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Digital Rights Management, Interoperability and MPEG-21
Leonardo Chiariglione, Convenor
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11 (MPEG)
It is part of the MPEG mission to make standards that anticipate market needs. Forecasts are, however, notoriously difficult, the saying goes, especially when they relate to the future.
There are probably few areas for which this saying is as accurate as the area of Digital Rights Management (DRM). It is clear that rights holders cannot simply released their digital assets as they used to in the analogue age. It is also clear that end users are going to resist by whatever means there are all attempts to curtail their freedoms. Then you have differing corporate interests ranging from end-user device manufacturers, to fixed and mobile telecommunication operators, internet service providers and various brands of broadcasters, to technology companies...
Yes, anticipating and harmonising the needs of all these warring interests in a standard is a desperate enterprise. Still, the need is there and backing off just because the problem is intractable is not an option, at least not for MPEG.
In a sense, six years after the MPEG-21 "Multimedia Framework" standard (ISO/IEC 21000) officially started in June 2000, MPEG does not have a DRM solution to offer. Actually the very word "framework" in the title of the MPEG-21 standard conveys the message that, providing a "standard DRM solution" was not even the goal.
MPEG-21 is a collection of technologies (in the following called "tools") from which designers of DRM solutions and more generally of multimedia systems may wish to draw from. In this paper I will highlight what the MPEG-21 DRM tools are about and how MPEG is integrating them into application-specific DRM solutions called Multimedia Application Formats (MAF). I will also mention briefly the role of the Digital Media Project that has taken a number of MPEG-21 tools, added a few more of its own, and provided an interoperable DRM solution for streaming of governed content.
Since the very beginning of the MPEG-21 project it was clear that the multimedia framework needed a basic technology to package various types of information ancillary to the use of resources (say, the video and audio that end users will eventually enjoy). The foundational element of MPEG-21 is then the definition of a structure – called Digital Item (DI) – that can flexibly accommodate the many components of a multimedia object. This includes, of course, the resources (either in-line or referenced), but also identifiers, metadata, encryption keys, licenses etc. The specification of this structure is provided by MPEG-21 Part 2 Digital Item Declaration (DID).
Another key component of the framework is called Digital Item Identification. This is needed because in the digital space everything needs to be uniquely and unambiguously identified in order to be managed. In the MPEG-21 framework this is function is provided by Part 3 Digital Item Identification (DII), a standard to handle identifiers in Digital Items. Note that this is separate from the issue of identifying resources, for which the process is well established and running.
A Digital Item can contain resources or even portions of a Digital Item that are protected. The component technologies that are needed to handle those resources, i.e. to make them available in a form that can be processed by a device, are standardised by MPEG-21 Part 4 Intellectual Property Management and Protection (IPMP) Components.
The next component of the framework is a technology that will enable devices in the digital space to understand and possibly process licenses in a similar way as humans do with licenses in the real world. The difference is that the latter are expressed in natural language and are valid for a given jurisdiction, while the former must be expressed in a digital form so that it can be processed by a machine. Part 5 Rights Expression Language (REL) provides the technology to express rights in a rich form that is comparable to the richness of the human language.
The REL is capable of expressing the syntax of a rights expression but says nothing about the semantics of the "verbs" (e.g. copy, store, display etc.) that are employed by the language (even though the MPEG REL provides the semantics of a few key verbs). A standard semantics for a large number of verbs commonly used in the media environment in general and their relationships is given by Part 6 Rights Data Dictionary (RDD).
When a Digital Item and its resources are transported over the network it may be necessary to "adapt" (e.g. reduce in bitrate) them to varying conditions or "adapted" (e.g. subsampled) to match, e.g., the device capabilities. MPEG-21 Part 7 Digital Item Adaptation (DIA) specifies the syntax and semantics of the tools that may be used to assist in the adaptation of Digital Items, metadata and resources.
A Digital Item is a static XML structure that contains all elements necessary to describe the resources contained in it. However, a Digital Item does not natively provide a way for a creator to suggest how a user can interact with the Digital Item. Providing this additional information is the scope of Part 10 Digital Item Processing (DIP).
Certain application domains require a technology that can generate a report every time an event occurs, e.g. a Digital Item is processed. The technology achieving this is specified in Part 15 Event Reporting (ER).
There are cases where it is necessary to identify a specific fragment of a resource as opposed to the entire set of data. Part 17 Fragment Identification (FID) specifies a normative syntax for URI Fragment Identifiers to be used for addressing parts of a resource from a number of Internet Media Types.
A Digital Item is an XML structure that can be moved from one device to another "as is". However, it may be convenient to wrap that structure in a standard file format because in this case a device knows, by virtue of the definition of the file format itself, where specific Digital Item structures can be found. MPEG-21 Part 9 File Format provides a solution to transport a Digital Item in a file. Similarly there is a need to transport Digital Items over a streaming mechanism (e.g. in broadcasting over MPEG-2 Transport Stream or over IP networks). Part 18 Digital Item Streaming (DIS) provides the technology to achieve this when the streaming mechanism employed is MPEG-2 Transport Stream and RTP/UDP/IP.
MPEG-21 also provides a number of other components. The first is Part 1 Vision, Technologies and Strategy, a Technical Report laying down the scope and development plan of the MPEG-21 project. The second is another Technical Report Part 11 Evaluation Tools for Persistent Association (PAT) providing the means to evaluate the performance of a given PAT (i.e. a technology establishing associations between resources and certain metadata related to the resource using such technologies as "watermarking" and "fingerprinting") in terms of how well the PAT fulfils the requirements of the intended application. The third Part 16 Digital Item Binary Format allows the lossless conversion of a typically bulky XML document to a binary format, preserving the ability to efficiently parse the binarised XML format.
Lastly, and in keeping with the policy that MPEG has consistently applied to all its standards, there are two parts of MPEG-21 that are dedicated to Reference Software (Part 8) and Conformance (Part 14). The purpose of the latter is to provide the necessary test methodologies and suites to be used to assess the conformity of a bitstream (typically an XML document) and a decoder (typically a parser) to the relevant Part of the MPEG-21 standard. Parsers are derived from the Reference Software.
Where are we with the development of the MPEG-21 standard? Rights now only three parts are still under development and only a handful are still being extended. There are talks within MPEG about providing a "presentation layer" for the Digital Item technology but it is fair to say that the bulk of the MPEG-21 work is by now largely completed. So it is appropriate to ask: which are the reasons for the industry to adopt MPEG-21?
It is entirely based on XML (the only exception being the file format), the technology of choice in IT standardisation, so that adoption of MPEG-21 technologies in a number of IT standards can be seamlessly achieved.
It provides a broad and effective set of technologies
The very flexible Digital Item technology
The most comprehensive set of DRM technologies: DII, IPMP Components, REL and RDD
A range of ancillary technologies: DIA, File Format, DIP, ER, FID and DIS
Conformance and reference software to enable a horizontal market
The technologies have been proved to lend themselves to integration
The technologies can be reconfigured for use in a number of environments.
This ability of MPEG-21 to provide technologies à la carte to suit DRM solution designers' needs is one of the strong points but it is at the same time a weak point. Indeed today there is no such thing as an MPEG-21 "content/product/service". There is none because there is no such thing as a "universal DRM system", there are only implementations built to satisfy particular needs.
But things are changing. Since a few years MPEG has been working on a new line of standards identified as ISO/IEC 23000 with the name of Multimedia Application Formats (MAF). Unlike all other MPEG standards that provide tools, MAFs are complete solutions designed to satisfy specific application needs. MAFs are typically made up of MPEG technologies and only occasionally non-MPEG standards become part of the cocktail.
The first MAF standard is Part 2 of ISO/IEC 23000 and is called Music Player MAF (MP MAF). It essentially defines a file format based on MPEG-21 Part 2 DID and MPEG-21 File Format containing audio resources encoded in MP3, photographs encoded in JPEG and ID3 metadata encoded as MPEG-7. The MPEG-21 DID technology enables the definition of attractive multimedia packages that humans call "music albums". The MP MAF is currently being extended with the inclusion of DRM tools drawn from the MPEG-21 toolkit: basically IPMP components and REL. the resulting file format can be used as the subject of transactions for, say, music acquired online on the web. The Protected Music Player MAF has just been promoted to Committee Draft (1st stage of public inquiry) and will reach the final approval stage in April 2007.
At the July 2006 meeting MPEG has received a proposal from the Digital Media Project (DMP) entitled Media Streaming MAF (MS MAF). This is the result of a process initiated in July 2003 that spawned the Digital Media Manifesto (http://www.dmpf.org/manifesto/) and then the Digital Media Project itself (http://www.dmpf.org/), a not-for-profit organisation based in Geneva with the mission to promote continuing successful development, deployment and use of digital media.
DMP has produced two sets of specifications, the latter of which, called Interoperable DRM Platform Phase II (IDP-2) and available at http://www.dmpf.org/open/dmp0765.zip, provides most of the technologies that are needed to set up value chains handling governed content in a streaming environment. A sizeable part of the technologies specified by IDP-2 are based on MPEG-21 and basically only those functionalities that are not supported by MPEG-21 (e.g. domain management) are DMP native.
The DMP specification is itself a toolkit. However, unlike MPEG-21, the tools have already been integrated. What a user of the specification needs to do is to tailor IDP-2 to his specific needs. Chapter 4 of IDP-2 provides a number of use cases where this tailoring process is carried out for a range of specific applications.
DMP has tailored IDP-2 when it has proposed MS MAF to MPEG. The proposal covers the specification of the "streaming format" of the information reaching a "Media Streaming Player (e.g. a set top box) and the protocols exchanged between a Media Streaming Player and a Content Provider Device, a Licence Provider Device, a DRM Tool Provider Device and a Domain Management Device.
A working draft of the MS MAF standard, based on the DMP proposal, is already available. The final stage will be reached in October 2007 as Part 5 of ISO/IEC 23000.
More MAFs are being considered by MPEG. One of them is the Portable Video MAF (PV MAF), conceptually the equivalent of the Music Player. Another is the Open Release MAF (OR MAF).
It is worth spending some time with the latter MAF because the case is indicative of the flexibility of the MPEG-21 toolkit. Indeed, while the MPEG-21 tools can be used to design DRM solutions that can satisfy the most concerned of rights holders, if properly implemented, the same tools can be employed to develop solutions that have much less stringent security requirements.
Imagine that Eurydice, the author and performer of a song, is interested to release it digitally with, say, a Creative Commons (CC) licence, itself digitally represented. This is already possible today (there is an RDF representation of the CC licences), but imagine that Eurydice decides to express using the MPEG-21 REL because of a variety of reasons, such as
ease of processing with IT devices
ability to "say more" in future licences while keeping the same right expression technology
native use of the MPEG-21 Digital Item technology
This scenario entails a number of problems that MPEG is currently addressing:
while the CC licence has a legal value when expressed in the form required for a specific jurisdiction, the licence expressed in REL cannot achieve the same goal (it can only represent the "intentions")
The CC licence grants users their "fair use" (in the jurisdictions where this legal figure is supported) of the content. Even though it would seem that a device that "enforces" the terms of the licence would contravene the human-readable CC licence, it is clear that the user would have an easy way to bypass the device restrictions because the resources are unencrypted
As clear from the above the MPEG-21 standard is still on the launching pad for broad adoption. There are well-known competitors both in the proprietary solutions camp and in the standard solutions camp, but I am confident of the eventual success of this standard because the world craves for flexible DRM solutions that are:
Flexible, i.e. users can build any value-chain, suiting their own business models and without strings attached from alien business models
Cost effective, i.e. users can draw from a horizontal market of standard technologies and solutions
Evolvable, i.e. users can easily expand the functionality of their value chain
Interoperable, i.e. users can interoperate between value chains made of the same basic technologies


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Mike MacKenzie Band Covers Led Zeppelin
October 13, 2019 Blair's Blog
My best ten bucks ever spent was last night for a ticket to a cover of Led Zeppelin II at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino. The Mike Mackenzie Band paid tribute with select pieces recorded 50 years ago in addition to this album which most likely launched Zeppelin into super stardom. The huge take away from the evening was the affirmation that there are superb musicians amongst us today that are undiscovered and perhaps even under appreciated. MacKenzie's vocals are stellar. He played lead while absolutely matching the high pitch of Robert Plant. The acoustics of the venue were good in spite of encountering subtle feedback from keyboards. Mackenzie turned to an old faithful he's performed with past projects, The Rover from Physical Graffiti. Other standouts included Ramble On and Killing Floor. Killing Floor was one of those 1969 releases which showcased the talent of John Paul Jones on bass. The bass player last night can easily be excused for any misses given the complexity. What Mackenzie may be missing in soloing prowess, he makes up for with versatility and chord voicings.
A standout in the set's second half was "No Quarter". I just love the keyboard intro and the subtlety of this song. It takes good unrushed time in order to pull this one off and apparently the keys player is new to this Mackenzie ensemble.
Notable omissions were "Kashmir", "Dazed and Confused", and "Since I've Been Loving You".
The merchandise sales lady referenced a formal jazz education by Mackenzie right here at Mount Royal College here in Calgary. The man has stage presence and puts the audience at ease with his charisma. With Bonham's death, Page and Plant espoused that nobody could take the place of the legendary drummer. Well, the rhythm section last night was great support and in fact such confidence was bestowed the drummer that he performed his own solo. The rhythm guitarist pitched in admirably with adept acoustic pieces.
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CHINATOWN (1974)
Posted byDaniel Joslyn November 30, 2020 January 30, 2022 Posted in1970s Movies, afi top 100, American movies, Burt Young, Diane Ladd, Drama, Faye Dunaway, Film Noir, Jack Nicholson, Jerry Goldsmith, Joe Mantell, John Hillerman, John Holland, John Huston, Mystery, Roman PolanskiTags:1970s Movies, 1974, afi top 100, Burt Young, Chinatown, Diane Ladd, Drama, Faye Dunaway, Film Noir, Jack Nicholson, Joe Mantell, John Huston, Mystery
Director: Roman Polanski
Writer: Robert Towne
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Diane Ladd, Joe Mantell, and Burt Young
Accolades: 2007 AFI Top 100 list (#21), 2012 Sight & Sound Top 100 list (#78), 1 Oscar (Best Original Screenplay), 10 additional Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Best Director – Roman Polanski, Best Actor – Jack Nicholson, Best Actress – Faye Dunaway, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Costumes, Best Art Direction, Best Sound)
Where to Watch: Stream with subscription to Starz, Buy or Rent on Amazon Video, YouTube, or Apple TV
Maybe some people can talk about Roman Polanski's movies and the things that have happened in his own life as two separate things, but I am not one of those people. We'll talk about the actual movie Chinatown, I promise, but I have to deal with this first, and the story of that movie, while totally separate from Polanski's own, is also bound up in it. Polanski is, indisputably, a master director, who has deserved all the accolades he has received over his long career. I don't think any director could have made Chinatown, a genre exercise if ever there was one, feel so natural and have such real emotion.
Polanski grew up Jewish in Poland, and lost his mother when she was murdered in Auschwitz. He is believed to have based the iconic 1930s look of Faye Dunaway's character in Chinatown on his memories of her. Chinatown was also Polanski's first movie made back in Hollywood after the brutal 1969 murder of his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, along with four friends at his home by members of the "Manson Family." It was also on this movie that Polanski met and became friends with Jack Nicholson. It would be at Nicholson's home (while the actor was out of town) in 1977 that the events would take place leading to Polanski's conviction for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.
Polanski eventually pled guilty to the "lesser charge" of "unlawful sex with a minor," but fled to France before sentencing after he learned that the Judge intended to reject his plea deal and sentence him to 50 years in prison. Much emphasis has been placed on this alleged injustice over the ensuing decades, particularly in movie circles where support for Polanski has remained nearly unanimous until very recently. Polanski would be awarded the 2003 Best Director Oscar for The Pianist (he did not attend the ceremony due to not being able to enter the US without being arrested), and receive a standing ovation in absentia. But I think it's important to point out that Polanski has never denied having sex with a 13-year-old girl. It's just that he's always insisted that she consented. Well, I'm sorry, but that's still rape. I would also point out that several more women have accused him of assaulting them when they were underage over the years. And maybe the movie industry's "I know him, he's cool," myopia is finally breaking down in the age of "Me Too." Polanski latest film, J'accuse (a period piece about the Dreyfus Affair), swept the Cesar Awards (the French equivalent of the Oscars) last year, but rather than receiving ovations, several prominent members of the French film industry walked out, while the venue was ringed with protestors.
Chinatown is probably the most famous "neo-noir," bringing the tropes of the classic film noirs into a sunbaked, in color 1930s Los Angeles. It is set in what had been, until that time, a forgotten bit of LA history, the "Water Wars." Los Angeles is a megalopolis that was basically built in the desert, that evolved without anyone planning for it. So local rich dude/Public Utilities Commissioner William Mulholland (after whom Mulholland Drive was named, ironically the location of Nicholson's house where Polanski would get into trouble) surreptitiously bought the land in the Owens Valley many miles away and built the Los Angeles Aqueduct to provide the city with the water it needed to function. The movie heavily fictionalizes this history, adding a mysterious murder in the middle, as well as private detective Jake Gittes (Nicholson), who is maybe not that great of an actual detective but keeps investigating despite getting beat up a lot.
The mystery is sort of the point in Chinatown, but it's not as if it's one of those movies you can't watch if you know how it ends. I've watched it at least three times over the years, and I'm still not tired of it. Nicholson gets hired by a lady (Diane Ladd) who claims to be the widow of a water commissioner named Mulwray, who got murdered. He investigates at the reservoir, where his nose gets sliced open by a hired thug (Polanski in a cameo). He then spends most of the movie with a weird bandage on his nose. He also meets the real Mrs. Mulwray (Dunaway), who at first seems to be your standard femme fatale but has a lot more going on than that. They become romantically involved, to the consternation of her father Noah Cross (the director John Huston, in his best acting role), while at the same time Gittes figures out that Cross has been buying up orange farms in the then-agricultural San Fernando Valley. In the end, spoilers, Jake loses, Dunaway's character dies, and Noah Cross takes possession of her daughter. One of Jake's associates (Joe Mantell) delivers the famous final line: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
There were those at the time that criticized Chinatown for aping the original film noirs of the 40s and 50s, with one reviewer nothing that it mostly made him wish he was watching The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep, instead. But as we've gotten farther away from it, the distinctions blur. Today, it's been as long since the release of Chinatown as it had been since the period this movie depicts at the time the movie was made. And it flawlessly depicts that Los Angeles, the one where everything is bleached by the sun, that feels more like a simulacrum of a city than a real one, where it always feels like a director is about to yell "cut," yet the dust blows in and the residents can't keep it up, even if they're rich enough to afford their own Koi pond, like Noah Cross.
The other advantage the movie has is the performance of Nicholson and the character he helps create, a man Roger Ebert described as someone who "rolls around with the pigs but doesn't like it." He doesn't bark into phones like Humphrey Bogart, he answers them very nicely. He ingratiates himself with the people he's interviewing whenever he can, with that Nicholson smile. But he can't quite contain his dislike of Cross, played by Huston as enormous and patrician, but unmistakably a sleazeball. In one memorable scene that continues to reverberate today, Nicholson shouts at him, "Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already afford?" To which Cross replies, "The future, Mr. Gittes, the future!"
It's ironic, perhaps, that the definitive movie about early 20th-Century Los Angeles was made in the 1970s, rather than one of the many hundreds of movies actually made in LA at the time, but maybe we needed the color palette to really get the feel for the thing. This era of LA history has been back in fashion somewhat lately, with TV shows set in the city at the same time as Chinatown, including the new Perry Mason series and Penny Dreadful: City of Angels. It's fairly clear that these shows would not exist without Chinatown, which has also been cited by director Matt Reeves as the biggest influence on his upcoming Batman movie. Polanski's movie isn't just a tribute to film noir, but rather reimagines it for a new era of filmmaking. I don't think it can, or should, be separated from Polanski's crimes, but nor do I think it should be avoided by the modern cinephile. It remains essential forty-five years later.
SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
GOLDENEYE (1995)
8 thoughts on "CHINATOWN (1974)"
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skeeter451 says:
You bring up an interesting question: Should art be enjoyed/respected for it's own sake and not the artist's? Polanski, like Woody Allen, is a horrible human being, yet his films remain among my favorites like this one and Rosemary's Baby (see the Kevin Bacon six degrees connection there?) At the time I first saw those two films, it was not known he was a pedophile, and I haven't watched any of his films since then. However, with Allen, Midnight In Paris (2011) is one of my favorites of all of his. Again, should I ignore the artist for the sake of the art? It's a complicated issue. On the other hand, I have no desire to re-watch any of Kevin Spacey's films and certainly would not see any future films he might make, which is highly unlikely.
Daniel Joslyn says:
Everyone's take is going to be different on this. For me, I want to know everything I can about the context of these things and then I can watch them with that in mind. I also think that its a different calculus watching someone's earlier work than it is for someone to continue giving them money to produce new work and supporting them. This is not a direct comparison, but I recall having the argument with people that I would have been OK with a football team I root for signing Michael Vick after he went to jail for animal abuse and went to prison, because he had been convicted and punished for his crimes. Polanski, on the other hand, was convicted and is a fugitive from justice, so it seems really bizarre to me to just give him Oscars like everything is fine.
Postscript: Regarding Midnight in Paris. I think that if Allen had played the main protagonist in this film instead of Own Wilson playing Woody Allen playing the main protagonist, I would not have enjoyed it.
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Apollo Spring Gala
Apollo Hosts Mega Spring Gala
By David Goodson
There has been a rising consensus lauding the decade of the '90s as the pinnacle years in Black music. Various tours throughout the year have and will be taking place nationwide with that very sentiment in mind. Monday, June 4, the Apollo Theater joined in the fray as some of the key cogs of that era, Tony! Toni! Toné!, Salt-N-Pepa and unannounced bonus Brandy and Bell Biv Devoe, provided headline entertainment, and Sarah Ikumu provided support for the 2018 Apollo Spring Gala, the historic theater's largest annual fundraising event. Having Sarah Ikumu, a finalist last year on a very popular television show across the pond, "Britain's Got Talent," and a "Showtime at the Apollo" winner stateside, and upstart boy band, 4th Ave, showcase their talents alongside long-standing successful veterans is part of the growth the intuition fosters both in artistic and personal development.
"Now, more than ever, we recognize the importance of nurturing the next generation of community thought leaders," said Jonelle Procope, president and CEO of the Apollo Theater. "The Spring Gala gives us an opportunity to celebrate our legacy as an ever-present driving force in music, but it also gives us a chance to highlight the importance of our year-round community and education programs. Throughout its 84-year legacy, the Apollo has always nurtured young talent, musically and professionally, providing a springboard for countless careers. As we have all stood on the shoulders of others, it is very important that we give our young people the same opportunities and let them stand on ours."
In that tradition, the gala recognized a corporation for its outstanding contributions to the performing arts, support of community leadership and philanthropic support of initiatives in the African-American community. This year, the Apollo presented its Corporate Award to SiriusXM for its exceptional assistance to the performing arts and community leadership. Scott Greenstein, president and chief content officer of SiriusXM, accepted the award on behalf of the company and was presented by curator/host of the SiriusXM Rock the Bells channel, LL Cool J.
"We are thrilled to receive this recognition and extremely grateful to the Apollo Theater and its community," said Greenstein. "We feel a kinship for and share a credo with the Apollo. We believe in the power of diversity and making available multilayered programming that celebrates unfettered free speech and a chorus of diverse voices. Our commitment to the Apollo and its community is strong and years deep as we have hosted multiple exclusive and landmark shows at the venue throughout the years. SiriusXM is honored to receive this award and looks forward to many continued successful collaborations between SiriusXM and the Apollo Theater."
Proceeds from the Apollo Spring Gala support the theater's year-round performing arts programming, innovative education initiatives and community programs, and this year the tally reached $2 million.
*Originally published on New York Amsterdam News | Photos by David Goodson
Labels: Apollo Spring Gala David Goodson It's Showtime! Local Love Music Salt-N-Pepa Sway Tone Toni Tony


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CK Foreign Missions
Meet Fr. Francis
Who is Fr. Francis?
Fr. Francis Wardega is an Anglican priest, canon missioner to Africa for the Missionary Society of St. John, Clinton Township, Michigan. He is married to Patricia who has also traveled to Africa and to the Philippines. Together, they have six children, all grown and out on their own, and twelve grandchildren.
Fr Francis is a graduate of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio. He has an earned Bachelor's and an earned Master's degree from John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. He has done further graduate study at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH) and at the College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA). He is a certified Christian Counselor from the National Christian Counselors' Association.
Fr. Francis served ten years as a Regular Army Officer, serving in a variety of assignments in CONUS, Korea, and Okinawa. As a young lieutenant, he disarmed a burning nuclear warhead in a major metropolitan area. He also taught on the university level for nine years.
Fr. Francis has successfully pastored parishes in Ohio and Michigan.
Fr. Francis was trained as a missionary by Bishop Philip Weeks, of Barnabas Ministries. Barnabas' web site is: http://www.inetusa.net/barnabas. Bishop Weeks' first missionary experiences were with Brother Andrew in China.
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September 2, 2008 / 6:22 AM / 11 years ago
Rage in Kashmir meets India's brute force
Alistair Scrutton
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - The world's largest democracy locks up protest leaders without charge, shoots dozens of demonstrators dead, beats and intimidates ordinary citizens and raids homes without warrants.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani (C, on wheel-chair), a senior hardline separatist leader, is rushed for treatment after he was released from a jail in Srinagar September 1, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer
Welcome to Indian Kashmir, where the biggest separatist protests in two decades have clashed with the might of the state.
"They are ruthless, trigger happy," said Ghulam Rasool Bhat, a laborer who says he was beaten by federal police after he tried to buy milk for his two nephews under a curfew in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir.
He lay in a bed, both legs bandaged where a soldier, shouting "Get your milk from Pakistan" had smashed a rifle into his shins. His legs felt, he said, as if in a continuous cramp.
Police have shot dead at least 35 Muslim protesters in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley after a row over land for a Hindu shrine spiraled into marches and strikes against Indian rule.
More than 1,000 people have been wounded in clashes over three weeks, hospital officials and police say, with the Kashmir Valley often under curfew. Hundreds of people have suffered police baton beatings and bullet wounds, doctors say.
The Indian government says its security forces have been fired upon by protesters on several occasions, and said authorities had "acted within the law and with restraint."
Witnesses said some protesters had thrown stones at police, but said that most were marching peacefully.
India's hardline response to the protests has highlighted what critics say is its lack of strategy to find a solution to a problem that has already sparked two wars between India and Pakistan, who both claim the region in full but rule it in parts.
The crackdown may also be counter-productive. Residents say the deaths and violent crackdown have fuelled anger against India and boosted the separatist cause after years of relative peace.
"The government of India does not have a strategy," said Siddharth Varadarajan, diplomatic editor of The Hindu newspaper.
"It is relying heavily on coercion, arresting top and middle-level leaders in the hope it will break the back of unprecedented protests."
In rare criticism last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on India to avoid using excessive force. It drew a rebuke from India for interfering in its affairs.
SIMMERING RESENTMENT
For decades there has been simmering resentment at the hundreds of thousands of Indian troops stationed in Kashmir, making it one of the most militarized regions on earth.
Roadblocks, verbal abuse from soldiers and raids on homes have long been a part of daily life.
But as protests spiraled in August, the government sent in battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), a federal police force of mainly Hindus who do not speak Kashmiri. Strangers to Kashmir, most residents appear to despise them.
In interviews in Srinagar and nearby villages, tales were similar: CRPF beatings, night raids on homes, verbal abuse and smashed windows. Life has been worse than in previous years.
"They are not human," said Raja, a villager from Newtheed less than an hour's drive from the city. She said soldiers smashed up her home, shouting "We'll show you what freedom is."
In Srinagar, the CRPF has taken over from the local Kashmiri police to enforce curfews and riot control. Residents complain of abuse at the slightest provocation — selling bread, buying milk.
One surgeon, who asked to remain anonymous because of fear of retribution from Indian authorities, said he has received around 400 wounded people in three weeks, 150 of them hit by bullets.
"These are target killings. It's simple to see," said the doctor, explaining that many of the chest wounds were from weapons such as AK-47s. "Most of these were intended to kill. They were not to disperse a crowd."
Shabir Ahmed Dar, 22, lay in one hospital bed after three operations. He was shot in the abdomen during a protest march to the Pakistani Kashmir border.
"There was no warning from the police. They just fired."
The police firings drew criticism from Human Rights Watch.
"To end this cycle of tragedy, the government should order security forces to act with restraint," it said in a statement.
It is not just a hardline response to street protests. Authorities have detained several separatist leaders without charge. Other leaders, many committed to democratic change and who publicly reject militant violence, were in hiding.
Asiya Andrabi, chief of Kashmir's women's separatist group Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of the Muslim Faith) who had led some of the protests, has been detained under the Public Safety Act that allows for a year in jail without trial.
The violence still pales in comparison with previous years when officials say more than 43,000 people have been killed in clashes involving Indian troops and Muslim militants since 1989. Human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000 dead or missing.
Some analysts say authorities were in a difficult situation.
"This is a place where security officials are getting attacked every second day," said Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research, referring to the years of militant insurgency.
For Shameema, a 35-year-old woman who sells bread, the fear of police was clear. She talked about how police smashed her and her family with batons for selling bread under curfew. Her husband displayed a wound to his head.
She fell silent for a moment as a federal policeman official walked up to her shop, ominously tapping his baton. Then, realizing he could not speak Kashmiri, she talked again.
"I am scared," she said "But we have nowhere to go." (Additional reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq; Editing by Simon Denyer and Megan Goldin) (For the latest Reuters news on India see: in.reuters.com, for blogs see blogs.reuters.com/in)


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Open Network Computing Remote Procedure Call
Internet protocol suite
Application layer
Transport layer
Internet layer
Link layer
Open Network Computing (ONC) Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is a remote procedure call system. ONC was originally developed by Sun Microsystems in the 1980s as part of their Network File System project, and is sometimes referred to as Sun RPC.
ONC is based on calling conventions used in Unix and the C programming language. It serializes data using the External Data Representation (XDR), which has also found some use to encode and decode data in files that are to be accessed on more than one platform. ONC then delivers the XDR payload using either UDP or TCP. Access to RPC services on a machine are provided via a port mapper that listens for queries on a well-known port (number 111) over UDP and TCP.
ONC RPC was described in RFC 1831, published in 1995. RFC 5531, published in 2009, is the current version. Authentication mechanisms used by ONC RPC are described in RFC 2695, RFC 2203, and RFC 2623.
Implementations of ONC RPC exist in most Unix-like systems. Microsoft supplies an implementation for Windows in their Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX product; in addition, a number of third-party implementation of ONC RPC for Windows exist, including versions for C/C++, Java, and .NET (see external links).
In 2009, Sun relicensed the ONC RPC code under the standard 3-clause BSD license[1] and then reconfirmed by Oracle Corporation in 2010 following confusion about the scope of the relicensing.[2]
ONC is considered "lean and mean", but has limited appeal as a generalized RPC system for WANs or heterogeneous environments[citation needed]. Systems such as DCE, CORBA and SOAP are generally used in this wider role[citation needed].
XDR - The grammar defined in RFC 1831 is a small extension of the XDR grammar defined in RFC 4506
Birrell, A. D.; Nelson, B. J. (1984). "Implementing remote procedure calls". ACM Transactions on Computer Systems. 2: 39–59. doi:10.1145/2080.357392.
^ Phipps, Simon (2009-02-12). "Old Code and Old Licenses". Sun Microsystems. Archived from the original on 2010-02-25. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
^ "The long, sordid tale of Sun RPC, abbreviated somewhat, to protect the guilty and the irresponsible". Tom Callaway, Red Hat. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
RFC 1050 - Specifies version 1 of ONC RPC
Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) — A tutorial on ONC RPC by Dr Dave Marshall of Cardiff University
Introduction to RPC Programming — A developer's introduction to RPC and XDR, from SGI IRIX documentation.
Sun ONC Developer's guide
Netbula's PowerRPC for Windows (ONC RPC for Windows with extended IDL)
Netbula's JRPC (ONC RPC for Java)(supports J2SE, J2ME and Android
ONC/RPC Implementation of the University of Aachen (Germany)
Remote Tea (LGPL Java Implementation)
Remote Tea .Net (LGPL C# Implementation)
Distinct Corporation's ONC RPC for Windows
Linux Journal article on ONC RPC
Java NIO based ONC RPC library
Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle Corp, 2010)
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Sun386i
SPARCstation
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Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open_Network_Computing_Remote_Procedure_Call&oldid=905614413"
Application layer protocols
Internet Standards
Remote procedure call
Sun Microsystems software
Unix software
Pages using RFC magic links


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Have a Hugh Jass in Your Family?
The authors of the new book Bad Baby Names relied mostly on U.S. census records.
Long before Bart Simpson made prank calls to Moe's Tavern, children were burdened with names such as "Mike Rotch," "Hugh Jass," "Ivana Tinkle" and "Maya Buttreeks."
Think the "Boy named Sue" had to be tough? How about Cinderella Liverotti, whom the authors note was "sadly, a man, and a coal miner at that."
Babies named after food include "Lettuce Crum," "Hoagie Hoagland," "Onion Critzer," "Mustard M. Mustard" and "Tomato Billips."
Among the simply comical Dickensian monikers are "Leech Goodpaster," "Smock Bufner," "Knob Simmons," "Hose Belt," "Glove Butts" and "Hornby Toot." [Link]
Filed under census, names
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Matthew Rayback
Hey. Thanks for this comment. Anyone who wants to know more or see other funny census names can go to my blog, www.badbabynames.net.
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What Happens On The Edges Of Cities When Farmland Gives Way To Development
By Amy Mayer and Erica Hunzinger
Farm buildings sit on land that's for sale in Clay County, Missouri. Nearly 40,000 people have moved to the county since 2000.
Erica Hunzinger/Harvest Public Media
Big cities in the Midwest are gaining ground on the rural communities that, for many decades, have thrived on the edges of urban development.
Since 1980, the amount of land being farmed or grazed in the U.S. has dropped 13 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Much of it now is covered by housing subdivisions, big-box stores and computer-server farms.
Listen to part one of this story above, and part two below:
Outward growth from metropolitan areas can strain courts, schools and traffic. It also can change the cultural and regional identity of once-rural communities — something visible on the outskirts of two metro areas connected by Interstate 35 and an agricultural heritage: Des Moines, Iowa, and Kansas City, Missouri. Harvest Public Media took a closer look:
Dallas County, Iowa
Urban areas have expanded in Dallas County, west of Des Moines, from 1950 to last year. About 11 percent of county land has been annexed by cities. And the county population grew from just over 66,000 in 2010 to more than 84,500 in 2016, according to Census Bureau figures.
County planner Murray McConnell has been struck by how every wave of new arrivals rankles the previous one.
Two towns in central Iowa, Waukee and Adel, have grown closer due to county land being annexed, especially along the state highway that connects them.
Photo Credit: Amy Mayer/Harvest Public Media
"Everybody wants to freeze the landscape as it was when they arrived," he said, noting that the loudest voices who oppose things like a new housing development are not the farm families whose fields abutt the new construction, but the hobby farmers or large-lot suburban transplants.
Matthew and Lori Wiese (shown here with three of their four children) operate Heirloom Farm in rural Dallas County. It relies on a customer base in Des Moines and its suburbs.
Lori and Matthew Wiese are new farmers, former urban professionals who restored an abandoned farmhouse in the county, did a farming apprenticeship and moved their family of six out there. Now, they direct-market fruits and vegetables, eggs and chicken and will be adding beef. Their customers pick up the orders.
"People, because of the choice that we offer, were willing to drive a little bit father," Lori Wiese said.
They live on a gravel road, though Wiese said some customers would prefer to drive on pavement. So, one day she was on the phone with a county official and asked, "Is there a plan to pave."
The response: No. And that's fine with the Wieses, whose road extends across the Raccoon River. They said paving it would increase traffic and take away from the quiet rural landscape they sought out.
The courthouse in Dallas County, Iowa, was built in 1902. Renovations about 10 years ago added two new courtrooms, but there still isn't enough space, meaning trials are often delayed.
McConnell noted that the county tries to discourage development on prime farmland. But once a city annexes county land, development is likely, he said. And it puts a strain on county services.
The historic courthouse in Adel, 30 minutes west of Des Moines, is bursting at the seams. Two new courtrooms were added a decade ago, but county clerk Anna Butler said there's already not enough space.
"It's becoming more frequent over the last few months where we've run out of courtroom space when we have multiple jury trials or multiple even bench trials," she said.
Dallas County, Iowa, clerk Anna Butler says judges sometimes work out of their chambers or a conference room because the building doesn't have enough space for the increased demands from a growing population.
Judges sometimes work out of conference rooms, cases are delayed, attorney's fees pile up.
"It's a burden on everybody. It's more paperwork on our end. It's a hassle all the way around," Butler said.
The increased demands on law enforcement may be a boon to the court system. When the sheriff's department moves out of the bustling town center and into its new building, Butler said, there's a chance the county will convert the old jail into more courthouse space.
Growth is happening in the town of Adel itself, which added a wing to the elementary school, as new housing springs up to the south and east, stretching toward I-35, where, two and a half hours down the road is the northern suburbs of Kansas City.
A sign of development in Clay County, Missouri, where finished houses in a subdivision sit next to uncleared land.
Photo Credit: Erica Hunzinger/Harvest Public Media
Clay County, Missouri
While the amount of farmland in Missouri has held mostly steady for a decade, Clay County — undulating land crossed by streams, many of which feed into the Missouri River — saw the metro area's biggest percent change of land between 2007 and 2012 that no longer is used for agriculture.
New housing subdivisions are pushing out livestock grazing and farmland; between 1978 and 2012, the number of cattle here dropped by a quarter. And officials estimate that by 2040, five percent of the county's total acreage will be newly developed.
From an economic standpoint, development is good for Clay County: more people, more businesses, more jobs. But county commissioner Luann Ridgeway said there's a distinct effect of having almost 40,000 people move in just since 2000.
"The trend in Clay County is, yes, it is cutting into agricultural production. Definitely. And once a farm field grows houses, it rarely goes back into farm field production, sadly," the Republican and former state legislator said.
Linda Hezel looks out over her vertical-farming beds in January at Prairie Birthday Farm near Kearney, Missouri.
Linda Hezel lives on 15 acres about 20 miles from Kansas City and runs Prairie Birthday Farm, growing fruits, vegetables, herbs and wildflowers that end up on plates at restaurants across the Kansas City metro.
Her concerns about suburban encroachment are twofold, the first being what happens when land is clear-cut for housing developments and shopping centers.
"Lots of parking lots and we take out whole forests now. We are capable of just grinding them up and hauling them away because of the equipment and the technology and I think that's a terrible misfortune because we don't know what's in there," Hezel said, referring to wildlife and carbon dioxide emissions.
A nurse by training, Hezel's second worry is that losing too much open space could put people's health — both on a personal and a community level — at risk.
"We all need connection to nature. It's related to cardiovascular health, preventing depression, lowering blood pressure, productivity. Kids with access to open space and green space tend to learn better," she said. "It's really (about) mental health and social well-being connectedness."
She and her husband bought their land in the 1990s, before developers took notice of the area's natural beauty and built a subdivision that abuts her property.
"Now, when we moved here, Oakbrook behind us was cattle. It was probably 160 acres," she said. Hezel recently learned the subdivision is adding 18 more homes.
With thousands seeking more elbow room than living in a city might provide, there's a sense that community ties are breaking among those who've been out here for a while.
"The thing I hear the most is the loss of local identities," said T.J. Berry, a Republican state representative and the incoming executive director of the Clay County Economic Development Council. "So, Liberty used to be its own community, and now it's definitely part of the suburban Kansas City area. And you don't want to lose that identity: multiple high schools rather than one high school for a community.
"And that's not just in Liberty, that's in other communities in the Northland, where they've lost identity," said Berry, who grew up on a farm in Clay County.
Take Shoal Creek Valley, a residential and retail development that's part of Kansas City. Official city documents acknowledge that it's "a predominately agricultural area that has experienced rapid suburbanization since 2000," due to tax incentives.
The main entrance to Liberty High School, which is in a district that grew by more than 5,000 kids in the last decade or so.
The eastern edge of the development is in the Liberty School District, which has grown by almost 5,000 students over the last 15 years. The district's chief operating officer, Steve Anderson, said when Shoal Creek's neighborhoods really started to take off, "I don't know if it caught the district off guard, but there was a point where there were a lot of trailers and just trying to kind of accommodate that, that more pressing need."
He said the district now has a handle on its population influx, and they're still expecting to grow as the county does.
"The balancing act, obviously, is to build for what's coming," he said. "You never want to overbuild, that would be irresponsible."
Some Shoal Creek kids attend school in the North Kansas City School District, which district spokeswoman Tammy Henderson said has grown by about the size of a grade school every year for at least eight years. New school buildings and upgrades are in the works, she said, and the 82-square-mile district buses now run on natural gas, which cuts the cost of covering about 2 million miles a year.
And that brings up what may be the most headache-inducing part of when once-rural areas sprouting thousands of homes: traffic.
While Clay County is convenient for people who commute to jobs in Kansas City and other nearby towns, the roads near the subdivisions and retail areas can get cramped. There's a key state highway, Missouri 152, that runs east and west, cutting through the concentrated developments at the south end of Shoal Creek.
Kyle Elliott, the long-range planning and preservation division manager for Kansas City, said 152 is a challenge at the pinch-point intersection with I-35 — a major shopping area with a Hy-Vee, Home Depot, Target and Walmart, not to mention Liberty High School just to the east.
"152 is not a very long roadway and it was almost at capacity when they built a full four lanes about a decade and a half ago," he said.
In fact, there was a nearly 60 percent increase in accidents at the I-35/152 intersection between 2012 and 2015, and it sees so much traffic that the Missouri Department of Transportation is planning to replace the six-lane bridge over I-35 and widen it to 10 lanes for the next wave of residents seeking a little space.
And they're coming. Shoal Creek, Elliott said, is "about a half to a third built-out, so it could potentially see quite a little bit more (development)."
Follow Amy and Erica on Twitter: @agamyinames, @ehunzinger
Story source: Harvest Public Media
Why Rural Advocates Question Trump's Commitment To Developing Areas Outside Of Cities
An Illinois Poverty Scorecard; People's Gas Leak; AG Candidate Pat Quinn; Rural Economic Development
Foreign Investment In U.S. Farmland On The Rise
Restoration agriculture as a path to land health
Future of Rural Development Funding Uncertain in Farm Bill


text:
Issue 15, 2010
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Patterns in the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction in water-in-oil microemulsion induced by a temperature gradient
Jorge Carballido-Landeira,ab Vladimir K. Vanaga and Irving R. Epstein*a
a Department of Chemistry and Volen Center for Complex Systems, MS 015, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA
E-mail: epstein@brandeis.edu
b Group of Nonlinear Physics, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
We investigate the effect of changing temperature in the ferroin-catalysed Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction dispersed in the water nanodroplets of a water-in-oil aerosol OT (AOT) microemulsion, which undergoes a temperature-induced percolation transition at about 38 °C. We observe stationary Turing patterns at temperatures in the range 15–35 °C and bulk oscillations at T = 40–55 °C. When a temperature gradient ΔT is applied normal to a thin layer of the BZ–AOT reaction mixture, the range of patterns observed is dramatically expanded. Anti-phase oscillatory Turing patterns, leaping waves, and chaotic waves emerge, depending on the temperature gradient and the average temperature. These new patterns originate from the coupling between a low temperature Turing mode and a high temperature Hopf mode. Simulations with a simple model of the BZ–AOT system give good agreement with our experimental results.
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010,12, 3656-3665
J. Carballido-Landeira, V. K. Vanag and I. R. Epstein, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 3656 DOI: 10.1039/B919278F
Jorge Carballido-Landeira
Vladimir K. Vanag
Irving R. Epstein


text:
Alelo Develops Interactive Robot for Learning Chinese
Visit http://www.alelo.com for further information
Alelo and its collaborators are developing an exciting new project thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundations Cyberlearning program.
02/25/15, 07:40 PM | Industrial Robotics, Unmanned & Other Topics
Alexandria, Virginia February 24, 2015
The Robot-Assisted Language Learning in Education, or RALL-E, project is a new social robot that has the potential to transform world language learning by giving learners new opportunities to practice their conversational skills.
The RALL-E robots are Chinese-speaking human-like robots that create a safe environment for learners to practice their conversational skills. These robots create the experience of a conversation through a lifelike range of facial expressions and gestures coupled with Alelos innovative language acquisition-based dialog software.
Designed to increase intrinsic motivation and speaking competency, the RALL-E project offers students the unique opportunity to participate in a fun, alternative practice exercise that mimics real world language use and they love it. Students are already playing with these robots in Chinese classrooms at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA.
During Alelos most recent focus group at Thomas Jefferson High School, students had this to say about the RALL-E robots:
"It was more interactive [than online courses and classroom activities] and… actually its just more fun!"
"The facial expressions make it feel like youre talking to an actual person."
"If I make a mistake its okay. I know that when I speak Chinese with my [in-class] speaking pal its for a grade, but with the robot its just practice where Im free to learn and do whatever I need to do."
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is excited to be offering this new technology to their students. Dr. Evan Glazer, Principal, says:
"I think RALL-E has a lot of potential to build excitement for learning languages. Students have opportunities to practice their skills, and the robot responds to the dialogue as confirmation that he understands. The potential is great to support individual learning needs, particularly at introductory levels."
The RALL-E project aims to increase speaking competency in Chinese classrooms by providing students with a novel and motivating conversation experience. These robots will allow students to get the real world experience of using a new language, without the anxieties that come with using a new language, and empower teachers to bring the conversations they want into their classrooms.
The RALL-E project is a collaboration between Alelo, Robokind, the Virginia Department of Education, and Curious Lab.
More Industrial Robotics News | Stories | Articles
OMRON MICROSCAN: HAWK MV-4000
Awe-inspiring power and superior flexibility is sheathed within the contoured casing of the HAWK MV-4000. This smart camera builds upon the previous generation by quadrupling processing power and achieving real-time trigger response using an FPGA. Its state-of-the-art algorithms make it an excellent tool for any industry, whether the requirement be code reading, code verification, inspection, guidance, gauging or a combination of all four.


text:
Toxicologist denies manipulating studies in Monsanto damages proceedings
A toxicologist from Roundup weedkiller manufacturer Monsanto denied Friday that she had influenced scientific studies to hide the dangers of the product, in the damages phase of a trial in California.
One of the lawyers for the plaintiff—a 70-year-old retiree with cancer—asked Dr Donna Farmer to explain internal documents from Monsanto made public in 2017.
Among other documents, a February 2015 email sent to Farmer by another senior Monsanto scientist refers to the technique of writing scientific articles and then paying recognized scientists—presented as independent—to sign them.
Farmer—who testified by video—repeatedly denied that she participated in such "ghostwriting" and also responded "no" when asked if Roundup causes cancer.
Edwin Hardeman is the man at the center of the case who says his 25-year use of Roundup, the principal ingredient of which is controversial chemical glyphosate, contributed to his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis.
The jury in San Francisco is weighing how much Monsanto knew about Roundup's possible risks, if it tried to hide those risks and whether the product's cans should have carried a warning.
Jurors then must determine if Monsanto is liable for Hardeman's injuries, and if so, what damages are owed.
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer found in 2015 that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic," though the European Food Safety Authority, the European Chemicals Agency and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have not issued similar judgments.
Monsanto's responsibility at the center of Roundup trial phase 2
Citation: Toxicologist denies manipulating studies in Monsanto damages proceedings (2019, March 23) retrieved 18 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-03-toxicologist-denies-monsanto-proceedings.html
Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller contributed to US man's cancer: jury
Controversial Roundup weed killer on trial again in US
Roundup weed killer factor in man's cancer, US court told
Glyphosate under fire from San Francisco to Sri Lanka
Investors flee Bayer after second glyphosate trial blow (Update)
Study: Underrepresented faculty play an uneven role in advancing diversity and inclusion
Classroom crowdscience: UC students challenged to detect schizophrenia genes
Can flipping coins replace animal experiments?
Humans switch between apps in 'remarkably similar' ways, scientists find
'Bug bombs' are ineffective killing roaches indoors, leave behind toxic residue
'Zebra' tribal bodypaint cuts fly bites 10-fold: study
torbjorn_b_g_larsson
This is a *non-science* AFP article, with no references to the science but to a legal proceeding, and without the usual evaluation bar. Wonder why anyone would like to put it here?
Dosage makes the poison, but seems IARC is not concerned with evaluating population risks!
"Marcel Kuntz, a French director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, criticized the classification because it didn't assess the risks associated with exposure (probability of getting a cancer from certain exposure).[27] Ed Yong, a British science journalist, criticized the agency and its "confusing" category system for misleading the public.[28] IARC answered in a press release their mission was not to evaluate potency or to assess the risks but only to determine scientifically the strength of carcinogenetic evidence of glyphosate.[29]"
[ https://en.wikipe...n_Cancer ]
For an outsider, this is a BS organization.
julianpenrod
Things the Democratic Rackets and their followers say can't happen. That a "scientist" lies. That a woman acts cravenly. That "scientists" can be paid to misrepresent matters. That articles by "independent" "researchers" are deceitful. The essence of the "climate change" campaign is that "scientists", none of whom can lie, are providing absolutely infallible articles claiming "fossil fuels" are changing the climate, and that there is no such thing as chemtrails.


text:
Is Brazil The Next Big Draw in Patents?
Is brazil the next big draw in patents_ques
As all eyes turn to Brazil in anticipation of both the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016, recent figures show a dramatic spike in patent filings in Brazil.
Brazil is one of the four so-called "BRIC" countries regarded as an emerging global economic super power, alongside Russia, India and China. However, while filing patents in China is now a common practice for UK companies, which filed about 2,000 applications there in 2011, Brazil currently lags behind. However that could be about to change.
Brazil has now surged above the UK as a place to file patent applications. According to the latest figures released by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), in 2011 there were 22,686 patent applications filed in Brazil, putting it 11th in the global table for filing jurisdictions, one spot above the UK, which received 22,259 applications in the same year. The vast majority of these Brazilian applications, some 19,981, were filed by foreign applicants.
To put these figures in context, in 2011 there were only 40,022 granted in force patents in Brazil, which compares to just under 600,000 in the UK (including European patents), and just over 2 million in the US. If patent filings in Brazil are now roughly on a par with those filed at the UK IPO, then the number of granted Brazilian patents is set to increase dramatically over the next few years.
One reason why Brazil is of interest is its sheer size, and its dominant position in South America. If you have a patent in Brazil then you have a large part of the continent covered, and few will be active in South America as a whole without being active there. It is a bit like having patents in the UK, France and Germany, and this being sufficient to prevent rivals being active in Europe as a whole.
However, it can take more than five or six years for a patent application to be examined in Brazil, and enforcement of granted patents may not be easy.
The extent to which barriers to a smooth running patent system remain is a determining factor in whether a jurisdiction becomes a popular place to obtain patents, and as a knock-on effect, whether that jurisdiction starts to prosper or not. However, places like China, Korea and India have broken down many of these barriers in recent years, and are now very popular places to file patents. They are no more expensive than anywhere else, and access to fair and reasonably effective enforcement is available. If Brazil addresses some of these issues it could soon join those places as a jurisdiction worth having a patent in.
Although patent filings in Brazil are increasing, they are still dwarfed by the numbers filed at the most popular jurisdictions, which were China with 526,000, the US with 503,000 and Japan with 342,000.
In terms of the activity of Brazilian patent applicants themselves, it ranks a lowly 27th in the world league table for patent filings globally. This suggests that Brazil is not emerging particularly quickly as an innovative force of its own. The top five in this list are Japan, China, US, Korea, Germany. The UK is seventh, behind France. So even though the UK is not a particularly popular place to file patent applications, UK applicants are very active on the global scale. Brazil ranks behind countries like Poland, Turkey, Israel and Singapore.
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