors. That they were more conducive to creating a sterile environment for patients was a benefit that health care began to tout closer to the end of the 20th century. PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, replaced glass bottles previously used to hold IV solution and replaced rubber tubing used throughout hospital settings. Plastic has also become the go-to material for making syringes and catheters. Plastic products are generally made from chemicals derived from the oil and natural gas refining process. Chemists use those byproducts to create synthetic materials with malleable and durable chemical structures. The low cost of these materials has helped medical device-makers support better health outcomes for communities across the U.S. since the 1900s. No longer was health care priced at rates only the elite could afford—it was accessible to a much larger swath of the public. In the last decade, the U.S., in particular, has emerged as a massive market for medical plastics. The country generally accounts for nearly half of the global market for medical devices. Plastic's durability is not only a benefit but a detriment to the environment, as the material can take many years to deteriorate when it enters landfills or trashes oceans. Estimates vary widely, but scientists ballpark that depending on the kind of plastic and the environment in which it decomposes, it could take dozens to thousands of years to break down entirely. COVID-19, which remains a burden for health care systems, isn't the only force raising the stakes for a health care industry pressured to reduce reliance on plastics or find ways to reuse them. Global annual production of plastic has doubled in the last two decades , according to the Environmental Protection Agency. As the U.S. looks toward the future, its aging population is another factor that could exacerbate the rate at which medical plastics end up in landfills. People require more medical care as they age, and aging baby boomers are expected to place increased demand on the medical device industry. At the same time, governments are under pressure to lower health care costs, which have become unaffordable even for those insured . As recently as 2021, researchers lamented a lack of data on efforts to recycle medical plastics. Around 350 hospitals participate in Practice Greenhealth's Environmental Excellence Awards . Practice Greenhealth is an organization working to help hospitals increase their sustainability. It's one of the few sources of hospital sustainability data, and its roster of participating hospitals represents a small fraction of the more than 6,000 hospitals operating in the U.S. To meet the need to reduce plastic waste generation, some hospitals are moving away from using plastic in certain applications. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center replaced health care workers' disposable plastic isolation gowns with reusable cloth gowns at its hospitals in the last decade, saving money and preventing literal tons of medical waste. It also implemented a process for sterilizing and incinerating the boxes that hold used needles, allowing them to be reassembled and reused in a health care setting. Recycling plastic medical waste is complicated by the potential for contamination and the need to separate contaminated and noncontaminated waste; once separated, they can be broken down with heat or treated with chemicals and reprocessed. However, using chemical methods to break down and dispose of plastics has drawbacks. Over 200 nongovernmental organizations signed a letter in 2023 urging the Biden administration to end federal support for methods like these, arguing they generate toxic pollutants. The Vinyl Council of Australia is working with hospitals to recover used materials made of PVC . The materials are broken down into tiny pieces, washed and heated at high temperatures, and remade into things used outside medical settings. In the U.S. and Europe, there's the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council, a coalition of companies working in the health care device space that includes DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic. In 2021, the HPRC, advised by professionals at Kaiser Permanente and other health systems, rolled out a medical waste recycling pilot project with hopes of scaling it across more hospitals. Story editing by Ashleigh Graf. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Clarese Moller. This story originally appeared on Medical Technology Schools and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. Build your health & fitness knowledge Sign up here to get the latest health & fitness updates in your inbox every week!
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