Business & management:
• If the GM, Chevrolet and Ford companies go out of business, not just American jobs would be affected. A new study in Canada indicates that half a million jobs there would also be at risk in the next 6 years.
• Research published in the UK by a drugs think tank (“Working towards recovery: getting problem drug users into jobs”) suggests that anti-discrimination laws might be needed to boost the chances of job-seeking former addicts, and that firms might be more willing to employ them in return for tax breaks.
Environment & sustainability:
• 2008 is likely to rank as the 10th warmest year on record since the beginning of the instrumental climate records in 1850, according to data sources compiled by the World Meteorological Organization.
• The UK’s Public Interest Research Centre has published “Climate safety: in case of emergency…”. It’s a simple summary of the latest science that explains the science behind climate change and explains the actions needed.
• The planned Wembley City development is huge - 4,200 homes as well as retail and commercial property over an 85-acre site. Once complete the whole site will be served by a system of underground vacuum pipes that transport rubbish from strategically positioned bins to a single sorting station.
• A North Carolina, US energy company is planning to pay businesses, schools and homeowners to rent their rooftops or ground area, so that solar arrays can be installed to generate power.
Health & wellbeing:
• A nation-wide long-term study in the US reveals that trucking workers with an estimated 20 years on the job have an increased risk of lung cancer.
• Medical teams working at some of the UK’s busiest music festivals noticed that as soon as a young patient was well enough to text their friends, they were generally well enough to rejoin the action. The test could work in busy A&E units, for assessing whether a patient could be discharged.
• Unsurprisingly, US researchers have found that there is a strong link between “active transportation” such as walking, cycling or using mass transit systems, and reducing the incidence of obesity in the population.
Law & Government:
• The UN has launched “Data against natural disasters: establishing effective systems for relief, recovery, and reconstruction.” The guidelines aim to help states pre-emptively amass the data vital for effective relief operations that will enable them to avoid compounding the original catastrophe.
• The Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks will enter into force on 16 March 2009, since Australia became the 10th country to ratify the agreement adopted by member States of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization in 2006. The Treaty standardizes procedural aspects of trademark registration and licensing and takes advantage of efficiencies in using modern communications technologies.
• The Law Commission’s latest report “Presentation of New Zealand Statute Law” notes that the law is often difficult to find, and difficult to understand when it has been found.
• A series of papers for consultation on the UK government’s policy commitments set out in their White Paper, “Communities in control: real people, real power” are being released. A recent consultation paper looks at proposals to make it easier to get local leaders to hold a referendum on their leadership structure: “Changing Council Governance Arrangements: Mayors and Indirectly Elected Leaders - A Consultation”.
• A member of the UK think tank Demos, argues for updating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with a declaration of digital rights.
• The Australian government’s attempts to have ISPs block or filter over 10 000 web sites believed to hold illegal content, are running into difficulties.
People, culture & diversity:
• Freedom of expression on the Internet is not possible in more than 20 countries around the world, and for the first time, online writers have become the largest group among imprisoned journalists.
• In the UK, the “No One Left Out Strategy” is an approach to reducing rough sleeping (London has been having its rough sleeping conference this week). The Homeless Link website provides resources and examples of good practice in handling this issue, via its Rough Sleeping Portal, and lays out the 15 Actions of the strategy.
• Uncritical users may think that Google is a service providing them with greater access to information. Americans have discovered since the settlement of the 3-year lawsuit between Google and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Authors Guild, that their access via Google to all those books scanned from the collections of great American libraries is not that universal – even for the libraries whose books were scanned.
Science, technology & transport:
• Internet NZ has released research that concludes that utility expansion provides the best opportunity for dramatic improvement of NZ's broadband infrastructure.
• 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, a global effort initiated by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night-time sky. Amongst the many projects going on, Jennie McCormick of Auckland is the coordinator on the Task Group of the 100 Hours of Astronomy IYA2009 Cornerstone Project.
• In the US, a recent survey shows that consumer preferences for community design is shifting away from suburban areas and towards infill sites with better access to public transportation options.
• A referendum in Manchester has seen the rejection by voters of the proposal to bring in a congestion tax.
• A storm of protest in the UK over the blocking of access to controversial Wikipedia pages, has resulted in the block being lifted again. It has been pointed out that due to the Internet Watch Foundation blocking access, the image that they were concerned about is now getting more hits than previously.
• The latest forecast from the Pew Internet / American Life Project, “The Future of the Internet III” shows that it’s expected that major technical advances will become an everyday part of life, and the architecture of the Internet will improve. But the experts disagree on how this will impact on social tolerance, human relations and home life.
• The International Correspondence School based in Glasgow, is offering a 300-hour accredited course in ethical hacking.
• After users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer were urged by experts to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw had been fixed, Microsoft rushed out a patch to fix it.
• A tidal turbine near the mouth of Strangford Lough has begun producing electricity at full capacity for the first time.
• The French government is being accused of suppressing a report on electric vehicles. The report is said to warn that the cost of all-electric cars, roughly double that of conventional cars, is not economically viable, and it points to limited driving range and performance, and unsatisfactory battery technology, as major obstacles.
Friday, 19 December 2008
Friday, 12 December 2008
LOGIS news alerts over Xmas & New Year
The post at the end of next week will be the last until the first week back, in January 2009.
We at ACLibraries hope staff have a break that is relaxing and rejuvenating (& that includes some recreational reading).
I
Thursday, 11 December 2008
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 11/12):
Business & management:
• SlideRocket is a website that provides the power of a desktop presentation tool like PowerPoint to people who want to share their slide presentations across the Web, and basic access is free.
• Transparency International’s 2008 Bribe Payers Index (BPI) exposes the degree to which companies of the leading exporting nations are likely to engage in bribery when doing business abroad.
• The New Zealand Institute has today released the fourth report in its series on “Creating a global New Zealand economy”.
• NZ Wood has released a building materials carbon calculator so that people can work out the CO2 emissions or savings that can be attributed to the building materials used for a new home.
Education
• A British charity has released a report that says that faith schools in the UK educate a "disproportionately small" number of children from the poorest backgrounds, which it says contradicts the historical mission of faith schools to challenge poverty and inequality and serve the most disadvantaged in society.
• Researchers at a US university have shown for the first time that the brains of low-income children function differently from the brains of high-income children. Children from lower socio-economic levels show brain physiology patterns similar to someone who actually had damage in the frontal lobe as an adult.
• A major review of the curriculum for England's primary schools suggests that six broad "areas of learning" could replace individual subjects.
• The Open University’s podcasts are already available from Youtube and iTunesU, but are now also available from their own beta site.
• The UK’s Children’s Secretary has ordered bullying experts to draw up guidance to tackle inappropriate language, advise teachers on how to manage cases of harassment, and encourage healthy friendships between teenage boys and girls amid concerns of misogynistic attitudes linked to gang culture.
Environment & sustainability:
• A US company is planning to package sequestered carbon from golf courses participating in their program and sell the resulting carbon credits.
• The UNEP’s new Carbon and Biodiversity Demonstration Atlas pinpoints where high densities of carbon overlap with high levels of biodiversity, so that the atlas spotlights where governments and investors can deal with two crises for the price of one.
• Researchers say that the domestication of wild plants that grow in salty conditions could help reduce global food shortages. Only 1% of the world’s water is fresh, and salinisation is irreversible.
• A European Union report has recommended banning conventional incandescent light bulbs by 2012 to save energy and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
• Controversial findings in a new study show that very large earthquakes can trigger an increase in activity at nearby volcanoes.
• A leading overseas expert in green energy speaking at the annual conference of Sustainable Electricity Association NZ says NZ could easily generate all its electricity from renewable sources within twenty years with the right support from government.
• A Victoria University researcher has been working on protecting marine environments from unnecessary waste runoff.
Health & wellbeing:
• Research by US scientists shows that cancer researchers may have underestimated the power of some cancers to spread and cause new tumours, as they have found that just one skin cancer cell was often enough to generate a whole new tumour.
• It’s 40 years since the invention of the original computer mouse, but these days it’s becoming well known as a source of RSI (repetitive strain injury) or NSAP (non-specific arm pain).
• Happiness is spread through social networks and exists in clusters of close friends and neighbours, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal.
• The World report on child injury prevention from WHO and UNICEF provides the first comprehensive global assessment of unintentional childhood injuries and prescribes measures to prevent them. The report shows that children from poor families, even in high-income countries, are more vulnerable to unintentional injuries.
• An allotment area in Daventry UK is more than just a place for local school children to learn about growing and eating healthy food, it can be a place to exercise.
• New research shows that diabetes and high levels of blood sugar may be linked to abnormalities in a person’s body clock and sleep patterns.
• The Youth '07 study conducted by the University of Auckland Adolescent Health Research Group has shown that youth depression and drug use are declining.
Law & Government:
• Public policy is encouraging the community ownership and management of assets in the UK. A report reviews the evidence on the scale of this activity, the benefits that arise and the factors that support it happening.
• Volunteers contribute hugely to local services during disasters, but non-professional volunteers are not always involved in the highest levels of disaster planning. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has addressed this by appointing a secretary of service and volunteering at cabinet level.
• A new Bill introduced into the UK parliament last week provides new scope for councils and businesses to work together to invest in the long-term economic prosperity of their local communities.
People, culture & diversity:
• God has a postbox and an address. All you need write is "To God, Jerusalem" and the postman in the holy city's dead-letter office will deliver it for you.
Science, technology & transport:
• An Australian company is another that is close to going into production with a small biodiesel-manufacturing unit: a transportable biodiesel processor the size of a 10ft ISO shipping container, called the BioCube. The unit has the potential to provide the fuel requirements for a community of 400 to 500 people.
• Better Place now has 400 wired parking spots, mainly in and around Tel Aviv, since it launched its initiative in June, with 10 stations recently demonstrated in a Tel Aviv mall parking lot.
• Hewlett Packard has shown in its latest green 3-year technology refresh that any business with an IT budget can find some savings especially if they look into consolidation of data services.
• A solar-powered car has travelled through 38 countries with only occasional need to plug into the local grids to power up the car’s batteries.
• For those wanting to understand Google more or search it more effectively, check out “Google: the hidden ideology of search” and “Everything you always wanted to know about Google”.
• A leading UK computer scientist who will give this year's Royal Institution Christmas lectures says that the way we control and interact with computers is set to change rapidly in the next five years.
Engineers are succeeding in research that could mean that "self-powered" devices, such as phones that charge when you speak into them, are one step closer to reality.
• New car sales in Japan are declining, and that in combination with greater environmental awareness means that the trend is away from car ownership and towards car usage, i.e. car sharing.
• In a nationwide survey, 39% of Kiwis believe that calling and texting from their mobile has reduced their need to travel.
• SlideRocket is a website that provides the power of a desktop presentation tool like PowerPoint to people who want to share their slide presentations across the Web, and basic access is free.
• Transparency International’s 2008 Bribe Payers Index (BPI) exposes the degree to which companies of the leading exporting nations are likely to engage in bribery when doing business abroad.
• The New Zealand Institute has today released the fourth report in its series on “Creating a global New Zealand economy”.
• NZ Wood has released a building materials carbon calculator so that people can work out the CO2 emissions or savings that can be attributed to the building materials used for a new home.
Education
• A British charity has released a report that says that faith schools in the UK educate a "disproportionately small" number of children from the poorest backgrounds, which it says contradicts the historical mission of faith schools to challenge poverty and inequality and serve the most disadvantaged in society.
• Researchers at a US university have shown for the first time that the brains of low-income children function differently from the brains of high-income children. Children from lower socio-economic levels show brain physiology patterns similar to someone who actually had damage in the frontal lobe as an adult.
• A major review of the curriculum for England's primary schools suggests that six broad "areas of learning" could replace individual subjects.
• The Open University’s podcasts are already available from Youtube and iTunesU, but are now also available from their own beta site.
• The UK’s Children’s Secretary has ordered bullying experts to draw up guidance to tackle inappropriate language, advise teachers on how to manage cases of harassment, and encourage healthy friendships between teenage boys and girls amid concerns of misogynistic attitudes linked to gang culture.
Environment & sustainability:
• A US company is planning to package sequestered carbon from golf courses participating in their program and sell the resulting carbon credits.
• The UNEP’s new Carbon and Biodiversity Demonstration Atlas pinpoints where high densities of carbon overlap with high levels of biodiversity, so that the atlas spotlights where governments and investors can deal with two crises for the price of one.
• Researchers say that the domestication of wild plants that grow in salty conditions could help reduce global food shortages. Only 1% of the world’s water is fresh, and salinisation is irreversible.
• A European Union report has recommended banning conventional incandescent light bulbs by 2012 to save energy and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
• Controversial findings in a new study show that very large earthquakes can trigger an increase in activity at nearby volcanoes.
• A leading overseas expert in green energy speaking at the annual conference of Sustainable Electricity Association NZ says NZ could easily generate all its electricity from renewable sources within twenty years with the right support from government.
• A Victoria University researcher has been working on protecting marine environments from unnecessary waste runoff.
Health & wellbeing:
• Research by US scientists shows that cancer researchers may have underestimated the power of some cancers to spread and cause new tumours, as they have found that just one skin cancer cell was often enough to generate a whole new tumour.
• It’s 40 years since the invention of the original computer mouse, but these days it’s becoming well known as a source of RSI (repetitive strain injury) or NSAP (non-specific arm pain).
• Happiness is spread through social networks and exists in clusters of close friends and neighbours, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal.
• The World report on child injury prevention from WHO and UNICEF provides the first comprehensive global assessment of unintentional childhood injuries and prescribes measures to prevent them. The report shows that children from poor families, even in high-income countries, are more vulnerable to unintentional injuries.
• An allotment area in Daventry UK is more than just a place for local school children to learn about growing and eating healthy food, it can be a place to exercise.
• New research shows that diabetes and high levels of blood sugar may be linked to abnormalities in a person’s body clock and sleep patterns.
• The Youth '07 study conducted by the University of Auckland Adolescent Health Research Group has shown that youth depression and drug use are declining.
Law & Government:
• Public policy is encouraging the community ownership and management of assets in the UK. A report reviews the evidence on the scale of this activity, the benefits that arise and the factors that support it happening.
• Volunteers contribute hugely to local services during disasters, but non-professional volunteers are not always involved in the highest levels of disaster planning. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has addressed this by appointing a secretary of service and volunteering at cabinet level.
• A new Bill introduced into the UK parliament last week provides new scope for councils and businesses to work together to invest in the long-term economic prosperity of their local communities.
People, culture & diversity:
• God has a postbox and an address. All you need write is "To God, Jerusalem" and the postman in the holy city's dead-letter office will deliver it for you.
Science, technology & transport:
• An Australian company is another that is close to going into production with a small biodiesel-manufacturing unit: a transportable biodiesel processor the size of a 10ft ISO shipping container, called the BioCube. The unit has the potential to provide the fuel requirements for a community of 400 to 500 people.
• Better Place now has 400 wired parking spots, mainly in and around Tel Aviv, since it launched its initiative in June, with 10 stations recently demonstrated in a Tel Aviv mall parking lot.
• Hewlett Packard has shown in its latest green 3-year technology refresh that any business with an IT budget can find some savings especially if they look into consolidation of data services.
• A solar-powered car has travelled through 38 countries with only occasional need to plug into the local grids to power up the car’s batteries.
• For those wanting to understand Google more or search it more effectively, check out “Google: the hidden ideology of search” and “Everything you always wanted to know about Google”.
• A leading UK computer scientist who will give this year's Royal Institution Christmas lectures says that the way we control and interact with computers is set to change rapidly in the next five years.
Engineers are succeeding in research that could mean that "self-powered" devices, such as phones that charge when you speak into them, are one step closer to reality.
• New car sales in Japan are declining, and that in combination with greater environmental awareness means that the trend is away from car ownership and towards car usage, i.e. car sharing.
• In a nationwide survey, 39% of Kiwis believe that calling and texting from their mobile has reduced their need to travel.
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