You can’t fail to notice the significant increase in the use of lithium ion batteries in recent times and that upward trajectory is likely to continue at a pace when you consider that they are being used to drive the electric vehicle revolution.

Their storage capacity is impressive compared to other batteries and there are other significant advantages too, but there are also negative points to consider as well.

The fact that you have to think about using specific packaging solutions from someone like clsmith.com to transport these batteries safely should tell you that they have their unique qualities and there are other considerations to be aware of besides this.

As you might expect with any sort of technology it tends to offer advantages and disadvantages, so here is a look at some of the key pros and cons of lithium ion batteries.

The ability to last longer than other batteries

If you had to come up with a headline advantage for lithium ion batteries as the primary reason why you should choose this technology for your energy needs it would be the high energy density that it offers, which means it has more power storage ability and should last longer between charges.

We use a multitude of gadgets and technologies in our daily lives that need batteries that are capable of lasting as long as possible in order to give us the best usage options.

With an impending sense of urgency to switch to electric vehicles in order to reduce carbon emissions lithium ion batteries are going to take a starring role in providing that high energy density required to keep everything moving.

The downside to lithium ion technology is that that density means the battery needs to be protected against going beyond charging and discharging limits.

Fortunately, the protection circuitry required can be incorporated into the battery at manufacture so that it can be left on charge without being subjected to damage.

A lower self-discharge rate

You probably won’t need to be told that batteries can discharge at an alarming rate and that can mean your smartphone, for instance, could be rendered useless when you are nowhere near a charging point.

A notable advantage attached to lithium ion technology is that their rate of discharge is lower than rival rechargeable cells such as Ni-Cad.

Batteries tend to degenerate in performance over time but with lithium ion, you will lose roughly 5% of power in the first four hours of charging and then no more than 2% per month thereafter, which compares favorably to the self-discharge rate of Ni-Cad, for example.

However, it is not all good news as lithium ion batteries do still suffer from aging.

A typical battery using this technology will manage about 1,000 discharge cycles before its capacity begins to descend, although the technology is still evolving and there is optimism that this problem can be resolved in the future.

Good to go

Another advantage of lithium ion batteries that deserves a mention is the fact that there is no requirement for priming the battery prior to being put into use.

This is a distinct advantage when you consider that some rival rechargeable cells need to be primed when they receive their first charge before they are able to be used.

Install and forget

Another key advantage attached to using lithium ion batteries is that they are very low maintenance.

A lithium ion battery will maintain its level of performance without the need for any periodic maintenance. By comparison, Ni-Cad cells need to undergo a periodic discharge in order to ensure that the battery does not suffer from any memory loss.

Memory problems are not an issue with lithium ion batteries and that means you do not have the same concerns with regard to maintenance when you use this technology.

There are various types of lithium ion cell batteries available and that means they offer a degree of versatility across a range of applications. It is clear that with energy-hungry smartphones being an ever-present technology in modern life you will need a battery solution that provides that high-density energy solution required to keep the screen alight.

Whatever application you use a lithium ion battery for it will be the same scenario that moderate maintenance is required to maintain performance.

Of course, there is currently a financial cost attached to accessing such smart battery technology and lithium ion batteries do tend to be as much as 40% more expensive than Nickel-cadmium cells to manufacture.

Some might consider that a price worth paying when you see how well lithium ion performs.

Transportation costs are an issue

If there is one particular issue that is potentially stunting the rapid progress of lithium ion technology from becoming even more mainstream it is the difficulties attached to the transportation of these batteries across the globe.

A fundamental issue that needs to be addressed is that many of the world’s airlines have imposed strict limits on the number of lithium ion batteries they are prepared to have onboard at any one time.

There are other methods of transportation, of course, and container ships full of lithium ion batteries are constantly traversing the major sea routes, but that is a slower method of delivery than transporting by air.

This issue affects personal travelers as well as commercial operations selling batteries to their customers around the globe, and the problem relates to the potential fire hazards. The partitions in this type of battery are fragile and risk being punctured if the unit is damaged, leaving it vulnerable to a spark managing to ignite the lithium, which is highly reactive.

In terms of resolving this issue from a commercial transportation perspective, as already outlined, there are specific packaging solutions available that minimize this risk and help to satisfy the relevant authorities and regulations when you want to move these batteries across borders and even state lines with the minimum of fuss.

In general terms, when you look at the pros and cons of lithium ion technology it would probably be fair to say that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

The fundamentals of stormwater management are about finding a way to minimize the potential damage and disruption that can be caused by rainwater or melted snow runoff, plus it also focuses on maintaining and improving water quality.

As you will discover when you visit a site like cochraneng.com there are various aspects of stormwater management that you have to consider and get it right if you are going to deal with this issue in the most effective way possible.

Here is a look at what happens in a stormwater scenario and how the management of this situation can keep everything under a greater level of control.

What happens?

A good starting point would be to look at what happens when heavy rain creates a stormwater situation that needs dealing with.

In normal conditions, stormwater is easily absorbed into the soil and there is a natural filtration process that takes place as it subsequently flows into rivers and streams, or replenishes aquifers along the way.

A problem arises when the volume of rainwater is too large for the soil to cope and the ground becomes saturated, leading to excess water and moisture running across these ground surfaces and finding a path into ditches and storm drains.

While that might sound ok on the face of it, it should be noted that the water carries all sorts of contaminants in the form of bacteria, eroded soil, and other possible pollutants such as chemicals and general debris.

These pollutants are then being carried into various streams, lakes, or rivers, creating a potential problem in the process.

How good stormwater management can help deal with the situation

You obviously need a viable plan to be able to deal with this rainwater threat and that is where good stormwater management comes into play.

Urban and developed areas pose unique challenges because there are impervious surfaces such as pavements that will be doing their job in preventing this rainwater form finding a natural way to soak away into the ground.

What happens in this scenario is that the water searches out storm drain and sewerage systems as a potential escape route and that can quickly lead to localized flooding.

A particular threat when this scenario unfolds is that you could witness a sanitary sewer system overflow plus the very real prospect of damage to the surrounding infrastructure.

What a stormwater management system will do is capture that rainwater in an expedient manner and work on restoring natural hydrologies by removing the threat caused by pollutants.

The bottom line is that stormwater management has a fundamental purpose which is to retain excess stormwater safely and remove the pollutants contained within that water source.

A combination of initiatives

The main point to take on board about stormwater management is that it involves a number of different initiatives all combining to create an effective system.

In order to prevent runoff, stormwater management requires the utilization of berms, catch and retention basins, and an effective storm sewer system. It also commonplaces to use channels and ditches for erosion control.

A standard feature of a stormwater management system will be a slope that leans toward the cap of the landfill to keep the prospect of standing water to an absolute minimum.

Detention basins are used as a way of holding the stormwater that has been collected for a defined period of time.

The reason for this is that there needs to be a certain amount of time that passes after collecting the water so that there is sufficient opportunity for the solids to settle out before the discharge can take place to the relevant receiving water body.

Sampling wells are required

Good stormwater management always involves a series of balances and checks to make sure that the contaminants and other pollutants have been satisfactorily dealt with.

Whatever type of solid waste management facility you are creating there is always the need to incorporate a system that allows sampling of the collected groundwater.

These sampling wells are sometimes referred to as sentinel wells but they perform the same task, which is to flag up the presence of groundwater contamination.

When you are creating an effective groundwater management system there will always be a requirement to incorporate at least one upgradient well alongside a suitable number of downgradient wells in order to cover all the bases when it comes to detecting contamination from whatever location it originates from.

Industrial applications

As you would expect, there are a number of specific requirements attached to creating a stormwater management system that deals with industrial applications and threats.

The fundamental purpose remains the same, which is to create a pollution-prevention system that includes a few very important concepts that have to be upheld in the design process.

The number one aim is to prevent the prospect of pollution by dealing with the threat of rainwater. In addition, you need to be able to create an effective collection and treatment process combined with suitable source segregation methods.

In simple terms, pollution prevention means factoring in the prospect of either accidental or routine exposure to the threats posed by stormwater and pollutants.

Understanding source segregation

The concept of source segregation is finding a way to separate out clean and dirty water when the stormwater clearly doesn’t distinguish between the two.

The end result of achieving good source segregation is the ability to boost the impact of your efforts to concentrating the contaminants in the runoff in such a way that it becomes easier to deal with, making it a fairly critical precursor to the stormwater treatment itself.

Your aim should always be to use source segregation as a way of eliminating, or at least reducing, the level of contamination at the pinch point of the process.

Stormwater treatment is a vital component in the overall stormwater management program and this overview should, hopefully, have served as a clear illustration of how important it is to have a system in place that helps you deal effectively with the threat posed by excess rainwater.

Many companies and other organizations regularly find themselves needing to manage and transfer sensitive information. Should such documents or files fall into the wrong hands, untold amounts of harm can easily follow.

Fortunately, there are some well-established ways to keep sensitive documents secure when transferring them, even in particularly hostile environments. Accounting for each of five fundamentally important considerations should always minimize the likelihood of a problem arising.

Five Cornerstones of Secure Document Transfer

Documents and data kept locked up on ostensibly secure servers or in filing cabinets can still end up becoming accessible to unauthorized parties. Put such a file in motion by trying to transfer it to others, though, and the number of threats that need to be acknowledged and addressed skyrockets in just about every case.

As such, it will always be important to keep sensitive files safe while they are en route, no matter how secure the origin and destination might be. In practice, that most often means doing everything possible to maximize security in five distinct respects.

 The channel

Whether they are physical or virtual, documents of all kinds can be transferred in a number of ways. The choice of a particular means of movement will always impact the overall security of a transfer. Using a secure fax service will always be preferable to hope for the best with an alternative that makes no such claims. Should a physical document need to be transferred, a courier service that conducts extensive vetting of workers will be preferable to one that does not. Since the channel or medium chosen to enable the transfer of a sensitive document will always set the stage for everything else, it should normally receive the most scrutiny and attention.

Protection

It might occasionally make sense to transfer a sensitive document without trying to protect it while in transit, but that is fairly rare. It will far more often be wise and productive to utilize whichever appropriate, effective forms of protection are available. For digital documents, that will normally mean employing a carefully designed, rigorously tested algorithm as the Advanced Encryption Standard endorsed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Even where another option seems to be newer and more innovative, it will normally be best to stick to forms of protection that have established track records.

Auditing

Whenever a sensitive document changes hands or makes its way onto a new device, opportunities for illegitimate access arise. Establishing strict auditing controls will help prevent sensitive information from becoming exposed without the breach being recognized. Even where auditing fails to prevent a particular problem from arising, it will highlight the need for an appropriate response. Failing to keep up with auditing can cause long-lasting access problems that persist despite ongoing damage piling up.

Exposure

Trusting too much in the success of one transfer of sensitive information can be profoundly costly. Should a transfer not go as planned, the amount of harm done will normally be proportional to both the scale and value of the contents. It will often be best to limit the size of each individual transfer in order to do the same to the magnitude of potential problems.

Accountability

Making responsible parties accountable for the handling and transfer of sensitive data will always improve security. A lack of accountability can easily encourage sloppiness that undermines the effectiveness of all the security-related precautions that were employed.

Every Sensitive Document Deserves Proper Treatment

These five issues combine to form the foundation on which effective document transfer security processes can be built. Failing to account for any of these five important matters can cause a sensitive document to fall into the wrong hands in the course of a transfer.

Continuing its journey to provide the best possible service to its travelers, IntrCity by RailYatri has announced its association with ICICI Lombard and Marsh to provide travel insurance cover worth Rs. 5,00,000 to all SmartBus Passengers. This group travel insurance has been activated for RailYatri travelers starting November 2019;comprising cover on hospitalization expenses for injury and personal accident.

Commenting on the addition of the new service, Manish Rathi, CEO and Co-Founder, RailYatrisaid

IntrCity SmartBus is built on three core promises – On-time performance, Safety and Personalized Assistance. While we have also taken enough steps to ensure safe journey by installing IoT devices, 24×7 Command Centre but we nevertheless felt that it is important to provide insurance cover for every traveler.

The group insurance covers, for IntrCity SmartBus travelers, are our way to go a step further in taking ownership of the responsibility that our passengers give us whenever they travel with us. This is a step towards providing a holistic service to our passengers and guarantee their safety and to that effect we will be announcing some more exciting features to our buses in the near future.

Ensuring safety and standardized services to passengers, all IntrCity SmartBus are equipped with train like comfortable berths, free Wi-Fi, on-board entertainment, onboard washroom, real-time online streaming of live location, CCTV cameras, clean linen, mineral water just to name a few.

Talking about the future plans, according to Mr. Rathi

We have recently added an innovative AI enabled Driver Alert system and in the near future, we will also be adding mandatory alcohol tests on all our buses.

On the association Sanjeev Mantri, Executive Director, ICICI Lombard, said

We are delighted to be associated with RailYatri’s unique initiative. At ICICI Lombard, we have developed comprehensive travel insurance solutions that address the specific needs of travelers, be it while traveling via air, rail or road. We look forward to offering our innovative travel solutions to RailYatri’s customers and thereby enabling them to experience hassle-free travel, well secured with our travel insurance solutions.

Suresh M, CEO, Marsh Consumer Business said

Developing solutions that resonate with RailYatri’s comfortable & safe philosophy was an interesting journey. We were able to arrange products which are scalable and support RailYatri’s growth plans. We are delighted to be part of this association.

IntrCity by RailYatri has successfully launched the IntrCity SmartBus service on some popular routes starting from Delhi to Lucknow, Kanpur, Shimla, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Manali and have expanded further in to Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Vijayawada, Madurai and Coimbatore. RailYatri as a platform is focused at making intercity travel hassle free through their multi-modal offering.

In presence of the Deputy Mayor of The Hague, the Netherlands, Ms. Saskia Bruines, the Karnataka The Hague Innovation Corridor MoU was signed with the Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka for collaboration in fields of Health, Cybersecurity, Agri-tech and Peace & Justice.

The MoU, which is a renewal of an earlier MoU signed in 2016, will focus on identifying partnerships for tech innovation facilitation, startup exchanges and nurturing talent on both sides.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Saskia Bruines, Deputy Mayor of The Hague said

The Hague believes in close international cooperation between government, science and industry. In our region, we are fortunate to have such close cooperation – top universities, tech hubs, economic top sectors, including Indian companies like HCL and Tech Mahindra, and a government that promotes regional cooperation. And now we are proud to underpin this by signing the MoU with the State of Karnataka.

Prashant Kumar Mishra, Director, Department of IT & BT said that

We are indeed delighted to see our relationship with The Hague, which started in IT BIZ during 2016, deepen further at Bengaluru Tech Summit 2019. Parties of today’s cooperation shall further grow our mutually beneficial relationship in the fields of Health, Cybersecurity, Agri-tech and Peace & Justice we as we move forward.

Also, at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2019, JK Technosoft formally announced the opening of its European headquarters in The Hague. JK Technosoft [JKT], is part of JK Group, globally recognized for its technology innovation, quality solutions and services.

eMudhra is a leading digital transformation company headquartered in Bengaluru focused on offering identity and trust services to 35mn people and providing solutions for paperless transformation and digital authentication to Fortune 100 customers and a number of top enterprises in eGovernance, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance.

eMudhra has recently set up a company in The Hague in Netherlands to offer trust services, cyber security and artificial intelligence solutions to customers in the European Union. eMudhra was attracted to The Hague because of its reputation in promoting companies focused on cyber security. eMudhra thanks The Hague business agency for the continued support it received in helping set up its first presence in the European Union.

One of the key deciding factors for the companies to choose The Hague is it’s central strategic location, proximity to potential customers, multilingual workforce alongside its knowledge base and ease of doing business. The Netherlands is one of the world’s most technologically progressive countries. In addition, the fact that there are already several leading Indian IT & Technology companies based in The Hague, was a strong argument in favour of choosing this city.

Truecaller announced that the impressions on its mobile advertising platform, Truecaller Brand Solutions, has increased by 400% since its launch in 2017. This growth has also helped two leading consumer brands – Kalyan Jewellers and Vivo – witness a massive 5x growth, reaching over 60 million Truecaller users every day, through consistent brand building on the platform over the last 3 years. Furthermore, the click through rates have also gone up by 10x across various campaigns.

The Truecaller Brand Solutions platform is designed to offer a rich experience for brands by powering them with an exclusive and clutter-free real estate on the app’s After Call screen. With this, brands can leverage 40% larger space and create a high impact roadblock strategy to strongly connect with over 100 million daily active users. Additionally, sustained advertising by brands on the platform has also led to a huge drop in cost per reach by almost 50%, resulting in a better return of investment.

Speaking on the occasion, Tejinder Gill, Vice President Global Sales at Truecaller, said

Since the launch of Truecaller Brand Solutions in 2017, we have always strived to offer the most innovative, impactful and cost-efficient services to our partners. Our primary objective has been to drive maximum reach and scale for all our advertisers through sustained campaigns.

The growth we are witnessing today reflects the expertise and value that our Brand Solutions platform delivers. This is truly a testament to our efforts to become one of the leading publishers in the industry today.

Vivo capitalised on Truecaller’s holistic brand solutions to maximise brand visibility and top of mind recall for their latest phone launch – Vivo Z1 Pro. Using Truecaller’s high-impact roadblocking capabilities, Vivo received a reach of 50+ million in a single day. The campaign was also successful in delivering more than 60% of the reach from Tier 1 cities, which were the core target audience for the campaign.

Commenting on the experience, Ganish Bahl, Head Digital Marketing, Vivo India, said

With heavy competition in the handset category in India, we required a strong strategy to connect deeply with our audience. For the past 3 years, we have been consistently partnering with Truecaller where we have been witnessing great results towards improving our brand’s mindshare.

The high impact roadblock activity for our new product has been instrumental in delivering tremendous results in a single day.

Similarly, Kalyan Jewellers, who has been a long term advertising partner with Truecaller, leveraged the platform to promote one of their offers on the occasion of Akshay Tritia.

Commenting on the experience, Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director, Kalyan Jewellers said

Kalyan Jewellers has adopted a digital-focused marketing strategy this year and Truecaller was one of our earliest partners. We successfully leveraged Truecaller’s reach of 100M DAU through our various brand roadblocks. Kalyan’s location-specific offers were promoted via this channel and each activity garnered great results.

Truecaller’s programmatic advertising inculcates the values of providing a brand safe environment to help brands focus on achieving meaningful impact and constructively sustained partner campaigns. With such a large user base, the platform delivers over 400 million impressions on an average each day and hosts creative messaging across varied formats like Display, Video, Click to Call and Easy Lead.