The Effort to Stop Abuse of Foreign Workers in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

This comment examines the problem of foreign worker abuse in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ( NMI ). The United States and the NMI have a unique relationship governed by an agreement known as the Covenant. The Covenant creates fundamental barriers which will limit the effectiveness of federal efforts to resolve the foreign worker abuse problem in the NMI. This comment demonstrates that a balanced effort of prosecutions by both governments under U.S. federal labor law and NMI criminal law is needed to protect the well being of foreign workers in the NMI

Effects of velocity fluctuations on vertical distributions of phytoplankton

Effects of vertical velocity oscillations (associated with high frequency internal gravity waves) upon the vertical distribution of horizontally averaged phytoplankton concentration are considered. It is suggested that such effects have been systematically misrepresented in previous modeling efforts. Correction terms are derived both for averaged quasi-Lagrangian (isopycnal) models and for averaged Eulerian models. In quasi-Lagrangian models, an apparent modification to growth rate coefficient is obtained. In Eulerian models, velocity fluctuations are shown to induce a net vertical transport which can be described by a “virtual velocity” and which is seen as a correction to eddy diffusivity parameterizations. Difficulties such as negative or singular diffusivities are circumvented. Convergence of virtual velocity can provide an effective mechanism for formation of a phytoplankton maximum near or below the mean compensation depth. It is hoped that inclusion of effects here derived may extend the realism and utility of averaged plankton models

Dissipation and diffusion by internal wave breaking

Recent direct observations of the rate of kinetic energy dissipation, ε, tend to vary systematically with buoyancy frequency, N. This note presents arguments leading to an expected relationship between these two parameters. We first suggest that the classical separation of velocity field into “turbulent” and “mean” (including internal waves) is inappropriate for a stratified system such as the ocean, in which nonlinear forces and buoyant restoring forces act over a wide range of space-time scales. Reconsidering the steady-state kinetic energy equation without this separation, we obtain ε ∝ N1.0 or ε ∝ N1.5, where the ambiguity in exponent is associated with uncertainty with regard to the appropriate form for the vertical velocity variance of the internal wave field. With similar assumptions in the steady-state equation for available potential energy (APE) it is shown that the rate of dissipation of APE, γ, also varies as γ ∝ N1.0 or γ ∝ N1.5, where ambiguity in exponent again derives from internal wave vertical velocity variance. If, in addition, the flux Richardson number is independent of N, the vertical eddy diffusivity for mass Kp associated with internal wave mixing varies as Kp ∝ N–1.0 or Kp ∝ N–0.5

Dynamics of circulation of the Japan Sea

Including mean flow forcing due to eddy-topography interaction in a numerical model of the Japan Sea appears to improve defects identified in previous modelling studies. Characteristic western boundary current overshoot (by the East Korea Warm Current) is reduced or eliminated while a southward undercurrent brings colder, fresher water along the Korean coast. Cyclonic circulation in the north includes a strengthened Liman Current. A more nearly continuous Nearshore Branch follows the Honshu shelf break with northward-flowing undercurrent. Interannual variability persists under fixed (seasonally repeating or annual mean) external forcing

Has Arctic Sea Ice Rapidly Thinned?

Reports based on submarine sonar data have suggested Arctic sea ice has thinned nearly by half in recent decades. Such rapid thinning is a concern for detection of global change and for Arctic regional impacts. Including atmospheric timeseries, ocean currents and rivers runoff into an ocean-ice-snow model shows the inferred rapid thinning was unlikely. The problem stems from undersampling. Varying winds which readily redistribute Arctic ice create a recurring pattern whereby ice shifts between the central Arctic and peripheral regions, especially in the Canadian sector. Timing and tracks of the submarine surveys missed this dominant mode of variability. Although model-derived overall thinning from the 1960s to 1990s was less than hitherto supposed, there is also indication of accelerated thinning during the early-mid-1990s. 1

Exploring the role of ICT-enabled social innovation for the active inclusion of young people

This Report presents the final results of the study ‘ICT-enabled social innovation services for active inclusion of young people’ (IESI-Youth) which has been commissioned by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS) and implemented by Arcola Research in 2014. The overall objective of the study was to review the state of the art in the domain of active inclusion services for young people, with a specific focus on how ICTs can support active inclusion of disadvantaged youth to strengthen their skills and capacities and support them to participate fully in employment and social life. The study was conducted as preparatory activity contributing to the development of the broader research project on 'ICT enabled Social Innovation in support of the Implementation of the Social Investment Package (IESI) being implemented by JRC-IPTS in collaboration with DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL).JRC.J.3-Information Societ

Social interaction and gamification with youth at risk of social exclusion: The technological approach of the Keystone project

This paper presents the Keystone project, which proposes a multidisciplinary approach to improve the opportunities of young people at risk of social exclusion. The focus of the paper is the technological approach built from the results of research using lifeworld analysis to identify the barriers and drivers to youth participation. This technological approach combines on the one hand, the KEY Tool, a simplified goal-oriented social network to share and interact with local and international peers; on the other hand, the KEY game, a false instant-messaging application based on a voodoo story, where the user has a key role. Several pilot groups worked under the programme implemented in the Keystone project, including working with those digital tools. Results show important benefits for participating young people in areas such as respect, digital literacy and multi-cultural abilities, and highlight several opportunities to take further advantage of these tools

Crack-heroin speedball injection and its implications for vein care: Qualitative study

Background We report on an exploratory qualitative study investigating drug injectors’ narratives of vein damage and groin (femoral vein) injection associated with the injection of crack-heroin speedball. Methods We undertook 44 in-depth qualitative interviews among injectors of crack-heroin speedball in Bristol and London, England, in 2006. Findings Data suggests an emerging culture of crack-based speedball injection. Injectors’ narratives link speedball injection with shifts towards groin injection articulated as an acceptable risk and not merely as a last resort in the face of increased vein deterioration associated with speedball. Accounts of vein damage linked to speedball emphasise ‘missed hits’ related to the local anaesthetic action of crack, the excess use of citric in the preparation of speedball injections, and ‘flushing’ when making a hit. We find that groin injection persists despite an awareness of health risks and medical complications. Conclusions We emphasise an urgent need for reviewing harm reduction in relation to vein care in the context of shifts to crack-based speedball injection, and the use of the femoral vein, among UK injectors. There is an additional need for interventions to promote safer groin and speedball injecting as well as to prevent transitions toward groin and crack injection

Injecting drug use and unstable housing: Scope for structural interventions in harm reduction

Evidence links unstable housing, and especially homelessness, with elevated health harm among drug users, including riskier drug injecting practices. We undertook 45 in-depth qualitative interviews with injecting drug users (IDUs) in Bristol and London in 2006. IDUs were recruited through drug user networks and drug agencies. Temporary accommodation and hostels for the homeless may provide a ‘safe haven’ from street-based drug use and public injecting environments, and are characterised as a retreat from the ‘chaos’ of the street. But hostels may also constitute ‘risk environments’ in facilitating drug using and risk networks, transitions to new patterns of use, including increased frequency of injecting. For some, homelessness was positioned as ‘safer’ than temporary housing with regards to managing drug use. Stable housing emerges as a key structural factor in creating enabling environments for health. We emphasise that temporary accommodation hostels have potential for harm-reduction interventions, but may also be associated with the production of risk related to drug use and injecting

Provenance in Data Interoperability for Multi-Sensor Intercomparison

As our inventory of Earth science data sets grows, the ability to compare, merge and fuse multiple datasets grows in importance. This requires a deeper data interoperability than we have now. Efforts such as Open Geospatial Consortium and OPeNDAP (Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol) have broken down format barriers to interoperability; the next challenge is the semantic aspects of the data. Consider the issues when satellite data are merged, cross-calibrated, validated, inter-compared and fused. We must match up data sets that are related, yet different in significant ways: the phenomenon being measured, measurement technique, location in space-time or quality of the measurements. If subtle distinctions between similar measurements are not clear to the user, results can be meaningless or lead to an incorrect interpretation of the data. Most of these distinctions trace to how the data came to be: sensors, processing and quality assessment. For example, monthly averages of satellite-based aerosol measurements often show significant discrepancies, which might be due to differences in spatio- temporal aggregation, sampling issues, sensor biases, algorithm differences or calibration issues. Provenance information must be captured in a semantic framework that allows data inter-use tools to incorporate it and aid in the intervention of comparison or merged products. Semantic web technology allows us to encode our knowledge of measurement characteristics, phenomena measured, space-time representation, and data quality attributes in a well-structured, machine-readable ontology and rulesets. An analysis tool can use this knowledge to show users the provenance-related distrintions between two variables, advising on options for further data processing and analysis. An additional problem for workflows distributed across heterogeneous systems is retrieval and transport of provenance. Provenance may be either embedded within the data payload, or transmitted from server to client in an out-of-band mechanism. The out of band mechanism is more flexible in the richness of provenance information that can be accomodated, but it relies on a persistent framework and can be difficult for legacy clients to use. We are prototyping the embedded model, incorporating provenance within metadata objects in the data payload. Thus, it always remains with the data. The downside is a limit to the size of provenance metadata that we can include, an issue that will eventually need resolution to encompass the richness of provenance information required for daata intercomparison and merging