Second quarter and first half 2018 results

Oregon was the unanimous choice for No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday, strengthening its bid for the top spot in the College Football Playoff selection committee's first rankings of the season.

Boeing and its striking union returned to the bargaining table Tuesday for the first talks since the union turned thumbs down on a contract proposal last week.

Baylor Scheierman recorded Creighton's first triple-double since 1985, Trey Alexander made his first five 3-pointers and finished with 26 points, and the 17th-ranked Bluejays rolled past Georgetown 94-72 Tuesday night.

The NCAA Tournament field is set, and some college basketball fans in the D.C. area will be paying close attention to the First Four games. The First Four games in Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday feature the Howard Bison, the District's lone representative in the tournament, and the University of Virginia.

Inside the Ring: A Chinese proposal submitted to the United Nations last month calling on all nations to adopt Beijing's questionable no-first-use nuclear weapons policy is a nonstarter for the United States. A State Department official told Inside the Ring that the no-first-use policy would be unacceptable, given Beijing's massive nuclear weapons buildup and its refusal to join U.S. arms talks.

Wolverhampton secured its first English Premier League win after 11 games and climbed off the bottom of the standings by beating Southampton 2-0 on Saturday to ease the pressure on manager Gary O'Neil.

Coco Gauff won the WTA Finals for the first time by rallying to beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the final on Saturday.

Donald Trump says he has big plans for his once-and-future temporary home, a city that he says has deteriorated into a cesspool of crime, homelessness and corruption without him at the nation's helm.

Republicans are touting big plans for the early days of the incoming Trump administration, saying their expected trifecta of power in the House, Senate and White House will allow them to fulfill a lengthy list of campaign promises.

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days on Wednesday, authorities reported, as the Pentagon said most of the North Korean troops sent to help Moscow's war effort are fighting to drive Ukraine's army off Russian soil in the Kursk border region.

Fans of the status quo will be comfortable with the foreign policy stance of the Democratic candidate.

San Francisco third baseman Matt Chapman won his fifth Gold Glove and Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was among 14 first-time winners of baseball's most famous fielding honor.

Japan's nuclear watchdog on Wednesday formally disqualified a reactor in the country's north-central region from restarting, the first rejection under safety standards that were reinforced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The decision is a setback for Japan as it seeks to accelerate reactor restarts to maximize nuclear power.

The prequel series will chronicle the rise of the Bene Gesserit order thousands of years before Paul Atreides.

The post First Look At Dune: Prophecy, The Spin-Off TV Series Coming To Max first appeared on SciFi Stream.

Netflix is teasing the upcoming fourth season of The Witcher, with Liam Hemsworth taking over the lead role.

The post Toss A Coin: First Look At Liam Hemsworth’s Witcher first appeared on SciFi Stream.

The first meeting of Work Package 5 (EU BON testing and validation of concepts, tools, and services) was held between 2^nd and 4^th April, 2013 in the Doñana Biological Station, in Spain. 23 people from 10 different institutions (7 of the EU BON consortium) worked towards building a draft on Principles and Guidelines for establishing and operating EU BON test sites.

During the meeting the members agreed on starting documenting each of the sites, using a common format to be decided in May on the Informatics Task Force meeting of WP2 (Data integration and interoperability) in Norway. A data inventory will also be built in each of the sites, adding monitoring protocols in stepwise fashion.

In addition the meeting served to get a better view of the variety of Ecosystems in Doñana as well as the monitoring protocols that are being conducted in this area. 

A main obstacle to reach the 2010 biodiversity goals and to implement the European Biodiversity Strategy is lacking integration of biodiversity aspects into political, economic, and management decisions in different sectors mainly due to knowledge gaps. EU BON will provide access to sound data sources and scientific knowledge that is reliable, relevant, up-todate, and publicly available. Europe maintains substantial capacities to generate and manage such knowledge and to provide data relevant to assessing and managing our biological resources. These capacities concern research and technology development, tools for information management and infrastructure, and procedures for the development and implementation of well-informed environmental policies. 

In order to meet the demands of the main political stakeholders in the EU, in this workshop an overview of the project will be given and first results will be shown summarized in the first show case which is dealing with datasets in relation to political targets and indicators. In addition, the idea how the science–policy/management interface can function for example via the planned European Biodiversity Portal will be presented and the requirements for policy (political administration) discussed.

Results of this first stakeholder round table will be documented and passed back to the project in order to increase its relevance. Next stakeholder round tables can be used to evaluate the progress of the project with regard to serving the demands of EC, EEA, GEO BON, IPBES and other stakeholders.

The first EU BON Stakeholder Round Table is now approaching. The workshop will take place in Brussels on 18 June 2013 and be hosted by the Leibniz Association. A main obstacle to reach the 2010 biodiversity goals and to implement the European Biodiversity Strategy is the lacking integration of biodiversity aspects into political, economic, and management decisions in different sectors mainly due to knowledge gaps. The aim of the 1-day workshop will be to identify existing gaps, determine current needs regarding biodiversity information and develop solutions to overcome the existing knowledge gaps within the EU BON project.

EU BON will provide access to biodiversity information that is reliable, relevant, up-to-date, and publicly available. In the first Stakeholder Round Table, the EU BON approach for establishing a European Biodiversity Observation Network will be outlined. Based on that introduction, existing approaches that compile biodiversity or biodiversity-relevant data and the possible synergies and possible contributions to EU BON will be discussed. Another important aspect of the meeting will be to highlight the link to policy and governments of the European Union and their specific needs regarding biodiversity information.

Results of this first stakeholder round table will be documented and passed back to the project in order to increase its relevance. Next stakeholder round tables can be used to evaluate the progress of the project with regard to serving the demands of EC, EEA, GEO BON, IPBES, JRC and other stakeholders.

The first EU BON Stakeholder Round Table was held on 18 June 2013 at the Leibniz Association in Brussels, under the motto "Requirements for Policy".

Important topics regarding biodiversity information were discussed with political stakeholders and a variety of valuable recommendations were given for the future process of EU BON. Among the participants were members of the European policy, representatives of recent European biodiversity projects and EU BON members. At the round table, intensive discussions took place regarding what biodiversity policy needs, like which indicators and measurements are needed to answer burning policy questions. Suggestions were made to formalize Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV’s) and Aichi targets. A future approach was set towards producing a guideline and timeline for indicators that should be established within EU BON.

The challenges of future research policy were also discussed and the collaboration of EU BON with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) will be a substantial part of the continuous contributions to the global process. EU BON should also serve as a showcase for the European Commission in this respect. EU BON will also be responsible for answering crucial questions regarding data policy, e.g. how to establish a general repository for a long-lasting storage of data and how to handle ‘big data’. Another future task will be to integrate EU relevant projects and initiatives and their data portals, datasets and metadata.

At the round table it was also discussed how public stakeholders can be involved in the future, particularly citizen scientists, so that they could be integrated in EU BON and provide useful information for scientists and researchers.

Among the participants were representatives of major biodiversity stakeholders including Gilles Ollier, Jane Shiel and Sofie Vandewoestijne - European Commission, DG Research and Innovation; Anne Teller - European Commission, DG Environment;  Georgios Sarantakos - GEO Secretariat; Cigdem Adem - European Environment Agency; representatives of recent European biodiversity projects (FunDiv, BioFresh, STEP and INSPIRE) and EU BON members.

Presentations:

Creating and maintaining a biodiversity data collection has been a much-needed worldwide exercise for years, yet there is no single standard on how to do this. This has led to a myriad of datasets often incompatible with each other. To make the most out of biodiversity data and to ensure that its use for environmental monitoring and conservation is both easy and legal, EU BON published recommendations that provide consistent Europe-wide Data Publishing Guidelines and Recommendations in the EU BON Biodiversity Portal.

The report "Data Policy Recommendations for Biodiversity Data. EU BON Project Report" featured in the Research Ideas & Outcomes (RIO) journal, is the first contribution in a pioneering comprehensive project outputs compilation taking advantage of RIO's unique option to publish collections of project results.

Lyubomir Penev presenting the EU BON collection in RIO at the project's biodiversity data sharing and data publishing workshop in Sofia; Credit: Pensoft

Biodiversity data and information provide important knowledge for many biological, geological, and environmental research disciplines. Additionally, they are crucial for the development of strong environmental policies and the management of natural resources. Information management systems can bring together a wealth of information and a legacy of over 260 years of biological observations which are now dispersed in a myriad of different documents, institutions, and locations.

EU BON aims to build a comprehensive "European Biodiversity Portal" that will incorporate currently scattered Europe-wide biodiversity data, while at the same time helping to realize a substantial part of the worldwide Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). To achieve this ambitious plan, EU BON identifies the strong need for a coherent and consistent data policy in Europe to increase interoperability of data and make its re-use both easy and legal.

"Biodiversity data and information should not be treated as commercial goods, but as a common resource for the whole human society. The EU BON data sharing agreement is an important step in this direction," comments the lead author of the report Dr. Willi Egloff from Plazi, Switzerland.

In its report, the EU BON project analysis available single recommendations and guidelines on different topics. On this basis, the report provides structured guidelines for legislators, researchers, data aggregators, funding agencies and publishers to be taken into consideration towards providing standardized, easy-to-find, re-shareable and re-usable biodiversity data.

"We are extremely happy that EU BON is among the first to take advantage of our project outputs collections option in RIO. The first report they are publishing with us deals with issues of opening up data, and digitizing and collecting scientific knowledge, all close to RIO's mission to open up the research process and promote open science," says Prof. Lyubomir Penev, Founder and Publisher of RIO.

Original Source:

Egloff W, Agosti D, Patterson D, Hoffmann A, Mietchen D, Kishor P, Penev L (2016) Data Policy Recommendations for Biodiversity Data. EU BON Project Report. Research Ideas and Outcomes2: e8458. doi: 10.3897/rio.2.e8458

EU BON partner DataONE welcomes the Program for Research on Biodiversity (PPBio) Western Amazon as its first Member Node in South America. PPBio’s Western Amazon Node data repository contains data from surveys conducted in the framework of the Research Program in Biodiversity, the Center for Integrated Studies of Biodiversity in the Amazon and partner projects.

About PPBio:

The Research Program in Biodiversity (PPBio) is structured into three components:

• Biological Collections - support and development of biological collections such as herbaria, museums and living collections;
• Biological Inventories - biodiversity surveys, collecting sites, metadata and data for long-term studies;
• Thematic Projects - developing methods for sustainable management of biodiversity and bioprospecting.

PPBio’s research is based on spatial standardization that is crucial for answering the questions raised by decision makers, the integration of biodiversity and physical sciences and on the incorporation of local people and traditional knowledge in biodiversity research and bio-prospecting. PPBio uses a flexible, standardized, modular and economical sampling method, RAPELD, which is compatible with other existing methods and a data policy which enable their datasets to be quickly made available to other researchers. PPBio has produced several free online guides to the flora and fauna of the region and the book "Biodiversity and Integrated Environmental Monitoring" which is essential reading for anyone with questions about biodiversity whether or they also intend to collect data.

In 2013, Doñana Biological Reserve will host the first meeting of WP5 EU BON testing and validation of concepts, tools, and services, focusing on the organization and planning of the forthcoming WP5 tasks. The meeting will take place in Palacio de Doñana, Huelva, Spain, from 2 to 4 April 2013.
The aim of the meeting is to bring together the experts in charge of the implementation of the WP5 tasks with the people responsible for the data architecture (WP2), the tools developers (WP3, 4) and the policy and dialogue responsible partners (WP6, 7, 8). The meeting aims at providing a precise definition of the responsibilities of the partners involved and discussing the organization of the work process.

Тhe first meeting of the Freshwater Steering Group to be held in Uppsala, Sweden, on 10–12 June, 2013. The meeting is kindly supported by the Swedish EPA.

Please register for the workshop by sending an e-mail to Willem.Goedkoop@slu.se no later than 13 May.

The First EU BON Training Event will be held on April 3rd 2014, following the General Meeting of EU BON in Crete. Information regarding logistics (location, accommodation) can be found here: http://www.symposium.eubon.eu/general-meeting-2014.

The First EU BON Training Event aims to provide a basic understanding and shared vocabulary on Information architecture and Data standards used by EU BON. It will provide a forum for discussion, amongst experts from EU BON and from related Networks of Biodiversity Information.

Topics that will be covered:

1. Integrating biodiversity networks through Software Oriented Architecture -  Antonio Garcia, CSIC

2. Data standards: publishing sample-based data- Eamonn O Tuama, GBIF

3. Information architecture - GEOSS perspective – Lorenzo Bigagli

4. Data sharing and repositories in GBIF network  - Tim Robertson

5. Data flow and modelling in virtual laboratory - Hannu Saarenmaa, BioVeL

6. Data sharing and repositories in DataONE – Bruce E. Wilson

More information about the training event is available at: http://eubon.cybertaxonomy.africamuseum.be/page/eu-bon_training_events

The first Group on Earth Observations GEO Appathon 2014, an exciting new worldwide data science competition, is announced to be be launched on 7 May 2014. 

he GEO Appathon is a global applications (App) development competition that aims to develop new, exciting and - most importantly - useful Apps using Earth observation data from the open and expansive Earth Observation data sets in the GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI). See www.geoportal.org

The Appathon kicks off on 7 May 2014 and runs until 31 August 2014. Participation is open to any non-commercial entity, individual or team from any background in any country. Apps can be created for any of the main operating systems, and can be designed for any type of portable device. All Apps will be judged and the top three winners will receive a cash prize and a year-long GEO network endorsement and publicity for the App. 

Visit our GEO Appathon website (www.geoappathon.org) for more rules, details of how to register and information about how you can help us unleash the power of Earth observation data.

For further questions, please do not hesitate to email Dan Williams at: dan@geoappathon.org

The European Citizen Science Association organizes the First International ECSA Conference at the Kulturbrauerei in Berlin, Germany to take place from 19 to 21 May 2016.

The event will involve three days of talks, interactive sessions and panels to discuss and network with Citizen Scientist enthusiasts, practitioners, academic researchers, policy makers, science funders, non-governmental organisations, interested citizens and other stakeholders. The conference focuses on demonstrating and further exploring the innovation potential of Citizen Science for science, society and policy and its role within open science and innovation.

Attached below please find our Save-the-date Announcement in English and German. Please feel free to distribute it further or to print it for your institution's bill-board. Conference language will be English.

Subscribe now on the conference website and you will be sure to get all conference information: http://www.ecsa2016

The 44-year-old supermodel is expecting with her boyfriend, Joaquim Valente, according to reports.

The post Gisele Bündchen is reportedly pregnant, expecting first child since her divorce from Tom Brady appeared first on Boston.com.

Amazing Piano Stairs From Around The World 1. Piano Stairs in Stockholm, Sweden blendingpoint.com “Piano Stairs” is an interactive playful musical stairway installation created into ... Read more

The post 10 Amazing Piano Stairs From Around The World appeared first on CMUSE.

An unauthorized Muslim immigrant from Uzbekistan was offered a deal by the FBI: You can remain in the US, but only if you'll spy on your fellow Muslims. He did, but then he decided he wanted to stop.

Also, the Trump administration declassified thousands of documents that reveal details of Argentina's so called ‘dirty war’; In Northern Thailand, the grandchildren of one-time CIA backed Chinese rebels transformed what used to be a secret hideaway to a tea-drinking tourist haven; and the FBI has had agents dedicated to fighting war crimes, but now that team is being disbanded.

(The J. Edgar Hoover Building of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, DC. Credit: Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images)

Some people identify as Native American based on family stories. There is a more respected way to check and it does not involve a DNA test. Also, a proposed law would give indigenous people in Canada more say over their own land; during World War Two the US government built Japanese internment camps on tribal land; how the Choctaw Nation helped the Irish during the potato famine; and rock music legend Robbie Robertson recalls his childhood visits to family on the Six Nations Reserve .

(Photo: Native American dancers pose for pictures along the highway on May 11, 2018 in Cherokee, North Carolina. Located near the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the North Carolina side of the Appalachian Mountains, and at the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the region is home to the Cherokee Nation band of Indians. Credit: George Rose/Getty Images)

If there’s one lesson to be taken from the Iowa caucuses, it’s that elections and smartphone apps don’t always mix well. An app that was developed to count caucus-goers in the state malfunctioned, and caused major disruption. Officials say no hacking was involved but it has raised questions about moves to take the US election process online. Boston Calling reports from Iowa as we kick off our 2020 election coverage.

(Carl Voss, Des Moines City Councilman and a precinct chair, shows photographers the app that was used for caucus results reporting on his phone after he unsuccessfully attempted to drop off a caucus results packet from Precinct 55 at the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Chaney Enterprises, a ready-mix concrete, aggregates, custom blends, and related construction supplies provider, announced its customer, Eastern Bay Management Corporation completed the first multi-story, multi-use commercial insulated concrete form (ICF) building on the Eastern Shore in Maryland.

Regardless of the amount of safety training and precautions you take as a company, at some point in time an accident will happen. When that accident does occur, do your employees know the proper way to react?

Each month W&C interviews a new architect to hear their perspective.

Werner introduced on Feb. 5 the new Bantam Switch, the first reverse-system self-retracting lifeline, for pros working at height. The SRL transfers weight of the housing unit from the user’s back to the anchor point and lightens the load to 0 pounds.

TYPAR is introducing the industry’s first clear acrylic flashing. This game-changing product was developed in response to evolving builders’ needs and emerging building code changes requiring better visibility of the nail and screw-fin patterns on windows during window installations and inspections.

Charities need stability and clarity from next week’s announcement – more ambitious interventions can wait

As my experiences have shown, you run the risk of being seriously misled if you don't

Known for global leadership in setting public climate and sustainability policies, Buro Happold has led a remarkable new effort to redefine how Toronto’s public places provide respite from extremely hot weather — and cold winters, too.

Longtime Rockfon partner Sesco Group designed and renovated its boardroom to feature Rockfon’s Mono Acoustic ceiling system – the first installation of the product in Ontario, Canada.

Washington – U.S. law enforcement deaths in the first half of 2013 increased slightly from the previous year, but decreases occurred in firearms- and traffic-related deaths, according to preliminary data released July 11 by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Washington – Sixty-seven law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty during the first half of 2014 – a 31 percent increase from the same period last year, according to a report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund released July 22.

Washington – In response to a spike in the number of police officers killed in the line of duty in 2017, the House on May 18 passed a bill that seeks stricter penalties for people who harm or attempt to harm first responders.

Washington — NIOSH has released a video intended to protect first responders who face potential exposure to fentanyl – a synthetic opioid considered up to 50 times more potent than heroin – and other illicit drugs.

Washington — NIOSH has released a video intended to assist first responders with understanding personal protective equipment protocol when facing potential exposure to fentanyl – a synthetic opioid considered up to 50 times more potent than heroin – and other illicit drugs.

Washington — A new virtual toolkit from NIOSH is intended to help protect first responders from exposure to illicit drugs, including fentanyl – a synthetic opioid considered up to 50 times more potent than heroin.

Chantilly, VA — Fire and emergency medical service workers are being urged not to ignore or downplay the warning signs of a heart attack – a leading cause of firefighter fatalities – as part of a new awareness campaign launched by the International Association of Fire Chiefs.