Smart Economy

Multidisciplinary Team Developing Software Technologies to Absorb, Analyze and Interpret Huge Volumes of Text and Speech in Multiple Languages

SRI International Manages Major DARPA Program for Global Autonomous Language Exploitation (GALE)

Multidisciplinary Team Developing Software Technologies to Absorb, Analyze and Interpret Huge Volumes of Text and Speech in Multiple Languages

SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, In Melno Park, CA today announced an SRI-managed project called, Novel Information Gathering and Harvesting Techniques for Intelligence in Global Autonomous Language Environments (NIGHTINGALE) [ ....I wonder how long it took someone to think up that acronym? or is there software that does that ? -wd ], a five-year collaboration between 15 corporations and universities.  The project has been ongoing since October 2005.

The program is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under its GALE (Global Autonomous Language Exploitation) program.

Problem:

The U.S. increasingly depends on reliable information that affects both military and national security decision-makers and soldiers in the field.  Although large volumes of raw data are being gathered from around the globe in many languages and media (speech and text), decision-makers are unable to effectively exploit these data for the information they need.

Smart Solution:

The goal of the GALE program is to develop and apply technologies to absorb, analyze and interpret huge volumes of speech and text in multiple languages.  The program will initially focus on English, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic.

Automatic processing engines will recognize, translate and distill data, delivering pertinent, consolidated information in easy-to-understand forms to military personnel in response to direct or implicit requests.

With NIGHTINGALE, by tapping into flows of foreign language information from a variety of spoken and written sources such as news broadcasts, news groups and talk shows, military decision-makers can become oriented to changes in their areas of operation much more quickly.

Near-simultaneous translation of local spoken languages and dialects will allow commanders to integrate information derived from various spoken and written sources, and to drill down on a hypothesis by returning to the sources to understand the chain of annotations that supported that hypothesis.

"By leveraging automatic and context-aware technology and taking advantage of multilanguage, multidialect and multigenre annotated text and audio databases, SRI's NIGHTINGALE project can help assure that responses to critical information needs are accurate, timely and relevant," said David Israel, principal investigator of the NIGHTINGALE project and an SRI program director.

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

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Gorbachev on Nuclear Power vs Renewables > Chornobyl Series Part 5

The following note has been circulating on the net today:

Gorbachev on Nuclear Power vs Renewables

"Nuclear power is neither the answer to modern energy problems nor a panacea for climate change challenges," says former Russian President  M. Gorbachev. 

"You don't actually solve problems by finding solutions that create more problems down the track.  It doesn't add up economically, environmentally or socially.  Of all the energy options, nuclear is the most capital intensive to establish, decommissioning is prohibitively expensive and the financial burden continues long after the plant is closed." 

"In the U.S., for example, direct subsidies to nuclear energy amounted to $115 billion between 1947 and 1999 with a further $145 billion in indirect subsidies.  In contrast, subsidies to wind and solar combined during the same period totaled only $5.5 billion." 

An extract from his press release, commemorating Chernobyl 20 years on, in which he beseeches the leaders of the G8 to show some spine, and support solar energy with a global fund of $50 billion USD. 

Source: Green Cross International

and Tom Robertson. moderator of the EnergyResources list says:

"....and what Gorbachev is saying above is pretty much what Energy Returned on Energy Invested (ERoEI)analysis of nuclear power learned more then twenty-five years ago, where one of the best studies showed it had a 2.7 to 1 EROEI even without looking at the back end of the fuel cycle, accidents, and long term waste storage."

...and now, as if the nuclear industry didn't have enough of an image problem,  BBC Monitoring reports that the former Russian atomic power minister has been charged with fraud.

Comments welcomed: What are your thoughts on the subject? Please leave comments below

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page

Nanotube-enhanced Solar cells improve efficiency by 18%

Nanotube-enhanced Solar Energy

AMBIT Corporation announces its patented carbon nanotube-on-silicon technology, which can boost the efficiency of solar cells that convert sunlight into electricity by up to 18 percent. The nanotubes act as antennas for the solar light and can also be used for optical detectors and nanotube memory.

AMBIT Corporation announced today that it will form a new business group to oversee accelerated investment in its Carbon Nanotube Solar Energy Technology.  Carbon nanotubes are tiny cylinders of carbon that can be used as lightwave antennas to boost the performance of silicon solar cells.

AMBIT Corporation, a technology development firm founded by inventors Robert J. Crowley and Donald N. Halgren, has already been awarded three U.S. patents and has additional patents pending for its novel nanotube array technology that can be used for light harvesting, optical detectors, nanotube memory, and other applications. 

"The climate for investments in advanced solar energy is favorable for further development of AMBIT's patented nanotube-on-silicon technology, which can boost the efficiency of solar cells that convert sunlight into electricity" said AMBIT Co-founder Robert J Crowley, who formed AMBIT with Halgren in 1993.

On your left, a view of AMBIT Corporation's carbon nanotube array of over a billion carbon nanotubes on a silicon solar cell measuring less than 8mm long.  The company claims its invention may boost solar cell efficiencies by up to 18%.  The bright colors are caused by the interaction of light with the nanotubes, which act like antennas.

Crowley, who previously served as director of R&D at Boston Scientific's Imaging and Sensing Lab, where his group developed intravascular ultrasound and optical biopsy platforms for visualizing diseases, says that AMBIT's mission is focused on the nearest commercial applications of carbon-nanotube-on- silicon technology demonstrated at their Massachusetts laboratory. 

"We are currently observing phenomena that could mean a significant improvement in the ability of solar cells to use the entire solar spectrum.  These cells are presently most sensitive to the blue portion of the spectrum, and by adding nanotubes we might also generate more electricity from the red and infrared spectrum" said Crowley, who describes the invention as "commercially important to energy applications involving solar array technology on silicon and also on various substrates, such as sol-gel, and others."

Crowley, along with Halgren and New Business VP Robert Arcangeli, are working to accelerate the investment in this area through private sources and through corporate investments from manufacturers of existing solar cell technology. 

"We'd like to move the development effort to a major lab" remarked Arcangeli, "where the necessary resources and associated silicon processing technology already exist.  Our current laboratory is involved in sensor applications and developing other manufacturable products, such as actuators for switching and memory applications." 

Despite AMBIT Corporation's modest size, the firm is serious about making and selling what it invents. 

Remarked Crowley: "We are already manufacturing and selling products that use our proprietary process capabilities, and working with sister company Soundwave Research Laboratories, Inc (www.soundwaveresearch.com) to commercialize sensors used in medical ultrasound and music recording.  In addition, we have successfully licensed antenna-related technology to other manufacturers and developers such as Natural Nano (www.naturalnano.com) and Nokia, a builder of cellular handsets."

Source: Ambit Corp Press Release

Impact:  High !!

This is a significant breakthrough. Most silicon-based PV cells now work at an efficiency conversion rate of about 15-20%. Adding nanotubes boosts it to close to 40% . That's only 10% away from the ambitious goal - a target of 50% efficiency within 50 months or by 2009-set by a DARPA-funded $54 Million dollar project involving a consortium of 15 universities. The DARPA program calls to develop and produce 1,000 Very High Efficiency Solar Cell (VHESC) prototypes that are affordable and that operate at efficiencies of at least 50 percent.

Update: Robert Crowley writes us:

"Percentage gains always refer to some reference.  If a solar cell is 50% efficient, then an improvement of 20% brings the total efficiency to 60%.

We are confident that an 18% gain is possible. Solar cells have various efficiencies.  Our invention would theoretically improve them all by the same percentage.

I hope that clears it up."

see Solar cells to double in efficiency in 4 years, due to smart manufacturing

Walter Derzko

© 2005-2006

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

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The New Cash Crop ? Credit-card sized Microreactor converts vegetable oil and alcohol to Biodiesel instantly

Tiny Microreactor For Biodiesel Production Could Aid Farmers, Nation

Chemical engineering researcher Goran Jovanovic, at Oregon State University has developed a tiny chemical reactor for manufacturing biodiesel that is so efficient, fast and portable it could enable farmers to produce a cleaner-burning diesel substitute on their farms using seed crops they grow on their own land.

Problem:

Current biodiesel production methods involve dissolving a catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide, in alcohol, then agitating the alcohol mixture with vegetable oil in large vats for two hours.  The liquid then sits for 12 to 24 hours while a slow chemical reaction occurs, creating biodiesel and glycerin, a byproduct that is separated.  This glycerin can be used to make soaps, but first the catalyst in it must be neutralized and removed using hydrochloric acid, a tedious and costly process.

Smart Solution:

The device, a small microreactor -- about half the size of a credit card -- pumps vegetable oil and alcohol through tiny parallel channels, each smaller than a human hair, to convert the oil into biodiesel almost instantly.

By comparison, it takes more than a day to produce biodiesel with current technology (see above).

The microreactor, being developed in association with the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), consists of a series of parallel channels, each smaller than a human hair, through which vegetable oil and alcohol are pumped simultaneously. At such a small scale the chemical reaction that converts the oil into biodiesel is almost instant.

Although the amount of biodiesel produced from a single microreactor is a trickle, the reactors can be connected and stacked in banks to dramatically increase production. 

"By stacking many of these microreactors in parallel, a device the size of a small suitcase could produce enough biodiesel to power several farms, or produce hundreds of thousands of gallons per year," Jovanovic said.

"Using microreactors, biodiesel could be produced between 10 and 100 times faster than traditional methods, said Jovanovic, who is also developing a method for coating the microchannels with a non-toxic metallic catalyst.  This would eliminate the need for the chemical catalyst, making the production process even more simple, a key to widespread use."

Impacts

The microreactor developed at OSU eliminates the mixing, the standing time for separation and potentially the need for a dissolved catalyst.  But more importantly, Jovanovic says, the microreactor, which is about half the size of a thick credit card, could help farmers reduce their dependence on mass-produced petroleum as well as reduce the need to distribute fuel via truck, tanker or pipeline.

"This could be as important an invention as the mouse for your PC," said Goran Jovanovic, the OSU professor who developed the biodiesel microreactor.  "If we're successful with this, nobody will ever make biodiesel any other way."

Energy Paradigm Shift-People-Produced Energy

"This is all about producing energy in such a way that it liberates people," Jovanovic said.  "Most people think large-scale, central production of energy is cheaper, because we've been raised with that paradigm."

"But distributed energy production means you can use local resources - farmers can produce all the energy they need from what they grow on their own farms."

Jovanovic is looking to partner with a new or existing company in order to commercialize the technology through the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute at ONAMI, Oregon's signature research center focused on growing research and commercialization to accelerate innovation-based economic development in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

But he admitted it will take a visionary business partner. 

"The challenge is that we're trying to change a paradigm, moving from centrally-produced energy to distributed energy production, and that's not easy," he said.  "But wind and solar energy technologies faced difficulties in their early days...... And we're coming to a place in history where we cannot tolerate the growing uncertainty of petroleum-based energy supplies." 

see previous blog post --Russian gas supplies in question; Russia lukewarm on Europe shifts focus on China; Putin caves to environmentalists> Chornobyl Series Part 4

..and another reason why nuclear could be on the way out .

This has the potential to make today's centrally produced fossil fuel distribution infrastructure obsolete over time...bring power back into the hands of people (like in the days of old... camp fires and homestead fireplaces....homegrown power)

President Bush, in his 2006 State-of-the-Union address, pledged support for cutting-edge research in methods to produce biofuels.  Jovanovic hopes his research will get a benefit from this pledge.  The federal government has granted $8 million over four years to OSU as one of the country's five Sun Grant centers of excellence - regional hubs charged with research and development of new technologies for using agricultural wastes, residues and new crops for the production of bio-energy.

Source: adopted from a Oregon State University Press Release; Feb 2006

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page

University of Toronto Scientists discover brain protein that can block or prevent Alzheimer's; while US team studies "cocktail" of brain dietary supplements

University of Toronto researchers have discovered that a natural substance found in the brain could stop this degenerative disorder, and they hope a treatment could be developed from it in the next 10 years.

Scientists are cautiously optimistic about what could be a significant development in the battle against Alzheimer's. 

"It could be the most important breakthrough in the fight against Alzheimer's disease in decades." say experts

The brain protein was found to block a neurotoxin that causes Alzheimer's.

U of T researcher Dr. Peter St. George-Hyslop believes that: "a drug developed from the naturally occurring substance could potentially stop the disease in its tracks or prevent it from starting at all."

"What this will do is stop the disease from advancing in people who have it and will prevent the disease from happening in those who are destined to get it but don't yet have a clinical disease," he explained.

Even better, because the drug would be based on something that occurs in the body anyway, there's less chance of side effects.  Peter St. George-Hyslop called the discovery one of the most promising he's seen in 30 years studying Alzheimer's.

The findings appear in this week's issue of Nature.

ETA:  by 2011-2016

A drug based on the new findings is at least five years away experts believe.

Full story >>

While patients are waiting for the above discovery to be turned into a drug, a new treatment could be available more immediately.

Coincidenty, MIT researchers today also announced an possible treatment for Alzheimer's patients

MIT brain researchers in Cambride Mass., have developed a "cocktail" of dietary supplements, now in human clinical trials, that holds promise for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

For years, doctors have encouraged people to consume foods such as fish that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids because they appear to improve memory and other brain functions.

The MIT research suggests that a cocktail treatment of omega-3 fatty acids and two other compounds normally present in the blood, could delay the cognitive decline seen in Alzheimer's disease.

"It's been enormously frustrating to have so little to offer people that have (Alzheimer's) disease," said Richard Wurtman, the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Professor of Neuropharmacology at MIT, who led the research team. 

The three compounds in the treatment cocktail - omega-3 fatty acids, uridine and choline - are all needed by brain neurons to make phospholipids, the primary component of cell membranes.

After adding those supplements to the diets of gerbils, the researchers observed a dramatic increase in the amount of membranes that form brain cell synapses, where messages between cells are relayed.  Damage in brain synapses is believed to cause the dementia that characterizes Alzheimer's disease.

"If the successful results obtained in gerbils can be duplicated in the ongoing human trials, the new treatment could offer perhaps not a cure but a long-term Alzheimer's treatment similar to what L-dopa, a dopamine precursor, does for Parkinson's patients, said Wurtman, a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences."

More Information: The study appears in the May 9 issue of Brain Research.

Wurtman will present the research at the International Academy of Nutrition and Aging 2006 Symposium on Nutrition and Alzheimer's Disease/Cognitive Decline in Chicago on Tuesday, May 2.

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page

Researchers identify intelligence gene, dysbindin-1 gene (DTNBP1)

Psychiatric researchers at The Zucker Hillside Hospital campus of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Glen Oaks N.Y. have uncovered evidence of a gene that appears to influence intelligence. 

Working in conjunction with researchers at Harvard Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics in Boston, the Zucker Hillside team examined the genetic blueprints of individuals with schizophrenia, a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by cognitive impairment, and compared them with healthy volunteers. 

They discovered that the dysbindin-1 gene (DTNBP1), which they previously demonstrated to be associated with schizophrenia, may also be linked to general cognitive ability. 

"A robust body of evidence suggests that cognitive abilities, particularly intelligence, are significantly influenced by genetic factors.  Existing data already suggests that dysbindin may influence cognition," said Katherine Burdick, PhD, the study's primary author.  "We looked at several DNA sequence variations within the dysbindin gene and found one of them to be significantly associated with lower general cognitive ability in carriers of the risk variant compared with non-carriers in two independent groups." 

The study involved 213 unrelated Caucasian patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 126 unrelated healthy Caucasian volunteers.  The researchers measured cognitive performance in all subjects.  They then analyzed participants' DNA samples.  The researchers specifically examined six DNA sequence variations, also known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), in the dysbindin gene and found that one specific pattern of SNPs, known as a haplotype, was associated with general cognitive ability: Cognition was significantly impaired in carriers of the risk variant in both the schizophrenia group and the healthy volunteers as compared with the non-carriers. 

"While our data suggests the dysbindin gene influences variation in human cognitive ability and intelligence, it only explained a small proportion of it -- about 3 percent.  This supports a model involving multiple genetic and environmental influences on intelligence," said Anil Malhotra, MD, principal investigator of the study. 

The specific role of dysbindin in the central nervous system is unknown, but it is highly present in key brain regions linked to cognition, including learning, problem solving, judgment, memory and comprehension.  Scientists speculate that dysbindin plays a role in communication between brain cells in these regions and helps promote their survival.  An alteration in the genetic blueprint for dysbindin may ultimately interfere with cell communication and fail to protect brain cells from dying, with a resulting negative impact on cognition and intelligence.

More Information: The study is published in the May 15 print issue of Human Molecular Genetics, available online today, April 27.

Burdick KE, Lencz T, Funke B, Finn CT, Szeszko PR, Kane JM, Kucherlapati R, Malhotra AK.  Genetic variation in DTNBP1 influences general cognitive ability.  Hum Mol Genet.  2006 May 15;15(10):1563-68. 

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page 

Russian gas supplies in question; Russia lukewarm on Europe shifts focus on China; Putin caves to environmentalists> Chornobyl Series Part 4

Several surprising events occurred recently a continent away that could boost alternate energy usage in Europe and around the world.

As series of comments by Russian Gas authorities likely sent shivers down the backs of European politicians and probably resulted in review meetings that were burning the midnight oil.

First, back in March, during an official visit to Beijing, Russian President V. Putin agreed to start construction of a natural gas pipeline to China within five years. 

"There was no word on the long-sought oil pipeline to the Far East.  In 2003, Russia's cabinet decided against building a pipeline directly into China, as Beijing wanted; instead they decided to build a pipeline to their Pacific coast where it could supply oil to more Pacific nations, particularly Japan.  The new agreement calls for a branch oil pipeline into China, but only a feasibility study is planned at the current time."

The notion of Russian natural gas going to China is causing unease among Moscow's European customers who already are facing the likelihood of shortages in the years ahead.  ( Source: see Peak Oil Review)

Secondly, adding to European concerns was a comment by Russian Economy Minister Gref who warned that oil and gas production would fall in the "mid-term", even though Russia announced that its oil production for January-February was up 1.6 percent over last year.

Third were warnings from Russian gas supremos to its European gas buyers. 

"Russia's planned oil pipeline to Asia will help cut deliveries to Europe, which is currently being oversupplied with Russian crude," the head of Russia's pipeline monopoly Transneft Semyon Vainshtok told the Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta

"We have overfed Europe with crude.  And every single economic manual says that excessive supplies depress prices," Semyon Vainshtok added "So far we cannot reduce supplies as all our exports are going to Europe.  But as soon as we divert (flows) to China, South Korea, Australia, Japan it will immediately take away crude from our European colleagues," he added. 

His new comments are likely to come under much closer scrutiny after another Russian monopoly, state gas behemoth Gazprom, shocked Europe last week by saying it would supply gas elsewhere if its expansion in Europe was blocked.  The UK gave in to this pressure, today.  Shares of Centrica, Britain's largest energy provider, rose as much as 6.4 percent on reports the British government would not block a takeover attempt by Gazprom.

The European Union said Gazprom's threats only confirmed Europe's views that it needed to diversify its energy imports.

Finally today, in a move to reinforce Russia's China Energy option, President Vladimir Putin abruptly shifted course in front of a stunned group of Energy bosses and environmentalists alike when he called for rerouting the proposed Far East oil pipeline away from environmentally sensitive Lake Baikal, caving into year long pressure from Russian and global environmental groups.

On the day of the 20th anniversary of Chornobyl, Putin decided: "If there is the tiniest danger of polluting Baikal, then, taking into account future generations, we must do everything not simply to minimize this danger but to eliminate it,"

Here an account of the event from the Russian Press

At Wednesday's meeting, during a discussion of problems facing Siberia, Putin raised the issue of the Far East pipeline.  After Vainshtok, (the president of pipeline monopoly Transneft), defended the route and Transneft's ability to shield Baikal from any danger, Putin suggested hearing what the experts had to say.  Geologist Nikolai Lavyorov, vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, stood up.  Pointing to a map of Baikal's basin, he said that rerouting the pipeline at least 40 kilometers from the lake's shoreline would ensure that if there were an accident, pollutants would head north, away from the lake.

Then Putin suddenly stepped forward and, using a marker pen to indicate the spot on the map, declared: "The route will go to the north of the area pointed to by academician Lavyorov.  Let's consider it a done deal."

Everyone was in shock.

In the picture above, Vainshtok, (the president of pipeline monopoly Transneft) left, Putin and Lavyorov looking at a map of the Baikal basin at a meeting with Siberian governors and Cabinet members in

Tomsk

on Wednesday.

People will likely be scratching their heads for a long time trying to figure out Putin's motivations on this one.  Is Putin posturing before the G8 summit or ahead of the arrival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.?  Are we now seeing he kinder side of Putin ( a Gorby-like makeover) ?  Is Russia trying to soften it's bad-boy, big bear image in front of the world?  Your guess is as good as mine.

"Lake Baikal, which contains 20 percent of the Earth's fresh water, sits on a continental rift that widens by about 2 centimeters each year.  The area is prone to seismic disturbances that environmentalists worried would trigger a natural disaster if the pipeline ripped open near the lake."

What the Russian press is saying:

His remarks stunned Semyon Vainshtok, the president of pipeline monopoly Transneft, who had just made the case for the safety of the planned route, which was to come within 800 meters of the lake.

Peter Westin, MDM Bank's chief economist, said the public would like Putin's move, calling it "good political strategy."

Vainshtok, who appeared in a state of shock, said he was taken aback by Putin's decision but that "I am a soldier, and the president is the commander in chief.  Orders are not discussed."  He defended Putin, adding: "The position of the president is that even though we have a high level of technology, if there is the slightest chance of danger, then ecological safety must come first."  Commenting on Putin's abrupt decision, Transneft officials added, "This is a question about the state we live in and the way things run here."

Roland Nash, chief strategist at Renaissance Capital investment bank, pointed out that Putin's decision to shift the route came at a time when the country was awash in petrodollars and capable of incurring the additional expense.  "It is nice to see that Russia can also afford these kinds of political and environmental gestures," he said.

The $11.5-billion pipeline will ship 600,000 barrels per day at the first stage, mainly to China, with supplies rising to 1.6 million bpd at the second stage, when a big terminal is build on the Russian Pacific coast.

Taken as a package, these events and comments could significantly shift Europe's focus away from a Russian focused gas-centric energy policy toward more diversified energy strategy which increasingly includes sustainable and politically independent sources of renewable energy....and the rest of the world could well follow suite.

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page 

Mobile government gets closer to the people

Mobile government gets closer to the people

Among the many promises of the digital revolution is its potential to strengthen democracy and make governments more responsive to citizens' needs. An open service platform for mobile users aims to partially deliver on that promise, making public administrations more accessible, effective and accountable.

"The idea is essentially to support and encourage access to new e-government services at any time and any place through the use of mobile communications and internet technologies," explains Dirk Tilsner, project coordinator for the IST programme-funded project, USE-ME.GOV.

To this end, the project has developed an open service platform for mobile users that can be shared by networked authorities and institutions in terms of technical infrastructure, information and other content, while also providing a framework for commercial exploitation.

From the outset, the emphasis was placed on creating a platform that would be easy to use and specifically tailored to the needs of administrations and service providers. That meant designing software that incorporated features such as usability, openness, interoperability and scalability, and would allow for networked operation.

"The idea is to enable authorities to share the platform as technological infrastructure and also to adopt a common exploitation framework," says Tilsner. "In the same way, the platform interfaces to mobile operators and all kinds of content providers that participate in this framework."

The broad goal of the project is to harmonise the quality of public services and to overcome problems associated with the digital divide.

Based on attractive business models, platform sharing is a means to provide the conditions for cost-efficient mobile services, especially in geographical areas with low internet penetration.

USE-ME.GOV aims to provide new types of services targeting specific user groups as well as the wider public. These services will be configurable, personalised and dedicated to thematic content. The advantages of such an approach are straightforward, believes Tilsner.

"For a start, it becomes easier and faster to integrate new services because the platform already provides the core functionalities and interfaces. It also means that the sharing of costs as well as knowledge make the platform, and the mobile services provided through it, accessible to all authorities, ensuring sustainable service operation," he says.

Open to many services What kind of services can be provided on such a platform? According to Tilsner, the beauty of the platform is that there are few restrictions in terms of what services can be adapted to work with the system.

"The platform has been conceived for mobile services, but can easily be integrated with other platforms that use other dissemination channels, typically the internet. Apart from simple messaging, mobile services are browser-based and are thus compatible with virtually all current 2.5G and also future 3G and UMTS mobile devices on the market," he says.

Services that might be used on such a platform include personalised information broadcasts on matters of local interest: for instance, traffic updates, upcoming public meetings, special events or announcements concerning administrative procedures. The platform could also be used for the submission of complaints and other requests from the public, thereby cutting red tape and speeding up response time to particular problems. Another potential application is the 'mobile student', enabling communication between the school and parents relating to curricular information, assessment results, school events, and so forth.

The platform has already been successfully integrated and tested in a simulated stress environment, says Tilsner. In the validation phase, the platform was installed and operated in four countries, while various services were also tested in several countries accessing the platform installed in Madrid.

After a successful demonstration of the platform concept at a recent workshop in Lisbon, the main remaining challenges relate to strategic rather than technical objectives, says Tilsner.

"Technical improvements are always desirable, but are not the key challenge at the moment. The major challenge is educating and preparing public authorities to move to the mobile channel, build public-private partnerships and adopt networking strategies for sustainable deployment of these services," he says.

Commercial exploitation is also definitely in the pipeline for some of the commercial partners involved in the project such as EDISOFT and Indra Sistemas. For public administrations, however, the value of the platform lies beyond any commercial gain. Rather, all end-user partners in the project are evolving their own particular strategies for short- or medium term usage of the platform and the provision of services.

Contact: Dirk Tilsner EDISOFT S.A. Rua Quinta dos Medronheiros Lazarim Apartado 382 P-2826-801 Caparica Portugal Tel: + 351-21-2945900 Fax: + 351-21-2945999 Email

Source: Based on information from USE-ME.GOV

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page

Smart E-books with expiration dates

Coming to campus near you: E-books with expiration dates.

CNET news writes:

When students at Princeton University, the University of Utah and eight other colleges start combing their school bookstore shelves for fall semester textbooks, they'll find a new alternative to the hard-covered tomes they're used to buying.  Alongside the new and used versions of Dante's "Inferno" and "Essentials of Psychology" will be little cards offering 33 percent off if students decide to download a digital version of a text instead of buying a hard copy.  That's not a bad deal for a cash-strapped student facing book bills in the hundreds of dollars." 

But there are trade-offs. 

"The new digital textbook program imposes strict guidelines on how the books can be used, including locking the downloaded books to a single computer and setting a five-month expiration date, after which the book can't be read."

But they also note:

"..... the history of electronic books has shown that readers have found little to love, even when prices are substantially lower. Critics say that most consumers aren't yet willing to read book-length segments of text online and that e-book devices remain too expensive for the mass market."

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Comments Wanted: what other smart features could be incorporated  or intellivated (= intelligence + elevate) into future e-books. Please email me or add your ideas below to the comments section.

Intellignce Level: E-books

Intelligence Level (1)	Adapting:	Modifying Behaviour to Fit the Environment	X
Intelligence Level (2)	Sensing:	Bringing Awareness to Everyday Things	X
Intelligence Level (3)	Inferring:	Drawing Conclusions from Rules and Observations	X
Intelligence Level (4)	Learning:	Using Experience to Improve Performance
Intelligence Level (5)	Anticipating:	Thinking and Reasoning about What to Do Next
Intelligence Level (6)	Self-creating,	Ability to reproduce itself, regenerate
Intelligence Level (6)	Self-organizing	Ability for components to self-organize
Intelligence Level (6)	Self-sustaining (A)	Ability to replicate components
Intelligence Level (6)	Self-sustaining (B)	Ability to process information
Intelligence Level (6)	Self-sustaining (C)	Ability to steadily consume energy from the environment

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page 

UN issues landmark health report on Chornobyl: excess cancer cases, deaths> Chornobyl Series Part 3

UN issues landmark health report on Chornobyl: excess cancer cases, deaths

Some 5,000 people who were children and adolescents at the time of the world's worst-ever civil nuclear accident at Chornobyl, Ukraine, have so far been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and there may be up to 9,000 excess cancer deaths, according to a new United Nations study, the most comprehensive scientific report so far on the health impact of the disaster. But a Greenpeace report released last week estimated a figure of 93,000. Greenpeace said other illnesses could bring the toll up to 200,000.

Http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/chernobyl/en/index.html

As the world prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the accident on April 26, the landmark report issued the UN World Health Organization (WHO) recommends renewed efforts to provide the public and key professionals with accurate information about the health impact as part of the efforts to revitalize the people and areas affected.

"As we work to rebuild futures, we must not forget the families of those who died as a result of the accident, and those who continue to suffer the consequences of radiation exposure and the severe disruption of their lives," WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook said of the report, which covers contaminated regions in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, home to more than 5 million people.

"The WHO report on the health effects of Chernobyl gives the most affected countries, and their people, the information they need to be able to make vital public health decisions as they continue to rebuild their communities.  WHO is supporting these efforts."

The agency is continuing its efforts to improve health care for affected populations through the establishment of telemedicine and educational programmes, and supporting research.

After the accident 116,000 people were evacuated from the area.  An additional 230,000 people were relocated from the highly contaminated areas in subsequent years.

Relocation proved a deeply traumatic experience because of disruption to social networks and the impossibility of returning home.  For many people, there has been a social stigma associated with being an "exposed person," the report notes.

Those who were affected came to be labelled as "Chernobyl victims."  Despite government compensation and benefits for evacuees and residents, some people perceive themselves as victims rather than survivors, with limited control over their own futures.

Many of these people have demonstrated higher anxiety levels, multiple unexplained physical symptoms and subjective poor health compared to non-exposed populations. 

Source: Cross Posted from the EurasiaHealth mailing list   http://www.eurasiahealth.org

Meanwhile, Radio Free Europe (RFE) reports on the commemoration events in Ukraine and Belarus

BELARUS, UKRAINE MARK 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHORNOBYL DISASTER.

"Hundreds of people filed shortly after midnight on April 26 through the streets of Slavutych, the Ukrainian town built to house Chornobyl plant workers after the world's worst civilian nuclear accident on April 26, 1986, Ukrainian and world agencies reported.

Later the same day in Kyiv, the Verkhovna Rada elected in 2002 held its last session devoted to a hearing on the Chornobyl aftermath.

In Homel on April 25, the Belarusian opposition held a conference of scientists, lawyers, and political activists on the Chornobyl aftermath. In the afternoon of April 26, the opposition is to stage a Chornobyl Way demonstration in Minsk, at which opposition leader Alyaksandr Milinkevich is expected to publicize the Homel conference's conclusions and announce the creation of a broad pro-democracy movement in Belarus."

Source: RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

To arrange for an inhouse presentation on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"

- old Japanese proverb

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page