The informal textile waste management system in Bangladesh needs to be formalised to align with the EU sustainability regulations and averting political-economic tension and labour unrest, experts have said. A government official called for technology transfer, financing and a national strategy for textile circularity. The next five years would be crucial, the EU Delegation to Bangladesh said.

Officials from the U.S., Canada, and Finland on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that formally launches a trilateral effort to share resources and knowhow to develop and produce […]

RAWALPINDI: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Aviation was informed that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has not undergone a formal audit for the past decade, raising concerns about its regulatory compliance and safety oversight. Four aircraft accidents happened during this period, underscoring the need for improved operational protocols.

The fourth meeting of the Standing Committee on Aviation was held on Wednesday, chaired by MNA Nawabzada Iftikhar Ahmed Khan Babar.

The ministry concerned confirmed that the CAA has not undergone a formal audit for the past decade. The standing committee called for provision of all communications between the CAA and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to the committee regarding the lack of audits and their impact on the safety of passengers.

The committee was informed that the ongoing privatisation of PIA has led to suspension of staff transfers, postings, promotions, and the usual practice of rotating employees every three years.

Furthermore, financial constraints within the CAA have prevented necessary aircraft engine overhauls, reducing the operational fleet to just five aircraft and raising safety concerns.

The committee also expressed grave concern over the non-implementation of a National Assembly resolution passed on October 13, 2022, which called for renaming “Islamabad International Airport” to “Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Airport”.

Despite the resolution being passed nearly two years ago, no action has been taken to fulfil this directive, prompting widespread criticism from various quarters.

During the discussion of issues related to the Multan Flying Club, including the refund of student fees, resolution of employees’ concerns, and the submission of a report based on the audit and financial details of the club, the committee appointed a sub-committee for the refund of students’ fees from MFC and resolution of employees-related issues and sought a report based on the audit and financial details of the club.

The sub-committee consists of MNAs Dr Ramesh Lal (convener), Dr Darshan Choudhary Iftikhar Nazir and Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Aqeel Malik, Rana Ibadat Sharif Khan, Dr Darshan, Choudhary Iftikhar Nazir, Nauman Islam Shaikh, Ramesh Lal, Munaza Hassan, Muhammad Saad Ullah and Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2024

ISLAMABAD: The Priv­atisation Commission’s board on Wednesday rejected a Rs10 billion bid submitted by the sole bidder for the divestment of 60 per cent shares in Pakistan International Airlines Corpo­ration Limited (PIACL), the privatisation ministry said in a statement.

The board decided to refer the issue of PIA’s privatisation to the Cabinet Committee on Privati­sation for further consideration.

Last month, the final bidding process for the privatisation of PIA attracted just one bid of Rs10bn for a 60pc stake in the national flag carrier.

Only real-estate development company Blue World City participated in the bidding process, placing a bid that was below the government-set minimum price of Rs85bn.

PC Board seeks improved offers for state-owned entities

The government had prequalified six groups in June, but only Blue World City participated in the final bidding process. Due to the huge difference between the expected and actual bids, the commission gave the consortium more time to reconsider its bid. However, Blue World City consortium chairman Saad Nazir kept the price unchanged.

On Wednesday, in a meeting chaired by Privatisation Mini­ster Abdul Aleem Khan, the board discussed advancing privatisation efforts for state-owned entities, including PIA and stressed the need to attract stronger bids in future transactions.

Mr Khan directed that the privatisation process should be carried forward without delay and underscored the importance of securing better offers for upcoming bids.

The board explored various options to expedite PIA’s divestment and reviewed the status of other ongoing privatisation transactions.

Mr Khan said that the framework given by the caretaker government for PIA’s privatisation was taken forward, but “now we have to keep in mind the concerns of the institutions involved in the privatisation”. He emphasised that “we have to learn from the privatisation process of PIA and have to be more active in future”.

The board decided to form a three-member committee to participate in the process of privatisation by members of the board. The meeting was briefed on various issues of privatisation and expressed satisfaction with the development so far.

During the meeting, various proposals were presented for PIA and the process of privatisation, and views were expressed on various issues and important decisions were taken. The minister extended the opportunity to all the Privatisation Comm­ission’s board members and heard their suggestions. Impor­tant issues related to the privatisation of other projects were also discussed.

“The privatisation issues will be completed in accordance with the laws and regulations and keeping in view the national interest before us because the final decision on the issues of privatisation of PIA and other institutions has to be taken by the cabinet committee,” Mr Khan said, according to the ministry’s statement.

In his briefing, the secretary of the Privatisation Commission noted that several international airlines, including Turkish Air­lines and Singapore Airlines, had expressed interest in PIA’s privatisation.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he will nominate Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for Secretary of State.

Above 50?..IQs are important to observe your mental development!

This paper examines how to leverage the design studio learning environment throughout long-term Digital Design education in order to support students to progress from tactical, well-defined, device-centric routine design, to confidently design sustainable solutions for strategic, complex, problems for a wide range of devices and platforms in the digital space. We present a framework derived from literature on design, creativity, and theories on learning that: (a) implements a theory of formal learning sequences as a user-centered design process in the studio; and (b) describes design challenge progressions in the design studio environment modeled in seven dimensions. The framework can be used as a tool for designing, evaluating, and communicating course progressions within – and between series of – design studio courses. This approach is evaluated by implementing a formal learning sequence framework in a series of design studio courses that progress in an undergraduate design-oriented Informatics program. Reflections from students, teachers, and external clients indicate high student motivation and learning goal achievement, high teacher satisfaction and skill development, and high satisfaction among external clients.

This paper reports on research with a broad objective to examine the relationship between two organizational entities, the formally structured organization and informal organizational structures, in a changing operational environment, more specifically during military deployments. The paper draws on organizational and complexity paradigms; based on empirical evidence obtained through qualitative techniques, it describes mechanisms that enable a symbiotic relationship between these two organizational structures in a complex operational landscape. Substantive findings provide insights into the dynamics of the interactions between these structures and illuminate the relationship between three enabling factors – accountability, responsible autonomy, and command and control arrangements – that need to be considered to fully exploit the strengths inherent in both formal and informal structures. Based on these findings, a model for enhancement of organizational agility in response to changes in a complex operational environment is described. The model is predicated on feedback and mutual adjustment of the organization, institution and individual through sensemaking; it illustrates the dynamic nature of interactions that are required for such a response.

Recently, interest in the correlation between 'contract' in transaction governance and 'trust' in relational governance mechanisms has been growing. This study focuses on issues related to the evolution of contract and inter-organisational trust dynamics in transaction governance and uses mixed research method to investigate sectors related to transaction governance in Taiwan's electronics industry. The study finds higher flexibility in contract implementation to be a promoter of trust between two parties in a relationship, thereby promoting project execution efficiency in the case of Taiwanese firms. Organisational management differs between the East and West; therefore, Western firms should understand how various contractual provisions can be used to accommodate different transactions when cooperating with Taiwanese electronics companies.

This rather difficult read introduces the programming language FSM and the programming platform DrRacket. The author asserts that it is a convenient platform to design and prove an automata-based software

Coming to an end, after 4.5 years of hard work and dedicated research, the FP7-funded project EU BON leaves behind a basket of results to support the Group of Earth Observations (GEO) and assist researchers in their future studies.

The EU BON website will continue to exist and host relevant information for at least the next 5 years to ensure project results are easy to access and reuse, not only by EU BON researchers, but for anyone interested in the project or working in the field.

Among the major outcomes of the project, the biodiversity portal is now complete and will be hosted for the next years by CSIC. All EU BON’s tools, products, services and the Citizen Science gateway can be found there.

Additionally, about 15 of our tools will soon be included in the GEO BON’s BON-in-a-Box to ensure sustainability and exploitation of results.

All EU BON related publications are available via the project’s website. Moreover,  important documents are also in a dedicated piloting RIO Open Science collection, demonstrating how next-generation publishing can ensure sustainability of results coming from along the research cycle, including data, guidelines, infographics and more.

EU BON’s success could not be possible without the professional and friendly team of consortium partners and 33 associated partners, who’ve worked hard together and have contributed in various ways and with different efforts.

Credit: Dirk Schmeller

Washington – OSHA will delay enforcing a new interpretation of its Process Safety Management Standard, prompting a bipartisan group of lawmakers to call for the agency to withdraw that interpretation.

Washington — Two environmental groups, along with 75 salon workers from across the country, have filed a citizen petition asking the Food and Drug Administration to ban hair straighteners containing formaldehyde.

Washington – Stakeholders are invited to participate in an informal OSHA hearing on May 19 in Washington to discuss a proposal to extend the compliance date for crane operator certification requirements.

Washington – OSHA has scheduled an informal public meeting to discuss potential updates to its Hazard Communication Standard. The meeting is set to take place Nov. 16 at the Mine Safety and Health Administration headquarters in Arlington, VA.

Widely known as a preservative in morgues, formaldehyde – a colorless, strong-smelling gas – can be found in chemicals, plywood and various household items, including glue and paper product coatings, according to OSHA. It’s also used as an industrial fungicide, germicide and disinfectant.

What is micro-content, and how can it keep workers safe?

Washington — The Environmental Protection Agency is accepting public comment on a draft risk evaluation that states the chemical substance formaldehyde poses “unreasonable risk” to workers under certain conditions.

Greetings to the FT Wine Aficionados.... I know this is somewhat of a short notice, but perhaps we can still make something interesting come together. I will be spending a couple of days in Chicago and thought it would be interesting to get...

Children's Geographies; 10/01/2023
(AN 173035624); ISSN: 14733285
Academic Search Premier

The post How much does long COVID cost individuals, informal carers, and society? was curated by information for practice.

The post Learning from those who are most at risk: Informal settlement fires in South Africa was curated by information for practice.

The pandemic has once again felled Burning Man. Some burners still plan to gather for informal events on the dusty Black Rock Desert Playa this summer.; Credit: Bernard Friel/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

And so it goes: Burning Man 2021 is canceled. It's the second year in a row, the popular arts festival won't be held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert due to the pandemic.

"We have decided to set our sights on Black Rock City 2022," event officials announced in a blog post on Tuesday. In a frequently-asked-questions section, organizers added: "We've heard from many who don't feel ready to come to Black Rock City. While we're confident in our ability to get a permit and to safeguard public health, we know that co-creating Black Rock City in 2021 would put tremendous strain on our community while we are still ironing out uncertainty."

Many would-be attendees praised the decision in comments on the Burning Man website and on social media as a safe one; others are anxiously anticipating a bigger and better 2022 Burn.

But the cancellation has put many people in the event's host community at ease.

Wary of a trend of rising coronavirus cases in some parts of the region, Washoe County's district health officer Kevin Dick said "the right call was made," in order to lower the risk of spreading infection.

"The event draws thousands of people from all over the world," Dick said in an email. "We are seeing large outbreaks of COVID-19 occurring in a number of countries, areas where very contagious COVID-19 variants of concern are prevalent and where low rates of vaccination are occurring."

The head of a local Paiute tribe is also feeling less burdened knowing there won't be the annual pilgrimage. The main highway to get to the Black Rock Desert playa, which normally draws tens of thousands of people to the summer event, cuts through tribal lands.

"For us it is a sigh of relief," said Janet Davis, chairwoman of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.

Although the event — which brings in about $63 million to the state annually — gives the tribal community a welcome financial boost, Davis said.

"We don't know who's vaccinated and who's not," she said. "We've been trying to keep our reservation safe and that happening was too soon for us to open."

As with last year, the organization will offer virtual programming during Burn Week, from Aug. 29 through Sept. 7, an experience they say drew 165,000 participants in 2020.

In response to a request for more details on the reasons for the cancellation, Burning Man organizers declined to comment further. Earlier this month, though, CEO Marian Goodell said the organization was "weighing the gravity" of implementing a vaccination requirement that she said challenged "radical inclusion," one of the group's 10 principles.

Still, for many burners, the news won't extinguish their plans to trek to the desert in droves. Just like last year, revelers are preparing to hold unofficial gatherings on public land in place of the annual event.

Last summer, those events — the so-called "rogue" and "free" burns or, unmistakably, "Not Burning Man" — drew an estimated 3,000 people to Black Rock Desert during the time Burning Man is normally held, according to the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that approves the organization's permits each year.

Kevin Jervis, one such attendee who now lives in Gerlach — a tiny desert town near the event site — welcomed this year's cancellation.

He called it "more of a relief than anything. ... A lot of us liked it better the way it happened last year."

During the informal festivities, Jervis spent a few days between the playa and its outskirts. He said he and his fellow burners felt like it represented the festival's freewheeling roots.

"I've had friends that have been going since '94 and they said it was a lot more like it used to be. We didn't have to go by regulations," he said. "We could have guns, dogs ... it was a lot freer."

Even before the pandemic, burners increasingly saw an annual gathering under siege.

Event-goers who adhere to Burning Man's counterculture beginnings say the festival's explosion in popularity in the past decade has welcomed a host of bad actors who trash the desert and surrounding communities and disregard the event's founding principles, including "decommodification" and the eco-friendly philosophy of "leave no trace."

Some of those perceived threats come from festival officials themselves, he said. A ticket to the main event alone cost over $400 in 2019 — a financial hurdle critics say goes against another tenet long espoused, that "everyone is invited."

"People that have never been before came out last year because they either couldn't get a ticket other years or they were just kind of curious. Or they didn't have the money to go to the actual Burn," said Jervis.

As for the Pyramid Lake Paiute community, with the reservation largely closed during that period last year, Davis said, "we really didn't see the impact" from a public health standpoint.

"You're not talking about 65 — 75,000 people." While there was more traffic, she said, "they moseyed on through and moseyed on out."

In the years leading up to the pandemic, BLM had been cracking down on the event's growth. Were the festival to return this year, Burning Man organizers said they would have had to meet a population cap of 69,000, down from its 80,000 limit for previous events.

Jervis says he won't miss what he describes as organizers' leniency toward "elites" who set up VIP areas at their camps and hire out to construct their art creations instead of making their own.

"A lot of people have gotten sick of what Burning Man's kind of become," he said.

Even if this year was a go, he said, burners would still be setting up their own Burning Man-adjacent happenings.

Following the announcement of the event's cancellation, people are taking to Facebook groups to reminisce about last year's unsanctioned burns and discuss preparations for their own this summer.

"So it seems that as of today there isn't going to be an official [Burning Man Ceremony] this year," James Zapata wrote. "So who's joining me in the dust?"

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Each year, tens of millions of Americans, young and old, choose to learn about science in informal ways -- by visiting museums and aquariums, attending after-school programs, pursuing personal hobbies, and watching TV documentaries, for example.

A new report from the National Research Council has upheld the listing of formaldehyde as “known to be a human carcinogen” in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens (RoC).

Snack and bakery producers visiting the booth will find a range of solutions aimed at meeting current consumer trends.

Consortium of leading organizations investing in clean energy and disadvantaged communities is competing to manage part of the fund

PakStyle.pk has been a go-to destination for fashion enthusiasts in Pakistan. With a wide range of dressing options, they cater to every occasion from bridal wear to formals and party wear dresses, and their latest collection 2024 is no exception.

New Articles Entry: 'How to write informal IELTS letters' has just been added to the Articles area of UsingEnglish.com.

New Articles Entry: '9 IELTS Informal Letter Model Answers' has just been added to the Articles area of UsingEnglish.com.

New Articles Entry: 'How to write formal IELTS General Writing Task 1 letters' has just been added to the Articles area of UsingEnglish.com.

New Articles Entry: 'Analysis of official IELTS formal letter tasks' has just been added to the Articles area of UsingEnglish.com.

Room 29, Parliament Buildings

Specification and Description Language - Overview of SDL-2010 - SDL-2010 formal definition: Dynamic semantics

Specification and Description Language - Overview of SDL-2010 - SDL-2010 formal definition: Static semantics

Specification and Description Language - Overview of SDL-2010 - SDL formal definition: Dynamic semantics

Specification and Description Language - Overview of SDL-2010 - SDL formal definition: Static semantics

The investigation will look into Temu's content and product recommender systems as well as the sale of illegal products on the platform.

Read more: EU to formally investigate Temu for possible breach of DSA

Location: Electronic Resource- 

Location: Electronic Resource- 

Mejía habla sobre formalización laboral

Panelistas consideran que hay errores jurídicos cometidos por el CNE y que debe ser la Comisión de Acusaciones el llamado a investigar y juzgar al Presidente.