The Lighthouse Project, produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in cooperation with Compaq, Microsoft, and ESRI, recently won an award in the 2001 Best Practices in Data Warehousing Competition. The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) of Seattle provides education and training to the data warehousing and business intelligence industry. The competition brings examples of innovative best practices to thousands of information technology professionals. TDWI announced the winners May 21, 2001. With an eye toward rapid and efficient access to natural resource data for its customers, the NRCS launched the Lighthouse Project in 2000. "USDA's goal is to provide one-stop shopping for natural resource data 'to anyone, at any time, from anywhere,'" said Wendall Oaks, project manager at the USDA-NRCS Information Technology Center in Fort Collins, Colorado.
SiRF Technology Inc. of San Jose, Calif., a leading developer of global positioning system-enabled location technology, and Conexant Systems, Inc., a worldwide leader in semiconductor system solutions for communications applications, has announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which SiRF will obtain assets relating to the global positioning system (GPS) business of Conexant. Under the terms of the agreement, Conexant's GPS assets, including intellectual property, will be contributed to SiRF in exchange for stock in SiRF, currently a privately held company. As a part of the agreement, Conexant will receive certain license rights to SiRF's GPS technology, and will retain rights to Conexant-developed GPS technology for use in mobile communications applications. This business combination bolsters the core technology-development team at SiRF and provides SiRF with complementary products, technologies, intellectual property and a customer base to significantly enhance its position in the rapidly growing GPS consumer and automotive market segments.
PictureIQ Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Company have announced that they will collaborate to develop consumer devices that focus on extending digital imaging products and technology into the living room. HP has licensed PictureIQ™ PhotoBoard™, an integrated hardware and software solution powered by PictureIQ technology. PhotoBoard is a platform that enables the rapid and cost-effective creation of devices that let consumers enjoy digital photo sharing, organizing, and viewing activities without requiring a PC. "HP is committed to developing high-quality digital imaging solutions that are simple to use," said Mary Peery, vice president and general manager, HP Digital Imaging Organization. "Through our relationships with companies like PictureIQ, we continue to explore new ways of transforming information into image-rich communication for every aspect of consumers' lives."
Portal Software, Inc., a leading provider of business infrastructure software for next-generation communications services, has announced that ATX Technologies, Inc., an independent telematics service provider to the automotive market, is deploying Portal's Infranet(R) customer management and billing platform to support its line of location-based mobile services. Infranet, the foundation of the Infranet Wireless product-line for convergent mobile service providers, will support ATX's telematics services such as automatic collision notification, location-based emergency response, and GPS-based navigation. Infranet also has the capability to manage future ATX services such as digital entertainment, mobile commerce, and telephony.
On 16th May, the second Apic UK User Group meeting was held at our office in Bishop's Stortford. The event provided a forum for APIC users and developers to exchange ideas and experiences. Issam Tannous, the new Operations Director of Apic, opened the meeting with a welcoming speech. Tom Timms, Director of Apic UK, described the role of Apic within the new Geomatics Division of EADS and the increased range of products and services available from Apic. A popular feature of this year's meeting was a series of workshops, which gave visitors the opportunity to see and discuss several innovative applications of APIC and learn about new APIC products: APIC4: version 1.5.2, APIC\Web, Ordnance Survey Positional Accuracy, Lyonnaise des Eaux (Gibraltar), VideoRoute (SDS).
Satellite Technology Modernizes Weather Reports
Weather satellites manufactured, launched and operated by China, along with related products widely used in weather forecasting and research, are playing an increasing role in modernizing China's weather report.
"China has become one of the world's countries capable of manufacturing, launching and operating both polar orbiting meteorological satellites which circle the earth and geostationary meteorological satellites which stay in a fixed place above the equator," Qin Dahe, director-general of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), announced Friday in Beijing.
China has, since 1988, launched five weather satellites, known as the Fengyun I-II series, three of which are polar orbiting and two geostationary, which have brought meteorological work in China up to world levels, Qin said at a ceremony marking the 30 anniversary of the National Satellite Centre under the CMA.
Over the past three decades, China has laid a solid foundation in satellite-based meteorology research and the development of weather satellites themselves.
Such achievements have made a significant contribution to the nation's economy, the improvement of national defence systems and to a variety of public weather services, Qin said.
In the foreseeable future, Qin pledged, the country will use satellites to improve the accuracy of meteorological observation and the collection of data on global climate changes to improve the monitoring of weather-related disasters, especially typhoons and torrential rains that usually trigger floods.
To date, the satellites have helped China to extend its weather observations beyond traditional and conventional limits to include monitoring of the atmosphere and the surface of the earth including the oceans.
Information collected, processed and transmitted by the satellites and many related products developed for satellite use are useful in weather forecasting, oceanic research, agriculture, forestry, water conservation, aviation, navigation and environmental protection, experts say.
Data sent back by meteorological satellites show not only the moving cloud images people see on TV weather reports but also tell meteorologists about regional vegetation changes, the evolution and progress of dust storms, heavy fogs, forest and grass fires, blizzards, urban hot island effects and the growth of some crops.
Weather satellites show weather patterns which cannot be seen from the ground. Satellite are equipped with light and transmitters, and other recording instruments.
Darwinian approach introduces new viewpoint to medical science
Jun Sugimori Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Scientists have recently been working on the link between human beings and diseases in line with the theory of evolution proposed by British scientist Charles Darwin (1809-82). They expect to eventually obtain further knowledge on diseases by applying Darwin's theory to medical science.
This new field of medicine is called Darwinian medicine. Prof. Randolph Nesse of the University of Michigan, a leading researcher in the field, said in a lecture at Tokyo University last October that while medical science has tried to address the question of how humans are affected by diseases, Darwinian medicine attempts to answer the fundamental question of why humans are affected by diseases in the first place.
The human body is a surprisingly sophisticated mechanism that is the result of natural selection--a process in which only variants that are adapted to survive in their environment are selected.
Nevertheless, the human body still possesses some characteristics that seem to be disadvantageous for survival.
One example is the mechanism of fever, which can be fatal, especially for babies and the elderly. One might wonder why such a mechanism has not been abandoned during the process of evolution.
Nesse explained that fever is also problematic for pathogens that enter the human body. When the body's temperature increases, the efficiency of the immune system improves, increasing the body's ability to attack such pathogens.
Nesse said the characteristics of the human body can be analyzed in terms of advantages and disadvantages. The mechanism of fever has been preserved because ultimately, its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. He said that fevers represent a compromise between advantages and disadvantages.
Morning sickness, one of the symptoms of pregnancy, can be explained in a similar way. Morning sickness occurs as embryos face an important period of forming various organs. At the same time, those embryos are vulnerable to poisonous matter. Thus, it is possible that morning sickness prevents pregnant women from eating strong tasting food that might have a detrimental impact on embryos.
Scientists have also found that genes can become disadvantageous despite initially being beneficial for human survival. They recently discovered that the "frugal gene" is one such gene.
History shows us that humankind has spent most of its time fighting hunger. The frugal gene enables the body to store energy in the form of fat taken from food. This gene is quite helpful when food is scarce.
However, there has been a dramatic change in human diets, especially for those living in rich countries. The gene, which previously had helped to fight hunger, has recently caused a sharp increase in obesity and diabetes in such countries.
Darwinian medicine can be applied to various fields. "Condoms are not only effective in preventing the spread of AIDS, they also help to reduce its potency," Prof. Sakae Inoue of Otsuma Women's University said.
HIV is known for its rapid speed of multiplication and the occurrence of variations in its genes. Some drugs that have been developed to fight AIDS are starting to become ineffective due to the natural selection of virus strains that show resistance to the drugs.
In an environment where AIDS can be spread easily, strains of the virus that have a fast speed of multiplication and a high level of toxicity are advantageous for the survival and reproduction of the virus.
On the other hand, in an environment where AIDS cannot be easily spread due to the regular use of condoms, highly potent viruses with a high rate of multiplication are disadvantageous because they are likely to kill off infected persons before the virus can be transmitted to others.
Under such conditions, viruses that are less powerful and can "coexist" with humans are believed to become more advantageous. This probably leads to a lowering in the potency of the virus.
"Humans cannot alter their genes by themselves, but they can alter the genes of pathogens by their actions," Inoue said.
Darwinian medicine also is expected to be applicable to mental diseases.
Why do people suffer depression? It seems disadvantageous for humans to feel physically and mentally subdued to the extent that even their reproductive ability is compromised as a result of depression. Nevertheless, depression has been passed on to successive generations. Some scientists believe depression may have played a role in helping to isolate the mind from outside stimuli.
Scientists hope to find a new treatment for depression by examining its "usefulness."
In the United States, the number of researchers of Darwinian medicine is on the rise following the release of Prof. Nesse's paper on the topic. In Japan, a whole slew of books on the subject have been published, attracting attention to the field.
"The idea of Darwinian medicine is indispensable for the further understanding of diseases and as such, it should be taught at medical colleges and faculties, former Kyoto University President Hiroo Imura said. "There has been progress in the analysis of the human genome that has helped shed light on the 3.8 billion-year history of evolution. The combination of Darwinian medicine with a greater understanding of the human genome is expected to improve the prevention and treatment of disease."
Japan Energy To Study Gas Deposit Off Northern Japan
TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Japan Energy Corp. (J.NPM or 5014) said Monday it will begin a study on an underwater natural gas deposit off the coast of Aomori and Iwate prefectures in northern Japan from mid-July.
During the planned 50-day study through late August, the company will collect data necessary for exploration and development of natural gas at the site covering an area of 6,000 square kilometers.
The area is located 30 to 100 kilometers off the Japanese coast in the Pacific Ocean and is 600 to 1,100 meters below sea level.
State-run Japan National Oil Corp. discovered natural gas flow in the area in 1999.
The study will be conducted jointly with three other companies that hold some stakes in a part of that area - Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (J.JPE), Nippon Oil Exploration Ltd. and Idemitsu Oil & Gas Co.
Nippon Oil Exploration is a wholly-owned unit of Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp. (J.NPO or 5001), while Idemitsu Oil & Gas is a 100%-controlled unit of Idemitsu Kosan Co. (J.IKC).
Monday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Japan Energy shares finished down Y12, or 4.5%, at Y252 before the announcement of the study. The Nikkei stock average ended 1.7% lower.
-By Maki Aoto, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2929; Email:
maki.aoto@dowjones.co
The Lighthouse Project, produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in cooperation with Compaq, Microsoft, and ESRI, recently won an award in the 2001 Best Practices in Data Warehousing Competition. The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) of Seattle provides education and training to the data warehousing and business intelligence industry. The competition brings examples of innovative best practices to thousands of information technology professionals. TDWI announced the winners May 21, 2001. With an eye toward rapid and efficient access to natural resource data for its customers, the NRCS launched the Lighthouse Project in 2000. "USDA's goal is to provide one-stop shopping for natural resource data 'to anyone, at any time, from anywhere,'" said Wendall Oaks, project manager at the USDA-NRCS Information Technology Center in Fort Collins, Colorado.
SiRF Technology Inc. of San Jose, Calif., a leading developer of global positioning system-enabled location technology, and Conexant Systems, Inc., a worldwide leader in semiconductor system solutions for communications applications, has announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which SiRF will obtain assets relating to the global positioning system (GPS) business of Conexant. Under the terms of the agreement, Conexant's GPS assets, including intellectual property, will be contributed to SiRF in exchange for stock in SiRF, currently a privately held company. As a part of the agreement, Conexant will receive certain license rights to SiRF's GPS technology, and will retain rights to Conexant-developed GPS technology for use in mobile communications applications. This business combination bolsters the core technology-development team at SiRF and provides SiRF with complementary products, technologies, intellectual property and a customer base to significantly enhance its position in the rapidly growing GPS consumer and automotive market segments.
PictureIQ Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Company have announced that they will collaborate to develop consumer devices that focus on extending digital imaging products and technology into the living room. HP has licensed PictureIQ™ PhotoBoard™, an integrated hardware and software solution powered by PictureIQ technology. PhotoBoard is a platform that enables the rapid and cost-effective creation of devices that let consumers enjoy digital photo sharing, organizing, and viewing activities without requiring a PC. "HP is committed to developing high-quality digital imaging solutions that are simple to use," said Mary Peery, vice president and general manager, HP Digital Imaging Organization. "Through our relationships with companies like PictureIQ, we continue to explore new ways of transforming information into image-rich communication for every aspect of consumers' lives."
Portal Software, Inc., a leading provider of business infrastructure software for next-generation communications services, has announced that ATX Technologies, Inc., an independent telematics service provider to the automotive market, is deploying Portal's Infranet(R) customer management and billing platform to support its line of location-based mobile services. Infranet, the foundation of the Infranet Wireless product-line for convergent mobile service providers, will support ATX's telematics services such as automatic collision notification, location-based emergency response, and GPS-based navigation. Infranet also has the capability to manage future ATX services such as digital entertainment, mobile commerce, and telephony.
On 16th May, the second Apic UK User Group meeting was held at our office in Bishop's Stortford. The event provided a forum for APIC users and developers to exchange ideas and experiences. Issam Tannous, the new Operations Director of Apic, opened the meeting with a welcoming speech. Tom Timms, Director of Apic UK, described the role of Apic within the new Geomatics Division of EADS and the increased range of products and services available from Apic. A popular feature of this year's meeting was a series of workshops, which gave visitors the opportunity to see and discuss several innovative applications of APIC and learn about new APIC products: APIC4: version 1.5.2, APIC\Web, Ordnance Survey Positional Accuracy, Lyonnaise des Eaux (Gibraltar), VideoRoute (SDS).
