Category Archives: Human Longevity

General News of Sunday, 16 February 2014

Source: GNA

The United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Beyond 2014 Report says growing inequalities will undo significant gains in health and longevity made over the past 20 years.

The Report highlights the fact that development gains from the past 20 years could be sustained, unless governments tackled the inequalities that hurt the poorest and most marginalized.

It noted that achievements over the ensuing 20 years had been remarkable, including gains in womens equality, population health and life expectancy, educational attainment, and human rights protection systems, with an estimated one billion people moving out of extreme poverty.

The Report said, fears of population growth that were already abating in 1994, had continued to ease, and the expansion of human capability and opportunity, especially for women, which had led to economic development, had been accompanied by the continued decline in the population growth rate from 1.52 per cent per year in 1990-1995 to 1.15 in 2010-2015.

The ICPD Beyond 2014 Global Report is the culmination of a landmark UN review of progress, gaps, challenges and emerging issues in relation to the ICPD Programme of Action.

It gathers data from 176 member states, alongside inputs from civil society and comprehensive academic research.

To sustain these gains, the Report, which was launched in New York by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, argues that governments must pass and enforce laws to protect the poorest and most marginalized, including adolescent girls and women affected by violence as well as rural populations.

The document also underlines that the number of people living in extreme poverty in developing countries has fallen dramatically from 47 per cent in 1990 to 22 per cent in 2010, but many of the estimated one billion people living in the 50-60 poorest countries would stagnate as the rest of the world gets richer.

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Growing inequalities will undo significant health gains - UN Report

Veteran actress Cherie Gil

I would like to be able to emanate the human side of Diana Vreeland. We talk about the woman, the human being, thats what I like to capture, the poignancy of that.

Tucked into a dark corner of the bar right across the Peninsula Manilas Salon de Ning, Evangeline Rose De Mesa Eigenmann more popularly known by her on-screen moniker Cherie Gil looked like a beautiful anachronism. With her pulled-back hair, all black outfit, and with the lit cigarette she held in one hand and the flute of wine in the other, she seemed to fit more in the swinging 60s rather than the present day.

A lot of it is due to the veteran actress ability to get underneath the skin of the characters that she portrays. When she sat down with the Students and Campuses staff for this 60 Minutes interview, she had just come from the press conference of her latest passion project: Full Gallop, a one-woman play on the life and times of legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who helmed Vogue from 1962 to 1971.

My Own Mann Productions Full Gallop will open with a gala night premiere on March 14 with regular performances on March 15 and 21 at 8 p.m. and on March 16 and 23 at 4 p.m. at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of the RCBC Plaza.

I would like to be able to emanate the human side of her with the help of Bart (Guingona, the director). Its actually quite poignant, she says of the play. It all starts with who she is. We talk about the woman, the human being. Thats what Id like to capture, the poignancy of that.

Diana Vreeland is merely the latest in the long list of characters whose foibles, pathos, and poignancy she has captured and performed on screen and on stage in her 37 years in the business. Its easy to remember the various roles she has played on screen, from the lesbian Kano in Lino Brockas Manila By Night, to the spoiled Trining in Peque Gallagas Oro, Plata, Mata, and to her oft-quoted villainess Lavinia Arguelles in Emmanuel Borlazas Bituing Walang Ningning.

Her success and longevity in the business isnt exactly surprising. She does, after all come from a family of thespians from her father and mother Eddie Mesa and Rosemarie Gil to her brothers Mark Gil and Michael de Mesa.

When I started, it wasnt even a planned thing. I just got involved because my dad has a TV show. They would ask me to come and sing a song and I would sing and play, she recalls with a laugh. I just wanted to be on stage. I wanted to be performing, even in school. I was meant to be on stage yata, to be the center of attraction.

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Robots are leading the second machine age, automating not just manual labor but cognitive function. Photo by Flickr user Gregory Lee.

Editors Note: The robots are coming? The robots are coming!

Actually, it turns out theyre finally here: humiliating us at Jeopardy, driving us from the Redwood Forest to the Gulfstream waters, running our lives online as software bots. Famous as a someday threat to factory jobs, robots (from the Czech robota drudgery or serf labor) are about to give almost all of us human workers a run for our money. As a result, we live in the The Second Machine Age, according to authors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee.

As far back as 1893, Ambrose Bierce, not exactly known as a science fiction writer, imagined a mechanical man so frustrated, it beat its inventor to death. And machines replacing humans is a theme weve long explored on Making Sense, as in our 2011 report Man vs. Machine. The fear, of course, is that technological advancement, of the kind weve featured from Singularity University, will at last decisively benefit the highly skilled few at the expense of the workaday rest.

Digital advancements, like iPhones and Twitter, are only creating a handful of well-paying jobs, techno-pessimist Tyler Cowen told us in 2011. His take: an innovation drought is now stymying economic growth. He argued, in a tour of his kitchen and major appliances, that no contemporary invention has significantly changed our lives as much as the refrigerator or gas stove of many decades ago.

But Brynjolfsson and McAfee, director and associate director, respectively, of the MIT Center for Digital Business, know of no drought; instead, they see the increasing automation of cognitive tasks as the second great era of technological change.

In this extended conversation, they explain how this latest industrial revolution, with potentially negative repercussions for the labor market that they fully acknowledge, will have any even bigger effect than the first.

In a second post, Brynjolfsson and McAfee explain what kind of educational and infrastructural investment humans need to make in order to stay a step ahead of robots. Their tour of Bostons robots with Paul Solman aired on the NewsHour Thursday. Watch that segment below.

Simone Pathe, Making Sense Editor

630306298762987Second machine age will require more human creativityRobotic technology is increasingly infiltrating our everyday world, and as robots become more capable of human labor, people will likely have to develop new skills for new jobs. Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks to Erik Brynjolfsson and Andy McAfee, who argue in their new book, "The Second Machine Age," that we are facing a radical new industrial revolution.2014-02-13 18:00:00disabled2365179167uYo7S-UDpSMtrue

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Are robots outsmarting us?

Published: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at 6:06 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at 6:06 p.m.

An arbitrator has sided with the Professional Firefighters of Ocala, IAFF, Local 2135, in its longevity pay grievance against the city of Ocala and has ordered the city to pay roughly $120,000 to the union members.

You never know how its going to end up, said Jared Sorensen, the citys director of Human Resources and Risk Management. I feel we presented a good case. Unfortunately, the arbitrator ruled against us. At this point, it is what it is.

The city has 30 days from Feb. 3 to pay the award, which was denied the firefighters in 2012. The $120,000 does not include FICA, which is estimated at less than $30,000.

Its something we had in our contract and that both parties agreed to, Robert Altman, the unions president said about the city. Every contract they had with outside vendors they paid in 2012 except us.

The firefighters contracts with the city expired in September 2011. The firefighters operate under the old contracts until new ones are ratified by union membership and approved by the City Council. There are two firefighter contracts, one for the firefighters bargaining unit and the other for the supervisory unit of officers. Arbitrator Vicki Peterson Cohens decision pertains to both bargaining units.

The city in 2012 decided not to award longevity pay to any of its employees, whether in a bargaining unit or not. The union argued that longevity pay is protected under their labor contract and, therefore, its members are entitled to the pay.

The contract reads that when financially feasible a lump sum longevity award shall be paid to eligible full-time regular employees at a time designated by the city manager according to a set schedule.

The city argued that the citys obligation to pay a longevity award is conditional and it is only required to pay when it is financially feasible to do so. It argued that during the recession, the city had to take measures to balance its budget, such as lowering the percentage of reserves from 25 percent to 20 percent and imposing a property tax rollback rate. During the 2012-13 budget process, the city projected an $8 million deficit and discussed strategies to close the deficit and the declining revenues. The city chose, among other things, to make department budget cuts of between 3 and 10 percent, sought pension reform, refinanced its debt and completed a voluntary separation program. Even after all the cuts, the city still faced a $3.6 million deficit without longevity bonuses.

City Manager Matthew Brower advised the city council it was not financially feasible to pay all employees the longevity awards. The city argued that it could not take the award away from other employees and pay it to the firefighters.

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City must give longevity pay to union firefighters

14 hours ago by Sarah Curran-Ragan By incorporating large volumes of water into their bodies, jellyfish are able to grow to a size disproportionately larger than other animals relative to their carbon content. Credit:

Jellyfish (Cnidarian medusa) have unique body plans that violate a universal law of biology and facilitate their longevity and their propensity to form blooms, according to an international study involving UWA scientists.

Most physiological and ecological processes in animals relate to body size and such relationships, called allometrics, predict a broad range of functions in animals.

However jellyfish, exhibit allometric differences that cannot be explained solely by their unusually high water and low carbon content.

UWA Oceans Institute director and co-author Professor Carlos Duarte says, "the differences provide insights into jellyfish's evolutionary and competitive advantages conferred by their unique body plans."

He says the jellyfish's allometrics help to explain their tendency to form spectacular blooms.

The study tested differences in allometric relationships for several key parameters: rates of respiration, excretion, longevity and swimming velocity, between jellyfish and other pelagic (open sea dwelling) animals.

Jellyfish were 3.2 times larger than other pelagics of equivalent carbon content and 2.5 times larger than those of equivalent nitrogen content.

Furthermore, respiration rates were 28 times slower, excretion rates 257 times slower and jellyfish grew 3.5 times faster than other similarly sized pelagic marine animals.

"The study highlights that gelatinous marine organisms differ from other marine organisms in fundamental ways," Prof Duarte says.

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Distinctive body type aids long life and predation

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 10, 2014

To coincide with the White House's announcement of January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention month, international anti-human trafficking organization Unlikely Heroes launched a human trafficking awareness and prevention campaign, including updated branding and a new website. Based in Los Angeles, Unlikely Heroes is dedicated to eradicating modern-day slavery through strategic rescues and the implementation of restoration homes and holistic rehabilitation centers. Unlikely Heroes has residential restoration homes and projects for child victims of sex slavery in The Philippines, Thailand and Mexico. Current conservative estimates say there are over 27 million people trapped in modern-day slavery worldwide. It is considered one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world.

The new Unlikely Heroes website features in-depth updates on each of the Unlikely Heroes projects, awareness and educational information on the issue of human trafficking, words and imagery designed to inspire visitors, and a brand new crowd-funding platform to offer a way for anyone to get involved to become a hero themselves. The crowd-funding platform, referred to on the website as Campaigns, exists to create a space for anyone who wants to join the movement to end human trafficking. Users can register to host their own Campaign and use it as a way to bring awareness to the cause and raise funds in their own way birthday gift donations, church or school events, car washes, etc.

In an article released on January 30, 2014, Forbes Magazine praised the Unlikely Heroes business model and fundraising events, saying, The young & stylish crowd enjoyed the social aspect of the event, but also demonstrated their commitment to the Unlikely Heroes cause by donating over $150,000 that night. Emerging philanthropists, especially millennials, are growing accustomed to having it all in one sustainable & cause-centric organizations, entertaining social events, & creating real immediate impact. The article, titled The 'Unlikely' Social-Cause Startup Attracting Young Hollywood, emphasizes not only the effective Unlikely Heroes programs for survivor care, but also the organizations strong relationships with celebrities in the entertainment industry.

Also in the Forbes article, Founder and CEO of Unlikely Heroes Erica Greve says about her method of running Unlikely Heroes, Whether we are rescuing a girl out of a brothel, or recognizing the accomplishments of a celebrity advocate at one of our red carpet events, we do our best to protect the vulnerable and highlight the valuable.

Unlikely Heroes has also launched their viral Public Service Announcement, summarizing the global issue of human trafficking and explaining the Unlikely Heroes plan to combat it. The PSA includes interviews from several members of the Unlikely Heroes team, as well as inspirational stories of the rescues and rehabilitation taking place at the Unlikely Heroes Restoration Homes. In the video Greve reiterates, Our mission at Unlikely Heroes is to rescue, restore and rehabilitate child victims of sex slavery worldwide.

For National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, Unlikely Heroes has intended to reach a broad spectrum of demographics through editorial articles and an ad campaign that will continue throughout the year.

In reference to the Unlikely Heroes awareness plan for 2014, Ben Decker, the Unlikely Heroes Director of Outreach and Strategic Partnerships, says, It is important that people become intimately aware of the issue of modern-day slavery. We are working intentionally to expand our awareness and prevention campaigns throughout the year not keeping them confined to January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

Through a long-standing partnership, Unlikely Heroes received a donation of two full-page PSA ads in national celebrity weekly publication, OK! Magazine, reaching millions. The ad, also designed and developed by Sharp Machine Media, reads, among other things, Every human being no matter what race, color or age, was born to be free and stay free. Time and time again, history has proven that when people join their voices together, change is inevitable. Functionally similar ads will be run throughout the year in OK! Magazine, Relevant Magazine and Solutions Magazine, as well as other partner publications.

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Anti-Human Trafficking Organization Unlikely Heroes Announces Year-Long Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention ...

Monkey World director Dr Alison Cronin to give evidence to MPs on new primate care legislation

5:40am Thursday 6th February 2014 in News By Jim Durkin

MONKEY World director Dr Alison Cronin will be giving evidence to a House of Commons select committee today, as Parliament looks to review legislation governing the care of primates in the legal British pet trade.

Dr Cronin, who has spent more than two decades rescuing neglected monkeys and apes from across the United Kingdom, is set to be quizzed by MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.

She says many of the monkeys coming from the British pet trade are found to be in terrible physical and mental condition having been kept in tiny, indoor birdcages in solitary confinement.

Monkey World is an international primate rescue and rehabilitation centre, but more and more we find ourselves being called to rescue and rehabilitate monkeys being kept as pets, legally, in Britain today, said Dr Cronin.

Over the past two years staff at the Wool ape rescue centre have rescued 26 monkeys, from six different species, from private homes and pet shops across the country.

Dr Cronin said: Some of the worst conditions, from which we have rescues monkeys, are from people's homes.

Sadly most of these primates are kept by well-meaning but unqualified people who do not know what the needs of their monkeys are.

But, according to Dr Cronin, it is not just the monkeys that are suffering. Well-meaning individuals are being misled by breeders and dealers as to the needs and longevity of captive monkeys, she said.

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Monkey World director Dr Alison Cronin to give evidence to MPs on new primate care legislation

Published: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 at 6:34 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 at 6:34 p.m.

OCALA -- The city of Ocala's Human Resources Department, faced with increasing union issues, used up its entire $40,000 legal fees budget in the first quarter of the year and has requested an additional $144,000 from general fund reserves to cover attorneys fees that arise between now and Sept. 30, the end of the city's fiscal year.

"We have a number of arbitrations and grievances," Sandra Wilson, the city's chief of staff for support services, told the City Council.

The council voted 4-0 Tuesday to approve the increase. Councilman James Hilty was absent.

The council also approved renewing the contract with Wayne Helsby of Allen, Norton & Blue, P.A., the Coral Gables labor attorney who has represented the city's collective bargaining and other employment law interests since 1997.

"He is the lead negotiator," Wilson said about Helsby.

The city bargains with the police, fire and general employees' unions.

The general employees, the latest group to unionize, are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1205. The employees voted 203 to 97 in August to unionize after the City Council, faced with rising pension liabilities, reduced the general employees' pension benefits.

The City Council, at its strategic planning meeting in January, set as its top priority for this year the reduction of police and fire pension benefits.

Jared Sorensen, the city's director of human resources and risk management, wrote in an email that several items depleted his legal budget. He wrote that when the budget was being prepared, it was not certain the general employees would vote to join the IBEW. Now that they have, he must bargain and address grievances and arbitrations with three unions.

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Ocala HR department requests additional funding

Doping breakthrough

The World Anti-Doping Agency says it expects a breakthrough within weeks to catch athletes who cheat using human growth hormone.

WADA director-general David Howman says HGH testing, including samples from Sochi Olympic athletes, should resume after being stalled by an appeal case last year.

Howman says a backlog of samples built up awaiting publication of peer-viewed results from two research projects involving 20,000 samples.

He says "in the next few weeks the publication will be accepted and therefore the test can be undertaken."

The Court of Arbitration for Sport requested additional proof of accurate HGH analysis when overturning a doping ban for two-time Olympic cross-country skiing champion Andrus Veerpalu.

The United States has chosen six-time Olympian Todd Lodwick to be the teams flagbearer at Fridays opening ceremony.

Lodwick is competing in the Nordic combined in Sochi. He is the first American to compete in six Winter Games. Lodwick was part of the team that won silver in Vancouver in 2010.

Lodwicks longevity made him the choice despite competing in a relatively low-profile event.

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Olympic notebook: Doping breakthrough

Gaithersburg, MD (PRWEB) February 05, 2014

For more than fourteen years Human Circuit has been working on projects and upgrades for this local government TV station. This project is an extension of the Rockville 11 master control, post production, and production control systems upgrade that recently updated the channels aging technical infrastructure and provided the path for high definition workflow.

Based on Rockville 11s request to bring its field production capabilities in line with its inhouse production quality, Human Circuit provided a mobile production system that utilizes cellular-based video transmission. The LiveU - LU70 System will help Rockville 11 with live remote field production which they were unable to accomplish before. This is a powerful addition to the current Rockville 11 production environment, allowing live event coverage from virtually anywhere in the city.

Bruce Kaufmann, President and CEO of Human Circuit said; We are huge proponents for cellular bonding technology that provides our broadcast clients with remote capabilities. We have enjoyed a great and long-standing relationship with the City of Rockville and their staff, who trusted our endorsement of this technology. This effort will give them a compact solution for more complete production coverage of their city.

Aaron Dawkins, Acting Station Manager at Rockville 11 stated; Human Circuit is always very sensitive to our needs. Thats why we've worked with them continuously for many, many years. They listen and let us bounce ideas around with the goal of solving our problems, not selling us equipment. We rely on them for their advice and trust heavily in their recommendations.

Rockville 11 is the official award-winning government channel of the City of Rockville that presents programs on Comcast, Verizon and RCN channel 11, as well as 24/7 online streaming via the Citys website. Rockville 11 helps citizens connect with their city by providing programming that includes news, live public meetings and special features highlighting the Citys neighborhoods and residents.

About Human Circuit Since 1965, Human Circuit has been a company of proven creative thinkers who are dedicated to providing technology integration solutions to clients in need of advanced video, audio, data and control systems for use in communications, training, broadcast, streaming, video on demand and presentation applications. With an engineering- and IT-centric core, Human Circuit designs and architects intuitive solutions that are aligned with a company's business objectives, anticipated growth and user needs. Visit http://www.humancircuit.com for more information and a portfolio of our work.

Human Circuit enjoys a reputation as one of the top integrators in this industry due to several factors which include; longevity in the business and the experience that this 47 year history brings. They have an excellent understanding of the latest in technology solutions and provide, and a year-in year-out consistency in quality of work to their customers. They bridge the difficult gap between those who produce technology and those who need to use it.

Their extensive portfolio includes work for federal and state government entities, broadcast and television production studios, command and control centers, training facilities, distance learning centers, corporations and professional organizations, institutions of higher education, medical and healthcare facilities and entertainment and sports venues.

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Human Circuit Provides City of Rockvilles Television Station with Design and Integration of a Custom Portable Video ...