A second 'Prisoner X' was being held in top-secret conditions in the
same jail where an Israeli-Australian spy took his his own life in 2010,
a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Court documents cited by
Haaretz newspaper said the prisoner was being held in another wing of
Ayalon prison at the same time as Ben Zygier, an alleged Mossad spy
whose mysterious arrest and subsequent suicide shocked Israel and
Australia when it hit the headlines in February.
The documents show the second prisoner had already been convicted without saying what his crime was.
The
prisoner, who was being held under similar conditions to Zygier, was
not named and it was not clear from the papers whether he was still
incarcerated, Haaretz said.
Zygier, who was initially referred to
as "Prisoner X" before the Australian press identified him as an agent
for Israel's shadowy Mossad spy service, was found hanged in a
supposedly suicide-proof cell in Block 15 of Ayalon prison in December
2010 with Israel going to extreme lengths to cover up his existence and
the reason for his imprisonment.
Haaretz said the second prisoner
was being held in Block 13 and that like Zygier, his case was being
handled by the Shin Bet internal security service and the prison's
intelligence officers.
The paper said the information was included in an appendix to a transcript of hearings and decisions on the Zygier case, In home display which was released by the Central District Magistrates Court following a Haaretz request.
Avigdor
Feldman, a lawyer who visited Zygier just days before his death and who
specialises in security cases, told army radio that certain assumptions
could be drawn from a detainee being classified as 'prisoner X.'
"They are Israeli, they work in institutions linked to security whose activities are shrouded in secrecy," he said.
"And
their detention demonstrates the failure of these organisations which
are not capable of preventing offences such as those for which these
agents have been arrested," he said.
Two months ago, the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which broke the original story
about 'Prisoner X' in February, said that Zygier had been arrested after
unwittingly sabotaging a top-secret spy operation to bring home the
bodies of Israeli soldiers missing in Lebanon.
In contrast United
and Liverpool are both expected to bring near full strength squads to
Australia, with United boasting the likes of Wayne Rooney, Robin van
Persie and Rio Ferdinand while Liverpool's two superstars in Steven
Gerrard and Luiz Suarez are also expected to take on the Victory.
So not surprisingly the English clubs are set to start unbackable favourites for their respective friendlies.
United
- the reigning English champions - are paying just $1.33 at the TAB and
$1.35 at Eskander's Betstar to beat the A-League All Stars, who are
priced at $8 and $8.10 respectively while even the draw is at big odds
of $4.50.
And while the Victory under their much respected
manager Ange Postecoglou - who will also coach the All Stars against
United - should be more competitive, the odds are similar in that game.
Liverpool
are paying just $1.30 at the TAB but slightly better odds of $1.34 at
Eskander's Betstar while the Victory are paying $8 and $8.80
respectively with the draw priced at $4.50 at the TAB and $4.60 at
Betstar.
However with the Victory also in full pre-season mode
and with the likely backing of a big MCG crowd - the home side could be
value at the line at Betstar where they are paying $3 with a half a goal
head start.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月9日 星期二
2013年7月8日 星期一
Products required to adhere to the energy
The UAE government is embracing clean energy initiatives with the
implementation of an energy ratings system to be incorporated across
household appliances, air conditioning systems and lighting.
The Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (ESMA) has passed into legislation and implemented the first phase of the new Energy Rating system to grade the energy consumption of products by using a star rating system - setting a benchmark for energy efficiency.
ESMA consulted the industry extensively to create the programme and worked closely with manufacturers in order to develop the standards.
The move is expected to save the government AED 400 million a year by 2016 from energy savings on air conditioning units alone.
The new energy rating system is similar to that used in Australasia, but has been created specifically for the UAE.
The ratings will be displayed on labels to help make comparisons between models and choose the most energy-efficient appliance that suits their needs. The labels will provide information on how much electricity an appliance uses in a year, plus the star rating to show how energy efficient it is.
Director of the ESMA Conformity Affairs Department, Home energy monitor Abdulla Abdelqadir Al Maeeni, explained, “As a provider and subsidiser of energy, this is a very important step for the government, as it will free up resources that will in turn contribute to the growth of the economy,” he says. “The benefits to the environment are expected to be wide reaching and cut the country’s CO2 emissions significantly once the scheme is fully implemented.
“We are committed to this initiative that will ensure that the products that do not have a star rating will not be allowed into the UAE. Those products sold here will all have the energy rating labels to help consumers choose energy efficient products that will save energy and reduce their own energy costs.”
Manufactures themselves are happy with the new regulations, saying that the rating system makes it easy for consumers to choose the best appliance for their needs.
“Bosch Home Appliances worked closely with ESMA to develop the standards for washing machines and laundry,” says Bosch Marketing Director Georg Kazantzidis.
“Manufacturers accept that we need to take responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of our products and this means helping customers use them more sustainably.
“Appliances can account for up to 30 per cent of your home energy use and, as our reliance on electrical appliances increases and energy consumption also go up, selecting energy-efficient products becomes even more important.
The first products required to adhere to the energy ratings system were residential air conditioning units, when compliance became mandatory earlier this year. Washing machines will need to meet energy rating standards from June 2013, after legislation was passed in early April.
Other products currently being addressed by the ESMA board are expected to be included in the legislation over the coming months include cooling and refrigeration products, lights, water heaters, motors and water pumps.
Implementation of the star rating system is mandatory and the government is encouraging manufacturers to produce higher quality products. Manufacturers and importers of lower rated products will be charged fees according to the star rating of the product.
The energy star rating system is just one part of an overall system being implemented by the government that combines building codes and energy efficient glass solutions with energy ratings to create a system to monitor and reduce overall consumption of energy. The government hopes to make the energy rating system the standard for the region and implement it across the GCC.
Meanwhile, Bosch Domestic Appliances recently launched their Green Star campaign, an environmental initiative aimed at promoting sustainability by encouraging communities to take simple steps in their everyday lives to save resources.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
The Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (ESMA) has passed into legislation and implemented the first phase of the new Energy Rating system to grade the energy consumption of products by using a star rating system - setting a benchmark for energy efficiency.
ESMA consulted the industry extensively to create the programme and worked closely with manufacturers in order to develop the standards.
The move is expected to save the government AED 400 million a year by 2016 from energy savings on air conditioning units alone.
The new energy rating system is similar to that used in Australasia, but has been created specifically for the UAE.
The ratings will be displayed on labels to help make comparisons between models and choose the most energy-efficient appliance that suits their needs. The labels will provide information on how much electricity an appliance uses in a year, plus the star rating to show how energy efficient it is.
Director of the ESMA Conformity Affairs Department, Home energy monitor Abdulla Abdelqadir Al Maeeni, explained, “As a provider and subsidiser of energy, this is a very important step for the government, as it will free up resources that will in turn contribute to the growth of the economy,” he says. “The benefits to the environment are expected to be wide reaching and cut the country’s CO2 emissions significantly once the scheme is fully implemented.
“We are committed to this initiative that will ensure that the products that do not have a star rating will not be allowed into the UAE. Those products sold here will all have the energy rating labels to help consumers choose energy efficient products that will save energy and reduce their own energy costs.”
Manufactures themselves are happy with the new regulations, saying that the rating system makes it easy for consumers to choose the best appliance for their needs.
“Bosch Home Appliances worked closely with ESMA to develop the standards for washing machines and laundry,” says Bosch Marketing Director Georg Kazantzidis.
“Manufacturers accept that we need to take responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of our products and this means helping customers use them more sustainably.
“Appliances can account for up to 30 per cent of your home energy use and, as our reliance on electrical appliances increases and energy consumption also go up, selecting energy-efficient products becomes even more important.
The first products required to adhere to the energy ratings system were residential air conditioning units, when compliance became mandatory earlier this year. Washing machines will need to meet energy rating standards from June 2013, after legislation was passed in early April.
Other products currently being addressed by the ESMA board are expected to be included in the legislation over the coming months include cooling and refrigeration products, lights, water heaters, motors and water pumps.
Implementation of the star rating system is mandatory and the government is encouraging manufacturers to produce higher quality products. Manufacturers and importers of lower rated products will be charged fees according to the star rating of the product.
The energy star rating system is just one part of an overall system being implemented by the government that combines building codes and energy efficient glass solutions with energy ratings to create a system to monitor and reduce overall consumption of energy. The government hopes to make the energy rating system the standard for the region and implement it across the GCC.
Meanwhile, Bosch Domestic Appliances recently launched their Green Star campaign, an environmental initiative aimed at promoting sustainability by encouraging communities to take simple steps in their everyday lives to save resources.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月7日 星期日
what ultimately defines every elite
Amid his first big-league road trip in May 2011, less than a week after his major-league debut, 21-year-old Eric Hosmer coolly ascended onto the grand scene at Yankee Stadium with his first career home run and a game-winning sacrifice fly in a 4-3 Royals' victory.
"I'm always going to remember that moment," Hosmer said before the Royals' forgettable 10-4 loss to Oakland on Sunday and their trip to New York for a four-game series that starts Monday.
Among many in the stands to see Hosmer was his father, Mike Sr., who that day described the sensation as "just a giant deflating of a balloon, a sense of relief."
"Whatever happens from here on out is gravy," Hosmer's father told The Associated Press at the time.
But as easy as it might have looked then, and as simple as it has looked the last six weeks for the scalding-hot Hosmer, much of his time in between was more about coping with gravity than savoring that gravy.
After completing a terrific rookie season (.293 batting average, 19 homers and 78 RBIs) and finishing third in American League Rookie of the Year balloting, Hosmer tumbled back to earth last season when he hit just .232.
And despite an offseason of reflection and mending a shoulder injury, and renewed dedication and enhanced analysis and tweaking of technique, for the first two months of this season he was suspended in a fairly tame place between the peak of 2011 and the funk of 2012.
At the end of May, Hosmer was hitting .261 with one home run and 16 RBIs, a phase that fused to last season made it reasonable to be skeptical about his future.
But because of his instant initial impact and because of the Royals' need for him to be all he could be as soon as possible, if not sooner, it was easy to forget how young he was and to overlook how fast a track he'd been put on.
It was easy to overlook that he'd played only two full minor-league seasons and that his future was very much in front of him - not already frittering away as he was becoming a fossil at 23.
Easy for others. And maybe even easy for Hosmer.
But whatever doubts he had, and surely he had more than he wants to let on, Hosmer also knew he had the stuff to make it because he'd already flexed that form. He knew it was all in there, even if he was groping to make it resurface.
And he knew, too, Home Energy Management System what ultimately defines every elite athlete - but perhaps is most on display in baseball - isn't the knockdowns but the dusting off.
"You go up and get three hits out of 10, and you're an All-Star; most jobs, that's not going to cut it," he said. "It's all about how you deal with it.
"You never lose your confidence; you always feel like it's going to happen the next day. I think that's how you make it to this level, being basically headstrong. You just know it's a long season. You don't cash out after a month, and you don't cash out after a week or so. You play the whole entire season out."
And in Hosmer's case, it's clearly played out an entirely different way since George Brett and Pedro Grifol began working with Royals hitters on May 30.
Entering his two-for-five Sunday, Hosmer's slugging percentage had gone from .333 before they took over to .588 since June 1.
Including Sunday, he is 15 for 33 with five home runs and 10 RBIs in his last nine games, extending his surge from a June in which he'd been chosen Royals' player of the month by hitting .303 with six homers and 17 RBIs.
"It's definitely a hot streak, but I feel that I'm capable of doing this on many nights," he said after hitting a key two-run homer in the Royals' 10-7 rally to beat Cleveland on Thursday, later adding: "That's how this game works: You get hot, and you've got to make the most of your hot streak."
So, that something has changed profoundly is obvious.
Just how is another matter, even as Hosmer explains it's about "learning through situations of failing to learn" and not missing his pitch when he gets it . . . even though he's not thinking about what pitch he's going to get but his own approach.
As for what he's done with Brett and Grifol, Hosmer vaguely explains, "We've installed an approach that we stick to every day and a routine that we've created and stick to, so that basically when you're in the box you let all the work you've done and all the talent take over."
That doesn't explain much, which is perhaps testimony to it all still feeling like a work in progress. Maybe getting his groove back is too fresh or fragile to potentially jinx or subject to possible paralysis by analysis.
Read the full story at www.owon-smart.com!
"I'm always going to remember that moment," Hosmer said before the Royals' forgettable 10-4 loss to Oakland on Sunday and their trip to New York for a four-game series that starts Monday.
Among many in the stands to see Hosmer was his father, Mike Sr., who that day described the sensation as "just a giant deflating of a balloon, a sense of relief."
"Whatever happens from here on out is gravy," Hosmer's father told The Associated Press at the time.
But as easy as it might have looked then, and as simple as it has looked the last six weeks for the scalding-hot Hosmer, much of his time in between was more about coping with gravity than savoring that gravy.
After completing a terrific rookie season (.293 batting average, 19 homers and 78 RBIs) and finishing third in American League Rookie of the Year balloting, Hosmer tumbled back to earth last season when he hit just .232.
And despite an offseason of reflection and mending a shoulder injury, and renewed dedication and enhanced analysis and tweaking of technique, for the first two months of this season he was suspended in a fairly tame place between the peak of 2011 and the funk of 2012.
At the end of May, Hosmer was hitting .261 with one home run and 16 RBIs, a phase that fused to last season made it reasonable to be skeptical about his future.
But because of his instant initial impact and because of the Royals' need for him to be all he could be as soon as possible, if not sooner, it was easy to forget how young he was and to overlook how fast a track he'd been put on.
It was easy to overlook that he'd played only two full minor-league seasons and that his future was very much in front of him - not already frittering away as he was becoming a fossil at 23.
Easy for others. And maybe even easy for Hosmer.
But whatever doubts he had, and surely he had more than he wants to let on, Hosmer also knew he had the stuff to make it because he'd already flexed that form. He knew it was all in there, even if he was groping to make it resurface.
And he knew, too, Home Energy Management System what ultimately defines every elite athlete - but perhaps is most on display in baseball - isn't the knockdowns but the dusting off.
"You go up and get three hits out of 10, and you're an All-Star; most jobs, that's not going to cut it," he said. "It's all about how you deal with it.
"You never lose your confidence; you always feel like it's going to happen the next day. I think that's how you make it to this level, being basically headstrong. You just know it's a long season. You don't cash out after a month, and you don't cash out after a week or so. You play the whole entire season out."
And in Hosmer's case, it's clearly played out an entirely different way since George Brett and Pedro Grifol began working with Royals hitters on May 30.
Entering his two-for-five Sunday, Hosmer's slugging percentage had gone from .333 before they took over to .588 since June 1.
Including Sunday, he is 15 for 33 with five home runs and 10 RBIs in his last nine games, extending his surge from a June in which he'd been chosen Royals' player of the month by hitting .303 with six homers and 17 RBIs.
"It's definitely a hot streak, but I feel that I'm capable of doing this on many nights," he said after hitting a key two-run homer in the Royals' 10-7 rally to beat Cleveland on Thursday, later adding: "That's how this game works: You get hot, and you've got to make the most of your hot streak."
So, that something has changed profoundly is obvious.
Just how is another matter, even as Hosmer explains it's about "learning through situations of failing to learn" and not missing his pitch when he gets it . . . even though he's not thinking about what pitch he's going to get but his own approach.
As for what he's done with Brett and Grifol, Hosmer vaguely explains, "We've installed an approach that we stick to every day and a routine that we've created and stick to, so that basically when you're in the box you let all the work you've done and all the talent take over."
That doesn't explain much, which is perhaps testimony to it all still feeling like a work in progress. Maybe getting his groove back is too fresh or fragile to potentially jinx or subject to possible paralysis by analysis.
Read the full story at www.owon-smart.com!
2013年7月4日 星期四
Whitall is about to face several health
An order of compensation for the families and survivors of the Pike
River mining disaster may be sentiment only, as the company does not
have enough money in the kitty, Pike River’s receiver says.
Clapping broke out in the public gallery of the Greymouth District Court today, packed with Pike family members, when Judge Farish announced the fine would be $760,000 and ordered the company to pay $3.41 million in reparation.
This amounted to $110,000 for each victim and the two survivors.
But receiver John Fisk of PwC says Pike River Coal Ltd has only $500,000 in available funds and $156,000 in leftover insurance money.
He said that in cases where companies in receivership do not have enough money to pay compensation, the liability may have to be written off. Any fines would not be even considered claimable under the creditor process.
”Any reparations become an unsecured claim against the company so if there isn’t sufficient assets to pay the creditors, which is the case here, then unfortunately, there isn’t money available distribute.”
Unsecured creditors are currently owed $31m, with another $20.5m owed to Pike’s major shareholder, New Zealand Oil and Gas.
Questions are now being asked as to whether the Government might step in to provide compensation for the victims of the 2010 mining disaster, now that the legal avenues are almost exhausted.
Fisk said in some situations, compensation can be sought against company directors. Chief executive Peter Whitall is about to face several health and safety charges laid by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. But other directors remain uncharged.
However, in court today, Judge Farish suggested the company’s directors and parent company might be expected to come to the party.
Usually, even when companies were in ”fragile” financial situation, they would still offer some reparation, she said. Pike had not done so.
Judge Farish said she could rule not to impose reparation if she thought the company was unable to pay but she believed it could be paid by existing shareholders or directors.
The directors had insurance worth a considerable amount and its largest shareholder, New Zealand Oil and Gas, had gained benefit from keeping the company in receivership rather than liquidating it.
Pike River was a shell company and the directors had resigned. The remaining proceeds of $25 million were contingent on the mine being reopened.
PwC says Pike River has had two insurance payouts. The $156,000 referred to is left over from a public liability policy taken by the directors.
A second insurance claim, made by the receivers for material damage and loss of profit, paid out $80m but that has been put into the company’s account to pay creditors. NZOG had allowed a partial payment to unsecured creditors, Fisk said.
Meanwhile, the Green Party said the Pike River families had been cheated out of their compensation.
Spokesman Kevin Hague called on the Government to ensure the full legal compensation was paid to each family.
“These families should be at the front of the queue for compensation and payment, but because the legal system puts them at the back, they could walk away with very little,” he said.
“It is wrong that the families only get the leftover insurance money once everyone else gets in first.
“Presumably the rest of the $2 million has been eaten up in lawyers’ fees, so again the families are at the back of the queue.”
Judge Farish found the company had a high level of culpability for both its methane management and ventilation management, which were four charges.
Ventilation was an essential part of the safety of a mine, insuring gas in the mine did not reach explosive levels.
”There were many indicators that the mine was in a potential explosive position but the warning signs were not noted or heeded.”
She said those warning signs went unnoticed by Pike management and by the men working in the mine.
She criticised Pike River Coal Ltd for its poor communication in the immediate aftermath of the blast, with many families finding out via media that their loved ones.
”The victim impact statements were harrowing. They all feel deep sorrow.”
She said in reading the statements, it was clear they desperately wanted to have their men’s bodies retrieved from the mine.
Milton Osborne’s widow, Anna Osborrne, Home energy monitor wept openly as the judge spoke of how important it was for families to bury their loved ones. Judge Farish also struggled to maintain her composure.
Judge Farish said it seemed cruel that Daniel Rockhouse had to continue working in a mine when it obviously was so hard for him.
She agreed it was ”the health and safety event of the generation” and she hoped there would be no repeat.
The former Labour Department, now part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, had charged the company over its methane, strata and ventilation management, mitigating explosion risk and impact, plus health and safety management for contractors, subcontractors and their employees.
Yesterday, the ministry’s lawyer, Mark Zarifeh, told the court that reparation of between $60,000 to $125,000 for each of the 29 victims and two survivors was recommended, with the amount to be at the far end of the scale.
Read the full story at www.owon-smart.com!
Clapping broke out in the public gallery of the Greymouth District Court today, packed with Pike family members, when Judge Farish announced the fine would be $760,000 and ordered the company to pay $3.41 million in reparation.
This amounted to $110,000 for each victim and the two survivors.
But receiver John Fisk of PwC says Pike River Coal Ltd has only $500,000 in available funds and $156,000 in leftover insurance money.
He said that in cases where companies in receivership do not have enough money to pay compensation, the liability may have to be written off. Any fines would not be even considered claimable under the creditor process.
”Any reparations become an unsecured claim against the company so if there isn’t sufficient assets to pay the creditors, which is the case here, then unfortunately, there isn’t money available distribute.”
Unsecured creditors are currently owed $31m, with another $20.5m owed to Pike’s major shareholder, New Zealand Oil and Gas.
Questions are now being asked as to whether the Government might step in to provide compensation for the victims of the 2010 mining disaster, now that the legal avenues are almost exhausted.
Fisk said in some situations, compensation can be sought against company directors. Chief executive Peter Whitall is about to face several health and safety charges laid by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. But other directors remain uncharged.
However, in court today, Judge Farish suggested the company’s directors and parent company might be expected to come to the party.
Usually, even when companies were in ”fragile” financial situation, they would still offer some reparation, she said. Pike had not done so.
Judge Farish said she could rule not to impose reparation if she thought the company was unable to pay but she believed it could be paid by existing shareholders or directors.
The directors had insurance worth a considerable amount and its largest shareholder, New Zealand Oil and Gas, had gained benefit from keeping the company in receivership rather than liquidating it.
Pike River was a shell company and the directors had resigned. The remaining proceeds of $25 million were contingent on the mine being reopened.
PwC says Pike River has had two insurance payouts. The $156,000 referred to is left over from a public liability policy taken by the directors.
A second insurance claim, made by the receivers for material damage and loss of profit, paid out $80m but that has been put into the company’s account to pay creditors. NZOG had allowed a partial payment to unsecured creditors, Fisk said.
Meanwhile, the Green Party said the Pike River families had been cheated out of their compensation.
Spokesman Kevin Hague called on the Government to ensure the full legal compensation was paid to each family.
“These families should be at the front of the queue for compensation and payment, but because the legal system puts them at the back, they could walk away with very little,” he said.
“It is wrong that the families only get the leftover insurance money once everyone else gets in first.
“Presumably the rest of the $2 million has been eaten up in lawyers’ fees, so again the families are at the back of the queue.”
Judge Farish found the company had a high level of culpability for both its methane management and ventilation management, which were four charges.
Ventilation was an essential part of the safety of a mine, insuring gas in the mine did not reach explosive levels.
”There were many indicators that the mine was in a potential explosive position but the warning signs were not noted or heeded.”
She said those warning signs went unnoticed by Pike management and by the men working in the mine.
She criticised Pike River Coal Ltd for its poor communication in the immediate aftermath of the blast, with many families finding out via media that their loved ones.
”The victim impact statements were harrowing. They all feel deep sorrow.”
She said in reading the statements, it was clear they desperately wanted to have their men’s bodies retrieved from the mine.
Milton Osborne’s widow, Anna Osborrne, Home energy monitor wept openly as the judge spoke of how important it was for families to bury their loved ones. Judge Farish also struggled to maintain her composure.
Judge Farish said it seemed cruel that Daniel Rockhouse had to continue working in a mine when it obviously was so hard for him.
She agreed it was ”the health and safety event of the generation” and she hoped there would be no repeat.
The former Labour Department, now part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, had charged the company over its methane, strata and ventilation management, mitigating explosion risk and impact, plus health and safety management for contractors, subcontractors and their employees.
Yesterday, the ministry’s lawyer, Mark Zarifeh, told the court that reparation of between $60,000 to $125,000 for each of the 29 victims and two survivors was recommended, with the amount to be at the far end of the scale.
Read the full story at www.owon-smart.com!
2013年7月3日 星期三
It is urgently needed to restore the system of quality
The essence of Russian space industry reform lies in the human
resource management rather than hardware upgrade, a local expert said in
the wake of a failed rocket launch.
"A new generation of workers and engineers must come to the industry. We need people who work not as much for money as for being proud of the outcomes of their work," Igor Marinin, editor- in-chief of the Cosmonautic News magazine, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
Those people must be cultivated "gradually and steadily" rather than "purchased" in the labor market in a quick fix way, Marinin said.
A Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass-M communications satellites exploded shortly after blasting off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, dealing another blow to Russia's disaster-hit space industry.
Since December 2010, Russia has lost five communication satellites and Progress cargo spacecraft carried by Proton-M and Rokot rockets.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said after the explosion that President Vladimir Putin would sign a decree on the reshuffle of the space industry.
Rogozin, Home Energy Management System head of a governmental commission to draft the proposals on how the limping national space industry could be reformed, said the investigation and penalty on the launch failure would be harsh.
"The decisions will be extremely severe toward those responsible for the failures," he said, adding that the Russian space industry must cease to exist in its current shape.
The Russian government was considering a thorough dismantlement of the current management system in the space industry and replacing it with a simple vertically-integrated space-rocket corporation.
Marinin agreed that the space industry has been terribly complicated, multi-layer and self-duplicating. "As a result, everybody's business is nobody's business."
He, however, cautioned against swift changes as the problems have been mounted for decades.
"Reshuffle of the space industry could be difficult because the industry currently may rely only on the 'old timers'," Marinin said.
"The difficulty steams from a fact that the Russian space agency Roscosmos' top management faces strong opposition from exactly these old-generation employees, who remember how reliable the system was during the Soviet times," the expert added.
It is urgently needed to restore the system of quality control in the space industry enterprises. The government's current plans envisage to do that by 2018, but no one can say how many more failures Russian rockets will suffer by that time, the expert said.
He suggested that "every enterprise be attached an independent, outsourced quality control unit, whose employees would be assigned a very good salary, so they have incentive to remain independent."
The employees must also be given authority to "stop the work in a plant if there is a slightest suspicion that the technology is violated, and they must have an authority to severely fine those responsible for malfunctions," Marinin said.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
"A new generation of workers and engineers must come to the industry. We need people who work not as much for money as for being proud of the outcomes of their work," Igor Marinin, editor- in-chief of the Cosmonautic News magazine, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
Those people must be cultivated "gradually and steadily" rather than "purchased" in the labor market in a quick fix way, Marinin said.
A Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass-M communications satellites exploded shortly after blasting off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, dealing another blow to Russia's disaster-hit space industry.
Since December 2010, Russia has lost five communication satellites and Progress cargo spacecraft carried by Proton-M and Rokot rockets.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said after the explosion that President Vladimir Putin would sign a decree on the reshuffle of the space industry.
Rogozin, Home Energy Management System head of a governmental commission to draft the proposals on how the limping national space industry could be reformed, said the investigation and penalty on the launch failure would be harsh.
"The decisions will be extremely severe toward those responsible for the failures," he said, adding that the Russian space industry must cease to exist in its current shape.
The Russian government was considering a thorough dismantlement of the current management system in the space industry and replacing it with a simple vertically-integrated space-rocket corporation.
Marinin agreed that the space industry has been terribly complicated, multi-layer and self-duplicating. "As a result, everybody's business is nobody's business."
He, however, cautioned against swift changes as the problems have been mounted for decades.
"Reshuffle of the space industry could be difficult because the industry currently may rely only on the 'old timers'," Marinin said.
"The difficulty steams from a fact that the Russian space agency Roscosmos' top management faces strong opposition from exactly these old-generation employees, who remember how reliable the system was during the Soviet times," the expert added.
It is urgently needed to restore the system of quality control in the space industry enterprises. The government's current plans envisage to do that by 2018, but no one can say how many more failures Russian rockets will suffer by that time, the expert said.
He suggested that "every enterprise be attached an independent, outsourced quality control unit, whose employees would be assigned a very good salary, so they have incentive to remain independent."
The employees must also be given authority to "stop the work in a plant if there is a slightest suspicion that the technology is violated, and they must have an authority to severely fine those responsible for malfunctions," Marinin said.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月2日 星期二
With the Supreme Court ruling striking
"The more prominent, more liberal ones who one would have thought
would have been most supportive were not," Wolfson recalled in an
interview. "It's not that they were against it -- I think they didn't
see it as that important or that likely to happen, and in some cases, a
little bit trivial."
A few gay couples had tried to make the argument in the 1970s, following the Supreme Court's declaration that laws prohibiting racial intermarriage were unconstitutional, and were summarily laughed out of court.
At the time, the nascent legal movement on gay rights was focused more on combating anti-sodomy laws, overturning policies that excluded gays from being allowed to enter the country, dealing with issues of workplace discrimination. Some gay rights advocates didn't see the point of pressing for inclusion in a traditional, patriarchal system. For others, marriage seemed a nice notion but a foolish priority, given the hostile landscape of existing injustice.
Wolfson saw it differently. "You can't say you're for equality but acquiesce in exclusion from the central social and legal institution of this and every other society," he said. "What I felt was we needed to transform the movement from 'we want to be let alone' to 'we want to be let in.'"
Wolfson's quest for the freedom to marry -- he used the term same-sex marriage in his paper, but now bristles at its connotation of difference from "regular marriage" -- has been transformed from quixotic to attainable.
With the Supreme Court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government is out of the business of discriminating against couples on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Still, for the time being at least, America remains a patchwork nation when it comes to marriage rights. It will require another, major step for the court, one that Wolfson believes is inevitable, to declare that marrying the person you love, regardless of sexual orientation, is a fundamental constitutional right.
Wolfson's story demonstrates the force of idea combined with execution. It demonstrates how society can be reshaped by the power of a seemingly radical idea matched with -- indeed, married to -- a carefully calculated, inch-by-inch strategy for putting it into practice.
The movement toward marriage equality for gays and lesbians in the United States was inexorable, and certainly other advocates have helped drive the debate. But as much as any individual, Wolfson served to shape and accelerate the still emerging reality of same-sex marriage. (Disclosure: Wolfson was a classmate in college and law school.)
Wolfson began practicing law as a prosecutor, first for Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman, then for Iran-contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh. But he moonlighted on gay rights issues and eventually joined Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, where he argued, and lost,Home Energy Management System the Supreme Court case involving the Boy Scouts' right to exclude gay scoutmasters.
But marriage remained his priority, if not one universally shared by those gay rights advocates who feared pushing too far too fast. Ten years ago, when Wolfson founded Freedom to Marry, not a single state allowed same-sex couples to marry. Today, 13 states and the District of Columbia recognize the right to marry.
In 2011, after New York joined those ranks, Wolfson married his partner of 10 years, Cheng He, a molecular biologist and management consultant. Just before our interview, Wolfson was consulting with an immigration lawyer about his husband, a Chinese-born Canadian citizen eligible for a green card in the wake of the DOMA ruling.
Still, his work is far from done. For starters, 29 states have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Only a Supreme Court ruling can trump those.
"There's no question where it's going. The only question is how soon we can bring it home, and I believe it's a matter of years, not decades," Wolfson said. "At every stage of this campaign we were told, 'You can't win in court.' We were told, 'You can't win in the legislatures.' 'You can't win Republicans.' 'You can't win beyond the coasts.' 'You can't win at the ballot box.' We've overcome every one of those. We will make this happen."
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
A few gay couples had tried to make the argument in the 1970s, following the Supreme Court's declaration that laws prohibiting racial intermarriage were unconstitutional, and were summarily laughed out of court.
At the time, the nascent legal movement on gay rights was focused more on combating anti-sodomy laws, overturning policies that excluded gays from being allowed to enter the country, dealing with issues of workplace discrimination. Some gay rights advocates didn't see the point of pressing for inclusion in a traditional, patriarchal system. For others, marriage seemed a nice notion but a foolish priority, given the hostile landscape of existing injustice.
Wolfson saw it differently. "You can't say you're for equality but acquiesce in exclusion from the central social and legal institution of this and every other society," he said. "What I felt was we needed to transform the movement from 'we want to be let alone' to 'we want to be let in.'"
Wolfson's quest for the freedom to marry -- he used the term same-sex marriage in his paper, but now bristles at its connotation of difference from "regular marriage" -- has been transformed from quixotic to attainable.
With the Supreme Court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government is out of the business of discriminating against couples on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Still, for the time being at least, America remains a patchwork nation when it comes to marriage rights. It will require another, major step for the court, one that Wolfson believes is inevitable, to declare that marrying the person you love, regardless of sexual orientation, is a fundamental constitutional right.
Wolfson's story demonstrates the force of idea combined with execution. It demonstrates how society can be reshaped by the power of a seemingly radical idea matched with -- indeed, married to -- a carefully calculated, inch-by-inch strategy for putting it into practice.
The movement toward marriage equality for gays and lesbians in the United States was inexorable, and certainly other advocates have helped drive the debate. But as much as any individual, Wolfson served to shape and accelerate the still emerging reality of same-sex marriage. (Disclosure: Wolfson was a classmate in college and law school.)
Wolfson began practicing law as a prosecutor, first for Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman, then for Iran-contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh. But he moonlighted on gay rights issues and eventually joined Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, where he argued, and lost,Home Energy Management System the Supreme Court case involving the Boy Scouts' right to exclude gay scoutmasters.
But marriage remained his priority, if not one universally shared by those gay rights advocates who feared pushing too far too fast. Ten years ago, when Wolfson founded Freedom to Marry, not a single state allowed same-sex couples to marry. Today, 13 states and the District of Columbia recognize the right to marry.
In 2011, after New York joined those ranks, Wolfson married his partner of 10 years, Cheng He, a molecular biologist and management consultant. Just before our interview, Wolfson was consulting with an immigration lawyer about his husband, a Chinese-born Canadian citizen eligible for a green card in the wake of the DOMA ruling.
Still, his work is far from done. For starters, 29 states have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Only a Supreme Court ruling can trump those.
"There's no question where it's going. The only question is how soon we can bring it home, and I believe it's a matter of years, not decades," Wolfson said. "At every stage of this campaign we were told, 'You can't win in court.' We were told, 'You can't win in the legislatures.' 'You can't win Republicans.' 'You can't win beyond the coasts.' 'You can't win at the ballot box.' We've overcome every one of those. We will make this happen."
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月1日 星期一
The seminar will be concluded with a panel discussion
Energy experts are scheduled to join a seminar at the Celylon Chamber
of Commerce (CCC) auditorium on Friday, July 5 to discuss ways and
means to reduce the consumption of energy.
The event, titled ‘Unlocking the benefits of Energy Conservation’ is organized by the CCC and the energy experts will share their knowledge on how energy consumption can be reduced.
Among the experts are: Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Managing Director of the Resource Management Associates (Pvt) Ltd, and Bandula Thilakasena, Additional General Manager, Corporate Strategy Division of the Ceylon Electricity Board. Dr Siyambalapitiya will speak on the current status and future outlook of the electricity sector in Sri Lanka and Mr Thilakasena will elaborate strategies to reduce the Electricity & Fuel Consumption.
These will be followed by three case studies on the industrial, hotel and logistics sectors. These will be delivered by Iresha Somarathna, Head of Energy and Environment Management of Brandix Lanka Ltd,; Srilal Miththapala, Project Director and Consultant of Greening Sri Lankan Hotels Programme at CCC Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.; and Binupa Liyanage, Director, Logiwiz Ltd.
The seminar will be concluded with a panel discussion and an open forum where the speakers will be joined by two panelists: Harsha Wickremasinghe, Deputy Director General Operations, Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority and Gamini Herath, Deputy Director General, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka to respond to any queries from the participants.
The recent escalation in electricity tariffs was estimated to increase the electricity bills of most industrial, hotel and commercial enterprises by about 20% - 30%. The tariff change included medium to large consumers in the general purpose category (ie. Non industry and non hotel enterprises) to be levied tariffs under the Time of Day scheme where different tariffs apply based on the time of use of electricity.
Apart from increase in electricity tariffs, the increase in fuel prices made time and again has also led to rise in travel and energy costs. Energy costs have a significant impact on cost of products and services and affect the competitiveness of businesses. Careful management of consumption and use of low energy consuming equipment etc can help businesses to reduce the electricity and fuel bills substantially.
The company late last month secured $5.5 million in Series-A Financing from investors Westly Group and RockPort Capital that is says will enable it to expand its services such as HB Match, an online platform that pairs building owners with qualified building professionals.
HB Match provides an online tool for building services providers to create free, online portfolios of their work, and produces detailed evaluations of these companies based on the project criteria of real estate decision-makers in search of specialists. The result is an efficient process to quickly and thoroughly compare, vet and select the best solution provider for the specific requirements of the project, saving time and resources, Honest Buildings says.
Sitt Asset Management, a New York-based real estate investment firm, used HB Match to compare qualified service providers for multiple capital improvements at 450 Broadway, a turn-of-the-century commercial building in Manhattan for which Sitt is currently executing a complete fa?ade restoration and modernization program in preparation for retail tenancy.
Abe Hedaya, director of operations for Sitt Asset Management, says HB Match saved the company “significant money with no effort on our part.” It also saved time — instead of Sitt Asset Management spending hours searching for firms, Honest Buildings provided the company a list of the most qualified, best-priced options, Hedaya says.
Eneractive Solutions, an energy consulting, engineering and project development firm with offices in the tri-state area, won close to $200,000 in consulting services contracts using Honest Buildings. HB Match includes detailed case studies that show Eneractive Solutions’ work on an array of facilities.
In addition to its HB Match solution, Honest Buildings’ scalable technology is helping municipalities and utilities develop next-generation,Home Energy Management System sustainable buildings and communities.
To date, the states of New York, through its Build Smart NY program, and Connecticut, through its Connecticut Property Assessed Clean Energy or C-PACE program, are using Honest Buildings’ unique HB Platform service to power state-wide online networks that highlight their initiatives, showcase the work being done to improve buildings and provide property owners with tools needed to pinpoint the most qualified vendors for their building projects.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
The event, titled ‘Unlocking the benefits of Energy Conservation’ is organized by the CCC and the energy experts will share their knowledge on how energy consumption can be reduced.
Among the experts are: Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Managing Director of the Resource Management Associates (Pvt) Ltd, and Bandula Thilakasena, Additional General Manager, Corporate Strategy Division of the Ceylon Electricity Board. Dr Siyambalapitiya will speak on the current status and future outlook of the electricity sector in Sri Lanka and Mr Thilakasena will elaborate strategies to reduce the Electricity & Fuel Consumption.
These will be followed by three case studies on the industrial, hotel and logistics sectors. These will be delivered by Iresha Somarathna, Head of Energy and Environment Management of Brandix Lanka Ltd,; Srilal Miththapala, Project Director and Consultant of Greening Sri Lankan Hotels Programme at CCC Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.; and Binupa Liyanage, Director, Logiwiz Ltd.
The seminar will be concluded with a panel discussion and an open forum where the speakers will be joined by two panelists: Harsha Wickremasinghe, Deputy Director General Operations, Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority and Gamini Herath, Deputy Director General, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka to respond to any queries from the participants.
The recent escalation in electricity tariffs was estimated to increase the electricity bills of most industrial, hotel and commercial enterprises by about 20% - 30%. The tariff change included medium to large consumers in the general purpose category (ie. Non industry and non hotel enterprises) to be levied tariffs under the Time of Day scheme where different tariffs apply based on the time of use of electricity.
Apart from increase in electricity tariffs, the increase in fuel prices made time and again has also led to rise in travel and energy costs. Energy costs have a significant impact on cost of products and services and affect the competitiveness of businesses. Careful management of consumption and use of low energy consuming equipment etc can help businesses to reduce the electricity and fuel bills substantially.
The company late last month secured $5.5 million in Series-A Financing from investors Westly Group and RockPort Capital that is says will enable it to expand its services such as HB Match, an online platform that pairs building owners with qualified building professionals.
HB Match provides an online tool for building services providers to create free, online portfolios of their work, and produces detailed evaluations of these companies based on the project criteria of real estate decision-makers in search of specialists. The result is an efficient process to quickly and thoroughly compare, vet and select the best solution provider for the specific requirements of the project, saving time and resources, Honest Buildings says.
Sitt Asset Management, a New York-based real estate investment firm, used HB Match to compare qualified service providers for multiple capital improvements at 450 Broadway, a turn-of-the-century commercial building in Manhattan for which Sitt is currently executing a complete fa?ade restoration and modernization program in preparation for retail tenancy.
Abe Hedaya, director of operations for Sitt Asset Management, says HB Match saved the company “significant money with no effort on our part.” It also saved time — instead of Sitt Asset Management spending hours searching for firms, Honest Buildings provided the company a list of the most qualified, best-priced options, Hedaya says.
Eneractive Solutions, an energy consulting, engineering and project development firm with offices in the tri-state area, won close to $200,000 in consulting services contracts using Honest Buildings. HB Match includes detailed case studies that show Eneractive Solutions’ work on an array of facilities.
In addition to its HB Match solution, Honest Buildings’ scalable technology is helping municipalities and utilities develop next-generation,Home Energy Management System sustainable buildings and communities.
To date, the states of New York, through its Build Smart NY program, and Connecticut, through its Connecticut Property Assessed Clean Energy or C-PACE program, are using Honest Buildings’ unique HB Platform service to power state-wide online networks that highlight their initiatives, showcase the work being done to improve buildings and provide property owners with tools needed to pinpoint the most qualified vendors for their building projects.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
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