... in the DO MINORE scale ...

LOW QUALITY CONFERENCES USE THE NAME AND THE LOGO OF IEEE

2011-03-31T00:27:00.001-07:00

from the blog http://low-quality-conferences.blogspot.com/

One more junk conference with "all-papers-accepted" policy uses the name of IEEE.

The Bogus Conferences with the name of IEEE is not a new fashion in our academic community. Every conference organizer (even non qualified) can pay some commission to IEEE (5% or 10% from the registration fees) and automatically receive the rights to use the name and the logo of IEEE.

Unlike other serious organizations, IEEE is a commercial house and the authorities of IEEE should be punished from us.
Yours Sincerely

Weiyi (Max) Zhang

http://www.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~wzhang/

SOURCE: http://low-quality-conferences.blogspot.com/

Similar Blogs:http://netdriver.blogspot.com/,

http://low-quality-conference.blogspot.com/

or Google: IEEE Fake Conferences

SCANDAL: The mafioze president of Olympiakos, Mr. MARINAKIS tried to gave MONEY to the REFEREE of the EUROPEAN GAME: MACABI-OLYMPIACOS

2011-03-02T02:04:00.001-08:00

SCANDAL: The mafioze president of Olympiakos, Mr. MARINAKIS tried to gave MONEY to the REFEREE of the EUROPEAN GAME:

MACABI-OLYMPIACOS (Tel-Aviv) September 2010

So, if Mr. MARINAKIS tried to affect the official game of EUROPA-LEAGUE in Israel imagine what he does in the greek footbal games

and how his team wins in the fake greek football champhionship

Turkey blasts move for Libya sanctions

2011-03-01T00:41:00.001-08:00

Turkey blasts move for Libya sanctions

Turkey raised strong objections with regards to imposing sanctions on Libya

Turkey's prime minister on Saturday raised strong objections to imposing sanctions on Libya, arguing that innocent people would suffer and accusing world powers of making "calculations" based on oil.

"Any intervention will make the process even more difficult. It will harm not the administration but the Libyan people. You cannot secure world peace by resorting to sanctions in each and every incident," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised public speech in Istanbul.

"We call on the international community to approach Libya not with concerns about oil but with conscience, justice and universal human values," he said.

"We call on the international community to stop making various calculations over Libya and work for a remedy to stop the suffering of the Libyan people," he said without elaborating.

Erdogan spoke after a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama on Friday evening. Washington has already imposed personal sanctions on Libyan ruler Maummar Gaddafi and four of his sons.

The UN Security Council was to meet Saturday to consider a sanctions resolution against Gaddafi in a bid to halt his bloody crackdown against opposition protesters.

Britain, France, Germany and the United States have drawn up a resolution which says the attacks on civilians could amount to crimes against humanity. It calls for an arms embargo and a travel ban and assets freeze against Gaddafi and his entourage.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/6482.aspx

Cyprus Cultural Destruction languages petition added

2011-02-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

Cyprus Cultural Destruction

I want to thank a number of people that have stepped forward help us
translate the website in a number of different languages.
We have seen a tremendous increase of traffic on the website and
people visiting the different languages section.
I invite you to look and please pass on the web link:
http://www.cyprusculturaldestruction.com/different_languages
to your family, friends, relatives and co-workers. Your efforts are
making a difference.
We must make sure that the pillage, destruction and desecration of
Cyprus' religious and cultural heritage in the occupied part of Cyprus
has been brought about by the
continuing Turkish occupation of more than a third of the island's
territory, and has led to incalculable loss. The desecration and destruction
of religious and historical sites began as soon as Turkish troops set foot
in the northern part of Cyprus, since the invasion on July 20th, 1974, and
continues until today.

Unfortunately, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) has to date, been unsuccessful in protecting the
cultural heritage of Cyprus.

We ask that you encourage friends, relatives, neighbors, everyone that you
know and on your email list to visit the following website and send a
personal message to UNESCO and sign the petition asking for their
intervention.

<http://www.cyprusculturaldestruction.com/>

Thank in you advance for your assistance and cooperation

Hon. Jim Karygiannis
Privy Councillor,
Member of Parliament
Ottawa Ontario
Canada
Tel: (416) 321 5454
fax: (416) 321 5456
jim@karygiannismp.com
www.karygiannismp.com

This e-mail may be privileged and/or confidential, and the sender does not
waive any related rights and obligations. Any distribution, use or copying
of this e-mail or the information it contains by other than an intended
recipient is unauthorized. If you received this e-mail in error, please
advise me (by return e-mail or otherwise) immediately

The WSEAS needs reputable Universities as partners in their Conferences

2011-02-14T07:03:00.000-08:00

The WSEAS needs reputable Universities as partners in their Conferences

http://groups.google.com/group/wseas

The fees can be found on the web pages

See them via www.wseas.org

* As in 2010, (see here 2010 http://www.wseas.org/reports/ ), all the
WSEAS Publications will be indexed in ISI, PUBMED,MEDLINE, SCOPUS,
ACM, WSEAS E-Library, IET (IEE), ASM, ACS, CSA, ELSEVIER , ZENTRALBLATT,
MATHSCINET, DPP,EI, CSBA, Ulrigh, DEST, EBSCO, EMBASE, GEOBASE,
BIOBASE,BIOTECHNOBASE.

* As in 2010, (see here 2010 http://www.wseas.org/reports/ ), all
the WSEAS Publications will be archived in ISI, PUBMED, MEDLINE,
SCOPUS, ACM, WSEAS E-Library, IET (IEE), ASM, ACS, CSA,
ELSEVIER ,ZENTRALBLATT, MATHSCINET, DPP,EI, CSBA, Ulrigh, DEST,
EBSCO, EMBASE, GEOBASE, BIOBASE, BIOTECHNOBASE.

* As in 2010, (see here 2010 http://www.wseas.org/reports/ ),
all the Authors will be invited to submit extended versions to a
NAUN Journal or University Press

* As in 2010, (see here 2010 http://www.wseas.org/reports/),
in collaboration with the Institute of EUROPMENT, IEEEAM, IASME,
IARAS, WSEAS.

The ISI update its data base
http://science.thomsonreuters.com/m/excel/conference_titles_1998-2010.xlsx
every July and every January
The last time that updated it was July 2010,
As I was informed they appended in their data base
all the WSEAS Conferences until February 2010.

They will update it again after Febr. 2011
So, if your conference was after February 2010, check again the data base of ISI in January of 2011
http://science.thomsonreuters.com/m/excel/conference_titles_1998-2010.xlsx

Some Clarifications for the upcoming WSEAS Conferences (2011-2012)

We will give Financial Support to Successful Session Organizers

www.worldses.org/session.htm

- (Invited) Session Organizers will be included in the Associate Editors list to be published in the proceedings.
- (Invited) Session Organizers will act as chairs of their respective sessions. Respectively they will be noted as Session Chairs in the Program and in the conference proceedings.
- (Invited) Session Organizers can have their own schedule as long as the camera-ready deadline is met.
- (Invited) Session Organizers will participate in the Program Committee of current and future conferences.

The CSCC (the annual conference of the WSEAS in July) is the optimal case for a good Special Session or even for a successful Workshop

So, If you want to propose a new session, visit: http://www.wseas.org/sessionproposal.htm

TERMS FOR A WSEAS SPECIAL SESSION:

*** Each Proposal for Special Session is reviewed by the WSEAS specific scientific committee or the Chairmen of the particular conference. The organizer must have at least Ph.D. Degree.

STEPS:
1. you have completed already the first step

2. Create a web page in your department or university Web Site or even in any free web provider (like geocities, tripod etc...) about your Session with Title, Topics, your Email address, etc... Of course, you can collect the papers for your Session without having a web page (for example announcing your session to your friends by email, telephone, fax etc...), however, a web page will help your effort substantially.

3. When you collect the first 5 (or more than 5) papers for your session, you must review them and you must upload to the WSEAS Conference Web Site informing us about their ID Numbers and their titles (Your own paper must be reviewed by independent WSEAS Reviewers). Authors must know that they must make registration in the conference and must present the papers.

4. After receiving your first 5 (or more than 5) papers WSEAS will create an official Web page linked by the Main Page of the particular conference. It will include the Title of your Special Session, Topics of your Special Session, your name as Organizer with your academic affiliation, your Photo and a Short CV.

Examples: Examples of Approved Sessions without Official Web Page, because their organizers have not received 5 papers yet can be found in:http://creator.zoho.com/wseas/specialsession/view/13/
In the same web page, you may also see pending special sessions

BENEFITS FOR SPECIAL SESSION ORGANIZERS:
1. The name of a SESSION ORGANISER in a WSEAS CONFERENCE
is included in the COVER of the conference publications (program, proceedings,
post-conference publications) as ASSOCIATE EDITOR and he
participates as member in the INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE provided
that his/her session will have at least 5 fully registered papers* before the final deadline for registration due.

2. Extended versions of the papers of the Special Session will be further reviewed for possible publication in the WSEAS TRANSACTIONS with the Organizer as Guest Editor of the journal, provided that the session will have at least 5 fully registered papers* before the final deadline for registration due.

3. For every session with 5 (five) fully registered fully registered papers*, the organizer will
have the opportunity to publish 1 (one) paper without paying registration fees. This paper cannot be one of the already registered 5 papers, but another, additional, paper (after the fifth) (the registration of the 5 papers must have been arranged in advance).

4. If the Session Organizer can attend the conference, he/she will also be invited to chair the session.

5. Upgrade of your session in a WorkShop if you have more than 20 papers.
For more than 10 fully registered papers*, you will have free hotel accomodation.
For 20 until 29 fully registered papers*, you will have free hotel accomodation + 500 EUR cash as honorarium. For 30 until 39 fully registered papers*, you will have free hotel accomodation + 1000 EUR cash as honorarium. For 40 until 49 fully registered papers*, you will have free hotel accomodation + 1500 EUR cash as honorarium. For 50 until 59 fully registered papers*, you will have free hotel accomodation + 2000 EUR cash as honorarium and so on. The financial benefits of the paragraphs 3 and 5 cannot be applied for the Chairmen of a conference or a multiconference. They applied only for the Organizers of the Special Sessions and Workshops.

6. Upgrade of your session in a Conference after one year, i.e. you could act as WSEAS Conference Organizer in the next year if your session is very successful. In fact, many WSEAS Conferences like: Remote Sensing, Energy and Environment, Non-Linear Systems etc... had started as Special Session before their formal establishment as independent conferences.

Student Papers, Papers of authors with discount, Extra Papers of the same author that are registered with additional fee are not considered as Fully Registered papers.

IMPORTANT REMARK: The Review of the papers of each Session is achieved by Independent Reviewers outside the Session (in order to have a real objective evaluation of them). The Organizers of the Session are NOT involved in the Review Process.

---------------- *
ATTENTION: Fully Registered papers: For these benefits to the Session/Workshop Organizers, WSEAS counts only the papers that :
a) in their first submission (uploading) their authors declared that they want to participate in the particular session
b) they fulfill their financial requirements against the conference completely

IMPORTANT REMARK:
Student Papers, Papers of authors with discount, Extra Papers of the same author that are registered with additional fee are not considered as Fully Registered papers

Papers in a Special Session is going to be published in

a) Book in ISI. Please, check it: http://www.wseas.us/indexes/

b) CD-ROM Proceedings, see: www.wseas.org

c) Journal (after new round of review)

d) E-Library of WSEAS (Over than 40000 visits per month)

Many Thanks

Best Regards

From the WSEAS Administration Office

A major palm oil producer is joining forces with environmental campaigners in a bid to ramp up forest protection.

2011-02-09T02:54:00.001-08:00

A major palm oil producer is joining forces with environmental
campaigners in a bid to ramp up forest protection.

The giant Indonesian company Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) has agreed to
work within new standards aimed at saving forests that store a lot of
carbon.

International environment group The Forest Trust (TFT) is partnering
the company and will monitor compliance.

The palm oil industry has regularly been accused of destroying
old-growth forest as demand rockets.

The new deal expands on existing standards agreed under the Roundtable
on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an international alliance of
producers, processors, retailers and environment groups.

Already, RSPO rules forbid clearing old-growth forest or land with
high conservation value, and developers are also supposed to obtain
informed consent from local people before initiating new plantations.

Under the new deal, GAR will go further, vowing not to plant on peat,
and not to clear forest where significant carbon is locked up in
trees.

This should mean that large tracts of forest that have been partially
logged will now be off-limits to the company.

Initially, the figure of 35 tonnes of carbon stored per hectare will
be used as a ceiling; but that could change as research progresses.

"We're not trying to undermine the RSPO - we're saying 'this is
something you guys need to look at and maybe move towards,'" said
Scott Poynton, TFT's executive director.

"Everyone's talking about taking the lead, but no-one's doing it -
this is an example of taking the lead," he told BBC News from
Indonesia.

Reputational hit
GAR is the world's second-largest producer of palm oil, a product
mainly used in food, fuels and cosmetics.

Like other companies in the field, it has been heavily criticised by
environmental groups - a state of affairs that it wants to change.

"As a leading player in the palm oil industry, we are committed to
playing our role in conserving Indonesia's forests," said Franky
Wijaya, GAR's chairman and CEO.

"Our partnership with TFT allows us to grow palm oil in ways that
conserve forests and that also respond to Indonesia's development
needs; creating much needed employment while building shareholder
value."

Earlier in the year, TFT finalised a deal with Swiss-based food giant
Nestle designed to "ensure that its palm oil procurement had no
deforestation footprint".

This led to discussions with suppliers such as GAR - and the
conclusion that in order to preserve their markets, growers would have
to purify their operations.

Greenpeace, which has taken the lead on the issue among international
NGOs, sees the deal as a potential step forwards.

"This is really throwing a gauntlet down to the rest of the palm oil
sector, and to other players," said campaigner Phil Aikman.

"It's setting a threshold for carbon, and that's pretty good - it'll
protect a lot of orangutan habitat and other important areas that have
been threatened by palm oil plantations.

"It challenges the rest of the sector to increase its productivity
rather than target new areas over and over again, and that's been the
main issue."

With RSPO, another issue has been compliance, with a number of
companies accused of failing to live up to their promises.

But TFT says it will be working closely with GAR to make sure pledges
are delivered.

North and South Korea military talks 'break down'

2011-02-09T02:45:00.001-08:00

North Korea's delegates have been pressing for talks on all cross-border issues
Continue reading the main story

Military talks aimed at easing tension between North and South Korea
have broken down, officials in Seoul say.

The talks at the border village of Panmunjom were the first since the
North shelled a South Korean island in November, killing four people.

Officials at the talks reportedly failed to reach a consensus on an
agenda for higher-level talks.

Earlier, South Korea said it had in principle accepted a North Korean
offer to resume talks on humanitarian issues.

These include reuniting families separated by the Korean war, and
joint tourism and industrial projects.

South Korea's unification ministry said a date and venue for talks
mediated by the Red Cross would be set after the preliminary military
talks had ended.

The military talks were intended to lay the groundwork for
higher-level discussions, possibly between defence ministers, aimed at
easing heightened tensions on the peninsula.

But the talks broke down without agreement on an agenda or even a date
for further preliminary talks, an unnamed defence ministry official
was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

Despite the smiles and handshakes in front of the cameras at the beginning of Tuesday's talks, it was never going to be easy.

Sticking points have included basic details like when the higher-level
military talks should be, whether they should involve generals or
defence ministers, and crucially, how the matters of attacks on a
South Korean warship and island last year should be addressed.

The fact that, according to Seoul, the Pyongyang delegation "walked
out" of Wednesday's session without agreeing a date for the next
meeting is not a good sign. That they didn't wait to be accompanied
through the part of the demilitarised zone controlled by South Korea
also suggests a heated atmosphere. It's a highly-sensitive area.

But this latest set back is not necessarily the end of the broader
process of dialogue. A number of preliminary meetings were anticipated
ahead of the high-level military talks. Further ones could be
re-scheduled by officials in the two countries' capitals.

A "break down" is how it's being described by South Korea's defence
ministry - but breakdowns can be restarted.

The last in the intermittent programme of temporary reunions of those
separated by the 1950-53 Korean War took place shortly before the
shelling of South Korea's Yeonpyeong island.

Family reunion talks were last held in 2009 after a two-year hiatus
caused by cross-border tensions.

"We conveyed our agreement to hold the Red Cross talks, as it is
important for the North and the South to discuss and resolve such
issues of humanitarian concerns," said a spokeswoman for South Korea's
unification ministry, Lee Jong-joo.

North Korea had proposed that the Red Cross agencies from the two
sides meet to discuss two projects that give the North much-needed
foreign exchange.

The suspended joint tourism project at Mt Kumgang and the Kaesong
industrial complex are both in North Korea, co-managed by South
Koreans using workers from the North.

Relations have been extremely tense since 46 South Koreans died when
their warship was sunk last March.

Seoul blamed the North for the incident, something Pyongyang denies.

The South is wary of a talks process that wins aid for Kim Jong-il's
administration in the North without concessions in return.

South Korea says the North must show "sincerity" before receiving
economic assistance. Pyongyang has spoken instead of an "exchange of
views".

Taiwan general Lo Hsien-che held on China spy charges

2011-02-09T02:44:00.001-08:00

A Taiwanese general has been detained on suspicion of spying for China
- the highest-ranking officer involved in alleged espionage in
decades.

Maj Gen Lo Hsien-che was recruited by China in 2004 while he was
stationed overseas, the defence ministry said.

But officials declined to comment on reports that he had worked in the
US and had sold secrets about military communications networks.

His arrest follows an investigation launched last year.

Gen Lo returned to Taiwan in 2006 and was made a major general in
2008, defence ministry spokesman Yu Sy-tue said.

At the time of his arrest, he was head of the military command's
communications and information office, Mr Yu said.

The defence ministry has set up a group in an attempt to limit any
possible damage, Lt Gen Wang Ming-wo, of the ministry's Political
Warfare Bureau was quoted by AFP as saying.

"He has brought shame to the military. Servicemen are supposed to be
loyal to their country," Mr Wang said.

'Smokeless war'
Gen Lo is the most senior officer accused of espionage since the 1960s
when a vice defence minister was arrested amid a crackdown on
Communist spies.

Critics say his alleged connection with China and the fact it took
several years to detect has revealed a security loophole.

Tensions have run high between the two sides since 1949, when Taiwan
was separated from China at the end of a civil war.

China sees Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use
force if the island ever moved to declare formal independence.

But there has been an unprecedented warming in relations since
Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008.

Despite this, Taiwan's military has repeatedly said that it will not
let its guard down against the mainland's government.

"Although tensions across the Taiwan Strait have eased over the past
more than two years, the Chinese communists have not stopped their
infiltration into Taiwan," said Mr Wang.

"Instead, they have been stepping up their intelligence gathering,
what we call the 'smokeless war' against us," he said.

Tunisia police shoot dead at least two at Kef protest

2011-02-06T01:14:00.001-08:00

Tunisian police have shot dead at least two people during a protest in
the north-western town of Kef.

Officers opened fire after a crowd attacked and burned a police
station, demanding the resignation of the police chief they accused of
abuse of power.

Unconfirmed reports say another two people died on the way to hospital.

The deaths came as a nationwide night-time curfew, imposed during the
unrest which ousted President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, was shortened
by two hours.

The protests are widely seen as a having inspired the current turmoil
in Egypt and demonstrations in other countries in the region.

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the Kef police station on Saturday.

Witnesses told state media the situation deteriorated after the police
chief, Khaled Ghazouani, slapped a woman in the crowd.

Protesters reportedly threw stones and petrol bombs at the building.

"The police fired to prevent the protesters from breaking into the
station," Reuters news agency quoted the ministry official as saying.

Initial reports said four people had been killed, but it later emerged
that the later deaths had not been confirmed. Another 17 people were
injured in the violence.

Regional prefect Mohamed Najib Tlijali has appealed for calm, and said
Mr Ghazouani was had been arrested, the Associated Press reports.

Earlier on Saturday, two members of the security forces were arrested
in Sidi Bouzid, in connection with the death of two detainees earlier
in the week.

The town was the origin of the weeks of unrest which ousted Mr Ben Ali
in mid-January.

The UN says at least 219 people died in the unrest. The police force
has largely been blamed for the deaths.

The country has been relative calm since Mr Ali went into exile, but
small-scale protests demanding the removal of anyone linked to the
former regime have continued.

A unity government has been sworn in and Prime Minister Mohammed
Ghannouchi has promised elections within six months.

While a night-time curfew remains in place, it has now been shortened
to four hours, between midnight and 0400 local time (2300 GMT to 0300
GMT).

Earlier on Saturday, the UK's Foreign Office lifted its travel warning
for Tunisia, citing a "reduced threat".

Were you in the area? Did you take part in the protests? Has this
story affected you?

An International Cricket Council tribunal has found Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir guilty of corruption.

2011-02-05T08:12:00.001-08:00

Butt has received a 10-year ban, five of which are suspended, Asif seven years - two suspended - and Amir five.

The trio were accused of spot-fixing in the fourth Test between Pakistan and England at Lord's in August 2010, but have always denied any wrongdoing.

All three can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

The ICC released a statement from Michael Beloff QC, chairman of the independent tribunal which heard the case.

Beloff's statement read: "The Tribunal found that the charges that (respectively) Mr Asif agreed to bowl and did bowl a deliberate no ball in the Lord's Test, Mr Amir agreed to bowl and did bowl two deliberate no balls in the same Test, and Mr Butt was party to the bowling of those deliberate no balls, were proved.

"We impose the following sanctions: On Mr Butt a sanction of 10 years ineligibility, five years of which are suspended on condition that he commits no further breach of the code and that he participates under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board in a programme of Anti-Corruption education.

"On Mr Asif a sanction of seven years ineligibility, two years of which are suspended on condition that he commits no further breach of the code and that he participates under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board in a programme of anti-corruption education.

"On Mr Amir sanction of five years of ineligibility. No further sanctions are imposed on any player and no orders are made as to costs."

In a separate development, the Crown Prosecution Service announced on Friday the trio and their agent would face criminal charges.

The players have been charged with conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments and also conspiracy to cheat but have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has held talks with ministers to try to revive an economy hit by a wave of anti-government protests.

2011-02-05T03:04:00.001-08:00

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has held talks with ministers to try
to revive an economy hit by a wave of anti-government protests.

Banks will reopen on Sunday and the stock market on Monday, as Finance
Minister Samir Radwan said the economic situation was "very serious".

Analysts say the uprising is costing the country at least $310m a day.

Protesters remain in Cairo's Tahrir Square following Friday's mass
rally calling for Mr Mubarak to resign.

Separately on Saturday, there were also reports of an explosion at a
pipeline that supplies gas to Israel and Jordan. The blast caused a
fire near el-Arish, Egyptian state television reported.

'Solid base'
Mr Mubarak has said he will not stand for re-election in September but
insists he must stay until then to prevent chaos in the country.
Protesters demand that he goes immediately.

On Saturday, the president met the prime minister, finance minister,
oil minister and trade and industry minister, along with the central
bank governor.

Banks and the stock exchange have been closed for days, and many
factories in the major cities have shut.

The BBC's Kevin Connolly, in Cairo, says the paralysis induced by the
protests is having a huge impact on the creaking economy. Tourists
have been frightened away and the prices of basic goods like
cigarettes and bread have been soaring.

He says many Egyptians are beginning to wonder aloud how quickly daily
life will return to normal regardless of the outcome of the struggle
for power.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Radwan admitted the economy faced a "very
serious" situation and that he was in constant touch with the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

But he also said the economy had a "solid base" and "so far, we are coping".

Economists at Credit Agricole say the uprising is costing the country
at least $310m (£192m) a day and they have revised down their economic
growth estimate for Egypt this year from 5.3% to 3.7%.

Mr Radwan also said there would be a meeting with opposition groups to
try to end the 12 days of protests.

He said Vice-President Omar Suleiman and "almost certainly Prime
Minister Ahmed Shafiq" would attend, adding that they would have
"sufficient authority to negotiate with the opposition".

He did not say which opposition groups would attend. Egyptian
television said the al-Wafd and Al-Tajammu parties would be at the
talks.

Leading opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei told Germany's Der
Spiegel weekly he would like to hold talks "with army chiefs,
preferably soon, to study how we can achieve a transition without
bloodshed".

The biggest opposition group in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, has
said it will take part in discussions provided the government submits
political reform within a specified time frame. But it also insists Mr
Mubarak must leave office immediately.

Mr Radwan said the transition of power had already begun, with Mr
Mubarak saying he would not run again for president.

"It is setting a process in place to ensure a smooth transition of
power without falling into the trap of the chaos scenario," he said.

Saturday's pipeline explosion targeted supplies to Israel and Jordan
from Egypt's Port Said.

Gas was shut off and the fire was brought under control by
mid-morning, state television said.

It also reported that the curfew had now been shortened and would be
in effect from 1900 to 0600 local time (1700-0400 GMT).

'Wrong approach'
On Saturday at a conference in Munich, US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said the "status quo" of undemocratic nations in the region
was "simply not sustainable".

She said that transition to democracy could be chaotic and cause
instability, but added: "Governments who consistently deny people
freedom will open the door to instability... free people govern
themselves best."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK PM David Cameron, also at the
conference, both stressed the need for stability in Egypt.

Mrs Merkel added: "Early elections at the beginning of the
democratisation process is probably the wrong approach."

On Friday huge crowds had demonstrated across Egypt for an 11th day.

More than 100,000 people - including large numbers of women and
children - gathered in Tahrir Square for what was being called the
"day of departure".

There were also demonstrations in Egypt's second city, Alexandria, and
in the towns of Suez, Port Said, Rafah, Ismailiya, Zagazig, al-Mahalla
al-Kubra, Aswan and Asyut.

However, there were suggestions that the protesters would now reduce
their presence in central Cairo.

One of their leaders, George Ishaq of the Kifaya (Enough) movement,
told the BBC: "Protesters will remain in Tahrir Square on all days of
the week. But each Friday, there will be a demonstration like today."

The UN believes more than 300 have died across Egypt since the
protests began on 25 January, with about 4,000 hurt.

Are you in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez or Luxor? Are you taking part in
the twelfth day of protests in Egypt? Send us your comments using the
form below.

Birds living around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident have 5% smaller brains, an effect directly linked to lingering background radiation.

2011-02-05T03:02:00.001-08:00

Birds living around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident have 5%
smaller brains, an effect directly linked to lingering background
radiation.

The finding comes from a study of 550 birds belonging to 48 different
species living in the region, published in the journal PLoS One.

Brain size was significantly smaller in yearlings compared to older birds.

Smaller brain sizes are thought to be linked to reduced cognitive ability.

The discovery was made by a team of researchers from Norway, France
and the US led by Professor Timothy Mousseau from the University of
South Carolina, US, and Dr Anders Moller from the University of
Paris-Sud, France.

Harmful legacy

In April 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power
Plant exploded.

After the accident, traces of radioactive deposits were found in
nearly every country in the northern hemisphere.

An exclusion has since been set up around the site of the accident.

However, scientists have been allowed inside to gauge the impact the
radiation has had on the ecology of the region.

Last year Prof Moller and Prof published the results of the largest
wildlife census of its kind conducted in Chernobyl - which revealed
that mammals are declining in the exclusion zone surrounding the
nuclear power plant.

A Somali who attacked the home of a Danish cartoonist who caricatured the Prophet Muhammad has been jailed for nine years by a Danish court.

2011-02-04T11:29:00.001-08:00

A Somali who attacked the home of a Danish cartoonist who caricatured
the Prophet Muhammad has been jailed for nine years by a Danish court.

Mohamed Geele, 29, was convicted on Thursday of attempted murder and
terrorism after his attack last year on Kurt Westergaard, 75.

Mr Westergaard avoided injury by sheltering in a panic room at his
home in the city of Aarhus.

Geele also faces deportation to Somalia at the end of his sentence.

The maximum penalty he had faced was a life sentence and prosecutors
sought 12 years.

Geele's defence lawyer, Niels Strauss, had asked for, at most, a
suspended six-year sentence and for his client not to be deported.

'You must die!'
During the trial, the court heard that Geele broke into Mr
Westergaard's house in Aarhus on New Year's Day 2010, smashing the
door down.

Mr Westergaard was at home with his five-year-old granddaughter
Stephanie at the time.

Geele, who was armed with an axe and a knife, screamed "You must die!"
and "You are going to Hell!", the cartoonist told the court.

He locked himself in his panic room - a reinforced bathroom - leaving
Stephanie alone in the living-room because his attacker was "after me,
not the people around me".

The little girl, who was unhurt in the attack, testified that she had
thought Geele was a thief and had asked him to go away.

Geele tried to get into the bathroom, hacking at the door with his
axe, but fled when he heard police sirens.

Still armed, he was shot and wounded by police arriving at the scene,
who then arrested him.

'Al-Shabab links'
In its verdict on Thursday, the court noted that the attack had been
well planned.

Geele had searched for the cartoonist's address on the internet and,
on New Year's Eve, bought the axe and sharpened the knife, which he
already possessed.

While acquitted of the charge of attempting to murder a policeman,
brought because he threw his axe at one of the officers who arrived to
arrest him, Geele was found guilty of aggravated assault on the
officer.

The convicted man arrived in Denmark in 1995 as a refugee from the
country's civil war, and was granted indefinite leave to remain,
according to an article in the New York Times.

Living in the city of Aalborg, he was involved in a youth club, where
he became a role model for others, former club worker Nuuradiin
Hussein said.

"He was one of my favourite boys at the club," said Mr Hussein, now a
social worker.

"Most of the boys his age wanted to talk about girls and football, but
he wanted to talk about the future and about getting an education."

At some point, however, Geele developed links to Somalia's Islamist
movement Al-Shabab, according to Danish intelligence.

The husband of the US congresswoman injured in an Arizona gun attack is to lead one of the final space shuttle missions in April, Nasa has said.

2011-02-04T11:28:00.001-08:00

The husband of the US congresswoman injured in an Arizona gun attack
is to lead one of the final space shuttle missions in April, Nasa has
said.

Gabrielle Giffords' husband Mark Kelly will resume training as shuttle
Endeavour's commander on Monday.

Ms Giffords is having rehabilitation therapy in Houston after being
shot in the head on 8 Janaury.

Mr Kelly's twin brother Scott Kelly is currently the commander of the
International Space Station.

'Confidence'
"I am looking forward to rejoining my STS-134 crew members and
finishing our training for the mission," Mark Kelly said in a
statement released by Nasa, referring to the mission number.

"We have been preparing for more than 18 months... I appreciate the
confidence that my Nasa management has in me and the rest of my space
shuttle crew."

The mission aboard the 20-year-old Endeavour is to deliver scientific
research equipment and spare parts to the International Space Station.

Peggy Whitson, chief of the astronaut office at Nasa's Johnson Space
Center in Houston, said: "We are glad to have Mark back. He is a
veteran shuttle commander and knows well the demands of the job. We
are confident in his ability to successfully lead this mission."

Mark Kelly was training for the mission, which will be his fourth trip
to space, when his wife was shot while holding a constituent meeting
in Tucson in the state of Arizona.

'Lots of progress'

Ms Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was shot at a constituency meeting
Six people were killed in the Tucson attack, including a nine-year-old
girl and a federal judge, and several others were wounded.

Jared Loughner, 22, is currently jailed pending trial for the attack.

Mr Kelly, 46, took leave from the training to stay by Ms Giffords'
bedside. The former Navy combat aviator's near continuous presence
there led to speculation about whether he would withdraw from the
mission or remain with his wife as she recovers.

On Wednesday, Mr Kelly wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter: "Today
was a huge day for GG. Lots of progress!"

Scott Kelly will be back on Earth by the time Mark Kelly flies; the
launch is scheduled for 19 April and would last about two weeks. It
will be the 134th and final scheduled flight of the space shuttle.

Thai and Cambodian forces have exchanged artillery fire in a disputed border area, with a Cambodian soldier and a Thai civilian reported killed.

2011-02-04T11:27:00.001-08:00

Thai and Cambodian forces have exchanged artillery fire in a disputed
border area, with a Cambodian soldier and a Thai civilian reported
killed.

The Cambodian government has called it an "invasion", while the Thai
military said it was a misunderstanding.

Tension has been rising in recent days, with both sides moving in more troops.

Shells landed in the grounds of the ancient Preah Vihear temple on the
Cambodian side of the border and in a Thai village.

It is the most serious incident on the border for some time.

A Cambodian government spokesman blamed the encroachment of Thai
soldiers for the fighting and said a complaint would be sent to the UN
Security Council.

Long-running dispute
A Thai military official insisted that artillery fire from Cambodia
was the trigger. But he said it might have been unintentional.

The fighting ended after about two hours, with both sides confirming a
ceasefire.

The two countries' foreign ministers had been meeting in Cambodia to
discuss the long-running border dispute when the fighting started.

The Thai nationalist "yellow-shirt" movement has called on its
government to take a harder line on the issue with its smaller
neighbour.

It is planning a demonstration in front of Cambodia's embassy in
Bangkok on Saturday.

There has been tension in the region ever since Cambodia secured the
World Heritage listing of the Preah Vihear temple in 2008.

This caused joy in Cambodia, and anguish in Thailand - which once
claimed the temple.

France and Germany have proposed a European "competitiveness pact" aimed at eliminating policy differences that have weakened the 17-nation eurozone.

2011-02-04T11:25:00.001-08:00

France and Germany have proposed a European "competitiveness pact"
aimed at eliminating policy differences that have weakened the
17-nation eurozone.

The pact could mean eurozone governments following Germany's example
by making it a constitutional violation to exceed limits on national
debt.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told other EU leaders that the euro
must be defended as a political project.

The new pact could also mean more countries raising the retirement age.

Under the plan, the practice of index-linking salary increases to
inflation - a custom in Belgium and Portugal - would also be scrapped.

Plea for convergence
"What we want to establish is a pact for competitiveness, and in so
doing we want to make it very clear that we intend to grow together
more closely on a political level," Mrs Merkel said at a joint news
conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"We want to take the best practices as a benchmark, and in order to
achieve that, we want to agree on particular measures."

Mr Sarkozy also called for more convergence and integration of
European economies.

The gulf in economic performance across the eurozone is believed to
have undermined confidence in the euro, with German exports surging
ahead while Spain languishes in the doldrums with record unemployment.

The eurozone initiative came at a Brussels summit that was intended to
focus on energy and innovation.

The energy discussions resulted in an EU action plan aimed at
developing an integrated, single European energy market and
modernising the energy infrastructure.

Market pressure eases
EU leaders sought to underline again their commitment to the euro,
following emergency bail-outs of Greece and the Irish Republic last
year.

In the last few weeks, interest rates on the debts of governments in
difficulty, such as Spain and Portugal, have come down.

That is a sign that lenders are more confident that they will be repaid.

The eurozone governments are having a broader discussion about ways to
strengthen the 440bn-euro (£374bn; $605bn) bail-out fund - called the
European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) - which was set up last
May.

The BBC's Europe correspondent Chris Morris says the Franco-German
move lays bare a flaw at the heart of the euro project - that it
created monetary union without economic union.

Countries with the same currency were allowed to pursue very different
economic policies.

Cuba is to release two more political prisoners and allow one of them to remain on the island, according to Catholic church officials.

2011-02-04T11:24:00.001-08:00

Cuba is to release two more political prisoners and allow one of them
to remain on the island, according to Catholic church officials.

The men, identified as Angel Moya and Guido Sigler, were among 52
dissidents Havana agreed to free last July, in a deal brokered by the
Catholic Church.

Their release was reportedly delayed because they, and nine others,
refused to leave Cuba.

All but one of the 41 dissidents freed under the deal have gone to Spain.

But Church spokesman Orlando Marquez says Mr Moya is being allowed to
stay in Cuba, while Mr Sigler "has indicated a desire to go to the
United States".

Angel Moya is the husband of Bertha Soler, one of the leaders of the
Ladies in White opposition group.

"I am happy, as it is good news," Mrs Soler told Associated Press.
"But I am not totally satisfied because of the government's drip-drip
approach" (to letting the dissidents out).

The men have been in jail since 2003, when they were arrested along
with 73 other opposition figures in a mass government crackdown.

The Cuban authorities generally refer to the detained dissidents as
common criminals or stooges paid by Washington to destabilise the
island.

CAIRO! SOS!

2011-02-04T11:23:00.001-08:00

Huge crowds are occupying the main square in the Egyptian capital,
Cairo, to reinforce their demand for the resignation of President
Hosni Mubarak.
The tens of thousands of protesters attending the "day of departure"
rally in Tahrir Square have been waving flags and chanting "Leave!
Leave! Leave!"
Soldiers have been guarding the area to limit disruption by Mubarak supporters.
Mr Mubarak has said he is "fed up" with being in power, but that he is
does not want to resign as it will cause chaos.
He told ABC News that the banned Islamist opposition group, the Muslim
Brotherhood, would fill a power vacuum left by his absence.
He also denied that his administration was behind the violence of the
last two days, and that his son Gamal intended to run for presiden
Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei took issue with the president's
remarks, saying: "We as a people are fed up as well, it is not only
him."
"The idea that there would be chaos is symptomatic of a dictatorship.
He thinks if he leaves power the whole country will fall apart."
A senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Issam al-Aryan, denied that
his group would put forward someone for the presidency, telling the
BBC that it would prefer the opposition to nominate a consensus
candidate.
"We want a civil state, based on Islamic principles. A democratic
state, with a parliamentary system, with freedom to form parties,
press freedom, and an independent and fair judiciary," he added.
Those attending the "day of departure" had to queue for hours on the
main bridge over the Nile so they could pass through checkpoints
staffed by soldiers and anti-government demonstrators.
They are searching everyone who enters the square to make sure they
have no weapons. There is even a separate queue for women - I was
patted down apologetically several times.
The numbers have swelled again, with tens of thousands joining the
crowd. There are shouts and whistles, and more cries of "Leave, leave
Mubarak!" Despite all the government's concessions, the message
remains unchanged.
After more fighting in the north of the square overnight, the mood is
peaceful and there are more women and children here than in the past
few days.
They were set up to prevent Mubarak supporters entering and triggering
further violent clashes.
Egypt's health ministry says eight people have been killed and more
than 800 injured in the clashes in Cairo in recent days. The UN
believes more than 300 have died across Egypt since the protests began
on 25 January, with about 4,000 hurt.
At noon, thousands of the protesters paused to take part in Friday
prayers. One cleric praised the "revolution of the young" and
declared: "We want the head of the regime removed."
As soon as the prayers finished, the protesters renewed their chants
of "Leave", and began singing patriotic songs and waving flags.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Tahrir Square says the mood is relaxed but it is
not quite the carnival atmosphere that existed before Wednesday.
At one point, Defence Minister General Mohammed Hussein Tantawi and
other military leaders visited the square and spoke to soldiers
manning a cordon, as well as some of the demonstrators.
The secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, also made an
appearance. Some people shouted "We want you as president".
Asked earlier by French radio if he would consider taking a role in
any transitional government or run for office, he replied: "Why say
no?"
There were reports of minor clashes between pro- and anti-government
demonstrators around the square on Friday, but the main rally by
Mubarak supporters took place in the Mohandiseen district.
Meanwhile, thousands of anti-government protesters have gathered again
outside the main mosque in Egypt's second city, Alexandria.

That most exclusive of clubs, the chairmen of the Premier League's 20 teams, sat down to dinner on Thursday night after a board meeting at the Churchill Hotel in central London, contemplating a very unsavoury problem.

2011-02-04T11:21:00.001-08:00

That most exclusive of clubs, the chairmen of the Premier League's 20
teams, sat down to dinner on Thursday night after a board meeting at
the Churchill Hotel in central London, contemplating a very unsavoury
problem.
It was not sexism in football, but the financial foundation of the
league and their clubs' TV rights income. Nevertheless, that
foundation is under threat because of two women -- pub landlady Karen
Murphy and Juliane Kokott, advocate-general at the European Court of
Justice.
Ms Kokott on Thursday said Ms Murphy was justified in arguing she
should be allowed to show live Premier League matches in her Southsea
pub using a Greek decoder card rather than the encrypted service of
BSkyB, which owns the UK rights. BSkyB charges pubs about £10,000
($16,137) a year. But Nova had bought the Greek rights to EPL matches
at a much lower rate so Ms Murphy was charged a 10th of what she would
have had to pay the UK broadcaster.
The advocate-general's opinions are generally endorsed by the ECJ. If
that happens, the implications cannot be underestimated -- for the
league, which receives £1.8bn ($2.9bn) for the three-year UK rights,
the clubs, whose income from TV generates nearly half their income,
and their players, whose wages are inflated because of the level of TV
income.
Ms Kokott's opinion also applies to home viewers of live matches. She
said the sale of rights country by country was against the European
Union's internal market.
The only crumb of comfort for the club chairmen is the knowledge that
the £1.4bn ($2.25bn) the Premier League receives from the sale of live
matches to non-European markets is unaffected.
In future, it must be carried out on a pan-European basis, which would
mean redrawing the Premier League's TV rights distribution system.
It is not just the Premier League, but other rights holders such as
Uefa, that look set to feel the effect. Also caught up would be other
creative industries.
"This will have a colossal impact across the EU...," says Robert Vidal
of Taylor Wessing, a European law firm, "as it will initiate a race to
the bottom on price, not only in relation to broadcasting, but also
for digital music, books and film as broadcasters and other providers
compete with each other on a pan-European basis."
Small wonder that Ms Kokott's opinion has staggered the Premier
League, the club chairmen, BSkyB and numerous lawyers.The Premier
League, which retorted that Ms Kokott was simply wrong, must hope that
the ECJ will eventually conclude that she has over-reached herself.
But her position is shared by MEPs and the Brussels executive. Richard
Scudamore, Premier League chief executive, must now draw up a
contingency plan for what a pan-European sale of the league's
broadcast rights would look like from 2013 onwards.
That will involve second-guessing how much broadcasters such as BSkyB
and ESPN, the only probable bidders for a pan-European package, would
pay.
Omar Sheikh of Credit Suisse said: "If this is followed through and it
actually happens, ultimately the value of the rights will probably go
down because there are only two likely bidders on a pan-European
basis.
"Another big question for Sky will be what will they be able to charge
for business subscriptions after this ruling?"
Analysts estimated that the loss of income for BSkyB from pubs and
clubs would be about £70m ($112m). BSkyB insiders were not rushing to
judgment. "The Premier League will adapt and they will find a way to
market rights that maximizes value," said one.

A new bogus multiconference from IEEE. Do not go to these fake IEEE Conferences. Be careful. The Scientific Credibility is ZERO

2010-08-25T03:13:00.001-07:00

A new bogus multiconference from IEEE. Do not go to these fake IEEE Conferences. Be careful. The Scientific Credibility is ZERO

A new bogus multiconference from
IEEE. Do not go to these fake IEEE Conferences. Be careful. The
Scientific Credibility is ZERO\

Call for Papers (fake conferences)

IEEE SSCI2011 Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (fake conferences)

Paris (France), April 11-15, 2011

http://www.ieee-ssci.org/

General Chair: Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier, LIP6, CNRS-University P. et M.

Curie, Paris, France

Honorary chair: Vincenzo Piuri, University of Milan, Italy Finance Chair: Piero Bonissone, General Electrics, USA Local Arrangement Chair: Maria Rifqi, LIP6, Universit Panthon-Assas, Paris, France Web Master: Christophe Marsala, LIP6, Universit Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France Publication Chair: Sylvie Galichet, Universit de Savoie, France Publicity Co-chairs: Pau-Choo (Julia) Chung, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan / Martine De Cock, Ghent University, Belgium / Slawo Wesolkowski, DRDC, Canada Tutorial, Keynote and Panel Co-chairs: Marios Polycarpou, University of Cyprus, Cyprus / Ali M.S. Zalzala, Hikma Group Limited, Dubai, UAE

Secretary: Adrien Revault d'Allonnes, LIP6, Universit Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France

Description: (fake conferences)

This international event promotes all aspects of the theory and applications of Computational Intelligence. With its hosting of over thirty technical meetings in one location, it is bound to attract lead researchers, professionals and students from around the world. Sponsored by the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, the 2011 edition follows in the footsteps of the SSCI

2007 meetings held in Honolulu and of the SSCI 2009 series held in Nashville.

The event will take place in the magic town of Paris.

Important dates:

Paper Submission Due: October 31, 2010

Notification to Authors: December 15, 2010 Camera-Ready Papers Due: January 15, 2011

(fake conferences)

================================================================================

List of Symposia and Workshops(fake conferences)

* ADPRL 2011 Symposium on Adaptive Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning (fake conference)

* CCMB 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence, Cognitive Algorithms, Mind, and Brain.(fake conference)

* CIASG 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence Applications in Smart Grid(fake conference)

* CIBCB 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology(fake conference)

* CIBIM 2011 Workshop on Computational Intelligence in Biometrics and Identity Management(fake conference)

* CICA 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Control and Automation(fake conference)

* CICS 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Cyber Security(fake conference)

* CIDM 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Data Mining(fake conference)

* CIDUE 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Dynamic and Uncertain Environments(fake conference)

* CIFEr 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Financial Engineering & Economics(fake conference)

* CII 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Industry(fake conference)

* CIMR 2011 Workshop on Computational Intelligence for Mobile Robots: Air-, Land-, and Sea-Based(fake conference)

* CIMSIVP 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Multimedia, Signal and Vision Processing(fake conference)

* CISched 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Scheduling(fake conference)

* CISDA 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Security and Defence Applications(fake conference)

* CIVI 2011 Workshop on Computational Intelligence for Visual Intelligence(fake conference)

* CIVTS 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Vehicles and Transportation Systems(fake conference)

* CompSens 2011 Workshop on Merging Fields of Computational Intelligence and Sensor Technology(fake conference)

* EAIS 2011 Workshop on Evolving and Adaptive Intelligent Systems(fake conference)

* FOCI 2011 Symposium on Foundations of Computational Intelligence(fake conference)

* GEFS2011 International Workshop on Genetic and Evolutionary Fuzzy Systems(fake conference)

* HIMA 2011 Workshop on Hybrid Intelligent Models and Applications(fake conference)

* IA 2011 Symposium on Intelligent Agents(fake conference)

* IEEE ALIFE 2011 Symposium on Artificial Life(fake conference)

* MC 2011 Symposium on Memetic Computing(fake conference)

* MCDM 2011 Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Multicriteria Decision-Making(fake conference)

* OC 2011 Workshop on Organic Computing RiiSS 2011 Workshop on Robotic Intelligence in Informationally Structured Space(fake conference)

* SDE 2011 Symposium on Differential Evolution(fake conference)

* SIS 2011 Symposium on Swarm Intelligence(fake conference)

* T2FUZZ011 Symposium on Advances in Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Systems(fake conference)

* WACI 2011 Workshop on Affective Computational Intelligence(fake conference) ================================================================================

Tuesday, 15 June 2010

A new IEEE Pseudo-Conference * An IEEE fake conference *******

A new IEEE Pseudo-Conference ***** An IEEE fake conference *********** URGENT! Protest the Turkish Microwave Event in Illegal so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University”

http://cyprusactionnetwork.org/microwave_protest_ieee

Contact: Nikolaos Taneris, New York, Tel. (917) 699-9935

CURRENT STATUS

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE a worldwide professional organization

incorporated in New York State, with offices in Washington DC and around the world,

is organizing a new IEEE Pseudo-Conference

cooperating with the so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University”

a pseudo-entity built on the land stolen from Greek-Cypriots by the brutal Turkish-military invasion in 1974.

*WHAT YOU CAN DO

Please help us send a loud and clear message to Mr. Pedro Ray,

IEEE President and CEO. By continuing its relationship with the so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University,”

IEEE abets and perpetuates a blatant violation of international law as well as a transgression of basic human rights.

Therefore urge IEEE to cancel this cooperation and stand for justice by publicly signing our petition calling for the

arrest of Kenan Akin, who is wanted for the murder of peaceful Greek-Cypriot demonstrator Solomos Solomou.

SAMPLE LETTER AND RESPONSE FROM ADOULOTI KERINIA FOLLOWS BELOW:

(Sample Letter)

To: Mr. Pedro Ray, IEEE President and CEO

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Email: president@ieee.org

IEEE-USA

2001 L Street, NW. Suite 700

Washington, DC 20036-4910 USA

Phone: +1 202 785 0017

Fax: +1 202 785 0835

It has come to our attention that IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

is cooperating in sponsoring an upcoming bogus conference on “Microwaves” in the so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University”:

PLEASE SEE: http://www.mms.ncc.metu.edu.tr/

The puppet state which Turkey has set up in occupied Cyprus referred to as the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” or “TRNC” has been declared "legally invalid" by the United Nations Security Council in resolutions 541(1983) and 550(1984) which also call upon all states not to assist this illegal entity in any way, therefore your “symposium” and any cooperation with the so-called "Eastern Mediterranean University" which operates in violation of Cyprus and European Union law and contrary to these resolutions is illegal.

The so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University” operates illegally from buildings and lands which were stolen from Greek Cypriot owners who were forcibly displaced by Turkish forces in 1974 and have not been allowed to return in violation of numerous judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and over 100 resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly passed since the illegal Turkish invasion, including resolution 550(1984) which demand this property is returned to its original Greek Cypriot owners. This land and property was formerly the Center for Higher Studies of Ammochostos (known as Saveriades K.L.S.L. College) and its legal owners have applied to the European Court of Human Rights for it to be returned (Saveriades v. Turkey, Case16160/90).

Under Cyprus and EU law the use or exploitation of land or property belonging to Greek Cypriots, without their permission is a criminal offence and carries a two-year prison sentence and a heavy fine. The judgments of the Cyprus courts are enforceable in all EU member states and international arrest warrants can be issued for the arrest of anyone illegally uses or exploiting Greek Cypriot property including members and officials of IEEE.

Here are some more points IEEE should be aware of, and you should make your members aware of:

(1) The so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University” has ties to international terrorism, a group calling itself “We are Young Turkish Muslims” is active on the grounds, and the site is not far from the illegally occupied port of Famagusta. It from these grounds that the flotilla to Gaza sailed which has made international headlines recently. According to the Washington Post (Turkey's Erdogan bears responsibility in flotilla fiasco

Saturday, June 5, 2010; A12) “All of the violence occurred aboard the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara, and all of those who were killed were members or volunteers for the Islamic "charity" that owned the ship, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). The relationship between Mr. Erdogan's government and the IHH ought to be one focus of any international investigation. The foundation is a member of the "Union of Good," a coalition that was formed to provide material support to Hamas and that was named as a terrorist entity by the United States in 2008.”

(2) The so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University” is responsible for producing an industry of denial in order to falsify the historical record of atrocities perpetrated by the Turkish terrorist organizations Volgan and TMT on the Greek-Cypriot people , See “Greek Cypriot atrocities” http://gundem.emu.edu.tr/subat2006/english/tony2.htm

(3) Universities operating in the occupied part of Cyprus are not under effective control of the government of Cyprus. They have not been registered or accredited by the Ministry of Education and Culture and their academic accreditations and certificates are not recognized internationally. These so-called “universities” use properties which are owned by persons holding title under the law of the Republic of Cyprus and who have been unlawfully excluded from their property.

(4) The so-called “TRNC” regime is a bandit pseudo-state and a base for Turkey’s deep state. As an unofficial “off-shore” hub for the Turkish military, the illegal regime is heavily involved in narcotics trafficking and other illicit activities. I.e. , the former “Minister of Agriculture” Kenan Akin is wanted for the public murder of Greek-Cypriot Solomos Solomou, and has been captured in Turkey for heroin smuggling but subsequently was released, despite the Interpol warrant issued for his arrest.

By continuing its relationship with the so-called “Eastern Mediterranean University,”

IEEE abets and perpetuates a blatant violation of international law as well as a transgression of basic human rights.

I therefore urge you to cancel this cooperation and stand for justice by publicly signing our petition calling for the arrest of Kenan Akin,

who is wanted for the murder of peaceful Greek-Cypriot demonstrator Solomos Solomou.

Sincerely,

(Your Name, City, State, Country)

ATTACH:

Print out and sign the petition The Murderer—KENAN AKIN A CALL FOR JUSTICE

http://cyprusactionnetwork.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/KENAN_AKIN-A_CALL_FOR_JUSTICE.14214935.pdf

A new IEEE Pseudo-Conference ***** An IEEE fake conference ***********

OFFICIAL LETTER FROM, Ioannis Shekersavvas

PRESIDENT OF ADOULOTI KERINIA

C.c. Members of US Congress,

The White House.

A new IEEE Pseudo-Conference ***** An IEEE fake conference ***********

========================

Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA)

2578 Broadway #132

New York, NY 10025

New York: Tel. 917-699-9935

Email: cana@cyprusactionnetwork.org

www.cyprusactionnetwork.org

========================

The Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) is a grass-roots, not-for-profit movement created to

support genuine self-determination and human rights for the people of Cyprus.

To be added to CANA's Action Alert e-mail distribution list, or to introduce CANA to a friend or colleague,

please forward the pertinent name and e-mail address, with the subject heading "Add e-mail to CANA distribution list",

to cana@cyprusactionnetwork.org

You are encouraged to forward this action alert to five or more individuals who may have an interest in our e-distributions

or in CANA’s mission.

You may post any CANA article, press release or action alert on the internet as long as you credit CANA and the author(s).

Source: http://crappyconference.blogspot.com

and

http://acapam.blogspot.com

A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer was under European diplomatic protection Friday after Turkish authorities released him from a detention cente

2010-08-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer was under European diplomatic protection Friday after Turkish authorities released him from a detention center for illegal immigrants.
Mohammad Mostafaei had barely made it to his hotel in Istanbul before diplomatic officials rushed to the scene and announced he was not safe. They swept him away in a car for his safety.
"After six days [in detention], I'm so tired I just want to go to my hotel and take a shower," Mostafaei said to CNN. "I feel like I'm still in detention."
He has had to make difficult, life-altering decisions in recent weeks.
The lawyer has been a longtime defender of Iranian juveniles facing the death penalty. More recently, he campaigned to attract international attention to the case of Sakineh Ashtiani, the 43-year-old mother of two who was sentenced to death by stoning after she was convicted of adultery.
On July 24, as activists around the world staged protests against Ashtiani's death sentence, Mostafaei was taken in by Iranian authorities for hours of interrogation. After they released him, he said, he went into hiding.

Around the same time, he said, Iranian security forces detained his wife and brother-in-law. The brother-in-law has been released, but Mostafaei said his wife Parmida is still being held in solitary confinement without charge.
"I am extremely worried about my wife and her safety," Mostafaei said in an earlier interview.
"They [the Iranian authorities] told me if you don't turn yourself in, we will not let your family go," Mostafaei added. "I made a decision, after I saw that they were still going to arrest me and mistreat me, that I must leave Iran. It was a very hard decision."
He added, "The truth is even when someone talks about Parmida and says her name, it's really hard for me to talk and I want to cry when that happens."
Like many other Iranian dissidents, Mostafaei slipped across the border from Iran to the eastern Turkish border town of Van. He blames himself for his detention, which began after he landed at the Istanbul airport from Van.
"It was my mistake. I went to the police officers inside the airport and declared myself as a refugee," he said on Friday.
According to Turkish law, refugees requesting asylum must go through a registration process with the Turkish government and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Normally it can take two years before a refugee is processed and granted asylum in another, typically Western country. But officials at the Turkish foreign ministry told that in Mostafaei's case, he was likely to be granted asylum in a European country within days.
According to the refugee agency's Ankara office, around 4,100 Iranian citizens currently are registered in Turkey and awaiting asylum in third-party countries.
Metin Corabatir, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees' representative in Ankara, estimates that "on a monthly basis there has been an increase of 25 to 50" Iranians requesting asylum, compared with before the Iranian government launched a crackdown on opposition activists following a controversial presidential election on June 12, 2009. Corabatir said 150 to 200 Iranians now request asylum in Turkey every month.
In his conversation on Friday with an international TV Channel (CNN), Mostafaei expressed concern for the welfare of his imprisoned wife and his daughter, whom he left behind in Iran with her grandmother. He said he also worries about clients like Ashtiani.
"Who else will do my work?" he asked.
Ashtiani, a mother of two, is reportedly still being held in Tabriz prison. Iran's judiciary could reinstate her sentence of death by stoning, execute her by other means, or possibly even grant her a reprieve, according to human rights groups.

Peshawar, Pakistan (CNN) -- More than 3 million people have been directly affected and more than 1,400 have been killed by floods in northwestern Pakistan's Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, an aid group said Tuesday, citing officials.

2010-08-04T00:44:00.001-07:00

Earlier Tuesday, a Pakistani Red Crescent official told CNN that
nearly 2.5 million people had been affected by the floods, which began
last week.
As the water recedes, more devastation has been revealed as previously
isolated areas have become more accessible, Medecins Sans Frontieres
said in a statement. But more rain predicted for coming days could
cause renewed problems, said the group, also known as Doctors Without
Borders.
Limited access to clean water and poor hygienic conditions have raised
the threat of widespread acute respiratory infections, diarrhea and
skin infections, said the doctors' group, which is supporting health
units in Mandrakhel, Wadpaga, and Gulbela in the Peshawar district,
and the Paddi Hospital in the Nowshera district.
Collapsed bridges meant the MSF teams were unable to reach the badly
hit North Swat region. A case of cholera has been confirmed in Swat,
it said.
The flooding -- caused by torrential monsoon rains -- may have killed
as many as 1,500 people, a government official told reporters.
Floodwaters washed out many roads, highways and bridges, isolating a
number of communities."This is the key issue for the next day, to find
[a] solution to access the population in remote valleys," Jean-Marc
Favre of the International Committee for the Red Cross told CNN
Tuesday.
About 46 of Pakistan's 135 districts have been affected, said the
World Health Organization, which is coordinating the health response.
At least 39 health facilities and the medications they contained have
been destroyed, resulting in a need for more medical and related
materials, it said.
By the end of Monday, mobile teams and fixed health facilities had
treated more than 15,000 patients, many of whom were suffering from
diarrhea, WHO said.
Displaced people -- including thousands of Afghan refugees -- were
crammed into public buildings and schools, officials said.
"Those who survived these punishing floods are still at grave risk.
They are exposed and vulnerable and urgently need our help," U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said. "The Pakistani people
of this region have been serving as the generous hosts of more than a
million Afghan refugees. Now is the time for the international
community to demonstrate the same kind of solidarity with them."
Pakistani authorities also are confronting another key issue: making
sure flood-ravaged areas do not become easy targets for a Taliban
resurgence.
Waterborne diseases also are a "serious" threat, Favre said.
"Our doctors are reporting many cases of respiratory illness and
diarrhea," said Annie Foster, Save the Children's associate vice
president for humanitarian response. "If these illnesses are not
treated promptly, they can be life-threatening to babies and young
children."
Some residents have said rescue and relief efforts are not moving
quickly enough.
The U.N. World Food Programme said Monday that nearly 980,000 people
had lost their homes or been displaced in four districts -- Nowshera,
Charsadda, Mardan and Peshawar.
About 80,000 homes were destroyed in the four districts, and another
50,000 were damaged, it said. Nowshera district had the highest number
of affected people, more than 650,000, while Charsadda suffered
serious damage, losing all its crops, it said.
The U.N.'s refugee commission said it aimed to reach 250,000 of the
country's most vulnerable with non-food items like tents, blankets,
buckets, plastic sheets and kitchen sets. The agency said it had
delivered 10,000 tents to local authorities in Baluchistan and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and plans to procure 20,000 more tents from suppliers in
Pakistan.
Rain began falling again Tuesday in Pakistan, where isolated areas
were expected to get as much as 25 to 75 millimeters (1 to 3 inches)
by Thursday.
Between Guddu and Sukkur, the Pakistan Meteorological Department is
expecting the Indus River to rise to extreme levels. The water in the
Indus, Pakistan's longest and most important river, has tripled since
week's rainfall.
Floodwater will not reach the Arabian Sea until around August 11.
Monsoon rains in the region typically lasts through mid-September.
Many governments and non-profit organizations, including the United
States, the United Nations and the European Commission, have pledged
aid.
Read why the United States sees its aid role in Pakistan as important
President Asif Ali Zardari has said all available resources would be
used to help those stranded by the water, the state-run news agency
reported.

The Obama administration's planned drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq is proceeding "as promised" and should lead to an end of America's combat mission there by the end of August, President Barack Obama said Monday.

2010-08-03T00:14:00.001-07:00

Plans to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to 50,000 by the end
of this month are on schedule, Obama told the national convention of
Disabled American Veterans. At that point, the U.S. mission will shift
to the training and support of Iraqi security forces.

A full withdrawal of American troops from Iraq is scheduled to occur
by the end of next year.

The war in Iraq "is nearing an end," he said. "As a candidate for
president, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end.
And that is exactly what we are doing."

While the U.S. military commitment in Iraq is now nearing a
conclusion, the president warned, there is still danger there for U.S.
troops on the ground.
"The hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in
Iraq," Obama said. "But make no mistake, our commitment in Iraq is
changing -- from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian
effort led by our diplomats."

Obama's update on the conflict in Iraq came in the context of a
wide-ranging speech addressing several issues tied to national
security and veterans' benefits.

Obama defended his decision to increase U.S. military commitment in
Afghanistan -- a decision criticized by some of the more liberal
members of his own party. He said the military has now gone on the
offensive against extremist elements, and took issue with critics who
claim the U.S. end game in Afghanistan remains poorly defined
"We face huge challenges in Afghanistan," he said. "But it's important
that the American people know that we are making progress and we're
focused on goals that are clear and achievable."

"If Afghanistan were to be engulfed by an even wider insurgency, al
Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates would have even more space to plan
their next attack."

"As president of the United States, I refuse to let that happen," he said.

The Pakistan government has begun to "take the fight to violent
extremists within its borders. Major blows have been struck against al
Qaeda and its leadership," Obama said.

On Iraq, the president provided a largely optimistic assessment of the
U.S. effort, saying violence there is currently "near the lowest it's
been in years."

But Iraqi officials released data Saturday that they said shows July
was the deadliest month for civilians since May 2008, reporting that
396 civilians, 50 Iraqi soldiers and 89 police officers were killed.
Iraqi officials also said 100 so-called "terrorists" were killed, and
955 others were detained.

The U.S. military has disputed the Iraqi figures, saying the actual
numbers are less than half what Iraq's government reported.

The U.S. command in Baghdad, Iraq, "refutes that 535 people were
killed in Iraq during the month of July," the military said in a
statement Sunday. It put the total number of people killed by "enemy
action" at 222, including 161 civilians, 55 Iraqi troops and six
Americans -- the ninth-lowest civilian casualty count since January
2008, according to the U.S. military.

The U.S. military has said it believes Iraqi security forces can
maintain current levels of relative stability, but that sentiment is
not shared by many Iraqis.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said in a recent interview
with CNN that he is concerned that "the security is declining ...
[and] that's why we need really good resolutions, we need to expedite
the formation of a government and we need to create an understanding
in the region, and we need the help of the United States to facilitate
all of these issues through its good offices in Iraq and elsewhere in
the region."

Starting in September, the number of U.S. troops in Iraq -- 50,000 --
will be almost a third of the total number there when Obama took
office in January 2009, the White House has said. There will be 96,000
U.S. troops on the ground in Afghanistan -- more than three times the
number there at the beginning of Obama's term.

In July, there were 81,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 87,000 in Afghanistan.

While there is sharp public division over the U.S. effort in
Afghanistan, Americans largely support the removal of U.S. forces from
Iraq. Nearly two-thirds of all Americans back the administration's
plan to remove most troops by the end of August, according to a May
21-23 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.

Only 36 percent of Americans favor the war in Iraq, the survey indicated.

Obama offered praise Monday for all the veterans of major U.S.
military conflicts since World War II.

"In the life of our nation, not every generation has been summoned to
defend our country in its hour of need. But every generation to answer
that call has done so with honor and courage," he told the
enthusiastic crowd.

The president ran through a litany of administration initiatives for
military veterans, including "dramatically increased funding for
veterans health care across the board."

Among the initiatives he highlighted: an increased use of electronic
record-keeping that will allow veterans, for the first time, to go to
the VA's website and download or print personal health records "so you
have them when you need them and can share them with your doctors
outside the VA."

The new measure will take effect this fall, he said.

To Stop Cheats, Colleges Learn Their Trickery

2010-07-12T15:10:00.001-07:00

To Stop Cheats, Colleges Learn Their Trickery

ORLANDO, Florida. — The frontier in the battle to defeat student cheating may be here at the testing center of the University of Central Florida.

No gum is allowed during an exam: chewing could disguise a student's speaking into a hands-free cellphone to an accomplice outside.

http://professorsagainstplagiarism.blogspot.com/

The 228 computers that students use are recessed into desk tops so that anyone trying to photograph the screen — using, say, a pen with a hidden camera, in order to help a friend who will take the test later — is easy to spot.

Scratch paper is allowed — but it is stamped with the date and must be turned in later.

When a proctor sees something suspicious, he records the student's real-time work at the computer and directs an overhead camera to zoom in, and both sets of images are burned onto a CD for evidence.

Taylor Ellis, the associate dean who runs the testing center within the business school at Central Florida, the nation's third-largest campus by enrollment, said that cheating had dropped significantly, to 14 suspected incidents out of 64,000 exams administered during the spring semester.

"I will never stop it completely, but I'll find out about it," Mr. Ellis said.

As the eternal temptation of students to cheat has gone high-tech — not just on exams, but also by cutting and pasting from the Internet and sharing of homework online like music files — educators have responded with their own efforts to crack down.

This summer, as incoming freshmen fill out forms to select roommates and courses, some colleges — Duke and Bowdoin among them — are also requiring them to complete online tutorials about plagiarism before they can enroll.

Anti-plagiarism services requiring students to submit papers to be vetted for copying is a booming business. Fifty-five percent of colleges and universities now use such a service, according to the Campus Computing Survey.

The best-known service, Turnitin.com, is engaged in an endless cat-and-mouse game with technologically savvy students who try to outsmart it. "The Turnitin algorithms are updated on an on-going basis," the company warned last month in a blog post titled "Can Students 'Trick' Turnitin?"

The extent of student cheating, difficult to measure precisely, appears widespread at colleges. In surveys of 14,000 undergraduates over the last four years, an average of 61 percent admitted to cheating on assignments and exams.

The figure declined somewhat from 65 percent earlier in the decade, but the researcher who conducted the surveys, Donald L. McCabe, a business professor at Rutgers, doubts there is less of it. Instead, he suspects students no longer regard certain acts as cheating at all, for instance, cutting and pasting a few sentences at a time from the Internet.

Andrew Daines, who graduated in May from Cornell, where he served on a board in the College of Arts and Sciences that hears cheating cases, said Internet plagiarism was so common that professors told him they had replaced written assignments with tests and in-class writing.

Mr. Daines, a philosophy major, contributed to pages that Cornell added last month to its student Web site to bring attention to academic integrity. They include a link to a voluntary tutorial on avoiding plagiarism and a strongly worded admonition that "other generations may not have had as many temptations to cheat or plagiarize as yours," and urging students to view this as a character test.

Mr. Daines said he was especially disturbed by an epidemic of students' copying homework. "The term 'collaborative work' has been taken to this unbelievable extreme where it means, because of the ease of e-mailing, one person looking at someone else who's done the assignment," he said.

At M.I.T., David E. Pritchard, a physics professor, was able to accurately measure homework copying with software he had developed for another purpose — to allow students to complete sets of physics problems online. Some answered the questions so fast, "at first I thought we had some geniuses here at M.I.T.," Dr. Pritchard said. Then he realized they were completing problems in less time than it took to read them and were copying the answers — mostly, it turned out, from e-mail from friends who had already done the assignment.

About 20 percent copied one-third or more of their homework, according to a study Dr. Pritchard and colleagues published this year. Students who copy homework find answers at sites like Course Hero, which is a kind of Napster of homework sharing, where students from more than 3,500 institutions upload papers, class notes and past exams.

Another site, Cramster, specializes in solutions to textbook questions in science and engineering. It boasts answers from 77 physics textbooks — but not Dr. Pritchard's popular "Mastering Physics," an online tutorial, because his publisher, Pearson, searches the Web for solutions and requests they be taken down to protect its copyright.

"You can use technology as well for detecting as for committing" cheating, Dr. Pritchard said.

The most popular anti-cheating technology, Turnitin.com, says it is now used by 9,500 high schools and colleges. Students submit written assignments to be compared with billions of archived Web pages and millions of other student papers, before they are sent to instructors. The company says that schools using the service for several years experience a decline in plagiarism.

Cheaters trying to outfox Turnitin have tried many tricks, some described in blogs and videos. One is to replace every "e" in plagiarized text with a foreign letter that looks like it, such as a Cyrillic "e," meant to fool Turnitin's scanners. Another is to use the Macros tool in Microsoft Word to hide copied text. Turnitin says neither scheme works.

Some educators have rejected the service and other anti-cheating technologies on the grounds that they presume students are guilty, undermining the trust that instructors seek with students.

Washington & Lee University, for example, concluded several years ago that Turnitin was inconsistent with the school's honor code, "which starts from a basis of trusting our students," said Dawn Watkins, vice president for student affairs. "Services like Turnitin.com give the implication that we are anticipating our students will cheat."

For similar reasons, some students at the University of Central Florida objected to the business school's testing center with its eye-in-the-sky video in its early days, Dr. Ellis said.

But recently during final exams after a summer semester, almost no students voiced such concerns. Rose Calixte, a senior, was told during an exam to turn her cap backward, a rule meant to prevent students from writing notes under the brim. Ms. Calixte disapproved of the fashion statement but didn't knock the reason: "This is college. There is the possibility for people to cheat."

A first-year M.B.A. student, Ashley Haumann, said that when she was an undergraduate at the University of Florida, "everyone cheated" in her accounting class of 300 by comparing answers during quizzes. She preferred the highly monitored testing center because it "encourages you to be ready for the test because you can't turn and ask, 'What'd you get?' "

For educators uncomfortable in the role of anti-cheating enforcer, an online tutorial in plagiarism may prove an elegantly simple technological fix.

That was the finding of a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Researchin January. Students at an unnamed selective college who completed a Web tutorial were shown to plagiarize two-thirds less than students who did not. (The study also found that plagiarism was concentrated among students with lower SAT scores.)

The tutorial "had an outsize impact," said Thomas S. Dee, a co-author, who is now an economist at the University of Virginia.

"Many instructors don't want to create this kind of adversarial environment with their students where there is a presumption of guilt," Dr. Dee said. "Our results suggest a tutorial worked by educating students rather than by frightening them."

Only a handful of colleges currently require students to complete such a tutorial, which typically illustrates how to cite a source or even someone else's ideas, followed by a quiz.

The tutorial that Bowdoin uses was developed with its neighbor colleges Bates and Colby several years ago. Part of the reason it is required for enrollment, said Suzanne B. Lovett, a Bowdoin psychology professor whose specialty is cognitive development, is that Internet-age students see so many examples of text, music and images copied online without credit that they may not fully understand the idea of plagiarism.

As for Central Florida's testing center, one of its most recent cheating cases had nothing to do with the Internet, cellphones or anything tech. A heavily tattooed student was found with notes written on his arm. He had blended them into his body art.

Unauthorized use of foreign masters course slides

2010-06-28T04:41:00.001-07:00

Unauthorized use of foreign masters course slides

This message from the doctor Parham Behrooz, longtime professor of electrical and computer engineering faculty at the University of California Sntabarbara received that is important. Unfortunately, this type of abuse in Iran is extremely common. Our hope is this message to your dream.

I would like to bring a form of plagiarism to your attention that I have not seen mentioned on your "Professors Against Plagiarism" or similar Web sites. On occasion, I have come across instructors at Iranian universities using the lecture slides that I have prepared in connection with my textbook, without mentioning that the slides have been taken from my material, often with no change in contents whatsoever. In fact, in some cases, the instructor had removed my name from the slides and inserted his own. I have noticed the same form of dishonesty from certain instructors in China and other Asian countries as well. The fact that something is available on-line, with explicit permission given for educational uses, does not give one a license to abandon all rules of decency and use other people's work without giving any credit to them.

At any rate, what made me write this note now is the appearance of an Inside Higher Ed article (summary and link below) that deals with a similar problem: that of abusing unpublished lab material.

Inside Higher Ed reports on "a recent plagiarism case" at Bethel University that "has plunged the college into a debate over the difference between collegial exchanges of course materials and the outright stealing of fellow professors' ideas." The case stems from Benjamin Shults, a computer science professor who "began sharing unpublished lab exercises and course materials - he calls them an online textbook - with other professors in his department." One of those professors "erased any trace of Shults's name from the documents when he used them in class, adding his own name throughout the materials," which eventually led Shults to file a grievance. However, the Grievance Review Committee found the other professor guilty only of "accidental plagiarism," and asked him to apologize. Shults has voiced concern that the decision sets a bad precedent. The article notes that there have been "past frictions" between the two professors.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/02/plagiarism

Regards. ... Behrooz
_______________________________
Dr. Behrooz Parhami
Professor, Dept. Electrical and Computer Engineering
Assoc. Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Engineering
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9560, USA
Phone: +1 805 893 3211
Dept. fax: +1 805 893 3262
E-mail: parhami@ece.ucsb.edu
Web: www.ece.ucsb.edu/ ~ parhami /

Is academic plagiarism being hidden?

2010-06-20T01:32:00.001-07:00

http://academic-spam.blogspot.com/

For students at City University London there is no shortage of information about how not to plagiarise. Search for "plagiarism" on the university's website and about 270 results appear – including a four-minute video called Understanding Plagiarism and How to Avoid it. Elsewhere on the same site, students are warned that they risk being kicked out of the university should they be caught stealing the work of someone else. This is a university that takes plagiarism very seriously.

All of which might be bad news for one of its lecturers.

Earlier this month, the British Journal of Sociology retracted a 2008 article written by Dr Hasmita Ramji, a sociology lecturer at City, citing a "substantial overlap" with a 1995 paper in the journal Sociology, by Dr Miri Song and Dr David Parker. It said this retraction had been done by agreement between Ramji, the journal's editor-in-chief and the publishers.

In a statement to Education Guardian, the university says: "It has been alleged that a member of City University London staff has committed plagiarism. Allegations of this kind are taken extremely seriously by the university, which has suspended the individual involved while an internal investigation is completed in line with our academic disciplinary procedures." The university would not confirm the identity of the staff member in question.

Student plagiarism worries

This incident comes as concern over student plagiarism is probably at an all-time high. In May, Rob Behrens, the chief executive of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, said that a "moral panic" over student plagiarism had resulted in "over-zealous sanctions" in some universities. This has contributed to a rise in the numbers of students making complaints against their universities. Plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin is now routinely used across universities in the UK, because of the rise in student plagiarism that the internet has facilitated. And often, when students hand in their coursework – as is the case in City – they must sign a cover sheet saying their work is their own.

Ramji's 2008 paper is entitled Exploring Commonality and Difference in In-depth Interviewing: A Case Study of Researching British-Asian Women. Song and Parker call their 1995 paper Commonality, Difference and the Dynamics of Disclosure in In-depth Interviewing.

They open by saying: "The last few decades have witnessed a notable growth in literature addressing the politics and ethics of social research." Ramji introduces her article with: "There has been a burgeoning literature in the last few decades addressing the politics and ethics of social research." Elsewhere, Song and Parker write: "In carrying out these interviews, Edwards also had concerns about her interpretation of black women's lives as a white female researcher..." Ramji has the same sentence with the single change that "these" becomes "her". There are a number of other similarities.

Ramji teaches courses at City such as research methods, current issues in sociology, and approaches to social research. She completed her PhD, on British Hindu Gujarati women's identity, at City in 2002, and once appeared on Radio 4's Thinking Allowed to discuss British Asian identity. Ramji did not reply to an email seeking comment about the issue.

The extent of academic plagiarism is not easy to research. "I would estimate that during a school year up to 20-30 academics are accused of plagiarism," says forensic linguist John Olsson, an expert who is often asked by universities to examine plagiarism charges. In most cases, according to Olsson, who has recently written a book called Wordcrime: Solving Crime Through Forensic Linguistics, universities do their best to keep these allegations quiet.

Isolated incidents

Jude Carroll, author of A Handbook for Deterring Plagiarism in Higher Education, is a little more cautious. "No one knows how widespread the problem is – in the UK or elsewhere," she says, adding that she is sure incidents of academics who plagiarise are isolated. "We do come across such cases," explains Salima Mawji, a partner at Match solicitors in London, which specialises in higher education cases, "but not very often." So far this year, she has defended two academics accused of plagiarism.

While students have guidelines to help them avoid committing plagiarism, and are told of the regulations in place in the event that they do, the regulations are far less clear for academics. "It's just assumed that academics don't do it," says Mawji. "And when they do, it would fall squarely under a disciplinary area."

Academics don't attach signed coversheets saying that they haven't plagiarised. Their work is reviewed by their peers. The British Journal of Sociology, one of the leading sociology journals in the world, based at the London School of Economics, says papers submitted for publication are entered into a double-blind peer-review system, and usually read by at least two assessors and one of the editors. That Ramji's paper was published suggests the journal's peer-review process had some kind of system failure.

Song and Parker's article, according to one sociologist in the field, isn't an obscure paper from a journal no one had heard of: it is fairly well known, and was published in another respected journal. The plagiarism allegation is not something the British Journal of Sociology wishes to shout about: Vicki Whittaker, of Wiley-Blackwell, the publisher of the journal, refused to discuss the case, saying it would not "disclose the details of confidential investigations of this nature".

Ramji herself had written two articles and a review essay in Sociology, where Song and Parker's 1995 article was published. Judith Mudd, the chief executive of the British Sociological Association, which publishes Sociology, said that no allegations of plagiarism had come to the association's attention in relation to these other articles.

Although City University declined to go into the details, it seems safe to assume that either Ramji has already gone before a disciplinary board, or is about to. The university would not confirm when it was first made aware of the plagiarism allegation against her, except to say that it acted "very swiftly" as soon as it was. Frank Webster, City sociology department head, says: "We notified the British Journal of Sociology of the issue when it came to our attention."

But before the book is thrown at academic plagiarists, it is worth pointing out that universities themselves can occasionally be verbally light-fingered. According to Olsson, a number of universities' plagiarism guidelines in fact plagiarise the plagiarism guidelines of other universities.

RELEVANT SOURCES:

http://netdriver.blogspot.com/

http://junk-conference.blogspot.com/

http://www.astronomyforum.net/uk-astronomy-forum/95363-fake-conference-fake-conference-fake-conference-again.html

http://iaria-highsci.blogspot.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jul/28/academic-plagiarism

WSEAS news

2010-02-18T09:24:00.001-08:00

See some of our WSEAS recent news at

http://wseas.blogspot.com

WSEAS TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTERS

ISI Blog: Check now the Submitted Papers in WSEAS Conferences very easily...

WSEAS Chairmen. WSEAS Special Sessions. WSEAS Invited Speakers. WSEAS Plenary Speakers. WSEAS keynote Speakers and many others Edit ...
http://isi-publisher.blogspot.com/2010/01/check-now-submitted-papers-in-wseas.html

Papandreou on tax measures

2010-02-05T01:04:00.000-08:00

New Delhi (ANA-MPA/V. Mourtis) --Prime minister George Papandreou on Thursday announced that measures will be taken for those "who are not paying today but should be paying", referring to the new tax bill to be tabled next week, while speaking to reporters in New Delhi on his official visit to India during which he will attend and address the 2010 Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS). In that context, Papandreou stressed that low-salary and small and medium size concerns need to be protected, adding that his government is determined to make the necessary changes because "if those changes are not made, thing will get worse". The premier noted that the government has sought the input of all sides with respect to the changes, and especially of those who have the biggest privileges and must contribute more to the effort. "None of us are happy with the difficulties the country is facing," Papandreou explained, adding though that "we must turn the crisis into an opportunity, and today is a historic opportunity that we must make use of".
"The changes will be to the benefit of the citizens," he added.
Papandreou noted that the current situation is the outcome of the many mistakes made in the past, stressing that it is a national need that the changes are made, particularly given that "the country is at risk". He also stressed that the inability and lack of determination of the previous years to introduce changes were what created the present-day problems "which we are paying".
Papandreou is due to meet on Friday with Indian Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi, and the discussion will also review the 1982 five-continent "Initiative of the Six" peace movement founded by his father, then prime minister of Greece Andreas Papandreou, Mexican president Miguel de la Madrid, Argentinian prime minister Raul Alfonsin, Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere, and Sonia Gandhi's late mother-in-law, then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, urging the superpowers to put an immediate halt to all nuclear weapon tests.
The Initiative won the international peace award of the Beyond War Foundation in 1985. He did not rule out the prospect of revival of the initiative, since the threat of nuclear arms still exists today.

http://dominore.blogspot.com

Stop the fraud : EU Company Registration EU Business Services Ltd / International Directories Group Ltd

2010-02-03T06:43:00.001-08:00

All use misleading forms sent by Email as PDF attachments, the forms are
ambiguous, appearing to offer a free entry but hidden in the small print is
an onerous contract costing thousands of Euros. Persons who refuse to pay
are hounded by debt collectors Waldberg & Hirsch.

----- Original Message -----
From: "EU Company Registration" <donotreply@eucompanydirectoryonline.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 5:07 AM
Subject: Registration of EU Companies 2010/2011

EU Company Registration
Dear Madam/Sir,

In order to have your company inserted into the registry of EU
companies for 2010/2011, please print, complete and return the enclosed
form (PDF
file) to the following address:

EU Company Directory
P.O. Box 2021
3500 GA UTRECHT
The Netherlands
Fax number: + 31 205248107
Email: mail@eucdnow.com
Updating is free of charge!

To unsubscribe, please send an email to unsubscribe@eu-businessservices.com

Avoid any relation with this FRAUD!

2010-02-03T01:11:00.001-08:00

Avoid any relation with this FRAUD!

----- Original Message -----
From: "EU Company Registration" <donotreply@eucompanydirectoryonline.com>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 5:07 AM
Subject: Registration of EU Companies 2010/2011

EU Company Registration

EU Company Registration
Dear Madam/Sir,

In order to have your company inserted into the registry of EU
companies for 2010/2011, please print, complete and return the enclosed
form (PDF
file) to the following address:

EU Company Directory
P.O. Box 2021
3500 GA UTRECHT
The Netherlands
Fax number: + 31 205248107
Email: mail@eucdnow.com
Updating is free of charge!

To unsubscribe, please send an email to unsubscribe@
eu-businessservices.com

Professors Against Plagiarism: Plagiarism in Turkey !!!

2010-01-29T06:37:00.001-08:00

Professors Against Plagiarism: Plagiarism in Turkey

http://professorsagainstplagiarism.blogspot.com/2010/01/plagiarism-in-turkey.html

From

Professors Against Plagiarism: Plagiarism in Turkey

French ex-PM Dominique de Villepin has accused President Sarkozy of pursuing a vendetta against him, after prosecutors promised to appeal over his acquittal.

2010-01-29T03:33:00.001-08:00

Mr de Villepin was found not guilty on Thursday of having a role in a smear
campaign against Mr Sarkozy.
But the Paris state prosecutor said there was scope for an appeal as not all
the facts of the case had emerged.
The ex-PM, Mr Sarkozy's one-time rival for the presidency, said the
president was acting out of "hatred".
"This decision is a political decision and what it shows is that Nicolas
Sarkozy, president of the Republic, prefers to continue in his
relentlessness and hatred instead of assuming the responsibilities of his
office," he told French TV.
Minutes earlier, Paris state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin announced the
appeal, saying it was "surprising" that Mr de Villepin had been acquitted.
He told French radio: "All has not emerged in this case. There is still
scope for a part of the truth to emerge. "Whatever happens, there will be a
second trial." Mr Marin added that the appeal could be heard later this year
or early in 2011. On Thursday Mr de Villepin was cleared of four counts of
complicity to slander, to use forgeries, dealing in stolen property and
breach of trust.
Mr Sarkozy had promised he would "hang from a butcher's hook" for trying to
smear his name.

Bribe allegations:
http://blogiasis.blogspot.com
In 2004, Mr Sarkozy's name appeared on a list of top politicians and
businessmen who were wrongly linked to an illegal bank account in
Luxembourg. It was alleged those named on the list had received bribes from
international arms sales.
The list was sent to people including Mr de Villepin, who was accused of
failing to stop the conspiracy.
During the investigation, Mr de Villepin admitted he knew of the documents -
but the court found no evidence to prove he had known they had been faked.
At the trial, prosecutors had called for him to receive an 18-month
suspended sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros (£39,000). Three other
defendants were convicted, including a former executive of the EADS
aerospace group, Jean-Louis Gergorin, who admitted leaking the fake list to
investigators, and Imad Lahoud, a computer specialist, who confessed to
adding Mr Sarkozy's name to the list. Both men were fined 40,000 euros
(£34,500; $56,000). Gergorin must serve 15 months in prison and Lahoud must
serve 18 months. A fifth defendant was cleared.

http://blogiasis.blogspot.com

Professors against Plagiarism in IRAN http://professorsagainstplagiarism.blogspot.com/

2010-01-28T01:35:00.001-08:00

http://professorsagainstplagiarism.blogspot.com/
Senior officials in the Iranian government are suspected of plagiarizing
published scientific content for political gain.
Nature, the international weekly journal of science, reported last week that
its research unearthed even more plagiarism allegations against prominent
figures in Iran. The first person to be implicated more than a year ago was
Masumeh Ebtekar, the head of the Environmental Protection Organization under
President Khatami.
A few months ago, Nature tabbed Transport Minister Hamid Behbahani, who
supervised President Ahmadi-nejad's doctoral thesis, for plagiarism in a
paper he co-authored. Nature says the paper appeared based on three earlier
articles by three different authors. The journal Transport retracted the
paper in October, but the Iranian government has not investigated the
allegations.
Behbahani told the public he did not plagiarize and that only parts of the
article were identical to earlier work. He called the plagiarism allegations
a "media attack, far from fairness and integrity" and "an illegitimate
accusation."
The Majlis did, however, informally investigate Science Minister Kamran
Daneshjou and the four papers he co-authored. Daneshjou oversaw this year's
elections in his previous post of deputy interior minister. The Majlis
Science and Education Committee held an informal inquiry into the case and
dismissed it after Daneshjou's colleague and co-author, Majid Shahravi, took
responsibility for the content in the papers. Three of the four papers have
been retracted from publications. The fourth paper was published in an
Iranian journal.

Nature speculates that the frequent cases of plagiarism in Iran are partly
the result of poor fluency in English. Nature said the culture in Iran and
some other developing countries expects officials to have strong academic
credentials. That encourages resort to plagiarism to uphold this cultural
expectation and gain promotions.
Nature notes many of Iran's best scientists left Iran after the 1979 Islamic
revolution because universities were asked to eliminate Western influences
and staff. Iranian research improved and became more credible in the late
1990s with the help of President Mohammad Khatami who made academic
appointments based on merit, Nature said. It said research in Iran has gone
downhill since Ahmadi-nejad took power in 2005 because political influence
directed promotions within universities.

http://professorsagainstplagiarism.blogspot.com/

US President Barack Obama has said in his first State of the Union address that creating jobs must be the nation's number one focus.

2010-01-28T01:22:00.001-08:00

Mr Obama accepted Americans were "hurting" and that his election pledge of
change had not come quickly enough. He defended his healthcare reform
efforts and bank bailout policy, but said there would be a spending freeze
from 2011 to tackle the budget deficit. Bob McDonnell, for the Republicans,
criticised the expansion of government. The Virginia governor said the
federal government was "simply trying to do too much".

'Devastation remains': Mr Obama was given the traditional warm welcome by
all sides of Congress and received several standing ovations. He opened his
address by saying the US had to "answer history's call".

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has spent the night in hospital after being taken ill with high blood pressure, Brazilian media report.

2010-01-28T01:17:00.001-08:00

Lula, 64, became ill after boarding a plane in the north-eastern city of
Recife to fly to Davos in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum.
Presidency officials said he had felt "tired and indisposed". Local media
say Lula is expected to be discharged later in the day but may still require
more medical tests. Central Bank President Henrique Meirelles will travel to
Davos to represent Brazil. President Lula had spent Wednesday in Recife,
following a busy agenda. The president had complained of a sore throat and a
pain in his chest during the day and showed signs of high blood pressure as
he was about to depart. Mr Lula's personal doctor, Cleber Ferreira, who
advised that he be taken to hospital, said: "I took the president off the
plane. He didn't fly on doctors' orders, but right until the last minute he
wanted to travel." Mr Lula was due to become the first head of state to
receive the World Economic Forum

Sad News: The pioneer of the science of Fuzzy Logic, Professor Mamdani (You know "Mamdani Model") passed away.

2010-01-28T00:58:00.001-08:00

Sad News: The pioneer of the science of Fuzzy Logic, Professor Mamdani (You
know "Mamdani Model") passed away.
"The premature passing away of Abe Mamdani is a deep loss for his family,
the fuzzy logic community and all who knew him"
Lotfi Zadeh
See more details:
http://mybisc.blogspot.com/2010/01/in-memoriam-premature-passing-away-of.html

Just what we need out of Washington: More wind.

2010-01-27T04:47:00.001-08:00

The White House took time out Tuesday to plug what it called a success story
ahead of President Obama's State of the Union address. Citing a new report
by the American Wind Energy Association, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said
the administration's much-criticized economic stimulus bill turned what had
been a projected decline in new wind electricity generation in 2009 to a
sharp increase. Gibbs said the association predicted the amount of new
electricity produced by wind turbines would dip by 50 percent in 2009,
compared to the capacity added in 2008. "Instead, this tax credit came
through the Recovery Act, and we saw a 39 percent increase in the number of
wind plants, wind power, generated over the course of last year," Gibbs
said. Gibbs pointed to the administration's assistance to the renewable
energy industry as an example of "investments for the future."
Did Gibbs correctly characterize the report's findings? Yes. But while the
industry credits the stimulus bill with spurring new growth in 2009, it says
the new growth hasn't necessarily translated into new jobs.
The industry did add nearly 10,000 megawatts of generating capacity in 2009,
"shattering any expectations we had for the year, given the financial
crisis," said Elizabeth Salerno, the AWEA's director of industry data and
analysis.
Utilities had a strong first quarter of the year based on projects that were
already in the works before the financial meltdown of 2008. But projects
dried up quickly in mid-year, before about $1.9 billion in renewable energy
tax credits from the stimulus bill began to kick in, Salerno said.

Once the rules for qualifying for those credits were drafted, companies
began using them to raise private capital and the year finished
"significantly stronger" than expected, she said. "That really is due to the
Recovery Act."

Wind power produced about 1.6 percent of the electricity used in the United
States though October 2009, according to U.S. Department of Energy figures.
That's up from about 1.25 percent in all of 2008, and the final figure for
2009 is likely to be close to 2 percent, Salerno said.

But while the wind projects produced new jobs for people installing and
maintaining the new generating units, the stimulus funding "doesn't
necessarily translate to increases in manufacturing," Salerno said.

"Overall, we've had some gains and some losses," she said. "I think we've
been able to remain steady at about 85,000 jobs, which is about where we
ended up at the end of 2008."

Salerno said the industry will be closely watching Obama's budget proposal,
expected next week, for signs of continued support.

"Manufacturing needs a much longer time horizon to make investments," she
said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen are travelling to Northern Ireland for further talks on policing and justice.

2010-01-25T08:14:00.001-08:00

Earlier, talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein ended after less than an hour.
SF's Martin McGuinness said he was "frustrated" at the DUP because of the
lack of progress on devolving policing. The impasse over the issue is
causing a growing crisis, with mounting speculation on the future of NI's
political institutions. Sinn Fein and the DUP - Northern Ireland's two
biggest political parties - have been arguing for months over the transfer
of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont.

Sinn Fein want the completion of devolution to happen as soon as possible,
but the DUP argue there must be unionist "community confidence" before
powers are put in the hands of local politicians. The "confidence" issue
causing most division is over the handling of parades. The DUP wants to
scrap the Parades Commission, which puts conditions on some of the most
contentious marches, but Sinn Fein has accused them of giving the Orange
Order a talks veto. Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street on
Monday afternoon, Gordon Brown said he believed difficulties could be
overcome. He said: "We believe that the problems that exist in devolving
policing and justice are all soluble problems. "We believe that it is right
for Northern Ireland to move forward in this way now and we believe that
together we can assist the completion of these talks.

"And while I recognise that there are difficult issues, we believe that
these issues can be overcome." The Irish prime minister Brian Cowen said he
was confident progress would be made. http://dominore.blogspot.com

Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed -- also known as Chemical Ali -- was executed Monday, an Iraqi government spokesman said.

2010-01-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed -- also known as Chemical Ali -- was executed Monday, an Iraqi government spokesman said.

SOURCE: http://blogiasis.blogspot.com/

He was hanged after having been convicted on 13 counts of killings and
genocide, Ali al-Dabagh said.
Al-Majeed had been sentenced to death in four separate trials, including one
that focused on his involvement in a poison gas attack against Iraqi Kurds
that killed about 5,000 people. His execution had been delayed for political
rather than legal reasons. It is not clear what change, if any, led to the
reported execution. Al-Majeed had been held in United States custody since
his capture in 2003. But he was handed over to the Iraqi authorities in the
24 hours before his execution, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill told CNN's
Diana Magnay on Monday. The 1988 poison gas attack on the village of
Halabja, which earned al-Majeed his nickname, was part of the Anfal
campaign, in which the Hussein regime killed at least 100,000 Iraqi Kurds.
The campaign is believed to be worst poison gas attack on civilians ever.
Al-Majeed was sentenced to death separately for his role in putting down a
Shiite uprising against Hussein in 1991, and for his part in putting down a
Baghdad revolt in 1999. Estimates of the Shiite death toll in the 1991
rebellion range from 20,000 to 100,000. Al-Majeed was convicted of playing a
key part in the slaughter during the revolt in southern Iraq that followed
the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
One of his co-defendants in the Anfal case, Sultan Hashem, is a prominent
Sunni leader who is considered a key player in efforts to reconcile the
country's once-dominant Sunni community with the Shiite majority that now
wields political power.
Hashem was also sentenced to death, but Iraq's Sunni Arab Vice-President
Tariq al-Hashimi has long refused to sign his execution order. That delayed
the execution of al-Majeed and another defendant as well.
Iraqi law requires all three members of the Iraqi presidency council -- the
president and two vice-presidents -- to sign execution orders. It does not
say what happens if they do not sign.

SOURCE: http://blogiasis.blogspot.com/

Plagiarism and the Web Revolution and Bogus Conferences

2010-01-25T05:36:00.001-08:00

Professors Against Plagiarism :

Plagiarism and the Web Revolution

Web Plagiarism has become an epidemic in academia largely as a result of the high precision and recall of the Google search engine and the huge volumes of intellectual property on the web.

According to the Northern Kentucky University (library.nku.edu) many students think that it is acceptable to “paraphrase” the works of others and they have one of the best definitions that I have seen:

Students anxious about committing plagiarism often ask:

"How much do I have to change a sentence to be sure I'm not plagiarizing?" A simple answer to this is: If you have to ask, you're probably plagiarizing. This is important.

Avoiding plagiarism is not an exercise in inventive paraphrasing. There is no magic number of words that you can add or change to make a passage your own.

Original work demands original thought and organization of thoughts.

As a retired Adjunct Professor Emeritus who makes my living selling my words I find plagiarism especially offensive. Plagiarism, by its very definition cannot be an accident, and it is an intentional act of theft. No amount of excuses or pleas of ignorance can exonerate a plagiarist from their fundamental dishonesty.

The Semantics of Plagiarism

As we have noted, the detection of plagiarism involves the stealing of “original work and thought”. Plagiarism can be subtle, and many students believe that they can change one or two words in a sentence and avoid detection. So, how do we detect the work of the sly plagiarist who replaces words with synonyms and alters the sentence structure?

· Synonyms – A reference to “House” could be changed to dwelling, abode, apartment, etc.

· Word Stems – A reference to “house” could be changed to housing, home, etc.

· Semantic Structure – Adverbs and adjectives can be replaced and altered to conceal the crime.

Fortunately, despite these attempts to hide their wrongdoing, the plagiarist is still detected thanks to sophisticated web tools and the world of applied Artificial Intelligence. Sophisticated software such as those found at Turnitin.com employ pattern matching algorithms that glean the “meaning of each phrase” and compare it to existing works on the Internet.

Let’s take a closer look at how this works. Software such as the Princeton Wordnet provides hierarchies of synonyms that can replicate the plagiarist’s attempts to conceal their theft. This author worked extensive with semantic networks and they can often lead to surprising results. Once, I entered a semantic search against a major legal database to see of any published court ruling had ever used the profane “F” word.

I ran the search using full synonym expansion and was surprised to find dozens of results, each with the highlighted word “Congress”. Confused, I consulted the semantic network and discovered that a “Congress” like the “F” word, is a union of two bodies!

Other web search engine companies are developing search tools that have the surprising side-effect of being able to detect plagiarism. Their goal is to allow web users to highlight a paragraph of text and press a button called “Show me more like this”.

Internally, these tools analyze the paragraph, apply structure, word stem and synonym rules, and scour the web for a suitable match.

The epidemic of web content Theft

According to a televised investigation report on the hit TV show Primetime Thursday, they found a growing problem of cheating and plagiarism, facilitated by the massive volumes of content on the web. From junior high schools to the Ivy League, Primetime found that students find the temptation to cit-and-paste from the web an irresistible temptation. According to the Primetime Thursday report, many students believe that “everyone” plagiarizes, and they use this as an excuse for their theft:

"It's unfair on your part, if you're studying, you know, so many hours for an exam and everybody else in the class gets an 'A' cheating," says Sharon, a college student.

"So you want to get in the game and cheat, too."

The web is a double-edged sword. Just as it has facilitated the theft of content, it has also enabled tools for publishers and professors to quickly detect stolen content. Let’s take a closer look.

Detecting Plagiarism

Fortunately, it’s just as easy for someone to detect plagiarism as it is for the scumbags to copy it off of other people’s web pages. There are several web sites that aid in detecting plagiarism.

· Amazon – The Amazon “search inside the book” feature has resulted in dozens of lawsuits for plagiarism as unscrupulous authors were caught within days of the introduction of the feature.

· Google – The Google search engine is used by almost all College professors today and the new Google Print facility is now indexing thousands of books into the Google engine.

· Turnitin.com – This wonderful web site is available to academics everywhere and provides instant web content matching for papers and College essays. (www.turnitin.com)

Now that the web has given us tools to detect the plagiarist, the threat of getting caught has acted as a deterrent. However, the punishments for the plagiarist can run the gamut from a slap-on-the hand to loss of

Professors Against Plagiarism

A Question of Honor

Since I make my living selling my work, I have an intense hatred for those who steal the work of others. When I was a professor at a major state university I would always make sure that all of my students understood the difference between “fair use”, author attribution, and the seriousness of stealing the works of others and calling them your own.

The punishments for plagiarists are the most severe at schools that employ and enforce an honor code such as the U.S. military academies.

“We will not Lie, Cheat, Steal, nor Tolerate Among us those Who Do”

Please note that the honor code requires any student to turn-in any other student who they suspect of lying, cheating or stealing. This created a self-policing system to ensure personal honor and integrity.

John Garmany, a noted author with Rampant TechPress and a Graduate of West Point notes that the honor code made plagiarism virtually non-existent:

“We were well versed in plagiarism and we would never think of using someone else’s work without giving them credit.

An honor code violation meant dishonor and dismissal from West Point and we took it very seriously.

For example, we were allowed to ask another cadet for help, but we were required to mention the helper by name, even if we did not use any of their ideas directly”

Sadly, enforcement of web content theft is sporadic at best, even among the top schools.

Punishment for Plagiarists

In my experience as an Adjunct professor, plagiarism is largely tolerated at major U.S. colleges and universities, and I found it to be extremely frustrating.

I remember one case where a U.S. Military officer submitted a computer program that matched the work of another, line for line. Upon investigation I discovered that he had lifted someone else’s work from a trash bin and copied it, adding only his name, as the author.

I was especially offended because this officer was a graduate of a U.S. Military academy, and was completely familiar with the honor code and the ethics of an officer and a gentleman. Upon confrontation, he was completely unremorseful and gave the lame excuse “everyone does it”.

In this case I wanted to show no mercy, and I attempted to flunk the student and file a complaint against him with the university. I was fully aware that the Armed Forces would not be favorable to him, that he would loose his security clearance and could be summarily dismissed from the armed forces, perhaps loosing his retirement and most of all, his personal honor.

Unfortunately, the Dean of my College was far more tolerant than I was, and refused to allow me to pursue my complaint. To me, it seems that no threat of consequences enables the web thief.

Plagiarism, intentional or not, is considered stealing and can expose you to serious liability. In 2004 I was reviewing a job interview book and discovered an entire page that I had written which had been stolen and published by one of the world’s largest publishers. Fortunately for the publisher, I was also one of their authors, and I was familiar with their contract that holds the author solely responsible for ensuring that their content is their own work.

Those who are victims of plagiarism are entitled to the following remedies:

· To have the offending book recalled from distribution – This can cost the publisher over $100k, and the author was required to pay for it.

· To an official published apology – The plagiarist must publicly admit their theft and acknowledge the rightful creator of the material.

· Civil damages – In one case, the victim sued the author and received over a quarter of a million dollars. The author lost his house, savings and was ruined by their act.

Laws against Plagiarism

According to the United State Constitution, “The Congress shall have power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries”. The U.S. Supreme court has also addressed the plagiarism issue, and also uses the “Latham Act” to justify punitive damages for plagiarism.

In 1948, Doubleday copyrighted and published General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s book, Crusade in Europe, which was about the D-Day invasion and Fox later created a TV series from it.

For the fiftieth anniversary of World War II, a third party company named Dastar edited the Crusade in Europe television series, added some new material, and released a video set called World War II Campaign in Europe without attribution to Fox.

In the famous Dastar vs. Twentieth Century Fox case (539 US 23), the court found Dastar guilty of plagiarism for copying Twentieth Century Fox material without giving them proper credit:

their complaint […] claims that Dastar's sale of Campaigns “without proper credit” to the Crusade television series constitutes “reverse passing off” in violation of § 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)

In this case we see that the U.S. Supreme court doubled the amount of the damages. When plagiarism is intentional and with malice, courts are allowed to impose “punitive” damages, doubling and even tripling the amount of the actual damage to punish the plagiarist:

From

Professors Against Plagiarism

SOURCE: http://professorsagainstplagiarism.blogspot.com/

From the same web site (Professors Against Plagiarism) we received also the following information

The Professors Against Plagiarism say

Looking over the Internet we discovered this story:

http://diehimmelistschoen.blogspot.com

Really very interesting

So, the Universities that organize WSEAS Conferences must be very careful in the review

After this mistake of IEEE, we must be careful

Also, we found via Wikipedia this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCIgen
which is a collection for many bogus conferences (outside the WSEAS).

WSEAS is very proud that we have a very strict review process.
So, I copy from WIKIPEDIA this TEXT

In 2008 and 2009, several computer generated (gibberish) conference articles, with fictitious authors, appeared in IEEE Xplore Data Base coming from many IEEE Sponsored events. Other poor quality conference articles have also, occasionally, appeared in IEEE Confererences and consequently in IEEE Xplore. The IEEE itself accepted (see http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/corporate/board/ad_hoc_committees/qualityofconferencepapers.html )that such articles hurt the reputation of IEEE and destroyed confidence in the quality of IEEE publications. IEEE tried to find solutions against this vulnerability but in vain, because many more bogus papers appeared in the next months (see http://iaria-highsci.blogspot.com and http://blog.marcelotoledo.org/2008/12/26/how-can-someone-trust-ieee )

List of works with noticeable acceptance

Rob Thomas: Rooter: A Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy, 2005 for WMSCI (see above)
Mathias Uslar's paper was accepted to the IPSI-BG conference^[4].
Professor Genco Gülan published a paper in the 3rd International Symposium of Interactive Media Design^[5].
Students at Iran's Sharif University of Technology published a paper in the Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computation (which is published by Elsevier)^[6]. The students wrote under the false, non-Persian surname, MosallahNejad, which translates literally as: "from an Armed Breed". The paper was subsequently removed when the publishers were informed that it was a joke paper^[7].
Conferences of Wessex Institute of Technology ^[8].
It seems also that the IEEE IARIA Conference accepted another bogus paper: http://iaria-highsci.blogspot.com/2008/12/we-have-letter-of-acceptance-fantastic.html
A paper titled "Towards the Simulation of E-Commerce" by Herbert Schlangemann got accepted as a reviewed paper at the "International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering" (CSSE) and was briefly in the IEEE Xplore Database ^[9]. The author is named after the Swedish short film Der Schlangemann. Furthermore the author was invited to be a session chair during the conference^[10].Read the official Herbert Schlangemann Blog for details^[11]. The official review comment: "This paper presents cooperative technology and classical Communication. In conclusion, the result shows that though the much-touted amphibious algorithm for the refinement of randomized algorithms is impossible, the well-known client-server algorithm for the analysis of voice-over- IP by Kumar and Raman runs in _(n) time. The authors can clearly identify important features of visualization of DHTs and analyze them insightfully. It is recommended that the authors should develop ideas more cogently, organizes them more logically, and connects them with clear transitions"
In 2009, the same incident happened and Herbert Schlangemann's latest fake paper "PlusPug: A Methodology for the Improvement of Local-Area Networks" has been accepted for oral presentation at another international computer science conference ^[12]. Recently, Denis Baggi, Chairman, IEEE CS confessed, according to a comment on the Schlangemann Blog, that "Selection criteria such a refereeing etc. are meaningless", probably means that IEEE has accepted the unreliability and bogosity of its conferences. Denis Baggi also adds: "Articles should be written only if someone has something to tell others, in which case the validity of the paper is obvious",

A letter from Evan M. Butterfield (IEEE)

A letter from Evan M. Butterfield (Director of Products & Services, IEEE Computer Society10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, Los Alamitos, CA 90720714.816.2165) informed in Jan 17, 2009 the following:

The IEEE Computer Society (CS) has evidence that multiple (IEEE) conferences are receiving machine-generated papers. In two cases, conferences have actually accepted an obviously fraudulent submission. This is a serious issue that threatens the credibility of your conference, the quality of the digital library, and the reputation of both the IEEE and CS. It requires your immediate attention. Please take this opportunity to ensure that your peer review processes are being followed, and adapt to any new requirements that may be communicated by the IEEE or the Computer Society. No conference published by CPS should rely on an abstract review. It is very important that you review carefully the full text of all papers submitted to your conference. If you have already accepted papers, your program committee should review the full text again. While CPS staff will be conducting random spot-checks of conference papers in the publishing queue, we are relying on you to authenticate the content of your proceedings. Any papers that were not actually presented at your conference need to be brought to our attention, and should receive close review. In known cases, the machine-generated origin is obvious from a reading of the first few paragraphs of the paper; the abstracts are human-generated and do not indicate the quality of the paper itself. In the past, papers have been submitted by “Herbert Schlangemann,” but be mindful that the perpetrator of this fraud will change the approach over time. In the event you discover any evidence of questionable content or behavior, please communicate that to us immediately along with an action plan for addressing the problem. Thank you for your help in maintaining the quality of our products. See: http://bogusconferences.blogspot.com/2009/05/bogus-conferences-ieee-confess.html

Criticism concerning publishers

Recently, many fake papers appeared in several IEEE conferences, because the IEEE grants its name and its logo to many local organizers who supposedly do not conduct a thorough review process. It is being argued that such conferences only exist to make money out of researchers that are looking for a simple way to publish their work, in particular publishers like IARIA, http://www.iaria.org, HIGHSCI http://www.highsci.org and SRP http://www.scirp.org appear questionable. As seen from their web sites, IARIA, HIGHSCI and SRP use the name of IEEE and the IEEE publishing services, thus attracting numerous papers. Some people to test some conference go further and sent the paper "A Statistical Method For Women That Can Help Our Sexual Education" in the IEEE Conference organized by IARIA. This paper received automatic acceptance within a few hours with simultaneous "command" of direct payment. Unfortunately this paper was not published because the authors did not pay the registration fee. However the letter of acceptance is published on the web and anybody can check it: http://iaria-highsci.blogspot.com/, http://scamieee.blogspot.com/

Other protest blogs are:

Official Protests^[13].
Bogus Conferences ^[14].

"Netdriver"^[15].
"Another Letter of acceptance in an IEEE Conference"^[16].
Anti-Plagiarism Web Log^[17].
"How can someone trust IEEE?"^[18].
"Open Letter"^[19].
"A letter from Evan M. Butterfield (IEEE) "^[20].

Notes

MRS. OBAMA: Remarks by The First Lady during Department of Commerce visit

2010-01-25T05:22:00.001-08:00

MRS. OBAMA: Hey! (Applause.) All right, so who would have thought that the Department of Commerce was so happening? (Laughter.) You guys are alive. There's energy here. Thank you. I am thrilled to be here. It is exciting for me to come and see you. I've been planning to come for a little bit, but now I'm here.

I want to thank your dear Secretary, Secretary Locke, for that kind introduction and for his outstanding work for this Department. And I want to take this moment to wish him a happy birthday, yes -- (applause) -- as a fellow Capricorn, right -- (laughter) -- that's what you are, that's what it is, yes. And he doesn't look a day over 30, 35, right? (Laughter and applause.) Whatever the number, my husband and I wish you a happy birthday, and we are so proud of the work that you're doing here at the Department of Commerce.

You didn't exactly start this job at a quiet time for the agency, right? From the economic challenges that we face, to the challenge of conducting our census, which I know many of you are involved in -- let's hear it for the census people -- (applause) -- I think that it's fair to say that your Secretary has had a pretty busy year. But he's risen to the occasion, leading by example, calling on more than 50,000 employees of this Department to give their jobs everything they've got. And it feels like, in here, that you all are doing just that. Am I right? (Applause.)

And all of you, and your colleagues all across this city, the nation, across the world, quite frankly -- and I know some of them are watching -- you all have answered the call, and we're proud of you.

Some of you have been here for decades now -- (laughter) -- as we just heard, like these folks on stage, who are some of the longest serving employees here. I'm always excited to meet people who have worked at a place longer than I've been alive. (Laughter.) So that's a good thing. And they look wonderful. (Applause.)

And then there are others of you who may have started just this year in this administration, so we want to give the newbies a shout-out. (Applause.) Take a look onstage with responsibility, dedication, focus. This could be you. (Laughter.) Don't laugh. It's a job, right? (Laughter.) But we welcome you all.

But I know that all of you are working, and working hard every day for the American people, and I'm here to do what I love doing most, and that is to say thank you to all of you for the work that you're doing. This is something that I've been doing for an entire year now as First Lady, one of the many things, is coming to the agencies and thanking you for your work and your service, because a lot of times we forget that behind all the news headlines and the reports, there are people who are making sacrifices and working long hours and sometimes not feeling appreciated at all. And it's been a wonderful part of my job to be a representative from the White House to tell you how much we value your work and your sacrifice over the years.

But it's been substantively useful for me, as well, coming here, listening, learning, getting a better understanding of what happens at each agency, using the spotlight to share with the rest of the country all that you do.

So I'm pleased to have the chance to be here today at this Department to make one more stop, because what you all do to spur innovation, support America's businesses, and keep our economy competitive is so very important. It's important at any time, but it is particularly critical during the tough economic times that this nation is facing right now.

And we know that there are a lot of families out there who are struggling. Some of you are struggling right here. You know people in your communities and your families and your churches who are struggling. We know that a lot of young people are worried about whether they'll have the opportunities that they need to build their own careers, and make a life of their own, and to provide for their families, and to build their future dreams.

But we also know this -- that in difficult times like these, we have always as a nation come together, always. And as my husband says, these are not the most difficult times by far in this nation. In these times, we come together and we overcome and we're able to face these challenges. And we have what it takes to do that again today. I'm sure of it.

Right now, there are scientists and innovators who are working around the clock. You know them. You're supporting them. They're chasing the breakthroughs and the discoveries that are going to change the way we live and work from this point forward.

There are entrepreneurs in garages and basements and college dorm rooms who are brainstorming late into the night about how they're going to turn that good idea into a viable business.

Workers across this country are pouring themselves into their jobs every single day, determined to offer the best products and services on the planet. That is the nation that we live in.

And that's where all of you come in, all of you here in this Department, because CEOs don't just flip a coin to decide whether to set up shop here in America or overseas. You know that. Products don't just sell themselves. And businesses don't succeed by accident.

These things happen in part when companies have the right conditions for growth and the right markets for their goods and the kind of support they need to get off the ground in the first place and keep growing and expanding.

And that's the kind of assistance that all of you do to support and provide these businesses with the opportunities they need -- helping people protect their ideas and to make their businesses more productive; opening new markets for their products, and connecting them with resources and customers around the world. And that's what it's going to take for us to create new jobs and promote new prosperity.

And it's important for America to know how important this Department is in making all of that happen. And that is the real human story behind the work that you do.

Again, it's important for America to understand that connection -- how every innovation that you spur here, every business you help, every dream that you nurture means a livelihood for another family out there somewhere; a source of income for another community; it means another building block for our economy.

And you all aren't just helping create jobs today. This isn't just about right now. Your work doesn't just strengthen our economy this year or this decade. You are laying the foundation for our economic prosperity for generations to come. You're going to be helping my girls by connecting underserved communities to the Internet, for example; driving innovation in everything from nanotechnology to cyber security. I hear that you're even fast-tracking patents for inventions that promote clean energy, something that my husband has talked about since the day he took the oath of office.

And all of this speaks to the broader mission of this Department -- again, something that people don't know that you're here doing. It's the mission at the heart of the NOAA's work -- can I hear it from NOAA? -- (applause) -- to protect our oceans and our environments.

It's the mission of the Census Bureau's work -- yes, again for the Census Bureau -- (applause) -- to ensure that everyone is counted so that our government can truly serve all our people.

And I learned that you have even hit the road with your Portrait of America Road Tour, which is really fascinating, covering more than 150,000 miles to encourage people across the country to participate in the census. What a wonderful idea to encourage people to engage, to paint that picture of why the census is so critical.

In the end, everything that you do here at the Department of Commerce is in service of a common purpose, and that is to protect and promote what's best about this nation -- the industry and the ingenuity of all the people who live in this country; the vitality of our national resources; the success of our democracy.

And for all of that, we should honor you and thank you. We're very proud of you. And this year is going to be even more important. The focus of this administration has always been but it really will be in this year on job creation, because, again, people are hurting. So what you all will be doing over the next year, everything you do, will mean something to someone in this country.

So we want to make sure that you feel good as we enter this new year, that you feel ready, that you feel inspired, and you feel passionate and engaged. (Applause.) And we look forward to working with you in the years to months to come. I'm going to be back. (Applause.)

So thank you all again, and I'll come out and shake some hands. Good luck with the year. (Applause.)

Solar EnerTech Modules Get UL Certification

2010-01-25T05:19:00.001-08:00

California, United States
Solar EnerTech Corp. announced that it has received its Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) certification for a wide range of its crystalline solar photovoltaic power modules. A UL certification ensures that Solar EnerTech's PV products (trademarked as SolarE) fully complies with all safety, environmental and other performance requirements established by UL.
A list of the Solar EnerTech modules that have been UL certified is below.
Models
SE160-M155
SE160-M160
SE160-M165
SE160-M170
SE160-M175
SE160-M180
SE160-M185
SE190-P170
SE190-P175
SE190-P180
SE190-P185
SE190-P190
SE190-P195
SE190-P200
SE190-P205
SE190-P210
"Achieving our UL certification is a notable accomplishment for our company and will provide us with the ability to more easily penetrate the market in North America," commented Leo Young, Chief Executive Officer of Solar EnerTech. "Having already completed certification for IEC, VDE and TUV in the European markets, we are also setting our sights on the rapidly growing U.S. and Canadian markets focusing on grid-tied utility-scale installations and roof top projects. The UL certification gives assurance to our customers in North America that Solar EnerTech fully complies and meets government subsidized PV project requirements in the region."

GOOGLE vs CHINA ( CONTROVERSY)

2010-01-25T05:18:00.001-08:00

Prior to Google China's establishment, Google.com itself was accessible,
even though much of its content was not accessible due to censorship.
According to official statistics, google.com was accessible 90% of the time,
and a number of services were not available at all. Since announcing its
intent to comply with Internet censorship laws in the People's Republic of
China, Google China has been the focus of controversy over what critics view
as capitulation to the "Golden Shield Project" (also known as the Great
Firewall of China). Because of its self-imposed censorship, whenever people
search for prohibited Chinese keywords on a blocked list maintained by the
PRC government, google.cn will display the following at the bottom of the
page (translated): In accordance with local laws, regulations and policies,
part of the search result is not shown. Some searches, such as (as of June
2009) "Tank Man" are blocked entirely, with the only the message "Search
results may not comply with the relevant laws, regulations and policy, can
not be displayed" appearing. Google has argued that it can play a role more
useful to the cause of free speech by participating in China's IT industry
than by refusing to comply and being denied admission to the mainland
Chinese market. "While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's
mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience
that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission," a
statement said. A PBS analysis reported clear differences between results
returned for controversial keywords by the censored and uncensored search
engines. According to The New York Times, Google has set up computer systems
inside China that try to access Web sites outside the country. If a site is
inaccessible (e.g., due to the Golden Shield Project), then it is added to
Google China's blacklist. In February 2006, Sergey Brin, Google's
co-founder, was quoted as saying virtually all of Google's customers in
China were using the non-censored version of their website.
Google critics in the United States claim that Google China is a flagrant
violation of the Google motto, "Don't be evil."
On April 9, 2007, Google China spokesman Cui Jin admitted that the pinyin
Google Input Method Editor (IME) "was built leveraging some non-Google
database resources". This was in response to a request on April 6 from the
Chinese search engine company Sohu that Google stop distributing its pinyin
Input Method Editor software due to the fact that it allegedly copied
portions from Sohu's own software.
In early 2008, Guo Quan (??), a university professor who had been dismissed
after having founded a democratic opposition party, announced plans to sue
Yahoo! and Google in the United States for having blocked his name from
search results in mainland China.
On January 12, 2010, Google announced that it is "no longer willing to
continue censoring" results on Google.cn, citing a breach of Gmail accounts
of Chinese human rights activists. The company found that the hackers had
breached into two Gmail accounts but was only able to access 'from' and 'to'
information and subject headers of emails in these accounts. The company's
investigation into the attack showed that at least 20 other companies had
been similarly targeted. Additionally, "dozens" of Gmail accounts in China,
Europe, and the United States had been regularly accessed by third parties,
due to phishing or malware on the users' computers rather than a security
breach at Google. Although Google did not explicitly accuse the Chinese
government of the breach, it said it was no longer willing to censor results
on google.cn, and that it will discuss over the next few weeks "the basis on
which we could run an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We
recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and
potentially our offices in China. Google.cn transiently turned off its
search result filtering. However, the filtering was later re-enabled without
any acknowledgment or explanation; search query in Chinese on the keywords
Tiananmen or June 4, 1989, for examples, returned censored results with the
standard censorship footnote.
On January 13, 2010, the news agency AHN reported that the U.S. Congress
plans to investigate Google's allegations that the Chinese government used
the company's service to spy on human rights activists. In a major speech by
the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, analogies were drawn between the
Berlin Wall and the free and unfree Internet. The issue of Google's changed
policy toward China has been cited as a potentially major development in
world affairs, marking a split between authoritarian capitalism and the
Western model of free capitalism and Internet access. The Chinese government
has since made numerous standard and general statements on the matter. It
also criticizes google for failing to provide any evidence of its
accusation.As of January 24, 2010, the government has not taken any concrete
actions on this matter.

We received this email and we would like to publish it

2010-01-25T05:15:00.001-08:00

IEEE goes only for your money!!! "Without registration and payment of the registration fee, the paper will NOT be published in the proceedings!"

From the http://netdriver.blogspot.com/

IEEE goes only for your money!!! "Without registration and payment of the registration fee, the paper will NOT be published in the proceedings!"

We found this comment in the blog:
http://iaria-highsci.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-shame-for-ieee-computational.html#comments

Please, check this phrase: "Without registration and payment of the registration fee, the paper will NOT be published in the proceedings!"

It does mean that IEEE goes only for your money!!!

Enjoy this IEEE Spam:
----------------------------------------

Dear Colleagues,

Le us remind you the most important informations.
The deadline for paper submission is approaching. Please submit your paper as soon as possible to avoid congestion and server problems in the last days.

Please check carefully if your paper submitted to the EEEIC Conference (http://eeeic.eu) does comply with the requirements (correct formatting formatting, number of pages not greater than 4, PDF IEEE Xplore compatible format).

Please check carefully all requirements enumerated here: http://eeeic.eu/information-for-authors/ and : http://eeeic.eu/2009/09/22/ieee-pdf-express/

All submissions must be electronic in PDF format and must follow the two-column format of IEEE Conference Proceedings. Authors are strongly recommended to use the style files available at the website. The maximum length of a manuscript is four (4) pages.
PLEASE use the PDF converter for IEEE Conferences - PDF eXpress. To use it, please register for an IEEE PDF eXpress account with the Conference ID: eeeic10x.

All papers not compatible with IEEE Xplore will be rejected. This is required by IEEE Xplore.

IMPORTANT:
For each accepted paper, at least one author must register Completed registration is required for all accepted papers and/or presentations that are to be included in conference proceedings. Without registration and payment of the registration fee, the paper will NOT be published in the proceedings!

Best regards,

Zbigniew Leonowicz, PhD

SOURCE:
http://iaria-highsci.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-shame-for-ieee-computational.html#comments

http://netdriver.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

IEEE and SCIGEN

We strongly believethat many IEEE conferences are ... victims of SCIGEN.
I guess that this SciGen is a good tool to prove the anomalies of the IEEE Conferences.

One more BOGUS IEEE Conference!

One more BOGUS IEEE Conference uses Spam Bombing
As we know this conference has already accepted in the previous years many
sily papers (some of them were copy-paste from on-line Football Newspapers)
========================================

We should be very grateful if you would share this CFP with your colleagues that are interested in multi-disciplinary issues related to creating future digital living environments.

IE10 6th International Conference on Intelligent Environments

Co-sponsored by the IEEE Systems, Man & Cybernetics Society Technical Committee on Computational Intelligence and the Association for the Advancement of AI

July 19-21, 2010
(workshops: July 18-19)

Monash University (Sunway campus), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

http://intelligentenvironments.org/conferences/ie10/

Intelligent Environments are everyday settings such as homes, offices, hotels, restaurants, shops, hospitals, teaching-rooms, stage/studios, manufacturing environments, cars, trains, aircraft, boats, cities, public spaces and electronic clothing/fashion that are equipped with advanced networked computer based systems, which enable better or new lifestyles for people. For example, such technology can lead to design of living environments that are more comfortable, usable, productive, secure, caring, social, entertaining or energy efficient.

Each year, the International Conference on Intelligent Environments provides a leading edge forum for scientists, researchers and engineers from industry and academia to present theoretical and practical research results on Intelligent Environments, their multiple aspects and their application in various domains of activity. IE'10 is the sixth edition in a series of highly successful conferences that were organized in Colchester (UK), Athens (Greece), Ulm (Germany), Seattle (USA) and Barcelona (Spain) in the past five years; in 2010, the IE conference will take place in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) hosted by the Monash University.

The IE'10 conference program will include workshops, invited lectures and special sessions of full and short papers and posters. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) Ambient Intelligence, Ubiquitous/Pervasive Computing, Intelligent Agents, Context Awareness, End-User Programming, Human-Computer Interaction (Speech, Vision and Haptics), Smart Sensors, Affective Systems, Wearables (smart clothes, digital fashion etc), Domestic Robotics, Virtual & Mixed-Reality, Middleware, Networking, Communications, Development/Testing/Evaluation Methodologies, Building Architecture, Art and Design, Cultural, Social, Legal and Ethical Aspects of Intelligent Environments. Other issues of interest include novel computational models and new theories that support advances in these areas.

Forums:

For updates on the Intelligent Environments research community and conferences, we invite you to join:

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/2578102/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/IE_Forum <http://twitter.com/IE_Forum>
WikiCFP: http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/servlet/event.showcfp?eventid=7472

Important dates:

* Paper submission: 22nd February 2010
* Notification of acceptance: 12th April 2010
* Paper final submission (with revisions): 26th April 2010

Organizing Committee

General Chair
Simon Egerton (Monash University, Malaysia)
Ichiro Satoh (National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo)

Program Chairs
Victor Callaghan (University of Essex, UK)
Achilles Kameas (Hellenic Open University)

Workshops Chairs
Juan Carlos Augusto (University of Ulster, UK)
Vincent Lee (Monash University, Australia)

Strategic Planning Chair
Hani Hagras (University of Essex, UK)

Posters and Short Papers
Martin Colley (University of Essex, UK)
Gregory O'Hare (UCD, Ireland)

Doctoral Colloquium Chairs
Albert Yeap (AUT, New Zealand)
Dolors Royo (UPC, Spain)

Publication Chairs
Michael Weber (University of Ulm, Germany)

Publicity Chairs
Angélica Reyes (UPC, Spain)
Minjuan Wang (Sand Diego State University, USA)
Zheng Xiaoxia (Essex University)

Professional Society Liaison Chairs
Dianne Cook (Washington State University, USA)

IEEE Appointed SMC Liaison Chairs
[To be announced]

Industrial Liaison Chairs
Wong Chek Yoon (Monash University, Malaysia)
Brian Johnson (Intel Research Labs, USA)
Hiew Pang Leang (BT Malaysian Research Centre)

Student Liaison
Anushia Inthiran (Monash University, Malaysia)
Shumei Zhang (University of Ulster, UK)

Treasurers
Michael Weber (University of Ulm, Germany)
Lee Sock Wee (Monash University, Malaysia)

Web and Online System Administration
Konstantinos Togias - (CTI, Greece)

Intelligent Environments Steering Committee (alphabetical listing)
Vic Callaghan (University of Essex)
Dimitris Charitos (University of Athens)
Diane Cook (Washington State University, USA)
Hani Hagras (University of Essex) - President
Sumi Helal - (University of Florida, USA) Achilles Kameas (Hellenic Open University, Greece)
Wolfgang Minker - (University of Ulm, Germany)
Gearge Rousos (University of London, UK)
Michael Weber (University of Ulm, Germany)

Geographical Advisory Committee
Europe
Wolfgang Minker - (University of Ulm, Germany)
North America
Sumi Helal - (University of Florida, USA)
South America
Victor Zamudio - (Instituto Tecnológico De León, Mexico)
China
Liping Shen (Shanghai Jiao Tong University,)
Indonesia
Susie Daryanti (Universitas Gadja Mada, Indonesia)
Malaysia
Borhanuddin Bin Mohd Ali (Universiti Putra Malaysia)
Australia/New Zealand
Waleed Abdulla (The University of Auckland, New Zealand)
Middle East
Dr. Fatmah Baothman (King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Prof. DARIO PETRI petri@ieee.org accepted the bad quality of IEEE Sponsored conferences

Also, we found in the blog: http://netdriver.blogspot.com/ the following very interesting new post yesterday

WE RECEIVED THIS EMAIL:

Prof. DARIO PETRI petri@ieee.org accepted the bad quality of IEEE Sponsored conferences
fpinto@estg.ipleiria.pt,janez.zerovnik@fs.uni-lj.si,balas@inext.ro,zamfir_andreea_ileana@yahoo.com,zkurt@pbf.hr,zlin50@yahoo.com,"myrealbox.com" <voula@myrealbox.com>,quartieri@sa.infn.it,quartieri@unisa.it

An impressive declaration from Prof. DARIO PETRI
petri@ieee.org

Dear Mario,

I believe that many IEEE (sponsored or co-sponsored) conferences are quite bogusbecause they have published a lot of fake papers from SCIgen automatic machineor papers of low quality...We must be careful, otherwise our massive policy for giving the name of IEEE to strangeorganizers will harm the reputation of IEEE conference, if we have kept any rank of such an old reputation.

Prof. DARIO PETRI
IEEE Italy Section
petri@ieee.org

********************************************************

Posted athttp://anti-plagiarism-org.blogspot.com/2009/12/impressive-declaration-from-prof-dario.html

The comment of PETRE DINI in the blog http://bogusconferences.blogspot.com

The blog http://bogusconferences.blogspot.com/
published 10 hours ago
today, Wednesday, 2 December 2009
rhe following

While browsing the net, I found two more fake journals
They say
"
We received this comment from some PETRE DINI

We do not know if the name PETRE DINI is real or not

This was the "PETRE DINI's"

Comment in our blog

While browsing the net, I found two more fake journals in Computer Science:(1) Computer Science Journalshttp://www.cscjournals.org/csc/home.php(2) International Journal of Computer Science Issues (IJCSI) (http://www.ijcsi.org/)

Petre Dini

"

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

My name is Arye Nehorai and I am IEEE Fellow

We received this by email and we post it

My name is Arye Nehorai and I am IEEE Fellow
I sent the follwoing email to IEEE , but i did not receive any answer

"Arye Nehorai" arye.nehorai@ymail.com
To:
"mcm-info@ieee.org" , "mps@ieee.org" , "ieeemaltasection@ieee.org" , "florentfourreaux@hotmail.com" , "president@ieee.gr" , president@ieee.org, sales@IEEE.ORG
Cc:
"Arye Nehorai"
CAN YOU REPLY? I SENT THIS EMAIL YESTERDAY. WE NEED A CLEAR ANSWER

*********************************************

Dear IEEE France, IEEE Malta and IEEE Greece,

I wonder, if it is real that you sponsor all these conferences of IARIA
http://www.iaria.org
For example, in every place that IARIA has a congress, it seems that has alreadyan agreement with the local IEEE. Is it true for your case?Example: Is the Greek Section of IEEE sponsor or not for these 2 conferences?

http://www.iaria.org/conferences2009/SENSORCOMM09.html
and

http://www.iaria.org/conferences2009/MESH09.html

and some other conferences in Greece that you can see through the portal http://www.iaria.org/

The reason is that this IARIA Conferences have accepted many SCIgen, auto-generated papers (remember: papers Nagib Callaos style) and some sites have also posted the letter of acceptance of these fake papersAnyway, as a member of IEEE, this is only a caution for you because the IARIA name destroyes the reputation of IEEELooking forward for your replyNot only these are non-reviewed conferences, but they ask also from companies huge amounts of
money:

http://www.iaria.org/confsponsorship.html

Look also this:http://www.iaria.org/conferences2009/ICN09.html

If the IEEE in France was sponsor,

then why didn't the IEEE france have a link to them?

Sincerely,

Arye,

Friday, June 5, 2009

New Spam from IEE. I am not a member of IEEE. Why did I receive this email?

New Spam from IEE. I am not a member of IEEE. Why did I receive this email? Note how many clever tricks the IEEE use in order to attract "customers"
They sent SPAM email to me to ask me to be in the committee. The email did not have my name!!!!!!!
It was a massive unsolicted email!!!

Proceedings publication: by CPS(IEEE CS)

(Click here to download the IEEE CS format: MS-WORD or PDF)
The proceedings will be published by CPS of the IEEE CS and will be included to Ei only if:
Click here to view the instructions of CPS of the IEEE CS

The proceesings of ICCIT 2007 and 2008 had been published in IEEE CS/CPS and the all registered
papers had also been indexed to EI (COMPENDEX) and archived to digital libraries such as CSDL, and
IEEE Xplore.

Important Dates
Conference Dates: 24-26 November, 2009.
Deadline for paper submission: July 15, 2009.
Review period by reviewers: July 5 - August 10, 2009.
Acceptance notification: August 5-10, 2009.
Deadline for Registration and final camera ready paper to IEEE system: August 25, 2009.

Special issues:
Distinguished selected papers will be invited in the special issues of the following international
journals indexed by SCI(E).
The authors of the selected papers must follow any additional comments/suggestions so that it meets
the journals requirement.
- IETE Journal of Research
- International Journal of Information Technology and Decision Making
- IETE Technical Review
- FGCS: Future Generation Computer Systems (Elsevier)

Call for papers Nov. 24~26, 2009, Seoul, Korea

ICCIT09: Call for Papers/ Workshops/Special Sessions

4th ICCIT: 2009 International Conference on Computer Sciences and Convergence Information Technology

Evolution and Innovation: We’re in Progress:
We will make a new chapter as the leader of the Information Sciences

November 24-26, 2009, Seoul, Korea
http://www.aicit.org/iccit

Call for Papers

Conference Dates: 24-26 November, 2008
Deadline for paper submission: July 15, 2009.
Review period by reviewers: July 5 - August 10, 2009.
Acceptance notification: August 5-10, 2009.
Deadline for Registration and final camera ready paper to IEEE system: August 25, 2009.

Format: The papers submitted for review must be in the IEEE format (8.5" x 11", two-column). Please strictly follow the formatting instructions and layout instructions (read the instructions in PDF, DOC )

ICCIT09, the Fourth International Conference on Computer Sciences and Convergence Information Technology will be held on November 24-26, in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The conference proceeding will be published by IEEE CS. Selected papers will be included as revised monographs in the international journals. For more details, visit the conference web site at http://www.aicit.org/iccit.

This premium international conference provides a forum in which to present research results in all areas related to the Theory, Development, Applications, Experiences, and Evaluations of convergence/hybrid information technology and next generation information technologies and Services fields

Mission and Aims
ICCIT fosters the development of Computer Sciences and Convergence Information Technologies needed in various application areas. Convergence Information Technologies in partnership with Computational Science are essential in solving many real-world problems. Through publications, research, and community, the mission of ICCIT is to build cooperation between informatics and the worlds of science and technology.

The International Conference on Computer Sciences and Convergence Information Technology (ICCIT 2009) aims to

Promote further development of Computer Sciences and Convergence Information Technologies
Provide an open forum of discussions and exchanges between researchers interested in Computer Sciences and Convergence Information Technologies and related fields
Bring together theoreticians and practitioners from different scientific groups and establish new collaborations
Present recent results in the theory and applications of Computer Sciences and Convergence Information Technologies

Call for Workshop Proposals:
http://www.aicit.org/iccit/cfw.html

Call for Invited Session Proposals:
http://www.aicit.org/iccit/cfss.html

Workshops/Invited Sessions may concern any topic within the conference scope. The goals of the workshops/Invited Sessions are to establish a common understanding of a certain aspect, to share experiences, to foster research communities, to learn from each other, to identify open problems and/or to explore future
directions of research. Workshops will be held in parallel with the main conference.

Paper Types: Full paper/ Letter
Presentation Types: Oral/ Poster (Choice)
Track Types: Research Track/ Technical Experience Track

Research Track (General Track)
The purpose of the Research Track is to present and discuss the latest, best, most profound, and most
important research results in the research field of Convergent and Hybrid Information Technology. Topics of
interest are specified on the Call for Papers page.
High quality submissions are invited for technical papers describing original unpublished results of
theoretical, empirical, conceptual or experimental research. Papers should describe a new contribution to
Convergent and Hybrid Information Technology and should support claims of novelty with citations to the
relevant literature.

Technical Experience Track
The purpose of the Technical Experience Track is to establish a meaningful forum between practitioners and researchers with useful solutions in various organizational environments, diverse systems or different cultures. The Technical Experience Track includes all kind of practical applications which are principles, projects, missions, techniques, tools, methods, processes, and etc.Submissions should discuss experiences to researchers and practitioners. We invite original, unpublished
submissions in two categories:

Case studies
Experience reports

Scope and Topics: For more details, click here! http://www.aicit.org/iccit/scope.html

Submitted papers will be peer-reviewed. The topics includes, but not limited to, the followings:

Research Issues on Convergent Aspects of IT and Ubiquitous Technology
Research Issues on Convergent Aspects of Management, Service and Culture
Hybrid Approaches of Information Technology
Multimedia, Game, and Culture Technology
Bioinformatics and Healthcare
Management, Finance and Service
High Performance Data Processing and Digital Content Technology
High Performance Information System and Communication
Information Security and Cryptology

Thousands of people were pushing for rescue efforts in Haiti to continue Sunday, after a 24-year-old man was pulled alive from the ruins on Saturday, 11 days after the nation's devastating earthquake.

2010-01-25T05:07:00.001-08:00

The Haitian government says it will be switching from a search and rescue operation to a search and recovery mission.

But families of Americans who were staying at the leveled Hotel Montana are fighting that, and started an online petition Saturday in an effort to continue search efforts there "until all the survivors are accounted for." As of Sunday morning, 2,395 people had signed the petition and sent 6,216 messages to the Senate, Congress and the White House, said Sue Keller, a friend of a family whose relatives are among the missing. The families hope to have at least 5,000 signatures by Monday, she said. The Haitian government has said more than 111,000 people died in the January 12 quake, which registered 7.0 in magnitude. But on Saturday, a French rescue team was able to save one life as they pulled Wismond Jean-Pierre from the rubble of the Hotel Napoli Inn in Port-au-Prince. According to his brother, Jean-Pierre worked in the hotel's grocery store and survived his week and a half in the rubble by consuming cookies and beer. Dehydrated but apparently without injury, Jean-Pierre was even talkative as he was placed in an ambulance and driven to a hospital. Rescues like Jean-Pierre's, and others that have happened in the week following the disaster, sparked hope among families of the missing. But the emotional rescue came on a day when much of Haiti was mourning as operations largely shifted from rescue to recovery, and the country's president attended the funeral of an archbishop who was one of the victims. A Mexican rescue team had pulled the body of 63-year-old Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot from ruins near the national cathedral, which he oversaw as archbishop of Port-au-Prince. The cathedral was destroyed. At the funeral, President René Préval was asked to respond to criticism that he has not shown strong public leadership and has been largely unseen in the aftermath. "This is not about politics today," he said.

The most recent death toll is the worst caused by an earthquake since the 2004 Asian tsunami that resulted from a temblor, and the second-highest death toll from an earthquake in more than three decades, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"Rescue teams continue to work in Port-au-Prince, we continue to hope that they will be able to find people still alive, but as time passes, we must gradually shift our resources from rescue to recovery," Nick Birnback, spokesman for U.N. peacekeeping operations, said Saturday. International search teams have rescued at least 132 people since the quake struck, the U.N. said. Birnback said the priority now is to remove bodies and clean up affected areas to avoid health hazards and the spread of disease. He said the United Nations will start bringing in heavier equipment, which will allow teams to move concrete and damaged homes. More than 600,000 people have also been left homeless in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

http://blogiasis.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, up to 140 flights a day are regularly arriving at the single-runway Port-au-Prince airport, compared with 25 in the immediate aftermath of the January 12 quake, OCHA said Saturday. To relieve congestion at the airport, humanitarian cargo is being moved to a forward dispatch area at one end of the runway.

The Las Americas airport in Santo Domingo, in neighboring Dominican Republic, is starting to report congestion as it becomes increasingly used as an alternative airport, OCHA said. It will now be open overnight to accommodate the extra traffic.

Those managing the land transport of supplies from Santo Domingo will need fuel, and OCHA said there is enough in Haiti to last an additional 18 to 19 days. But it said it expects no shortage of fuel because supplies of fuel will be able to enter the port during that time. One concern with cross-border traffic is the unauthorized departure of Haitian children, OCHA said.

Charities and aid groups have said in recent days that they are concerned about the danger of child trafficking after the earthquake. Groups including Save the Children and World Vision have called for a halt to adoptions, saying many children may appear to be orphaned but have simply been separated from their families. "If children must be evacuated from Haiti because their protection needs cannot be met in country, the evacuation must be carefully documented, the children must be registered with the proper authorities and all efforts must be made to reunify them with family before any adoption proceedings are considered," the U.S.-based Women's Refugee Commission said. The number of unaccompanied children needing support is greater than the capacity to respond, OCHA said. Authorities are working with unaccompanied children who are being released from hospitals, it said.

http://blogiasis.blogspot.com/

From BBC today: Theodorakis - Greece's Musical Revolutionary

2010-01-25T04:51:00.001-08:00

From BBC today:
Theodorakis - Greece's Musical Revolutionary

85 this year, Mikis Theodorakis is best known for the music to 1974 film Zorba the Greek, but as Miranda Hinkley discovers, there's also a wealth of chamber, opera and symphonic music. Part of the resistance during the Second World War, imprisoned during the Greek Civil War, exiled during the military dictatorship, his story mirrors that of modern Greece. And he's been responsible for a musical revolution, a uniquely Greek sound. Mikis Theodorakis is joined by singers Maria Farantouri and Marios Frangoulis and by violinist Georgos Demertzis, to look back on a 60-year career.

GOOGLE vs CHINA

2010-01-25T04:47:00.001-08:00

Google made headlines when it went public with the fact that Chinese hackers had penetrated some of its services, such as Gmail, in a politically motivated attempt at intelligence gathering. The news here isn't that Chinese hackers engage in these activities or that their attempts are technically sophisticated -- we knew that already -- it's that the U.S. government inadvertently aided the hackers. In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts. This feature is what the Chinese hackers exploited to gain access.
Google's system isn't unique. Democratic governments around the world -- in Sweden, Canada and the UK, for example -- are rushing to pass laws giving their police new powers of Internet surveillance, in many cases requiring communications system providers to redesign products and services they sell.
Many are also passing data retention laws, forcing companies to retain information on their customers. In the U.S., the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act required phone companies to facilitate FBI eavesdropping, and since 2001, the National Security Agency has built substantial eavesdropping systems with the help of those phone companies.
Systems like these invite misuse: criminal appropriation, government abuse and stretching by everyone possible to apply to situations that are applicable only by the most tortuous logic. The FBI illegally wiretapped the phones of Americans, often falsely invoking terrorism emergencies, 3,500 times between 2002 and 2006 without a warrant. Internet surveillance and control will be no different.

The new hot trend: Professors that Make Plagiarism

2010-01-21T08:04:00.001-08:00

Old and busted: Students that Make Plagiarism

The new hot trend: Professors that Make Plagiarism

http://professorsagainstplagiarism.blogspot.com

The Tragedy of Haiti

2010-01-21T01:45:00.001-08:00

Port-au-Prince, Haiti Breathlessly, they came, carrying suitcases, plastic bags and just about anything that would hold the few belongings they still had.
Thousands of Haitian people, most of them homeless, have flooded the port, hoping for a ticket to hope, on board a ferry, being paid for by the Haitian government.
This ferry, the Trois Rivieres, is headed for Port Jeremie on Haiti's far western tip, far away from the hopelessness that has become Port-au-Prince.
"The government gave us 1500 gallons of fuel to go back to Jeremie to evacuate more people," said Roger Rouzier, director general of Marinetec, the ferry boat owner.

Anaika Clement has been here three days with her mother and her friend. Their homes have been destroyed.
She and the others wait at a filthy wharf, littered with garbage and human feces, with cracks in the ground, from the day the earth moved in Haiti, last week. In creole, Anaika told CNN's Ivan Watson that they came here after Wednesday morning's 5.9 aftershock.
"I don't know how many days we're going to stay here," said Anaika.
Wednesday's seismic rattle appeared to have pushed desperate people into action. For some, it didn't matter where the ferry would take them, as long as it left Port-au-Prince.
With the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship in sight of them, mothers, fathers, children, infants, and their belongings, packed themselves into small, overcrowded row boats.

In the words of one man, "All of our hopes are with the international community. We are not able to sustain ourselves," he said.
Many of the rowboats sat with too many people, too low in the water, and had the look of a potentially new tragedy.
They would row about a mile, to the Trois Rivieres ferry, which was docked at the other end of the port. The owner docked it far away so that people could not board it, while it sat awaiting fuel from the government.

iReport: Search list for missing and found
"First of all I have to put fuel on board. And I would prefer to put fuel on board before the people get in," said Roger Rouzier, the ferry boat owner.
"It's a little bit dangerous while you are refueling to have people on board," he said.
Seeing the ferry boat, the people used the row boats to make their way out to the ferry, to board themselves.
Once there, they climbed up the side of the boat, and designed their own assembly line of people to help pass luggage, and children, from one person to the other, on board the ferryboat. CNN witnessed one infant passed up along a sea of hands from their dinghy all the way to the top of the ferryboat.

iReport: Are you there?
"No one is helping us with crowd control here. No one. We don't have any help from no one. Even from the government," said ferry owner, Roger Rouzier.
"The government gave us fuel and told us to evacuate people to Jeremie and that's it," he said.
CNN watched as one lone Haitian coast guard vessel tried to approach the ferryboat to curtail the rowboaters, but they were quickly overpowered by the sea of people fleeing.
The ferry's owner told CNN his ferry is licensed to carry 600 people, but on the last trip to Port Jeremie, there were over 3000 onboard.
With no serious crowd control and no lifeboats on board, Rouzier's only option to stop the crowds, is to leave.
"They'll do anything to get on the boat. And then it becomes very, very dangerous," he said.
CNN took their own rowboat onto the Trois Rivieres, and saw a boat, slowly filling with the desperate refugees. They all appeared to relax once onboard. Perhaps, now they can begin to have hope about tomorrow.

Bulgaria nominee for EU Commission steps down

2010-01-19T08:29:00.001-08:00

Bulgaria's nominee to the new European Commission has resigned - a move that could delay confirmation of the new 27-strong team.
Rumiana Jeleva's move followed tough questioning from Euro MPs about her financial interests.
Last week doubts were expressed about her competence for the role of EU commissioner for humanitarian aid. Kristalina Georgieva, vice-president of the World Bank, has been put forward as the new Bulgarian candidate. Ms Jeleva's resignation came in a letter to Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, Reuters news agency reports. She had also been serving as Bulgaria's foreign minister. MEPs can veto the whole Commission if they oppose one of its members.
The row over her candidacy centred on her past management of a consultancy firm. She denied any wrongdoing.A Bulgarian liberal MEP, Antonyia Parvanova, disputed Ms Jeleva's declaration that she had ended her involvement with the Bulgarian firm Global Consult in 2007.
Ms Parvanova claims she was still managing the company until 2009.
Any undeclared financial interest would put Ms Jeleva in breach of European Union rules.
The European Parliament's legal service cleared her of wrongdoing, but MEPs also doubted her competence. Her resignation sparked an angry reaction from her centre-right political allies in the parliament, the BBC's Dominic Hughes reports from Strasbourg. The head of the European People's Party (EPP), Joseph Daul, said she was "the victim of a contemptible political squabble". The EPP is the biggest grouping in the parliament. But the leader of the UK Labour MEPs, Glenis Willmott, said "common sense has prevailed". "The issue was her competence. She did not give a good account of herself at the hearing." It is still possible that other would-be commissioners could get caught up in the parliament's political in-fighting, our correspondent says. MEPs are expected to vote on 26 January on the new Commission line-up - but that might now be put back. The commissioners, who have a five-year mandate, cannot take office without the MEPs' approval. The new Bulgarian nominee, Ms Georgieva, has been World Bank vice president since March 2008. She joined the bank in 1993 and specialised in environmental issues. She was the bank's director for environment in 2000-2004, and in 2004-2007 she oversaw the bank's projects in Russia.

Haiti police ill-equipped to handle crisis

2010-01-19T08:27:00.001-08:00

A crowd plunders buildings crumbled by last week's earthquake, hauling off water, food, candles and anything else recoverable. Suddenly, a pickup truck hauling a half dozen armed policemen squeals to a halt.

The mob scatters as the police officers in military style camouflage fire shots in the air and apprehend a few stragglers, some with a kick or a punch.

Such scenes occurred with increased frequency Monday in Port-au-Prince, the devastated Haitian capital, as frustrated survivors resorted to scrounging and looting due to a lack of relief aid. The rising tension raised questions about the ability of the Haitian National Police to maintain order and its tactics in doing so.

While the United States is sending thousands of troops to assist in relief efforts, U.S. officials say the Haitian police are responsible for security on the streets, with backing from U.N. peacekeepers.

"The first line of law and order here is, number one, the Haitian police, number two, the U.N. forces," U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten said Monday. "The U.S. forces are standing by to provide security as needed."

That seems to be an overwhelming task for the Haitian National Police (HNP), a force of about 9,000 that is the impoverished Caribbean nation's lone security apparatus.

Latest updates | Full coverage

National Police Chief Mario Andresol told CNN Monday that the department has been severely affected by the earthquake, with thousands of officers injured, killed or unaccounted for. The Port-au-Prince force of 4,000 has dropped to about 1,500, he said.

Professors Against Plagiarism

2010-01-15T00:58:00.000-08:00

From Professors Against Plagiarism we received this:

Welcome to the home page of the University of Leeds Plagiarism Awareness web site. On this site we have brought together a range of resources for both staff and students, to raise awareness of ways to reduce plagiarism and improve academic integrity.
Topics covered include:
student information iconFor students:

* The university’s definition of plagiarism.
What is it? Why is it important?

* Penalties and procedures – what to expect
if your tutor thinks you have plagiarised

* Examples of good and bad practice

* How to avoid plagiarism – tutorials on steps

you can take to ensure your work is plagiarism free

* Test your knowledge - quiz

staff information iconFor staff
* Definitions, penalties and procedures

* Examples of good and bad practice

* Tools to support detection

* Designing assessments that avoid opportunities for plagiarism

* Teaching resources to help you teach students about plagiarism

To explore these resources use the navigation links on the left hand side of the page.

If there is anything that you feel should be included within these pages please contact the web team for this site so that we can continue to provide an accurate and up to date service for the University community.

VISIT
http://www.ldu.leeds.ac.uk/plagiarism/
Internet plagiarism among college students
Six hundred ninety-eight undergraduates (85.9% between the ages of 17 and 23; 87.5% in the first through fourth year) from nine colleges and universities completed a survey on Internet plagiarism. A substantial minority of students reported they use the Internet to copy and paste text into their papers without citation.

Student cheating has garnered much public attention recently. A perception reflected in media accounts is that acts of academic dishonesty among students in college as well as high school have increased sharply. The cover of the November 22, 1999 issue of U.S. News & World Report, for example, announced that "a new epidemic of fraud is sweeping through our schools" ("Cheating, writing, and arithmetic," 1999). Nearly universal access to the Internet has been cited as a reason for this perceived decline in academic integrity, in particular regarding plagiarism. A July 6, 2001 article in the Chronicle ofHigher Education reported that "several indicators point to widespread plagiarism on campus," and that "officials at some colleges say that in recent years they have seen a sharp increase in students cutting and pasting material into papers from Web sites without attribution, or purchasing term papers from online term-paper mills" (Young, 2001, A26). Four years ago a count of term paper mills on the Web-including A-Plus Termpapers, Paperz.com, School Sucks, and Research Assistance by Collegiate Care-set

President Barack Obama has said Wall Street must repay $117bn (£72bn) to taxpayers and criticised banks for "massive profits and obscene bonuses".

2010-01-15T00:50:00.001-08:00

The tax is to recoup money US taxpayers are expected to lose from bailing out the banks during the financial crisis.
"My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed," the president said.
The move follows populist anger at banks, seen as being responsible for causing the recent economic crisis.
Average American
"My determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people," the president said.
He said the aim was not to punish Wall Street firms but to stop abuses and excesses from happening again.

European car sales rose by 16% in December, marking signs of recovery in the sector after another tough year.

2010-01-15T00:49:00.001-08:00

However, total sales for 2009 were down 1.6% on 2008, according to figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).
Some countries with scrappage schemes saw rises in sales in 2009, including France and Germany.
Sales in the UK were down 6.4% for the year as a whole, though December sales were up 39% compared with a year ago.
A total of 14.5 million cars were sold across 28 European countries in 2009.

The US is sending up to 3,500 soldiers and 2,200 marines to Haiti to help rescue efforts in the wake of the devastating earthquake.

2010-01-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama pledged one of the biggest relief efforts in US history and said Haiti would "not be forgotten" in its hour of need. The search for survivors continues but rescuers lack heavy lifting equipment and many are using their bare hands. Tens of thousands of people are feared dead and up to three million affected. BBC correspondents say the situation is increasingly desperate, with aid only trickling in.Mr Obama confirmed that some US rescuers were already working on the ground in Haiti. The first 100-strong contingent from the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division is expected to arrive in Haiti by the end of Thursday, with several hundred more due by Friday. They will join Haitians and international search and rescue teams already on the ground. Aid groups say there is a race against time to find survivors under the rubble of the collapsed buildings - the first priority of the rescue effort. Heavy lifting gear and sniffer dogs are desperately needed to seek out and free trapped victims. Medicine, food and water are in short supply. Elisabeth Byrs, of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said: "The priority is to find survivors. We are working against the clock." The head of Medecins du Monde, Olivier Bernard, told AFP news agency that aid had to arrive by Thursday evening. "To save lives, surgery must be available ideally within the first 48 hours," he said.

Doctor's assistant Jimitre Coquillon told Associated Press: "This is much worse than a hurricane. There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people are going to die." A few US aid planes and a 50-strong Chinese rescue team with sniffer dogs have landed at the airport serving the capital, Port-au-Prince. Other plane-loads of rescuers and relief supplies are on the way from the EU, Canada, Russia and Latin American nations. A British rescue team with heavy lifting gear and dogs has landed in the Dominican Republic and will be in Haiti later on Thursday. UK International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "This is a tragedy on a massive scale. Britain is playing its part in the huge international response." US President Barack Obama said the "people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States" in an "aggressive" aid campaign.

China has said that foreign internet firms are welcome to do business there "according to the law".

2010-01-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

The statement, from Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, is Beijing's first response to Google's threat to stop filtering content in China. Google said cyber-attacks originating in China aimed at rights activists, and increased web censorship, might force it to end its China operations. Ms Jiang insisted the internet was "open" in China. Google announced late on Tuesday that it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine - google.cn. The search engine said it would hold talks with the government in the coming weeks to look at operating an unfiltered search engine within the law in the country, though no changes to filtering have yet been made.

'Holding statement'

At a regular foreign ministry news briefing, Ms Jiang said: "China like other countries administers the internet according to law. "China's internet is open, and the Chinese government encourages development of the internet." She was responding to a reporter's question on Google and US concerns about the business environment in China in light of Google's reported cyber-attacks."Chinese law proscribes any form of hacking activity," she said.When Google launched google.cn in 2006, it agreed to censor some search results - such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Tibetan independence or Falun Gong - as required by the Chinese government.The BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai says Ms Jiang's comments sound like a holding statement, until officials can have talks with Google. Google currently holds about one-third of the Chinese search market, far behind Chinese rival Baidu, which has more than 60%. China has more internet users - about 350 million - than any other country and provides a lucrative search engine market worth an estimated $1bn (£614m) last year. It is difficult to see how the situation can be resolved, our correspondent says, with Google potentially losing its market share and the government reluctant to give up its right to control the internet.

'Don't be evil'

In a blog posted late on Tuesday, Google's chief legal officer David Drummond announced "A new approach to China". He said the accounts of dozens of US, China and Europe-based users of its Gmail service who are advocates of human rights in China had been "routinely accessed by third parties".At least 20 other large companies from a wide range of businesses were similarly targeted, it added.

Israel apologises to Turkey over snub

2010-01-14T01:43:00.001-08:00

Israel has apologised to Turkey in an effort to defuse a row over the treatment of its envoy in Tel Aviv.

Israel's prime minister said he hoped this "would end the affair".Ankara had threatened to withdraw the ambassador unless it received a formal apology from Israel by Wednesday evening. The row began when the envoy was summoned to Israel's foreign ministry over a Turkish TV series portraying Israeli agents kidnapping babies. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon summoned Ambassador Oguz Celikkol to rebuke him over the fictional television series Valley of the Wolves, popular in Turkey. Mr Ayalon ensured the ambassador was seated on a lower chair and removed the Turkish flag from the table. Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the ambassador would "return on the first plane" on Thursday unless Israel issued a public apology. In the letter of apology, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "again expressed his concern over the cooling of the ties between Israel and Turkey" and instructed officials "to find ways to prevent this trend", according to a statement from his office. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had received the apology it "wanted and expected in diplomatic terms."But at a news conference he added that "Israel must put itself in order and must be more just and more on the side of peace in the region."

"Repeated provocation"
Footage of Mr Ayalon urging journalists to make clear the ambassador was seated on a low sofa, while the Israeli officials were in much higher chairs, has been widely broadcast by the Israeli media. He is also heard pointing out in Hebrew that "there is only one flag" and "we are not smiling". "In terms of the diplomatic tactics available, this was the minimum that was warranted given the repeated provocation by political and other players in Turkey," he said, according to Reuters. One Israeli newspaper marked the height difference in a photo, and captioned it "the height of humiliation". Last October Israel complained over another Turkish series, which depicted Israeli soldiers killing Palestinians. In one clip, an Israeli soldier shoots dead a smiling young girl at close range. The row comes ahead of a planned visit by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak to Turkey on Sunday. Turkey has long been an ally of Israel, but relations have deteriorated as Ankara has repeatedly criticised Israel for its offensive in Gaza a year ago. Rights groups say about 1,400 Palestinians died during the operation, which Israel said had been aimed at ending rocket fire by Hamas. Thirteen Israelis died during the violence.

Talks on reunifying the divided island of Cyprus are intensifying, with the leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities starting new negotiations.

2010-01-13T01:54:00.001-08:00

Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will hold two three-day sessions. After this week's talks, the second round will be held later in January.
But the two men have held 60 meetings in the past 16 months and a solution to the Cyprus problem still seems elusive. Mr Christofias' new year message to his Greek Cypriot community was downbeat, and he said the two sides were not close to compromise. Several issues had yet to be discussed adequately because of continuing disagreements, he added. Slow movement This week's talks are being held in the UN buffer zone that divides Nicosia. Despite the renewed dialogue, there is little optimism in Cyprus that the talks will lead to anything conclusive, says the BBC's Tabitha Morgan in Nicosia.

A 7.0-magnitude quake which hit south of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince is feared to have killed hundreds of people across the Caribbean country.

2010-01-13T01:53:00.000-08:00

In the space of a minute, Haiti's worst quake in two centuries wrecked the HQ of the UN mission, the presidential palace and numerous other buildings. A "large number" of UN personnel were reported missing by the organisation. The capital is now said to be in total darkness with many people sleeping outside amid fear of more aftershocks. Describing the earthquake as a "catastrophe", Haiti's envoy to the US said the cost of the damage could run into billions. A number of nations, including the US, UK and Venezuela, are gearing up to send aid. The quake, which struck about 15km (10 miles) south-west of Port-au-Prince, was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. The tremor hit at 1653 (2153 GMT), the US Geological Survey said. Phone lines to the country failed shortly afterwards. Aid workers and reporters at the scene estimated the number of dead to be in the hundreds or even thousands.

The Pope has called on Italians to respect the rights of illegal migrants, after a wave of violence against African farm workers in southern Italy.

2010-01-10T07:05:00.001-08:00

He said migrants may have different cultures and traditions, but were human beings entitled to respect.
Some 70 people - including migrants, police officers and local residents - have been injured after days of violence in Rosarno, in Calabria.
Hundreds of Africans have now been bussed by police out of the town.
Pope Benedict XVI spoke out strongly in favour of the rights of poor African farm workers, who have been the target of violence in recent days.
"We have to go to the heart of the problem, of the significance of the human being," the Pope said.
The Italian government says it intends to expel hundreds of illegal migrants from north and west Africa who have been earning starvation wages as seasonal fruit, olive and tomato pickers.

Mafia link
But the problem is also closely related to organised crime in southern Italy.
The local mafia, called the 'Ndrangheta, controls the labour market which employs ever growing numbers of illegal seasonal day labourers.
The workers live in sordid conditions and are paid very low wages, out of which they have to pay kickbacks to their bosses.
At the moment they are picking mainly citrus fruit. It is backbreaking work which Italians now shun.
Wages are handed out in cash, labour laws and safety and health regulations are ignored, and no taxes or welfare contributions are ever paid.
The Calabrian mafia has become one of the most powerful criminal organisations in Italy in recent years, controlling much of Europe's narcotics trade, and has now expanded into the lucrative field of immigrant management.

China's exports rose 17.7% in December, state media has reported, suggesting the country has overtaken Germany as the world's largest exporter.

2010-01-10T07:04:00.001-08:00

The rise, compared to a year earlier, breaks a 13-month decline in trade as a result of the global downturn.
Xinhua said total exports for 2009 were $1.2tn (£749bn), but total foreign trade over the year was down 13.9%.
Correspondents say the figures will lead to new demands from China's competitors that it devalue the yuan.
Last year saw a continuing decrease in China's trade as the global economic downturn led to a fall in demand for its products.
But in the last few weeks of the year, there was a far greater rise than forecasters had expected, with foreign exports reaching $130.7bn, up 17.7% on the previous December.
China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) said exports overall in the year were $1.2tn, down 16% from in 2008, while imports were 11.2% down from a year earlier at $1.01tn.
The politically sensitive total trade surplus was down 34.2% to $196.1bn, a fall of almost a third.
The figures suggests China will surpass Germany's export total for the whole of 2009, although this will not be confirmed until Germany's full-year data is published in February.

Croatia is voting in elections for a new president, after the winner of a first round in December failed to secure an outright majority.

2010-01-10T07:03:00.001-08:00

Opinion polls suggest Social Democrat Ivo Josipovic, who won December's vote with 32% of the ballot, is in the lead.
His challenger is the current mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic.
Croatia's president has little power to direct policy, so the election campaign has been focused on personality, rather than ideas.
The BBC Balkans correspondent Mark Lowen says the difference between the two men is stark.
Left-wing Mr Josipovic is a mild-mannered classical music composer and doctor of law, credited for his untarnished background but criticised for lacking charisma.
He has promised voters he will launch an "uncompromising fight against corruption" if elected.
Mr Bandic, on the right, is a long-distance runner who says he is close to the people, but has been hit by corruption allegations.
He has urged Croatians to "vote for a man and not for a party".
As he cast his vote in Zagreb on Sunday, he said he had "no doubt Croatian people, citizens of Croatia will choose the best candidate".
Corruption has been the dominant theme in the campaign, with Croatia determined to clean up its image in order to gain EU membership by 2012.
Tihana Colak, a 27-year-old voting in Zagreb, said she was backing Mr Josipovic because he was "an educated man and he's clear of corruption".
She told the AFP news agency Mr Josipovic had the "credibility to represent Croatia in the world as a civilized and decent country".

Italian authorities have evacuated hundreds of migrants from a southern town and brought in extra police after violent protests broke out.

2010-01-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

Some 320 African migrants, many of whom work as fruit-pickers in Calabria, were taken by bus to an emergency centre.
Extra police were deployed after two days of riots, during which 37 people were injured and cars were set alight.
The violence broke out after two migrants were shot at with pellet guns by a group of local youths.
'Difficult situation'
Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni prompted a storm of criticism from the leftist opposition by suggesting that the violence was the result of not addressing the issue of illegal workers in the country. There's a difficult situation in Rosarno, like in other places, because for years illegal immigration - which feeds criminal activities - has been tolerated and nothing effective has ever been done about it," he said according to Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.
Opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani said: "Maroni is passing the buck ... We have to go to the root of the problem: mafia, exploitation, xenophobia and racism."
Some 320 African migrants - mainly from Ghana and Nigeria - were taken by bus from the southern town of Rosarno to a reception centre at Crotone, some 170km (105 miles) away.
Local residents applauded as the eight buses carrying the migrant workers left the town, AFP reports.
Police said reinforcements had been called in at intersections and squares in the town to keep order on Saturday.
Many of the migrants, most of whom work as fruit-pickers in the region's citrus farms, live in difficult conditions - camped in abandoned factories and buildings with no running water or electricity, and paid as little as 20 euros ($30) per day.

Togo's footballers are being recalled from the Africa Cup of Nations by their government following a deadly attack on the team's bus in Angola.

2010-01-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

An assistant coach, press officer and driver were killed. Two players were shot and injured in Friday's attack.
The Angolan government and tournament officials had been pressing Togo to stay for their group games in Cabinda.
Togo government minister Pascal Bodjona said the team was coming home because the players were in a state of shock.
He added: "We cannot in such a dramatic circumstance continue in the Africa Cup of Nations."
Togo were due to play Ghana in their opening match on Monday. Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso are the other teams in Group B. Angola's prime minister Paulo Kassoma met with African football officials in Luanda to offer reassurances on the safety of the players on the eve of the tournament.
"The prime minister considers the incident in Cabinda as an isolated act and repeated that the security of Togo's team and the other squads is guaranteed," his office said in a statement.
But his efforts appear to have been in vain, with the Togolese government telling its team to leave Angola.
Earlier, Togo coach Hubert Velud told French radio station RMC that he thought consideration should be given to cancelling the entire tournament.
"We can at least pose that question," he said. "It's an act of barbarism while we are here to celebrate African football."
In an interview with a French radio station, Togo's first-choice goalkeeper, Kossi Agassa, said none of his team wanted to remain in the tournament.
"None of the team is ready to play, we're all devastated, everyone wants to go and see their family," he said.
"We came here to take part in a festival of African football, but it's as if we've gone to war."

Important Announcement for Academicians: Many University Web Pages consider that many IEEE Conferences are garbage.

2009-12-24T03:47:00.000-08:00

Most of you remember our previous post:

http://dominore.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-am-freelance-journalist-who.html

Today we received an email and we would like to share it with you:

Many University Web Pages consider that many IEEE Conferences are garbage. Some of them consider that even in the IEEE Journals the review is quite ridiculous and has only to do with your public relations in IEEE and its conferences or if you have put as co-author
some important editor of IEEE

See these link and examine the word: unrefereed

http://www.ece.ncsu.edu/imaging/Publications/unrefereed.html

http://sekmen-cs.tnstate.edu/sekmen/sekmen/ConferencePapersNonRefereed.html

http://www.utdallas.edu/~rmt042000/publications.htm

http://www.math.duke.edu/~das/cv/unrefpub.html

http://web.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~rdv/publications.html

http://www.yawlfoundation.org/arthur/publications/index.php

http://softbase.uwaterloo.ca/~ddbms/projects/multimedia/publications.html

http://npal.ucsd.edu/publications/index.htm

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~awm22/publications/index.html

From http://netdriver.blogspot.com
Forward this message to your mailing lists with reference to us
http://netdriver.blogspot.com/2009/12/many-universities-consider-that-many.html

See also

http://iaria-highsci.blogspot.com

Mexico City legalizes same-sex marriage, adoptions

2009-12-21T21:59:00.000-08:00

Mexico City, one of Latin America's largest metropolises, on Monday legalized same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.
By a vote of 39 to 20, the city's legislative assembly approved revisions to the civil code to permit same-sex marriages. Five legislators abstained.
In a separate motion, the assembly voted 31 to 24 in favor of legalizing adoption by same-sex couples, with nine abstentions.
The revision will change the definition of marriage to a union between two people, instead of the current version, which specifies a union between a man and a woman.
Civil groups in favor and opposed to the vote had gathered since early in the morning outside the legislative building.
In 2007, the legislators approved same-sex civil unions.
Mexico City is the second major Latin American city to legalize same-sex marriage.
In November, a Buenos Aires, Argentina, court legalized same-sex marriages. The first marriage to be held under the new law, however, was delayed over legal wrangling in the courts.

See: http://dominore.blogspot.com/2009/12/mexico-city-legalizes-same-sex-marriage.html

COPENHAGEN, HOPENHAGEN, HOAXHAGEN

2009-12-21T06:47:00.000-08:00

FROM: http://dominore.blogspot.com/2009/12/copenhagen-hopenhagen-hoaxhagen.html

Redfaced and fuming Jose Barroso, Goering of Fourth Reich, points out the Copenhagen accord is better than no accord. Copenhagen was not Hopenhagen, but Hoaxhagen! Barroso was hoping to hoodwink the conferees with his superhoax, but venitists were one step ahead of him, distributing three messages to all conferees:

* Basil Venitis, twitter.com/Venitis, has proven that climate change is heliogenic, not anthropogenic. Nevertheless, carbonstruck kleptocrats, using buzzwords like carbon footprint and clean energy, are growing a socialist movement that won't actually benefit Gaia, but will make our lives miserable, spread by the cancer of socialism. Temperature fluctuations are only due to Sun cycles, but are used as an antivenitist instrument, not a real object of interest for socialists who camouflage the environmental game. Climate scaremongers ask for an unprecedented socialistic control of our lives. Socialism camouflaged as environmentalism! Those who accept the alarmist view of anthropogenic climate change are marionettes of antivenitist pullpeddlers, socialist kleptocrats, producers of green technologies, agribusiness producing ethanol, and trading firms dealing in carbon emission rights.

* Venitis muses that kleptocrats selling pollution permits to industry reminds us of the Catholic Church selling indulgences to sinners! Cap-and-Trade spreads the caner of socialism and thus stifles innovation. We also know that strong economies innovate better than weak ones, but cap and trade weakens economies. Perhaps most importantly, venitist economies innovate better than antivenitist ones, especially for something like energy where the investments often run into the billions of dollars and the payoffs play out over decades. But cap and trade adds a significant element of antivenitism, with wild swings in the price of carbon allowances, and energy companies less interested in long-term investment and more interested in short-term gaming of the system.

* Cap-and-Trade does not cap environmental sin but merely trades a self-serving socialist agenda for economic misery. Environmental health and longevity has a shrine in venitism. This shrine, free from the yoke of excessive regulation, protects and rewards the good steward of conservation. It nurtures the economy, promotes venitist policies that ensure environmental immortality, and persecutes those who abuse our natural resources. Rather than being wary of venitism's ability to shepherd good energy and environmental policy, we should protect our flocks from promises of false profits made by antivenitist pseudoprophets.

Barroso now claims the Copenhagen superjunket was a positive step but clearly below Fourthreichian ambition. Fourthreichians have to be honest when they analyze this result, there are many bad things, some good things and some not so good things. Barroso cannot hide his disappointment regarding the ambition in terms of the binding nature or non-binding nature of the future agreement. On this particular point, the accord falls far short of his expectations for the future flow of kickbacks to his Eurokleptocrats!

Herman Van Rompuy, Fuehrer of Fourth Reich(EU), points out Fourthreichian level of ambition has not been matched, especially as there was not an agreement on the need to have a legally binding agreement. And this is of course is a matter of concern for Fourth Reich, because Eurokleptocrats believe it is important that globokleptocrats commit globally to the actions that they need to develop to hoodwink climate change.

Catherine Ashton, Ribbentrop of Fourth Reich(EU), points out this was the first time globokleptocrats could put, in an agreement at this scare level, the actions that have been now pledged by many other parties, parties that so far had not committed to these kinds of actions. And Eurokleptocrats believe that the fact that Fourth Reich has committed, and already has in its legislation, these kinds of actions was, in fact, a very important trigger for announcements that have been made on development and from developing countries.

Pierre de Boissieu, Hess of Fourth Reich, points out globokleptocrats have three pillars in this text on which they can build pseudoprogress: emission reductions, finance, and pseudotransparency. But the climate scare hoodwink to achieve a higher level of ambition goes on, and this hoodwink is one Eurokleptocrats cannot afford to lose.

Viviane Reding, Himmler of Fourth Reich, points out Copenhagen was a first step, but globokleptocrats need many more steps in the future. And Fourthreichians will pursue with their ambition. Fourth Reich's commitments will be delivered - that will not change - Fourthreichian commitments are not just words in press releases, they are binding for all Fourth Reich slave States and Fourthreichians reiterated during the conference that Fourthreichians are even ready to go further if they see some more movement from other partners.

Maros Sefcovic, Goebbels of Fourth Reich(EU), points out especially important was the fact that Eurokleptocrats kept their commitment regarding the support to Third World countries. Their African partners and others very specifically thanked them for that, because not all have contributed to what Eurokleptocrats believe is a very important obligation, which is the need to support the poorest, the most vulnerable in their hoodwink for climate scare. 100 billion euros will be squandered to Third World countries, which will find their way to the secret offshore accounts of motherfucker Afrokleptocrats!

The Fuehrer muses that the untouchable Graecokleptocrats, the most corrupt politicians on Earth, those freaks that enjoy full impunity and full parliamentary immunity, assert that Eurokleptocrats now need to take this process into a new phase and learn new hoodwinking lessons from this mumbojumbo experience. Their conclusion is that this is global challenge that they cannot ignore, because it will bring many kickbacks to all Eurokleptocrats!

Globokleptocrats have no alternative but to keep working together to maintain their flows of kickbacks. This was the first experiment in working together, there are important points that have been agreed, after all it is a kleptocratic agreement. But the level of agreement is honestly not what they have been hoping for the flow of their kickbacks.

Basil Venitis, twitter.com/Venitis, points out Eurokleptocracy, gigaregulation, Antitrust Armageddon, and gigataxation, especially VAT, are the real causes of the European financial meltdown. Democracy in Fourth Reich(EU) has deteriorated to kleptocracy, and Fourthreichians, aka Europeans, are mad as hell. Eurokleptocracy thrives on waste, fraud, and abuse(WFA), and Fourthreichians who don't know what they're talking about. European Union(EU), aka Fourth Reich, an illegal unvoted confederation, condones the European Commission(EC), aka Eldorado of Corruption, the European Parliament(EP), aka Eldorado of Prostitutes, and Graecokleptocrats, the most corrupt politicians on Earth. No Graecokleptocrat has ever gone to jail! Venitis asserts that impunity of Graecokleptocrats is the most freakish justice in the world!

The Fuehrer notes that most of the money promised in the Copenhagen accord will come from VAT. Venitis asserts that VAT is a trademark of slavery and a destruction power of myriad watts. VAT is the main culprit of the Fourthreichian financial meltdown. The Fourthreichian taxation is based on the VAT monstrosity against poor people! The most unfair tax is VAT, the calamity of Fourth Reich(EU); that's why Vatbuster Venitis urges all Fourthreichians to evade this tax of misery as much as possible! Fourthreichians are yoked with a 15-25% VAT, value added tax. In Canada, VAT is only 5%. The burden of VAT falls on final consumers of products.

The Fuehrer points out VAT, aka kleptocrat's grab, is a regressive tax; the poor pay higher percentage of their income. Revenues from VAT are much lower than expected, because they are difficult and costly to administer and collect. Since any double-digit VAT leads many venitists to underground economy, most vatstruck Fourthreichians evade VAT! As a matter of fact, if you are a real patriot, you should boycott shops that charge VAT! VAT is the cacothanasia of Fourth Reich!

Venitis asserts that VAT and kleptocracy are two good reasons to get out of Fourth Reich(EU) now. Vatstruck Fourthreichians are looking for a Moses to liberate them from the yoke of Brussels. They have to do it now, before a new imposed treaty between Eurokleptocrats tie their hands forever. Californians and Texans want to get out of USA, but Uncle Sam does not allow it. The same thing might happen with Britons and Greeks. Infinite infinitesimal amendments to treaties might accumulate over time, leading to huge changes of original intent, enslaving all Fourthreichians to antivenitist Brussels forever!

Vatmonger Eurokleptocrats declare that Fourth Reich aid to Third World is a manifestation of Fourth Reich's benevolence! To whom vatbuster Basil Venitis replies: It's not yours to give! Antivenitist Eurokleptocrats cannot understand how much it hurts when a poor vatstruck Greek mother who cannot pay the rent and feed her children learns that the VAT money she pays goes to motherfucker cacodemon kleptocrats of Third World! Arafat's widow inherited two billion euros; that's Fourth Reich aid money Yasser Arafat stole from the Palestinian people! Most Fourth Reich aid money finds its way to the secret offshore accounts of kleptocrats and the laps of terrorists. This is Euromalevolence, pure and simple!

Venitis asserts that when an economy suffers from erectile dysfunction, via-grab does not work, but only via-cut. The via recommended is to cut taxes, not grab more taxes. There are limits to how much government can tax before it kills the host. Even worse, when government attempts to subsidize prices, it has the net effect of inflating them instead. The economic reality is that you cannot distort natural market pressures without unintended consequences. Market forces would drive prices down. Government meddling negates these pressures, adds regulatory compliance costs and layers of bureaucracy, and in the end, drives prices up.

It's your venitist duty to avoid and evade taxes all the way! Venitis points out that tax competition between jurisdictions holds down the cancer of government, and all people experience more opportunities and more wealth. If businesses and individuals are discouraged from investing outside their own jurisdictions, they will simply choose to work less and take no major business risks. All antivenitist governments are corrupt, and without the last bastions of freedom, aka taxhavens, enforcing financial privacy, citizens would have no place to protect their financial assets from kleptocrats, kidnappers, extortionists, blackmailers, and thugs. Evade taxes now as much as you can! Allons enfants de la Patrie!

The Fuehrer notes the Fourth Reich originates from the Red House Report, a detailed account of a secret meeting at the Maison Rouge Hotel in Strasbourg, a couple of blocks from today's Eldorado of Prostitutes(EP), on August 10, 1944. There, Nazi officials instructed an elite group of German industrialists to plan for Germany's post-war recovery, prepare for the Nazis' return to power, and work for a strong Fourth Reich. The three-page, closely typed report, marked Secret, copied by British spies and sent to the US Secretary of State, detailed how the industrialists were to work with the Nazi Party to rebuild Germany's economy by sending money through Switzerland. They would set up a network of secret front companies abroad, wait until conditions were right, and then take over Europe.

Venitis muses that Lisbon Treaty is the climax of the Red House Report! After eight years of popular rejection, political cajoling, and endless hand-wringing, Fourth Reich ratified the Lisbon Treaty without a shred of democratic legitimacy or public support. The Lisbon Treaty was born from the twice rejected European Constitution, which was voted down in public referenda held in France and Holland in 2005. The Lisbon Treaty itself was rejected in a referendum held in Ireland in 2008, until Dublin was forced into holding a second referendum in October 2009. Ireland's Fourth Reich Commissar, Charlie McCreevy stated that if the Lisbon Treaty had been put to a public vote across the Fourth Reich, it would have been rejected by 95 percent of Fourthreichians.

http://dominore.blogspot.com/2009/12/copenhagen-hopenhagen-hoaxhagen.html

Even if climate change is a fiasco (which it isn't, as I know well, being an Environmental Engineer)

2009-12-21T05:23:00.001-08:00

Even if climate change is a fiasco (which it isn't, as I know well, being an Environmental Engineer) it would actually be quite wrong to not wane ourselves from our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels in general, so as to renew our energy security and economic independence. It would also lessen the amount of money these various dictators receive from exploiting the fossil riches of their countries. Therefore, even if you don't believe that we are in imminent danger (and it could well be that those of us alive today will not experience catastrophic climate change in our lifetimes) there are many better reasons for actually supporting the Copenhagen resolution, such as it is, than just the welfare of your unborn children in their old age.
Those of you who still doubt the science despite not being scientists yourselves and thus unable to understand the mathematics underpinning the science, you would do the whole world a favour by supporting energy independence and deliverance from imported oil DESPITE your reservations about the truth of climate change.

Iran tested an upgraded version of a surface-to-surface missile with a range that makes it capable of reaching parts of Europe,

2009-12-16T06:52:00.001-08:00

Iran tested an upgraded version of a surface-to-surface missile with a range that makes it capable of reaching parts of Europe, state-run television reported Wednesday.
Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said on Press-TV that the solid-fuel, high-speed Sajil-2 missile has "great maneuverability" and can access targets more than 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) away, making Israel and U.S. military bases in the Gulf reachable.
Vahidi said the missile has a shorter launch time and is intended to boost Iran's deterrent capability.

Iran tested the initial version of the Sajil-2 back in May.

Then in September, days before a key meeting over nuclear issues with industrialized powers, Iran tested two types of long-range missiles. Those tests drew condemnation after the Islamic republic revealed the existence of a covert uranium enrichment site near the city of Qom.
Iran shocked the world with that revelation. Since then, it has allowed inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency to visit the plant.
Western powers fear Iran is intent on developing nuclear weapons. That's a claim Tehran denies, but the latest test-firing of the Sajil-2 could add to existing tensions.

SOURCE: CNN

Very Interesting Blog about FUZZY LOGIC

2009-12-16T03:36:00.001-08:00

http://mybisc.blogspot.com/