“Player vs. Environment,” by May Berchon, Continues to Garner Fans as It Barrels Through the Literary Community and Festival Circuit

Casper, WY, July 26, 2023 — It’s the novel that’s proving to be the little engine that could in 2023. While moviegoers are clamoring to get a taste of the Barbenheimer phenomenon, savvy readers are making their way to author May Berchon’s steamy ode to gamer culture, skateboarding, and interracial romance.

To date, “Player vs. Environment,” by May Berchon, has competed in or was an official selection of several prestigious literary contests including the 2023 International Book Awards and even the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in the Literature category.

“The feedback from readers has been so exciting,” Berchon says. “The other day, someone slid into my DMs and asked if I was really the author of my book and then told me how it was their favorite summer read. It was both strange and flattering.”

The hip literati and those looking for what’s new-now-next are loving Berchon’s debut novel for its audacious views on affirmative action, sex, and romance, as well as its incendiary rebuke of women losing agency when it comes to their bodies. “Player vs. Environment” is a controversial read from preface to epilogue. However, in Berchon’s mind, she wouldn’t have it any other way:

“I knew I was taking a massive risk addressing gender politics, race, and antisemitism the way that I do in the book. But all you hear nowadays is people talking about, ‘Let’s have a conversation,’ and then they proceed to fire off the same old tired perspectives while not offering any kind of realistically enforceable recommendation or resolution. People are scared to confront the issue of racism in the same way that, say, Spike Lee did when he hit the scene. Like, intellectualizing it. Stylizing it. Or the way Tarantino has lambasted the stupidity of antisemitism in his recent works. There’s barely any fire anymore. Just a few people puffing smoke or idiots trying to be hateful or bullying to curry favor with people that they’re scared to challenge. I wanted to just come out and address the real elephant in the room: there are factions that want to drive a wedge between minority groups and sadly, many of us are falling for it. PVE is a call to action to be more mindful about looking after each other.”

Berchon’s love of cinema and her inspiration from it motivated her to revise a small-screen adaptation of the work. She is also currently penning the sequel to PVE.

“’Player vs. Environment’ in its first iteration was meant to be a TV series,” she notes. “But retooling it as a novel during the pandemic allowed me more freedom with my storytelling and has really been the perfect glue for all the things I didn’t love when I initially wrote and started pitching the series back in 2016.”

It seems that recalculating the ingredients has created the perfect guilty pleasure for those who dare to partake.

“Player vs. Environment” is available on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble.

Kitman Labs Inks Deal with Iowa State University for Combined Medical Data and Performance Analytics Platform to Support Student Athletes

Menlo Park, California (July 25, 2023) – Kitman Labs, the global enterprise SaaS platform providing the only single, centralized operating system for performance intelligence in Sports, today announced that Iowa State University will be deploying Kitman Labs’ iP: Intelligence Platform across all men’s and women’s varsity sports. They become the third current Big 12 Conference school to partner with Kitman labs, joining Baylor University and Texas Tech University.

Iowa State University will use the platform to centralize and combine student-athlete medical and performance data, providing appropriate Departmental Staff with a secure, comprehensive and real-time view of all athletes from a physical and mental health and wellness perspective. The platform will also enable collaboration between staff in the design and execution of individual rehab and training programs to unlock student-athlete progress and performance.

Beyond compliance, the Performance Medicine solution being deployed at Iowa State will help inform decision-making around medical assessments, diagnosis, treatment and return to play strategies. Iowa State University joins approximately 80 other NCAA universities who are currently using the technology from Kitman Labs.

“Like many other NCAA universities – Iowa State understands the urgency and critical nature of monitoring the physical and mental well being of its student-athletes and to ensure it’s utilizing every tool and resource necessary to support the holistic development of those students during their college tenure, while also developing them for life after school – either inside or outside of Sport,” said Kitman Labs Founder & CEO, Stephen Smith.

“At Iowa State, we realize that ultimate success includes the ability to communicate and share relevant information across all departments that impact student-athlete health, performance, and well-being as well as incorporating the various aspects of sports science which can allow for more informed decision making,” said Mark Coberley, Iowa State’s Associate Athletics Director for Sports Medicine.

“We performed a lengthy analysis of our options to incorporate a system that allows us to meet this vision,” he added. “We needed an all-encompassing system that was sensitive to our particular needs, desired outcomes and nuances across departments. We believe Kitman Labs was the leader in this area and will provide solutions for our vision. We are extremely pleased to partner with them.”

Kitman Labs has an established track record of working with top teams and athletes across a variety of sports, including soccer, basketball, rugby, and American football. The company’s technology is being used by some of the world’s most elite collegiate sports organizations, such as Michigan State University, Clemson University, University of Colorado among many others.

This expansion into NCAA institutions follows other recent business strategy moves Kitman Labs has undertaken. That includes the successful close of a $52M Series C funding round led by Guggenheim Investments, a global asset investment and advisory firm with more than $259 billion in assets under management and two strategic acquisitions of The Sports Office and Presagia Sports, both made in the last two years. The combined companies represent the industry’s largest network of elite and youth organizations (700+) and created the industry’s largest dataset of talent, performance, and medical data for all stages of the athlete lifecycle.

Saudi Arabia Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources Releases April 2023 Monthly Bulletin to Provide Insights into The Kingdom’s Industrial and Mining Sectors

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia has released its latest April 2023 Monthly Bulletin of Industry and Mining, aimed at providing key insights into the Kingdom’s industrial and mining sectors. The bulletin is published monthly and covers the latest developments, trends, and investments in these sectors, proving a vital tool for investors.

The bulletin issued by the National Industrial and Mining Information Center indicated that during the period from January to April 2023, 385 new industrial licenses were issued with investments amounting to 14 billion riyals, while 314 factories started production with investments exceeding 8.105 billion riyals, enabling the sector to create more than 29,000 job opportunities, 15,000 of these jobs being for Saudis, Indicating a total workforce of 726,750 workers by the end of April.

In addition, the total number of factories in the Kingdom at the end of last April reached 10,873 factories, with investments amounting to 1.4 trillion riyals (373.251 billion USD).

As for the mining sector, the bulletin indicated that the total number of mining licenses in force in the sector until the end of April 2023 amounted to 2,336 licenses, including 1,454 building materials quarry licenses, 634 exploration licenses, 180 exploitation and small mine licenses, 36 reconnaissance licenses, and 32 surplus mineral ores licenses.

The Monthly Bulletin of Industry and Mining is part of Saudi Arabia’s broader industry and mineral resources strategy. The Kingdom has been actively diversifying its economy and reducing its dependence on oil for revenue. The development of the industrial and mining sectors is a key component of this strategy, and the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has been leading the efforts to achieve this goal.

The Saudi Arabian government has been encouraging investment in the industrial and mining sectors by offering various incentives, including tax exemptions, land grants, and streamlined licensing processes. The data presented in the bulletin highlights the success of these efforts, and the growth of Saudi Arabia’s industrial and mining sectors is expected to benefit the country’s overall economy.

TSG Hotels & Resorts organized beach clean-up drive at Marina Park, Port Blair for environmental and marine conservation

TSG Hotels & Resorts organized a beach clean-up drive on 22nd July at the seashore area of Marina Park, Port Blair with an objective of spreading awareness among the people on depleting flora of the beaches and how such beach clean-up activities can help in protecting marine life.

Around 25 staff from TSG Grand and TSG Emerald View participated in this cleanliness drive. They spread all around the beach with disposable bags and collected dry waste in the form of plastic cups, wrappers, empty bottles, and other debris.

Mr. Chiranjeet Das, Corporate General Manager coordinated the entire programme under the guidance of Mr. Mohinder Bhatia, Promiller.

The Staffs were happy to be part of the campaign and it was their active and enthusiastic participation that made the beach clean-up drive an inspiring success.

The Drive ended with handing over the waste to the PBMC Staff for further disposal and leaving behind a clean beach.

Speaking to the media Mr. Chiranjeet said, “It was a wholesome experience to make a move for the betterment of society and it gave a feeling of fulfillment to take a step in eradicating the mistakes of mankind and saving nature from huge disasters”.

He also emphasised the importance of preserving the pristine environment of A&N Islands for future generations.

IBM Report: Average cost of a data breach in India touched INR 179 million in 2023

Bengaluru, July 25, 2023 — IBM (NYSE: IBM) Security today released its annual Cost of a Data Breach Report,[1] showing the average cost of a data breach in India reached INR 179 million in 2023 – an all-time high for the report and almost a 28% increase since 2020. Detection and escalation costs jumped 45% over this same time frame, representing the highest portion of breach costs, and indicating a shift towards more complex breach investigations.

At nearly 22%, the most common attack type in India was phishing, followed by stolen or compromised credentials (16%). Social engineering was the costliest root cause of breaches at INR 191 million, followed by malicious insider threats, which amounted to approximately INR 188 million.

According to the 2023 IBM report, globally businesses are divided in how they plan to handle the increasing cost and frequency of data breaches. The report found that while 95% of organizations studied globally have experienced more than one breach, these breached organizations were more likely to pass incident costs onto consumers (57%) than to increase security investments (51%).

“With cyberattacks growing in pace and cost in India, businesses must invest in modern security strategies and solutions to stay resilient. The report shows that security AI and automation had the biggest impact on keeping breach costs down and cutting time off the investigation – and yet a majority of organizations in India still haven’t deployed these technologies. It’s clear that there is still considerable opportunity for businesses to boost detection and response speeds and help stop the ongoing trend of growing breach costs,” said Viswanath Ramaswamy, Vice President, Technology, IBM India & South Asia.

Breaching data across environments

In India, 28% of data breaches studied resulted in the loss of data spanning multiple types of environments (i.e., public cloud, private cloud, on-prem) – indicating that attackers were able to compromise multiple environments while avoiding detection. When breached data was stored across multiple environments, it also had the highest associated breach costs (INR 188 million) and took the longest to identify and contain (327 days).

Need for AI and automation to pick up speed in India

AI and automation had the biggest impact on the speed of breach identification and containment for studied organizations. In India, companies with extensive use of AI and automation experienced a data breach lifecycle that was 153 days shorter compared to studied organizations that have not deployed these technologies (225 days versus 378 days). In fact, studied organizations that deployed security AI and automation extensively saw nearly INR 95 million lower data breach costs than organizations that didn’t deploy these technologies – the biggest cost saver identified in the report. In this context, it is important to note that 80% of studied organizations in India have limited (37%) or no use (43%) of AI and automation.

Godawari Electric Motors launches exclusive financing options in collaboration with IDBI Bank

Raipur, 25th July 2023: To help customers achieve aspirations of e-mobility, Godawari Electric Motors, manufacturers of the Eblu range of products, today announced that it has collaborated with IDBI Bank to avail exclusive financing options for customers PAN-India.

To facilitate the transition to electric mobility, Godawari Electric Motors has launched innovative financing options for its entire product range, partnering with IDBI Bank. Godavari’s current product portfolio includes Eblu Rozee (electric three-wheeler), and its electric cycles, Eblu Spin, Eblu Thrill and the soon-to-be-launched Eblu Feo (e-scooter) and Eblu Reino (e-loader). The new partnership with IDBI Bank avails access to loans with a maximum tenure of 3 years, at an 11% rate of interest, and a low processing fee of 1%. The maximum LTV offered under this financing option is 80%.

Mr. Hyder Khan, CEO, Godawari Electric Motors, said, “We are delighted to announce the launch of a wide variety of financing options for customers of the Eblu range, in collaboration with IDBI Bank. Our journey to provide state-of-the-art e-mobility solutions continues, and we are certain that this innovative offering, which avails instant loans, will create new opportunities for customers to make the transition to green mobility quicker. We inch closer to building a future that is pollution-free and sustainable, and welcome all our customers across India. We will continue to keep customer convenience as the core focus area which aids in convenient and comfortable access to our products and services.”

The company currently has existing tie-ups with SIDBI, Bajaj FinServ, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Paytail, EZFINANZ, Chhattisgarh Gramin Bank, Revfin, Amu Leasing Pvt Ltd and Paisalo to cater to customer requirements and offer a wide range of EV financing solution options with a hassle-free loan application and approval process.

The company is preparing to launch its e-scooter Eblu Feo and e-loader Eblu Reino in August 2023. The company has invested significantly in network expansion and will aim to have 100 dealers by the end of this fiscal.

New Study Sheds Light on Awareness and Preferences for Bioplastics in Japan

Despite complex consumer preferences for bioplastics in Japan, adoption of these materials could be enhanced through educational interventions

To facilitate the transition to a bioeconomy, understanding consumer behavior and preferences regarding bioplastics is crucial. Researchers conducted a comprehensive study on the factors influencing consumer choices in Japan. Their findings show that Japanese consumers have limited comprehension of bioplastics and do not exhibit unconditional preference towards them. These findings could guide the development of acceptable bioplastics and targeted strategies aimed at improving consumer awareness, ultimately driving the adoption of bio-based and biodegradable plastics.

Non-biodegradable plastics are major contributors to land and marine pollution, destroying habitats and causing harm to both flora and fauna. Hence, the switch to bioplastics is imperative to ensure sustainability. The success of environmental initiatives aimed at increasing bioplastic adoption critically hinges on understanding consumer behavior. However, consumer preferences and perceptions around bioplastics, particularly in Japan and other Asian countries, are not well understood.

A recent study published online on July 10, 2023 in the Journal of Cleaner Production attempted to find answers to questions surrounding Japanese consumers’ preferences for bioplastics. “So far, attempts to improve bioplastic adoption in Japan have been hindered by a lack of clarity on the factors influencing consumer preferences. We attempted to shed light on these factors in our comprehensive large-scale study,” explains Professor Takuro Uehara from the College of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan University, who led the study.

The goal of the study was three-fold: understanding how familiar consumers in Japan are with bioplastics, revealing their preferences for bioplastics based on different factors, and examining how educational interventions affect their choices. To achieve this, the researchers surveyed over 12,000 respondents using questions focused on three products — 500 mL PET water bottles, three-color ballpoint pens, and 500 mL shampoo bottles. The respondents were divided into two groups: the treatment group, who were educated on the basic distinctions between bio-based and biodegradable plastics, and the control group, who did not receive educational interventions. Then, the researchers performed discrete choice experiments and text mining based on responses from these 12,000 participants.

Their findings yielded interesting insights, particularly highlighting a common trend among Japanese consumers and their European counterparts, which is a limited comprehension of the distinctions between bio-based, biodegradable, and bioplastics. Surprisingly, most respondents were unaware of the fact that not all bioplastics are biodegradable and bio-based. This demonstrated the need to improve consumer awareness regarding the characteristics and environmental impact of bioplastics.

Another important finding was the complexity of consumer preferences for bioplastics in Japan and the influence of general perceptions and personal values on these preferences. Notably, the preference for bioplastics among these consumers was not unconditional. In fact, most consumers were not in favor of using biomass in any of the three products. Among the different types of feedstock, they preferred sugarcane over wood chips, and favored waste cooking oil the least. This was likely owing to their greater emphasis on quality than on the trade-offs of biomass feedstock.

Nevertheless, there were several key factors the respondents considered valuable in their preference for bioplastics. These included the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, which was the most valued attribute across all three products in both the control and treatment groups. Another key factor was biodegradability, which was associated with positive responses from participants. Significantly, the respondents expressed a preference for domestic products, although the reasons were generally related to safety, quality, and reliability rather than environmental considerations.

Finally, the findings showed that educational interventions can influence consumer decisions, increasing their willingness to pay for more environmentally friendly products, including those with better feedstock incorporation and those enabling reductions in CO2 emissions. For example, after learning that bioplastics can be fossil-based, respondents gave greater value to products with reduced CO2 emissions. Interestingly, this preference was only significant for water bottles, suggesting that consumers were more sensitive to water bottles — that tend to be less durable — than to the other two products.

Overall, the findings provide a picture of the kinds of products Japanese consumers prefer and the attributes they focus on while making choices surrounding bioplastics. Prof. Uehara comments, “Our results will help Japanese industries and governments understand the type of bioplastics that would be preferred and accepted by consumers, giving them an impetus to develop more such products and improve bioplastic use.” He adds, “Information dissemination can influence consumer preference for bioplastic products, which highlights the importance of awareness campaigns.”

The findings from Prof. Uehara and his group could serve as a foundational roadmap for increasing bioplastic use in Japan and mark a significant step in Japan’s transformation into a bioeconomy.

Valley Insurance Agency Alliance Receives National Partnership Upgrade

Growing insurance alliance qualifies for platinum tier level in insurance carrier’s signature program.

(St. Louis, Mo., July 24, 2023) Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA), a cohesive family of more than 160 independent insurance agencies in Missouri and Illinois, was recently named a platinum tier member in Previsor Insurance and Missouri Employees Mutual signature partner program. Criteria includes achieving $10 million in written premium business with the two insurance carriers.

Missouri Employees Mutual (MEM) is Missouri’s number-one provider of workers compensation insurance. Combined with Previsor Insurance, MEM helps policyholders with injury-free workplaces by delivering value-added services that save lives and money. Previsor Insurance has workers compensation policies in six states including Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

The platinum level program rewards VIAA members with additional commissions on new business and renewal. An existing independent insurance agency that is not a VIAA member can join the alliance and instantly receive this revenue increase.

“Our alliance members truly benefit from this recent collective upgrade to platinum level status,” said VIAA’s Director of Enterprise Development Bill Kaatman. “We are proud to partner with Missouri Employees Mutual and Previsor Insurance because everyone in our alliance reaps the gains of our partnership.”

Founded in 2006, Valley Insurance Agency Alliance generates more than $600 million in written premium and is the regional founding member SIAA – The Agent Alliance, a $12.5 billion national insurance network. Founded in 1991, sister company Powers Insurance & Risk Management provides personal and business insurance, surety, risk management, and employee benefits. The companies are headquartered at 6825 Clayton Ave. For more information, call (314) 725-1414 or visit www.viaa4u.com.