Imagine a gigantic brick of highly compressed dirt -- as big as a pickup truck but, at 24 tons, about five times heavier. An elevator powered by solar panels or wind turbines hoists it over 300 feet up the side of a huge building, and a trolley stows it inside. But it's not alone. An automated system lifts and stores hundreds more bricks, like giant Pez candies, as the sun shines and the wind blows.

Now imagine the building's control system lowering those hundreds of bricks one by one, spinning electrical power generators in the process. They drop down every evening just as demand for power peaks but solar panel output fades away.

In effect, the brick-filled building is a giant battery that stores energy with gravity instead of chemistry.

Gravity batteries are a potentially important solution to a critical problem with the green energy revolution: making sure electricity is available when we need it, not just during the times when sun and wind supply it.

And it isn't just an idea. With two sites under construction one in Rudong, China, just north of Shanghai, and the other in Snyder, Texas, about 250 miles west of Dallas startup Energy Vault will begin seriously testing the viability of the gravity storage technology. An earlier pilot generated 5 megawatts of power, but these two facilities and expected successors will show whether gravity storage is economical and efficient enough to work at large scale.

You may think putting solar panels on your roof will help fight climate change, but without some form of energy storage in your home or on the grid, you'll likely rely on carbon dioxide-spewing gas and coal power plants to run your home's lights, TV and dishwasher as the sun sets.

Energy Vault tested its technology at a smaller scale in Switzerland, where the 170-person company is headquartered. Its two EVx systems under construction are much bigger. The Chinese system, built for waste management and recycling company China Tianying, is in a 400-foot-tall building and will have an energy storage capacity of 100 megawatt-hours. That's enough to power 3,400 homes for an entire day, and the system should be complete by June. The Texas system, in a 460-foot-tall (but narrower) building, will provide power company Enel with 36MWh of capacity.

Solar panels and wind turbines now generate power more cheaply than coal and natural gas plants, making them a clear choice in the push to replace fossil fuels. Solar power costs dropped 83% from 2009 to 2023 and wind costs dropped 63% over the same period, according to tracking from investment advisory and asset management firm Lazard. But in many parts of the country, new solar panels often just supply a glut of power during the middle of the day without helping in the evenings.

The mismatch between power production and power usage is responsible for the infamous "duck curve," a graph with a birdlike shape showing the disparity increasing with each passing year. That disparity makes it hard for utilities to adjust to rapid changes in demand and means fossil fuel powered sources like natural gas "peaker plants" supply power in the evenings.

"If we're ever going to wean ourselves more and more off of fossil fuels and replace that with renewable generation that's intermittent, the only way to solve that is storage," said Energy Vault Chief Executive Robert Piconi.

Energy Vault isn't alone. Another startup, Gravitricity, has built a 250-kilowatt demonstration system and is planning a larger 4MW to 8MW system in an unused mine shaft.

Gravity storage is just one way to smooth out the spurts of wind and solar. Big batteries like Tesla Megapacks industrial-scale versions of the same batteries that power your phone or electric vehicle are increasingly common on the power grid. "Pumped hydro," an older form of gravity battery that pumps water to an uphill reservoir then generates power when it flows back downhill, has been used for decades but is attracting new interest. Other methods include filling underground chambers with compressed air, storing hydrogen that later powers fuel cells, and developing different types of batteries, like zinc batteries and flow batteries.

Energy Vault's EVx system hoists these 24-ton bricks up hundreds of feet to then recapture that potential energy by lowering them when power is needed. The bricks are made of compressed dirt with a polymer matrix and are shuttled within the system using a trolley setup beneath the bricks.

Cost will be a major factor in determining what storage technology prevails, including initial manufacturing and continuing operations.

"At the end of the day it will all come down to price," said Selene Law, an energy analyst at consulting firm Cleantech Group. And for gravity storage, questions about total cost persist, she said.

Indeed, a 2022 US Department of Energy study concluded that gravity energy storage is relatively expensive in smaller installations. Where it's most economical is in high-capacity systems that generate power for relatively long periods of time 10 hours or more.

Energy Vault hasn't disclosed the cost of the two systems under construction, but it agrees the technology offers advantages for long-duration power needs.

Longevity is a cost factor over the lifetime of the plant. Batteries lose capacity with use, the same way your phone doesn't run as long after a couple of years of ownership, but gravity storage components, like pulleys and generators, can be maintained.

"The key of our value proposition is the lack of degradation of the storage medium," said Marco Terruzzin, a mechanical engineer and Energy Vault's chief commercial product officer. "We provide a guarantee on the system for at least 35 years."

Though Energy Vault has taken only its first steps in proving the technology's value, two customers have concluded it's worth paying for today. And the 100MWh system in China is only the first there, the company said. The country expects to fund another 4GWh to 6GWh of capacity later an increase of 40 to 60 times the initial plant.

Energy Vault's gravity EVx storage system is a giant rectangular building that largely runs automatically. Here's how it works.

The bricks at the heart of the system each measure 3.5 by 2.7 by 1.3 meters (about 11 by 9 by 4 feet) and weigh 24 metric tons. They're made of 99% compressed dirt with some water and a polymer mixture to stabilize it using a recipe from Mexican building materials company Cemex. They're 2.4 times denser than water and about the same as concrete.

Energy Vault's first large-scale gravity-based energy storage system in Rudong, China, is hundreds of feet tall.

The bricks are stored side by side within the building, like dominoes jammed together. Before they're raised or lowered, a trolley system hefts each brick and trundles it to the elevator.

Bricks are housed on the top eight levels of the building to store energy and drop down to the corresponding lower eight levels to generate power. Each brick, descending at 1.9 meters per second (6.23 feet), turns out about a megawatt, Terruzzin said. That's about enough to power 2,000 refrigerators.

Once each brick reaches the bottom, it's robotically transferred to the trolley system and moved toward the center of the building.

Making the building longer, with longer trolley tracks, means more bricks can be stored for more hours of power generation. Making the building wider, with more elevators, means the system can generate a higher peak power rate.

As for efficiency, Energy Vault guarantees EVx systems will generate at least 80% of the energy required to lift the bricks and scoot them around, including factors like friction. That overall efficiency is comparable to pumped hydro.

Key to Energy Vault's business is the control system that decides when and where to position the bricks for optimal storage and even energy output.

"While we're decelerating one at the bottom, the next one is loading and beginning to accelerate," said Bill Gross, Idealabs chief executive and Energy Vault co-founder, speaking at the Techonomy Climate conference in March.

The maximum output will be 25MW at the China system and 18MW at the Texas system.

Energy Vault settled on its current design after evaluating several other options gravel in carts, water in tanks, concrete blocks hanging from cranes.

The EVx is designed to overcome problems with those designs. It's weatherproof, which means bricks don't get wet or blown around, for example.

Energy Vault isn't putting all its energy storage eggs in the gravity basket. A contract with California's Pacific Gas and Electric, could result in a system to power the city of Calistoga for up to 48 hours with a combination of hydrogen fuel cells and batteries. Hybrid systems with gravity and battery storage also make sense, since batteries can respond very rapidly to increase or decrease, Terruzzin said.

With Energy Vault's plants headed into production, we should start getting a better idea this year how well gravity storage really works. "This will be a crucial year for Energy Vault," Cleantech Group's Law said. "The proof will be in the pudding."

The company isn't profitable, reporting a net loss of $78 million for 2022 on revenue of $146 million. And its stock has slumped by 89% over the last year, a fate many startups suffered with economic troubles and skeptical investors.

Energy Vault's Piconi is convinced the company is on the right path toward making energy storage more economical, though.

"Wind and solar are so much cheaper than fossil fuels now... The problem is storage is typically 10 to 15 times that," Piconi said. "We have to get there."

Correction, 9:26 a.m. PT: A previous version of this story misstated Energy Vault's 2022 financial results. It reported a net loss of $78 million on revenue of $146 million.

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How Hundreds of 24-Ton Bricks Could Fix a Huge Renewable ... - CNET

For research institutions, a solid IT foundation can prove to be the difference in delivering meaningful results for scientific endeavors and thereby in securing valuable funding for further research.

To that end, University of California, Riverside has launched an ambitious cloud transformation to shift from a small on-premises data center to an advanced research platform powered by Google Cloud Platform and its various service offerings.

As part of a three-year partnership with Google Public Sector, which kicked off in January, UC Riverside aims to empower its researchers in computer science, materials and quantum engineering, genomics, and precision agriculture to fully exploit Googles location-agnostic application modernization platform, as well as its scalable compute and high performance computing (HPC) capabilities, says Matthew Gunkel, CIO of IT solutions at UCR.

Gunkel enlisted Google Public Sector professional services specifically as part of a strategy to quickly evolve UC Riversides small data center into an advanced cloud hub with robust research computing capabilities that would enable researchers to better compete for grants and funding opportunities.

We identified Google as being well aligned with us strategically, says Gunkel. They have an agile infrastructure. They have the ability to facilitate industry-leading service concepts in additional clouds through a service they run called Anthos.

Googles Anthos is a hybrid cloud container platform for managing Kubernetes workloads across on-prem and public cloud environments. Gunkel also cited Googles Looker and Big Query BI data analysis tools and its Chronicle security operations suite as important for enabling the university to operate a wide variety of applications and research on the cloud.

With roughly 180 staff members, UC Riverside IT is relatively small, with largely traditional on-premises IT skills. As such, migrating to the cloud alone was not part of Gunkels plan.

Googles assistance in developing a more efficient cloud architecture and training UCRs IT staff in cloud technologies has been an immeasurably valuable service, he says, adding that Google is in a support role and is not running the show. UCRs cloud architecture, for example, has been designed to be location-agnostic so the university is not locked into any one vendor and can adopt a multicloud platform over the long term.

The services engagement is consulting and training to assist us in moving initial cloud workloads and to assist in our architecture to align to GCP services, Gunkel says. This is a teach us to fish model. Its all our work.

UC Riverside IT is well on its way to migrating its core data to the cloud, developing its research platform, and shifting a range of applications to support the needs of its user base, which ranges from quantum engineering researchers to administrators, faculty, and students.

To date, UCR has moved the vast majority of our data stores to Google, Gunkel says, noting that his staff is currently refining the architecture and ETL processes for management and organization of the data long term.

In addition, UC Riverside IT is aligning its data to be accessed from Looker, Googles enterprise BI and analytics platform, though which UCR will be deploying its Oracle Finance application for scaled reporting. UC Riverside is also rewriting a number of legacy applications to be cloud-native while revamping others for the cloud there will be no lift and shift of any applications, Gunkel says.

To that end, Google helped UC Riverside re-architect and migrate certain legacy services, including an LDAP configuration on a Solaris Unix server, as part of a process of identifying increased efficiencies for the deployment and operation of those services, which has been an educational experience for a lot of my staff, Gunkel says, noting that the overall transformation has required cultural change management.

But the universitys evolving research hub is the crown jewel of the cloud migration.

We have been working with a number of researchers on a platform that we are calling Ursa Major where we committed to a number of compute instances and storage and RAM and GPUs that would be available to our researchers over a three-year time period, Gunkel says.

Jim Kennedy, CTO of UC Riverside, says Google is helping architect the research hub and is also helping the IT chiefs make connections with researchers beyond UCR to help train UCRs research faculty on Ursa Major, which will expand and grow beyond the three-year agreement with Google.

Google connects us to experts in various research fields, and have conversations with our faculty directly, such as our genomics researcher on campus. There are experts on Googles side, too, Kennedy says.

Google also helped the Gunkel and Kennedy extend the universitys subscription-based compute and storage services to researchers in a multitude of disciplines. In the past, if a materials engineering researcher wanted to run workloads on several thousand processors, they would often have to write proposals to gain access to external supercomputer clusters.

With HPC requiring vast computing power, Gunkel also notes the benefit for efficiency and sustainability of shifting those workloads to the cloud. Were in a fairly constrained region against mountains and our ability to bring power into the university is something were constantly battling, Gunkel says. One of the things our researchers were very concerned about was [building] a sustainable, more eco-friendly solution. Its something UCR values heavily but its also a challenge for us locally.

Still, the migration, still in its early days, is being designed to accommodate a wide range of computing constituencies. For instance, UCR is also using Salesforce and MuleSoft as well as Googles API layer to provide the connective tissue that is required across the universitys many enterprise platforms.

The best way to think of the university is really as a collection or community of small businesses, Gunkel says. A lot of what we try to provide on the service stack side are tools that empower all of them in their different endeavors.

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UC Riverside turns to cloud to supercharge scientific research - CIO

Former professional athlete shares her secret to living life to the fullest

PINECREST, Fla., April 24, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Former professional athlete Cristiana Pinciroli has dedicated her life to sports and helping other athletes reach their peak performance, happiness and fulfillment. In her new book, "Sport: A Stage for Life: How to Connect with the Touchstones of Elite Performance and Personal Fulfillment," she demonstrates just how athletes from all sports can balance high performance and happiness.

In "Sport: A Stage for Life," Pinciroli collaborates with her father, former Olympic athlete Pedro Pinciroli Junior, to share their combined life experiences, and lessons learned from participating in sports, and how it can be applied to all aspects of life. These lessons can also help readers realize their potential for both success and wellbeing.

"What we learn extends beyond the sporting arena," Pinciroli said. "If those who participate in athletics view sport as a means and not an end, they have a wonderful chance to build a foundation for success and happiness in life."

The book includes not only Pinciroli's experiences, it also features contributions and insights from world-renowned athletes and coaches, leading academics, physicians, and psychologists who share stories to support scientific evidence about how human potential can be turned into a life of fulfillment and happiness.

"Sports provide a controlled environment where the practitioner has the freedom to exercise, not only physically, but also mentally at a time when it is needed most," Pinciroli said. "It teaches perseverance, persistence, and willpower. It provides the participants with a fertile ground to acquire self-confidence by coping with challenging situations. It teaches how to have the courage to try new things, and how to collaborate and cooperate with a team to achieve greater goals than one can achieve alone."

Story continues

Pinciroli wants to do more than just inspire readers, she wants to guide them in applying the lessons of sport so that they may evolve along their own journey of self-awareness, self-development and transformation. With "Sport: A Stage for Life," readers can create a positive environment where they can be the best that they can be, and lead a flourishing life.

"Sport: A Stage for Life: How to Connect with the Touchstones of Elite Performance and Personal Fulfillment" By Cristiana Pinciroli ISBN: 9781663233677 (softcover); 9781663233684 (hardcover); 9781663233660 (electronic) Available at iUniverse, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the author A native of So Paulo, Cristiana Pinciroli began her sports career at the age of six, as a swimmer, and then as a water polo player. She went on to captain the Brazilian National Women's Water Polo team for 15 years and played professionally in Italy for four years. In 2019, she founded WeTeam, a consultancy dedicated to leaders and athletes, combining the lessons learned from high-performance sports with studying the science of happiness. Her goal is to foster the development and fulfillment of human potential along a journey of success and well-being. To learn more, please visit http://www.weteam.today.

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Award Winning Book Connects the Topics of Elite Sports ... - Yahoo Finance

By: Jonathon Zenk, Assistant Director of Communications

Last week, Butler ran a 52.22 in the 400-meter dash in front of the home crowd at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational to break the school record in the event.

Saturday, she did one better, running the 400 in a blistering 52.19, a mark that lasted just one week, on the second and final day of the Michael Johnson Invitational on the campus of Baylor University.If that wasn't enough for Butler, she was a part of the women's 4x400 relay team that ran a 3:36.28.

The group of Butler, Maygan Shaw, Vanessa Balde and Sian Weller broke a five-year old school record and is more than two seconds quicker than second-place Texas A&M-Commerce in the league. The time is 35th in the NCAA this season.

While Butler stole the show in the 400-meters, Shaw earned a personal best in the event with a 52.73, which is fourth in school history, behind Butler's outings from the past two weeks and Natashia Jackson's 52.55 in 2021.

Those were two of the eight personal or season bests set.

The men's 4x400 team posted a season best as well. The quartet of Desmond Duncan, Cyrus Jacobs, Justin Walden and Galen Loyd ran a 3:11.72, which is the second-best mark in the conference this season, only behind Southeastern Louisiana.

Three personal bests were set in the men's 800-meters. Stefan Klefasz led the way for the Demons with a 1:54.02 with Korbin Shumate (1:54.15) and Payten Vidourek (1:55.82) right behind Klefasz.

John Klein ran a personal best 10:04.97 in the 3000-meter steeplechase.

Ceyda Bayur placed first in her heat in the women's 800-meters, running a 2:17.55.

In the men's 4x100, the team of Cyrus Jacobs, Simon Wulff, Dylan Swain and Destine-Unique Scott finished fourth with a 39.87, placing only behind Kentucky, TCU and Nebraska.

Vanessa Balde ran a 13.81, placing 14th in the women's 100-meter hurdles. Jessica Pitcher ran a 14.93 and Orsciana Beard posted a 14.96.

Destine-Unique Scott led a group of men's 400-meter athletes for the Demons, four finishing in the top 33 in a loaded field. Scott ran a 47.00 to finish 15th in a group of 52 finishers. Galen Loyd (48.56) came in 30th, while Cyrus Jacobs (48.70) placed 31st and Desmond Duncan (48.72) came in 33rd.

Mikkel Johansson finished with a season-best 10.90 in the men's 100-meters. Austin Simoneaux ran a 10.77 in the event to finish 27th out of 54 finishers.

In the field, Djimon Gumbs tossed a 61-9.50 in the shot put to place fourth in the event, while Diamante Gumbs recorded a 52-3.75.

Following his strong performance at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational, Randy Kelly finished sixth in the high jump, clearing 6-7.50.

Ashley Duffus posted a 133-10 in the women's javelin, finishing ninth.

In the shot put, Carnitra Mackey posted a 46-1.50 to finish 11th, while Deonmonique Granville tossed 43-4.25.

Next up for the track & field teams is the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships, beginning May 5 in Commerce, Texas.

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Butler posts another record-breaking performance on final day of ... - nsudemons.com

New Delhi,UPDATED: Apr 22, 2023 06:28 IST

By Arunesh Kumar Sharma: What will your day look like in terms of health, romance, finance and fortune? Read everything here.

Monetary gains- Performance will be according to expectations. Exercise caution in financial transactions. Maintain control over investments. Create a professional and desired environment. Increase compliance with rules. Participate in discussions and dialogues. Avoid borrowing. Success will remain average. Move forward with preparation. Maintain vigilance in career and business. Maintain coordination in work relationships. Keep the system strong. Work according to plans. Focus on facts.

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Love life- Do not rush to express your thoughts. Maintain simplicity and humility. Will do better in discussions and dialogues. Will increase patience in emotional relationships. Will maintain respect for everyone. Will remain alert. Will improve balance in relationships. Will bring clarity to personal matters. Avoid unnecessary reactions. Essential information is possible.

Health- Will emphasize hard work. Will avoid neglecting health. Will remain alert to symptoms. Develop the habit of meditation and breathing exercises. Maintain routine. Pay attention to responsibilities. Keep enthusiasm and mental strength.

Lucky numbers: 1, 3 and 2

Lucky colour: Red

ALSO READ| Horoscope Today, April 22, 2023: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

ALSO READ | Horoscope Today

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Today Sagittarius Horoscope, April 22, 2023: Your personal performance will improve! - India Today

The former second-round pick grew into a playmaker for the Bears' young secondary in 2022, starting all 15 games he was active for and compiling 103 tackles and a team-high four sacks. His 73 solo tackles were the third most among all NFL rookies during the regular season.

While Brisker's stat sheet proves his rookie year was a success, the Pittsburgh native felt his performance last season didn't meet personal expectations, adding: "just looking at what I did last year, I know that wasn't me. I could have been better."

His biggest disappointment was not playing in all 17 games, as he missed Weeks 12 and 13 in concussion protocol. He also dealt with an injury in the preseason, limiting his training camp reps. Brisker said he can't remember missing a game since his sophomore year of high school and believes "availability is the best ability."

After finishing out the 2022 season healthy, Brisker went into the offseason with an emphasis on taking care of his body. With more time to himself the last few months, the safety has been able to "get back to the drills that I always used to do," and focus on eating right and strengthening certain parts of his body to prevent future injuries.

That offseason work included training in California, Chicago and at his alma mater, Penn State. Brisker said he spent time working with three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and fellow Pittsburgh native Aaron Donald along with former college teammates Joey Porter Jr. and Ji'Ayir Brown.

Staying connected to his teammates throughout the offseason was another focus for Brisker as he wanted to keep building on relationships established in the locker room last season. When Brisker was back in Chicago throughout the offseason, he often worked with veteran safety Eddie Jackson, who he grew close with during his rookie season, and saw teammates like quarterback Justin Fields at Halas Hall.

"Just keep building the chemistry, that's always important because we all have the same goals," Brisker said. "But it's even better when you're working out with each other and obviously you're having conversations and going to each other's houses and things like that. It's also important to train with the best players in the league and just really getting a feel for each other and things like that, always learning from each other and always taking something away."

While Brisker spent much of the last three months concentrated on football, he knew it would be beneficial to take some time away before ramping up for the 2023 season.

Prior to returning to Chicago last Monday for the Bears voluntary offseason program, Brisker was back home in Pittsburgh for 12 days and hosted his inaugural toy giveaway April 7. Brisker said he was proud of the event's turnout and saw "a lot of smiles on kids' faces," as the "kids really enjoyed themselves."

Brisker said adding a positive influence to his hometown community has been a priority of his even before entering the NFL. Finally having the opportunity to serve as a role model and give back to kids in the area where he grew up was a monumental moment for Brisker, who often searched for someone like that during his childhood.

"When I was a kid, I always felt like I needed someone in my position to come around or to always give back or just wondered where those players were," Brisker said. "I feel like with me, I always wanted to give back. I've always said that. You never know, you could change one, maybe five, ten people's lives just by showing up.

"So I just feel like as a kid, that's what I always wanted. And not too many people give back. Especially for my city, kids don't see guys like me come back and actually be face-to-face with them and do things like that. So I feel like that was very big, especially to help kids in need and kids who don't have two parents or however the situation is. I was one of those kids before, so I know how it feels."

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Brisker uses first NFL offseason to refresh, work on himself - ChicagoBears.com

Kelly Clarksons latest Kellyoke song hit very close to home.

The singer performed her highly anticipated new single, Mine, on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

Standing in front of purple backlights, Clarkson wore a floor length black dress with lace sleeves. The dramatic performance seemed especially poignant given the lyrics' personal resonance for the singer.

She sings, I hope one day someone will take your heart and hold it tight / Make you feel like youre invincible deep inside / And right when you think that youll try again, they cross a line / And steal your shine like you did mine.

Afterwards, Clarkson tells her studio audience that the lyrics in that song are pretty self evident.

I was feeling all the feelings when I wrote that one, she says.

Clarkson explains that she had never really done anything like that on a chorus and never changed tempo on a song.

It was just a different vibe for me overall, so I was very excited about it, she says. Obviously I was also just very angry and sad. But anyway, I did, I let it out and I feel great now.

Prior to the performance, the show released a behind-the-scenes glimpse of all the work that went into the performance.

I hope you all like the song, if you dont its OK, Clarkson says. It was therapeutic for me.

Clarkson also dropped the official music video to Mine, along with another track, Me.

Both songs are seemingly about her divorce in June 2022 from Brandon Blackstock. The pair were married for nearly seven years and share kids River Rose, 8, and Remington Alexander, 7.

Earlier this month, the singer posted a black-and-white clip of herself recording the track in the studio.

Someones going to show you how a heart can be used like you did mine, she sings in the clip.

The raw song is a track from her upcoming album Chemistry, which is set to be released on June 23. Last month, Clarkson opened up about the meaning of her album title: Chemistry can be a really amazing, sexy, cool, fun thing, but it can also be very bad for you

She said the record couldn't be described with one or two emotions.

This album is definitely the arc of an entire relationship, she said. And a whole relationship shouldnt be just brought down to one thing. So theres the good, the bad and the ugly kind of thing going on in it.

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Kelly Clarkson Has 'Therapeutic' Performance Of Personal New ... - TODAY

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This document and the related oral presentation, including responses to questions following the presentation, contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Philips and certain of the plans and objectives of Philips with respect to these items. Examples of forward-looking statements include statements made about our strategy, estimates of sales growth, future Adjusted EBITA*), future restructuring and acquisition-related charges and other costs, future developments in Philips organic business and the completion of acquisitions and divestments. Forward-looking statements can be identified generally as those containing words such as anticipates, assumes, believes, estimates, expects, should, will, will likely result, forecast, outlook, projects, may or similar expressions. By their nature, these statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements.

These factors include but are not limited to: Philips ability to gain leadership in health informatics in response to developments in the health technology industry; Philips ability to transform its business model to health technology solutions and services; macroeconomic and geopolitical changes; integration of acquisitions and their delivery on business plans and value creation expectations; securing and maintaining Philips intellectual property rights, and unauthorized use of third-party intellectual property rights; Philips ability to meet expectations with respect to ESG-related matters; failure of products and services to meet quality or security standards, adversely affecting patient safety and customer operations; breaches of cybersecurity; challenges in connection with Philips strategy to improve execution and other business performance initiatives; the resilience of our supply chain; attracting and retaining personnel; COVID-19 and other pandemics; challenges to drive operational excellence and speed in bringing innovations to market; compliance with regulations and standards including quality, product safety and (cyber) security; compliance with business conduct rules and regulations including privacy and upcoming ESG disclosure and due diligence requirements; treasury and financing risks; tax risks; reliability of internal controls, financial reporting and management process; global inflation. For a discussion of factors that could cause future results to differ from such forward-looking statements, see also the Risk management chapter included in the Annual Report 2022.

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All amounts are in millions of euros unless otherwise stated. Due to rounding, amounts may not add up precisely to totals provided. All reported data is unaudited. Financial reporting is in accordance with the accounting policies as stated in the Annual Report 2022 except for the adoption of new standards and amendments to standards which are also expected to be reflected in the company's consolidated IFRS financial statements as at and for the year ending December 31, 2023.*) Non-IFRS financial measure. Refer to the Reconciliation of non-IFRS information

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Philips announces its 2023 First Quarter Results - News - Philips

Andrew LopezESPN2:50 AM ET5 Minute Read

MINNEAPOLIS -- Anthony Edwards wasn't ready for his season to be over. And he certainly wasn't ready for the Denver Nuggets to send the Minnesota Timberwolves packing without winning a game in their first-round series.

"I don't ever want to say I got swept in my career," Edwards said Sunday night. "So I definitely took it personally tonight."

With their backs against the wall, the eighth-seeded Timberwolves took down the top-seeded Nuggets 114-108 in overtime to avoid the sweep and send the series back to Denver with the Nuggets leading 3-1.

It looked like the Timberwolves were going to cruise to victory late in the game as they took a 12-point lead on an Edwards jumper with 2:52 remaining, drawing a timeout from Nuggets coach Michael Malone.

From there, Denver finished regulation on a 12-0 run to send the game to overtime and quiet the Target Center faithful.

The Nuggets hit three consecutive 3-pointers -- one by Nikola Jokic and two from Michael Porter Jr. -- and then Jokic hit a jumper in the lane with 48.9 seconds left to cut Minnesota's advantage to 96-95. With 12.7 seconds left, Jokic was fouled and hit one of two free throws to tie the game.

Edwards had a chance to win the game in regulation but was stripped by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as he rose for a shot in the final seconds.

"At that point it was like, [there's] nothing we can do about the last two minutes. But we can control the next five," Timberwolves veteran point guard Mike Conley said. "Let's come out here as a group and lock back in on what we did to get that lead."

Despite finishing with a team-high 34 points on 12-of-27 shooting, Edwards was critical of his play in the fourth quarter and his overall game in general.

"I played terrible if you ask me," Edwards said. "I took three bad 3s, three terrible possessions, and I damn near shot us out the game. I didn't play that good tonight."

Edwards was 1-of-5 in the fourth quarter, with his jump shot to put the Timberwolves up 12 his only make. He missed three shots prior to that -- although one was a midrange 2-point attempt -- before also missing the potential game winner at the end of regulation.

With the win in hand, Edwards said he knows what he'd do differently if the Wolves are in that situation again.

"If we're up six or eight with three minutes, I'm definitely getting downhill to the rim or getting a midrange shot," Edwards said. "I'm not going to settle. I settled for three bad, bad, terrible 3s, and it won't happen again."

Edwards hit both of his shots in the overtime period, with both coming at big moments. First, he hit a layup with 1:29 left to stretch Minnesota's lead to seven. But after the Nuggets scored on three consecutive possessions, the Wolves were again staring down a potential meltdown.

But with 11.5 seconds to play, Edwards confidently stepped into a 3-pointer after a hard crossover dribble to give the Wolves a four-point lead.

"I wasn't passing the ball," Edwards said. "I was taking the shot. I was going to live with whether I lost us the game or we won. And I ended up hitting the shot."

While Edwards' shot put the Wolves up comfortably, he called Nickeil Alexander-Walker the "MVP" of the game.

With Jaden McDaniels out because of a broken right hand, Alexander-Walker has picked up the assignment of guarding Nuggets star Jamal Murray. But it was Alexander-Walker's offense that helped decide the game late.

Despite missing all three of his 3-point attempts to that point, Alexander-Walker came through with two back-to-back corner 3s in overtime to give Minnesota the lead and then push it to five.

"Shot ready," Alexander-Walker said when asked what he was thinking as the ball was passed to him late. "I know the rotations, watching a lot of film. Just stayed prepared. I know my teammates are going to rely on me because they're making that right play. And just being confident in my work, trusting it and knowing that eventually the law of averages, the shots have to fall."

Malone was critical of his team's defensive performance in the overtime period. After his team held the Timberwolves to just 16 points in the fourth quarter, Minnesota had 18 in the five minutes of overtime.

"The hardest thing to stomach about this game is that we were unwilling and unable to get necessary stops," Malone said.

According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the Timberwolves became the first team to score more points in the first overtime period of a game than they did in the fourth quarter since the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the 2006 playoffs (21 in OT, 17 in the fourth quarter) against the Lakers in the first round.

Part of what allowed Minnesota to get its offense going again was ball movement. The Timberwolves had two assists while going 7-of-19 from the field in the fourth quarter but assisted on four of their six baskets in the extra period.

"I think we got to continue to get into something," Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "I think that's part of the problem is we get down [on ourselves] or we're trying to close out the game too early."

Edwards continued his great postseason run, and Finch said the All-Star guard is building off what he started a year ago. In his first 10 career playoff games, Edwards has scored 280 points. That's the seventh most of any player in their first 10 playoff games since 1979, behind only Michael Jordan, Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Trae Young and Allen Iverson.

It was Edwards' fifth 30-point game in those 10 games. The only player with more 30-point playoff performances at age 21 or younger is James. Edwards broke a tie with Kobe Bryant with four.

When asked about being in the same conversation as those two legends, Edwards was quick to dismiss it.

"It's just stats," Edwards said. "Those guys have won championships ... but I haven't done anything. I haven't made it out of the first round. It's great to be mentioned with those guys, but I still have work to do."

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Anthony Edwards helps Timberwolves avoid sweep by Nuggets - ESPN

Advocating for yourself at work is serious business, and TikTok's Corporate Natalie is here to help you get the job done.

So before your next performance review, consider the social media star's advice on knowing your worth.

"It's incredibly important,"Natalie explained of her stancein an exclusive interview with E! News. "I think if you're doing the right things to make yourself indispensable on your team and you know that you are providing something, that you're not replaceable. I've said before being a single point of failure. You're someone that if you left, the company would hurt. You are providing something to your team, your job, your company overall that's truly irreplaceable."

Whenyou demonstrate this, she noted, "You're able to show that you're doing more and you're worth more and build that package." Another one of Natalie's recommendations? Make a record of all your contributions.

"We do so many different things," she continued. "You wear so many hats. You get lost in all the day-to-day tasks that if you're not tracking it and kind of building your story every day that goes by, you lose track of the actual impact that you're doing. So, I always say track your performance so that you're able to, when your performance review comes up, show like, 'Hey, I did X, Y, Z. This was the impact I had.'"

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You'll Want to Circle Back on TikTok Star Corporate Natalie's Advice Before Your Next Performance Review - E! NEWS