gle Enhancing the homogeneity of YBa2(Cu1−xFex)3O7−δ single crystals by using an Fe-added Y2O3 crucible via top-seeded solution growth By journals.iucr.org Published On :: This paper reports an Fe-added Y2O3 crucible which is capable of balancing the solution spontaneously and is employed to effectively enhance the homogeneity of YBa2(Cu1−xFex)3O7−δ single crystals. Full Article text
gle Significant texture improvement in single-crystalline-like materials on low-cost flexible metal foils through growth of silver thin films By journals.iucr.org Published On :: Single-crystalline-like thin films composed of crystallographically aligned grains are a new prototype of 2D materials developed recently for low-cost and high-performance flexible electronics as well as second-generation high-temperature superconductors. In this work, significant texture improvement in single-crystalline-like materials is achieved through growth of a 330 nm-thick silver layer. Full Article text
gle Microstructure and water distribution in catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells, elucidated by contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering By journals.iucr.org Published On :: By using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) reinforced by scanning electron microscopy, the fine structure of catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells has been investigated. The experimental data resulting from contrast variation with mixed light and heavy water (H2O/D2O) are well described by a core–shell model with fluctuations in concentration between water and Nafion. Full Article text
gle Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and spin-echo SANS measurements reveal the logarithmic fractal structure of the large-scale chromatin organization in HeLa nuclei By journals.iucr.org Published On :: This paper reports on the two-scale fractal structure of chromatin organization in the nucleus of the HeLa cell. Full Article text
gle New attempt to combine scanning electron microscopy and small-angle scattering in reciprocal space By journals.iucr.org Published On :: An attempt has been made to combine small-angle scattering of X-rays or neutrons with scanning electron microscopy in reciprocal space, in order to establish a structural analysis method covering a wide range of sizes from micro- to macro-scales. Full Article text
gle X-ray diffraction using focused-ion-beam-prepared single crystals By journals.iucr.org Published On :: This study demonstrates a new preparation method for single-crystal X-ray diffraction samples using a focused ion beam. The results of the structure determination and electron density maps with differently prepared samples are discussed, to evaluate this new method. Full Article text
gle Accurate high-resolution single-crystal diffraction data from a Pilatus3 X CdTe detector By journals.iucr.org Published On :: Detailed analysis of the high-flux deficiencies of pixel-array detectors leads to a protocol for the measurement of structure factors of unprecedented accuracy even for inorganic materials, and this significantly advances the prospects for experimental electron-density investigations. Full Article text
gle Sub-millisecond time-resolved small-angle neutron scattering measurements at NIST By journals.iucr.org Published On :: Instrumentation for sub-millisecond time-resolved small-angle neutron scattering measurements at NIST is described and applied to the reorientation dynamics of elongated hematite nanoparticles. Full Article text
gle sasPDF: pair distribution function analysis of nanoparticle assemblies from small-angle scattering data By journals.iucr.org Published On :: The sasPDF method, an extension of the atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis to the small-angle scattering (SAS) regime, is presented. The method is applied to characterize the structure of nanoparticle assemblies with different levels of structural order. Full Article text
gle A novel experimental approach for nanostructure analysis: simultaneous small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering By journals.iucr.org Published On :: A portable small-angle X-ray scattering instrument with geometrical dimensions suitable for installation at the D22 instrument was designed and constructed for simultaneous small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering experiments at ILL. Full Article text
gle Measurement of single crystal piezo modulus by the method of diffraction of synchrotron radiation at angles near π By journals.iucr.org Published On :: The diffraction response of a single crystal to electric field measured by X-ray diffraction by angles close to π. Such schemes allow one to determine with high (~ 10–5–10–6) accuracy the relative changes in the lattice constant. Full Article text
gle GIWAXS-SIIRkit: Scattering Intensity, Indexing, and Refraction Calculation Toolkit for Grazing Incidence Wide Angle X-ray Scattering of Organic Materials By journals.iucr.org Published On :: A software package for Grazing Incident Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (GIWAXS) geared toward weakly ordered materials, including: scattering intensity normalization/uncertainty, scattering pattern indexing, and refractive shift correction. Full Article text
gle Synthesis and crystallographic, spectroscopic and computational characterization of the effects of O—R substituents on the torsional[torsion] angle of 3,3',4,4'-substituted biphenyls By journals.iucr.org Published On :: The synthesis, characterization and study of structures from a series of biphenyls substituted at positions 3, 3', 4 and 4' with groups connected to the biphenyl core through oxygen atoms are presented here. The molecular conformation is extensively studied both in the solid as well as in the liquid state, and the effect of different actors (such as packing and chain length) on the torsion angle between aromatic rings is analyzed. Full Article text
gle Structure of a single-chain H2A/H2B dimer By journals.iucr.org Published On :: A single-chain, tailless Xenopus laevis H2A/H2B dimer construct (scH2BH2A) was engineered by directly fusing the C-terminus of H2B to the N-terminus of H2A without an artificial linker sequence. A high-resolution crystal structure of scH2BH2A shows that it adopts a nearly identical fold to that of nucleosomal H2A/H2B and may be useful for future structural studies of many H2A/H2B-interacting proteins. Full Article text
gle Astronomers see supernova from a new angle By insider.si.edu Published On :: Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:15:02 +0000 "Just like mirrors in a changing room show you a clothing outfit from all sides, interstellar dust clouds act like mirrors to show us different sides of the supernova," Rest explains. The post Astronomers see supernova from a new angle appeared first on Smithsonian Insider. Full Article Research News Science & Nature Space astronomy astrophysics Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory supernova
gle New study may help free whales from fishing rope entanglement By insider.si.edu Published On :: Wed, 20 May 2015 13:25:45 +0000 New data just published in the journal Marine Mammal Science may help save the whales, or at least a good many of them. Using vertebrae […] The post New study may help free whales from fishing rope entanglement appeared first on Smithsonian Insider. Full Article Animals Marine Science Research News Science & Nature conservation biology endangered species whales
gle Ligo’s Twin Black Holes Might Have Been Born Inside a Single Star By insider.si.edu Published On :: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 19:55:09 +0000 On September 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes 29 and 36 times the […] The post Ligo’s Twin Black Holes Might Have Been Born Inside a Single Star appeared first on Smithsonian Insider. Full Article Research News Science & Nature Space astronomy astrophysics Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
gle Fishing gear entanglements of marine birds is focus of Smithsonian ecologist’s study By insider.si.edu Published On :: Mon, 15 Aug 2016 14:02:22 +0000 (Study is one of dozens to be presented by bird scientists this week at the 2016 North American Ornithological Conference in Washington, D.C.) To catch tuna […] The post Fishing gear entanglements of marine birds is focus of Smithsonian ecologist’s study appeared first on Smithsonian Insider. Full Article Animals Marine Science Research News Science & Nature biodiversity birds conservation biology endangered species Migratory Bird Center Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Smithsonian's National Zoo veterinary medicine
gle John Glenn Portrait on View at National Portrait Gallery By insider.si.edu Published On :: Fri, 09 Dec 2016 17:56:43 +0000 The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery celebrates the accomplishments of astronaut and Senator John Glenn (1921-2016) with a watercolor and graphite portrait by Henry C. Caselli […] The post John Glenn Portrait on View at National Portrait Gallery appeared first on Smithsonian Insider. Full Article Art History & Culture Science & Nature Space Spotlight aeronautics National Portrait Gallery
gle New Costa Rican shrew species named from a single specimen found 44 years ago By insider.si.edu Published On :: Tue, 07 Mar 2017 15:25:50 +0000 “Think of a lion shrunk to the size of a mouse that needs to eat every 20 minutes or so.” That is a shrew, says […] The post New Costa Rican shrew species named from a single specimen found 44 years ago appeared first on Smithsonian Insider. Full Article Animals Research News Science & Nature mammals National Museum of Natural History
gle Connecting WiFi dongle to computer running Windows 98 SE By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2019-12-07T17:39:29-05:00 Full Article
gle DNA untangles Gabon’s complex web of frog species By insider.si.edu Published On :: Mon, 22 Jan 2018 13:30:07 +0000 When Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute conservation biologist Jessica Deichmann joined a project to determine how the construction of a road in Gabon’s Moukalaba-Doudou National Park […] The post DNA untangles Gabon’s complex web of frog species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider. Full Article Animals Earth Science Research News Science & Nature Spotlight
gle Bayesian machine learning improves single-wavelength anomalous diffraction phasing By scripts.iucr.org Published On :: 2019-10-07 Single-wavelength X-ray anomalous diffraction (SAD) is a frequently employed technique to solve the phase problem in X-ray crystallography. The precision and accuracy of recovered anomalous differences are crucial for determining the correct phases. Continuous rotation (CR) and inverse-beam geometry (IBG) anomalous data collection methods have been performed on tetragonal lysozyme and monoclinic survivin crystals and analysis carried out of how correlated the pairs of Friedel's reflections are after scaling. A multivariate Bayesian model for estimating anomalous differences was tested, which takes into account the correlation between pairs of intensity observations and incorporates the a priori knowledge about the positivity of intensity. The CR and IBG data collection methods resulted in positive correlation between I(+) and I(−) observations, indicating that the anomalous difference dominates between these observations, rather than different levels of radiation damage. An alternative pairing method based on near simultaneously observed Bijvoet's pairs displayed lower correlation and it was unsuccessful for recovering useful anomalous differences when using the multivariate Bayesian model. In contrast, multivariate Bayesian treatment of Friedel's pairs improved the initial phasing of the two tested crystal systems and the two data collection methods. Full Article text
gle Samuel P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian, and his development of the ill-fated Aerodrome A By insider.si.edu Published On :: Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:47:11 +0000 The post Samuel P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian, and his development of the ill-fated Aerodrome A appeared first on Smithsonian Insider. Full Article Video National Air and Space Museum
gle Blood-thirsty jungle horse-flies catch big chill from Smithsonian entomologist By insider.si.edu Published On :: Wed, 16 Mar 2016 13:17:10 +0000 With net in hand and eyes peeled, Mauren Turcatel spent two-weeks last October chasing blood-thirsty predators through the Amazon jungle of Brazil. One-by-one they appeared […] The post Blood-thirsty jungle horse-flies catch big chill from Smithsonian entomologist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider. Full Article Animals Plants Research News Science & Nature biodiversity carbon dioxide conservation biology insects National Museum of Natural History
gle Google Chrome malware ads will not go away By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2020-05-07T18:06:40-05:00 Full Article
gle This google account not associated with device, blah, blah, blah... By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2020-04-20T14:15:26-05:00 Full Article
gle New kind of interference in the case of X-ray Laue diffraction in a single crystal with uneven exit surface under the conditions of the Borrmann effect. Analytical solution By journals.iucr.org Published On :: The analytical solution of the problem of X-ray spherical-wave Laue diffraction in a single crystal with a linear change of thickness on the exit surface is derived. General equations are applied to a specific case of plane-wave Laue diffraction in a thick crystal under the conditions of the Borrmann effect. Full Article text
gle new google account and cell phone no other cell phone By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2019-12-11T16:30:17-05:00 Full Article
gle Samsung Contacts vs Google Contacts By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2020-01-08T12:21:02-05:00 Full Article
gle Want to Rid Phone of Google By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2020-02-03T14:13:33-05:00 Full Article
gle FIS adds Google Pay to its Hosted Payment Page By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 10:52:00 +0200 FIS, a financial services technology company, has announced... Full Article
gle Backing - up Google Gmail Bookmarks in XP Problem . By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2020-03-06T08:59:17-05:00 Full Article
gle Signing in to my Google account when in Europe By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2019-08-06T18:51:20-05:00 Full Article
gle No Single Solution for Protecting Kids From Internet Pornography By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 02 May 2002 04:00:00 GMT No single approach -- technical, legal, economic, or educational -- will be sufficient to protect children from online pornography. Full Article
gle Rates of Physical and Sexual Child Abuse Appear to Have Declined Over the Last 20 Years - Rates of Child Neglect Show No Decline, Constitute 75 Percent of Reported Cases, Says New IOM Report By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 05:00:00 GMT Rates of physical and sexual abuse of children have declined over the last 20 years, but for reasons not fully understood, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. Yet, reports of psychological and emotional child abuse have risen in the same period, and data vary significantly as to whether child neglect is increasing, decreasing, or remaining constant. Full Article
gle Single Breakthrough Discovery for Citrus Greening Disease in Florida Unlikely, Says New Report By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 10 Apr 2018 05:00:00 GMT A single breakthrough discovery for managing citrus greening in Florida in the future is unlikely, says a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Full Article
gle Organohalogen Flame Retardants Used in Consumer Products Cannot Be Assessed for Hazards as a Single Class, But Can Be Assessed in Subclasses, Says New Report By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 15 May 2019 04:00:00 GMT A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine offers guidance to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on how to conduct a hazard assessment of nonpolymeric, additive organohalogen flame retardants (OFRs), which are used in some consumer products. Full Article
gle TPAY Mobile, Vodafone Egypt roll out digital payments on Google Play By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 05 May 2020 05:21:00 +0200 Vodafone Egypt has teamed up with TPAY MOBILE, a digital... Full Article
gle Google, Gates Foundation partner to exceed the M-Pesa platform By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 15:40:00 +0200 Google and the Full Article
gle How to Install and Uninstall Google Chrome in Windows By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: Thu, 05 Mar 2020 08:37:18 EST This tutorial will explain how to install or uninstall Google Chrome in Windows. [...] Full Article Tutorials How to Install and Uninstall Google Chrome in Windows
gle How to Translate a Web Page in Google Chrome By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: Mon, 09 Mar 2020 19:07:15 EDT The web is made up of terrific content from all over the world and sometimes the content you want to read is written in a different language. Thankfully, Google Chrome has built-in support for the Google Translate service, which will automatically translate the page into a language of your choice. [...] Full Article Tutorials How to Translate a Web Page in Google Chrome
gle How to Open and Use the Google Chrome Task Manager By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2017-09-19T12:50:05-05:00 Full Article
gle How to determine why Google Chrome is using a lot of memory or CPU By www.bleepingcomputer.com Published On :: 2017-09-19T14:43:38-05:00 Full Article
gle Palm Springs Film Festival: Croatian 'Cowboys' wrangle laughs By feeds.scpr.org Published On :: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 06:00:25 -0800 A scene from Tomislav Mrisic's "Cowboys (Kauboji)," which screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival.; Credit: Kino films R.H. GreeneIt has escaped the average filmgoer's notice, but Eastern Europe has been in the midst of a cinematic renaissance for quite a while now. A few individual titles and filmmakers have bubbled to the surface in U.S. cinemas, including Danis Toanovic's Serbian antiwar satire "No Man's Land," which won an Oscar in 2001, and Cristian Mungiu's Romanian abortion drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days," which nabbed the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2007. Those are both great movies, but they are also the small tip of a very large iceberg. This year, Estonian filmmaker Zaza Urushadze's "Tangerines" — a humanist drama about the Georgian civil war of 1992 — is a leading contender for a foreign film Oscar. As of now, its main competitor for the trophy would seem to be the Polish film "Ida" by Pawel Pawlikowski, which has taken most of the top critics prizes for foreign film this awards season. And who has heard of Radu Jude, the witty Romanian director of "The Happiest Girl in the World," or Kamen Kalev, Bulgaria's great hope for the cinematic future? Among so many others. A sort of "Waiting for Guffman" with a Croat twist, the delightful Croatian Oscar entry "Cowboys (Kauboji)" isn't in the same league as the best Eastern Europe has to offer, and in an odd way this is one of its strengths. Tomislav Mrisic's film utterly lacks pretension, which is not to say that it has no point to make. If there's an Eastern European precedent for "Cowboys'" assured mix of satire, drama and farce, it's probably the "Loves of a Blonde"-era Milos Forman. Mrisic shares with Forman an acute eye for the foibles of small town bureaucracy and a soft humanism that simultaneously allows "Cowboys" to embrace its rag-tag ensemble of eccentrics and to spoof them mercilessly. (A screen shot from Croation Oscar entry "Cowboys (Kauboji)") The plot sees Sasa (Sasa Anlokovic), a failed and hangdog theater director with health problems, returning to his small and economically desolate Croatian town, where he is enlisted by an old friend-turned-local-bureaucrat to bring Big City "culture" to the sticks. Aware that his lung cancer may have fallen out of remission and that time may be running out for him, Sasa sets about the task of creating what may be his last opus with the clay available to hand: a half dozen unskilled, uneducated and, in most cases, un-hygienic misfits, culled from the dregs of the town. They decide to create a Western stageplay based on their shared love of "Stagecoach," "High Noon" and John Wayne. Something decidedly unlike "Stagecoach" is the result. There are titters and belly laughs abounding in "Cowboys" — a film that may actually be even funnier to an American audience than it is in Croatia, given Mrisic's deft mangling of the worn-out genre cliches of old school horse opera. The performances are all solid and specific: This is no undifferentiated cluster of cliche yahoos, but rather a broadly drawn ensemble, in which each character has a specific logic and an unspoken need he or she is trying to fill. WATCH the "Cowboys" trailer in the original Croatian Mrisic finds much to mock in his small town provincials, but also much to celebrate. "Cowboys" is a smart film that still sees goodness everywhere it looks, which makes it a refreshing change not just from the American school of rote affirmation comedy but also from the relentless bleakness we associate with so much European fare. For all the farce on hand, "Cowboys" is in the end a covertly passionate defense of the creative act: Its imperishability and its importance for its own sake, excluding aesthetic considerations. It is also a plea for that hoary old chestnut, the healing power of laughter. While that may read like a cliche, with "Cowboys," Mrisic's point is made. Off-Ramp contributor R.H. Greene is covering the 26th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival and will be posting regularly from there. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
gle Commercial Fishermen Struggle To Survive In The Face Of Coronavirus By feeds.scpr.org Published On :: Wed, 25 Mar 2020 23:00:14 -0700 Opah fish are hauled onto a dock for sale last week in San Diego. Fishermen coming home to California after weeks at sea are finding strict anti-coronavirus measures, and nowhere to sell their catch.; Credit: Gregory Bull/AP Hannah Hagemann | NPRCommercial fishermen in the U.S. who have already faced challenges in recent years to make it in an increasingly globalized and regulated industry, are now struggling to find customers during the coronavirus crisis. "This is totally unprecedented. This is the biggest crisis to hit the fishing industry ever, no question about that," Noah Oppenheim, executive director of The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations told NPR in a phone interview. The federation is a trade association representing commercial fishermen along the West Coast. On Tuesday, seafood industry leaders, processors and fishermen sent a letter to House and Senate leaders requesting $4 billion in aid for the industry. The closings of restaurants due to the coronavirus pandemic has hit commercial fishermen particularly hard. An estimated 50% to 60% of wild seafood caught in the U.S. is exported, says Oppenheim. Those international markets have dried up. He says, of the seafood that's not exported, around 80% of that is sold to restaurants. "Both of those sectors of the seafood economy are largely nonfunctional at the moment, so we're going to have to make up for approximately 90% of our markets ... through either new supply pipelines or new sets of customers." Jerid Rold, a fishermen in Moss Landing, Calif., tells NPR, he's been out of work for a month, since South Korea stopped taking imports of hagfish. Further damaging profits, Dungeness crab prices on the West Coast have fallen from up to $7 dollars a pound to $2, says Oppenheim. In Eureka, Calif., "there are no buyers purchasing products at the harbor there. You can't move the Dungeness crab out of the Humboldt bay," Oppenheim said. "It's actually extraordinary how similar these impacts are playing out across the country. They are palpable, they are profound and they are severe." On the North Atlantic coast, Sam Rosen, a 30-year-old lobsterman based in Vinalhaven, Maine, said he and others are "selling lobster for amounts they shouldn't be sold for." That's been close to $2.50 a pound, compared to a usual $10 a pound this time of year, Rosen said. "It's definitely a shock to the system," Rosen said. "This is uncharted territory right now. I don't think anyone thought it was going to be as bad as it's getting." If aid isn't provided to fishermen soon, "I think we could see hundreds to thousands of fishermen leave the industry nationwide," Oppenheim said. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
gle Supreme Court Arguments A Tech Success, But Format Strangles Usual Give-And-Take By feeds.scpr.org Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 18:00:13 -0700 It was a new day at the Supreme Court, which for the first time ever live-streamed oral arguments.; Credit: Andrew Harnik/AP Nina Totenberg | NPRThe U.S. Supreme Court made history Monday. The coronavirus lockdown forced the typically cautious court to hear arguments for the first time via telephone, and to stream the arguments live for the public to hear. Chief Justice John Roberts was at the court as the telephone session began, one or two other justices were in their offices at the court, and the rest of the justices dialed in from home. The first and only case heard Monday involved an arcane trademark question only a lawyer could love. Online travel search engine Booking.com is appealing a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refusal to grant a trademark to the company. With the justices asking questions in order of seniority, the first big surprise was that Justice Clarence Thomas, who in the past has gone years without asking a question, did ask one, several in fact, when it came his turn. "Could Booking acquire an 800 number ... that's a vanity number, 1-800-BOOKING, for example?" Thomas asked Assistant Solicitor General Erica Ross. Yes, replied Ross, but domain names pose a different problem than phone numbers. Ultimately, she argued "the core problem with Booking.com is that it allows [Booking.com] to monopolize booking on the internet" to the exclusion of other sites like hotelbooking.com. Justice Stephen Breyer followed up when his turn came: "Same question as Justice Thomas ... good morning, anyway ... You can have a trademark that's an address. You can have a trademark that's a telephone number. So why can't you have a trademark that's a dot-com?" Justice Samuel Alito noted that the court's prior decision in this area of the law was more than 100 years old, and the statute dealing with trademarks was similarly enacted decades ago. "How can a rule that makes sense in the internet age be reconciled with the language" in these "pre-Internet era" laws? asked Alito. Next up to her lectern from her home was lawyer Lisa Blatt. This was her 40th Supreme Court argument and despite being a veteran, she said later that she was, as usual, sick to her stomach beforehand. But once at the lectern "it's always a rush of excitement," she said, and this time it was a special rush. "I loved getting a question from Justice Thomas ... I would go to the phone for the foreseeable future if I could get Justice Thomas to ask questions. That was wonderful," she said. Indeed, despite the new format Blatt and Ross seemed to have had a good time. "Your client would not object to the registration of any trademark that simply made a slight variation in Booking.com?" asked Alito. "There's a million booking registrations already," parried Blatt. Alito: "Would you just answer the question." Blatt: "They don't and have not and would not." Not, she added, unless another company ripped off the trademark with no variation. That would be theft, she said. So, when when the argument was over, what was her reaction? "After I hung up, I screamed, 'That was hard!' Because you're saying enough to answer, but not too much. And you don't have any like visual feedback, so it was hard." In the end, she said, the argument felt more like an oral exam than an oral argument. Tom Goldstein, publisher of Scotusblog, had a similar reaction. Goldstein, who has argued 43 cases before the court, said he thought the argument was probably more useful to the public than usual. "But I bet it was less useful for the justices," he said. "Because there was less opportunity to follow up on lines of questions and less opportunity to influence someone ... so there's much less engagement in the oral argument." Still there were no major hitches on this first day. Justice Sonia Sotomayor briefly forget to unmute her phone at one point, prompting a "Sorry, chief." Justice Breyer's voice broke up in static for a second or two. But as Goldstein observes, this was a big change for the court. "Culturally a change, technologically a change. And it could have been a big embarrassment if it didn't go well, but it went fine," he said. "I think they're happy." Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
gle A Year After The Woolsey Fire, This Malibu Day Laborer Still Struggles to Find Work By feeds.scpr.org Published On :: Fri, 08 Nov 2019 16:08:32 -0800 Julio Osorio stands in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery near his mother's grave. (Emily Elena Dugdale/KPCC); Credit: Emily Elena Dugdale Emily Elena DugdaleThe devastating Woolsey fire broke out one year ago. In Malibu, it wreaked havoc not only on hundreds of homeowners but also on the day laborers, housekeepers and gardeners who traveled to the city to work in its affluent neighborhoods. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
gle Small firms and nonprofits like KPCC struggle with technology's diversity problem By feeds.scpr.org Published On :: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 13:53:14 -0800 Mary Ann de Lares Norris is Chief Operating Officer of Oblong Industries. She brings her dog LouLou to Oblong's downtown LA headquarters.; Credit: Brian Watt/KPCC Brian WattKPCC recently reported on the tech world’s diversity problem. Technology firms face challenges in hiring diverse staffs of its coders, web developers and software engineers. It’s also a challenge at nonprofits such as Southern California Public Radio, parent of 89.3 KPCC, which has always sought to build a staff that reflects the region it serves. The section of that staff that develops the KPCC app and makes its website run is all white and mostly male. But a small talent pool means the diversity challenge is even greater for nonprofits and even smaller tech firms. “The first problem is that all of the people working for me are male,” says Alex Schaffert, the one female on KPCC’s tech team. “I’m kind of focusing on maybe getting another girl into the mix.” Schaffert can use the term “girl” because she happens to be the leader of the tech team: KPCC’s Managing Director of Digital Strategy and Innovation. Why diversity is important Schaffert recently launched the topic of diversity – or lack thereof – at a weekly meeting of her team. She expected a “stilted and awkward” discussion from the five white men on her team, but a few of them didn’t hold back. “Not having diversity represented on the team leaves us more susceptible to circular thinking and everyone sort of verifying each other's assumptions,” said Joel Withrow, who was serving at the time as KPCC’s Product Manager. “It impacts the work. It limits what you’re able to build.” Sean Dillingham, KPCC’s Design and Development Manager, said living in a diverse community is what attracted him to Los Angeles, and he wants diversity in his immediate work team, too. “When I look at other tech companies, I will often go to their ‘about us’ page, where they’ll have a page of photos of everyone, and I am immediately turned off when I just see just a sea of white dudes, or even just a sea of dudes,” Dillingham said. Big competition, small talent pool Dillingham and Schaffert are currently recruiting heavily to fill two tech-savvy positions. When a reporter or editor job opens up at KPCC, Schaffert says close to 100 resumes come in. "But if you post a programmer job, and you get three or four resumes, you may not get lucky among those resumes," she says. "There may not be a woman in there. There may not be a person of color in there." In other words, the talent pool is already small, and the diversity challenge makes it even smaller. KPCC is competing for talent with Google and Yahoo and all the start-ups on L.A.’s Silicon Beach. Schaffert’s being proactive, mining LinkedIn and staging networking events to attract potential candidates. She’s also trying to make sure KPCC’s job descriptions don’t sound like some she's seen in the tech world. "If you read between the lines, they’re really looking for someone who is male and is somewhere between 25-30 years old and likes foosball tables and free energy drinks in the refrigerator," Schaffert says. “So you read between lines, and you know that they’re not talking about me, a mother of two kids who also has a demanding career. They're talking about someone different.” Pay vs. passion Schaffert's challenges and approaches to dealing with them are similar to those of Mary Ann de Lares Norris, the Chief Operating Officer at Oblong Industries. Based in downtown Los Angeles and founded in 2006, the company designs operating platforms for businesses that allow teams to collaborate in real time on digital parts of a project. “I think technology and diversity is tough,” Norris told KPCC. She’s proud her company’s management ranks are diverse, but says only 12 percent of its engineers are female. “Pretty standard in the tech industry, but it’s not great,” Norris says. “We really strive to increase that number, and all of the other companies are also, and it's really hard.” Like Schaffert at KPCC, Norris works hard fine-tuning job descriptions and communicating that her company values diversity and work-life balance. But sometimes, it just boils down to money. "We have to put out offers that have competitive salaries,” Norris says, adding that she can’t compete with the major tech firms. "The Googles and the Facebooks of the world can always pay more than we can. So we attract people who are passionate about coming to work for Oblong. And, of course, we also offer stock options." KPCC doesn’t have the stock options, but we’ve got plenty of passion. Could that be the secret recruiting weapon for both small tech companies and nonprofits? LinkedIn recently surveyed engineers about what they look for in an employer. Good pay and work-life balance were the two top draws. Slightly more women prioritized work-life balance and slightly more men chose the big bucks. Clinical Entrepreneurship professor Adlai Wertman says that, historically, nonprofits and small businesses actually had the upper hand over big companies in recruiting minorities and women. "There’s a feeling that they’re safer, more caring environments, less killer environments, and we know that corporate America has been the bastion of white males," said Wertman. But Wertman says that advantage disappears in the tech world because of the "supply-and-demand" problem with talent. When big firms decide to focus on diversity – as some have recently — they have plenty of resources. "They’re always going to be able to pay more, and in truth they’re getting access to students coming out of these schools in ways that we as nonprofits and small companies never will," said Wertman. Wertman worked 18 years as an investment banker on Wall Street, then left to head a nonprofit on L.A.’s skid row. Now he heads the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab Enterprise Lab at USC’s Marshall School of Business. He believes that, early on, the big companies have the best shot attracting diverse tech talent. But in the long run, much of that talent will turn back to smaller firms and nonprofits. "I think ultimately people vote with where they’re most comfortable, where 'my values align with my employer's values, and if I don’t feel those values align, then I’m going to leave,'" Wertman said. "Ultimately, I think, for a lot of women and minorities, there’s a lot of value alignment within communities that are doing good in the world." This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
gle Overall unemployment in state, LA County keeps falling, but some places still struggle By feeds.scpr.org Published On :: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 16:35:52 -0800 Walter Flores was unemployed for 8 months in 2014 but is now working in sales for Workforce Solutions in Compton; Credit: Brian Watt/KPCC Brian WattCalifornia's unemployment rate continued its decline in December, ending the year at 7 percent, according to figures released Friday by the state Employment Development Department. But in Compton, Willowbrook and the Florence-Graham section of Los Angeles County, it remains about double that, data show. “You might have work this week. But next week, you won’t have work,” said James Hicks, 36, 0f Compton. He's worked in warehouses through staffing agencies, but said the jobs have always been temporary. Statewide, California has added jobs at a faster rate than the United States for three straight years, according to Robert Kleinhenz, Chief Economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. He pointed out the statewide unemployment rate is now where it was June 2008. "All in all, with the recession now five years back in our rearview mirror, we’re finally at the point where we can say that we have shrugged off quite a bit of the pain that occurred back during those times," Kleinhenz said. The Los Angeles County metro area saw a net gain of almost 71,000 jobs in 2014. The County's overall unemployment rate has fallen to 7.9 percent from 9.2 percent a year ago. But Compton's unemployment rate was 13 percent in December. “I’d rather have a full-time type of gig, working 40 hours a week, but right now, even if you get 25 hours, it’s a blessing,” said Hicks, the warehouse worker in Compton. On Thursday, he interviewed to be a guard with a security firm, but was told there weren’t any positions available. He had another security guard job six months ago that he thought might become full time and permanent. "It was going all right for about two to three months, until they cut my hours and days," Hicks said. Walter Flores lives in La Mirada but currently works as an account executive in the Compton office of Workforce Solutions. He was unemployed for about eight months last year after a car accident. "Losing what you love to do is a tough one, but I'm back," he said. "2015 is going to be a great year." Flores said most major warehouse and logistics companies prefer to hire temporary workers through industrial staffing firms like the one where he's working because their needs are sporadic. But he said it's still a potential opportunity. "It doesn't matter that it's a temporary position, as long as you put your foot in the door, and then you let the employer know how much value you are for the company," Flores said. Hicks, who's earned a GED, wants to find a program to study physical therapy. But first, he’d like to find a job. He said you can't judge Compton’s residents by its unemployment rate. "Some of us out here who [are] looking for jobs, but sometimes it’s the luck of the draw," he said. "It’s kind of scarce out there.” This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article