Chemical separations — which are used to divide chemical mixtures into their distinct elements — are critical in providing many of the foods and services needed to maintain our quality of life.

Engineering is emerging as an important topic in K-12 education in the U.S., and is being incorporated into education standards, instructional materials, and assessments.

India-based merchant payment and lending service provider BharatPe has announced disbursing funds...

; Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

What does the right to a unanimous jury verdict have to do with abortion, or school prayer, or federal environmental regulations? Stay tuned.

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday struck down state laws in Louisiana and Oregon that allowed people accused of serious crimes to be convicted by a non-unanimous jury vote. The 6-to-3 decision overturned a longstanding prior ruling from 1972, which had upheld such non-unanimous verdicts in state courts.

And these days, any decision to overturn a longstanding precedent rings the alarm bells in the Supreme Court.

In the short run, Monday's decision was a victory for Evangelisto Ramos, who in 2016 was convicted of second-degree murder by a jury vote of 10-to-2 in Louisiana.

Only two states--Louisiana and Oregon--had provisions allowing non-unanimous verdicts, and Louisiana just recently changed its law to be like those in 48 other states and the federal government.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, laid out the history behind the laws in both states. Gorsuch noted that the measure was first added to the Louisiana state constitution in 1898, after the Supreme Court ruled that racial minorities could not be barred from juries; that same year, Louisiana added the non-unanimous jury provision to its state constitution as part of a package of amendments that deliberately made it difficult for black citizens to vote or otherwise participate meaningfully in the state's governance. Specifically, Gorsuch said, the non-unanimous jury provision was a way to ensure that even if one or two African Americans made it on to a jury, their participation would be "meaningless."

The adoption of the non-unanimous jury rule in Oregon, Gorsuch wrote, "can similarly be traced to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and efforts to dilute the influence of racial and ethnic and religious minorities on Oregon juries."

Despite these state provisions, there has never been any dispute that the unanimous jury requirement applies to the federal government. The question in this case was whether that aspect of the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial applied to the states as well.

Over the last 75 years or so, the court has applied just about every other provision of the Bill of Rights to the states, but in 1972 it deviated from that practice, declining to apply the unanimous jury requirement in a similar fashion.

On Monday, however, the 1972 decision came tumbling down. The six-justice court majority — composed of conservatives and liberals — said the earlier ruling was a mistake.

The decision, written by the conservative Gorsuch, was joined in whole or in part by liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Justice Clarence Thomas, another conservative, agreed with the result, but on entirely different grounds.

Writing for the dissenters, Justice Samuel Alito — joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and for the most part, Justice Elena Kagan — maintained that the principle of adhering to precedent should be followed in this case because to do otherwise would require "a potentially crushing" number of new trials for people currently imprisoned under the old rule.

"Where is the justice in that?" replied Justice Gorsuch. "Not a single member of this court" is prepared to say that the 1972 decision was correct, he noted. "Every judge must learn to live with the fact that he or she will make mistakes ... But it is something else entirely to perpetuate" a wrong "only because we fear the consequences of being right."

The consequences of Monday's decision will likely be felt more in Louisiana, which allowed non-unanimous verdicts for more serious crimes than Oregon. The court's decision will require retrials for any prisoner who still has appeals pending.

There are about 100 of those cases in Louisiana, says Jamila Johnson, the managing attorney at the Promise of Justice Initiative, which represented Ramos. But there are also at least 1,700 prisoners in the state who might qualify for a new trial if the court eventually holds that Monday's decision is retroactive.

The high court left that question open for another day.

Altogether the majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions totaled a whopping 86 pages and reflected an important subtext--divergent views about when the court should follow its usual rule of adhering to precedent and when it should not.

It's important because, the new ultra-conservative court majority has very different views than the courts of the last 75 years on topics as diverse as abortion, voting rights, federal regulation, and the clash between religious views and generally applicable laws.

"The court's views about when it's OK to overrule prior precedent have always been more about the eye of the beholder than they have been about a rule that is easy or straightforward to apply," says Deborah Pearlstein, professor and co-director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at Cardozo School of Law. Ultimately, she said, "all of these major questions that are coming before the court are going to be fought along these lines."

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

; Credit: Courtesy Randy Newman

Read the full article at LAist

A still from "Spaceship Earth".; Credit: Neon/"Spaceship Earth" (2020)

Two months is a long time to be quarantined in one place. Just ask, well, pretty much anyone in the era of COVID-19. But imagine if you were quarantined for two years instead of two months, all in the name of science, and it was by choice!

In 1991, eight researchers did exactly that in Oracle, Arizona as part of a first-of-its-kind mission called BIOSPHERE 2. No, there was no failed BIOSPHERE 1 mission -- BIOSPHERE 1 is planet Earth. The mission’s goal was to create a living ecosystem inside a massive glass and steel facility to show that human life could be sustained in outer space. The idea was that whenever humanity finally did gain the ability to travel deeper into space and colonize another planet, a biosphere would need to be built first so that life could be sustained. But what started as a science experiment quickly evolved into a cultural phenomenon, and while some watched with bated breath to see whether the researchers could really create a living ecosystem in a controlled environment, others saw the project and those who were involved as a cult of sorts. Director Matt Wolf explores BIOSPHERE 2  the researchers (“biospherians”) who carried the mission out, what ultimately happened and the good and bad ways in which it became a cultural phenomenon.

Today on FilmWeek, “The Frame” host John Horn talks with Wolf about the making of the film and what can be learned from the biospherians about our current situation staying at home because of COVID-19.

Guest:

Matt Wolf, director of the documentary “Spaceship Earth"

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

World War II veterans Pyotr Vorobyev (left), 90, and Pavel Yeroshenko, 94, attend a performance in Minsk by the 120th Rogachev Guards Mechanized Brigade of the Belarusian Armed Forces ahead of the 75th anniversary of the victory in World War II. Belarus is raising eyebrows — and concerns — by going ahead with a mass military parade marking the anniversary on Saturday.; Credit: Natalia Fedosenko/TASS

With the coronavirus forcing much of Europe to tone down public celebrations this week marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the small nation of Belarus is raising eyebrows — and concerns — by going ahead with a mass military parade in the capital Minsk on Saturday.

The move reflects the business-as-usual approach of the country's longtime president, Alexander Lukashenko — a former Soviet collective farm director leading what the U.S. once dubbed the last dictatorship in Europe.

As the coronavirus has raced across the globe, Lukashenko has dismissed the pandemic as mass "psychosis" — a disease easily cured with a bit of vodka, a hot sauna or time spent playing hockey or doing farm work on one of country's legendary Soviet-designed tractors.

The country's soccer league still competes. Belarus' schools opened after a short delay. And annual Victory Day celebrations will go on.

The government "simply cannot cancel the parade," the Belarusian leader said in a Cabinet meeting this week. "It's an emotional, deeply ideological event."

In a rare concession to at least some social distancing measures, Lukashenko has urged Belarusian men to spend time with their families, rather than their mistresses. But behind the theatrics sits a wily politician who plays to his base in the country's towns and villages, analysts say.

"Lukashenko prioritizes combating panic rather than combating the pandemic," Artyom Shraibman, a Minsk-based political analyst with Sense Analytics, tells NPR. "He downplays the threat, and of course he's very concerned about [the] state of [the] economy."

Shraibman notes similar echoes coming out of the Trump White House.

Belarus has reported over 21,000 suspected coronavirus cases and more than 120 deaths — comparatively low in the global count, but one of the fastest-growing infection rates in Europe, the World Health Organization says.

Amid the growing crisis, Belarusian civil society is rallying to fix what Lukashenko will not. With many Belarusians now self-isolating by choice, even the country's health ministry has endorsed some public distancing measures over Lukashenko's advice.

Volunteers have raised money to buy personal protective gear for hospitals. Restaurants have donated food. Hotels provide rooms pro bono to medical workers. Private businesses have raised funds.

"People who normally don't talk to each other are working together to help," says Andrej Stryzhak of #ByCovid19, a group of volunteer activists leading crowdfunded efforts to equip health workers across the country. "It's been magical and I don't use that word lightly."

Stryzhak says many are bracing for the aftershocks of Saturday's Victory parade, where attendance isn't required but there are reports of pay bonuses given to those who show up.

"We believe in statistics. And the experts and doctors tell us that if there's a crowd, then expect a new spike in cases a week or two later," says Stryzhak. "Belarus isn't Mars," he adds, noting that the country is as susceptible to the virus as any other.

Meanwhile, Lukashenko's contrarian approach has also fueled a rift with Belarus' big brother to the east. Russia has embraced lockdowns amid its own soaring coronavirus infection rates.

This week, the Belarusian leader ordered the expulsion of a journalist from Russia's Channel 1 state television network after it aired a report criticizing Lukashenko for risking lives and ignoring the pandemic.

"Leave us alone and don't count your chickens before they hatch," said Lukashenko. "Later we'll sit and find out who was right."

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

My new book LOSERTHINK, available now on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/rqmjc2a Content: Making the most of our lockdown opportunities The future of the coronavirus task force Testing our way out, versus reality The economy and recovery If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful […]

The post Episode 959 Scott Adams: Join Me in My Fortress of Garagitude appeared first on Scott Adams' Blog.

Shares of WPX Energy traded 25% higher after President Trump tweeted that he expected a deal between Russia and Saudi Arabia to scale back oil production.

The last two decades have seen a series of new construction waste policies management in Hong Kong. One of the most significant is an offsite construction waste sorting (CWS) programme which, since its implementation in 2006, has separated 5.11 million tonnes of construction waste into different materials. The researchers suggest that the study provides an important reference for other countries working to minimise construction waste.

In a new study, Spanish researchers describe a method specifically designed for measuring and characterising noise from building sites. They claim the method could help shape future policy related to noise pollution caused by the construction industry and provide important information to help reduce construction noise.

Simple characteristics of plant species - such as height or leaf size - can be used to predict the ecosystem services provided by the green roofs they grow on, a new study suggests. The researchers suggest that their method could be used to screen the thousands of potential plant species in order to optimize green roof design.

Genpact sees over 100 clients closing their financial quarter digitally while others are doubling the pace of adoption of digital transformation.

In a previous blog post, Notifications from MATLAB, I showed how Amazon's Notification system (AWS SNS) can be used from MATLAB service can be used to easily send information between endpoints in a distributed system, be they applications or people.... read more >>

Insights from a recent Italian study could help local authorities across Europe improve their rates of separate waste collection for recycling. The researchers found higher rates of separate waste collection in municipalities with high-quality governmental institutions for waste collection, non-mountainous terrain and higher income levels. Separating household waste into streams, such as glass or food, for re-use and recycling helps free up resources for a circular economy. Good-quality institutions are the main driver of separate waste collection and can overcome barriers such as low economic prosperity.

Improved understanding of flash flooding could be achieved through post-flood observations, re-examination of weather radar data and the use of combined weather and hydrological modelling, according to the recent HYDRATE research project. This information can be used to improve flash flood forecasting.

Farmers in one of Europe’s most water-stressed regions would be willing to pay double the current amount for irrigation water in order to ensure a reliable supply, new research from Spain suggests. The study also shows that they appear unsupportive of new policies proposed by the researchers, such as water markets and tighter controls on groundwater pumping, which could help enable a guaranteed supply of water.

“Create a separate user profile with minimal privileges for work-only use. Close all work-related windows, applications, files, and documents when not in use. Do not use work email addresses to sign up for unauthorised, free tools. Grant access to your employees to corporate network only though a company-approved VPN with multi-factor authentication,” the advisory states.

Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI) launched Internet of Things (IoT) garage in Electronic City, Bengaluru, to offer enterprises a full stack IoT implementation capability.

Ravinder Pal Singh, Chief Information and Innovation Officer at Vistara is leveraging the power of multiple technologies ranging from AI, Robotics, SATCOM, Bigdata (Science) and Blockchain to enhance the airline's critical business functions.

It is possible to balance agricultural production with improved biodiversity on farmland, according to researchers. A new study suggests using a combination of land sharing techniques, which enhance biodiversity on existing farmland, with land separation techniques, which designate separate areas for conservation and farmland production.

Agri-environment schemes (AES) have been implemented throughout Europe to mitigate against the negative effects of agricultural intensification. Although these schemes have shown positive effects on the abundance and richness of certain species and taxa, the impact of AES on reproduction of target species at the local and landscape scale is poorly understood. This large-scale study looked for the effect of selected AE measures on bumblebee reproduction. Results indicate that bumblebee reproduction is significantly higher on sown flower patches when compared to conventional management. Although the increase is most pronounced at the plot scale, higher reproduction was found in landscapes surrounding larger sown plots (at least one hectare) compared to smaller sown plots.

A drug used to treat parasite infections at fish farms can contaminate the surrounding environment and threaten local wildlife, a new study shows. Following a week-long treatment at a Norwegian salmon farm, the authors found concentrations of an anti-sea-lice drug that were high enough to kill some crabs, shrimps and lobsters. However, they suggest the drug is not likely to pose a risk to humans.

Municipal wastewater is a major source of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment. Results from a recent study suggest that collecting and treating urine separately from other forms of sewage could be a cost-effective way to reduce the harmful effects of pharmaceuticals on the environment, while also providing a source of nutrients for fertilising agricultural crops.

In a previous post, I introduced a model simulating the exponential spread of a phenomenon like COVID-19. With more and more talks in the news about deconfinement plans, I thought it would be interesting to run multiple simulations with different deconfinement scenarios and observe the potential outcomes.... read more >>

A recent study has analysed the physical and chemical characteristics of particulate matter (PM) from 60 sites across Europe. The results suggest there is no single ratio between PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ mass concentrations for all the sites, and that PM mass cannot be directly related to the concentration of particle numbers.

Ultrafine particles emitted from a waste incinerator plant in Italy have been characterised in a recent study. The results suggest that a fabric filter was efficient at cleaning particulate matter from the exhaust gases. Data produced by the study could go on to be used by scientists studying the potential health impacts of ultrafine particles.

Pedestrians are exposed to different levels of pollution on the pavements depending on how parked cars at the roadside are arranged, according to the first in a series of new studies in this area. The researchers modelled different parking regimes and found that less pollution reached the pavement when cars were parked sideways on, rather than at an angle to the street. Their results may help urban planners design more pedestrian-friendly streets.

Grey took a secret photo, Myke took a chance, and they both cannot agree on how long you should stick it out.

A co-ordinated medical intervention that saw a distressed Jessica Marais rushed to a Sydney hospital by ambulance last weekend raises an important question: what can be done when repeat rehab fails?

SUFFOLK – The Virginia Department of Transportation Hampton Roads District (VDOT) is suspending lane closures on Interstate 64 and Interstate 664...

SUFFOLK– As Hurricane Florence approaches the coast, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Hampton Roads District continues to monitor...

The enchanting world of CBeebies’ hit animated series Sarah & Duck comes to life on stage in Radlett this week. Featuring a host of characters from the BAFTA Award-winning TV show, Sarah & Duck’s Big Top Birthday plays three performances at the Radlett Centre on Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7.

Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn says he does not want to stage the world heavyweight champion's next defence of his title behind closed doors.

Poh Ling Yeow, a MasterChef Australia winner and now also a contestant, hasn’t been able to see her husband Jono Bennett for a month because of coronavirus travel restrictions.

Motherhood, for now, looks vastly different for Sarah Roberts than she expected it to – but nonetheless, the actor wants to speak candidly about the heartbreak she and husband James Stewart endured after she suffered two miscarriages in the past year.

Media Release

Media Release

The next phase will further de-risk the 763 billion cubic feet of 2C resources at the Ntorya field.

Effective May 4, he will oversee the company's US resource play businesses.

Saudi Arabia is now indicating it's determined to do whatever it takes to support an oil price recovery.