Air pollution is a complex mixture of compounds in gaseous (ozone, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide) and particulate phases. In the modern urban world, fossil fuel combustion (as used in automobiles and industry) is the major source of anthropogenic pollution.
It has become so omnipresent over the past century as to be commonly perceived as a normal natural entity—"the lazy, hazy days of summer."
While we have learned to live within this haze without a second thought, air pollution is neither natural nor benign.
Although several gaseous compounds have been associated with illnesses, the most compelling evidence implicates the particulate matter (PM) pollutants as major perpetrators of human diseases.
Particulate matter itself is a heterogeneous amalgam of solids and liquids varying in chemical constituents (organic and elemental carbon, nitrates, sulfates, and metals), sources, and sizes (ranging from a few nanometers to 10 µm in aerodynamic diameter).
Particulate air pollution has been linked to heart disease and stroke, possibly resulting from enhanced coagulation and arterial thrombosis....... Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution and Risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis...Andrea Baccarelli
mardi 13 mai 2008
the interactome
Estimating the size of the human interactome
Michael P. H. Stumpf ( Imperial College London, Wolfson Building, London )....
After the completion of the human and other genome projects it emerged that the number of genes in organisms as diverse as fruit flies, nematodes, and humans does not reflect our perception of their relative complexity.
Here, we provide reliable evidence that the size of protein interaction networks in different organisms appears to correlate much better with their apparent biological complexity.
We develop a stable and powerful, yet simple, statistical procedure to estimate the size of the whole network from subnet data.
This approach is then applied to a range of eukaryotic organisms for which extensive protein interaction data have been collected and we estimate the number of interactions in humans to be 650,000.
We find that the human interaction network is one order of magnitude bigger than the Drosophila melanogaster interactome and 3 times bigger than in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Michael P. H. Stumpf ( Imperial College London, Wolfson Building, London )....
After the completion of the human and other genome projects it emerged that the number of genes in organisms as diverse as fruit flies, nematodes, and humans does not reflect our perception of their relative complexity.
Here, we provide reliable evidence that the size of protein interaction networks in different organisms appears to correlate much better with their apparent biological complexity.
We develop a stable and powerful, yet simple, statistical procedure to estimate the size of the whole network from subnet data.
This approach is then applied to a range of eukaryotic organisms for which extensive protein interaction data have been collected and we estimate the number of interactions in humans to be 650,000.
We find that the human interaction network is one order of magnitude bigger than the Drosophila melanogaster interactome and 3 times bigger than in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Race as biology is fiction, racism as a social problem is real: Anthropological and historical perspectives on the social construction of race.
Race as biology is fiction, racism as a social problem is real: Anthropological and historical perspectives on the social construction of race.
Am Psychol. 2005 Jan;60(1):16-26.
Smedley A, Smedley BD.
Anthropology, School of World Studies, and African American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA. asmedley@mail1.vcu.edu
Racialized science seeks to explain human population differences in health, intelligence, education, and wealth as the consequence of immutable, biologically based differences between "racial" groups. Recent advances in the sequencing of the human genome and in an understanding of biological correlates of behavior have fueled racialized science, despite evidence that racial groups are not genetically discrete, reliably measured, or scientifically meaningful. Yet even these counterarguments often fail to take into account the origin and history of the idea of race. This article reviews the origins of the concept of race, placing the contemporary discussion of racial differences in an anthropological and historical context. (c) 2005 APA
Am Psychol. 2005 Jan;60(1):16-26.
Smedley A, Smedley BD.
Anthropology, School of World Studies, and African American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA. asmedley@mail1.vcu.edu
Racialized science seeks to explain human population differences in health, intelligence, education, and wealth as the consequence of immutable, biologically based differences between "racial" groups. Recent advances in the sequencing of the human genome and in an understanding of biological correlates of behavior have fueled racialized science, despite evidence that racial groups are not genetically discrete, reliably measured, or scientifically meaningful. Yet even these counterarguments often fail to take into account the origin and history of the idea of race. This article reviews the origins of the concept of race, placing the contemporary discussion of racial differences in an anthropological and historical context. (c) 2005 APA
lundi 12 mai 2008
A human rights crime, Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States of America
A human rights crime
The world must stop standing idle while the people of Gaza are treated with such cruelty
* Jimmy Carter
* The Guardian,
* Thursday May 8 2008
* Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/08/israelandthepalestinians
This article appeared in the Guardian on Thursday May 08 2008 on p28 of the Comment & debate section. It was last updated at 00:13 on May 08 2008.
The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world. An entire population is being brutally punished.
This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was escalated dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after political candidates representing Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006. The election was unanimously judged to be honest and fair by all international observers.
Israel and the US refused to accept the right of Palestinians to form a unity government with Hamas and Fatah and now, after internal strife, Hamas alone controls Gaza. Forty-one of the 43 victorious Hamas candidates who lived in the West Bank have been imprisoned by Israel, plus an additional 10 who assumed positions in the short-lived coalition cabinet.
Regardless of one's choice in the partisan struggle between Fatah and Hamas within occupied Palestine, we must remember that economic sanctions and restrictions on the supply of water, food, electricity and fuel are causing extreme hardship among the innocent people in Gaza, about one million of whom are refugees.
Israeli bombs and missiles periodically strike the area, causing high casualties among both militants and innocent women and children. Prior to the highly publicised killing of a woman and her four children last week, this pattern had been illustrated by a report from B'Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organisation, which stated that 106 Palestinians were killed between February 27 and March 3. Fifty-four of them were civilians, and 25 were under 18 years of age.
On a recent trip through the Middle East, I attempted to gain a better understanding of the crisis. One of my visits was to Sderot, a community of about 20,000 in southern Israel that is frequently struck by rockets fired from nearby Gaza. I condemned these attacks as abominable acts of terrorism, since most of the 13 victims during the past seven years have been non-combatants.
Subsequently, I met with leaders of Hamas - a delegation from Gaza and the top officials in Damascus. I made the same condemnation to them, and urged that they declare a unilateral ceasefire or orchestrate with Israel a mutual agreement to terminate all military action in and around Gaza for an extended period.
They responded that such action by them in the past had not been reciprocated, and they reminded me that Hamas had previously insisted on a ceasefire throughout Palestine, including Gaza and the West Bank, which Israel had refused. Hamas then made a public proposal of a mutual ceasefire restricted to Gaza, which the Israelis also rejected.
There are fervent arguments heard on both sides concerning blame for a lack of peace in the Holy Land. Israel has occupied and colonised the Palestinian West Bank, which is approximately a quarter the size of the nation of Israel as recognised by the international community. Some Israeli religious factions claim a right to the land on both sides of the Jordan river, others that their 205 settlements of some 500,000 people are necessary for "security".
All Arab nations have agreed to recognise Israel fully if it will comply with key United Nations resolutions. Hamas has agreed to accept any negotiated peace settlement between the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, provided it is approved in a referendum of the Palestinian people.
This holds promise of progress, but despite the brief fanfare and positive statements at the peace conference last November in Annapolis, the process has gone backwards. Nine thousand new Israeli housing units have been announced in Palestine; the number of roadblocks within the West Bank has increased; and the stranglehold on Gaza has been tightened.
It is one thing for other leaders to defer to the US in the crucial peace negotiations, but the world must not stand idle while innocent people are treated cruelly. It is time for strong voices in Europe, the US, Israel and elsewhere to speak out and condemn the human rights tragedy that has befallen the Palestinian people.
· Jimmy Carter, a former president of the United States, is founder of The Carter Center project-syndicate.org
The world must stop standing idle while the people of Gaza are treated with such cruelty
* Jimmy Carter
* The Guardian,
* Thursday May 8 2008
* Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/08/israelandthepalestinians
This article appeared in the Guardian on Thursday May 08 2008 on p28 of the Comment & debate section. It was last updated at 00:13 on May 08 2008.
The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world. An entire population is being brutally punished.
This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was escalated dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after political candidates representing Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006. The election was unanimously judged to be honest and fair by all international observers.
Israel and the US refused to accept the right of Palestinians to form a unity government with Hamas and Fatah and now, after internal strife, Hamas alone controls Gaza. Forty-one of the 43 victorious Hamas candidates who lived in the West Bank have been imprisoned by Israel, plus an additional 10 who assumed positions in the short-lived coalition cabinet.
Regardless of one's choice in the partisan struggle between Fatah and Hamas within occupied Palestine, we must remember that economic sanctions and restrictions on the supply of water, food, electricity and fuel are causing extreme hardship among the innocent people in Gaza, about one million of whom are refugees.
Israeli bombs and missiles periodically strike the area, causing high casualties among both militants and innocent women and children. Prior to the highly publicised killing of a woman and her four children last week, this pattern had been illustrated by a report from B'Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organisation, which stated that 106 Palestinians were killed between February 27 and March 3. Fifty-four of them were civilians, and 25 were under 18 years of age.
On a recent trip through the Middle East, I attempted to gain a better understanding of the crisis. One of my visits was to Sderot, a community of about 20,000 in southern Israel that is frequently struck by rockets fired from nearby Gaza. I condemned these attacks as abominable acts of terrorism, since most of the 13 victims during the past seven years have been non-combatants.
Subsequently, I met with leaders of Hamas - a delegation from Gaza and the top officials in Damascus. I made the same condemnation to them, and urged that they declare a unilateral ceasefire or orchestrate with Israel a mutual agreement to terminate all military action in and around Gaza for an extended period.
They responded that such action by them in the past had not been reciprocated, and they reminded me that Hamas had previously insisted on a ceasefire throughout Palestine, including Gaza and the West Bank, which Israel had refused. Hamas then made a public proposal of a mutual ceasefire restricted to Gaza, which the Israelis also rejected.
There are fervent arguments heard on both sides concerning blame for a lack of peace in the Holy Land. Israel has occupied and colonised the Palestinian West Bank, which is approximately a quarter the size of the nation of Israel as recognised by the international community. Some Israeli religious factions claim a right to the land on both sides of the Jordan river, others that their 205 settlements of some 500,000 people are necessary for "security".
All Arab nations have agreed to recognise Israel fully if it will comply with key United Nations resolutions. Hamas has agreed to accept any negotiated peace settlement between the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, provided it is approved in a referendum of the Palestinian people.
This holds promise of progress, but despite the brief fanfare and positive statements at the peace conference last November in Annapolis, the process has gone backwards. Nine thousand new Israeli housing units have been announced in Palestine; the number of roadblocks within the West Bank has increased; and the stranglehold on Gaza has been tightened.
It is one thing for other leaders to defer to the US in the crucial peace negotiations, but the world must not stand idle while innocent people are treated cruelly. It is time for strong voices in Europe, the US, Israel and elsewhere to speak out and condemn the human rights tragedy that has befallen the Palestinian people.
· Jimmy Carter, a former president of the United States, is founder of The Carter Center project-syndicate.org
.... the air we share ... l'air qu'on partage .... air, water, wildlife, nature... peace and freedom... hope .... sharing our concerns with PACE
".... Les étoiles qui fuient font la mesure
Des espèces qui disparaissent ......."
Marc Lavoine et Quiynh Anh.
sharing our concerns about tomorrow,
let's send a message of hope
from all the citizens of Europe
to the rest of the world,
education, freedom, ethics, democracy, justice, solidarity.... air, water and wildlife's protection....
caring about the future of our children, of all children....
speak up now, send your message,
with
PACE, A NEW EUROPEAN MOVEMENT,
YOUR MOVEMENT !
dimanche 11 mai 2008
Dip in brainpower may follow drop in real power ... ABSENCE D'AUTONOMIE ET DE "POUVOIR" SOCIAL = INVOLUTION COGNITIVE ET INTELLECTUELLE
Dip in brainpower may follow drop in real power
Modern, open and democratic societies are supposed to reward brains and hard work with success, at least somewhat fairly.
But what if failure degrades brainpower, creating a vicious loop in which success slips inexorably further away for an unlucky group that started out worse off?
Powerless people often achieve less because lack of power itself erodes cognitive functioning, researchers say.
A group of researchers claims this may be exactly what happens, so rosy views on the benefits of advanced societies must be reappraised as simplistic.
“Powerless people often achieve less because lacking power itself fundamentally alters cognitive functioning,” wrote the scientists in a paper describing their research findings.
The results highlight the importance of “empowering” employees to stimulate better work, especially in industries where errors can be fatal, they added. The findings, by Pamela Smith of Radboud University in The Netherlands and three colleagues, appear in the May issue of the journal Psychological Science.
The researchers conducted three experiments with between 77 and 102 Dutch university students. They were put in different scenarios designed to make them feel either dominant or subordinate. This message of “rank” was conveyed either through subtle cues or direct statements, such as telling participants that they would be paired with a partner who would direct and evaluate their work.
The participants were then subjected to puzzles or other thinking tests. The “powerless” players consistently displayed impairments in key thinking processes such as planning, updating a mental picture and inhibiting irrelevant information, they wrote.
The researchers argued that this dip in overall “executive function” among low-status people results from a loss of focus on overall goals. Consistent with this, they added, these players performed as well as others in a fourth experiment using a thinking game designed so that it would remain easy to focus on the task goal. The original performance deficits seemed not to result from a general loss of motivation—“low status” players reported putting in as much effort as others, the researchers said.
Ultimately, they argued, low status may drain performance by forcing people to devote part of their thoughts to the uncertainties and threats that can arise from their superiors’ changing whims. A result is that the powerless narrow their focus to small-picture goals and to “details” that might not be relevant to the task.
The findings “have direct implications for management and organizations,” Smith and colleagues wrote. In many industries such as health care and nuclear power, “errors can be costly, tipping the balance from life to death. Increasing employees’ sense of power could lead to improved executive functioning, decreasing the likelihood of catastrophic errors,” they continued.
“Such empowerment might be particularly vital in jobs where it is difficult to maintain goal focus because critical situations are infrequent,” such as airport security and product-defect detection.
In a larger sense, the findings suggest that differences in inherent ability, motivation, or discrimination aren’t the only factors separating the “haves and the have-nots,” Smith and colleagues wrote. “The cognitive impairments of being powerless may also be an important contributor, leading the powerless towards a destiny of dispossession.”
Pamela K. Smith, Nils B. Jostmann, Adam D. Galinsky, Wilco W. van Dijk (2008) Lacking Power Impairs Executive Functions
Psychological Science 19 (5) , 441–447 doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02107.x
Address correspondence to Pamela K. Smith, Department of Social Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands, e-mail: p.smith@psych.ru.nl.
Abstract
ABSTRACT—Four experiments explored whether lacking power impairs executive functioning, testing the hypothesis that the cognitive presses of powerlessness increase vulnerability to performance decrements during complex executive tasks. In the first three experiments, low power impaired performance on executive-function tasks: The powerless were less effective than the powerful at updating (Experiment 1), inhibiting (Experiment 2), and planning (Experiment 3). Existing research suggests that the powerless have difficulty distinguishing between what is goal relevant and what is goal irrelevant in the environment. A fourth experiment established that the executive-function impairment associated with low power is driven by goal neglect. The current research implies that the cognitive alterations arising from powerlessness may help foster stable social hierarchies and that empowering employees may reduce costly organizational errors.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showMultipleAbstracts
Modern, open and democratic societies are supposed to reward brains and hard work with success, at least somewhat fairly.
But what if failure degrades brainpower, creating a vicious loop in which success slips inexorably further away for an unlucky group that started out worse off?
Powerless people often achieve less because lack of power itself erodes cognitive functioning, researchers say.
A group of researchers claims this may be exactly what happens, so rosy views on the benefits of advanced societies must be reappraised as simplistic.
“Powerless people often achieve less because lacking power itself fundamentally alters cognitive functioning,” wrote the scientists in a paper describing their research findings.
The results highlight the importance of “empowering” employees to stimulate better work, especially in industries where errors can be fatal, they added. The findings, by Pamela Smith of Radboud University in The Netherlands and three colleagues, appear in the May issue of the journal Psychological Science.
The researchers conducted three experiments with between 77 and 102 Dutch university students. They were put in different scenarios designed to make them feel either dominant or subordinate. This message of “rank” was conveyed either through subtle cues or direct statements, such as telling participants that they would be paired with a partner who would direct and evaluate their work.
The participants were then subjected to puzzles or other thinking tests. The “powerless” players consistently displayed impairments in key thinking processes such as planning, updating a mental picture and inhibiting irrelevant information, they wrote.
The researchers argued that this dip in overall “executive function” among low-status people results from a loss of focus on overall goals. Consistent with this, they added, these players performed as well as others in a fourth experiment using a thinking game designed so that it would remain easy to focus on the task goal. The original performance deficits seemed not to result from a general loss of motivation—“low status” players reported putting in as much effort as others, the researchers said.
Ultimately, they argued, low status may drain performance by forcing people to devote part of their thoughts to the uncertainties and threats that can arise from their superiors’ changing whims. A result is that the powerless narrow their focus to small-picture goals and to “details” that might not be relevant to the task.
The findings “have direct implications for management and organizations,” Smith and colleagues wrote. In many industries such as health care and nuclear power, “errors can be costly, tipping the balance from life to death. Increasing employees’ sense of power could lead to improved executive functioning, decreasing the likelihood of catastrophic errors,” they continued.
“Such empowerment might be particularly vital in jobs where it is difficult to maintain goal focus because critical situations are infrequent,” such as airport security and product-defect detection.
In a larger sense, the findings suggest that differences in inherent ability, motivation, or discrimination aren’t the only factors separating the “haves and the have-nots,” Smith and colleagues wrote. “The cognitive impairments of being powerless may also be an important contributor, leading the powerless towards a destiny of dispossession.”
Pamela K. Smith, Nils B. Jostmann, Adam D. Galinsky, Wilco W. van Dijk (2008) Lacking Power Impairs Executive Functions
Psychological Science 19 (5) , 441–447 doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02107.x
Address correspondence to Pamela K. Smith, Department of Social Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands, e-mail: p.smith@psych.ru.nl.
Abstract
ABSTRACT—Four experiments explored whether lacking power impairs executive functioning, testing the hypothesis that the cognitive presses of powerlessness increase vulnerability to performance decrements during complex executive tasks. In the first three experiments, low power impaired performance on executive-function tasks: The powerless were less effective than the powerful at updating (Experiment 1), inhibiting (Experiment 2), and planning (Experiment 3). Existing research suggests that the powerless have difficulty distinguishing between what is goal relevant and what is goal irrelevant in the environment. A fourth experiment established that the executive-function impairment associated with low power is driven by goal neglect. The current research implies that the cognitive alterations arising from powerlessness may help foster stable social hierarchies and that empowering employees may reduce costly organizational errors.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showMultipleAbstracts
"parlons net"... une vision lucide du monde d'aujourd'hui par Emmanuel TODD
1 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5d0kx_parlonsnet-11-e-todd-sarkozy-est-un_news
2 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5d0oo_parlonsnet-11-e-todd-betancourt-la_news
3 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5d0vb_parlonsnet-11-e-todd-les-empires-et_news
La première partie, concernant N. Sarkozy, la France et les français est cruelle mais (car ?) lucide, mais le constat est connu et l'analyse malheureusement déja convenue...
La deuxième partie est plus inattendue... voir surtout à 5.30 mn l'ébauche de réflexion inquiétante sur la responsabilité historique des économistes "libéraux" -au sens de libre marché- dans l'occurence de l'épisode "nazi" en Allemagne et, pour aller plus loin, dans la survenue des deux guerres mondiales....
La 3 éme partie est tout aussi intéressante et "décapante" .... j'en retiens surtout les perspectives pour l'Europe, si elle fait preuve de courage et d'imagination, autour du noyau "dur" Allemagne, France, Italie ..... et la vision stratégique globale avec en perspective un monde multipolaire où les équilibre entre les grandes puissances (les nouvelles, Brésil, URSS, Inde, Chine.... l'ancienne USA ... et la belle au bois dormant Europe) s'établissent .... (voir à partir de la 10 éme minute)
Une vision d'historien "visionnaire" et remarquablement agile intellectuellement.... donc, trés intéressante....
A noter cependant, l'absence de mise en perspective des problèmes de déséquilibre "global", "écologique", du monde, mais il semble que ce ne soit pas une dimension trés facile à intégrer pour les historiens ....
2 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5d0oo_parlonsnet-11-e-todd-betancourt-la_news
3 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5d0vb_parlonsnet-11-e-todd-les-empires-et_news
La première partie, concernant N. Sarkozy, la France et les français est cruelle mais (car ?) lucide, mais le constat est connu et l'analyse malheureusement déja convenue...
La deuxième partie est plus inattendue... voir surtout à 5.30 mn l'ébauche de réflexion inquiétante sur la responsabilité historique des économistes "libéraux" -au sens de libre marché- dans l'occurence de l'épisode "nazi" en Allemagne et, pour aller plus loin, dans la survenue des deux guerres mondiales....
La 3 éme partie est tout aussi intéressante et "décapante" .... j'en retiens surtout les perspectives pour l'Europe, si elle fait preuve de courage et d'imagination, autour du noyau "dur" Allemagne, France, Italie ..... et la vision stratégique globale avec en perspective un monde multipolaire où les équilibre entre les grandes puissances (les nouvelles, Brésil, URSS, Inde, Chine.... l'ancienne USA ... et la belle au bois dormant Europe) s'établissent .... (voir à partir de la 10 éme minute)
Une vision d'historien "visionnaire" et remarquablement agile intellectuellement.... donc, trés intéressante....
A noter cependant, l'absence de mise en perspective des problèmes de déséquilibre "global", "écologique", du monde, mais il semble que ce ne soit pas une dimension trés facile à intégrer pour les historiens ....
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