Mereja

Author: Serkadis

  • AutoblogGreen for 02.24.10

    HumanCar Imagine_PS is here, almost – preorders accepted [w/video]
    Pedal faster!
    		Consumer Reports declares the Ford F-250 Lariat 2010’s worst gas guzzler
    How bad? How ’bout 10 mpg?
    Report: 2011 Land Rover LRX to debut at Paris Motor Show
    The more-efficient Land Rover is making its way to production. Slowly.    		 Other news:

    AutoblogGreen for 02.24.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Tinley Park, tourism bureau pledge to keep working together

    After a year-long test run of the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau new Tinley Park-centric marketing plans, village officials said they are satisfied.

    At a village board committee meeting Tuesday night, trustees agreed to renew Tinley Park’s annual membership with the regional bureau.

    That membership cost will be about $175,000, village manager Scott Niehaus said. The exact amount will be determined during upcoming budget discussions, but last year’s membership cost $180,000.

    Last year, Tinley Park and bureau officials butted heads after the village decided it would contribute $50,000 to the bureau and use $130,000 to promote only the village and its attractions.

    That plan was tabled in June after the bureau and the village agreed to work together to market the village’s hotels and convention center. The agreement stipulated that the bureau would spend $125,000 to solely market Tinley Park, with the village’s marketing staff working with the bureau.

    “They recognize that we want our money spent on us,” village marketing manager Donna Framke told trustees Tuesday night.

    The tourism bureau traditionally has promoted the culture, hotels and attractions of 62 Southland towns that are members, taking a regional approach that bureau officials say is key to boosting tourism in the Southland.

    But Tinley Park officials last year expressed frustration with the bureau’s efforts, insisting that it had to make Tinley Park and its convention center more of a marketing priority – especially because the village is the largest municipal contributor to the bureau.

    Framke said the focus of the bureau and Tinley Park will continue to be the convention center and its forthcoming expansion.

    Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services


  • Oak Lawn, MWRD still sparring over sewer issue

    To gauge the amount of sewage that flows from Oak Lawn households into interceptor sewers operated by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, village officials want to place devices called “flow meters” into the MWRD’s pipes.

    But village officials say they’ve run into a snag because the MWRD is delaying giving the project the green light.

    “We spent two hours talking about our request,” village manager Larry Deetjen said of a Feb. 17 meeting between the two agencies. “They repeatedly denied (it.)”

    The plan calls for installing, beginning next month, 15 total flow meters in sanitary sewers, seven of which are owned by the MWRD.

    Without their installation, village officials said the cost of Oak Lawn’s $400,000 Sanitary Sewer Master Plan would increase by $100,000 because Oak Lawn would have to install extra meters in adjacent village lines.

    The MWRD has allowed other municipalities, including Tinley Park, to install similar devices in its sewers, Deetjen said at Tuesday night’s village board meeting.

    Now, one week after their Feb. 17 meeting with the MWRD, Oak Lawn officials hope a letter from Mayor Dave Heilmann to MWRD board president Terry O’Brien will carry some weight.

    Trustee Alex Olejniczak (2nd) said sewer problems have plagued the village for years and that the latest snag was particularly frustrating.

    “For five years, we’ve been fighting a lot of bureaucracy,” he said.

    Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services


  • An alternative view on Tutankhamun’s family tree

    Hall of Ma’at (Katherine Griffis-Greenberg)

    Thanks to Alice Gaylor for pointing me at this link where Katherine Griffis-Greenberg has proposed a different family tree from that in the JAMA article. Here’s a short extract from her post (part of a discussion on the subject that you can track from the above page) but see the above page for the graphic showing her proposed family tree.

    The eSupplement states that the two female foetuses in KV 62 are related to Tutankhamun and Princess KV 21A. Yet, the eSupplement to the article states that it cannot be said for a certainty that this individual is Ankhsenamun.

    So, finding that odd, I went back and compared the various alleles in the article’s graphs. Interestingly, the alleles that Princess KV 21A has more in common is not with the KV 55 mummy, as would be expected, but with the mummy identified as Amenhotep III!

    So, this raises the question which Wente and Harris proposed back in the 1990’s: do we have the mummies identified correctly?

    Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

  • One in three say climate change is exaggerated by Kate Loveys, Daily Mail

    Article Tags: Public Polls

    article image

    The public are becoming increasingly sceptical about the threat of climate change, it emerged last night.

    Months of questions over flaws in climate change science and a lack of government action have led to a sharp decline in the number of British adults who believe it is a problem.

    The proportion of people, questioned in a survey by Ipsos Mori, who believe climate change is ‘definitely’ a reality has dropped from 44 per cent to 31 per cent in the last year.

    The poll of 1,000 people also found a significant drop in those who said climate change was caused by human activities. Last year, one in three people believed it was caused by people. Now just one in five hold this conviction.

    Source: dailymail.co.uk

    Read in full with comments »   


  • EU Set to Begin Anti-Trust Investigation of Google

    As it was bound to happen eventually, Google is now under anti-trust investigation in Europe after three separate companies have filed a complaint alleging that Google’s size is hurting their businesses and that the search giant was abusing its position and competing unfairly. The three companies going against Google are a UK product-search and… (read more)

  • You Could Not Make It Up: True climate sceptics must stop the war on science, by Mark Lynas, The Guardian

    Article Tags: You could not make it up

    David Davis and fellow honourable sceptics of climate change should distance themselves from the extremists and put forward their own proposals for mitigation

    Believe it or not, I’ve always had a soft spot for climate sceptics. Not the obsessive trolls who patrol the blogosphere, nor unpleasant, twisted extremists like the Telegraph’s James Delingpole, but genuine, independent-minded sceptics, people who like to think for themselves and reach their own conclusions.

    Contrary to popular assumptions, most climate scientists are sceptics. Not about the basic physical principles of greenhouse gases, obviously – which are undeniable to everyone except the aforementioned trolls and Delingpoles – but certainly about almost everything else. Forcing a humiliated colleague to retract a high-profile scientific paper is every academic’s dream, as the correspondence pages of all the leading journals attest.

    Only this week, a paper on sea level rise was embarrassingly retracted from the journal Nature Geoscience thanks to flaws uncovered after rigorous fact-checking not by ignorant Telegraph bloggers but by diligent fellow climate scientists. Note also that the Himalayan glacier error was sparked not, once again, by the denial lobby, but by glaciologists who knew from their own research that the disappearance of all Himalayan glaciers by 2035 was virtually impossible.

    Click source to read more of this rather daft report, someone should inform the author that science has to stand up against scepticism. What we have is “Man Made” science that has stopped the process of scepticism, and thats because there is NO MAN MADE CLIMATE CHANGE.

    Source: guardian.co.uk

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  • Homer Glen moves toward taking over water system

    Homer Glen is considering forming a water agency with several neighboring towns that might eventually allow them to wrest control of local water and sewer services from Illinois American Water.

    Homer Glen officials met this week with representatives from Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Woodridge, Plainfield and Shorewood to draw up guidelines for a water agency, village officials said at Tuesday night’s village board meeting.

    Homer Glen’s attorney will review the proposed ordinance before trustees discuss it at the next board meeting, said Trustee Mary Niemiec, who heads the village’s sewer and water task force.

    “It’s obvious that we need more information,” she said.

    Officials said the new agency could give Homer Glen and other communities the leverage they need to buy the Bedford Park water pipeline now owned by Illinois American. That line supplies Lake Michigan water to Illinois American customers, Niemiec said, and has been estimated to be worth roughly $50 million.

    However, that price tag could change if a bill sponsored by state Rep. Renee Kosel (R-New Lenox) to change how utilities’ assets are valued makes headway in Springfield.

    “The statute right now is all over the place,” Niemiec said after Tuesday night’s meeting.

    Homer Glen in the past has looked into forming a commission to pursue buying the water and sewer system, and trustees ordered a feasibility study to study the matter in 2006.

    Mayor Jim Daley said he felt “optimistic” after this week’s meeting with the potential water agency partners.

    “I think we’re going to see some real positive things out of it,” he said.

    Homer Glen and Illinois American have been at odds for years over what many village officials and residents see as unfairly high water rates and subpar service. Those rates would increase further this year if the Illinois Commerce Commission approves Illinois American’s pending request to raise rates.

    An ICC law judge on Monday released a 200-page report containing his recommendations on Illinois American’s proposed rate hike.

    Homer Glen officials said Tuesday that while village attorneys are still combing through the report, it did appear that the ICC supported some, but not all, of Illinois American’s rate increase. The ICC is expected to make a final decision on the increase in April.

    A second request from Illinois American to tack a surcharge onto customers’ bills to pay for capital improvements is also awaiting a decision from the ICC.

    An Illinois American spokeswoman could not be reached Tuesday night for comment.

    Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services


  • Oak Forest ponders strategy to combat ash borer

    Oak Forest officials have known since fall that the emerald ash borer has invaded the city.

    Thirteen trees infested by the dreaded beetle have been removed, but city officials have to decide what to do with the estimated 2,500 ash trees that are on parkways throughout the city.

    Mayor Hank Kuspa and the rest of the city council heard Tuesday night from public works director Troy Ishler on how the city plans to combat the destructive insect and how much it will cost.

    Ishler isn’t recommending a plan similar to that of Homewood, which is removing all ash trees on public property whether they’re infested or not. Ishler recommended that Oak Forest cut down only those trees that are obviously infested.

    Ishler said the public works department could handle the tree removal but will need to purchase new equipment.

    The city would also have to consider replanting where trees have been removed. Ishler detailed five- and 10-year tree replacement plans that would cost a total of about $500,000.

    There are options to attack the ash borer with pesticides, but they have not proven effective and would be costly, he said.

    Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services


  • Homewood approves funds for business redevelopment

    Homewood trustees on Tuesday night approved matching funds to pay for part of a major overhaul of a former gas station at a key intersection in the village.

    Using funding from a special taxing district, property owner Pete Guglielmi plans to renovate the run-down station that has been vacant for more than two years at the northeast corner of 183rd Street and Harwood Avenue. The new business will be a Mobil gas station with a convenience store.

    The village board approved $47,328 – half of what Guglielmi will need for such improvements as landscaping, roof repair, security cameras, facade renovation and heating, air conditioning and electricity.

    Trustees also gave preliminary approval for a sidewalk, exterior painting, walk-in coolers and an ice machine at the businesses. Guglielmi can come back for final approval when he has bids on those items.

    The total amount approved for the village’s portion of the project was $70,500.

    Guglielmi seemed relieved that the project was finally moving forward.

    “It’ll be clean, neat and perky when we finish with the project,” he told the board.

    Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services


  • Incredible: Google Execs Found Guilty Because Of YouTube Video; Given Six Month Suspended Sentences

    This is just downright ridiculous. We see all sorts of jaw-dropping legal rulings around here, but I still can’t fathom how Italian law allowed the following case to be decided in this manner. As you may recall, a couple years ago, Italian prosecutors filed criminal charges against four Google execs. What was the crime? Apparently, some kids had taunted another boy with Down’s Syndrome, and filmed the whole episode. In the video, the kids apparently threw a tissue box at the boy. They then uploaded the video to YouTube, along with the countless other videos uploaded to the site. Nearly a year ago, YouTube noted that 20 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute. To think that Google should automatically have knowledge of what’s included in every video uploaded to YouTube is ludicrous.

    But it’s even more ridiculous when you realize the full story. Within hours of Google being alerted to the problems with the video, the video came down. In other words, the company acted promptly when questions about the video were raised. But, even more importantly, the video itself was used as evidence to punish the taunting teens. Now imagine if they hadn’t been able to upload the video. Then the kids likely would have gotten away with the taunting, without anyone knowing about it. Why would you ever want to blame Google for providing a tool that allows stupid people to give proof of their own illegal activities? And even then, rather than filing a suit against Google the company, Italian prosecutors chose to file the lawsuit against four execs at the company, most of whom had nothing to do with the company’s Italian operations.

    You might think that a judge would toss this sort of lawsuit out really quickly, but that didn’t happen, and now, amazingly, the court has found three of the four execs to be guilty and given them six month suspended jail sentences. I vaguely remember reading that “first time offenders” given prison sentences in Italy of three years or less get suspended sentences, so the suspended sentence part isn’t surprising. But, of course, given how many videos are uploaded, it seems likely that there will be second, third and further offenses of this nature as well. It seems like Italy has just suggested Google block all access to YouTube, while also increasing the liability for pretty much any other company to operate there or have any foreign execs visit the country.

    Honestly, I can’t see how anyone would make a ruling in this manner and think that it makes sense. As I said when the case first came up, you would think that suing the execs of the company that made the tissue box would make more sense than suing Google’s execs. Why not charge the execs of the company that made the camera that was used to film the incident? It’s hard to hear about this ruling and not consider the Italian legal system to be a joke.

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  • Shedding Light On Science Of Warming World, Space Daily

    Article Tags: 2010 Forecast, Solar News

    article image

    Click source to read more

    Source: spacedaily.com

    Read in full with comments »   


  • Development of THAI

    This describes the hesitant development of THAI during its early days.  I also shared a skepticism that a flame based system could work at all.  As it turns out it was a case of somehow managing the geometry of the flame front and the surprise understanding that air breakthrough could be prevented by the char front.  You take your breaks wherever they come from.

    This also suggests that a pillar of oil between two chambers may also be recoverable.  Again a lot of field work will be needed.

    This continues to mean that all tarsand deposits not accessible to mining will be accessible to this type of recovery.  A couple of more years of this and Canada will be able to upgrade its oil reserves to in excess of one trillion barrels or more oil than has been burned to date.

    The development of the methodology gives one a sense of just how well developed the science already is.  Of course, all the work has focused on the tarsands as who would not?  Many other much smaller resources exists except that once the tarsands dominate the world oil market as they will, they will eventually be the price point maker.  Conventional resources will have a dominant market share for decades to come because they will always have a cost advantage against this type of production but not by much.

    I expect the rollout of THAI will end additional development of tarsands mining which I think is just as well.  It needs to consume natural gas for heat and that is better sold into the retail market.  Also the well publicized tailings ponds and the CO2 output largely ends completely under a THAI regime.  The fact is that the mining operations are close to what can be done in terms of optimal output.  This way they will operate at close to present levels possibly for decades while the environmental issues do resolve.  This is not a bad outcome.

    They may also produce thousands of acres of commercial cattail meadows while they are at it.  That would be a really good outcome.

    The developing success of THAI was born in the lab work described in this article.  It will result in the tarsands producing ten to fifteen million barrels of oil per day before it is finished.  North America may possibly have a soft landing from it in energy conversion.

     

    The development of THAI

    http://www.heavyoilinfo.com/feature_items/thai/the-development-of-thai
    Professor Greaves became involved with academic work relating to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in 1981 when one of his PhD students at the University of Bath, UK, was researching polymer flooding. He became aware of the benefits of in situ combustion (ISC) at the first European EOR Conference in Bournemouth, UK. Subsequent discussions in the US and Canada confirmed that in situ combustion had the greatest potential as a research area, and was at that time still regarded by the oil industry as “the great hope” for heavy oil recovery.

    Following the US/Canada trip, Greaves’ team in Bath built the first combustion tube system in the UK. Two more low pressure systems were built before he received funding from the EU and BP to construct a fully-automated, combustion tube system operating at up to 240 bar pressure.

    Although the initial experiments were on heavy oil, the subsequent dramatic collapse in the crude oil price diverted attention to light oil reservoirs, in which ISC has since achieved field success as an improved oil recovery (IOR) technique.  The Bath HP Combustion Tube Facility, although having no direct link to THAI developments, was an important research precursor, providing significant insight and learning experience for subsequent ISC experiments.

    In 1989, another of Greaves’ PhD students was researching horizontal wells, this prompted the Professor to consider, for the first time, the multi-phase flow implications of an ISC setup comprising a single vertical air injection well, offset and in line from the toe of a single horizontal thermal production well.  

    The oil price collapse of the early 1990s was one of several reasons why the commercialization of THAI has been a long process. Reduced income led to a decline in interest (and investment) in heavy oil, with many large companies switching their focus to light oil. In addition, experience to date had made reservoir engineers very skeptical about ISC. Of around 160 ISC field pilots during the 1970s and 1980s only about one-third were considered a technical and economic success. Another one-third of cases were only partially successful, and the remaining third were deemed to be failures, encountering unstable or uncontrollable combustion. 

    “THAI is very simple,” says Greaves, and although many companies expressed keen interest, no one wanted to fund the research. Until very recently only a few people thought it would actually work. “No-one gave Frank Whittle (inventor of the jet engine) any money either,” noted Greaves. Greaves considers it ironic that, during this period, he was able to obtain substantial funds from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for conventional heavy oil ISC research. This was very useful because it helped considerably towards developing operating expertise on 3D combustion cell geometries used to investigate ISC processes. The research also provided fundamental understanding which was important for the subsequent development of THAI.   However, throughout the 1990s, Greaves and his colleagues battled to convince companies and funding bodies that this odd-looking well arrangement would work. PhD students supported by oil companies made significant progress, but it was not until 1997 that the next intensive phase of testing could be performed, enabled by a special award from the EPSRC. This was specifically earmarked for work on downhole upgrading of heavy crude (the CAPRI  process). Greaves saw this as an indication that industry experts had, by now, reached the conclusion that THAI might work after all! 

    A 3D combustion cell can provide a much more realistic physical simulation of the combustion front propagation and fluid flow occurring in a real reservoir than the artificially constrained 1D flow in a combustion tube arrangement. In total, over 130 3D laboratory ISC experiments were performed between 1990 and 2002, each lasting up to 15 hours. The tests produced temperatures of 500—800 degC and achieved recovery rates up to 84%. Approximately 10% of ooip was burned as fuel and 6% left as heavy residue and coke. For heavy crudes, there was never any occurrence of instability in any of the tests. At the experimental level therefore, the THAI process was very stable and robust. Greaves presented results in a paper at an SPE/DOE IOR Conference in 2000 and says that the first question at any conference presentation has been why injected air does not channel through, directly into the toe of the horizontal well. The answer was not discovered until 2002 (Paper 2003-030 – Proc. Canadian International Petroleum Conference). It was observed that, towards the end of an experiment, the air injectivity fell dramatically. The horizontal producer well was subsequently cut open, revealing a heavy coke-like residue plugging the heel of the horizontal well. Numerical simulations and more tests indicated that, just ahead of the combustion front, as the draining heavy oil gets hotter, it starts to coke forming a plug that provides a flow resistance barrier inside the horizontal well preventing air breakthrough.

    ISC methods share many of the challenges inherent to other EOR methods and also present some particular complications. Greaves considers poor, or irregular, inter-well communication to be at the root of many of the problems that plagued conventional ISC projects using two vertical wells placed 100s of meters apart. Banking-up of the oil and water reduces gas permeability and so restricts air injectivity. Inadequate combustion can lead to low-temperature oxidation and emulsions. A key to the success of THAI is its vigorous high-temperature combustion.

    Greaves shares the basic patent for THAI with Dr. Alex Turta, a Romanian engineer. Romania has the biggest ISC operation in the world—at Surplacu du Bacu—which has been operated continuously for more than 30 years.  In this case, the conventional well geometry works well thanks to a uniform reservoir character and a near optimum 17º dipping reservoir. Other successful conventional ISC fields are producing in India and Louisiana. Many other projects have been tried but, according to Greaves, some failures have occurred due to poor reservoir selection. Additionally, in many cases, it was not very well understood during the early phase that heavy oil ISC must be operated in a high temperature oxidation mode, i.e., vigorous combustion at high temperature (greater than 500 degC).

    Dr. Tian Xia, who worked as a research officer in the IOR Group from 1997 until 2004, was instrumental in advancing many refinements to the 3D experimental methodology, enabling significant new understanding to be gained about THAI.  
    Another associate in the development and promotion of THAI was Dr. Conrad Ayasse, President of the Petroleum Recovery Institute (PRI) in Calgary until it was acquired in 1999 by the Alberta Research Council (ARC). Before PRI, he was a senior research manager in the chemical industry. Greaves, Turta and Ayasse all shared a personal interest in the development of ISC technologies and recognized the potential of THAI. Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. owns the patents to THAI and CAPRI and have developed addition patents around both technologies. 

    THAI and CAPRI are trademarks of Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd.
    THAI tech described:
    Fed by air from the injection well, a combustion front sweeps the oil from the toe to the heel of the horizontal producing well. Estimates from experimental tests indicate that the process can recover as much as 80 percent of original oil-in-place while partially upgrading the crude oil in situ.

    Petrobank has reported positive results from its test wells in the oil sands region. The oil produced was upgraded from 8 to 12 API degrees, and the company hopes to get a further 7-degree upgrade from its associated CAPRI (controlled atmospheric pressure resin infusion) system, which pulls the oil through a catalyzing nickel lining in the lower pipe.

    Heavy oil is present all over the globe. In Saskatchewan, an estimated 20 billion barrels have yet to be recovered, in part because current technologies can’t get it. The CAD12 million Saskatchewan demonstration project is expected to produce 1,200 barrels per day; if successful Petrobank plans to license THAI to projects around the world.

    Petrobank estimates are that it will cost USD20,000 per producing barrel to put a project together, whereas the average SAGD (steam assisted gravity drainage) project is USD60,000 per producing barrel. Including an upgrader puts you in the USD80,000 to USD100,000 per producing barrel. And because the oil is upgraded in situ, you’re producing 20- to 21-degree oil on the API scale rather than 9- or 10-degree oil. {the natural upgrade is more like 15 degree api which will still need more work but a vast improvement}

    THAI has the potential to solve the economics of heavy oil extraction in a relatively environmentally friendly way.

  • TV Review: King Tut Unwrapped

    King Tut Unwrapped
    Discovery Channel

    Always late in receiving the Discovery Channel documentaries it is great when someone reviews one of the ancient Egypt focused ones that have aired in the US. On this occasion I went crawling to Alice Gaylor (Florida, U.S.A) who took the job on with enthusiasm, and pulled no punches. Here’s her review, with my sincere thanks.

    My thoughts on the Discovery channel’s King Tut Unwrapped – Royal Blood. This is a 2 night, 4 hour docudrama.

    First, let me say that I am not trained in Egyptology. BUT I can see what’s there, and what’s not there. And I didn’t see a lot there.

    I was very disappointed. I guess I expected too much after all the “facts” that have been presented since the 17th. What I saw was a lot of docudrama footage and a lot of Zahi.

    What I did not see was any conclusive facts supporting the announcement that the KV55 mummy is Akhenaten. The only real fact that I saw about this was the Wa-A-En-Re on the gold foil. I could just make out the glyphs. and had to take his word for it as to what they said.

    Therefore, I’m not as sure as he is that KV55 is Akhenaten (much as I would truly like for it to be.) It could well be Smenkhkare. I know – did he exist? Well, there are a lot of items that have his name on them for him NOT to have existed. The coffin that my guy Tut has been resting in since Carter put him back in the tomb, is not Tut’s face. It is the same face that’s on the canopic coffins and a statue that I’ve seen with his name. I have to believe that he is/was real.

    Now was he king? How long? Exactly when? Is he the man in KV55? No real clue. But as far as I can tell, it’s a toss up as to which one it really happens to be. I believe that this man was Tut’s father. The DNA is good here. I just don’t believe that his identity was proven beyond doubt.

    And now the largest of the fetus show Marfan’s. Ithought that it had been ruled out in the family.

    I don’t understand how he could have ridden his chariot all around the country standing up with that bad foot. But Zahi said he was a strong man. With a deformed foot and 130 walking sticks in his tomb ??

    So now Zahi is saying that the Younger Woman in KV55, Tut’s mother, might be Nefertiti. He sure gave Joan Fletcher what for when she said that.

    I would think that they would have checked the DNA of the younger lady with that of Tut’s mother and grandmother, and father. Also that of the lady called KV21a, and b for that matter. That might help to identify them.

    Not being trained in Egyptology, I rely on what I read and what I see and hear for knowledge. I expect the things that I see and hear and read to be accurate. I saw a lot of inaccurate things on both nights.

    At one point they listed the kings in this order – Amenhotep III, Smenkhkare, Akhenaten. Not in the history books I’ve read.

    In two scenes they had Tut wearing just the white crown. In another one the red and white crown. Couldn’t make up their mind. Mostly the Blue crown.

    Akhenaten named his city Akhet-Aten, modern Egyptologist have named it Armana. But I never heard the true name mentioned on either night.

    The mould for the ring found at Armana had a name, they said it was Nebkheperure. I’ve been wearing a necklace for the last 15 years with that name and it didn’t look like my necklace. It looked like Tutankhamun. It had the glyphs for Thebes and so on. I need to check one of my books that has both, but I’m sure it was Tut.

    In short or long, I watched 4 hours , most of it of Zahi marching in and out of tombs, the museum, various storage rooms and the desert. He totally wore me out! I would much rather have had 2 or even 3 hours of facts.

    BUT at least Tut has a family, even if we don’t know what their names are for sure. So that makes me happy.

    Alice G., Florida, USA

    Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

  • EPA Solicitations February Week 3

    logo-epa1Exploring New Air Pollution – Health Effects Links in Existing Datasets – This RFA is intended to take advantage of previous investments in health and exposure data collection, to explore new health – exposure questions by emphasizing the use of existing data from health studies to analyze health outcomes for which the link to air pollution is not well established, or to identify “new” at-risk populations.  A variety of datasets may be appropriate to address the goal of the RFA including those from human population, panel or clinical studies, and animal studies.  The research will provide scientists and policy decision makers with a better understanding of the health effects of exposure to air pollution, improving health risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses.  A.EPA is interested in research to explain heterogeneity in health responses to air pollutants and studies that evaluate links between air pollutants and diseases or other health idicators that are not as yet well established.  Total Funding: $1.4M; Award Ceiling: $300K.  Eligibility: Universities, Colleges, and Non-Profits.  Closing Date: April 27, 2010.

    Posted Date: January 25, 2010

    Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-G2010-STAR-B1

  • JHU excavations at Mut Lake, Karnak

    Dr. Betsy Bryan and her team are not working on the Mut Lake Collaboration project this season but they should be back in January 2011.
    Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

  • 1000 trucks per day for 1000 days

    The final death toll could well exceed 300,000.  this will make this disaster the largest in modern history.  These two reports get a measure of the work needed to restore urban life here.  In fact it mostly establishes what is needed to allow rebuilding to begin.
    The only things that begins to compare is the devastation wrought on Germany in particular during the second world war.
    We now have boots on the ground to maintain order and obviously a food economy has been established, so yes things are getting better.
    No one is really thinking about building yet, simply because the first task will be rubbish removal.  And this makes it clear that the trucks will be running around the clock for a couple of years.  It also makes it apparent that most folks will be living in tent cities for at least as long.
    One huge lesson here that needs to be clearly understood is that this death toll was the result of building concrete structures without proper rebar and earth quake design.  It will be madness to repeat the experience.  After all, California has ridden through a similar quake with negligible loss of life.  It is possible and certainly should be built for when using concrete.
    The second huge lesson is that building as much as possible with wood frame construction using wood treated to suppress termites is a good replacement for much of this lost housing.  These buildings are not necessarily any better except that they are lighter and also take time to tear apart so long as post and pillar is avoided.  This gives occupants escape time.
    The third lesson is to ask who else is this vulnerable.  Haiti is hardly the worst target city and it has the small advantage of local rich neighbors who could get in there.  Most other potential disaster cities are not this lucky.  All major cities need to adopt California style building codes, it not all urban areas.
    Most of the earth is largely immune to earth quakes, but no given locale is one hundred percent immune.  In the USA, the Eastern seaboard is certainly not immune however unlikely.  It is just not impossible.
    I would personally like to see the advent of proper stress skin panels using polyurethane foam as the binding agent and treated wood as the strength component.  This makes structures fifty percent lighter than wood frame and naturally twice as strong at least.  Such will largely survive the strongest known quakes.  This could be done while meeting modern price points once mass production is established.  It is possible, but needs a top down initiative at the political level.
    Stress skin panels are formed using cut stock and OSB panels held together under pressure with polyurethane foam injected under pressure to bind everything together.  For the tropics, simple binders could also possibly be used with more cut stock.  The key is continuous binding.
    Does anyone believe that the politicians will force such a solution?  Anyone can figure out who to bribe to get their obsolete building methods grandfathered in.
    Haiti’s rubble will fill 1,000 trucks a day, for over 1,000 days
    by Staff Writers

     Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Feb 22, 2010
    http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Haitis_rubble_will_fill_1000_trucks_a_day_for_over_1000_days_999.html

    The team included women in skirts shoveling for all it’s worth, but it barely made a dent in the mountain of debris that was once a shopping center in     Haiti’squake-devastated capital.

    While it may not seem so, judging from the absence of heavy equipment at the site, removing rubble is an urgent matter, and not only because of the many bodies still trapped under buildings in ruin throughout Port-au-Prince.

    Massive mounds of rubble are blocking drains and canals that are crucial in preventing floods when the heavy rains begin around May. Those made homeless by the quake who live in low-lying camps face more catastrophe if flooding occurs.

    On top of that, potential new camp sites for the homeless need to be cleared of debris to relocate thousands of people now crammed in overcrowded, makeshift settlements.

    Aid officials say clearing all the rubble from the quake will fill 1,000 trucks a day for more than 1,000 days. So why bother with shoveling?

    “It’s just to help the unemployed,” said Robert Jean Louis, site supervisor where a cinema, pharmacy and grocery store once stood.

    The goal is a worthy one, with so many people out of work in this impoverished country, and Louis said the shovelers, who earn five dollars a day, were only the initial phase of a plan that will later bring in heavy equipment.

    It was unclear if aid officials have designated his site a priority, though it does contain some very large drains.

    But asked when the heavy equipment would arrive, Louis thought for a moment, then said, “not yet.”
    “Maybe in one month,” said the head of the digging team hired by aid group CHF International. “Could be longer, could be less.”

    Rubble removal is another indication of the catastrophe’s daunting scale. Other urgent tasks include food and shelter distribution, as well as improving living conditions in the squalid camps that are home to more than a million people.

    On top of that, Haiti‘s badly crippled government faces a lack of heavy equipment to clear the rubble left by the 7.0-magnitude quake that killed more than 217,000 people.

    US Colonel Gregory Kane said Monday he believed there were now enough trucks in the country and in the neighboring Dominican Republic to handle the job.

    Kane said drains and canals will have to be unblocked quickly because of the coming rains.

    “That will overwhelm the storm water mitigation system that they’ve got in Port-au-Prince if the rubble is not cleared out,” he said.

    And up to 19 camps housing tens of thousands of people in and around Port-au-Prince are considered to be in low-lying areas, he said.

    Canadian Deputy Commanding General Nicolas Matern of the Haiti Joint Task Force said because the demand for shelter is so urgent ahead of the rains, rubble removal will focus on what is needed for the camps.

    That includes clearing space to create new settlements to ease overcrowded sites that are becoming a health risk, he said.

    Matern said the quake created between 20 and 25 million cubic yards (meters) of rubble.

    “Enough to fill five Superdomes,” he said, referring to the US stadium in New Orleans that housed thousands of people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

    “Or put in other terms, 1,000 trucks (a day) for 1,000 days,” he said.

    “What we’re doing to support the shelter initiative is we’re focusing our rubble removal in the immediate zero to three months on the settlements, as opposed to trying to do everything at once,” he added.

    At the site of the crumbled shopping center, the workers picked away, wearing masks to keep from breathing in the clouds of cement dust and the rancid smells emanating from the pile.

    Workers there said they were glad to be working despite the low pay. Louis, the supervisor, said it was only the beginning.

    “We have several sites to clear out,” he said. “Overall, what is needed is to clear the canal to allow water to drain.”
    Earthquake Engineers Release Report On Damage In Haiti
    by Staff Writers

     Seattle WA (SPX) Feb 23, 2010
    http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Earthquake_Engineers_Release_Report_On_Damage_In_Haiti_999.html

    A five-person team sent to evaluate damage from the devastating magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12 found no surface evidence of the fault that might have caused the quake, but installed four instruments to measure aftershocks and help pinpoint the     epicenter.

    University of Washington civil and environmental engineering professor Marc Eberhard led the team that provided engineering support to the United States Southern Command, responsible for all U.S. military activities in South and Central America.

    Eberhard is lead author on a report released late last week to the national Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the United States Geological Survey, both of which sponsored the trip. The report is posted here.

    A main conclusion is that much of the loss of human life could have been prevented by using earthquake-resistant designs and construction, as well as improved quality control in concrete and masonry work. The authors recommend that simple and cost-effective earthquake engineering be emphasized in Haiti‘s rebuilding effort.

    The group also gathered more seismic data. Assessing an earthquake’s magnitude can be done from afar, Eberhard said, but establishing the location requires several stations fairly close to the earthquake’s center. Such monitoring stations were not present in Haiti. Knowing the location will help understand what caused the earthquake and forecast the likelihood of future quakes in the area, he said.
    The team provided a ground assessment of places that were worst hit, including the port in Port-au-Prince, the cathedral, the National Palace, the Hotel Montana and the Union School, attended by children of many nationalities. They photographed damage in smaller towns and assessed the safety of hospitals, schools, bridges and other critical facilities.

    A survey of 107 buildings in a heavily damaged part of downtown Port-au-Prince found that 28 percent had collapsed and a third would require repairs. A survey of 52 buildings in nearby Leogane found that more than 90 percent had either collapsed or will require repairs.

    “A lot of the damaged structures will have to be destroyed,” Eberhard commented. “It’s not just 100 buildings or 1,000 buildings. It’s a huge number of buildings, which I can’t even estimate.”

    Many people asked team members to inspect buildings where the occupants were camped outside because they feared a collapse.

    “There’s an enormous amount of fear,” Eberhard said. “People may see cracks in their houses. A large part of what we were doing was identifying what was serious damage versus what was cosmetic damage.”

    “Probably the most satisfying thing we did was to walk through the building and get people back inside.”

    Eberhard traveled into Port-au-Prince on a military airplane on Jan. 26. He and other team members camped in front of the U.S. embassy during the weeklong trip.

    The group kept a blog of the trip at http://neescomm.blogspot.com/. Eberhard says he omitted some of the most disturbing images because members of his daughter’s second-grade class were reading the posts.

    This is not the first such assignment for Eberhard, who did reconnaissance after major earthquakes in California, Seattle, Taiwan and Costa Rica. But he says this was the most difficult on a personal level.
    “Usually when I go to earthquakes I find that the amount of damage is less than what appears on the television,” Eberhard said. “In this case it was much more.”

    “The main reason for the difference is that usually when you see earthquake coverage the cameras will focus on one place that’s really damaged, and you don’t realize that around it there are plenty of things that are just fine. In this case, the cameras focused on one place that’s really damaged, but because the cameras have a limited field of view you don’t realize that the cameras could be panned 360 degrees and you would see the same thing.”

    The poverty of the people combined with the density of population and lack of building codes resulted in the widespread devastation, he said.

    A follow-up team of engineers is scheduled to travel to Haiti on Feb. 28.

    The engineering community, working with the United Nations and United States Agency for International Development, is assessing the next steps, including translating into French and Creole documents that explain in simple words and pictures how to rebuild structures that will be earthquake resistant.

    Other members of the reconnaissance mission were Steven Baldridge, a structural engineer at Baldridge and Associates in Honolulu; Justin Marshall, a structural engineering professor at Auburn University in Alabama; Walter Mooney, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in California; and Glenn Rix, a geotechnical engineering professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, the Geo-engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance, the Applied Technology

  • NIH Solicitations February Week 3

    nih-small2Grants for Research in Glomerular Disease – This FOA invites applications from investigators with diverse scientific interests to apply their expertise to enhance the understanding of the pathogenesis of the various primary or secondary forms of glomerular disease. Recent observations regarding intrinsic glomerular cell biology, particularly in the podocyte, have provided exciting new insights into potential pathogenic mechanisms of human glomerular disease. It is anticipated that applications submitted in response to this FOA could address a number of different aspects concerning the pathogenesis, natural history, therapy, pre-emption, or prevention of the various morphologic forms of experimental glomerular disease. Relevant topics of study for research evaluating glomerular disease could include (but are not limited to): 1) Understanding basic glomerular cell biology; 2) Understanding pathogenic mechanisms of specific forms of glomerular disease; 3) Development of new animal models for specific forms of glomerular disease; 4) Development of new glomerular-specific imaging techniques; 5) Identification and characterization of glomerular disease biomarkers; 6) Assessing the mechanisms underlying the increased disease incidence associated with susceptibility genes; 7)  Developing tools and/or techniques to enhance the diagnosis and/or  therapy of human glomerular diseases 8 ) Developing tools to enhance the prognostic accuracy of human glomerular diseases given different baseline risk factors or under different therapeutic strategies.  Because the nature and scope of the proposed research will vary from application to application, it is anticipated that the size and duration of each award will also vary. Eligibility: All. Opening Date: May 5, 2010.  Closing Dates: June 5, annually and October 5, annually.  Expires: May 8, 2013.

    Posted Date: February 22, 2010

    Solicitation Number: PA-10-113

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    Development of Outcome Measures to Determine Success of Hearing Health Care (R01) – This FOA, issued by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, NIH, encourages R01 applications from institutions/organizations that propose to develop and evaluate a set of outcome measures to determine the success of hearing health care for adults with hearing loss.  There is a compelling need to identify the variables contributing to successful hearing health care outcomes, particularly the patient-centered and instrument-centered variables contributing to successful hearing aid use.  This FOA encourages Community-Based Research practices and encourages inclusion and attention to the needs of special populations (elderly, low SES, disparities, rural, second language populations).   Eligibility: All.  Opening Date: September 1, 2010.  LOI Due Dates: September 1, 2010, May 1, 2011, January 1, 2012.  Application Due Dates: October 1, 2010, June 1, 2011, February 1, 2012.

    Posted Date: February 19, 2010

    Program Announcement (PA) Number: PAR-10-112

  • NASA Solicitations February Week 3

    nasaResearch Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES 2010) – This NASA ROSES 2010 NRA solicits basic and applied research in support of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD). This NRA covers all aspects of basic and applied supporting research and technology in space and Earth sciences, including, but not limited to: theory, modeling, and analysis of SMD science data; aircraft, stratospheric balloon, suborbital rocket, and commercial reusable rocket investigations; development of experiment techniques suitable for future SMD space missions; development of concepts for future SMD space missions; development of advanced technologies relevant to SMD missions; development of techniques for and the laboratory analysis of both extraterrestrial samples returned by spacecraft, as well as terrestrial samples that support or otherwise help verify observations from SMD Earth system science missions; determination of atomic and composition parameters needed to analyze space data, as well as returned samples from the Earth or space; Earth surface observations and field campaigns that support SMD science missions; development of integrated Earth system models; development of systems for applying Earth science research data to societal needs; and development of applied information systems applicable to SMD objectives and data. Funding: $100K to $1M.  Eligibility: All.  Opening Date: April 30, 2010.  Closing Date: April 30, 2011.

    Posted Date: February 12, 2010

    Solicitation Number: NNH10ZDA001N

  • Air Force Solicitations February Week 3

    air-forceSpace Innovation and Development Center (SIDC) – This is a BAA from the SIDC, formerly known as the Space Warfare Center (SWC), presenting Focus Areas representing the interests of the SIDC.  The SIDC may contract for activities covered in the Focus Areas detailed within this BAA. The intent of these efforts is to investigate and develop concepts and technologies that will enable the SIDC to meet current and future AF warfighter space needs. The goal is to develop technologies that provide the best possible space capabilities for AF warfighters, when and where needed, in the most cost-effective manner. Proposals can cover either development of new capabilities or leveraging off of existing capabilities. Specific interests and objectives covered by this BAA are: 1) Geolocation and Tracking; 2) Linking Sensors to Shooters to Weapons; 3) Unconventional/Asymmetric Warfare; 4) Persistent Situational Awareness (SA); 5) Command and Control Communications and Computers (C4) and Cyber System Enhancements.  Concepts should focus toward unique approaches and techniques, which leverage existing space capabilities and that lead to or enable revolutionary and evolutionary improvements in capability, performance, and cost.  Total Funding: varies, usually less than $1M.  Eligibility: Educational Institutions, Non-profit, and Private Industry.  White Papers Due: February 17, 2011, but will be reviewed on first come, first serve basis.

    Posted Date: February 18, 2010

    Solicitation Number: SIDC_BAA-09-02

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    Request for Information – Time-Space-Position-Information (TSPI) System – This RFI seeks technology and cost information to develop the requirements for a Non-Intrusive TSPI System.  Specifically, this RFI seeks the following information: 1) Technical feasibility and risk assessment; 2) Conceptual and innovative design concepts that utilize next generation subminiature technology to integrate key components such as GPS, power, data link, and antennas; 3) Approximate cost information for design and initial development of 6 units for test and acceptance; 4) schedule estimates.  Eligibility: Industry.  Response Date: March 5, 2010.

    Posted Date: February 17, 2010

    Solicitation Number: RFI-AAC-PKESXR-TSPI170210

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    Hill AFB Requirements Symposium – Hill Air Force Base and the Utah Air Force Association Industrial Associates will co host the 2010 Hill Air Force Base Requirements Symposium on 13 – 14 April, 2010. The Requirements Symposium is held every two years to detail upcoming requirements, improve communication between industry and government, educate, and benefit the warfighter with better contracts. There will be individual breakout sessions provided by Hill AFB organizations to discuss requirements. Additionally, special interest workshops will be convened on a variety of topics. The intended audience for the Symposium is primarily defense contractors.  The location for the event is the Eccles Conference Center, in Ogden, Utah. The cost is $250 per person, for early registration up to March 12th and $275 thereafter. For information please see: http://afautah.org/. Please send questions to: [email protected]. You may register at: http://conference.usu.edu/hrs

    Posted Date: February 17, 2010

    Solicitation Number: HILLREQSYM-A