Audie Cornish talks with Thomas Haupt, respiratory disease epidemiologist for the Wisconsin Division of Public Health. He's the lead author of the study that helped uncover the source of a mysterious and large uptick in Legionnaires' disease cases. The study, "An Outbreak of Legionnaires Disease Associated with a Decorative Water Wall Fountain in a Hospital" was published in the online journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
iMore’s developer spotlights are like DVD/iTunes Extras for the App Store — a weekly look behind the scenes at the programers and designers that bring you the iPhone, iPod touch,
Can we save the whales by putting a price on them?Public release date: 11-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christopher Costello costello@bren.ucsb.edu 805-893-5802 University of California - Santa Barbara
Scientists suggest that tradable harvest quotas may ensure that cetaceans survive
Santa Barbara, CA Every year, a group of anti-whaling nonprofit organizations that includes Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, and the World Wildlife Fund spend, by conservative estimates, some $25 million on a variety of activities intended to end commercial whaling.
And every year, commercial whaling not only continues, but grows.
Under the current, largely unregulated system, the number of whales harvested annually has doubled since the early 1990s, to about two thousand per year. Further, many populations of large whales have been severely depleted and continue to be threatened by commercial whaling.
While protests, education, lobbying and dangerous confrontations on the high seas have saved some whales, the whaling industry shows no sign of shutting down or slowing down.
Now, an economist and two marine scientists writing in the January 12 issue of the journal Nature suggest a new strategy that they believe could save whales by putting a price on them.
In the article, "A market approach to saving the whales," Christopher Costello and Steve Gaines, professors of economics and marine science, respectively, at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, join Leah Gerber, a population ecologist and marine conservation biologist at Arizona State University, to propose a market-based solution to saving whales.
"We propose an alternative path forward that could break the deadlock: quotas that can be bought and sold, creating a market that would be economically, ecologically, and socially viable for whalers and whales alike," the authors write.
"The authors have put forth some bold, fresh thinking aimed at a barbaric practice that has become an intractable problem," said The Nature Conservancy California Executive Director Mike Sweeney.
The idea has its roots in trading markets for such air pollutants as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which have reduced pollutants more and at a lower cost in the U.S. than resulted from traditional regulatory policy; conservation and wetland management programs, which have resulted in more than 200,000 acres of land being set aside; and individual transferable quotas, which have been successful in sustaining fisheries and fishermen in New Zealand, Iceland, and Canada.
The authors explain that the concept of auctioning off annual whale-catch quotas was suggested as early as 1982 but was never implemented, perhaps, they suggest, because whalers would have had to purchase something they had always received for free. They add that a "whale-conservation market," would be different, with "whale shares" being allocated in sustainable numbers to all members of the International Whaling Commission. Recipients could then exercise them (by harvesting their quota), hold onto them for a year, or permanently retire them. The shares would be tradable in a carefully controlled global market.
In the two most extreme scenarios, whalers could end up purchasing all the shares and harvesting whales at the established sustainable level, or conservationists might purchase all the shares, so that no whales would be harvested.
"Because conservationists could bid for quotas, whalers could profit from them even without harvesting the animals," the professors say. And while they concede that "there are multiple challenges in getting such a scheme to work, including agreeing on sustainable quotas and on how shares should be allocated," they do not see those obstacles as insurmountable.
But would whalers settle for quotas? In fact, the authors say, whaling nations have previously proposed quotas, which would legitimize their harvest. Many anti-whaling groups, on the other hand, have had a fundamental problem with setting quotas for the same reason, feeling that quotas would appear to legitimize commercial whaling.
"If quotas are set properly," the authors suggest, "transactions would reduce the number of whales harvested, quite possibly to zero, unlike existing protocols, which seem to be increasing the catches."
They conclude: "The fervent anti-whaler will be quick to argue you cannot and should not put a price on the life of a whale; a species should be protected irrespective of its economic value. But unless all nations can be convinced or forced to adopt this view, whaling will continue. It is precisely because of the lack of a real price tag in the face of different values that anti-whaling operations have had such limited success. By placing an appropriate price tag on the life of a whale, a whale conservation market provides an immediate and tangible way to save them."
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Can we save the whales by putting a price on them?Public release date: 11-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christopher Costello costello@bren.ucsb.edu 805-893-5802 University of California - Santa Barbara
Scientists suggest that tradable harvest quotas may ensure that cetaceans survive
Santa Barbara, CA Every year, a group of anti-whaling nonprofit organizations that includes Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, and the World Wildlife Fund spend, by conservative estimates, some $25 million on a variety of activities intended to end commercial whaling.
And every year, commercial whaling not only continues, but grows.
Under the current, largely unregulated system, the number of whales harvested annually has doubled since the early 1990s, to about two thousand per year. Further, many populations of large whales have been severely depleted and continue to be threatened by commercial whaling.
While protests, education, lobbying and dangerous confrontations on the high seas have saved some whales, the whaling industry shows no sign of shutting down or slowing down.
Now, an economist and two marine scientists writing in the January 12 issue of the journal Nature suggest a new strategy that they believe could save whales by putting a price on them.
In the article, "A market approach to saving the whales," Christopher Costello and Steve Gaines, professors of economics and marine science, respectively, at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, join Leah Gerber, a population ecologist and marine conservation biologist at Arizona State University, to propose a market-based solution to saving whales.
"We propose an alternative path forward that could break the deadlock: quotas that can be bought and sold, creating a market that would be economically, ecologically, and socially viable for whalers and whales alike," the authors write.
"The authors have put forth some bold, fresh thinking aimed at a barbaric practice that has become an intractable problem," said The Nature Conservancy California Executive Director Mike Sweeney.
The idea has its roots in trading markets for such air pollutants as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which have reduced pollutants more and at a lower cost in the U.S. than resulted from traditional regulatory policy; conservation and wetland management programs, which have resulted in more than 200,000 acres of land being set aside; and individual transferable quotas, which have been successful in sustaining fisheries and fishermen in New Zealand, Iceland, and Canada.
The authors explain that the concept of auctioning off annual whale-catch quotas was suggested as early as 1982 but was never implemented, perhaps, they suggest, because whalers would have had to purchase something they had always received for free. They add that a "whale-conservation market," would be different, with "whale shares" being allocated in sustainable numbers to all members of the International Whaling Commission. Recipients could then exercise them (by harvesting their quota), hold onto them for a year, or permanently retire them. The shares would be tradable in a carefully controlled global market.
In the two most extreme scenarios, whalers could end up purchasing all the shares and harvesting whales at the established sustainable level, or conservationists might purchase all the shares, so that no whales would be harvested.
"Because conservationists could bid for quotas, whalers could profit from them even without harvesting the animals," the professors say. And while they concede that "there are multiple challenges in getting such a scheme to work, including agreeing on sustainable quotas and on how shares should be allocated," they do not see those obstacles as insurmountable.
But would whalers settle for quotas? In fact, the authors say, whaling nations have previously proposed quotas, which would legitimize their harvest. Many anti-whaling groups, on the other hand, have had a fundamental problem with setting quotas for the same reason, feeling that quotas would appear to legitimize commercial whaling.
"If quotas are set properly," the authors suggest, "transactions would reduce the number of whales harvested, quite possibly to zero, unlike existing protocols, which seem to be increasing the catches."
They conclude: "The fervent anti-whaler will be quick to argue you cannot and should not put a price on the life of a whale; a species should be protected irrespective of its economic value. But unless all nations can be convinced or forced to adopt this view, whaling will continue. It is precisely because of the lack of a real price tag in the face of different values that anti-whaling operations have had such limited success. By placing an appropriate price tag on the life of a whale, a whale conservation market provides an immediate and tangible way to save them."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) ? A 25-year-old Muslim man born in Kosovo was charged on Monday with trying to obtain explosives and firearms to attack Florida businesses and a police station, authorities said.
Sami Osmakac, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Kosovo -- a disputed Balkan state once a part of the former Yugoslavia that declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 -- was charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
He was arrested Saturday night after taking possession from an undercover FBI agent of what he believed to be explosives and firearms. He then armed what he thought was a car bomb intended to explode outside an Irish bar, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney. The devices were rendered inoperable by the agents.
Osmakac also planned to strap on an explosive belt and "get in somewhere where there's a lot of people," according to the release. Osmakac hoped to take hostages and demand the release of some unidentified prisoners. He told the undercover agent that police could "take me in five million pieces," according to the release.
"We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?" Osmakac, who said he is Muslim, was quoted as saying to agents.
Shortly before his arrest, Osmakac made an 8-minute video of himself, recorded at his request by the agent, explaining his motives for carrying out the planned attack, according to the release.
Osmakac said in the video that Muslim "blood" was more valuable than that of people who do not believe in Islam, and that he wanted "payback" for wrongs to Muslims.
The investigation was triggered by someone who told the FBI in September that Osmakac asked about obtaining flags representing Al-Qaeda, the Islamic extremist group responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
William Daniels, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said he could not release the name of the source. The statement thanked the local Muslim community for its help in the investigation.
The press release described events leading up to the arrest: Osmakac met again with the source in November, discussed potential targets for attack in Tampa, and asked for help in obtaining firearms and explosives. The source set up the first of a series of meeting between Osmakac and an undercover FBI agent, all of which were recorded.
Osmakac identified his targets as several nightclubs in Ybor City, Tampa's historic Cuban community and popular tourist district; and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's operations center.
He planned a night car bombing followed by a hostage taking with the explosive belt 6 hours later, to increase the terror. He discussed his ambitions to attack the Army and local bridges. At the last moment, he switched his target to the Irish bar to avoid a heavy police presence in Ybor City.
Osmakac's shopping list, for which he provided the undercover agent a $500 down payment, included the explosive belt which he specified should be constructed to "rip flesh" with a multi-directional, 15-yard blast range.
He asked for enough explosives for three car bombs with cell phone triggers, but settled for one car bomb when the agent told him a bigger purchase would draw attention. He also requested an AK-47-style machine gun, Uzi submachine guns, high capacity magazines, and grenades.
On January 7, the day of his arrest, Osmakac met the agent at a Tampa hotel. Osmakac looked at the purported 100-pound car bomb in the agent's truck, then went into a hotel room to take possession of the other weapons. Osmakac recorded his video while sitting cross-legged on the floor holding a pistol with the AK-47 displayed behind him.
Osmakac drove a getaway car to a parking lot near the Irish bar, then returned to the hotel in a second car into which he loaded the "car bomb." Osmakac followed the steps to arm the car bomb, at which point he was arrested. (Editing by Greg McCune)
We've barely digested the carb-rich Z-Drive R4 and already OCZ wants to flaunt the next in its series of enterprise PCIe SSDs. The R5 sports an entirely new 'Kilimanjaro' controller platform (shown in the reference design above), developed in cahoots with Marvell and incorporated into each and every flash module that you might wish to add to the base card. These scalable controllers communicate directly with the host system, removing the need for an extra SATA RAID chip and thereby promising greater speeds -- especially as you pile on more modules. We won't get full specs until CES, but in the meantime OCZ has hinted at a doubling of the SandForce-based R4's performance, which could take us into the three million IOP realm. So long as the company also tackles the question of reliability on this new type of drive, then it'll likely be an easy sell. Check out the source link for more.
>>>is he best known as the
prime suspect
in the
disappearance of natalee holloway
in aruba but this morning
joran van der sloot
is going on trial for another high profile case in peru.
lilia luciano
is there.
>> reporter: good morning, ann. after 19 months in prison
joran van der sloot
will stand trial accused in the murder of a
young woman
five days to the day
natalee holloway
disappeared in aruba. prosecutors said he confessed to cold-blooded murder. he states in the interrogation he admits he strangled his victim.
van der sloot
is said to go on trial today for the murder of 21-year-old stephany flores. on the tape he says he beat her so hard with his elbow she started bleeding, then says he gripped both hands around stephany's neck until she stopped breathing.
van der sloot
's attorney says the confession was coerced, he hadn't slept in days and didn't know the language well. holding back tears stephany's father made a statement.
>> translator: i hope when this is over i will finally be able to cry.
>> reporter: van der sloot
has never been charged in natley
holloway
's case and denies wrongdoing but
holloway
's mother blames him.
>>both of our daughters met their fate at the hands of the same killer. i would have done anything in order to have this day for natalie's case.
>> reporter: charged with murder and theft in the peruvian case
van der sloot
faces a 30-year sentence if convicted. good behavior and time served would shorten the sentence. a
guilty plea
could end up with a few years behind bars.
>>end up with 20 years which means he could walk out in eight to seven and a half.
>> reporter: van der sloot
's attorney says the dutch national was suffering from
post traumatic stress disorder
from the constant questioning in the
holloway
case. the peruvian attorney says that's not a good
defense strategy
.
>>i think he thinks he's smarter than anybody in the koort room.
>> reporter: a man came to gamble in casinos, now betting on his own fate. we spoke with
van der sloot
's attorney late last night. his attorney says he's 80% certain
van der sloot
will
plead guilty
today.
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Children who are diagnosed with schizophrenia or a number of other psychoses go on to experience a progressively greater than normal loss of gray matter in the frontal lobe region of the brain, new research suggests.
These adolescents also experience an above-average spike in the amount of so-called "cerebrospinal fluid" found in the same location, according to a report published in the January issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
In turn, children who experience these brain developments appear to face an increased risk for longer hospitalization, more severe illness and a poorer overall prognosis, the authors of the study noted.
"We found progression of gray matter volume loss after a two-year follow-up in patients who ended up with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but not bipolar disease, compared with healthy controls," Dr. Celso Arango, of the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon in Madrid, Spain, and colleagues said in a journal news release.
"Some of these pathophysiologic processes seem to be markers of poorer prognosis," the researchers added.
The findings stem from an analysis of brain changes detected using MRI scans taken over a two-year period among 61 patients who had been diagnosed with a range of different psychoses at one of six child and adolescent psychiatric facilities in Spain.
In all, brain changes among 25 children diagnosed with schizophrenia, 16 with bipolar disorder and 20 with a number of other psychoses were stacked up against the brain status of 70 healthy children.
The result: in addition to the principal findings, the team further observed that total brain gray matter (as well as gray matter in the left parietal region of the brain) were notably different among patients with schizophrenia compared with their healthy peers.
"To develop therapeutic strategies to counteract these pathologic progressive brain changes, future studies should focus on their neurobiological underpinnings," the study authors advised.
More information
For more on adolescent schizophrenia, visit the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
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Public release date: 11-Jan-2012
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