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Lights
June 29th, 2013
Central Park, NYC
It was absolutely incredible to see and shoot Lights tonight as part of Canada Day?s celebration in Central Park!
Source: http://thatgrlaudrey.tumblr.com/post/54232165485
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BEIJING (AP) ? Like a boxer slimming down for a fight, Li Zhongjian is shrinking his 20-year-old business manufacturing cigarette lighters to brace for a credit crunch he sees looming over China's entrepreneurs.
Li's workforce in the southeastern city of Wenzhou has shrunk by half to 300 this year and he isn't replacing employees who leave. He said he used to borrow money but is preparing to do without credit that might no longer be available as regulators try to force Chinese banks to cool a lending boom they worry could race out of control.
"The authorities' shifting policies are not offering stable surroundings for businesspeople to be confident to work," said Li. "I won't try to get loans for my business any more. I'll wait and see how the market and policies are doing. I won't invest, either."
A cash shortage that hit China's credit markets this month was the first shock wave from what analysts say could be Beijing's most drastic clampdown on credit in two decades. The central bank has called for tighter lending standards, which should reduce risk but is likely to reduce financing for a private sector that generates China's new jobs and wealth.
China will benefit in the long run from a safer financial system, but the short-term cost could be a painful squeeze on entrepreneurs. Some say a recovery that already was faltering could weaken further.
"It's going to be a bloodbath," said Anne Stevenson-Yang, research director of J Capital Research in Beijing.
"Rates are shooting up in the private market and regular commercial loans are being pulled back very quickly," she said. "All industrial businesses here run on credit, so as soon as you close that down, they just stop producing and selling stuff."
The government has yet to say how extensive the controls will be or what it might do to ensure lending for producers who Chinese leaders have said they want to support.
Some branches of two of China's biggest lenders ? Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ? have temporarily suspended lending to businesses and individuals, the business magazine Caixin reported, citing sources at the banks.
The credit clampdown hits amid uncertainty about whether China's lackluster recovery from its deepest downturn since the 2008 global crisis is stalling.
Economic growth decelerated to 7.7 percent in the first quarter from 7.9 percent the previous quarter. May retail sales fell short of forecasts and export growth slowed. An HSBC Corp. survey of manufacturers showed June activity fell to a nine-month low and was contracting.
Tighter credit controls could cause growth to dip below 7 percent in coming quarters, according to Nomura economist Zhiwei Zhang. That would be China's weakest performance since the early 1990s.
Harder times for Chinese entrepreneurs could have global repercussions. China's slowdown already is depressing demand for iron ore, copper and other commodities, crimping the flood of money that drove a boom for Australia, Brazil and other suppliers. Demand for industrial components from Southeast Asia and factory equipment from the United States and Europe could be hurt if credit-starved manufacturers put off purchases.
The crackdown is part of a broader effort by communist leaders to shift China to slower, more sustainable growth based on domestic consumption after a decade of explosive expansion driven by exports, investment and cheap credit. The ruling party's growth target this year is 7.5 percent, down by almost half from 2007's staggering 14.2 percent.
"The episode is arguably the strongest sign yet that the leadership is willing to suffer short-term economic pain if necessary to achieve more sustainable growth," said Capital Economics analyst Mark Williams in a report.
A key goal appears to be to force banks to reduce their role in channeling money into unregulated, profitable and risky underground lending that is a pillar of support for entrepreneurs who cannot get formal loans from state banks.
Money for informal lending came at first from individuals who wanted a better return on their savings but much of it now comes from state banks. They hid the lending from regulators, who worry they have taken on undisclosed risks in the event of defaults.
Even before the credit squeeze, underground borrowers paid interest of up to 70 percent a year ? more than 10 times the benchmark rate for formal loans. Estimates of outstanding loans run as high as 4 trillion yuan ($650 billion), or as much as 7 percent of China's total credit.
Li, the entrepreneur in Wenzhou, said he borrowed from both state banks and informal lenders to expand his business. He said he paid 6 to 14 percent in annual interest for bank loans and up to 70 percent for underground loans.
"Is it possible to find any country whose interest rate is higher than China?" he said.
Communist leaders allowed informal lending to grow over the past decade to support entrepreneurs. But regulators began to worry after the 2008 global crisis when they found banks were putting their own money into informal lending, taking on unreported higher risks.
Money flowed to entrepreneurs to pay for equipment and raw materials but it also flooded into speculation in stocks and real estate. Regulators ordered banks to tighten lending standards but worried credit still was growing too fast.
The squeeze on China's credit markets hit after banks that quickly expanded lending this year tried to replenish their resources by borrowing from institutions that had more cash.
Analysts say bankers expected the People's Bank of China to inject extra money into that interbank market. But the central bank refused to play lender of last resort, causing a credit shortage. Interest paid by banks for an overnight loan spiked from the normal 2-3 percent to a record 13.4 percent. That ignited fears China might face a credit crisis and caused stock prices to tumble.
Some analysts said the central bank is partly to blame because it failed to make clear how tough its stance would be.
Its behavior was "extraordinarily reckless," said Williams in his report.
On Monday, the central bank blamed commercial lenders and told them to do a better job of forecasting funding needs. The official Xinhua News Agency accused banks of taking on extra risk by diverting money into speculation and unreported lending.
"It is not that there is no money but that the money is being put in the wrong place," Xinhua said in a commentary.
On Tuesday, the central bank eased off, promising "liquidity support" to banks that run short of cash.
Still, the central bank told commercial lenders again to cut back on risky practices, which will mean less credit for borrowers outside the circle of politically favored state companies.
"Small and medium-size business will take the pressure of this credit crunch, that is for sure," said Yin Jianfeng, deputy director of the finance research center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank.
Many Chinese entrepreneurs have learned to live without credit. That has made them flexible and resilient but reformers say it has held back growth of private industry Beijing needs to encourage if China's growth is to stay strong.
Elsewhere in the financial system, regulators also are cracking down on other sources of financing.
Rural credit cooperatives have been ordered to review use of promisory notes, which are meant for small transactions but are being used by banks to hide loans, Caixin said this month. It said lending using promisory notes, which don't count against a bank's government-imposed credit limit, quadrupled last year to 1.2 trillion yuan ($200 billion).
The government is taking action in part because economic planners see diminishing returns from new investments.
Bank lending surged in the first three months of the year even as economic growth decelerated. Analysts said that suggested a big share of lending went to pay off other loans or trading stocks, real estate and other assets instead of industrial investment.
Total credit compared to annual economic output has risen by 50 percentage points to 210 percent since the 2008 global crisis, according to UBS economist Tao Wang.
The underground lending industry was battered by the slump in global demand in 2010. That caused a wave of business failures and defaults, prompting protests in some areas and making savers wary of lending.
Chinese leaders have promised repeatedly to have state banks lend more to the private sector. But most loans still go to state enterprises that have close ties with banks and influential officials. Entrepreneurs say it is no easier to get a loan.
The promise of more lending "is only an aspiration," said Yin, the CASS researcher. "If nothing changes in the system, the difficulty of financing the private sector will remain unresolved."
___
AP researchers Fu Ting in Shanghai and Flora Ji in Beijing contributed.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-entrepreneurs-brace-credit-crunch-060908656.html
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Your wait to get a copy of the soon to be released videogames could soon prove to be a costly affair. Just as global videogame prices have shot up, India will also feel the pinch.
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MCV India reports that all the games, which will be released after September, would be sold at a higher price than their predecessors. Chris Gatherer, Regional Director for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) markets, EA said, ?We will be launching our pre-orders on Origin soon and I can confirm the pricing will be comparative to global market pricing.? The list of game that will be affected by the price hike includes upcoming popular titles such as FIFA 14, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts and Watch Dogs. Console versions of the games will now be sold for around $59.99 (Rs 3,570), the current global price, while the PC version of the same can be bought for Rs 1,499.
Watch Dogs to get dearer
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Though it is still unknown if these new prices will be restricted to Origin games alone or if they will also be applicable to the boxed releases in the country, one gets a sense that the rising dollar prices in comparison to the rupee will only add to the eventual price. This could also be one way for publishers to shift the selling strategy for PC games from boxed releases to digital distribution. Gamers could eventually choose the convenience of digitally-distributed games at a similar or the same price as boxed sets.
Online retailer Flipkart has already made changes in the pricing of many of the upcoming games, which include games like Watch Dogs, Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts. The pre-order price for the PC version of Watch Dogs is Rs 1,499, while Call of Duty: Ghosts is priced at Rs 3,499. The Xbox 360 and the PS3 version of Ghosts is priced at Rs 4,099.
Source: http://tech2.in.com/news/gaming/buying-games-set-to-be-a-more-expensive-affair-in-india/897870
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Microsoft is offering new capabilities for building business apps with Office 365 and Windows Azure -- part of a larger effort to offer services that can leverage its cloud environment for rapid build out. Rapid delivery was one of the themes Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer discussed on the first day at the Build conference.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/1ooVLDfiu9U/
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June 28, 2013 ? This may look like a tangle of squiggly lines, but you're actually looking at a molecular machine called a ribosome. Its job is to translate DNA sequences into proteins, the workhorse compounds that sustain you and all living things.
The image is also a milestone. It's the first time the atom-by-atom structure of the ribosome has been seen as it's attached to a molecule that controls its motion. That's big news if you're a structural biologist.
But there's another way to look at this image, one that anyone who's suffered a bacterial infection can appreciate. The image is also a roadmap to better antibiotics. That's because this particular ribosome is from a bacterium. And somewhere in its twists and turns could be a weakness that a new antibiotic can target.
"We're in an arms race with the resistance mechanisms of bacteria," says Jamie Cate, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division and a professor of biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology at UC Berkeley.
"The better we understand how bacterial ribosomes work, the better we can come up with new ways to interfere with them," he adds.
Cate developed the structure with UC Berkeley's Arto Pulk. Their work is described in the June 28 issue of the journal Science.
Their image is the latest advance in the push for more effective antibiotics. The goal is new drugs that kill the bacteria that make us sick, stay one step ahead of their resistance mechanisms, and leave our beneficial bacteria alone.
One way to do this is to get to know the bacterial ribosome inside and out. Many of today's antibiotics target ribosomes. A better understanding of how ribosomes function will shed light on how these antibiotics work. This could also lead to even "smarter" molecules that quickly target and disable a pathogen's ribosomes without affecting friendly bacteria.
Cate and Pulk used protein crystallography beamlines at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source to create diffraction patterns that show how the ribosome's molecules fit together. They then used computational modeling to combine these patterns into incredibly high-resolution images that describe the locations of the individual atoms.
The result is the colorful structure at the top of this article. Those blue and purple halves are ribosomes. They're from E. coli bacteria, but they work in similar ways throughout nature. Ribosomes move along messenger RNA and interpret its genetic code into directions on how to stitch amino acids into proteins.
But sometimes ribosomes want to move backward, which isn't good when you're in the protein-making business. That's where that yellow-red-green squiggle wedged between the two ribosome halves comes in. It's elongation factor G. It acts like a ratchet and prevents the ribosome from slipping backward. It also pushes the ribosome forward when it's sluggish.
Scientists knew that elongation factor G performs these jobs, but they didn't know how. Now, with an atomic-scale structure in hand, they can study the chemical and molecular forces involved in this ratcheting process. Cate and Pulk found that the ratchet controls the ribosome's motion by stiffening and relaxing over and over. This is the kind of insight that could lead to new ways to monkey-wrench the ribosome.
"To create better antibiotics, we need to learn how bacterial ribosomes work at the smallest scales, and this is a big step in that direction," says Cate.
The National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute supported the research. The U.S. Department of Energy provides support for the Advanced Light Source, where this research was conducted.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/zlOztV3J4SM/130628103149.htm
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VATICAN ARRESTS: A Vatican cleric and two other people were arrested Friday by Italian police for allegedly trying to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into the country from Switzerland by private jet.
THE CONTEXT: It's the latest scandal to hit the Holy See and broadens an Italian probe into its secretive bank.
THE ALLEGATIONS: Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, already under investigation in a purported money-laundering plot involving the Vatican bank, is accused of corruption and slander stemming from the plot and was being held at a Rome prison, prosecutor Nello Rossi told reporters.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/news-summary-vatican-official-arrested-143848929.html
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Mark Webber,?obviously tired of being Vettel?s bitch, has just announced that he is retiring from Formula 1 at the end of the 2013 season. But this doesn?t mean that the?Australian?is?hanging?up his driving gloves for good ? far from it. Instead the 36-year-old will be joining Porsche?s exciting new?sports car?racing programme that aims to take on the likes of Audi and Toyota.
From 2014 onwards he is set to compete in the firm?s LMP1 sports prototype both at the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the sports car World Endurance Championship WEC. Webber has already raced at Le Mans twice in his career, so his experience will definitely give the Porsche team something of an edge. In 1998 he?also finished runner-up in the FIA GT Championship behind the wheel of a sports prototype.
?It?s an honour for me to join Porsche at its return to the top category in Le Mans and in the sports car World Endurance Championship and be part of the team. Porsche has written racing history as a manufacturer and stands for outstanding technology and performance at the highest level,? says Webber. ?I?m very much looking forward to this new challenge after my time in Formula 1. Porsche will undoubtedly set itself very high goals. I can hardly wait to pilot one of the fastest sports cars in the world.?
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Source: http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/wheeldeal/2013/06/27/mark-webber-to-leave-formula-1-join-porsche/
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We already knew that Windows RT tablets would be getting their very own Outlook app with Windows 8.1, but apparently Microsoft has even more plans up its sleeve. Here at Build, the company is teasing a Metro-style Office suite that will be available through the Windows Store, just like any other non-desktop Windows program. Unfortunately, this is a tease in the truest sense of the word: Redmond won't say when the app will be available, and isn't providing many official screenshots. However, a company spokesperson did tell reporters that PowerPoint will have "all of the same transitions, the same graphic power [and] file format capability" as the desktop version, so presumably the same is true of Word and Excel too. That's all we have to share for now, though you can bet we'll be back with a proper hands-on as soon as Microsoft is ready to show off a more final version of the app.
Update: ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reports that the Metro-style Office applications (codenamed Gemini) will hit the Windows Store in 2014.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
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The end of another school year is leaving a bad taste in many people?s mouths. A steady diet of government austerity and top-down ?accountability? mandates have left numerous communities across the country with a severe case of sour stomachs over how their schools are being governed.
As the school year closed in Michigan, hundreds of protestors gathered at the state capital in Lansing to protest state school budgets and policies that have left classrooms overcrowded and eliminated art, music, and other educational programs in schools.
In Pennsylvania, teachers, parents, and public school activists have staged multiple actions (see here, here, and here) to protest severe budget cuts that have eliminated programs and laid off teachers.
At the state capital of North Carolina, boisterous ?Moral Monday? demonstrations against the state?s conservative government have made public education funding part of a rallying cry for a more progressive agenda in that state.
These protests are a continuation of a months-long Education Spring unifying diverse factions across the nation in efforts to reverse education policy mandates and bolster public schools instead of punishing them and closing them down.
The uprising has not gone unnoticed by people at the centers of policy, power, and opinion in Washington.
In the U.S. Department of Education, the halls of Congress, and the meeting rooms of think tanks and foundations, uncertainly, impasse, and calls for a new direction are now the order of the day.
Uncertainty Sets In At The Top
In a surprise announcement to the media, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hit the pause button for implementation of new teacher evaluations tied to new standards-based tests. Now states will get an additional year to roll out the new tests and more flexibility in how they fund teacher training for the standards.
Duncan?s actions come on the heels of a call from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who had previously called for a ?moratorium? on the high stakes associated with standards-based testing for at least a year.
These calls for pause are clearly a response to widespread concerns over basing accountability systems for schools and teachers largely on standardized tests.
As the above-cited reporter Joy Resmovits observed, the standards and testing regime has been ?in motion for years, but recently, as the rubber hits the road with the new tests rolling out in 2013, the outcry has been magnified. Schools are grappling with all of these demands amid an escalating fiscal crisis. The message, coming from teachers, their unions and other advocacy groups, is clear: Too much is changing simultaneously.?
In a video conversation with Dan Brown, a teaching ambassador fellow for the department, Duncan claimed ?this is not a major shift at all? in the Department?s mindset. But that?s not necessarily the message being heard in school districts.
As?Education Week?s veteran journalist Alyson Klein wrote, Duncan?s decision to communicate the change in ?a big, splashy announcement? had the effect of imparting some uncertainty about the reform agenda.
Klein quoted New Jersey Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf who said, ?The manner in which this was executed did put the thumb on the scale in favor of delay.? This risks, according to Cerf, ?energizing folks who frankly have never gotten on board? the standards and testing mandate.
What the delay also ?risks? is more articles like the one that appeared in The Baltimore Sun that used the announcement as an opportunity to voice the ?concerns? teachers and administrators have with the new system and report the absurdity of ?devising a system to evaluate teachers based on student test scores? when ?only about one-third of the state?s teachers are in subjects that have standardized tests.?
The imposition of higher standards and more testing is already an idea that hasn?t stood up well to close scrutiny. Now there will be more time for more scrutiny.
Policy Impasse Becomes The New Normal
In the halls of Congress, senators and members of the House working on reauthorizing federal education policies, known as No Child Left Behind, showed clear signs of locking into the same uncompromising positions that have characterized congressional action in other policy arenas.
At the very start of the process, veteran Beltway pundit Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute stated flat out, ?There will be no reauthorization in 2013 or 2014.?
Since his prognostication, some of the roadblocks to reauthorization have come to pass ? such as a mostly partisan bill from the Senate committee dominated by Democrats and competing ?hard-hitting? bills from Republicans in both the Senate and the House in strong opposition.
Reinforcing Hess? conclusions, a recent survey of education policy ?insiders? found that only 8 percent thought NCLB reauthorization would take place this year, with 81 percent seeing it happen after January 2015.
Calls For A New Direction Increase
Among opinion leaders on both the right and left, an acute divide has emerged between status quo supporters of the standards and testing mandates and those who are calling for a different direction.
In the conservative community, the controversy mostly centers on the Common Core standards. While factions allied with the tea party have flared into vocal opposition to the standards, establishment right-wingers have generally promoted a ?stay the course? message.
For people who lean left, the divide on education policy is a more nuanced one where disciples of the standards-and-testing approach are now being called into question by those who want to see a transition from the status quo to supports-based policies focused on ensuring students have the opportunities and resources they need to reach the higher standards.
The divide among progressives was acutely evident at the most recent Netroots Nation conference during a panel on Mis-Education of Bloggers: What You Don?t Know About Education Reform and Communities of Color.
During the presentation, as can be seen on a video here, one panel member, Rufina A. Hern?ndez, executive director of the Campaign for High School Equity, likened the standards-and-testing approach for education to a civil rights cause, declaring new Common Core Standards to be ?Brown 2.0? for education, a reference to Brown vs. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court case mandating racial integration in public schools. (Her comment begins at the 26:00 mark.)
Responding to Hern?ndez?s statement, another panel member, Dr. John H. Jackson, President and CEO of The Schott Foundation for Public Education (disclosure: a funder of this site), retorted, ?Fine that we have the Common Core Standards. But we need common core supports to meet those common core standards.? (at the 36:30 mark)
Jackson called for a transition from the status quo emphasis on standards and testing to policies ensuring students have more opportunity to learn. And he called the audience?s attention to a new Education Declaration aligned with that policy transition.
Speaking to a more specific situation, Chicago public school activist Jitu Brown, explained the realities of how the standards and testing regime is playing out ? and has been playing out for nearly 20 years ? in his community (beginning at the 15:50 mark). What he described is a situation very much like what has now spread to communities across America, where policy mandates have resulted in resource deprivation, inequity, public disempowerment and the widespread perception that governing policies are driven by corruption.
Time For A Reset
Although the current pause in the high-stakes consequences of standards and testing has been called a ?hiccup? by some (see Hern?ndez above) or a ?flexibility? by others (Duncan?s words), those terms pale in comparison to the passion coming from American communities that want a new direction.
Instead of a rest, what?s needed is a reset for education that can transition us from the tumult of today to real progress for our children?s future.
Source: http://educationopportunitynetwork.org/time-to-reset-the-education-agenda/
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Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in the decision striking down DOMA.
Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Now the shoe is on the other foot, and it is time for the court to strike down a federal statute in order to advance a liberal policy goal rather than a conservative policy goal. Justice Scalia?s paean to the democratic process in his dissent sounds a little hollow, coming in the wake of his votes to strike down affirmative action programs and Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act?both of them the result of the democratic process, as much as DOMA was. Meanwhile, none of the liberals pipe in to explain how to reconcile the outcome of this case with the concerns about democracy that they expressed in dissenting opinions in the other cases. (Ginsburg, in Shelby County: ?That determination of the body empowered to enforce the Civil War Amendments ?by appropriate legislation? merits this Court?s utmost respect.?)
But this is a trite point, and never mind. The problem faced by opponents of DOMA is that there was no clear constitutional hook for striking it down. The Equal Protection Clause does not seem to apply because gay people (unlike, say, African-Americans) have not been regarded as politically weak enough to be a ?suspect class,? justifying heightened review. That means that only a rational basis is necessary to uphold DOMA and a rational basis is easy to find (uniformity, efficiency, blah, blah, blah). The Due Process Clause does not seem to apply because that clause protects only rights that are rooted in history and tradition, and the right of same-sex marriage, however compelling a moral issue it may seem today, is not such a right. Federalism says that (under ill-defined conditions) the U.S. government cannot trump state law, especially in an area like family law, but in fact there are plenty of federal laws that regulate marriage, at least along the margins.
In a remarkable opinion for the majority, Justice Kennedy manages to hit on all these theories without really endorsing any of them. After a long peroration on the importance of federalism, he disclaims it as a basis for the opinion?for the reason, I suspect, that if the unconstitutionality of DOMA is based on federalist principles, this case will not be a precedent that can be used to strike down state laws that refuse to recognize same-sex marriage in the future. He then vaguely invokes both due process and equal protection, without explaining how he overcomes the limits on those doctrines that I describe above. He does not, for example, declare homosexuals a suspect class, nor does he (or could he) claim that same-sex marriage has roots in history and tradition. In the end, he seems to hold DOMA unconstitutional because he is convinced that the purpose of the statute was to stigmatize gay people, and indeed there is some precedent for the idea that statutes based on animus are unconstitutional. But he does not provide a very convincing account of the motives of the legislators. Isn?t it possible to oppose same-sex marriage without hating gay people?
Kennedy?s opinion reminds me of two cases, both heavily criticized by constitutional scholars (for their reasoning, not necessarily their result). The first is 1965?s Griswold v. Connecticut, where the Supreme Court struck down a statute that prohibited the use of contraceptives, based on what Justice William O. Douglas called ?emanations? from and ?penumbras? of other constitutional provisions that said nothing about sex or contraception but did endorse other liberty interests. The second is 1990?s Employment Division v. Smith, where Justice Scalia, in the course of putting limits on the free exercise of religion doctrine of the first amendment, explained away some old cases on the grounds that they involved ?hybrid rights?: The statutes in question were struck down not because they violated the religion clause per se, but because they burdened both the practice of religion and other constitutionally protected activities. So there is this vague idea that certain constitutional interests standing alone may not invalidate statutes, but may suffice when combined together. Something like this idea might ultimately be the basis of Kennedy?s opinion. Gay people do not form a suspect class, but they almost do. Same-sex marriage is not a longstanding tradition, but same-sex relationships are. Federalism principles are not broken but they are eroded. Put together three almost violations, and you have a real violation.
But I think trying to find a jurisprudential explanation for this opinion, like the opinions in Fisher and Shelby Country, is a fool?s errand. Same-sex marriage is advancing while affirmative action is receding because that?s what the relevant majorities of the justices care about.
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Public release date: 26-Jun-2013
Share ] Contact: Jorge Bonilla Londo?o
jorge.bonilla@economics.gu.se
University of Gothenburg
The citizens of Gothenburg, Sweden will vote soon on whether to continue the already up-and-running congestion charge. New research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that congestion charges are indeed a better way to reduce traffic and improve air quality.
The doctoral thesis from the School of Business, Economics and Law shows that in Bogota, Colombia drastic driving restrictions have not been effective, while congestion charges besides cutting traffic, as it has happened in Stockholm, may be also used to achieve the European air quality goals.
Jorge Bonilla's dissertation research focused on the economics of air quality control. One of his studies evaluated the effectiveness of the driving restriction program 'Pico y Placa' implemented in Bogota to reduce congestion and air pollution. The program consists of rationing car use at certain times of the day based on license plate numbers, which has become a popular policy in developing countries. It is low-tech and less expensive to execute.
Dr. Bonilla's research showed that despite an initial improvement in air quality for some periods of the day, pollution and vehicle use did not decrease in the long run. In fact, there is evidence of increased carbon monoxide concentrations during drastic restrictions.
'Vehicle ownership and driving increased in response to driving restrictions as drivers adapted to the phased-in program. People with economic resources acquired a second car.
Low-income people woke up earlier to drive before the restrictions started in the peak hours. In contrast, gasoline consumption in Bogota decreased in response to increasing gasoline taxes, suggesting that market mechanisms may be more effective than driving restrictions.' Jorge Bonilla says.
In one of his other studies, Jorge Bonilla and his co-researchers propose an adjustment to the congestion charge systems in Sweden and elsewhere to achieve air quality regulation. Most congestion charges currently in use incorporate price bans to mitigate congestion; however harmful concentrations are still exceeded in several occasions. Road pricing might also be temporally differentiated in order to harmonize with nature's ability to cleanse itself and so comply European regulation. That is, a higher charge will be expected in periods when the environment is restricted to dilute pollutants. If congestion charges are allowed to vary with the capacity of nature to handle pollution, then they may reduce not only global warming but also the dangerous health effects of urban air pollutants.
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(Read more here: http://www.economics.handels.gu.se/english/Units+and+Centra/environmental-economics/about-eeu/news---press/news_+och+_events/detail//variable-congestion-charges-may-yield-more-stable-air-quality-and-improved-health-.cid1128785)
The thesis was written with support from Sida's environmental economics capacity-building programme.
Thesis title: Essays on the Economics of Air Quality Control
Link to the thesis: https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/32864
The thesis was presented on 11 June 2013.
For more information, please contact:
Jorge Bonilla Londoo,
+46 (0)31 786 52 52,
jorge.bonilla@economics.gu.se
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Public release date: 26-Jun-2013 Share ] Contact: Jorge Bonilla Londo?o
jorge.bonilla@economics.gu.se
University of Gothenburg
The citizens of Gothenburg, Sweden will vote soon on whether to continue the already up-and-running congestion charge. New research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that congestion charges are indeed a better way to reduce traffic and improve air quality.
The doctoral thesis from the School of Business, Economics and Law shows that in Bogota, Colombia drastic driving restrictions have not been effective, while congestion charges besides cutting traffic, as it has happened in Stockholm, may be also used to achieve the European air quality goals.
Jorge Bonilla's dissertation research focused on the economics of air quality control. One of his studies evaluated the effectiveness of the driving restriction program 'Pico y Placa' implemented in Bogota to reduce congestion and air pollution. The program consists of rationing car use at certain times of the day based on license plate numbers, which has become a popular policy in developing countries. It is low-tech and less expensive to execute.
Dr. Bonilla's research showed that despite an initial improvement in air quality for some periods of the day, pollution and vehicle use did not decrease in the long run. In fact, there is evidence of increased carbon monoxide concentrations during drastic restrictions.
'Vehicle ownership and driving increased in response to driving restrictions as drivers adapted to the phased-in program. People with economic resources acquired a second car.
Low-income people woke up earlier to drive before the restrictions started in the peak hours. In contrast, gasoline consumption in Bogota decreased in response to increasing gasoline taxes, suggesting that market mechanisms may be more effective than driving restrictions.' Jorge Bonilla says.
In one of his other studies, Jorge Bonilla and his co-researchers propose an adjustment to the congestion charge systems in Sweden and elsewhere to achieve air quality regulation. Most congestion charges currently in use incorporate price bans to mitigate congestion; however harmful concentrations are still exceeded in several occasions. Road pricing might also be temporally differentiated in order to harmonize with nature's ability to cleanse itself and so comply European regulation. That is, a higher charge will be expected in periods when the environment is restricted to dilute pollutants. If congestion charges are allowed to vary with the capacity of nature to handle pollution, then they may reduce not only global warming but also the dangerous health effects of urban air pollutants.
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(Read more here: http://www.economics.handels.gu.se/english/Units+and+Centra/environmental-economics/about-eeu/news---press/news_+och+_events/detail//variable-congestion-charges-may-yield-more-stable-air-quality-and-improved-health-.cid1128785)
The thesis was written with support from Sida's environmental economics capacity-building programme.
Thesis title: Essays on the Economics of Air Quality Control
Link to the thesis: https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/32864
The thesis was presented on 11 June 2013.
For more information, please contact:
Jorge Bonilla Londoo,
+46 (0)31 786 52 52,
jorge.bonilla@economics.gu.se
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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/uog-tcc062613.php
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Slate of sustainability resolutions at Mayor?s Annual Conference reflect work of mayors around the country to spur economic savings and create jobs through green building, clean energy and infrastructure investment
Las Vegas, NV ? June 25, 2013 ? (RealEstateRama) ? The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) this week commended the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) for passing a slate of sustainability resolutions that renew its commitment to local green building and clean energy efforts that help spur economic savings and protect the environment.
The 10 measures passed include the support of resilient communities, stronger building energy codes, Tiger grants and improving infrastructure. The resolutions represent a powerful endorsement of support for implementing a sound sustainability agenda and were strongly supported and encouraged by AIA and USGBC, which are working together to advance local green building policy as part of their six-year strategic alliance.
?The passage of these resolutions reflect the ardent dedication of all our mayors who are working to revitalize the economy through infrastructure investment and clean energy programs as well as green building and smart transportation improvements,? said Paul Mendelsohn, AIA?s vice president of government and community relations. ?They are taking a smart, integrated approach across all sectors of the economy to drive sustainability, improve health and advance the triple-bottom line.?
?Once again, mayors are showing courage and leadership by embracing a strong sustainability and green building policy agenda that helps communities save money, save energy and create jobs,? said Jason Hartke, vice president of national policy at USGBC. ?As the first responders on the frontlines in the battle to combat climate change, they are seeking out effective solutions and smart public policy that will help strengthen their local economies.?
The resolutions that passed this week include:
? #9 Wellness in Real Estate, which commits to promoting buildings that ?use a combination of criteria and features that will enhance the well-being of occupants and address growing preventable health concerns and costs.?
? #19 Transit-oriented Development as an Economic Growth and Economic Development Strategy;
? #29 Supporting and Advancing Resilient Communities, which commits to ?support efforts by communities across the nation to advance sound resiliency policies and programs that (1) identify and plan for the risk and challenges posed by a changing climate, (2) deploy a skilled workforce to modernize critical infrastructure in the energy, communications, buildings, water, and transportation sectors, (3) strengthen the community as a whole to be a safer, healthier place to live.?
? #38 Support to Double the Nation?s Energy Productivity;
? #42 Endorsing the Maximum Achievable Building Energy Efficiency Improvements in the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code;
? #50 In Support of the renewal of the Federal Brownfields Tax Deduction;
? #82 In Support of the Federal Historic Tax Credit;
? #95 In Support of a Strong American Infrastructure, which commits to support ?efforts by Congress, the Administration, and State governments to upgrade, expand, and strengthen American infrastructure by making the appropriate financial investments and by partnering and coordinating with local governments and stakeholders.?
? #97 In Support of Tiger Grants; and
? #98 A New Era for Urban Streets and Urban Infrastructure;
These 10 resolutions passed unanimously in Las Vegas this week at the 81st USCM Annual Meeting, which sets the national agenda for U.S. Mayors. Together, the resolutions reflect the ongoing mission of mayors to accelerate investment in green building, promote smart growth, and fortify critical city infrastructure.
About the American Institute of Architects
For over 150 years, members of the American Institute of Architects have worked with each other and their communities to create more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings and cityscapes. Members adhere to a code of ethics and professional conduct to ensure the highest standards in professional practice. Embracing their responsibility to serve society, AIA members engage civic and government leaders and the public in helping find needed solutions to pressing issues facing our communities, institutions, nation and world. Visit www.aia.org.
About U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
USGBC is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. USGBC works toward its mission of market transformation through its LEED green building program, robust educational offerings, a nationwide network of chapters and affiliates, the annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, the Center for Green Schools and advocacy in support of public policy that encourages and enables green buildings and communities. For more information, visit usgbc.org and connect on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Contact:
John Schneidawind
202-626-7457
http://twitter.com/AIA_Media
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June 24, 2013 ? How is it that a complex organism evolves from a pile of dead matter? How can lifeless materials become organic molecules that are the bricks of animals and plants? Scientists have been trying to answer these questions for ages. Researchers at the Max Planck Institut f?r Kohlenforschung have now disclosed the secret of a reaction that has to do with the synthesis of complex organic matter before the origin of life.
Since the 1960's it has been well known that when concentrated hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is irradiated by UV light, it forms an imidazole intermediate that is a key substance for synthesis of nucleobases and nucleotides in abiotic environment. The way how UV radiation acts in this reaction to produce complex organic matter was, however, never clarified. Dr. Mario Barbatti and his colleagues in Germany, India and Czech Republic have now shown how this process occurs via computer simulations.
Using diverse computational-chemistry methods, the team has arrived at astonishing conclusions: For example that the reaction does not take place in the hot spot created by the solar radiation. "This has nothing to do with heat, but with electrons," says Mario Barbatti.
The reaction proceeds through a series of electronically excited intermediates. The molecules get into the "electronic excited state" because of the UV radiation, which means that their electrons are distributed in a much different way than the usual. That changes the molecule's attitudes. "But this takes some time," says Mario Barbatti. They showed that the radiation energy is dissipated too fast, and because of that each reactant molecule absorbs hundreds of UV photons before it finally gets converted into the imidazole intermediate.
"This is very inefficient -- and quite extraordinary," says Mario Barbatti. That is why it was quite challenging to comprehend the reaction, explains the physicist from Brazil. He and his colleagues have calculated a lot of possible intermediates, tried -- and discarded most of them. Finally they found out that there is only one single pathway that is consistent with the fast energy dissipation and previous experimental observations.
But why did they work on the computer? Isn't it the case that chemical reactions are worked on in laboratories? "Some intermediates are too elusive to analyze them in the laboratory -- they disappear before we may see them," Barbatti explains. Computational Chemistry allows the scientists to comprehend the reactions in a theoretical way.
"As I said before, this reaction has nothing to do with heat," says Barbatti. The transformation works in a cold environment, as in comets and in terrestrial ices, where spontaneous HCN polymerization is most expected to occur.
The team has published their results, which help to understand the role of solar radiation on the origin of life, in the recent issue of Angewandte Chemie.
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Prosecutors can use a suspect?s silence during informal police questioning as evidence of guilt at a subsequent trial, the US Supreme Court said on Monday.
In a case with important implications for individuals at the early stages of a police investigation, the high court said that a suspect must verbally invoke his or her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent to prevent police and prosecutors from using any resulting silence and incriminating body language as evidence of guilt during a jury trial.
?The Fifth Amendment guarantees that no one may be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; it does not establish an unqualified right to remain silent,? Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court.
RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about the US Constitution? A quiz.
?Before petitioner could rely on the privilege against self-incrimination, he was required to invoke it,? Justice Alito added in turning aside an appeal by a defendant convicted of murder in Texas.
The high court split 5 to 4 on the issue, with the court?s five-member conservative wing rejecting a claim to the Fifth Amendment privilege in the case under scrutiny and the four-member liberal wing supporting such a claim.
The issue arose in the case of Genovevo Salinas, who was charged and convicted in the shooting death of two brothers in Texas in 1992.
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During the initial stages of the police investigation, detectives conducted an informal interview with Mr. Salinas. He was not under arrest and police had not advised him of his right to remain silent or consult a lawyer.
Salinas readily answered all of the detectives? questions ? except one. After nearly an hour of questions and answers, one of the detectives asked him if the shotgun police had recovered from the Salinas house earlier that day would match the shells recovered at the scene of the murder.
Salinas fell silent. He did not respond. One of the officers would later testify that Salinas ?looked down at the floor, shuffled his feet, bit his bottom lip, clinched his hands in his lap, began to tighten up.?
The detective asked some additional questions that Salinas answered. The only question Salinas declined to answer related to whether the shells found at the murder scene would match Salinas? shotgun.
At his trial, the prosecutor presented testimony from the investigator about how Salinas had answered many questions by the police ? but refused to answer one. The prosecutor told the jury in his closing that Salinas? silence was evidence of the defendant?s guilt.
Salinas was convicted of the double killing and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
On appeal, his lawyer challenged the use of Salinas? silence as evidence against him. The lawyer argued that it violated the Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed and upheld the conviction.
In affirming the Texas court, the Supreme Court said on Monday that Salinas? Fifth Amendment claim ?fails because he did not expressly invoke the privilege against self-incrimination in response to the officer?s questions.?
In effect, the court said Salinas could not take advantage of his right to remain silent by merely remaining silent.
In a dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer and his three colleagues offered a sharply different view of the constitutional protections involved.
?The Fifth Amendment prohibits prosecutors from commenting on an individual?s silence where that silence amounts to an effort to avoid becoming a witness against himself,? Justice Breyer wrote.
?I would hold that Salinas need not have expressly invoked the Fifth Amendment,? Breyer said. ?The context was that of a criminal investigation. ? And it was obvious that the new question sought to ferret out whether Salinas was guilty of murder.?
Breyer added: ?These circumstances give rise to a reasonable inference that Salinas? silence derived from an exercise of his Fifth Amendment rights.?
Two conservative justices would go even further than the plurality decision authored by Justice Alito.
In an opinion concurring with the judgment, Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia said that even if Salinas had invoked his Fifth Amendment right to silence the prosecutor?s comments would still be permissible at his trial because they did not compel Salinas to give self-incriminating testimony.
Legal analysts offered a mixed reaction to the court?s decision.
Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, praised the majority justices for rejecting an attempt to ?expand the already bloated restrictions on police questioning and its use in evidence.?
He added: ?This evidence is clearly admissible under the Fifth Amendment as enacted and originally understood. In their push to expand the Fifth Amendment privilege far beyond its common law scope, the four dissenting justices consider only the interests of the murderer, barely mention the victims, and give no weight to the need to punish criminals and put them safely behind bars.?
John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, was critical of the opinion. ?What today?s ruling by the Supreme Court says, essentially, is that citizens had better know what their rights are and understand when those rights are being violated, because the government is no longer going to be held responsible for informing you of those rights before violating them,? he said.
The case was Salinas v. Texas (12-246).
RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about the US Constitution? A quiz.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-remain-silent-suspect-must-speak-005700241.html
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ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (AP) ? The top official with the European Union's executive arm says a free trade deal with the United States would be a "game-changer" for the global economy.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso made the statement Monday ahead of a formal launch of the trade effort at the Group of Eight Summit in Northern Ireland.
Barroso said that a deal "can be a game-changer, not just for the trans-Atlantic area, the United States and Europe, but for the world."
He added that the EU negotiating stance ? which has left out the movie and television industry at French insistence ? should not prevent a deal. The opt-out could be revised at a later date.
"What is important, I insist, is the political will on both sides," Barroso said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-official-trade-deal-us-game-changer-130930299.html
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FRANKFURT, GERMANY -- Little Omar is not agreeing to the routine medical treatment. But what little 11-month old child likes being dragged from his mom, laid on a measuring board and being prodded in the belly by a stranger? Omar vents his disagreement to the entire maternal and child health clinic here in Garowe, the regional capital of Puntland, Somalia.
Omar's mom, however, is happy for the support she is receiving from the government health-workers that monitor the recovery of her little boy. Every two weeks she comes to the clinic to have Omar checked, receive two weeks' worth of therapeutic feeding paste and be counseled on child nutrition. This is a community-based nutrition project jointly run by World Vision in Somalia and the Somalian government. The aim is to treat undernourished children at home, supporting moms with knowledge and therapeutic food, and alleviating a thinly-stretched to non-existing health system.
Recent numbers published by the UN show that the human death toll of the Horn of Africa hunger was much higher for Somalia than thought previously. In total 258,000 Somalis lost their lives during the 2010-2012 famine of which more than half, 133,000, were children under five years. This surpasses even the numbers of the terrible hunger in 1992-93.
As we approach this year's G8 Summit, the news on children and nutrition is not good. A recently published study series by the British medical journal The Lancet shows that we have underestimated the effects of undernutrition on child mortality, and approximately 45 percent of child deaths before their fifth birthday are now attributed to lack of enough or nutritious food as underlying cause, leading to a staggering 3.1 million children losing their young lives in 2012 alone to a cause we know very well how to prevent and treat.
At the 2009 G8 Summit held in the ruins of the heavily earth-quake affected Italian town of l'Aquila, the G8 and partners promised to spend $22 billion on food security by the end of 2012. Yet they have disbursed less than three quarters of that amount. At a time when child mortality could be dropping much faster, the recently published accountability report for the G8 gathering in Lough Erne, UK next week doesn't even contain a section on nutrition, exposing the G8 as giving less focus to this huge child killer at a time when all the evidence points to nutrition being pivotal in our efforts to attain the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Well, roughly 900 days before the end-date of the MDGs we're still off track to reduce the target of reducing child deaths to 4 million per year and we know now more than ever the critical contribution of nutrition to reaching this goal.
This is no time for complacency and the good news is that we know exactly what works and what it could mean for the lives of children such as little Omar. This is why at last weekend's Nutrition for Growth Summit in London, World Vision pledged to invest $1.2 billion by 2020 in its nutrition programs. But what is really needed now is a concentrated effort by the donors and the German pledge of $200 million is just not enough. We have had much G8 rhetoric around nutrition and food security over the last several years and the renewed interest in this quintessential intervention for human development is good, but needs to be backed up by a transparent accountability framework that can trace every promised dollar. Whether to report on progress made cannot be left to the gusto of a given G8-host, it must become part and parcel of every G8 accountability report. This we owe to the vulnerable little ones like Omar and his mom, who left the clinic with better knowledge and a two-week ration of therapeutic food thanks to a successful cooperation of a thoughtful donor, a cooperative government and a supportive development organization. We need more of this!
This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and the NGO alliance InterAction around the G8 summit being held in Northern Ireland, June 17-18. For the next eight days, we will be featuring one post from an NGO based in each of the G8 countries -- this piece is from Germany -- and then one blog from the vantage point of the developing world. To see all the posts in the series, click here. For more information on InterAction, click here. And follow the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #DearG8.
Photo: Courtesy of World Vision
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