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Three Mile Island Veteran Optimistic on Fukushima Fuel Removal

      

Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato, in the orange helmet, inspects the contaminated water tanks at Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture on Oct. 15, 2013. Photograph: JIJI Press-Pool/AFP via Getty Images

bloomberg.com - by Jacob Adelman - October 17, 2013

The first removal of nuclear fuel rods next month from the stricken Fukushima atomic station should be successful based on findings that the rods -- each about twice the average weight of a sumo wrestler -- appear undamaged from an explosion at the site almost three years ago.

That’s the view of Lake Barrett, a former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission official appointed last month as an adviser to Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501), the operator of the wrecked Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.

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Cyclone Phailin (India) - Crisis Maps and Resources

http://google.org/crisismap/2013-phailin http://google.org/crisismap/a/gmail.com/2013-phailin-cyclone

The Crisis Respone Google website has created crowd-sourced maps of volunteers offering shelter in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Clicking on the shelter or red cross gives more details about the shelter and hospital in the area. The maps are also highlighting the intensity of the cyclone at different spots. All the data shown on the map is crowdsourced from publicly visible webpages of news websites, forums, social media, blogs, Wikipedia and government sites.

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France Cements Fracking Ban

      

Anti-fracking protesters in La Petite Brosse, outside Paris. Photograph: Pierre Andrieu/AFP/Getty Images

A law prohibiting fracking for shale gas has been upheld by France's constitutional court, citing environmental protection

theguardian.com - October 11, 2013

France's constitutional court has upheld a ban on hydraulic fracturing, ruling that the law against the energy exploration technique known as "fracking" is a valid means of protecting the environment.

The court in Paris said on its website on Friday that the 2011 law "conforms to the constitution" and is not "disproportionate".

France banned fracking in 2011 and cancelled exploration licences held by companies including Schuepbach and Total SA, the country's biggest oil company, after protests by environmental groups.

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Resilience thinking in health protection

Many may be struggling to a clear understanding of the real meaning of "resilience". According to this article, the term really expanded in this post 9/11, tsunami and hurricane katrina era to acquire new meanings. This article contains detailed description about how the term "resilience" becomes widely used to describe how people, communities, nations strive to minimize impact of natural and manmade desasters. Click here to read the article.

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Four Cities in Vietnam Participating in the First Round of 100 Resilient Cities Challenge

On Sep 23, 2013, at 4:43 AM, Nguyen Ninh <REDACTED> wrote:

Dear Mike and Janis,

For your information, Da Lat City has been registered online for 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge.
So we have now four cities of Vietnam to be participated in the first round of 100 Resilient Cities Program as follows:
1. Rach Gia City - Phu Quoc Island
2. Ha Long City - Van Don Island
3. Da Lat City
4. Thai Nguyen City

. . . <REDACTED> . . .

Best regards,

Ninh

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ST Vuong <REDACTED>
Date: Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 2:58 PM
Subject: Fwd: Your registration for 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge
To: Nguyen Ninh <REDACTED>
Cc: Nguyen Hoang Long <REDACTED>, "Nguyen Tuan, Anh" <REDACTED>, Hùng Nguyễn Mạnh <REDACTED>

Dear a Ninh;

I have registered to receive the formal application for this
project for the city of Dalat.
Kind regards,

VTS

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Smartphone attachment detects viruses and bacteria

theengineer.co.uk - The Engineer - September 18, 2013

Researchers at UCLA have developed a portable smartphone attachment that can be used to perform field testing to detect viruses and bacteria.

This cellphone-based imaging platform could be used for specific and sensitive detection of sub-wavelength objects, including bacteria and viruses and therefore could enable the practice of nanotechnology and biomedical testing in field settings and even in remote and resource-limited environments,’ Aydogan Ozcan, professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, said in a statement.

Using this device, which attaches directly to the camera module on a smartphone, Ozcan’s team was able to detect single human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) particles.

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Ikea Sends Its New Flatpack Refugee Shelter to Syria

businessweek.com - by Caroline Winter - September 11, 2013

Ikea, known for its affordable flatpack furniture, is moving into new territory: refugee housing.

The Swedish retailer has teamed up with the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) to develop a flatpack shelter that can be quickly assembled on site. Recently 50 prototypes, all packed into standard Ikea cardboard boxes, were shipped to refugee camps and crisis regions in Syria.

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Also see:

Ikea brings flatpack innovation to emergency refugee shelters - http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2013/jul/02/ikea-flatpack-refugee-shelter

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Housing Economics – What Can Be Done in the Developing World?

tscglobal.org - by Steve Riley - September 1, 2013

Housing economics are as important in the developing world as they are in the industrialized countries.

The existing housing in most of the world is at best “temporary’ by modern standards.

The occupants of such a shelter, by default, become enslaved to the shelter, constantly engaged in the work of maintaining the shelter and endlessly replacing the deteriorating elements purchased with what little currency they can muster. 

- Read Part I -

- Read Part II -

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Solar Crowdfunding a Solution to Energy Poverty

Installing solar panels in a village.

Image: Installing solar panels in a village.

ecowatch.com - August 28th - Justin Guay

We have two broken systems—energy and finance—which conspire to support a coal fired centralized grid that never reaches the poor while driving dangerous climate change. That means 1.3 billion people around the world won’t escape the dark, and we’ll fry the climate, unless we disrupt these systems and deploy distributed clean energy. Three months ago the Sierra Club worked on a pilot project with SunFunder to promote such a potentially disruptive solution: solar crowdfunding for the world’s poor.

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The World Bank Report about Childhood Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa

World Bank Group recently reported major decrease in childhood diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. Loss of health due to diarrheal diseases dropped 34% between 1990 and 2010, lower respiratory infections (LRIs) such as pneumonia dropped 22%, and protein-energy malnutrition was down 17%. Several countries documented striking progress, with Malawi reducing diarrheal diseases by 65%, Burundi decreasing LRIs by 44%, and Benin reducing measles by 84% during this time. Despite this progress, childhood diseases remain major threat in that region. Please click here for more information.

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