From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 07/05):
Business & management:
• The Office of Ethnic Affairs is holding a series of events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on the economic benefits of ethnic diversity from 11 - 22 May.
• Social networking can be used to create new opportunities for innovation, for business development and for maintaining relationships between the most talented people. But they can also become exclusive clubs that hoard power and undermine equality, meritocracy and openness.
• Providing sustainable working environments post-recession, might mean more casual and open areas in which many employees share the same equipment and space.
Environment & sustainability:
• A UK government commissioned report will assess the full energy potential of English and Welsh waters, to work out how and where to install marine renewable energy resources.
• The Internet's increasing appetite for electricity poses a major threat to companies such as Google, according to scientists and industry executives, and may mean that there is a need for provider companies to limit the Internet’s carbon footprint.
• In a recent survey, NZers overwhelmingly support a range of policies to manage climate change in addition to the emissions trading scheme (ETS).
• A NZ not-for-profit organisation is promoting the idea of introducing a renewable energy policy known as a Feed-In Tariff (FIT). In other OECD countries, FITs increase the uptake of small-scale renewable energy production.
• Russia has serious plans to exploit oil and gas reserves in the Arctic, and is planning a fleet of floating and submersible nuclear power stations in the region, to provide power to its oil companies. An environmentalist has condemned the plans as “highly risky”.
• A former industrial park on Chicago’s south side is the proposed site of a $60 million project to add 10 MW of solar photovoltaic panels, creating the US’s largest urban solar installation.
• The Improvement and Development Agency in the UK provides resource pages showing how local government needs to act on environment sustainability and climate change. Some in the sector are pioneering much of the best practice in the UK.
• Landcare Research's carboNZero programme has become the first greenhouse gas certification scheme in the world to receive international accreditation under the auspices of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).
• US researchers have found that mercury levels in the Pacific Ocean have risen 30% in the last 20 years, exposing more people to mercury in fish and other seafood.
• A great deal more work needs to be done in the US, so that water is not wasted, nor the energy required to move the water around. A good example of water wastage are irrigation systems, especially those using automatic timers that take no account of whether the water is actually needed or not.
Health & wellbeing:
• Healthy families, young minds, and developing brains is a report from the Families Commission showing that parents play a critical role in the physical development of children’s brains, with future impacts on family violence, crime, social and educational success and mental health.
Law & Government:
• Freedom on the Net is a report from Freedom House, on a selected number of countries across the globe. The report assesses access and control to the Internet by governments and others around the world.
• The UK government has released a proposed new Planning Policy Statement that sets out a comprehensive approach for planning for sustainable economic growth in all parts of the country.
• Social networking software will be a future trend that governments will need to learn to handle. A US report examines the issues around security and social networking use by government. The report identifies 4 broad government functions in sharing, that impact on defense, diplomacy and developmnet.
• And in the New Statesman, the use of social media in disaster management and emergency planning is discussed by the author of “Resilient Nation”
• The Bronx zoo, the oldest city zoo in America, is so badly affected by a multimillion dollar budget deficit, that it has ordered the shipping of hundreds of animals to other institutions.
People, culture & diversity:
• The Human Rights Commissioner says that NZ needs a Sign Language Commission that advocates for the language, much as the current Maori Language Commission does for te reo.
• A UK study has found that stalking of teenagers is taken less seriously by parents, schools and police, because of the belief that teenagers are simply being bullied. However, the study found that teenagers are more likely to come to physical harm from a stalker.
• Data from several surveys in Canada (including ones from Statistics Canada) have been used to produce the report How Canadians' Use of the Internet Affects Social Life and Civic Participation. Contrary to the view that heavy Internet users are withdrawn from society, the research has found that Internet users participate in society more.
• Surveys of a range of social media websites and other research are showing that users and designers of social media are from older generations, and that Gen Y (the 18 to 24 year-olds) are less likely to be connecting as much as older users.
Science, technology & transport:
• NZ scientists have discovered that the growth and retreat of NZ glaciers differs from glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere over the last 7000 years.
• The US Environmental Defense Fund has published a report on the new generation of innovative public transit already operating in a variety of communities in America.
• McAfee has released a report on the carbon footprint of spam emails – while these emails are often only seen as a nuisance, sending and deleting them actually uses a surprising amount of energy.
• A UK university has developed a retrofit plug-in hybrid conversion system for a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. The sytem was developed using a van, but it’s believed that the technology could be scaled up to larger vans or even city buses.
• The good news – you can get rid of polystyrene by dissolving it in biodiesel and it will boost the engine’s power. The bad news – it will also boost harmful emissions.
• The CEO of a company manufacturing electric vehicle recharging systems, points out 5 features that will be necessary in building in any charging infrastructure.
• When the lights failed at a busy London intersection, but the traffic flowed better than before, the council decided to investigate. There will now be a 6 month trial with traffic lights at up to 7 junctions “bagged”, so that an assessment can be made as to whether accidents and traffic congestion will drop without the lights controlling traffic.
• A study of the most and least safe places to cycle in Britain shows that where there are more riders on the roads there is generally a lower accident rate, while in areas less popular for bikes, cycling can be more dangerous.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Thursday, 30 April 2009
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 30/04):
Business & management:
• A top UN official has warned that the resilience of the Asia-Pacific region in the global recession will be chipped away unless several key issues are addressed.
• A Swiss employee is accusing her company of spying on her while she was ill, because the company has sacked her for destroying their trust by using Facebook while home on sick leave.
• The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has released a report on energy efficiency in buildings. The report shows that under current financial and policy conditions, building decisionmakers around the world will not spend sufficiently on energy efficiency, and the report provides a roadmap on achieving a worldwide average of a 55 percent reduction in building energy use by 2050.
Education
• If you’re not sure about how well your Powerpoint presentations are working you could view an amusing online slideshow: “Presenting with Visuals”.
Environment & sustainability:
• The fifth biennial survey of Public Perceptions of New Zealand’s Environment released this month, shows that NZers believe water pollution and water related issues are the most important environmental issues facing NZ.
• Scientists writing in Nature, say that politicians should focus on limiting humanity's total output of CO2 rather than setting a "safe" level for annual emissions, and that three-quarters of the world's fossil fuel reserves must be left unused if society is to avoid dangerous climate change.
Health & wellbeing:
• A study funded by the US National Dairy Council, compares bone properties (in rats) between calcium from supplements and milk, and shows that milk or dairy products produce greater bone growth and strength than calcium supplements.
• NZ scientists are monitoring influenza virus resistance to Tamiflu, as there is a possibility that as the swine influenza spreads among people already exposed to Tamiflu-resistant strains of influenza, the swine flu may evolve resistance to the drug.
• Microsoft has launched a trial product designed to keep family and friends in touch when other communications fail or falter in a crisis.
• A California study has found that childhood asthma rates can increase as much as 30% with exposure to higher levels of traffic-related air pollution.
Law & Government:
• It has been reported that the US Dept of Justice is investigating Google, due to accusations of anti-competitive behaviour. The accusations concern a $125million deal between Google and author groups that would give Google exclusive digital rights to some books.
• UK communication firms will be asked to track all e-mails, phone calls and internet use, including visits to social network sites, as part of modernisation in UK police surveillance tactics.
• The European Parliament is voting on a set of new regulations next week, that may free European Internet providers to decide which content, services and applications European users can access and use. The new regulations will force users to choose among pre-packaged options of accessibility.
• Leeds and Greater Manchester are being proposed as pilot citiy-regions that may get central government functions devolved to them, so that they have more powers in a similar way to the mayor of London and his administration.
• Vancouver City has released a list of tangible actions and policies to guide the city to becoming the world’s greenest in a report: “Greenest City Quick Start Recommendations”.
Science, technology & transport:
• The UK Energy Research Centre has released a report that reviews over 500 other international reports and papers on policies to reduce CO2 emissions, and shows that policies can have a large impact in the reduction in car use and therefore, emissions.
• Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego and Microsoft Research have created a plug-and-play hardware prototype for personal computers that induces a new energy saving state known as “sleep talking.”
• General Electric has unveiled a new optical disc that can store 500 gigabytes of data, equivalent to 100 DVDs.
• A British survey has found that people are still confused about technology jargon. The survey company says that companies should use language people understand, rather than resorting to jargon. Among the most confusing terms, are “phone jack” and “desktop”.
• Companies with heavy investment in the Internet may believe that its future is with mobile phones, but others say that the mobile web is far from realising its potential.
• British designers have built a racing car that runs on a mixture of chocolate and vegetable oil, and has components made of soy or potato.
• Norway has had a law proposed that would ban vehicles that run solely on fuel after 2015. Hybrid vehicles would still be legal after that date.
• A top UN official has warned that the resilience of the Asia-Pacific region in the global recession will be chipped away unless several key issues are addressed.
• A Swiss employee is accusing her company of spying on her while she was ill, because the company has sacked her for destroying their trust by using Facebook while home on sick leave.
• The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has released a report on energy efficiency in buildings. The report shows that under current financial and policy conditions, building decisionmakers around the world will not spend sufficiently on energy efficiency, and the report provides a roadmap on achieving a worldwide average of a 55 percent reduction in building energy use by 2050.
Education
• If you’re not sure about how well your Powerpoint presentations are working you could view an amusing online slideshow: “Presenting with Visuals”.
Environment & sustainability:
• The fifth biennial survey of Public Perceptions of New Zealand’s Environment released this month, shows that NZers believe water pollution and water related issues are the most important environmental issues facing NZ.
• Scientists writing in Nature, say that politicians should focus on limiting humanity's total output of CO2 rather than setting a "safe" level for annual emissions, and that three-quarters of the world's fossil fuel reserves must be left unused if society is to avoid dangerous climate change.
Health & wellbeing:
• A study funded by the US National Dairy Council, compares bone properties (in rats) between calcium from supplements and milk, and shows that milk or dairy products produce greater bone growth and strength than calcium supplements.
• NZ scientists are monitoring influenza virus resistance to Tamiflu, as there is a possibility that as the swine influenza spreads among people already exposed to Tamiflu-resistant strains of influenza, the swine flu may evolve resistance to the drug.
• Microsoft has launched a trial product designed to keep family and friends in touch when other communications fail or falter in a crisis.
• A California study has found that childhood asthma rates can increase as much as 30% with exposure to higher levels of traffic-related air pollution.
Law & Government:
• It has been reported that the US Dept of Justice is investigating Google, due to accusations of anti-competitive behaviour. The accusations concern a $125million deal between Google and author groups that would give Google exclusive digital rights to some books.
• UK communication firms will be asked to track all e-mails, phone calls and internet use, including visits to social network sites, as part of modernisation in UK police surveillance tactics.
• The European Parliament is voting on a set of new regulations next week, that may free European Internet providers to decide which content, services and applications European users can access and use. The new regulations will force users to choose among pre-packaged options of accessibility.
• Leeds and Greater Manchester are being proposed as pilot citiy-regions that may get central government functions devolved to them, so that they have more powers in a similar way to the mayor of London and his administration.
• Vancouver City has released a list of tangible actions and policies to guide the city to becoming the world’s greenest in a report: “Greenest City Quick Start Recommendations”.
Science, technology & transport:
• The UK Energy Research Centre has released a report that reviews over 500 other international reports and papers on policies to reduce CO2 emissions, and shows that policies can have a large impact in the reduction in car use and therefore, emissions.
• Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego and Microsoft Research have created a plug-and-play hardware prototype for personal computers that induces a new energy saving state known as “sleep talking.”
• General Electric has unveiled a new optical disc that can store 500 gigabytes of data, equivalent to 100 DVDs.
• A British survey has found that people are still confused about technology jargon. The survey company says that companies should use language people understand, rather than resorting to jargon. Among the most confusing terms, are “phone jack” and “desktop”.
• Companies with heavy investment in the Internet may believe that its future is with mobile phones, but others say that the mobile web is far from realising its potential.
• British designers have built a racing car that runs on a mixture of chocolate and vegetable oil, and has components made of soy or potato.
• Norway has had a law proposed that would ban vehicles that run solely on fuel after 2015. Hybrid vehicles would still be legal after that date.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 23/04):
Business & management:
• 13% of adults in the UK have no bank account, compared to 1% to 5% in the rest of Western Europe. A proposal to start a post bank system that operates through the existing post office network has been made by a coalition of unions and small businesses.
• The Greenlist is a website which allows consumers to compare how environmentally friendly products may be across a range of different sustainability criteria, while also allowing companies to promote their products.
• The US annual Innovations Review Report highlights innovative strategies companies have implemented to reduce emissions, conserve resources and encourage sustainable behavior.
Education
• The Ministry of Education has studied completion rates among the first two years' intake of Modern Apprentices and more than half the young people in Modern Apprenticeships and industry training leave without completing their qualifications. There are also big variations between industries, ethnic groups and gender.
• Research in the UK being released at an economics conference this week, has found that if boys stay on at school for just 1 more year, their future salary is likely to rise by 13%. Also being released at the same conference: boys do worse at English when there are girls in their class.
• Personal learning environments are one of the future trends in decentralized forms of learning predicted in education.
• A US professor who teaches about open education, and founded OpenContent.org has predicted that university institutions will be irrelevant by 2020.
• Trainers are using micro-blogging (like Twitter) to foster learning and meet like-minded peers.
Environment & sustainability:
• Crop growth, drinking water and recreational water sports could all be adversely affected if predicted rainfall patterns over coming years prove true. New research raises concerns about the level of phosphorous released from soils into surface water and the surrounding environment.
• The Federal government in Australia is assuring people in Adelaide that water is secure for 2009-2010, after the local water authority said it couldn’t guarantee that water would be delivered over the next 2 years.
• The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) says forests are under increasing degrees of stress as a result of climate change. Forests could release vast amounts of carbon if temperatures rise 2.5C (4.5F) above pre-industrial levels.
• The movement in cities to include or convert spaces to growing food for local communities has its most prominent recent example in the Obamas digging up part of the White House Lawn, but had begun much earlier in other US cities.
• The UK consumer magazine “Which?” says that council taxes there could be reduced if consumers recycled more effectively, since less waste would need to go to landfills.
• 120 US companies that are pushing the envelope in terms of water treatment, purification and management, have been rated on their technology, intellectual property and know-how, team quality and market potential.
• Rivers in some of the world’s most populous regions are losing water, according to a comprehensive study of global stream flows.
Health & wellbeing:
• Waltham Forest council has become the first in the UK to demand the closure of a fast food restaurant because it is too close to a school.
• A British bioethics group is raising concern about the use of the Internet and new technologies to revolutionise health care. The group says that there has been a rise in the use of online drug sales and private DNA tests and scans in recent years.
Law & Government:
• The head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has warned that organized crime is now global, and poses a threat to cities, countries and even entire regions.
• The UK’s Young Foundation has launched http://www.futurecommunities.net/ “aimed at anyone involved and interested in building the successful sustainable communities of tomorrow”.
• Architects in the UK are suggesting that Prince Charles is abusing his position to unfairly influence planning decisions.
• London’s mayor has earned praise for retaining some fun, when it would be easy to cut back due to the recession.
People, culture & diversity:
• The UK think tank Demos has released a report “Resilient Nation”, on how a prepared population can be resilient in the face of disaster. Lifestyles, infrastructure and extreme weather are contributing to a perception that Britain has a “brittle society”. The report outlines ways to build and sustain community resilience with support from central and local government, relevant agencies, the emergency services and voluntary organisations.
• Debate is ongoing in the UK about the safety of social networking sites for children. A survey there has shown that 99% of children and young people aged eight to 17 use the internet.
• A researcher in the UK is working on a study that contradicts the idea that globalisation and the internet are ironing out differences between people in different regions. His research shows that with increased mobility, particular personality types live in certain regions, and his research follows on from similar work in America.
Science, technology & transport:
• “Failure to yield: evaluating the performance of genetically engineered crops” is a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. The report shows that over the last 20 years “genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase US crop yields”.
• Automotive manufacturers and traders in the UK, say that existing automotive technology has the potential to achieve significant emissions reductions, providing it has the right governmental encouragement.
• Experts predict that an ageing world population and continuing global military conflicts will be the two main drivers of robot design and function in the coming years.
• A digital software company is about to include Vancouver as its 3rd pilot city in a program to create working 3D models of urban centers. Salzburg, Austria was the first city, and Incheon, South Korea, the second.
• Leading automotive and energy companies have reached an agreement for a standardized plug for electric cars. Some of the automakers included in the agreement are Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
• 13% of adults in the UK have no bank account, compared to 1% to 5% in the rest of Western Europe. A proposal to start a post bank system that operates through the existing post office network has been made by a coalition of unions and small businesses.
• The Greenlist is a website which allows consumers to compare how environmentally friendly products may be across a range of different sustainability criteria, while also allowing companies to promote their products.
• The US annual Innovations Review Report highlights innovative strategies companies have implemented to reduce emissions, conserve resources and encourage sustainable behavior.
Education
• The Ministry of Education has studied completion rates among the first two years' intake of Modern Apprentices and more than half the young people in Modern Apprenticeships and industry training leave without completing their qualifications. There are also big variations between industries, ethnic groups and gender.
• Research in the UK being released at an economics conference this week, has found that if boys stay on at school for just 1 more year, their future salary is likely to rise by 13%. Also being released at the same conference: boys do worse at English when there are girls in their class.
• Personal learning environments are one of the future trends in decentralized forms of learning predicted in education.
• A US professor who teaches about open education, and founded OpenContent.org has predicted that university institutions will be irrelevant by 2020.
• Trainers are using micro-blogging (like Twitter) to foster learning and meet like-minded peers.
Environment & sustainability:
• Crop growth, drinking water and recreational water sports could all be adversely affected if predicted rainfall patterns over coming years prove true. New research raises concerns about the level of phosphorous released from soils into surface water and the surrounding environment.
• The Federal government in Australia is assuring people in Adelaide that water is secure for 2009-2010, after the local water authority said it couldn’t guarantee that water would be delivered over the next 2 years.
• The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) says forests are under increasing degrees of stress as a result of climate change. Forests could release vast amounts of carbon if temperatures rise 2.5C (4.5F) above pre-industrial levels.
• The movement in cities to include or convert spaces to growing food for local communities has its most prominent recent example in the Obamas digging up part of the White House Lawn, but had begun much earlier in other US cities.
• The UK consumer magazine “Which?” says that council taxes there could be reduced if consumers recycled more effectively, since less waste would need to go to landfills.
• 120 US companies that are pushing the envelope in terms of water treatment, purification and management, have been rated on their technology, intellectual property and know-how, team quality and market potential.
• Rivers in some of the world’s most populous regions are losing water, according to a comprehensive study of global stream flows.
Health & wellbeing:
• Waltham Forest council has become the first in the UK to demand the closure of a fast food restaurant because it is too close to a school.
• A British bioethics group is raising concern about the use of the Internet and new technologies to revolutionise health care. The group says that there has been a rise in the use of online drug sales and private DNA tests and scans in recent years.
Law & Government:
• The head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has warned that organized crime is now global, and poses a threat to cities, countries and even entire regions.
• The UK’s Young Foundation has launched http://www.futurecommunities.net/ “aimed at anyone involved and interested in building the successful sustainable communities of tomorrow”.
• Architects in the UK are suggesting that Prince Charles is abusing his position to unfairly influence planning decisions.
• London’s mayor has earned praise for retaining some fun, when it would be easy to cut back due to the recession.
People, culture & diversity:
• The UK think tank Demos has released a report “Resilient Nation”, on how a prepared population can be resilient in the face of disaster. Lifestyles, infrastructure and extreme weather are contributing to a perception that Britain has a “brittle society”. The report outlines ways to build and sustain community resilience with support from central and local government, relevant agencies, the emergency services and voluntary organisations.
• Debate is ongoing in the UK about the safety of social networking sites for children. A survey there has shown that 99% of children and young people aged eight to 17 use the internet.
• A researcher in the UK is working on a study that contradicts the idea that globalisation and the internet are ironing out differences between people in different regions. His research shows that with increased mobility, particular personality types live in certain regions, and his research follows on from similar work in America.
Science, technology & transport:
• “Failure to yield: evaluating the performance of genetically engineered crops” is a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. The report shows that over the last 20 years “genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase US crop yields”.
• Automotive manufacturers and traders in the UK, say that existing automotive technology has the potential to achieve significant emissions reductions, providing it has the right governmental encouragement.
• Experts predict that an ageing world population and continuing global military conflicts will be the two main drivers of robot design and function in the coming years.
• A digital software company is about to include Vancouver as its 3rd pilot city in a program to create working 3D models of urban centers. Salzburg, Austria was the first city, and Incheon, South Korea, the second.
• Leading automotive and energy companies have reached an agreement for a standardized plug for electric cars. Some of the automakers included in the agreement are Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
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