Global telecommunication standards -- who needs them?

The spread of global telecommunications throughout the world is having a profound impact on international trade and politics. International events are unfolding in many communications forms, no longer only television and radio broadcasting. Electronic mail systems, facsimile, satellite news-gathering directly to the home and data services are playing major roles in the global witnessing of international events. If global standards were in place, even more sophisticated systems such as B-ISDN and HDTV would also be available to the public; but can we wait for internationally agreed solutions to the development of these standards or is the competitive development of new de facto standards the answer to the spread of new telecommunications technology? This Comment explores both sides of the issue in the light of radical restructuring proposals in the ITU and ISO.

Great Waters Research Collaborative: Great Lakes Ship Ballast Monitoring Project

This Technical Report, developed by the Great Waters Research Collaborative (GWRC), presents methods and findings from the Great Lakes Ship Ballast Monitoring Project (Project), a two-year effort supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA’s) Great Lakes Restoration Initiative via the Maritime Administration. The Lake Carriers’ Association requested that the GWRC team conduct this project to help it meet a requirement to execute a study evaluating risk associated with laker ballast water discharge in USEPA Vessel General Permit (VGP) 2013 Part 6.15.5.b., in response to Minnesota's 401 certification of VGP2013. The overarching goal of the Project was to characterize aquatic organism densities and community composition in Great Lakes ships’ ballast water (uptake and discharge) and analyze target species presence/absence in selected source water and receiving ports.Project funded by the United States Maritime Administration and United States Environmental Protection Agency through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative