Category: Sci/Tech

  • Internet access is ‘a fundamental right’

    Internet access is ‘a fundamental right’

    Almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.

    Internet access

    The survey – of more than 27,000 adults across 26 countries – found strong support for net access on both sides of the digital divide.

    Countries such as Finland and Estonia have already ruled that access is a human right for their citizens.

    International bodies such as the UN are also pushing for universal net access.

    “The right to communicate cannot be ignored,” Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), told BBC News.

    “The internet is the most powerful potential source of enlightenment ever created.”

    He said that governments must “regard the internet as basic infrastructure – just like roads, waste and water”.

    “We have entered the knowledge society and everyone must have access to participate.”

    The survey, conducted by GlobeScan for the BBC, also revealed divisions on the question of government oversight of some aspects of the net.

    Web users questioned in South Korea and Nigeria felt strongly that governments should never be involved in regulation of the internet. However, a majority of those in China and the many European countries disagreed.

    In the UK, for example, 55% believed that there was a case for some government regulation of the internet.

    Rural retreat

    The finding comes as the UK government tries to push through its controversial Digital Economy Bill.

    As well as promising to deliver universal broadband in the UK by 2012, the bill could also see a so-called “three strikes rule” become law.

    This rule would give regulators new powers to disconnect or slow down the net connections of persistent illegal file-sharers. Other countries, such as France, are also considering similar laws.

    Recently, the EU adopted an internet freedom provision, stating that any measures taken by member states that may affect citizen’s access to or use of the internet “must respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens”.

    In particular, it states that EU citizens are entitled to a “fair and impartial procedure” before any measures can be taken to limit their net access.

    The EU is also committed to providing universal access to broadband. However, like many areas around the world the region is grappling with how to deliver high-speed net access to rural areas where the market is reluctant to go.

    Analysts say that is a problem many countries will increasingly have to deal with as citizens demand access to the net.

    The BBC survey found that 87% of internet users felt internet access should be the “fundamental right of all people”.

    More than 70% of non-users felt that they should have access to the net.

    Overall, almost 79% of those questioned said they either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the description of the internet as a fundamental right – whether they currently had access or not.

    Free speech

    Countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Turkey most strongly support the idea of net access as a right, the survey found.

    More than 90% of those surveyed in Turkey, for example, stated that internet access is a fundamental right – more than those in any other European Country.

    BBC

  • The quake chasers

    The quake chasers

    By Andrew Duffy, The Ottawa CitizenMarch 5, 2010

    More Images »

    Subduction Hazard Zone

    Photograph by: Dennis Leung, The Ottawa Citizen

    A University of Ottawa scientist will travel to Chile next week to search for lessons that Canadian engineers and emergency planners can draw from that country’s 8.8-magnitude earthquake.

    Professor Murat Saatcioglu, one of Canada’s foremost earthquake engineers, will lead a team of 10 scientists to Chile on Tuesday.

    They’ll examine buildings and bridges that collapsed in the quake to understand why they failed — and whether similar structures in Canada could withstand the same seismic shaking.

    The questions are of particular concern on Canada’s Pacific coast, which has a geological fault similar to the one that produced Chile’s massive quake.

    Both regions lie in “subduction zones,” where one tectonic plate grinds and pushes against another on top of it. A sudden slip along the fault can lift the overriding plate, creating what scientists call a “megathrust earthquake.”

    Such earthquakes can displace huge amounts of ocean water, spawning a tsunami.

    “The reason we wanted to go to Chile is that the fault mechanism that led to this earthquake is very similar to the subduction zone we have just west of Vancouver Island,” Saatcioglu said in an interview. “And the type of ground shaking is likely to be very similar since it’s a similar type of fault mechanism.”

    Chile presents a compelling case study, and not only because its quake produced the kind of shaking expected to hit Vancouver and Victoria in the future. It also has in place similar building standards to those in Canada.

    “Hopefully we’ll learn a lot, since we’ll be inspecting buildings and bridges which are designed — unlike Haiti — to current standards,” Saatcioglu said.

    Haiti suffered more physical damage than Chile in a smaller quake because so many of its buildings were made of concrete diluted with sand or reinforced with poor steel.

    The Canadian research team, sponsored by the Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering, includes structural engineers, seismologists, tsunami experts and bridge engineers. They’re scheduled to travel to Santiago, Concepción and tsunami-damaged coastal towns during eight days of research.

    The earthquake in Chile occurred in the same subduction zone that spawned the largest quake of the 20th century. On May 22, 1960, a magnitude-9.5 earthquake killed 1,655 people and generated a tsunami that devastated Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.

    Subduction zones give rise to mountain ranges and volcanic activity, but also produce the world’s largest earthquakes.

    In the subduction zone of the Pacific Northwest, the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate is sliding under the much larger North American plate. Scientists know the stress building in the zone will eventually cause the plates to slip, triggering a high-magnitude earthquake, but they can’t predict when it will happen.

    Geological deposits suggest large earthquakes have hit Canada’s Pacific coast 13 times in the past 6,000 years.

    According to Natural Resources Canada, the last megathrust earthquake struck on Jan. 26, 1700, producing a 1,000-kilometre rupture along the Cascadia fault from Vancouver Island to northern California. It triggered a tsunami that swept across the Pacific.

    While Ottawa is not at risk for a megathrust earthquake, it does sit in a seismically active valley. Dozens of earthquakes occur each year in eastern Ontario and western Quebec, but most are too mild to be felt.

    Earth scientists consider the risk of a major quake here to be moderate: there is a 10-per-cent chance an earthquake will be strong enough to damage buildings in Ottawa during the next 50 years. Those areas with thick pockets of Leda clay under them, including parts of Carp and Orléans, are likely to experience more shaking and damage in a major temblor.

    © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
    ==============================
    5 Mart sabahi gazetede bir tek Amerika’daki Ermeni meselesi oylamasi haberlerini aradigim icin Murat Saatcioglu’nun belki de ayni derecede önemli haberini kacirmisim. Ertesi gun kizimin göstermesi sayesinde okudum.

    Ottawa Citizen gazetesinin Murat Beyin calismalarini ve basarilarini birinci sayfada haber yapmasinin uzerinden daha bir yil bile gecmeden Prof. Saatcioglu yeniden gazetede cok buyuk bir resim ve cok buyuk bir makale ile ön planda.

    Bu haber neden Ermeni meselesi kadar onemli? Bence, Murat Bey, tum yuksek statusu ve medyada sik sik yer alan basarilarinin yani sira toplum hizmetlerinde calisan ve toplum adina acik acik konusan bir kisi oldugu icin. Murat Bey bu ünü ve kredileri ile bir milletvekilini, bir bakani ziyarete gittiginde soyledigi sozleri dikkatle dinliyorlar.

    Cok basarili, cok degerli pek cok profesorumuz var. Kanada universiteleri Turk profesorleri ile dolu. Daha yeni okudum, Vancouver’da 3 Turk profesorune fahri doktara unvanlari verilmis. Umarim diger profesorlerimiz de Murat Saatcioglu kadar toplum bilincine sahip ve duyarli kisilerdir ve umarim onlar da ayni sekilde toplumun cikarlari icin basari ve unvanlarini kullanarak, etkili politikaci ve basin mensuplari ile konusuyorlar, derdimizi anlatiyorlardir. Bir gazeteye, bir bakana boyle unvanlara sahip Turklerimizin yazdigi mektuplarin degerine paha bicilemez.

    Lale

    saatcioglu

  • Massive earthquake strikes Chile

    Massive earthquake strikes Chile

    Play Slideshow Photo Gallery

    AP

    Sun Feb 28, 6:17 AM ET

    Prev 1 of 132 Next

    A man makes his way along a street flooded with seawater in Kesennuma, northern Japan on Sunday Feb. 28, 2010. Japan, fearing the tsunami could gain force as it moved closer, put all of its eastern coastline on tsunami alert Sunday and ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in low-lying areas to seek higher ground as waves generated by the Chilean earthquake raced across the Pacific at hundreds of miles (kilometers) per hour.

    (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

    First Prev Next Last

    1 – 4 of 132

  • Journey of Mankind

    Journey of Mankind

    In all our cells we have genes. Genes are made up of DNA, the string-like code of life that determines what we are, from our fingernails to our innate potential for playing the piano. By analysing genes, we can trace the geographic route taken by our ancestors back to an ultimate birthplace in Africa, at the dawn of our species. Further, if we take any two individuals and compare their genes, we will find that they share a more recent ancestor – living, in all probability, outside Africa. What is more, I believe that we can now prove where those ancestors lived and when they left their homelands. This remarkable proof has become fully possible only within the last decade, as a result of pioneering work by a number of people.

    Click here to play the Journey of Mankind

    * The interactive genetic map is currently being upgraded and will be available online shortly.

    journeyofmankind

  • Women in Art,  French -VIDEO

    Women in Art, French -VIDEO

    Digital Art : Women in Art, by Philip Scott Johnson (2007)


    La vidéo “Women in Art”, réalisée par Philip Scott Johnson, est une hymne impressionnante consacrée à l’histoire de l’art à travers l’image de la femme. La musique est celle de Yo-Yo Ma jouant la Sarabande de la Suite pour Violoncelle n° 1 de Bach. Cette vidéo, téléchargée sur de nombreux sites vidéo collaboratifs, a créé une vraie euphorie sur le web. Rien que sur le site YouTube, elle a été visionnée par plus de 5,3 millions visiteurs et elle a suscité plus de 10.000 commentaires endéans 2 mois. Le nombre de visions atteint 10 millions en mi-2009. La vidéo est référencée sur des centaines de blogs à travers le monde.

    Cette vidéo est un vrai chef d’oeuvre d’art digital sur les plans de la maîtrise technique et de la créativité artistique. Philip a créé 15 autres vidéos intéressantes, accessibles sur YouTube, moyennant le logiciel de “morphing” d’images FantaMorph d’Abrosoft. Les oeuvres d’art utilisées pour la création du film “Women in Art” ont été répertoriées par Boni, instructrice professionnelle au “Fayetteville Technical Community College” sur son site dédié aux novices de l’Internet.

    Subscribe to the “ARTletters” of Leslie’s Artgallery to receive invitations and news about the gallery.
    Abonnez vous aux “ARTletters” de Leslie’s Artgallery pour recevoir les invitations et les nouvelles de la galerie.

  • US insistent on missile system in Turkey, not more Afghan troops

    US insistent on missile system in Turkey, not more Afghan troops

    Nato Meeting
    Nato Meeting
    Gates said, we have discussed the possibility of erecting two radars in Turkey.
    United States (U.S.) Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Saturday his meeting with the Chief of Turkish General Staff, General Ilker Basbug, was almost completely devoted to the issues of Afghanistan and PKK.

    Speaking to a group of Turkish and U.S. journalists in Ankara, Secretary Gates said that they had “not requested any new troops from Turkey.”

    We are pleased with the partnership between Turkey and the U.S. in Afghanistan, Gates said.

    We “discussed, with General Basbug, Turkey’s role in the missile defense system and relations between our armies”, Gates noted.

    “PKK issue”

    We carry a will to further develop cooperation with Turkey against the terrorist organization PKK as was set forth by former U.S. President George W. Bush back in 2007, Gates stressed.

    We are searching for new opportunities that Turkey could utilize against the threat emanating from terrorist organization PKK, Gates said.

    The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, had arrived in Ankara to hold talks on this (PKK) issue, Gates emphasized.

    Cooperation between Turkey and the U.S., against PKK, is getting more intense, Gates said.

    In regard to his talks at the Turkish General Staff, Secretary Gates said that “as the General noted, the final solution does not involve killing all”.

    While speaking with the leader of the regional administration in north of Iraq, Massoud Barzani, I have stressed the importance of placing pressure on PKK to end violence, Gates said.

    “Missile defense system”

    The dialogue on what Turkey could do within NATO to counter the proliferation of ballistic missiles via a missile defense system continues. We have discussed the possibility of erecting two radars in Turkey, Gates said.

    Reminded by a journalist about comments made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that there were actually countries in the region that possessed nuclear weapons, aside from Iran, like Israel, Secretary Gates argued, that Iran was “a country that openly announced a will to destroy another country” and violated the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

    We are “not against” Iran’s peaceful nuclear works. However, Iran continues efforts for uranium enrichment, Gates noted.

    I have not seen a progress with Iran on this matter. In order to be a progress, the Iranians must give up their enriched uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Secretary Gates said.

    Asked if Turkey is making sufficient efforts in regard to the issue of Iran, Gates said that Turkey was valuable as they could talk to the Iranians, a mission highly difficult for the U.S.

    There could be opportunities (from Turkey’s dialogue with Iran). We need to have a common understanding on concerns expressed, under the roof of the United Nations, pertaining to programs inititated by Iran, Gates stressed.

    I have observed such an understanding in Turkey. We will continue on this path, Gates underlined.

    Asked about what he thinks on comments made that Turkey has shifted its axis, Secretary Gates said that Turkey was in a unique position geographically and that their efforts in all fields must be received positively.

    We are extremely pleased with Turkey’s contributions in Afghanistan. We have received a promise from “allies and partners” for the deployment of 10,000 additional personnel. We pay high importance to personnel that can train individuals (Afghans) in the areas of military and security, Gates said.

    Iran says it enriches uranium for civilian applications and that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has a right to the technology already in the hands of many others.

    Israel, most experts estimate that it has at least between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads, often threatens Iran with an attack.

    World Bulletin