(May 4, 2020) On April 29, 2020, the Swedish National Prosecutor announced that it is investigating a workplace environment crime (arbetsmiljöbrott) after a nurse working at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm died of COVID-19. The investigation comes following a report by the local safety representative (skyddsombud), who reportedly claimed that the hospital lacked the appropriate […]

Students who have registered to attend the free online GATE classes can check the detailed, subject-wise schedule from APSCHE website.

Given the many advantages it has over traditional litigation during the corona crisis, arbitration should no longer be just an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, but the primary choice for adjudicating disputes.

Effective 16th April, 2014, the Immigration Department of Hong Kong has announced that e-channels provided with voice navigation function would be working at the Macau Ferry Terminal (MFT) point of control, intended to assist visually impaired persons…

Strongly opposing federal and provincial governments’ decision to ease the lockdown, senior health experts and medical associations on Saturday warned that the number of COVID-19 cases was already on the rise and if restrictions were further lifted, the outbreak could get out of control in...

Authorities have confirmed they are looking into a new video related to the death of Ahmaud Arbery, the Georgia man who was allegedly shot by a father and son in February. The video, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, shows someone who appears to be Arbery on a home surveillance camera down the block from a construction site just minutes before the 25-year-old was shot on the afternoon of Feb. 23. Two police cars can be seen in the video minutes later traveling down the street in the direction Arbery ran and was later shot.

Prosecutor rejects Australia’s argument International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction because Palestine is ‘not a state’

The Australian government has told the International Criminal Court it should not investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine because Palestine is “not a state”, arguing the court prosecutor’s investigation into alleged attacks on civilians, torture, attacks on hospitals, and the use of human shields, should be halted on jurisdictional grounds.

Australia was lobbied to make the submission to the court by Israel, which is not a party to the court. But the office of the prosecutor has rejected Australia’s argument, saying it had not formally challenged Palestine’s right to be a party to the court before.

This report focuses on the development of backhaul and cross-border networks, which enable local networks to connect to the wider Internet. To connect their networks to others around the world, operators need access to regional and international high-speed networks. The level of investment required in these networks varies and can be very different from region to region.

Denmark’s enforcement of its foreign bribery laws has been weak. Only 13 foreign bribery allegations have surfaced, and sanctions have been imposed in just one case that falls under the Convention. Law enforcement authorities have not been sufficiently proactive, and cases have been prematurely closed without complete investigations. Denmark must take more investigative steps and make greater efforts to gather evidence from abroad.

Chile has made positive efforts to implement the Convention, but there has not been a single foreign bribery conviction. Chile did not sufficiently investigate several of the six foreign bribery allegations that have surfaced since 2001. Chile should improve its investigative and detection efforts, says OECD

The 24-year-old has been one of the standout players in the Premier League this season despite playing in a struggling Villa side who sit 19th, leading to interest from Manchester United.

Barnsley and Leeds have announced they are 'working together' to assess the crowd trouble which marred Sunday's derby clash at Oakwell.

Judge Louis Walsh was filming scenes with his act, Love Actually star Olivia Olson, on a London street when George, who proclaimed himself a huge fan of the IITV show, turned up.  

The 24-year-old has been one of the standout players in the Premier League this season despite playing in a struggling Villa side who sit 19th, leading to interest from Manchester United.

The Gujarat state government appears to have very little planned by way of support for the education of Muslim children. What's more the education department appears to be standing in the way of the embattled community's attempts to help itself. Deepa A has more.

Students who have registered to attend the free online GATE classes can check the detailed, subject-wise schedule from APSCHE website.

Andhra Pradesh has rolled out free online coaching for GATE exam. AP's Ministry of Education in collaboration with Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE) has decided to offer free online classes for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE)

Communication gap hindering their bail application process

The age-old Elephant Gate bridge was fully demolished on Saturday. The Southern Railway dismantled the railway overbridge (ROB) within 12 days, after

Rietveld/MEM analysis applied to synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction data of dehydrated CHA zeolites with catalytically active Cu2+ reveals Cu2+ in both the six- and eight-membered rings in the CHA framework, providing the first complete structural model that accounts for all Cu2+. Density functional theory calculations are used to corroborate the experimental structure and to discuss the Cu2+ coordination in terms of the Al distribution in the framework.

Ripon sinkhole concerns halt Harrogate council homes plans  BBC News

Phenanthroline ligands are important metal-binding mol­ecules which have been extensively researched for applications in both material science and medicinal chemistry. Azo­benzene and its derivatives have received significant attention because of their ability to be reversibly switched between the E and Z forms and so could have applications in optical memory and logic devices or as mol­ecular machines. Herein we report the formation and crystal structure of a highly unusual novel diazo-diphenanthroline compound, C24H14N6O2·2CHCl3.

A new conjugated carbazole chalcone compound, (E)-3-[4-(9,9a-di­hydro-8aH-carbazol-9-yl)phen­yl]-1-(4-nitro­phen­yl)prop-2-en-1-one (CPNC), C27H18N2O3, was synthesized using a Claisen–Schmidt condensation reaction. CPNC crystallizes in the monoclinic non-centrosymmetric space group Cc and adopts an s-cis conformation with respect to the ethyl­enic double bonds (C=O and C=C). The crystal packing features C—H⋯O and C—H⋯π inter­actions whose percentage contribution was qu­anti­fied by Hirshfeld surface analysis. Quantum chemistry calculations including geometrical optimization and mol­ecular electrostatic potential (MEP) were analysed by density functional theory (DFT) with a B3LYP/6–311 G++(d,p) basis set.

Protein-engineering methods have been exploited to produce a surrogate system for the extracellular neurotransmitter-binding site of a heteromeric human ligand-gated ion channel, the glycine receptor. This approach circumvents two major issues: the inherent experimental difficulties in working with a membrane-bound ion channel and the complication that a heteromeric assembly is necessary to create a key, physiologically relevant binding site. Residues that form the orthosteric site in a highly stable ortholog, acetylcholine-binding protein, were selected for substitution. Recombinant proteins were prepared and characterized in stepwise fashion exploiting a range of biophysical techniques, including X-ray crystallography, married to the use of selected chemical probes. The decision making and development of the surrogate, which is termed a glycine-binding protein, are described, and comparisons are provided with wild-type and homomeric systems that establish features of molecular recognition in the binding site and the confidence that the system is suited for use in early-stage drug discovery targeting a heteromeric α/β glycine receptor.

Mitochondrial calcium uptake proteins 1 and 2 (MICU1 and MICU2) mediate mitochondrial Ca2+ influx via the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU). Its molecular action for Ca2+ uptake is tightly controlled by the MICU1–MICU2 heterodimer, which comprises Ca2+ sensing proteins which act as gatekeepers at low [Ca2+] or facilitators at high [Ca2+]. However, the mechanism underlying the regulation of the Ca2+ gatekeeping threshold for mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake through the MCU by the MICU1–MICU2 heterodimer remains unclear. In this study, we determined the crystal structure of the apo form of the human MICU1–MICU2 heterodimer that functions as the MCU gatekeeper. MICU1 and MICU2 assemble in the face-to-face heterodimer with salt bridges and me­thio­nine knobs stabilizing the heterodimer in an apo state. Structural analysis suggests how the heterodimer sets a higher Ca2+ threshold than the MICU1 homodimer. The structure of the heterodimer in the apo state provides a framework for understanding the gatekeeping role of the MICU1–MICU2 heterodimer.

A scanning soft X-ray spectromicroscope was recently developed based mainly on the photon-in/photon-out measurement scheme for the investigation of local electronic structures on the surfaces and interfaces of advanced materials under conditions ranging from low vacuum to helium atmosphere. The apparatus was installed at the soft X-ray beamline (BL17SU) at SPring-8. The characteristic features of the apparatus are described in detail. The feasibility of this spectromicroscope was demonstrated using soft X-ray undulator radiation. Here, based on these results, element-specific two-dimensional mapping and micro-XAFS (X-ray absorption fine structure) measurements are reported, as well as the observation of magnetic domain structures from using a reference sample of permalloy micro-dot patterns fabricated on a silicon substrate, with modest spatial resolution (e.g. ∼500 nm). Then, the X-ray radiation dose for Nafion® near the fluorine K-edge is discussed as a typical example of material that is not radiation hardened against a focused X-ray beam, for near future experiments.

The crystal structure of the organic pigment 2-monomethyl-quinacridone (Pigment Red 192, C21H14N2O2) was solved from X-ray powder diffraction data. The resulting average structure is described in space group Poverline 1, Z = 1 with the molecule on the inversion centre. The molecules are arranged in chains. The molecules, which have no inversion symmetry, show orientational head-to-tail disorder. In the average structure, the methyl group is disordered and found on both ends of the molecule with an occupancy of 0.5 each. The disorder and the local structure were investigated using various ordered structural models. All models were analysed by three approaches: Rietveld refinement, structure refinement to the pair distribution function (PDF) and lattice-energy minimization. All refinements converged well. The Rietveld refinement provided the average structure and gave no indication of a long-range ordering. The refinement to the PDF turned out to be very sensitive to small structural details, giving insight into the local structure. The lattice-energy minimizations revealed a significantly preferred local ordering of neighbouring molecules along the [0ar 11] direction. In conclusion, all methods indicate a statistical orientational disorder with a preferred parallel orientation of molecules in one direction. Additionally, electron diffraction revealed twinning and faint diffuse scattering.

The crystal structure of the nanocrystalline pigment mono­methyl-quinacridone was solved from X-ray powder data. The orientational disorder was investigated using Rietveld refinements, structure refinement to the pair-distribution function, and lattice-energy minimizations of various ordered structural models.

Researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute conducted three different kinds of genetics tests and all yielded the same result—the Galapagos seabirds have been genetically different from the magnificent frigatebirds elsewhere for more than half a million years.

The post Genetic surprise: Magnificent frigatebird living on Galapagos Islands is distinct species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A Washington, D.C., think tank issued a report that says California Virtual Acadmies, a major online school network, has had more dropouts than graduates in most years.; Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

A report released Thursday by a labor group-affiliated Washington think tank is questioning the education provided by an online public school program that says it is in a union fight.

The report by In the Public Interest, a group funded by unions, says the thousands of students enrolled in the California Virtual Academies online public school known as CAVA are receiving a  substandard education by most measures.

"So in every year since CAVA began graduating students, with the exception of 2013, it has produced more dropouts than graduates,” said Shahrzad Habibi, who authored the report.

She said state test score data show that 71 percent of California public schools performed better than the virtual academies.

The report calls on California officials to investigate the online schools’ administration and finances.

California Virtual Academies enrolls about 14,000 kindergarten to 12th grade students through 11 sites, including those in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Fresno. It is run by a national for-profit company called K12 Inc.

In a written statement, California Virtual Academies did not dispute the reported low student performance numbers, but denied other allegations in the study, which it called “inaccurate and deeply flawed.”

“The report relies primarily on misinformation from the California Teachers Association — the union currently engaged in a coordinated and well-funded distortion campaign to unionize the eleven independent California Virtual Academies charter schools.”

In the Public Interest, which supports the work of labor unions, partnered with the American Federation of Teachers last year on a website to track for-profit charter school companies.

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

Policy efforts have focused on modifying individual behaviour as one strategy to address climate change. However, this has been met with limited success and a new UK study suggests that policies to encourage behaviour change need to operate on multiple levels and that there is a need for greater co-ordination between individuals, governments, businesses and communities.

The development of future recycling technologies must be informed by data about products and materials that will enter the waste stream, but such forecasts are subject to a high level of uncertainty. In this study, researchers have proposed a methodology for predicting emerging waste materials, applying it to silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) panels. The findings show that closed-loop recycling — when post-consumer waste is recycled to make new products — of PV panel materials could mitigate up to 0.2% of the annual environmental impact of Flanders1, Belgium, if suitable technology was developed.

Researchers have devised a blueprint to integrate the efficient use of waste wood throughout a bioeconomy system — part of the economy that uses renewable biological resources from land and sea. This study assessed the environmental sustainability of three scenarios for increasing targeted levels of industrial symbiosis within the wood-based bioeconomy of central Germany, and found that, in most cases, the three alternative future bioeconomy networks outperformed the selected fossil-based reference systems, mitigating environmental impacts by 25 to 130%.

In 2008, the injection of CO2 started at Ketzin in Germany, Europe’s first onshore carbon storage site. A recently published paper has reported on the findings of experiments conducted on the rocks at Ketzin, which contributed important information about their safety and feasibility for storing CO2. No significant changes to the rocks were observed 15 months after they had been injected with CO2.

Storing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has the potential to mitigate the impacts of changes in climate. Researchers have now developed a way to inject CO2 into volcanic rock, and tested it in Iceland. Over 95% of the injected CO2 was mineralised (converted into a solid) within two years, instead of taking centuries or millennia as previously anticipated. The technique demonstrates potential for the permanent and safe storage of CO2 within basaltic rocks.

Automation failures have been the cause of such widely reported disasters as the crash of Air France Flight 447 in 2009, with most of the focus placed on deficiencies in the automated system. Although automation does help in avoiding human error in completing tasks, people are still needed to monitor how well the automated system is operating.

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A new study into the impact of railway noise has revealed that it is not just the level of noise that contributes to annoyance for local residents, but also the number of trains and the vibrations they cause. As railway transport is likely to increase in coming years, plans are needed to reduce these effects.

Renewable energy plays an important role in economic development, according to a recent study which investigated the relationship between economic growth and energy consumption in Europe.

In the face of substantial evidence that modern land use management practices have increased runoff at the local scale, a new study reveals changes in local land use management practices can reduce the risk of local flooding. However, there is little evidence so far that these local increases in runoff culminate in large-scale flooding effects. To address this lack of evidence, the researchers present a model that maps the downstream rate of flow back to its source areas.

The use of pesticides in orchards may be threatening populations of wild bees, which are important pollinators that increase crop productivity, a new study concludes. However, the damage was mitigated in areas where the orchards were surrounded by natural landscapes, such as deciduous forests.

An investigation into the attitudes of Canadian soil-remediation experts has shown that they tend to prefer conventional remediation methods over phytoremediation — which relies on plants to clean soils — despite evidence that the latter can have advantages. The researchers behind the study highlight that this ‘status-quo bias’ poses a barrier to the uptake of novel technologies such as phytoremediation, and that scientists may need to find different ways of disseminating evidence to increase the use of new techniques among practitioners.

Environmental pollution is putting amphibians and reptiles at risk, yet these animals are not included in regulations regarding the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of pesticides. The extent to which other species already used in pesticide toxicity assessment (including fish, birds and mammals) can serve as effective surrogates is currently under debate. This study conducts a systematic review of the available literature. The results reveal a positive correlation between toxicity recorded on fish and aquatic amphibians, but indicate that birds and mammals are generally not good surrogates for reptiles and terrestrial amphibians. Moreover, some chemical-dependent trends were detected, with a number of insecticides found to be more toxic to amphibians or reptiles than to potential surrogates. These findings highlight an urgent need for further research to reduce uncertainties and contribute to future policymaking regarding the protection of amphibians and reptiles from potentially harmful pesticides.

Pollution is the world’s largest environmental cause of disease and premature death. The Lancet Commission on pollution and health brought together leaders, researchers and practitioners from the fields of pollution management, environmental health and sustainable development to elucidate the full health and economic costs of air, water, chemical and soil pollution worldwide. By analysing existing and emerging data, the Commission reveals that pollution makes a significant and underreported contribution to the global burden of disease, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The Commission also provides six recommendations to policymakers and other stakeholders looking for efficient, cost-effective and actionable approaches to pollution mitigation and prevention.