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This article considers how corruption affects the management of disaster mitigation, relief, and recovery. Corruption is a very serious and pervasive issue that affects all countries and many operations related to disasters, yet it has not been studied to the degree that it merits. This is because it is difficult to define, hard to measure and difficult to separate from other issues, such as excessive political influence and economic mismanagement. Not all corruption is illegal, and not all of that which is against the law is vigorously pursued by law enforcement. In essence, corruption subverts public resources for private gain, to the damage of the body politic and people at large. It is often associated with political violence and authoritarianism and is a highly exploitative phenomenon. Corruption knows no boundaries of social class or economic status. It tends to be greatest where there are strong juxtapositions of extreme wealth and poverty. Corruption is intimately bound up with the armaments trade. The relationship between arms supply and humanitarian assistance and support for democracy is complex and difficult to decipher. So is the relationship between disasters and organized crime. In both cases, disasters are seen as opportunities for corruption and potentially massive gains, achieved amid the fear, suffering, and disruption of the aftermath. In humanitarian emergencies, black markets can thrive, which, although they support people by providing basic incomes, do nothing to reduce disaster risk. In counties in which the informal sector is very large, there are few, and perhaps insufficient, controls on corruption in business and economic affairs. Corruption is a major factor in weakening efforts to bring the problem of disasters under control. The solution is to reduce its impact by ensuring that transactions connected with disasters are transparent, ethically justifiable, and in line with what the affected population wants and needs. In this respect, the phenomenon is bound up with fundamental human rights. Denial or restriction of such rights can reduce a person's access to information and freedom to act in favor of disaster reduction. Corruption can exacerbate such situations. Yet disasters often reveal the effects of corruption, for example, in the collapse of buildings that were not built to established safety codes.
David Alexander
Andrew Robinson
The immediate aftermath of a great urban earthquake is a dramatic and terrible event, comparable to a massive terrorist attack. Yet the shocking impact soon fades from the public mind and receives surprisingly little attention from historians, unlike wars and human atrocities. In 1923, the Great Kanto earthquake and its subsequent fires demolished most of Tokyo and Yokohama and killed around 140,000 Japanese: a level of devastation and fatalities comparable with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. But the second event has infinitely more resonance in public consciousness and historical studies than the first. Indeed, most people would be challenged to name a single earthquake with an indisputable historical impact, including even the most famous of all earthquakes: the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. In truth, however, great earthquakes, from ancient times—as recorded by Greek and biblical writers—to the present day, have had major cultural, economic, and political consequences—often a combination of all three—some of which were beneficial. Thus, the current prime minister of India owes his election in 2014 to an earthquake that devastated part of his home state of Gujarat in 2001, which led to its striking economic growth. The martial law imposed on Tokyo and Yokohama after the 1923 earthquake gave new authority to the Japanese army, which eventually took over the Japanese government and led Japan to war with China and the world. The destruction of San Francisco in 1906 produced a boom in rebuilding and financial and technological development of the surrounding area on the San Andreas Fault, including what became Silicon Valley. A great earthquake in Venezuela in 1812 was the principal cause of the temporary defeat of its leader Simon Bolivar by the Spanish colonial regime, but his subsequent exile led to his permanent freeing of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela from Spanish rule. The catastrophic Lisbon earthquake of 1755—as well known in the early 19th century as the 1945 atomic bombings are today—was a pivotal factor in the freeing of Enlightenment science from Catholic religious orthodoxy, as epitomized by Voltaire's satirical novel Candide, written in response to the earthquake. Even the minor earthquakes in Britain in 1750, the so-called Year of Earthquakes, produced the earliest scientific understanding of earthquakes, published by the Royal Society: the beginning of seismology. The long-term impact of a great earthquake depends on its epicenter, magnitude, and timing—and also on human factors: the political, social, intellectual, religious, and cultural resources specific to a region's history. Each earthquake-struck society offers its own particular lesson, and yet, taken together, such earth-shattering events have important shared consequences for the history of the world.
Tim Harries
People not only want to be safe from natural hazards; they also want to feel they are safe. Sometimes these two desires pull in different directions, and when they do, this slows the journey to greater physical adaptation and resilience. All people want to feel safe—especially in their own homes. In fact, although not always a place of actual safety, in many cultures "home" is nonetheless idealized as a place of security and repose. The feeling of having a safe home is one part of what is termed ontological security: freedom from existential doubts and the ability to believe that life will continue in much the same way as it always has, without threat to familiar assumptions about time, space, identity, and well-being. By threatening our homes, floods, earthquakes, and similar events disrupt ontological security: they destroy the possessions that support our sense of who we are; they fracture the social structures that provide us with everyday needs such as friendship, play, and affection; they disrupt the routines that give our lives a sense of predictability; and they challenge the myth of our immortality. Such events, therefore, not only cause physical injury and loss; by damaging ontological security, they also cause emotional distress and jeopardize long-term mental health. However, ontological security is undermined not only by the occurrence of hazard events but also by their anticipation. This affects people's willingness to take steps that would reduce hazard vulnerability. Those who are confident that they can eliminate their exposure to a hazard will usually do so. More commonly, however, the available options come with uncertainty and social/psychological risks: often, the available options only reduce vulnerability, and sometimes people doubt the effectiveness of these options or their ability to choose and implement appropriate measures. In these circumstances, the risk to ontological security that is implied by action can have greater influence than the potential benefits. For example, although installing a floodgate might reduce a business's flood vulnerability, the business owner might feel that its presence would act as an everyday reminder that the business, and the income derived from it, are not secure. Similarly, bolting furniture to the walls of a home might reduce injuries in the next earthquake, but householders might also anticipate that it would remind them that there is a continual threat to their home. Both of these circumstances describe situations in which the anticipation of future feelings can tap into less conscious anxieties about ontological security. The manner in which people anticipate impacts on ontological security has several implications for preparedness. For example, it suggests that hazard warnings will be counterproductive if they are not accompanied by suggestions of easy, reliable ways of eliminating risk. It also suggests that adaptation measures should be designed not to enhance awareness of the hazard.
Daniel P. Aldrich, Michelle A. Meyer, and Courtney M. Page-Tan
The impact of disasters continues to grow in the early 21st century, as extreme weather events become more frequent and population density in vulnerable coastal and inland cities increases. Against this backdrop of risk, decision-makers persist in focusing primarily on structural measures to reduce losses centered on physical infrastructure such as berms, seawalls, retrofitted buildings, and levees. Yet a growing body of research emphasizes that strengthening social infrastructure, not just physical infrastructure, serves as a cost-effective way to improve the ability of communities to withstand and rebound from disasters. Three distinct kinds of social connections, including bonding, bridging, and linking social ties, support resilience through increasing the provision of emergency information, mutual aid, and collective action within communities to address natural hazards before, during, and after disaster events. Investing in social capital fosters community resilience that transcends natural hazards and positively affects collective governance and community health. Social capital has a long history in social science research and scholarship, particularly in how it has grown within various disciplines. Broadly, the term describes how social ties generate norms of reciprocity and trust, allow collective action, build solidarity, and foster information and resource flows among people. From education to crime, social capital has been shown to have positive impacts on individual and community outcomes, and research in natural hazards has similarly shown positive outcomes for individual and community resilience. Social capital also can foster negative outcomes, including exclusionary practices, corruption, and increased inequality. Understanding which types of social capital are most useful for increasing resilience is important to move the natural hazards field forward. Many questions about social capital and natural hazards remain, at best, partially answered. Do different types of social capital matter at different stages of disaster—e.g., mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery? How do social capital's effects vary across cultural contexts and stratified groups? What measures of social capital are available to practitioners and scholars? What actions are available to decision-makers seeking to invest in the social infrastructure of communities vulnerable to natural hazards? Which programs and interventions have shown merit through field tests? What outcomes can decision-makers anticipate with these investments? Where can scholars find data sets on resilience and social capital? The current state of knowledge about social capital in disaster resilience provides guidance about supporting communities toward more resilience.


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HRMS Personnel Administration
Personnel Administration
Personnel Administration
Deskera User Administration helps you to manage all the employee details in the system, terminate employees, upload documents and view detailed personnel history.
Master Configuration facilitates configuration of all master settings, the addition of new fields/subfields and the integration with other Deskera Modules.
Predefine different appraisal cycles for your organization by defining the appraisal period as per your organization's preferences.
Keep track of all user activities in the system by monitoring their place of occurrence with the help of an IP address and the date on which the activity was performed.
Lead the way with rich, employee-personalized profiles as a key to achieving efficiency and effectiveness. Utilize the available human resources in such a way as to get the work done effectively and achieve the organization's goals. Deskera Personnel Administration provides an integrated and centralized employee database to manage all the employees, while keeping track of all the activities occurring in the organization.

subset: commoncrawl


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This November, Grammy Award-winning Christian artist Michael W. Smith and his wife, Debbie, will invite non-Christian friends into their home outside Nashville, Tenn.
"Maybe we should have invited these people into our home a long time ago," Smith said.
So why now?
This year, Smith's longtime friend, Billy Graham, is leading a national, in-home Crusade through a movement called My Hope America. More than 165,000 people around the country — including Smith — will invite friends into their homes this fall to share the Gospel through an interactive video and short testimonies. Smith has a list of friends he is praying for.
"I'm really excited about it," he said. "This is history, big time, in the making. … I think it'll be a huge success."
Smith has 22 albums, 10 books and multiple awards. He has traveled around the world and performed for national leaders. But even at that, and even living in the Bible Belt, he says, "I have a lot of friends who aren't believers." The singer/songwriter sees My Hope as "an opportunity to really jump out of the box … and get out of my comfort zone."
In honor of the national outreach, Smith is one of 11 artists contributing to a My Hope CD, which will also point people to Christ. He wrote a song called "Take Me Home," inspired by Mr. Graham's longing for heaven. The song is a conversation Mr. Graham might have with Jesus when he gets there.
Michael W. Smith visits Mr. Graham often and said he always talks about heaven — and how he's ready to go when God calls him home.
"My response is, 'Well, I kind of like you being here,'" he said. "I get choked up when I think about it. … I'm not sure there's going to be another Billy."
Smith plans to play the song for him in person and wants to do it before Mr. Graham's birthday on Nov. 7.
"I hope I can play it for him and not cry," he said. He knows Mr. Graham will always "deflect the glory" to Christ for everything his ministry has accomplished, but said he still wants to honor his friend.
"He's still the most revered man in the world, even by people who don't share his belief," he said. "You even have atheists who admire him. I just think that's incredible."
Smith first met Mr. Graham at a Crusade in the '80s. He played the piano for Amy Grant — another artist on the My Hope CD — and led the song "How Majestic is Your Name."
"He got a kick out of me stomping my foot," the singer said. He recalls Mr. Graham being "deeply genuine."
Years before, Smith would watch Mr. Graham on TV in black and white. He later joined his youth group to watch him preach in Lexington, Ky.
"Even as a young kid, I had so much admiration for him," he said.
In 1994, following his Crusade debut with Amy Grant, Smith was witness to Graham's first youth night at Cleveland Stadium in Ohio. Some people were skeptical, wondering if the event would be a success, but the stadium was packed and Mr. Graham "preached like never before," he said. Thousands came forward at the end to accept Christ.
As a father of five, Smith knows how important it is to reach young people with the Gospel.
"The America that I grew up in is not the same America now," he said. "Things are starting to unravel."
My Hope isn't just "an adult thing," he said, but can be a powerful message for the next generation. He specifically points to singer Lacey Sturm who will be featured on the My Hope video presentation.
"She has a powerful testimony. Every kid will relate to her story," he said.
Michael W. Smith decided to follow Christ at 10 years old after his pastor in West Virginia gave a simple message of God's love for the world. His mom was a church secretary, and he was always at church, but this time was different.
"It was like a light bulb," he said.
Smith faced a few difficult years after that when he moved to Nashville in his teens and started using cocaine and LSD. But he said a near-death experience led him back to God, and God picked him back up again.
That's what he wants people to get out of My Hope. He wants them to know that God loves them no matter what, and that they have purpose in life.
"We're all meant for community," he said, and My Hope is one way to bring people together. So many times, he said, Christians go to church once a week, then "do their thing the rest of the week," but people need relationships — and they need God.
Smith has learned from Mr. Graham to be transparent and relational, not "try to beat everyone to death with a Bible" when sharing the Gospel. Some people might feel uncomfortable sharing their faith, he said, but he encourages them to "step out there and be bold. … Muster up some faith and just go for it."
Michael W. Smith thinks about Mr. Graham's urgency in telling others about the hope found in Christ — and how no one knows how much time is left to do so.
"I think we get complacent and we don't live on the edge enough," he said. But, "this is the time to be bold. … And I think you can do that in a non-threatening way. … It can be pleasant and beautiful, and hopefully some great things will happen."
Smith reminds others that God can use them regardless of their shortcomings. My Hope isn't about Mr. Graham or about the Gospel-sharing skills of those participating, but about God and how He can use Mr. Graham and My Hope participants to do great things.
"Take a risk and go after it," he said. "I mean, what's to lose, really?"
Smith looks forward to inviting his friends over in November and can't wait to see the outcome of this national effort.
"This thing feels like it's a little spark and it's going to turn into a big ol' fire."
Michael W. Smith performs at many Franklin Graham Festivals. He performed at the Iceland Festival at the end of September.
Canada is also leading a My Hope effort. Find out more.


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This content requires the base game in order to play.
Forge your weapons in topaz. This skin can be applied to any weapon in your loadout.
©2015 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Tom Clancy's, Rainbow Six, The Soldier Icon, Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.


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By John Seager
As world leaders convene the Copenhagen climate talks, discussion has focused on the need for wealthy countries to reduce emissions. Far less attention has been paid to the inevitable reality that emissions in the poorest parts of the world need to increase. And there has been scant recognition of the role played by rapid population growth in rising emissions worldwide.
President Obama is taking a bold first step in Copenhagen by putting forward an ambitious emissions target for the United States. Yet global population growth threatens to undercut - even cancel - all progress. Global population may grow by 18% or more from 2005 to 2020, according to UN projections.
Reducing carbon emissions is actually three separate but related challenges. First, we must reduce global emissions. Second, we must slow population growth by supporting programs such as voluntary family planning. Third, we must recognize that about half the world now suffers from "carbon starvation" and needs to increase emissions.
Historically, as population has increased, emissions have also risen. Most emissions reductions must occur in wealthier countries since that's where they are highest. At the same time, in order to give billions of poor people a reasonable quality of life, emissions in some parts of the world must increase significantly. Rapid population growth makes this balancing act even more difficult.
Given available technology, the often-tiny carbon footprints of billions of people are both a cause and an effect of impoverishment. The one billion people who struggle to survive on less than $1/day use very little in the way of fossil fuels. And the additional 1.6 billion living on less than $2/day hardly use more. In order to have decent lives, they must increase their emission levels substantially, despite advances in green technology.
Much of sub-Saharan Africa is mired in the most desperate, grinding poverty imaginable. Governments there are already unable to meet the most basic needs of their citizens. And it is these people - who contribute least to climate change - who will suffer most from the problems that climate change brings. Women especially will face new challenges to their health, livelihoods, and even their lives.
Africa's per-capita emissions must increase. But, if Africa's population grows by the 39% that is projected by 2020, it will be nearly impossible to create a healthy quality of life for people in that part of the world.
Population growth will undermine all efforts to achieve lower carbon emissions unless investments in clean energy are matched by equally comprehensive investments in universal access to contraception along with other health and development programs.
As we develop hybrid cars and the like, what about the other half of the world? Will they be left to sweat and starve while we glide forward into a century of renewable energy? Their carbon footprint needs to grow. That can only work if we are willing to meet the population growth challenge.
This is one of those times - and one of those issues - where we need to keep our eye on multiple goals. Reducing emissions is an energy issue. But it is also in equal measure a human rights challenge, one that must include unprecedented investments in a full spectrum of reproductive health services for women and couples. Worldwide, 200 million women have an unmet need for family planning. And demand for contraception is projected to increase by 40% in just 15 years.
If we fail to act on this broader agenda, initiatives for reducing greenhouse gases will be swept away by a tidal wave of population growth. The White House has already made great strides in reversing the pernicious policies of the Bush Administration which turned a blind eye to the needs of billions. But additional bold action is needed.
No doubt President Obama is keenly aware of the multiple dimensions of the climate challenge. Yes, it's about energy. But, more than that, it is about meeting the basic human needs of soon-to-be seven billion people. Universal access to family planning must be a centerpiece of the climate change agenda in Copenhagen and beyond.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Copenhagen Talks Not Just About Energy
Posted by Population Connection at 3:29 PM
Labels: climate change, Copenhagen, emissions
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EU level: Latest developments in working life in light of the COVID-19 pandemic - Q1 2020
In early March 2020, working life in EU Member States came under enormous pressure due to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 disease and the precautionary measures taken by governments in subsequent weeks. This article gives a brief overview of the first reactions of European institutions and some of the responses by EU social partners to those challenges in the first quarter of 2020.
The European Commission's Winter Economic Forecast, presented on 13 February, already identified COVID-19 as a new downside risk for the European economy. However, it soon transpired that the scale and multidimensionality of the threat exceeded all expectations. As the EU has very little competence, under the Treaties, in health policy, this matter remains largely in the hands of individual Member States. The first emergency measures introduced by Member States included shutting down schools, decreeing social and physical distancing, closing borders and concentrating limited national resources on their own infrastructure. Due to the unforeseen and disruptive force of the pandemic, the nature of the European project – deeply rooted as it is in principles and policies such as solidarity and the free movement of people and goods – was under attack. This was accompanied by a growing threat to working life across the EU as a direct or indirect impact of the pandemic. The need for action at EU level became manifestly clear.
- European Commission: Winter 2019 Economic Forecast
European institutions launch emergency actions
On 13 March, the European Commission set out its immediate response to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a European coordinated response. [1] It endorsed the use of EU State aid rules to enable Member States to take swift and effective action to support citizens and companies, in particular SMEs, faced with economic difficulties due to the pandemic.
On 16 March, the Eurogroup (finance ministers of the eurozone countries) – now extended to all EU Member States – announced an agreement on the overall economic response to the COVID-19 outbreak. [2] This included the exclusion of temporary fiscal measures taken in response to the COVID-19 crisis when assessing compliance with fiscal principles and making full use of the Stability and Growth Pact's general flexibility clause for all Member States.
The Commission launched its Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII) on 18 March, aimed at mobilising cohesion policy to respond to the rapidly emerging needs in the most exposed sectors, such as healthcare, SMEs and labour markets, and help the most affected territories in Member States.
On the same date, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the launch of its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP). [3] According to the ECB, the overall PEPP budget – already substantial at €750 billion or more than 6% of GDP – can be increased and its composition adjusted as necessary.
On 20 March, the Commission moved to suspend the Stability and Growth Pact by launching a general escape clause to allow Member States to pursue a fiscal policy that would facilitate the implementation of all measures necessary to deal with the crisis, including for companies and employees.[4]
At the end of March, in the wake of restrictive measures introduced across Member States, including the reintroduction of checks at internal borders, the European Commission issued a Communication aimed at maintaining the free movement of workers in critical occupations. According to the Commission, Member States should allow frontier and posted workers to continue crossing their borders to their respective workplaces if work in the sector concerned is still allowed in the host Member State.
- European Commission: Coronavirus response
- European Commission: Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative
- ECB: Our response to the coronavirus emergency
- Eurogroup: Eurogroup sets out ambitious and coordinated policy response
European social partners issue joint statements
On 12 March, trade unions and associations representing the entertainment and media sectors – UNI Global Union's entertainment and media sector, UNI-MEI, together with International Federation of Musicians (FIM), International Federation of Actors (FIA) and Pearle (representing more than 10,000 managers and employers in live performance in Europe) – issued a joint position. [5] In light of the decisions of many governments to ban large gatherings, the social partners warned that without appropriate support measures, these decisions would have devastating economic and social consequences for the live performance sector. With the inevitable cancellation of many live events and tours, thousands of employees and self-employed workers in the sector would experience a sudden and dramatic loss of income.
On 16 March, the European cross-sectoral social partners (BusinessEurope, CEEP, ETUC, SMEunited) jointly urged the European authorities and Member States to approve all the measures proposed by the European Commission so far, without delay. [6] In particular, they highlighted the urgency of the following measures:
- temporary suspension of the Stability and Growth Pact
- avoiding distortions of the single market, including export bans and restrictions on the export of medical equipment and medicines, and stopping the closing of borders for goods
- encouraging Member States to invest in staff, equipment and resources for national health services, social protection systems and other services of general interest
- mobilising unused structural funds and other EU funds to support Member States in providing financial and income support for unemployed or suspended workers, including non-standard workers and self-employed workers.
The social partners in maritime transport – the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) and European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) – sent a letter on 18 March to the EU transport ministers ahead of their joint meeting. [7] They warned that the measures being taken by Member States to restrict the movement of people, aimed at minimising the risk of infection, are having serious consequences for the movement of seafarers.
On the same day, social partners in the European port sector – European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF Dockers), International Dockworkers Council (IDC), the Federation of European Private Port Operators (FEPORT) and European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) – prepared a joint statement calling on the European Commission and relevant bodies to provide guidance on measures to be applied in ports, in order to maintain the health and safety of dock workers. [8] They also urged port companies to implement more stringent measures and to provide all the necessary means to protect workers.
On 25 March, the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), together with employer organisation FoodDrinkEurope, issued a joint statement in which they stated that the entire food and drink industry should be regarded as 'essential' to maintain food security in Europe. [9]They urged national governments and the EU institutions to assist companies operating in the food and drink sectors to source personal protective equipment for workers and to accelerate the set-up of centralised purchasing systems to avoid unfair competition. The signatories also called on the Commission to provide EU guidelines to Member States to establish uniform protocols to enable food sector workers to continue to work safely, as the protection of food workers' health should be a priority.
European social partners react unilaterally
In a statement issued on 13 March, SMEunited welcomed the COVID-19 crisis measures announced by the European Commission. [[10] At the same time, the organisation pointed to specific measures that should be taken for SMEs that have been significantly impacted by the crisis, such as: ensuring financial liquidity, offering income support for self-employed and SMEs out of businesses, introducing partial unemployment schemes and keeping supply chains open as far as possible.
In an open letter to EU authorities on 16 March, the European Public Service Union (EPSU) called for increased cooperation between Member States in terms of providing personal protective equipment (masks, aprons, medical goggles) and maximising its production. [11] EPSU expressed deep concern over the temporary suspension of the possibility of exporting protective equipment by some countries. Germany, France and the Czechia, in particular, were urged to increase their production and unblock exports to the maximum possible level, and to share and coordinate supplies with other Member States.
On 19 March, ETUC issued an appeal to European authorities and governments, pointing out that societies were in a state of physical and economic danger and hence there was a need for extraordinary actions also in the macroeconomic sphere.[12] They called for the immediate temporary closure of stock exchanges and stated that financial institutions, including private banks, should be prevented from gaining positive interest rates on loans, to save small and medium-sized businesses. They also demanded that special measures be taken to regulate the price of basic products and housing and that any abuses should be subject to severe penalties.
In a subsequent statement on 24 March, ETUC called on the Eurogroup to support the issue of EU 'pandemic bonds' issued at close-to-zero interest rates, aimed at financing infrastructure and supplies for national health systems, as well as employment-related emergency measures. [13] According to ETUC, the spending policy should be entrusted to the European Commission in co-decision with the Council and the European Parliament and under consultation with social partners. It was also proposed to postpone the normal European Semester timetable.
On 24 March, European trade union IndustriAll called on employers to ensure that employees are not forced to go to their jobs if their activities are not necessary to manage the current situation and do not meet basic needs.[14] Due to the suspension or limitation of production in many industries, social partners at all levels must work together to reach agreements on short-time arrangements that will ensure that employees receive the right level of wage compensation.
In a public letter addressed to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, on 24 March – in advance of the Council's videoconference in Brussels on 24 March – BusinessEurope appealed to European governments to maintain industrial activity as a crucial step to minimise disruption and job losses. [15] BusinessEurope advised adopting a coordinated approach to what is critical infrastructure to allow companies to reorient their production to basic goods or services. In particular, the letter emphasised that the transportation of goods across borders within the EU single market must not be blocked and pressed for the urgent removal of export bans recently introduced by Member States on personal protective equipment, medical equipment and medical devices.
Finally, on 26 March, in another message to the European Council video conference, CEEP called upon Member State leaders to preserve European welfare systems and the social market economy. [16] Valeria Ronzitti, CEEP Secretary General cautioned:
This crisis has put in broad daylight our critical lack of physical and social infrastructures at the European level. CEEP has long warned about the consequences of undifferentiated fiscal consolidation on the operational framework for Services of General Interests, while witnessing the unreserved support to the 'for profit sector' to prepare for the transitions.
It is impossible to predict when the COVID-19 crisis will end, or what the political and economic consequences will be. To Europeans, the COVID-19 pandemic is first and foremost a public health crisis, as it is for the rest of the world. But it also presents a distinctive political and economic challenge to the European Union.
Too much remains unknown to assess the scale of unemployment that will be the consequence of the pandemic. It is also not currently possible to fully estimate what changes will occur in working conditions or social security. The basic question is to what extent the European social model can be preserved and what changes it will undergo.
Note: As a response to the COVID-19 crisis, Eurofound has reoriented the national country updates on working life. Correspondents will now report on national policy measures taken to address the economic and social effects of the crisis. Eurofound plans to publish a mapping report in June 2020.
Las investigaciones realizadas antes de que el Reino Unido abandone la Unión Europea el 31 de enero de 2020 y publicadas posteriormente pueden incluir datos sobre los 28 Estados miembros de la UE. Después de esta fecha, las investigaciones solo tienen en cuenta a los 27 Estados miembros de la UE (EU-28 menos el Reino Unido), a menos que se especifique lo contrario.


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How quickly we forget. Overlooked, however momentarily, as we follow news of Fukushima, is the other threat that nuclear energy poses besides releasing radiaoactive material in the air or a complete meltdown. A terrorist attack on a nuclear facility, of course. Back in 2003, at the New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert wrote:
An attack on a nuclear power plant would seem to fulfill, almost perfectly, Al Qaeda's objective of using America's technology against it. In his State of the Union Message last year, President Bush announced that United States forces searching Afghan caves had indeed found diagrams of American reactors. Around the same time, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, acting on information provided by the F.B.I., warned of a plot to crash a commercial aircraft into a plant. According to the N.R.C., the identity of the plant was not known; a captured Al Qaeda operative had told the F.B.I. that the specific target was to be chosen by a "team on the ground."
As potential targets go, Indian Point [nuclear energy plant] seems almost too obvious. It is situated on the Hudson River, in Buchanan, New York, some twenty miles north of the Bronx and thirty-five miles from midtown Manhattan. . . . More than twenty million people live within fifty miles of the plant. A 1982 analysis by a congressional subcommittee estimated that, under worst-case conditions, a catastrophe at one of the Indian Point reactors could result in fifty thousand fatalities and more than a hundred thousand radiation injuries. The same study calculated the cost of such an accident at roughly three hundred billion dollars. By an uncomfortable coincidence, American Airlines Flight 11, just minutes before it slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center, flew almost directly over Indian Point's twin reactor domes. Apparently, the Hudson River was the landmark that the hijackers used to navigate by.
Adding insult to injury, the Indian Point reactors also have some of the worst safety records of any in the United States. As one who lives ten miles down river from Indian Point — which, with maddening irony, occupies one of the sweetest spots on the Hudson — I'm aware that whenever those dual threats fail to cast a pall, however subconscious, over everyday life, I'm in some serious denial.


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Industry Insights
Robotics+Vision at a Glance: The Dos, Don'ts and Applications
| By: Tanya M. Anandan, Contributing Editor
Robots are renowned for their repeatability and speed. They take on monotonous, physically taxing, and even hazardous jobs without breaking a sweat, and all while boosting throughput. This works great in the structured environments that robots have been working in for decades, where you have fixed part presentation.
Once you interject variability in the way the parts are presented, blind robots need some assistance. That's when the robot's guide – machine vision – comes into play. For increased flexibility, robots need visual perception.
"When users require more flexibility or are looking to save money on fixturing, that's what might push you from a blind robotics application to a vision guided robotics application," says David J. Michael, Ph.D., Director of Core Vision R&D at Cognex Corporation in Natick, Massachusetts. "Compared to blind robots, vision guided robots eliminate the need for hard tooling and are more suitable for mixed-model processing applications."
Variability, Flexibility and Quality
Being able to manage part variability without fixturing and facilitate quick changeovers are the hallmarks of vision guided robotics (VGR). Consistent quality is another primary advantage.
"With a guided system and the correct field of view, you're able to drive the assembly of components down to levels of 0.001 inch or better depending on the robot," says Phil Baratti, Applications Engineering Manager at Epson Robots in Carson, California. "This is possible with manual assembly, but to do it consistently over long periods of time can take a toll on the operator. Once a vision guided system is debugged and running well you can expect years of uptime and productivity."
VGR technology, however, comes with its own set of complexities. There are numerous considerations when evaluating a robotics application for vision. We'll survey them here and examine some of the pitfalls to avoid. We'll also explore new technologies shifting the vision world on its axis, while demonstrating a wide variety of VGR applications from machine tending and auto assembly, to food processing and logistics.
Major Considerations for VGR
When evaluating an automated application for vision guidance, many of the considerations are the same as for any robotics application. Robustness, accuracy, speed, ease of use, and ease of setup all need to be assessed.
"Several questions need to be answered before considering how to automate the vision aspect of an application," says Tim DeRosett, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Yaskawa Motoman Robotics in Miamisburg, Ohio. "These include: What am I moving and how is it presented? What is the size of the part? Does up/down orientation matter? Is radial orientation important? How will the robot acquire the part and what are the space constraints? What must the robot do with the part after acquiring it?"
"Also, do I need to distinguish between multiple parts? Are they disjointed, touching or overlapping?" DeRosett adds. "Singulated parts are pretty straight forward nowadays."
"You need to have good information from the vision system (backlighting, lens selection, filtering, etc.) or the end result will not be reliable," explains Chad Henry, North American Sales Manager at Stäubli Corporation in Duncan, South Carolina. "This data, along with the other variables in the cell (robot, gripper, product variation, etc.), determine the total capability of the system and must be taken into consideration."
Reflective (specular) objects or parts with low contrast require special consideration. "Specular objects present a challenge," says Cognex's Michael. You need to be careful with illumination, with the kinds of cameras used, the exposure, and how you take the image. You also need vision tools that are tolerant of specularity."
Many of the challenges surrounding vision guided robotics over the last couple of decades have centered on lighting and optics (lens types, the field of view and depth of focus). Recent strides in sensor technology and software have made them more adept at handling lighting variability. Advancements in lighting technology have also increased reliability.
"LED lighting has really come on strong and is much more reliable," says Yaskawa's DeRosett. "They don't degrade over time like incandescent and don't switch off and on like fluorescent lighting, which can impact high-speed applications. LEDs also have less heat output and longer life than incandescent and even halogen."
Epson's Baratti cautions against using one lighting scheme for different parts in an application. "The designer needs to consider a specific solution for each part," explains Baratti. "One part may need a backlight, another may need on-axis lighting, and another may image best with a diffused ring light. Having these different configurations isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as you design into the system the ability to turn on and off each light as needed."
Baratti says that it's also important to consider the part features that need to be identified. "For instance, if there is a pattern on the top of the part that needs to be aligned with the inside edge of a bezel, then the system needs to be designed for top-light imaging. If you backlight a part that has top features needed for assembly, the resulting part silhouette may not provide the precision you need for the application."
Production-Level Parts
Vision systems, although flexible, are still limited if they are not properly designed to find part variation. Baratti says a common pitfall to avoid is developing a vision solution with parts that are not production level.
"The parts used may image up very clean during the development, but may be presented to the production system with fluids on them, or may change in image quality due to oxidation or material variations," he explains. "Production-level parts are needed during the design stage of a vision solution, so that the variables can be accounted for during development."Delivery Systems
Most VGR applications consist of three core systems: the robotics, the vision system, and some type of delivery or bulk handling system. The part delivery system is a major consideration in designing any VGR solution.
"Are the objects moving in or through the robot cell?" asks Pierantonio Boriero, Product Line Manager at Matrox Imaging in Montreal, Canada. "This motion will need to be tracked, through vision or other electromechanical means, to compensate for the delay between finding the object and moving the robot to that location."
Epson's Baratti says bulk singulation is becoming more common. "Since parts are in bulk bags or boxes, there needs to be some way of separating the parts for assembly. This can be done with a custom bowl feeder, or with a vision guided system and a flexible feeder."
This video courtesy of Epson Robots demonstrates vision guidance for circular conveyor tracking. An Epson G6 SCARA robot is using 2D vision to locate two types of parts and place them on different pallets.
"Circular conveyor tracking works like a recirculating flexible feeding unit," says Baratti. "It allows you to recirculate naturally. Compared to linear conveyor systems, circular systems provide a smaller footprint for bulk singulation. They are faster and there's less travel on the part. It doesn't have to go all the way down to the end of the belt and come back."
2D, 2.5D or 3D
Epson's circular conveyor demonstration uses 2D VGR. What's the difference between two-dimensional (2D), two-and-a-half (2.5D), and three-dimensional (3D) vision technology? When do you use one over the other?
When you consider an object in 2D, you have the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) coordinates. You can also have linear rotation around its center axis (Rz in the diagram). This changes the angle of the object (also referred to as 'roll'). But there's no tilt. The part remains flat.
A 2.5D application adds another measurement. Cognex's Market Development Manager John Lewis explains: "Take a stack of plastic trays, each one containing several parts. The robot unloads the top tray and when that's empty, the robot removes it and goes back to empty the next tray. Each time the robot empties and removes a tray, the vision system needs to measure the height of the remaining trays, so the robot can position itself for the next task." That depth measurement (Z in the diagram) coupled with the flat-plane measurements make it 2.5D.
Now think of an airplane. It may 'pitch' forward, pointing its nose downward, or pull upward dipping its tail. Pitch is represented by Rx in the diagram. The plane can also 'yaw' or tilt left or right, represented by Ry. In 3D applications all six coordinates may come into play, also called six degrees of freedom.
Matrox's Boriero notes specific considerations in regards to 3D VGR. "Do the objects have unique features? This is particularly relevant in establishing the imaging, positioning and orientating techniques to employ. How many possible resting states can an object have? Is the object rigid or flexible? This is particularly relevant for 3D VGR in establishing the complexity level for finding an object and processing it."
This video courtesy of Kawasaki Robotics (USA) Inc. shows a 3D VGR application where the vision system is being used to locate randomly positioned bread dough on a conveyor. Then a Kawasaki RS Robot equipped with an ultrasonic cutting knife scores the baguettes prior to baking.
Keep It Simple
Most robot manufacturers, vision suppliers and robot integrators agree that when considering 2D versus 3D, the simplest solution is the best. Matrox's Boriero stresses the importance of taking the time to carefully evaluate an application to see if it can be simplified for 2D VGR.
Yaskawa's DeRosett sums it up: "There have been a lot of exciting advancements in 3D technology over the last few years, but if an application can be solved with a 2D system, then use 2D. Typically, 2D systems are more economical and less complicated to implement."
"You have to consider the long-term goal for the cell and how flexible you want it to be," suggests Earl Raynal Jr., Sales Manager for Motion Controls Robotics Inc. (MCRI), an RIA Certified Robot Integrator in Fremont, Ohio. "One of the best practices we can do is to focus on the customer's needs and try to provide the least complicated solution."
2D for Consumer Goods
MCRI took a rather complex process and designed a 2D VGR solution for assembling specialty plastic bottles used for packaging face cleansing products. The first stage in the process is bottle descrambling, which uses one camera, line tracking software, and FANUC PickPRO software to distribute the workload among four robots.
The bottle assembly process involves three stages. First, the bottles are fed from a bulk feeder in random positions and orientations as they travel on a conveyor at a high rate of speed (120 units per minute). One 2D camera looks at the position and orientation of the bottles. The first, or master, robot in the series uses software to assign bottles to each of four robots ahead of time to distribute the workload. The bottles are then placed onto two conveyors to move them to an inversion operation.
"The bottles were a challenge because they are asymmetrical, but need to be presented to the downstream operation in a consistent orientation," says Raynal. "A simple solution was to provide a left-hand and a right-hand conveyor, so bottles oriented one way can be set down on one conveyor and bottles oriented the other way can be set down on the other conveyor."
The second stage involves additional robots to invert the bottles and place them into a screw conveyor for final assembly; no vision is required in this area. In the third and final stage, another 2D vision system guides the robots to locate face scrublets in shipping trays. The robots then pick the scrublets and place them into the bottles, which are continuously moving with the conveyor.
This video courtesy of MCRI shows all three stages of the assembly process. In this case, the simple solution for a complex problem was 2D VGR, multiple conveyors, and performing specific sub-operations in discrete robot work cells.
2D for AutoRacking
Another 2D VGR application that has stood the test of time involves an AutoRacking process for welding Dodge 4x4 truck bed inners. According to the inventor and installer, Adil Shafi, this was one of the first AutoRacking solutions in the automotive industry and is still in production today.
"It was implemented at the Chrysler Twinsburg Stamping Plant in Ohio during the summer of 2001," says Shafi, President of ADVENOVATION Inc., a vision guided robotics innovation and systems integration firm in Rochester Hills, Michigan. "Since then, hundreds of similar solutions have been implemented in the industry."
The application incorporates six ceiling-mounted Cognex In-Sight cameras (visible in the photograph) and a Nachi robot to rack the 6-foot or 8-foot-long truck bed inners. Six cameras are used to perform rack validation checks and two cameras perform linked field-of-view offsetting for proper part placement.
"We had to integrate this solution in six weeks," says Shafi. "The challenges included having the cameras mounted 12 feet above the parts to avoid welding sparks, while viewing the 8-foot-long parts within 2-mm repeatability."
Shafi says the system has been running for 12 years now, and over 50 more have been implemented in another 10 Chrysler plants. "They have helped to speed up assembly lines and save on labor cost, while reducing injuries from handling large, sharp parts."
2.5D for Machine Tending
Robot integrator Interactive Design in Lenexa, Kansas, is using VGR in a milling machine tending application for replacement lawn mower blades. In this 2.5D application, an ABB six-axis robot uses a 2D camera and dedicated LED lighting mounted to its end-of-arm tool to locate the blades on a cart. A laser sensor measures the height distance to the blades.
Nathan Maholland describes the process: "The robot acquires the blade from the cart and places it onto the vertical mill turntable fixture. This process continues until the turntable fixture is full. During the loading process, the machine is milling the blades on the other side of the turntable. The robot acquires recently completed blades from the vertical mill and places them on the completed product cart."
"The machine vision guided robot made it easy for the customer because it allows them to load a large quantity of blades into the cell without having to fixture any of the individual parts," adds Maholland.
Fixed-Camera vs. End-of-Arm Mount
In the previous application, the camera was mounted on the end-of-arm tool. This triggers specific considerations of its own.
"The advantages of an end-of-arm mount are better accuracy and generally better pose (combination of position and orientation), versus when the camera is mounted farther away and looking down," explains Cognex's Michael. (Imagine having an eye on your hand.) "You can inspect quality with an end-of-arm mount. You can also get a finer estimate of the part location and take shots at different angles. If fixed-mounted, you may need more than one camera to capture those angles."
"The trade-off is that you're putting your camera in harm's way," says Michael. "Also, you have to make sure you don't knock the camera while the robot is moving around. You may need an industrial-strength enclosure around the camera."
"If your camera is mounted on the end-of-arm tooling and it's moving with the robot, we recommend using high-flex cables so they don't wear out due to repetitive motion," adds Cognex's Lewis. "Standard industrial cable will have a shorter life."
Another consideration is the field of view. "Your field of view should only be as big as it needs to be," says FANUC's Bruce. "How big is the feature you're looking at and how much is it going to move?"
"For a large part, you can have two cameras mounted above looking at each end of a part, or you can have a camera mounted on the end-of-arm tool that looks at one end and then moves to the other end of the part," Bruce explains. "With a fixed-camera mount, it snaps the shot as fast as half a second or less. Then the vision analysis can happen in the background while the robot is doing something else. With an end-effector mount, it's more flexible but reduces cycle time each instance the robot has to stop and take a picture of the part."
From camera location to lighting considerations, VGR suppliers and users as a whole are getting better at identifying the critical variables and avoiding the pitfalls. As vision technology is advancing and the experience level of robot manufacturers, vision suppliers, robot integrators, and even end users continues to mature, we are approaching VGR with a keen eye. Sometimes even a googly eye.
The Googly-Eyed Robot
One company that's "seeing" VGR in a whole new light is Recognition Robotics. This Ohio-based software developer distinguishes itself from other vision suppliers as a software recognition company.
"We don't use traditional machine vision algorithms," says Joe Cyrek, Vice President of Recognition Robotics Inc. (RRI) in Elyria, Ohio. "Our patented algorithms are based on the human cognitive ability to recognize objects."
"In a machine vision world, the system is basically looking for geometric patterns and distances," explains Cyrek. "But the human brain doesn't process measurements. We do coordinated eye-hand movements based on what we recognize. Our recognition software basically works the same way."
The software, called CortexRecognition®, is the brainchild of company Founder, President and CEO Dr. Simon Melikian. RRI takes its software and packages it with off-the-shelf hardware for a turnkey vision solution branded RobEye™, pronounced robe (short for robot) eye.
"The real groundbreaking and unique thing here is that with a single image from a 2D camera, we are telling the robot what the object is and where it is in space in 3D, or six degrees of freedom."
Basically, RRI claims to be accomplishing 3D VGR with a 2D camera.
This video courtesy of RRI shows the system in action successfully aligning vehicle underbody components in a lab demo (note the googly eye). Even when the assembly components are relocated, the system adjusts the robot's movements for proper alignment.
RRI's lab demo was conducted using a vehicle underbody assembly provided by a major auto manufacturer. "Our customer already uses RobEye systems for part picking," says Cyrek. "This is the first application of the same system actually loading a part to the vehicle. We did the drill holes as a simple way to verify the parts lined up correctly and that the process was repeatable."
"The idea is to use the RobEye system for multiple models without having to drastically change the end effector and add multiple cameras," adds Cyrek. "That's a huge advantage for the customer."
Cyrek says RobEye is a "DIY (do-it-yourself) robot guidance solution" that works with any robot.
3D VGR for Logistics
Another software engineering company that's raising eyebrows in the VGR world is Universal Robotics. The company recently announced the industry's first unlimited depalletization system.
'Unlimited' refers to the software's ability to handle an unlimited number of SKU types or box types, and any size and shape of boxes. The boxes can also be in any random orientation or location.
This video courtesy of Universal Robotics shows unlimited depalletizing in action at a distribution center.
"A lot of vision systems today require static definitions of labels or other attributes to identify a specific carton," explains Hob Wubbena, Vice President at Universal Robotics in Nashville, Tennessee. "Ours does not. It has a whole layer of intelligence totally separate from the vision. Cartons can have any labels, printing, or graphics of any kind; it doesn't matter. We don't recognize boxes or cases based on size, labels, color or location."
The artificial intelligence Wubbena is referring to is called Neocortex. The vision sensing technology is branded Spatial Vision™. Neocortex was founded upon a 7-year development program between NASA and Vanderbilt University for humanoid space exploration. Both technologies have been used successfully in commercial logistics applications.
Yaskawa Motoman's dual-arm SDA-series robots, a new breed of human collaborative robot, are equipped with Universal Robotics' technology. This allows them to recognize boxes of varied proportions and move them to and from conveyor systems.
VGR technology is gaining steam in logistics where randomness requires 3D accuracy. Universal's sensor fusion technologies that leverage multiple sensing systems, including Microsoft's Kinect sensor, are expanding the possibilities for vision guided robotics in new markets.


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This module is pure Perl, requiring no C compilation in order to build and install. The XML::Parser and LWP packages are required for operation. Additionally, the server class may utilize the Net::Server package as a server framework implementation, if it is available.


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text: As Ian Rigby spoke Friday about his stepson Lee, a British soldier who was murdered on a south London street this week, the young man's widow, Rebecca (right), and his mother, Lyn, reached out. Dave Thompson/Reuters /Landov hide caption toggle caption Dave Thompson/Reuters /Landov The Two-Way British Soldier Hacked To Death Was 'Our Hero,' Family Says May 24, 2013 As Lee Rigby's family struggles with grief, they're speaking about the young man's love of life. He was killed Wednesday. Witnesses heard — and recorded — the attackers saying that they were angry about the deaths of Muslims during the wars in Iran and Afghanistan.


text: The Association for University Regional Campuses of Ohio (AURCO) is devoted to the professional development of faculty throughout Ohio's twenty-four university regional campuses and their communities. Founded in 1993 at the Lake Campus of Wright Sate University, AURCO provides the opportunity for members to share ideas, enjoy collegiality, and sustain a common professional identity based upon the shared and unique mission of offering open access to a university education as a pathway for a better life. On this site you can find the AURCO peer-reviewed journal, AURCO annual conference information, links to regional campus sites, and their locations around Ohio. You can also contact members of AURCO and get up to date news from Ohio's regional campuses.


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The Universe Comes To the US Nation's Capitol
13 July 2009
The "From Earth to the Universe" exhibition (FETTU) has opened outside the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. This display of some 50 large-scale astronomical images will be available to the public through the end of July.
Also arriving in Washington, DC, later this month will be FETTU panels for the visually impaired. These panels will feature tactile displays of the images as well as Braille versions of the caption material. The exhibit will open on July 18th at the Martin Luther King Jr. library, the main building of the DC Public Library, and run through mid-September.
FETTU is a global cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, a worldwide effort to promote astronomy in the 400th year after Galileo. As the name suggests, FETTU is an image collection of astronomical objects ranging from our home planet through the Galaxy to the farthest corners of the Universe. These images contain data from both telescopes on the ground and in space that observe in many different types of light - from radio to optical to X-rays and beyond.
The arrival of FETTU at the National Air and Space Museum highlights the midpoint of the journey for this traveling version, supported by NASA, which has already made stops in Tucson, AZ, Memphis, TN, and Anchorage, AK. Additional venues for both the outdoor exhibit and panels for the visually impaired are being scheduled for the rest of the year.
Globally, there have been over 250 FETTU exhibits in more than 60 countries -- and on every continent except Antarctica -- around the world thus far. The venues hosting FETTU have been wide ranging, from parks to community centers to libraries to art festivals and beyond. These worldwide exhibits have been funded through a variety of local resources and are organized by each individual location. For a full list of known FETTU exhibits - both in the US and internationally - visit http://www.fromearthtotheuniverse.org/table_events.php.
The goal of FETTU is to engage the public - especially those who might not think they are interested in astronomy or science - through the stunning beauty of astronomical images. Short and informative captions on the panels, as well as a comprehensive website, are available to help the viewer become introduced to the science behind the aesthetics.
The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum building is located on the National Mall at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. in Washington, D.C. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library is at 901 G Street, NW, also in the District.
More information on FETTU, a project produced and directed by the Chandra X-ray Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, can be found at www.fromearthtotheuniverse.org
For the full scope of IYA 2009 activities, visit and http://astronomy2009.org and http://astronomy2009.us/
Search IYA2009 Updates
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Houston, TX – The Houston Rockets trimmed their roster in advance of their season opener by waiving guard Shaun Livingston and forwards Jon Brockman, JaJuan Johnson, Gary Forbes and Lazar Hayward on Monday.
The oft-injured Livingston, selected fourth overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2004 NBA Draft, had been acquired along with Brockman and Jon Leuer in a trade with Milwaukee in late June. The 27-year-old appeared in 58 games and made 27 starts for the Bucks last season, averaging 5.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per contest.
Over seven seasons with the Clippers, Miami, Oklahoma City, Washington, Charlotte and Milwaukee, Livingston has averaged 6.8 points and 3.5 assists per game.
Johnson is also a former first-round choice, taken 27th overall by the Nets and promptly dealt to Boston in 2011. The Purdue product averaged 3.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 36 games as a rookie with the Celtics, and was traded to the Rockets in July.
Forbes spent last season with Toronto before being shipped to the Rockets along with a first-round pick for guard Kyle Lowry over the summer. The 27- year-old averaged 6.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and nearly 15 minutes in 48 games (2 starts) in his one year with the Raptors.
Brockman is in his fourth NBA season and spent the last two with Milwaukee, where the power forward averaged 1.1 points and 2.1 rebounds over 35 games in 2011-12.
Hayward was just acquired by the Rockets from Oklahoma City as part of Saturday's blockbuster trade that also sent reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year James Harden to Houston. He averaged 1.4 points and 0.6 rebounds in 26 games for the Thunder a season ago.


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WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A South Korean polar research ship on Monday reached a leaking Russian fishing vessel that has been stuck in the frigid waters off Antarctica for the past 10 days, New Zealand officials said.
The Sparta, with 32 crew on board, hit underwater ice on Dec. 16 that tore a 1-foot hole in its hull and caused it to list at 13 degrees. Several rescue ships had been hampered by heavy ice in the Ross Sea off the northern Antarctica coast before the icebreaker Araon finally pushed through and reached the Sparta on Monday, New Zealand Rescue Coordination Center spokeswoman Rosalie Neilson said.
The arrival was a relief to the crew, which had been desperately pumping out near-frozen sea water while awaiting rescue. At one point, more than half of those on board were forced onto life rafts.
The crew is made up of 15 Russians, 16 Indonesians and one Ukrainian.
A New Zealand air force cargo plane had previously made two parachute drops of pumps and hull patching gear that had helped keep the single-hulled Sparta from sinking.
Search and rescue coordinator Mike Roberts said the South Korean vessel was alongside Sparta transferring fuel to it to change its trim — or how it's sitting in the water — so the bow rises clear of the sea, exposing the damaged area of hull.
Roberts said crew from both ships will attempt to weld a "doubler plate" over the hole — one external and a second inside. If successful, the repair is expected to make Sparta seaworthy, and should enable it to be escorted by Araon out of the sea ice to open water, he said in a statement. Roberts did not say how long the repair attempt was expected to take.
Weather in the area was calm, which should help the repair operation, he said.
The survival drama on the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf is taking place about 2,200 miles southeast of New Zealand.


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Kings Day Holland
Netherlands → Amsterdam27.04 - 27.04.2024
Check Details
The national holiday in the Netherlands. The whole country celebrates outside on the canals or just on streets to mix with friends, family and neighbours.
Orange is the national colour of the country and for this day many people dress to show there pride to be Dutch.
The parties are popular with foreigners and expats visit the Netherland to join the celebrations.
There are a number gay clubs or LGBTQ event held on the same day to celebrate being Dutch or with the Dutch.
Orange might not be your colour but worth visiting to enjoy the fun and Dutch hospitality.


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Review: VMware vSphere 5.1 looms large
VMware takes virtualization higher and deeper with rich storage automation and more advanced virtual networking tools
With the release of VMware vSphere 5.1, VMware's product line underwent some naming and positioning changes. In the past, there were two different bare-metal hypervisors, one free and one sold as part of the vSphere suite. Now there is just one. The new standard is ESXi 5.1, which still comes in a free version. However, the free version is now limited to 32GB of physical RAM.
The ESXi hypervisor is required for all vSphere installations starting with version 5.0. ESXi does not use Linux, as did ESX, for the service console that executed scripts and provided hooks for third-party agents. The new ESXi code base has shrunk, presenting a smaller attack surface and requiring less maintenance and patching. Higher reliability and stability in the hypervisor translate to fewer headaches for IT administrators and longer uptime for mission-critical applications.
[ Virtualization showdown: Microsoft Hyper-V 2012 vs. VMware vSphere 5.1 | Get virtualization right with InfoWorld's Server Virtualization Deep Dive PDF guide and High Availability Virtualization Deep Dive PDF special report. ]
VMware has also introduced three different offerings under the label vCloud Suite, which include bundled products targeted at specific use cases. They are licensed on a per-CPU basis and come in Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise editions. These products provide the functionality to implement infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) clouds for large data centers or service providers. For this review I focused on the basic VMware vSphere functionality along with the VMware vCenter Server management system.
Installation and configuration
For the purpose of this review I used a Dell PowerEdge R715 server as the primary VMware ESXi host. Dell is a longtime VMware partner, and it has many convenient features, such as the ability to boot the base ESXi image from either an SD card or a USB disk. Dell provides this image on its website, and I used it to create a bootable USB device. Installing and configuring an ESXi host is pretty simple for most any supported hardware.
Configuring a vSphere environment is a different story. If you plan on using any of the more advanced features available from VMware, you will need to install vCenter Server. Here you have several options, such as using an existing Windows Server or deploying the vCenter Server as a virtual appliance (VA). The VA option uses Suse Linux as the base OS and a local database for small installations of less than 50 VMs. For larger installations you must use an external Oracle database. If you go the Windows Server route, you'll also need to have SQL Server installed to house the inventory database.
You must configure a separate network for all vMotion traffic before any virtual machine migrations can be accomplished. Each host participating in vMotion must have a minimum of two Ethernet adapters with at least one supporting Gigabit speeds. Each host must have a port group designated for vMotion traffic with source and destination hosts on the same subnet. That's quite a bit of configuration required to accomplish a migration -- especially when compared to Microsoft's Hyper-V live migration feature, which requires almost no configuration.
|InfoWorld Scorecard
Management (25.0%)
Scalability (20.0%)
Performance (20.0%)
Reliability (20.0%)
Setup (15.0%)
Overall Score (100%)
|VMware vSphere 5.1


text: Carlos Domenech is an architectural and fine art photographer whose commissions over the last 26 years have extended from the U.S., Europe and South America to Russia and China. His editorial work has been published in magazines around the world, including Architectural Digest, Casa Vogue Spain, AD Italy, House & Garden Australia, House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home, Southern Accents, Veranda, and in travel books on China, Istanbul, Ecuador, Guatemala, Russia, Italy, and Spain. His photography of the imperial palaces of St. Petersburg was published as an exhibition catalog as work produced during travel in China. Additionally, his photography has been exhibited in museums and galleries and acquired for numerous private and museum collections. He studied at (RIT) Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester New York and received a Bachelor's degree in fine art photography and a minor in architectural photography in 1982, Mr. Domenech commenced upon his professional career documenting architecture and interior photography in 1984. He lives in Miami and is presently working on a selection of book projects.


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FBI Raid Takes Down Mess of Websites
Curbed, Pinboard and a host of other sites went down after the FBI raided a Virginia data center and carted off three racks of servers. The Feds were reportedly targeting just one individual user. Talk about heavy handed.
Swiss web host Digital One has been telling customers that the FBI raided one of its U.S. data centers in the dead of night, apparently in an effort to seize the digital assets of "one single person." Instead they made off with three server rack enclosures stuffed to the gills with innocent bystanders' machines. The Curbed Network, whose blogs on real estate, shopping and fine dining have been offline since 3am, does not seem to be the target; co-founder Lockhart Steele gave everyone the day off to drink margaritas and is himself enjoying some steak in Brooklyn while waiting for new servers to be provisioned elsewhere. Online bookmarks site Pinboard.in also suffered collateral damage, losing 1/3rd of its Digital One servers to the raid, forcing it to shut down various features. Clipping service Instapaper lost one of five servers but no functionality. Also down were servers associated with youlookfab.com, altlabs.co.au.
Digital One told the New York Times that it lost servers used by "tens of clients" in the raid. It's not clear who the FBI was targeting — it's known to have been investigating hacker group LulzSecurity — but pretty obvious that it's done some serious, cybercriminal style damage of its own to law abiding businesses.


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It's now official and public. I was reward with the MVP award in ASP/ASP.NET.
This award is a huge responsibility but is also a sign that shows the right way.
During last year I learned many things and also made some mistakes.
What I can say about next year is that my guidelines won't change: learn, help and share.
Thanks everyone.


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Door Hardware Basics
Most door hardware will fit the following door preparation. If you have something different, please contact us so we can help you find exactly what you need.
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Part Numbers for Emtek Sandcast Winchester Knob with Style 6 Rosette
Passage Set - 7111WCPrivacy - 7211WCDummy - 7061WC
How to Order Emtek Sandcast Bronze Winchester Door Knobs with Style 6 Rosette
Emtek's Sandcast Bronze Winchester door knobs with Style 6 rosettes are easy to order. Just select from the options in the pull down menu to customize the finish and fit. Emtek's Rustic Living collection of door hardware gives an authentic look and feel to your casual space. Cast bronze hardware is produced using ancient sand casting methods which demonstrates the richness of the material through its rough natural details. Be sure to order your Emtek Deadbolts in coordinating styles and finishes.
Rosette Options. The Emtek Sandcast Winchester knob is available with several rosette options so you can create your own custom look. What is a rosette?
Finishes. With several finishes to choose from, Emtek offers the freedom to coordinate hardware finishes to match your entire home. High quality finishes that are resistant to weather and handling ensure that your hardware will look great for many years to come. *some finishes, oil rubbed bronze and patinas, are intended to wear with use and age. Because they are intended to wear with age, these finishes have limited or no warranty.
Emtek Sandcast Bronze Winchester Door Knob with Style 6 Rosette Specifications
- Complete set. Includes doorknobs and backplates/rosettes for both sides of the door, latch and strike plate and mounting hardware (dummy functions do not include latches or strike plates). - Shipped with Mortised tubular latch (drive-in latches are available upon request) - Standard door preparation - Shipped with square corner mortise plates and strike plate. Rounded corner available upon request. - Backset must be specified upon order placement. Choose between standard 2 3/8" or 2 3/4" backsets. - Installation instructions included in packaging.
You can upgrade the Emtek Sandcast Bronze Winchester Knob with Style 2 Rosette by choosing the Emtek CF Mechanism. CF Mechanism features concealed fasteners and limited rotation latch.
Emtek Sandcast Bronze Winchester Knob with CF upgrade.
Don't Forget Other Emtek Items.
Emtek Lever Handles | Emtek Door Knobs | Emtek Deadbolts
Emtek Keyless Locks | Emtek Cabinet Hardware | Emtek Handlesets
Emtek Door Hinges | Emtek Bath Hardware | Emtek Miscellaneous Hardware
See Also Emtek Winchester Keyed Knob
Whats Included with Your Emtek Bronze Winchester Door Knob
Passage Door Knob Contents A door knob and chosen rosette for both sides of the door, latch mechanism, strike plates and mounting screws.
Privacy Door Knob Contents A doorknob and chosen rosette for both sides of the door, latch mechanism, generic unlocking tool, strike plates and mounting screws. Double Dummy Door Knobs Two non functioning doorknobs and chosen rosettes with mounting screws for surface mounting.
Note: Emtek door hardware is shipped standard with square corner strike and faceplates. Rounded corner strike and faceplates are available upon request. Drive in latches also available upon request.
Emtek Bronze Winchester Door Knob Functions
Emtek door knobs are available in several functions. Please review the descriptions below so you can order the correct door door knob for your application.
Emtek covers it's door hardware with a 5 yr finish and mechanical warranty. Living finishes are not covered under this warranty as they are designed to change over time. For more information see Emtek Door Hardware Warranty.
Emtek products are assembled per order so when they are returned the doorknobs have to be taken apart and restocked. As a result, there is a 25% restock fee on all Emtek products. If items are returned that have been installed, used or abused there may be a higher restock fee assessed or no credit issued. If you need to return an item, please repack the door hardware in it's original packaging to assure that it arrives undamaged. For more return information see our Direct Door Hardware Returns Page. Before returning any Emtek Door Hardware, please contact us for a return authorization number.


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There may be no three letters that are strongly associated with luxury and class like BMW.
The automotive company has traveled a long way since its first car, the 1927 Dixi 3/15 PS DA-1, which reached a maximum speed of 75 miles per hour.
Now, BMW is lightning fast and very slim. However, to have some top models will cost you a dime.
Today, we break up the five most expensive BMW cars of all time.
Got a few million dollars around you already itching to spin? Let's see what your money can get you:
1. BMW Most Expensive: 1991 Nazca M12: $ 3 Million
Yes, you read it correctly.
The idea for this concept car was originally conceived by Giorgetto Giugiaro's car designer, who came up with a model for the Italdesign engineering company.
Although it was never production, there were three factories of Nazca M12. In 2011, an auction rose for $ 1.1 million.
With a carbon fiber body and a BMW star V12 engine (similar in 750i and 850i), experts estimate its value has more than doubled now.
2. BMW M8: At Least $ 590,000
Folded in approximately 15 years, the BMW M8 became a kind of fable in the automotive industry.
The prototype, made in the early 1990s, is a red fire engine that boasted 500+ horsepower and six rear-wheel drive speeds. At that time, BMW's most sophisticated car was ever designed.
However, a fluctuating market and less important demand means destined to continue to be bent, where it lasts until 2010 when it is on display in Munich.
Though valued under $ 600,000, the mystery swirling around the model is suitable for higher estimates.
3. BMW X5 Le Mans Concept: $ 590,000
The world's oldest active sports car race, Le Mans is the benchmark against which car manufacturers judge the speed, quality, and expertise of their products.
In 1999, BMW won Le Mans with a high-powered V12 engine.
The manufacturer then took the machine and ran with it: it put it in its X5 series, an unlikely match considering the X5 is a luxurious mid-sized SUV that is more suited to the family than the racetrack.
BMW-generated vehicles are fast uber-strong and crazy that can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than five seconds.
Try to take it through the carpool or BMW service center without turning your head!
4. BMW M5 G-Power Hurricane RRs: $ 470,000
Looking for a sedan powered by a V10 engine with a capacity of 830 horsepower that can reach speeds of up to 231 miles per hour? M5 G-Power Hurricane RRs deliver.
One of the fastest and most expensive BMW sedans ever created, created in partnership with G-Power, a Bavarian tuning equipment manufacturer based behind some of the company's high-powered luxury vehicles.
5. BMW M5 G-Power Hurricane CS: Mid $ 400,000s
With slightly lower output (and lower price tags to match) the CS model offers many of the same features as RRs.
The V10 engine on this model is 750 horsepower. It also features an adjustable nine-way suspension, as well as a carbon fiber seat, which gives you all the power and agility you expect from one of BMW's most expensive models.


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YICHANG, China—According to legend, one of China's ancient emperors—Da Yu, or Yu the Great—changed the course of Chinese history by placing a mountain in front of the Yangtze River, forcing it to flow east through the Middle Kingdom (instead of south like the other great rivers that rise in the same Yunnan region of southwest China). Not to be outdone, the modern Chinese government has undertaken a massive project to control the flow of this ancient waterway, erecting Three Gorges, the world's largest dam, to block it.
View Slide Show of Yangtze River Development
That megaproject, completed in 2006 at a cost of $30 billion (180 billion yuan), has already raised the water level in the upper reaches of the river by as much as 66 feet (20 meters), stretching all the way to the city of Chongqing. As a result, the ubiquitous barges plying the river no longer need human muscle to beat the flow and can carry more than three times as much weight—from 3,000 tons per ship to 10,000 tons of coal, cars and other goods.
The dam also provides 22,500 megawatts of power, without emitting the greenhouse gases and other air pollutants produced by coal-fired power plants that provide more than 75 percent of China's electricity. In addition, the massive dam generates more power than 18 1000 megawatt nuclear reactors as well as protects communities downstream from horrific floods—such as one in 1998, which left 14 million homeless—that once plagued Wuhan, Nanjing and even Shanghai.
"One of the main reasons to build Three Gorges dam [was] to store water in the upper river so as to protect eastern parts of the country," says Lai Hun Suen, a professor of sustainable development at Chongqing University and a municipal government official.
But it came at a cost: More than four million residents of towns, villages and cities in the path of the rising waters were forced to relocate, most of them to bustling Chongqing. What's more, when the water level changes it unleashes a miasma of disease from exposed sewage. The baiji dolphin has also been rendered extinct by a combination of overfishing and habitat destruction caused by human activity.
Environmental challenges could undermine the world's largest dam as well. Silt could gum up the Three Gorges and climate change could completely transform the water supply as the glaciers dwindle atop the Tibetan Plateau, among other issues. And efforts to emulate Da Yu—smaller dams have proliferated in the upper reaches of the river—may yet prove the undoing of the mightiest of man-made waterworks. "We have taken big floods into consideration," Lai says, "what we did not expect is less water."


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Cloud City and VMware: May the Virtualization Force Be With You
[tweetmeme source=@LouisColumbus only_single=false]
VMware's CTO and Senior Vice President of R&D Steve Herrod hosts a series of video interviews with the talented members of his company's development and engineering teams, in addition to creating videos to explain complex virtualization and systems management concepts. The series is titled Office of the CTO and is worth subscribing to on YouTube.
This week's video features a fictional account of Cloud City, a well-known location in the Star Wars movies, as a new VMware customer. The Chief Private Cloud Architect, Chewbacca shares how VMware freed up Cloud City IT from a static and rigid infrastructure, too many trouble tickets, and lots of wasted storage. It also has a walking tour of the VMware campus, which looks like a great place to work too.
Bottom line: It's great to see a company so rich with technology expertise take an unpretentious approach to explaining how they deliver value to their customers, making us laugh at the same time.
Image attribution: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cloud_City
Note: VMware isn't a client and didn't pay for this to be written.
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As the unprecedented humanitarian relief effort in Haiti struggles through logistical chaos, triaging shipments of food, medicine, and personnel, making sure help is distributed efficiently, one entity seems to consistently dominate the hierarchy of needs: the military. And so thousands of troops continue to descend on Haiti in droves, while reports of humanitarian aid being impeded or turned away, sometimes forced to reroute critical shipments of medicine and supplies. There have, however, been signs that the relief effort is starting to pick up pace: for instance, three days after balking at the idea, the Pentagon has now decided to air drop food and water to survivors. Still, we'll never know how much time was lost while the U.S. dithered over whether air drops would lead to "chaos." What is clear now is that the mob scene portended by officials and the press in recent days has apparently not materialized as a real threat. Sky News, under the headline "Clashes over aid rise," describes outbreaks of violence as "Hundreds of scavengers swarmed over damaged stores around the capital, seizing goods and fighting among themselves." But a few paragraphs into the piece, we get this quote from top military commander Ken Keen: "The level of violence we see now is below pre-earthquake levels." At a press conference on Monday, Keen admitted that there was no massive threat of violence. In fact, military officers' fears may have been informed by alarming press accounts—demonstrating the media's influence on not only public perceptions but policy calculations as well.
But I must say that all the places that U.S. forces have gone thus far have been very calm. In fact, they've been overtly welcomed. The people have been very orderly, and they've been very appreciative of all the aid that they've been given. So we have not personally experienced any of this violence in the areas that we have been. But again, it is out there, it's been reported on quite extensively.
So while the military and the media may launder and feed off of each others' racist stereotypes, the actual experience of troops on the ground indicates remarkable calm. (No one speaks of the human costs paid by dying survivors with each moment of apprehension in the chain of command.) Even when people have been spotted taking items from stores, the most popular objects could hardly constitute "loot": many are scrounging for toothpaste—to stuff in their nostrils to block the stench of rotting corpses. Meanwhile, aid workers remain dumbfounded about the bottlenecks that keep thwarting their efforts to access the heaviest-hit areas. Soon after officials declared that humanitarian relief deliveries would take priority over military flights, the medical relief group Médecins Sans Frontières reported on Tuesday:
A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) cargo plane carrying 12 tons of medical equipment, including drugs, surgical supplies and two dialysis machines, was turned away three times from Port-au-Prince airport since Sunday night despite repeated assurances of its ability to land there. This 12-ton cargo was part of the contents of an earlier plane carrying a total of 40 tons of supplies that was blocked from landing on Sunday morning. Since January 14, MSF has had five planes diverted from the original destination of Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic. These planes carried a total of 85 tons of medical and relief supplies.
Perhaps this can be attributed to logistical mismanagement rather than systematically skewed priorities. But notice how the gridlock does not seem to have significantly hindered the flow of hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers. "Their mission [is] to protect the huge relief operation," NBC tells us, while much of the actual relief has been blocked from even touching the ground. Washington has denied any interest in assuming a policing role, and instead claimed that that authority is under the control of the highly controversial United Nations-led MINUSTAH, which handled security in Haiti prior to the earthquake (and in fact was installed in partnership with the Clinton administration following the overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004). Granted, the portrayals of Haitians haven't all been replete with gruesome images of fighting, and raiding. The New York Times reports that desperation has driven Haitians to welcome U.S. troops with open arms. Following a concise history of foreign occupation and intervention in Haiti, the article ends with a triumphant Berlin-airlift-like scene of grateful natives rejoicing.
A decade later, Mr. Aristide was forced out of office, and he accused the United States of orchestrating his ouster. But on Tuesday, as American troops in combat fatigues bounded out of the helicopters and moved across the palace grounds, hundreds of Haitians gathered at the white-and-green palace gates erupted in cheers and called out in Creole for food and water. "We can't do it without them," said Ms. Pierre-Louis, the former prime minister. "This country has been mismanaged for the last 50 years, and if we can't run the country well in normal times how can we do it now?"
But many believe that one way to guarantee that the mismanagement continues is to allow outside military and economic assault to continue as it has for generations. The activist group Jubilee, as well as some of Haiti's creditors, are calling for a full cancellation of Haiti's odious debt. Others are pushing for sensible immigration policies that channel the remittances of the Haitian diaspora toward development that enhances the country's self-sufficiency. And as Haitians rely on themselves to stay alive, one group of young media activists from the Cine Institute aren't waiting idly for outside help, working tirelessly to document their struggle in their own voices.
Pinchinat: Report by Keziah Jean from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.
To Bill Quigley of the Center for Constitutional Rights, what may look like an endemic state of crisis stems directly from the racist, oppressive policies of powerful neighbors:
The Haitian people have resisted the economic and military power of the US and others ever since their independence. Like all of us, Haitians made their own mistakes as well. But US power has forced Haitians to pay great prices–deaths, debt and abuse.
The media zooms in on scenes of apocalypse and helplessness. But against the backdrop of a post-colonial history fraught with despair and ugliness, Haiti's sheer survival today attests to an extraordinary will to survive–with a grace that should put the rest of the world to shame. Image: Médecins Sans Frontières