Now conservationists come out against wind power

January 3, 2011
Whooping Crane

Whooping crane: Image via Wikipedia

Officials with American Bird Conservancy on Wednesday cited data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that estimates 400,000 birds of various species are killed by turbine blades annually reports the Omaha World Herald.

One of the nation’s largest bird conservation groups says rapid construction of wind energy projects will endanger several avian species……That includes the whooping crane, a famous migratory bird and annual visitor to central Nebraska.

“Golden eagles, whooping cranes and greater sage-grouse are likely to be among the birds most affected by poorly planned and sited wind projects,” said Kelly Fuller, a spokeswoman for the conservancy.

“Unless the government acts now to require that the wind industry respect basic wildlife safeguards, these three species will be at ever greater risk.”

Officials with Nebraska Public Power District and MidAmerican Energy Co. said potential wind farm developments are carefully examined by experts and conservationists to determine their ecological impact.

“We monitor for bird kills but haven’t seen anything of significance,” said Mark Becker, an NPPD spokesman. “But we have not heard of any endangered species or any endangered birds being killed in Nebraska.”


Tags: , , ,
Posted in Energy, Renewable Energy, US, Wildlife, Wind power | Comments Off on Now conservationists come out against wind power

Russian oil pipeline to China in operation

January 2, 2011

Xinhua News:

MOHE, Heilongjiang, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) — Some 42,000 tonnes of crude oil had as of 5:48 a.m. Sunday flowed through an oil pipeline linking Russia’s far east and northeast China, 24 hours after the pipeline began operating, a spokesman for the Chinese operator of the pipeline said.

Pipelines and oil storage tanks of China and Russia crude oil pipeline in Mohe, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 1, 2011: (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

The pipeline, which originates in the Russian town of Skovorodino in the far-eastern Amur region, enters China at Mohe and terminates at northeast China’s Daqing City. A total of 1.32 million tonnes of oil is scheduled to be transported to China through the pipeline in January, said a spokesman for Pipeline Branch of Petro China Co., Ltd. (PBPC), the operator of the Chinese section of the pipeline.

The 1,000-km-long pipeline will transport 15 million tonnes of crude oil from Russia to China per year from 2011 until 2030, according to an agreement signed between the two countries. Some 72 kilometers of the pipeline is in Russia while 927 km of it is in China.


Tags: , , , ,
Posted in China, Energy, Oil, Russia | Comments Off on Russian oil pipeline to China in operation

Hausergate: In scientific misconduct “confirmation bias” or “fudging data” are equally corrupt

January 2, 2011

The Scientific American carries an article about the Marc Hauser case at Harvard. (Marc Hauser was found to have committed 8 cases of scientific misconduct).

Scientific American

Scott O. Lilienfeld argues that Hauser may only be guilty of “confirmation bias” and that it is premature to ascribe deliberate wrongdoing to him:

Hauser has admitted to committing “significant mistakes.” In observing the reactions of my colleagues to Hauser’s shocking comeuppance, I have been surprised at how many assume reflexively that his misbehavior must have been deliberate. For example, University of Maryland physicist Robert L. Park wrote in a Web column that Hauser “fudged his experiments.” I don’t think we can be so sure. It’s entirely possible that Hauser was swayed by “confirmation bias”—the tendency to look for and perceive evidence consistent with our hypotheses and to deny, dismiss or distort evidence that is not.

The past few decades of research in cognitive, social and clinical psychology suggest that confirmation bias may be far more common than most of us realize. Even the best and the brightest scientists can be swayed by it, especially when they are deeply invested in their own hypotheses and the data are ambiguous. A baseball manager doesn’t argue with the umpire when the call is clear-cut—only when it is close.

Scholars in the behavioral sciences, including psychology and animal behavior, may be especially prone to bias. They often make close calls about data that are open to many interpretations…….

………. Two factors make combating confirmation bias an uphill battle. For one, data show that eminent scientists tend to be more arrogant and confident than other scientists. As a consequence, they may be especially vulnerable to confirmation bias and to wrong-headed conclusions, unless they are perpetually vigilant. Second, the mounting pressure on scholars to conduct single-hypothesis-driven research programs supported by huge federal grants is a recipe for trouble. Many scientists are highly motivated to disregard or selectively reinterpret negative results that could doom their careers.

But I am not persuaded. When “eminent” scientists use their position and power to indulge in “confirmation bias” it is merely a euphemism for what is still cheating by taking undue advantage of their position. It is “corruption” in its most basic form. I reject the notion that such “confirmation bias” is a form of  “unwitting behaviour”. It may well be behaviour which resides in the sub-conscious but that is not “unwitting” behaviour. Neither is it excusable just because it may be in the sub-conscious. It gets into the sub-conscious only because the conscious allows it to do so. When any behaviour residing in the sub-conscious conflicts with the values and morality of an individual it is inevitably ejected into the conscious.  Being sub-consciously immoral but consciously moral is not feasible.

In the case of Marc Hauser, even assuming that his faults were due to “confirmation bias” then either it was behaviour which remained entirely in the sub-conscious in which case his values and morality are suspect, or it was triggered into the conscious and he continued anyway in which case it was simple cheating.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Behaviour, Corruption, Ethics, Philosophy, Scientific Fraud, scientific misconduct | Comments Off on Hausergate: In scientific misconduct “confirmation bias” or “fudging data” are equally corrupt

UK degrees downgraded

January 2, 2011
The west end of King's College Chapel seen fro...

Kings College chapel, Cambridge: Image via Wikipedia

It used to be that being awarded a First Class Honours or an Upper Second (2:1) degree in the UK carried some weight since they  were “awarded sparingly to students who showed exceptional depth of knowledge and originality”. But this no longer holds. The race for students and the use of league tables to “grade” universities has led to standards being deliberately diluted to improve the statistics. But the result is that in many universities where in 1970 less than 20% of students could expect a First or an Upper Second in 1970, today over 60% can expect such an award.

But I expect it will have a backlash. A key statistic emerging to define a “good” university will soon be the difficulty to be awarded a First and not the number of Firsts awarded. Just as in the US where one statistic defining the “goodness” of a University is now the difficulty to gain entrance. In Japan the difficulty to get into Tokyo University is what maintains its pre-eminence (though it is also alleged that once you get into Tokyo University you don’t need to do any more since your degree and your career are assured!).

The Telegraph carries the story of the “dumbing down” of UK degrees.

The results for last summer’s graduates, due to be published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency later this month, will increase pressure for reform of the degree grading system in Britain, which an official inquiry has already condemned as “not fit for purpose”.

The latest data shows that the criteria for awarding degrees has changed dramatically – despite complaints from many universities that grade inflation at A-level has made it hard for them to select candidates. Traditionally, first class honours have been awarded sparingly to students who show exceptional depth of knowledge and originality. But the new figures add further weight to a report by MPs last year which found that “inconsistency in standards is rife” and accused vice-chancellors of “defensive complacency”.

Prof Alan Smithers, director of Buckingham University’s centre for education and employment research, and a long-standing critic of falling standards, said: “There has been the most extraordinary grade inflation. As the system has expanded and a wider ability range has taken degree courses, the universities have altered their standards. Institutions are under pressure to improve their place in league tables and also need good results to compete for research grants. Giving university status to the polytechnics, some of which are very good, freed them to award their own degrees and they have exercised that freedom to award high degrees to relatively poorly-qualified entrants.”

Source article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8235115/Dumbing-down-of-university-grades-revealed.html

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Education, UK | Comments Off on UK degrees downgraded

Time Magazine and its unwavering view of climate change

January 1, 2011

From Watts Up with that: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/01/01/time-magazine-and-global-warming/#more-30704

Unwavering !

 

Tags: , ,
Posted in Climate | 1 Comment »

2011

December 31, 2010

The end of the first decade of the new millenium.

With hopes for

  • more science in science
  • more solar influence in climate models
  • less politics in politics
  • less fanaticism in religion
  • less greed in growth
  • more prudence in banking
  • less alarmism in environmentalism
  • more melody in music
  • more ethics in business, and
  • more humanity in humans

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!


Tags: ,
Posted in Trivia | Comments Off on 2011

Ethics of Journals: When plagiarism is not plagiarism

December 31, 2010

When is plagiarism not plagiarism?

Apparently when the editor of the journal BMC Medical Ethics finds that a paper published in his own journal has copied large chunks from a different (competing?) Journal – in this case Bioethics.

As Retraction Watch points out the retraction notice issued by BMC Medical Ethics is less than satisfying:

BMC Medical Ethics has retracted a November 2010 paper by two authors from Mayo Clinic whose manuscript — “End-of-life discontinuation of destination therapy with cardiac and ventilatory support medical devices: physician-assisted death or allowing the patient to die?” — contained passages that closely echoed those in another article, “Moral fictions and medical ethics,” published online in July 2009 in the journal Bioethics.

Retraction Watch continues:

We find the retraction notice more than a little opaque and confusing. It’s unclear how “similar” the article was to the Bioethics paper it offended. But why not use the word “plagiarism” to describe the similarities? Also, how convincing is that “no intention” disclaimer? (Not very, as it happens, as you’ll soon learn.) And why is the article still available?

We’ve emailed the editor of BMC Medical Ethics for an answer to these questions and will update this post when we learn more.

Retraction Watch spoke to Franklin G. Miller, a bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health and first author of the plagiarized Bioethics paper

Miller, to whom the retraction notice specifically apologizes, said he discovered the offending material this fall when he chanced upon the BMC Medical Ethics article.

I first saw a citation to a piece of mine in Bioethics, but then I had the feeling some of this language sounded a little familiar to me. I looked side by side at the two articles and I found extensive passages that were lifted—some were verbatim, some had a couple of minor word changes. There was a citation, but only one, and no quotation marks. They had essentially appropriated our language, our arguments, and our analysis as their own.”

Miller said he contacted the journal, which conducted an investigation.

At first they said they were going to issue a correction, which I said was not satisfactory. Finally the legal dept of the publisher of Bioethics got into the act, and that led to the retraction.

Miller said he is “very dissatisfied” with the retraction notice for its failure to use the word plagiarism and its claim that the misappropriation was inadvertent.

To say that it wasn’t intentional is mind-boggling. You cannot systematically lift someone else’s text without intending to do it. It seems not possible. A sentence or two, maybe, but not paragraphs.

It seems to me that at best the retraction notice is mealy-mouthed and at worst it represents a certain hypocrisy by the editor of BMC Medical Ethics.

Or perhaps it is only plagiarism when other Journals copy material published in yours but not when others are copied and published in your Journal?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Behaviour, Ethics, Science | 3 Comments »

Many faculty members involved in fake institute at IIT Kharagpur

December 31, 2010
The Main Building of IIT Kharagpur

IIT Kharagpur: Image via Wikipedia

The Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur is one of the original 5 IIT’s and perhaps the one enjoying the highest reputation of them all. But the case of the fake institute  – Institution of Electrical Engineers (I) – being run apparently by a few rogue faculty members is now spreading and revealing that many faculty members were involved. The investigations which were first to be conducted by a panel of academics will now be shifted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Many voices were raised against the proposed composition of the panel apprehending a “whitewash”.

The case was first broken in October by the Calcutta Telegraph:

The Centre today asked IIT Kharagpur to give a “factual account” of a professor’s alleged role in running an unapproved institute and duping students into believing it was a branch of the tech school. Amit Kumar Ghosh, the head of the department of aeronautical engineering, has been accused of having a hand in the running of the Institution of Electrical Engineering (IEE) in Kharagpur and offering diploma courses without the approval of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

The ministry is livid that a senior faculty member could be involved in “fraudulent” activities. “The IIT Kharagpur authorities have been asked to furnish a factual account on the issue,” a ministry official said. A senior IIT official said Ghosh had been removed as aeronautical engineering department head following the allegations. An inquiry has been ordered.

The IEE has been operating from a temporary campus and offering courses such as a diploma in electrical engineering. Ghosh has allegedly been serving as the institute president. J.K. Tiwary has apparently been managing the institute for the last two years and luring students by claiming that the IEE is a branch of IIT-Kharagpur. Trouble started this year after students found out that the IEE had no connection with IIT Kharagpur. It did not even have AICTE approval, mandatory for an institute teaching any technical course.

Furious, the students registered a complaint with the IIT Kharagpur director. “They have spoiled our career. We want justice,” M. Ramu, a student of IEE, said.

In the beginning of December, evidence surfaced that many more faculty members were involved. The Times of India reported that:

IIT-Kharagpur has all along been in denial that its faculty members were involved in the running of fake institute — Institution of Electrical Engineers (I). But the hollow claims now lay in tatters, thanks to a photographic proof showing teachers of the institution along with J K Tiwari, the brain behind the institute, who, incidentally, has nothing to do with IIT-Kharagpur.

Police recovered the photograph during a raid and are soon going to question faculty members — both serving and retired — who are seen along with Tiwari. The photograph shows A K Ghosh, former head of department of aerospace engineering and an ex-chief vigilance officer, who has since been suspended for his alleged involvement in the scam.

The others caught in freeze frame are N K Kishore, professor, department of electrical engineering; Jayanta Pal, head of department, electrical engineering; Pallab Kumar Chattopadhyay, retired professor of agricultural and food engineering; Punyabrata Dutta Gupta, retired professor of electrical engineering; J C Biswas, retired professor of electronics & electrical communication engineering.

Tiwari, who conceived IEE (I), and even managed to get an official quarter for the institute, is seen sitting along with a section of IIT-Kharagpur faculty members. Police sources said they are investigating if the photograph was taken during the convocation of IEE (I) as claimed by many students of the fake institute.

Yesterday, the Indian Express revealed that

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will probe the fake institute scam that was allegedly run from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, by some of its faculty members……. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal is learnt to have decided that a CBI probe was the best course to follow and the issue would be formally referred to the agency in the next few days.

The stench of corruption in the Indian body academic is not restricted to the private “education industry” but is present even in the most respectable institutions.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Corruption, Education, Ethics, Fraud, India | 2 Comments »

488km of high speed railway completed in 2years – must be China

December 30, 2010

Kashi  (Kashgar) and Hotan are major towns on the old Silk Road. To complete 488km of high-speed railway line in just 2 years of construction  – even for China – must be some kind of a record.

From Xinhua News:

kashgar regional map

Kashgar Region: Hotan to Kashi

A railway linking Kashi and Hotan in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region opened Thursday for cargo transportation, and passenger transport is expected to begin in June, according to a local official.

The railway, with a cost about 5.1 billion yuan (773 million U.S. dollars), covers 488.27 kilometers running through the south part of Xinjiang, an important section of the ancient Silk Road. The railroad is expected to have an annual freight volume of 15 million tons, and carry ten passenger trains every day, said Tang Shisheng, director of the Urumqi Railway Bureau. The Kashi-Hotan railway will help promote the development of Xinjiang’ s mining industry, tourism and agriculture, said Tang.

Construction of the railway began in December 2008.

The Ministry of Railways and Xinjiang regional government will invest 310 billion yuan to build more than 8,000 kilometers of railway in Xinjiang during the next 10 years.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in China, Economy, Engineering | Comments Off on 488km of high speed railway completed in 2years – must be China

Manatees threatened by cold Florida waters – must be global warming

December 30, 2010

Manatees clearly are not too impressed by the effects of global warming and are swimming out of the chilly Gulf of Mexico waters and into warmer springs and power plant discharge canals. On Tuesday, more than 300 manatees floated into the outflow of Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station reports Physorg.com:

Manatees paddle to warm water to escape Fla. chill (AP)

Manatees congregate in a canal where discharge from a nearby Florida Power & Light plant warms the water in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010.

“It’s like a warm bathtub for them,” said Wendy Anastasiou, an environmental specialist at the power station’s manatee viewing center. “They come in here and hang out and loll around.”

Cold weather can weaken manatees’ immune systems and eventually kill them. State officials said 2010 has been a deadly year for the beloved animals: between Jan. 1 and Dec. 17, 246 manatees died from so-called “cold stress.” During the same time period in 2009, only 55 manatees died from the cold. In 2008, only 22 manatees succumbed to chilly temperatures.

Manatee deaths documented from Jan. 1 through Dec. 5 are nearly double the five-year average for that time period, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission statistics.

“Obviously we’re very concerned as an agency about the unusually high number of manatee deaths this year,” said Wendy Quigley, a spokeswoman with the state-run Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

A total of 699 manatees were found dead between Jan. 1 and Dec. 5; state officials say it’s likely the cold temperatures also contributed to many of the 203 deaths in the “undetermined” category and the 68 deaths of manatees whose bodies could not be recovered.

Quigley noted that the statistics don’t even include this week’s cold snap, which sent temperatures plummeting into the 30s in parts of South Florida overnight and into the teens in the central part of the state.

Tampa Bay and Gulf water temperatures are hovering around 50 degrees, said Anastasiou. When the water dips below 68, manatees seek warmer waters – usually springs or the power plant discharge canals. The water temperature in the power plant’s Big Bend canal ranges from about 65-75 degrees, Anastasiou said. Even though they’re huge animals, manatees are very cold sensitive……… During last year’s cold snap, some 329 manatees congregated at the Tampa Electric power station. In Broward County on Tuesday, some 50 manatees gathered in the outfall of a Florida Power and Light plant.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Biodiversity, Biology, Climate, Weather, Wildlife | Comments Off on Manatees threatened by cold Florida waters – must be global warming

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »