March 23, 2011
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Monday, March 28, 2011
Researchers Close In On Technology For Making Renewable Petroleum
ScienceDaily
March 23, 2011
University of Minnesota researchers are a key step closer to making renewable petroleum fuels using bacteria, sunlight and dioxide, a goal funded by a $2.2 million United States Department of Energy grant.
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March 23, 2011
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New Ombuds Office at Ivy Tech Community College
Indiana's community college system, the nation's second-largest community college, has created an Ombudsman for student issues. Anila Din was appointed in early 2010, but the website for her office only went online last week. Din, the former Director of Academic Affairs Support for Ivy Tech, reports to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and serves a student population of more than 165,000.
The website is somewhat misleading because it refers to the 'ombudsman/student advocate.' Elsewhere, however, the site explains that the Ombuds is a neutral party who does not, "have any decision-making authority and cannot tell any staff member, administrator, or faculty member what to do." (Ivy Tech Ombuds; Lawrence Library Log.)
American University in Cairo Plans Ombuds Office
In the wake of the Egyptian Revolution earlier this year, the independent and sectarian American University in Cairo plans several reforms to address concerns about the right of free expression on campus and labor standards. These initiatives include an Ombuds Office.
In a statement released last week, AUC President Lisa Anderson said, in part:
FREE EXPRESSION
AUC upholds the right to freedom of belief, expression and assembly. Apart from language that might incite violence or otherwise represent an immediate danger, all speech is protected. In order to ensure that these rights are clearly and unambiguously expressed in the policies and procedures of the University, we have asked a faculty-student task force to develop a new policy statement on expression on campus, to replace the very restrictive policies of the past. We anticipate that the new policy will be available for comment by the University community by the end of March, and we hope new clear and consistent rights-based policies and procedural guidelines will be in place by mid-April.
We expect that all employees of the University will uphold, indeed celebrate, these rights. We know, however, that there is concern that members of the University administration abused their authority to stifle speech and to intimidate students, faculty and staff in the past, and there is worry that they may do so in the future.
We believe that individuals within the AUC community have both a right to register complaints about abuse of authority and a right to be presumed innocent until they are proven guilty. In order to ensure that both these rights are protected, we plan to establish a permanent Ombuds Office to take confidential complaints and to resolve conflicts. Because this Office will not be operational this semester, however, and because serious accusations have been made about members of the current AUC administration, particularly senior members of the security and student affairs staff, we will be establishing temporary special complaint panels.
These panels, which will begin operation before the end of March, will be tasked with collecting and assessing evidence of improper activity on the part of members of the AUC staff, particularly in monitoring, reporting, informing, interfering, stifling, or otherwise discouraging or preventing the exercise of free speech or assembly on campus. To ensure the absolute fairness of the process and, where necessary, the confidentiality of the complainants, the University will engage external legal counsel to join panels formed by the University’s Legal Advisor and, where appropriate including students and faculty, to hear complaints and draft assessments. The reports will be provided to the University Cabinet (the President, Provost and Vice-Presidents), who will both take appropriate action against those staff who are found to have violated community standards of free speech and will provide a report to the AUC community before the end of the semester both about the complaints and about the actions taken to redress them.
Additional details about the Ombuds Office have not been published. (AUC Student News, emphasis added.)
Ombuds for U.S. Defense Dept Inspector General Issues Second Annual Report
Scott M. Deyo, the Ombudsman for the Department of Defense IG employees worldwide, says he met with 325 individuals in fiscal year 2010, a 45% increase from the prior year. According to the annual report, issues about the agency's mission, strategy and organization became the top major category of concern.
In addition to the data, which are collected using the IOA uniform reporting categories, Deyo's report also presents a sampling of employee comments and recommendations. (DoD IG Ombuds 2010 Report.)
UK Engineers Develop Bee-Based Security Device
The Engineer
March 28, 2011
Trained sniffer bees are the key components of new technology that could stop terrorists in their tracks.
March 28, 2011
Guide to Oregon Ombuds Programs
With IOA holding its annual conference in Portland and the mayor declaring April 3, 2011 to be 'Ombuds Day,' the Ombuds Blog presents this list of regional Ombuds offices:
Organizational Ombuds
- Kidsports
- Lewis & Clark College
- Oregon State University (coming soon?)
- Portland State University (closing soon)
Legislative/Classical Ombuds
- City of Portland Ombudsman
- State of Oregon Long-Term Care Ombudsman
- State of Oregon Ombudsman for Injured Workers
- State of Oregon Small Business Ombudsman
Groups
Saturday, March 26, 2011
ABB to Deliver UHVDC Link for India Transmission Project
The Engineer
March 23, 2011
The Power Grid Corporation of India has selected ABB to deliver an ultra-high-voltage transmission system, worth about $900m (£554m). The link will supply hydropower from north-eastern India to the city of Agra over a distance of 1,728km.
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March 23, 2011
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