Arts, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Islamic Studies Research: Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum 2011
Ruth Mas
Presented by The Qatar Foundation
Meeting Report
Society, Education, and Urbanization
An Islamic Society in the Modern World
The Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum convened for the second time from November 20 – 22, 2011, in Doha, to discuss progress and challenges in transforming Qatar from a resource-based to a knowledge-based economy and in creating a more sustainable future. The Foundation recruited eminent scientists and leaders from Qatar and around the world to share their insights on how to build a robust R&D infrastructure, encourage regional and worldwide collaborations, and foster entrepreneurship in Qatar. In addition, one day was devoted to a series of research presentations in five areas: energy, environmental, biomedical, computing, and arts and humanities research.
This eBriefing looks at the research presented in the arts, social sciences, humanities, and Islamic studies research track—comprising three general sessions. The three general sessions spanned social sciences research, cultural commentary, and economic analysis. A panel of distinguished experts in various fields of the humanities and social sciences challenged the presenters to consider new ways of thinking about their methodologies and their results. The sessions covered research questions of specific interest to Qatar and the Gulf States, among them understanding the role of Islamic law in questions of modern jurisprudence, unpacking the effects of increased urbanization in Doha, analyzing the changed and unchanged patterns of daily life in Qatar, and considering the various manifestations of civic engagement in the country.
Use the tabs above to find a meeting report and additional information from this event.
A report and multimedia presentations from the forum-wide sessions can be found in the Building a Knowledge-based Economy in Qatar eBriefing.
Reports on the individual research tracks can be found at:
Biomedical Research eBriefing
Energy Research eBriefing
Computing Research eBriefing
Environmental Research eBriefing
For speaker abstracts, download the Annual Research Forum Proceedings here.
For speaker biographies, download the Annual Research Forum Program book here.
Distinguished Research Award Sponsors
Scientific Publication Partner
Books and Journal Articles
Amani Ahmed
Ahmed A. Villaggio and culture change: an ethnographic analysis. Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Proceedings 2011;(2011):AHOS1.
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Aljazzi Hamad Fetais
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Kelly Knez
Crocco MS, Pervez N, Katz M. At the crossroads of the world: women of the Middle East. The Social Studies 2009;100(3):107-114.
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Musaiger AO. Overweight and obesity in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: can we control it? Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal 2004;10(6).
Musaiger AO, Shahbeek NE, Al-Mannai M. The role of social factors and weight status in ideal body-shape preferences as perceived by Arab women. Journal of Biosocial Science 2004;36(6):699-707.
Knez K. Being Muslim and being female. In: Wright J, Macdonald D, eds. Young People, Physical Activity and the Everyday. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge; 2010:104-117.
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Tara Makarem
Amin H. Arab media audience research: developments and constraints. In: Arab Media: Power and Weakness. New York: Continuum; 2008:69-90.
Eveland WP, Shah DV. The impact of individual and interpersonal factors on perceived news media bias. Political Psychology 2003;24(1):101-117.
Hoffner C, Rehkoff RA. Young voters' responses to the 2004 U.S. presidential election: social identity, perceived media influence, and behavioral outcomes. Journal of Communication 2011;61(4):732-757.
Hussain AJ. The media's role in a clash of misconceptions: the case of the Danish Muhammad cartoons. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 2007;12(4):112-130.
King J, Zayani M. Media, branding and controversy: perceptions of Al Jazeera in newspapers around the world. Journal of Middle East Media 2008;4(1):27-43.
Kraidy MK. From activity to interactivity: the Arab audience. In: Arab Media: Power and Weakness. New York: Continuum; 2008:91-102.
Peterson MA. Making global news: "freedom of speech" and "Muslim rage" in U.S. journalism. Contemporary Islam 2007;1(3):247-264.
Rouner D, Slater MD, Buddenbaum JM. How perceptions of news bias in news sources relate to beliefs about media bias. Newspaper Research Journal 1999;20.
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Khalid Mohammed Muftah
Coulson N. A History of Islamic Law. New Brunswick N.J.: Aldine Transaction; 2011.
Dien M. Islamic Law: from Historical Foundations to Contemporary Practice. Notre Dame Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press; 2004.
Hallaq W. The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law. Cambridge UK; New York: Cambridge University Press; 2005.
Hallaq W. An Introduction to Islamic Law. Cambridge UK; New York: Cambridge University Press; 2009.
Hallaq W. Shari'ah: Theory, Practice, Transformations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2009.
Kamali M. Shari'ah law: an Introduction. Oxford England: Oneworld; 2008.
Hadeel Ali Radwan
Ahmed H. Islamic law, adaptability and financial development. Islamic Economic Studies 2006;13(2).
El-Gamal MA. An economic explication of the prohibition of Gharar in classical islamic jurisprudence. In: Leicester, UK, 13–15 August 2000; 2001.
El-Gamal MA. Incoherence of contract-based Islamic financial jurisprudence in the age of financial engineering. Wisconsin International Law Journal 2007;25(605).
El-Gamal M. Islamic Finance Law, Economics, and Practice. Cambridge [UK]; New York: Cambridge University Press; 2006.
Seniawski BL. Riba today: social equity, the economy, and doing business under islamic law. Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 2000;39(701).
Vogel F. Islamic law and finance: religion, risk, and return. The Hague [u.a.]: Kluwer Law Internat.; 1998.
Ashraf Salama
Salama AM. Design intentions and users responses: Assessing outdoor spaces of Qatar University Campus. Open House International 2009;34(1):82-93.
Salama AM. Contemporary Qatari architecture as an open textbook. Archnet-IJAR—International Journal of Architectural Research [serial online] 2007;1(3):101-114.
Salama AM. An exploratory investigation into the impact of international paradigmatic trends on Arab architectural education. Global Built Environment Review—GBER [serial online] 2007;6(2):31-43.
Salama AM, O'Reilly W, Noschis K, eds. Architectural Education Today: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Lausanne: Comportements; 2002.
Salama AM. When good design intentions do not meet users expectations: exploring Qatar University Campus outdoor spaces. Archnet-IJAR—International Journal of Architectural Research [serial online] 2008;2(2):57-77.
Salama AM. Trans-disciplinary knowledge for affordable housing. Open House International 2011;36(3):7-15.
Salama AM. Towards a responsive architectural and urban education for understanding of and intervening in Islamic societies. Lonaard Magazine 2011;4(1):130-7.
Ziad Said
Anderson MK, Alnaimi TN, Alhajri SH. National student research fairs as evidence for progress in Qatar's Education for a New Era. Improving Schools 2010;13(3):235-248.
Brewer DJ, Augustine CH, Zellman GL, et al. Education for a New Era: Design and Implementation of K-12 Education Reform in Qatar. Santa Monica, California: Rand-Qatar Policy Institute, Rand Corporation; 2007.
Dagher ZR, BouJaoude S. Science education in Arab States: bright future or status quo? Studies in Science Education 2011;47(1):73-101.
Gonzalez GC, Karoly LA, Constant L, et al. Facing Human Capital Challenges of the 21st Century: Education and Labor Market Initiatives in Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2008.
Supreme Education Council (2010) Curriculum Standards for the State of Qatar.
Pinar Ucar, Badria Ali Al-Harami, and Richard Leete
Farid S. Fertility and family planning in the Arab region. International Planned Parenthood Federation Medical Bulletin 1986;20(1):1-3.
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Sue Underwood
Alexander M, Alexander E. History and Functions of Museums. Lanham, Maryland: AltaMira Press; 1996.
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Krug M. Building bridges in the desert, museum of Islamic art bedazzles. Art Monthly Australia 2009;218:32-4.
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Saintek F. The role of museum's architecture in Islamic community: Museum of Islamic Art, Doha. Journal of Islamic Architecture 2010;1(2);60-9.
Sherwood S. Is Qatar the next Dubai? New York Times June 4, 2006.
Ahmed Khalif Osman Warfa
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Frieda Wiebe
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Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Islamic Studies Research Panel
Richard Charkin
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, UK
Mostafa Kharoufi, PhD
Nader Ardalan
Harvard University & Ardalan Associates, LLC
Ali Mohayuddin Qaradaghi, PhD
Mohammad Hussien Al-Anazi
Awqaf Ministry of Qatar
Darwish Al-Emadi, PhD
e-mail | website
Badria Ali Al-Harami
Qatar General Secretariat for Development Planning
Fatima Al-Kubaisi, PhD
Ashraf Galal, PhD
Qatar Charity
Kelly Knez, PhD
Aspetar-Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital
Richard Leete, PhD
Omar Bin al-Khattab, Qatar
Ziad Said, PhD
College of the North Atlantic-Qatar, Doha
Ashraf Salama, PhD, FRSA, FHEA
Pinar Ucar
Qatar Statistics Authority
Sue Underwood OBE
Qatar Museums Authority
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar
Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar
Ruth Mas, PhD
Ruth Mas is an Assistant Professor of Contemporary Islam. A graduate of the University of Toronto's Religious Studies Department, she is currently working in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research expertise lies in the intellectual and political dimensions of contemporary Islam and she focuses on issues of secularism and contemporary Islamic thought. She is specifically interested in Islamic discourses that explicitly support the secularization and reform of the Islamic tradition and examines how they are shaped by secular power. Ruth Mas is currently completing a book project entitled: On Secular Islam: Time, Power and Tradition in Contemporary Islamic Thought.
Professor Mas has published widely in the areas Muslim subject and identity formation, secularism, post-colonialism, transnationalism, affect and temporality as well as in the fields of gender and Islam and classical Islamic thought. She has held visiting positions at Cornell University, Cambridge University, the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities–Essen, and at Viadrina University–Frankfurt Oder. She has also been invited to participate in the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University, the Seminar in Experimental Critical Theory at the University of California–Irvine, and the Foucault Spring School at the Catholic University of Leuvan. Mas conducts her field work in Morocco and Syria, and her work is recognized for its interdisciplinarity.
Qatar's pursuit of a knowledge-based economy is directed by its high profile in an interconnected world where knowledge resources are increasingly crucial to sustaining economies. The Qatar Foundation's emphasis on education and research recognizes the productive assets of human capital and technology as well as the globally competitive need for interdisciplinary and boundary-crossing innovation developed from the research community. It strives to produce information and knowledge for all, while focusing on the needs of developing societies around the world. The creation of knowledge clusters in the universities and research centers of Doha reflects Qatar's recognition that the establishment of knowledge in the form of the arts, social sciences, humanities, and Islamic studies is a crucial aspect of its national enterprise, especially if it is going to grow its capacity to intervene collectively and strategically on a global scale. These are the fields that shape the ways in which conceptual frameworks, social structures, cultural contexts and social relations are communicated and rendered meaningful to others.
Qatar's global competitiveness has resulted in the spectacular economic growth and urbanization of its capital city Doha, whose changing urban geography has been driven by economic diversification that is transforming its public spaces. The large and increasing revenues from its exports of gas and oil have allowed Qatar to invest heavily in its economic and social infrastructures and in the well-being of its people. Extensive infrastructural plans and urban development designs have vastly restructured urban spatial geography and the social practices and patterns of its urban life, transforming traditional Arabic social interactions and aligning individual and social identities with the values of the economic cosmopolitanism of middle class society.
Qatar's globalization is shaping the values of the country's civil society. Whether or not this will lead to the adoption of Western liberal values and these values' claims to democracy depends on the degree to which Qatari civil society supports the cultural and ideological icons of globalized financial capitalism and its elites. The reorganization of Qatar's civic and social institutions is building up the social capital, trust, and shared values that are holding Qatari society together. Qatari citizens have an opportunity to pursue political solutions for the wide variety of pressing issues that arise in developing societies. In Qatar, these issues include the needs that accompany the evolution of social formations and family units, different barriers to social development, education reform, the creation of mass media and communication, health advocacy and gender, and the role, economics, and welfare of migrant laborers. The ability of civil society to advocate for and collaborate with the State on urgent matters will amplify the productive and prosperous aspects of Qatari society and ensure the self-sufficiency of its citizens.
Qatar's openness to the world is conditioned by its attachment to the Islamic tradition and the country's grounding in the values of Arab society. Qataris are considering carefully what this adherence will mean with regard to the impact and strictures of global power. Because of the rapid social change and innovation that Qatar is experiencing, it is to be expected that traditional social values and practices are transformed. However, the centrality of the Islamic tradition in Qatar motivates Qataris to ensure the continued relevance of practices legislated and prescribed by the Qur'an and Hadith. This adherence to the Islamic tradition not only shapes the affective ties and sensibilities of Qatari Muslims, it also compels them to preserve their artistic, legal, and pedagogical traditions. As a result, Qatar is building museums, deliberating the limits of economic and jurisprudential change, and creating international information resources and databanks of Islamic bioethics.
Badria Ali Al-Harami, General Secretariat for Development Planning
Ashraf Galal, Qatar Charity
Richard Leete, General Secretariat for Development Planning
Ziad Said, College of The North Atlantic-Qatar
Ashraf M. Salama, Qatar University
Pinar Ucar, Qatar Statistics Authority
Sue Underwood OBE, Qatar Museums Authority
Student Speakers:
Amani Ahmed, Qatar University
Aljazzi Hamad Fetais, Qatar University
Ahmed Khalid Osman Warfa, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar
The Qatari fertility rate is in decline.
Kenyan migrants face challenges due to Qatar's high cost of living and because they are not hired in the jobs for which they have been trained.
Doha will be characterized in the future by the "differential space" of proactive participation, innovation, and diversity.
The Villaggio in Doha has shifted the consumer practices and social behaviors of the population.
The Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA) assesses the quality of national institutions in delivering basic social, educational, health, cultural, media, and environmental services to Qataris.
Social organization
Qatar's spectacular economic growth has transformed the organization of its society. One of the most marked changes in a society that is characterized by strong family cohesion and that identifies strongly with the Arabo-Islamic tradition, is in family formation. Badria Ali Al-Harami, Social Researcher at the General Secretariat for Devleopment Planning, working with Pinar Ucar, Statistical Specialist at the Qatar Statistics Authority and Richard Leete, Director of the Department of Social Development at the General Secretariat for Development Planning in Doha, Qatar, asks how and to what extent recent economic and social changes have affected Qatari family formation and child rearing, and whether these changes follow marriage and child rearing patterns in other countries.
Al-Harami has found that a rising proportion of Qatari women remain permanently unmarried and this has affected the fertility rates. (Fertiilty rate is the number of births per woman. Total fertility rate represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with current age-specific fertility rates.) One reason may be that, in general, Qatari men are attaining lower levels of education than women, and many women are remaining unmarried because they are reluctant to marry someone of lower educational status. Al-Harami and her team has found that another reason for declining birth rate lies in the fact that the more educated a women is, the fewer children she has. Pinar Ucar also reported on the large decline in Qatari fertility in the past generation, and found that this change is a result of women marrying later, starting childbearing later, and ending childbearing earlier. In addition, women who marry men of high occupational status are having fewer children. Richard Leete believes that another factor in the decrease in Qatari fertility is the rising incidence of divorce; unlike their male counterparts, Qatari women who divorce are much less likely to remarry.
The likelihood of marriage of Qatari women decreases as education level increases. (Image courtesy of Badria Ali Al-Harami)
The Qatari family unit is also a keen interest of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA) of Qatar. The Council's purpose is to enhance the role of the Qatari family in society and to advance the sustainable development of Qatari society. These goals have led the SCFA to assess the quality of national institutions in delivering basic social, educational, health, cultural, media, and environmental services to Qataris. Ashraf Galal, Local Development Director at Qatar Charity, documented and discussed how the SCFA has attempted to improve the quality of national services offered by the government and the extent to which these services respond to Qatari needs.
Qataris identified education, health, and entertainment services as lacking in their society. (Image courtesy of Ashraf Galal)
Galal's study integrates a comprehensive methodological and situational analysis with an impressive array of qualitative and quantitative measures that cut across different categories of age, gender, class, marriage status, housing, and educational levels. The study assesses how Qataris perceive the current services offered by the government and identifies remaining barriers to social development. In light of the study's results, Galal recommends establishing and maintaining community centers as a social enterprise shared by government groups, NGOs, and the private sector in order to encourage community participation and to motivate and create social and family cohesion.
Immigrants are crucial to the economic growth and organization of Qatari society
Ahmed Warfa, of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, has conducted an exploratory survey of Kenyan migrants in Qatar and has found that Kenya is one of highest recipients in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) of inward remittances—the money sent back to Kenya by Kenyans living and working abroad. His study of the impact of remittance and migration on the local economy of Kenyans in Qatar has found that as migrant workers, they are highly disappointed with gaining an income lower than what they initially imagined. The challenges that these migrants face results from Qatar's high cost of living, which impedes their saving enough money before returning to Kenya. The median migrant is a 29-year-old man who has 13 years of schooling; more than a third of male Kenyan immigrants have a university degree, which is unexpected for a migrant from a developing country. On average, these migrants work 9 hours a day, 6 days a week and earn an annualized income of USD 4,681 of which they remit USD 2,472 (over half) to Kenya. More than 70% of Kenyan migrants are unsatisfied with their savings, and 21% are saving less than they were in Kenya. Warfa strongly advocates empowering migrants to manage their expenses and recommends matching migrants to the jobs for which they have trained.
Qatar is invested in the education and future of its society. As such, careful attention is being paid to the trends and attitudes of Qatari citizens towards the education sector. Aljazzi Hamad Fetais of Qatar University discussed the importance of higher education for developing countries, especially in a globalized context where universities are competing to supply the increased demand for education. Fetais is examining the quality of university services delivered to students by the offices of admissions and registration at Qatar University. To measure student satisfaction, she has adapted the SERVQUAL survey method to evaluate specific service attributes in terms of their tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, and empathy towards students.
Meanwhile Ziad Said of the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar, Doha, is studying the impact of Qatari education reform. Said, an industrial chemist by qualification and a university faculty member by profession (former head of applied science at Qatar University), turned to this subject after the decline in student interest in science forced Qatar University to close its program in the sciences. The Arabic Speaking Students' Attitudes toward Science Survey (ASSASS) is a pilot study which seeks to determine whether elementary and high school students will go on to study science at the university level. The results indicate that almost two thirds of the students enjoy science classes at school and almost half are interested in continuing on to science programs at university. According to a World Bank analysis in 2008, however, only 19% of college students are enrolled in science and engineering programs in Qatar. Nevertheless, the high intention factor in this study indicates a positive attitude toward science in Qatari schools and marks an improvement in student interest, which although not immediately evident in terms of student enrollment in science at the university level, reflects one positive outcome of the education reform in Qatar.
Urban space and social practice
The rapid and extensive urbanization of Qatar is propelled by economic strategies that situate its capital city, Doha, as an international center that thrives in a knowledge economy. Ashraf Salama of Qatar University and his team are conducting a study that analyzes the complex factors that produce urban space as well as the complex interdependencies between knowledge and economic and physical urban development in Doha. Because Doha's recent economic renewal influences the evolving structure of its urban environment, Salama is tracking how it has moved from a traditional settlement to a construction boom and then to a city with high global connectivity. The framework he has created addresses the spatial development of Doha over the past 50 years and the conflict that the commercialization of space has produced with its social environment. Salama, however, projects a period in the near future of "differential space" in which proactive participation, innovation, and diversity will be Doha's key characteristics. For a city like Doha to compete globally, it will increasingly rely on the production of a knowledge-intensive economy, one based on international services, international banking, and international education. Salama estimates that urban space will be the driver of this economy, and a key to the future prosperity of the country.
The commercialization of Qatar's urban space has transformed the social practices of its inhabitants. Amani Ahmed discussed the role and symbolic function of Villaggio, Doha's newest and largest shopping mall. She explored the impact of Qatari shopping malls upon Qatari society, culture, and identity. Though supermalls are less frequently visited than was initially anticipated, they accommodate an assortment of social expectations and needs while sustaining a variety of cultural traditions. In Doha, the Villaggio has shifted the patterns and social behaviors of everyday life, changed the daily activities of the population, and created new consumer practices. These changes include new eating habits, altered times of sleep, and new relationships within both the household and neighborhood. Since individuals tend to visit the malls with their families, the mall has partially replaced home visits between families and neighbors. This also means that restaurants and coffee shops are playing a significant role in integrating Qatari families. After some initial resistance, the cinema has also now become a part of mainstream Qatari social life. Ahmed contends that the Villaggio functions as a space for new forms of social practice that are free from the social constraints observable in other spaces of traditional Qatari society.
Understanding the dynamic between urban space and social practice and the changes that ensure is necessary to the preservation and promotion of Qatar's historical and aesthetic traditions. When Sue Underwood was commissioned by the Qatar Museum Authority (QMA) to develop a new museum, she investigated the characteristics of Qatari Arab audiences that might visit such a museum to understand how the spatial and content planning of such a museum should be modified for these audiences. Underwood focused primarily on the constitution of Arab families and on their motivations for visiting museums. To gather this information, she distributed a questionnaire endorsed by the Supreme Education Council and the QMA. This study revealed that respondents across all demographics are highly receptive to visiting the museum with their families. A range of emotional engagement and attitude patterns characterize the experiences of families visiting museums, but family behavior once in museums is primarily directed by their social motivations. For 72% of families surveyed, the ability to socialize was the primary motivational characteristic in their museum experience, a fundamental cultural difference from the West. Museum planners need to be aware of the characteristics of family socialization in Qatar such as the importance given to conversation in interacting with museum exhibits and the need for museum content to engage all members of the family, including children.
Mohammad Hussein Al-Anazi, Awqaf Ministry of Qatar
Darwish Al-Emadi, Qatar University
Fatima Al-Kubaisi, Qatar University
Kelly Knez, Aspetar–Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital
Khalid Mohammed Muftah, Omar Bin al-Khattab, Qatar
Frieda Wiebe, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar
Tara Makarem, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar
Hadeel Ali Radwan, Qatar Petroleum
In Qatar, civic participation does not necessarily lead to increased democracy.
AIDS stigmatizes Qatari women living with the disease more than it does men.
A bioethics research infrastructure will establish Qatar as the world's premiere resource on Islamic bioethics.
Islamic tradition and civil society
Civic engagement and civil society are pillars of democracy in the West, leading many to assume that strengthening civil society inevitably leads to democratization. U.S. foreign policy for example, has promoted civic engagement as a crucial element in the unfolding of democratic political systems in the Arab world. Darwish Al-Emadi of the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute at Qatar University, however, questions this causal relationship after creating and administering the first ever Qatar World Values Survey (QWVS) in December 2010 to over 1,000 Qataris.
The QWVS gauged the level of social tolerance, political interest, appreciation for democracy, confidence in government institutions, and of participation in civil society organizations amongst its Qatari interviewees. The questions were formulated to assess whether people who participate in civic organizations and movements in Qatar exemplify democratic behavior or not. What Al-Emadi found was that in Qatar, civic participation does not necessarily lead citizens towards an increased appreciation for democracy. He concluded that because those most actively engaged in civil society stand the greatest chance of benefiting from existing social and political structures, they have little motivation or desire to change them.
Qatar's citizens are motivated to voluntary collective action and social organization by their shared adherence to identities, practices, and beliefs, and many of these are increasingly shaped by and in reaction to mass media. One recent example of this lies in the high-profile debates to affect the Middle East and Qatari society that resulted from the publication of the Danish cartoons and the boycotts that followed in 2006. Tara Makarem from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar asked whether the background of Qataris who viewed media coverage of these events, or whether the way reports were branded by different news channels affected viewers' perception of bias in the media coverage. If branding does affect perception, Makarem asks, then what are the background attributes that trigger the differences in viewer responses? She and her team conducted an experimental survey consisting of a short video clip and five different modules which assessed the background perceptions of the controversy and evaluated views of Al-Jazeera's and CNN's coverage of the affair. While they found that for the most part religion does drive differences in perception of the events and other background characteristics do not, they also found that perception of bias in news coverage also changed when the group thought they were receiving information from CNN instead of Al Jazeera.
The news media play an important role in constituting the modern subjectivities of Muslims. Presently, research is being conducted on the effect and influence on children in Qatar of religious material disseminated by the internet and satellite television. Mohammad Hussein Al-Anazi from the Awqaf Ministry of Qatar, who studies the importance of religious discourse in all phases of childhood psychological health, cautions that religious leaders, teachers, and all those who publicly invoke religious terminology should pay special care in the messages they deliver to children. These messages should be clear and straightforward, and follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad as well as the many verses in the Qur'an and Hadith regarding the care and attention to be paid to children.
In order to analyze the psychological impact that religious discourse can have on a child, Al-Anazi created a questionnaire for male students in Doha. He visited several psychological health centers and interviewed religious scholars and teachers to determine whether young students enjoyed listening to religious lectures. The study found that the reason most likely to prevent children from attending classes in religion was a lack of clarity and fear about the afterlife. Following modern psychoanalytic theory, Al-Anazi stresses the importance of clear and informed communication in treating these topics with children and the importance of religious discourse in cultivating the self-worth of a child.
Recommendations for adapting religious teaching for children to account for their psychological development. (Image courtesy of Mohammad Hussein Al-Anazi)
The Islamic legal tradition is increasingly being subjected to modern economic structures of power and governance and Islamic scholars therefore preoccupied with ensuring the applicability of traditional jurisprudence to present-day situations. Khalid Mohammed Muftah, of Omar Bin al-Khattab, Qatar contends that Islamic sciences and practices are inherently versatile and in a constant state of renewal, and he argues that this is especially so with the science of jurisprudence, because it is applicable to diverse contexts and locations. This is because the renewal of any tradition begins at the moment it is studied, and it becomes a never-ending process that accompanies current scientific advances and is influenced by other types of social processes. Therefore, in order for Islamic jurisprudence to be relevant to a modern Islamic nation state, its origins and fundamentals need to be recognized, as well as the Islamic modalities that this tradition has instituted and how these are being regenerated in the present. Muftah advocates integrating historical and descriptive methods to understand the inherent regenerative and adaptive capacity of the texts of Islamic law. These approaches can elucidate the contexts, intellectual sources, and the languages of the texts of jurisprudence, as well as the different schools of thought and the epistemologies that they represent. For Hadeel Ali Radwan of Qatar Petroleum, Islam's legal tradition needs to support an Islamic economic system that is able to develop new economic policies that are relevant to a globalized economy and competitive with global institutions. This is especially pertinent, as Islamic law forbids commercial insurance. Radwan explores the possibility of obtaining economic services that are compatible with Islamic law to facilitate the introduction of insurance in Muslim countries as well as their implementation within the laws and regulations of the State of Qatar.
Public health and bioethics
The concern with preventing disease and prolonging the life of its citizens is pushing Qatar to promote public health and information. Qatar not only takes health measures, it also deals with the social stigma brought on by the increased awareness of diseases. For example, three decades into the epidemic, AIDS still carries a destructive stigma. Fatima Al-Kubaisi of Qatar University reported that this stigma is difficult to investigate because of the paucity of research on the topic in Arab society, and especially in Qatar. From her review of the few studies that do exist, she revealed that HIV is seen as a male disease. Scarce consideration is paid to women who are HIV-positive and who make up 30.4% of people living with AIDS in the Arab world. Al-Kubaisi has collected data from 520 students at Qatar University and analyzed the attitudes that continue to mark HIV-positive women in Qatar. Reactions to HIV-positive individuals vary according to the gender of those with the disease. The students interviewed attributed more blame and stigma to women with AIDS than to men and supported imposing harsh limits on the sexual and reproductive rights of women suffering from AIDS. Only 45% approved of women with AIDS getting married (as compared to the 63% for men), 78% believed that women with AIDS should not get married, and 56% advocated that these women be sterilized.
In order for public health intervention to effectively prevent disease and improve the health and quality of life of its citizens, Qatar needs to promote healthy behavior that is compatible with its society. As Qatar shifts from being a Bedouin nomadic society to one that is more urban, there has been a dramatic increase of diabetes and obesity in Qataris. The Qatari culture and physical infrastructure has limited the opportunities for planned and incidental physical activity for women. Kelly Knez, of Aspetar–Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital contends that to better advocate for health norms that are appropriate to the boundaries and cultures of Qatari society, we must disabuse ourselves of Western assumptions about Qatari women and focus instead on their lived experiences. Knez examines the physical and cultural conditions under which Qatari women do participate in exercise. Using a qualitative analytic approach, she has researched the lived experiences of a group of young and single Qatari women and found that they do indeed exercise. Her results attest to the central role of families in facilitating young women's physical activity, within cultural boundaries that preserve the reputation of the family. Young women must be able to work within and across cultural norms to be physically active.
The health norms of Islamic societies in the Middle East are legislated within and coextensive with a comprehensive tradition of bioethics. The Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University and its Bioethics Research Library in Washington DC and the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Library in Qatar are collaborating on an ambitious project to create an international information resource on Islamic bioethics. Frieda Wiebe and her team are developing a core collection and database, which will include source material in bioethics and its intersections with Islamic law, Islamic studies, and the modern scientific and medical advances that are being questioned and dealt with from an Arab-Islamic perspective. Their aim is to promote the use of and access to information that will underlie scholarly studies and any research or clinical work being pursued in the field of Islamic bioethics. The material's classification and index supports the needs of scholars, researchers, clinicians, students, and the general public. This project will create a bioethics research infrastructure, establishing Qatar as the world's premiere resource on Islamic bioethics.


Disability Discrimination Act
published on June 21, 2019byAuthor Comments Off on Disability Discrimination Act
Disability Discrimination Act
The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against people in respect to their disabilities in connection to employment, education, provision of goods and services, and transport. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, several countries have passed laws focused at reducing unjust discrimination against people with disabilities, these laws started to appear as the concept of civil rights which has become more significant globally. The law follows other forms of anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation intended at preventing racial discrimination and sexism which started to surface in the second half of the twentieth century.
A UK parliamentary act of 1995 on Disability Discrimination departs from fundamental principles of older UK Discrimination Law such as Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976. The core concepts of the UK Disability Discrimination Act are: less favorable treatment for reasons related to a disabled person’s disability; and the failure to make a reasonable adjustment.
Reasonable adjustment is the radical perception that makes UK Disability Discrimination Act very different from the older legislation. This idea focuses more on an active approach that necessitates employers, service providers, and others to take strides to remove barriers from the participation of disabled people, such as employers providing accessible IT equipment, or shops making their premises accessible to wheelchair users.
The Codes of Practice of the Disability Rights Commission give more information to organizations with duties on assessing whether a certain adjustment is reasonable. Generally, the factors to consider include: whether the planned adjustment would meet the needs of the disabled person; whether the adjustment is affordable; and whether the adjustment would have a severe effect on other people.
Occasionally, there may be no reasonable adjustment and the outcome is a less favorable treatment for the disabled person such as a person did not understand the implications of entering a loan or mortgage agreement and did not have anyone authorized to act for them, it would be senseless for a bank or building society to enter into the agreement. Consequently, the Act permits service providers and employers to justify less favorable treatment and in some cases failure to make reasonable adjustment in particular situations.
There is no doubt that the public part can make a true difference to the lives of disabled people, many of the services given by the public sector are of serious importance to disabled and many of this services are only provided by the public sector. Through leading the way in guaranteeing fair treatment to people with disabilities, the public can do a big difference to the enhance a better way of living for disabled people. The Disability Discrimination Act ensures all the activities by the public sector and introduces a new positive duty on the public’s part to eliminate discrimination and harassment of people with disabilities as well as promote equality of opportunity for them.
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Tag / Sherlock Holmes
Sunday June 3rd 2012 Sunday June 10th 2012 by Xavier Voigt-Hill
E3: The Preview
Editorial, Gaming
AC3, Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 3, Bethesda, Bethesda Softworks, Dawnguard, Dawnguard DLC, Dead Island, E3, E3 2012, Far Cry, Far Cry 3, Gaming, Hitman, Hitman: Absolution, Kinect, Lara Croft, Lego, Lord of the Rings, lord of the rings lego, LOTR, Microsoft, Naughty Dog, Nintendo, PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PS3, Sherlock Holmes, Skyrim, Sony, The Elder Scrolls, The Last of Us, Tomb Raider, tomb raider lara croft, Ubisoft, Uncharted, Vita, Wii U, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Smart Glass
E3 is just around the corner, so we thought we’d give you a peek at some of the stuff that we’re looking forward to this week.
The Last of Us is the latest title from Naughty Dog, famous for the Uncharted and Jak & Daxter games. This PS3 exclusive is set in a post-pandemic world destroyed by a plague, and players take control of Joel, a ruthless survivor, and Ellie, a brave young girl, as they try to survive across America. Think Dead Island but better.
Lara Croft is back, and she’s determined to get her crown back as queen of action games.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dawnguard
Skyrim came out late last year to almost universal acclaim, including our own game of the year award. Now, Bethesda is set to give us more information about the recently-announced Dawnguard DLC.
Lego games are always awesome, and the minifgure take on Lord of the Rings promises to be no exception.
The Hitman series returns with death, death and even more death.
Despite being an obvious attempt to cash in on the ongoing Sherlock fever, this LA Noire-esque detective game seems intriguing.
The Far Cry series returns to an isolated island, and this time you get crazier the longer you stay there.
With a new protagonist and a new continent, AC3 promises to be epic, but can it differ enough from its predecessors to make gamers happy?
Have we missed anything? Let us know in the comments, and get ready for the biggest week of the gaming year. E3 here we come!


Ozone in the air has increased by 40% since the industrial revolution
Angle News June 17, 2019, 4:43 am 1.7k Views
Ozone in the air has increased by 40 per cent since the industrial revolution, analysis of 150-year-old snow and ice has revealed.
The greenhouse gas is created when pollutants from cars and factories react with sunlight.
Now the first study of its kind has backed fears it’s fuelling the rise in asthma and other lung illnesses.
It’s based on ice cores and compressed snow from Antarctica and Greenland that contain a history of concentrations over more than 150 years.
Ozone in the air has increased by 40 per cent since the industrial revolution, analysis of 150-year-old snow and ice (pictured) has revealed. The greenhouse gas is created when pollutants from cars and factories react with sunlight
Ozone molecules do not remain trapped in ice and snow – but oxygen chemicals do, so his team measured the amounts of two of these trapped in air bubbles.
Known as oxygen-16 and 18 isotopes respectively, the production of ozone in the atmosphere changes their proportion.
The analysis showed the rise in ground level, or tropospheric, ozone since 1850 was around 40 per cent.
This is much smaller than the increases indicated by 19th Century observations – and consistent with the numbers predicted by computer models.
Lead author Dr Laurence Yeung, of Rice University in the US, said: ‘We’ve been able to track how much ozone there was in the ancient atmosphere.
‘This hasn’t been done before – and it’s remarkable we can do it at all.
These results show today’s best models simulate ancient tropospheric ozone levels well.
‘That bolsters our confidence in their ability to predict how tropospheric ozone levels will change in the future.
‘These measurements constrain the amount of warming caused by anthropogenic ozone.’
The first study of its kind has backed fears it’s fuelling the rise in asthma and other lung illnesses. Pictured: Rice University geochemists Laurence Yeung and Asmita Banerjee
The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated ozone in Earth’s lower atmosphere today is contributing 0.4 watts per square metre of radiative forcing to the planet’s climate.
But the margin of error for that prediction was 50 per cent – or 0.2 watts per square metre.
Dr Yeung said: ‘That’s a really big error bar. Having better pre-industrial ozone estimates can significantly reduce those uncertainties.
‘It’s like guessing how heavy your suitcase is when there’s a fee for bags over 50 pounds.
‘With the old error bars, you’d be saying, ‘I think my bag is between 20 and 60 pounds.’ That’s not good enough if you can’t afford to pay the penalty.’
WHAT IS THE OZONE LAYER?
Ozone is a molecule comprised of three oxygen atoms that occurs naturally in small amounts.
In the stratosphere, roughly seven to 25 miles above Earth’s surface, the ozone layer acts like sunscreen, shielding the planet from potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer and cataracts, suppress immune systems and also damage plants.
It is produced in tropical latitudes and distributed around the globe.
Closer to the ground, ozone can also be created by photochemical reactions between the sun and pollution from vehicle emissions and other sources, forming harmful smog.
Although warmer-than-average stratospheric weather conditions have reduced ozone depletion during the past two years, the current ozone hole area is still large compared to the 1980s, when the depletion of the ozone layer above Antarctica was first detected.
In the stratosphere, roughly seven to 25 miles above Earth’s surface, the ozone layer acts like sunscreen, shielding the planet from potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation
This is because levels of ozone-depleting substances like chlorine and bromine remain high enough to produce significant ozone loss.
In the 1970s, it was recognised that chemicals called CFCs, used for example in refrigeration and aerosols, were destroying ozone in the stratosphere.
In 1987, the Montreal Protocol was agreed, which led to the phase-out of CFCs and, recently, the first signs of recovery of the Antarctic ozone layer.
The upper stratosphere at lower latitudes is also showing clear signs of recovery, proving the Montreal Protocol is working well.
But the new study, published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, found it is likely not recovering at latitudes between 60°N and 60°S (London is at 51°N).
The cause is not certain but the researchers believe it is possible climate change is altering the pattern of atmospheric circulation – causing more ozone to be carried away from the tropics.
They say another possibility is that very short-lived substances (VSLSs), which contain chlorine and bromine, could be destroying ozone in the lower stratosphere.
VSLSs include chemicals used as solvents, paint strippers, and as degreasing agents.
One is even used in the production of an ozone-friendly replacement for CFCs.
Most of Earth’s ozone is in the stratosphere, which is more than five miles above the planet’s surface.
This is sometimes called ‘good’ ozone because it blocks most of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, and is thus essential for life on Earth.
The rest of Earth’s ozone lies in the troposphere, closer to the surface. Here, ozone’s reactivity can be harmful to plants, animals and people.
It’s a primary component of urban smog, which forms near ground level in sunlit-driven reactions between oxygen and pollutants from motor vehicle exhaust.
The Environmental Protection Agency considers exposure to ozone levels greater than 70 parts per billion for eight hours or longer to be unhealthy.
Dr Yeung said: ‘The thing about ozone is scientists have only been studying it in detail for a few decades.
‘We didn’t know why ozone was so abundant in air pollution until the 1970s. That’s when we started to recognise how air pollution was changing atmospheric chemistry. Cars were driving up ground-level ozone.’
Most of Earth’s ozone is in the stratosphere, which is more than five miles above the planet’s surface. This is sometimes called ‘good’ ozone because it blocks most of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, and is thus essential for life on Earth
While the earliest measurements of tropospheric ozone date to the late 19th century, those data conflict with the best estimates from today’s state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry models.
Dr Yeung said: ‘Most of those older data are from starch-paper tests where the paper changes colors after reacting with ozone.
‘The tests are not the most reliable – the colour change depends on relative humidity, for example – but they suggest, nevertheless, that ground-level ozone could have increased up to 300 per cent over the past century.
‘In contrast, today’s best computer models suggest a more moderate increase of 25 to 50 per cent. That’s a huge difference.
‘There’s just no other data out there, so it’s hard to know which is right, or if both are right and those particular measurements are not a good benchmark for the whole troposphere.
‘The community has struggled with this question for a long time. We wanted to find new data that could make headway on this unsolved problem.’
With the onset of industrialisation and the burning of fossil fuels around 1850, humans began adding more ozone to the lower atmosphere.
Dr Yeung said: ‘One of the most exciting aspects was how well the ice-core record matched model predictions.
‘This was a case where we made a measurement, and independently, a model produced something that was in very close agreement with the experimental evidence.
‘I think it shows how far atmospheric and climate scientists have come in being able to accurately predict how humans are changing Earth’s atmosphere — particularly its chemistry.’
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Nature.
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF THE WORLD’S MAJOR AIR POLLUTANTS?
According to the Environmental protection Agency, there are six major pollutants which can impact on human health and well-being.
Particulate matter: Particulate matter is the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air.
These particles come in many sizes and shapes and can be made up of hundreds of different chemicals.
Some are emitted directly from a source, such as construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks or fires.
Fine particles (2.5 parts per million)are the main cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the United States, including many of our treasured national parks and wilderness areas.
Carbon monoxide: Breathing air with a high concentration of CO reduces the amount of oxygen that can be transported in the blood stream to critical organs like the heart and brain.
At very high levels, which are possible indoors or in other enclosed environments, CO can cause dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and death.
Nitrogen dioxide: Nitrogen dioxide primarily gets in the air from the burning of fuel. NO
It forms from emissions from cars, trucks and buses, power plants, and off-road equipment.
Breathing air with a high concentration of NO can irritate airways in the human respiratory system. Such exposures over short periods can aggravate respiratory diseases, particularly asthma, leading to respiratory symptoms (such as coughing, wheezing or difficulty breathing).
Sulfur dioxide: The largest source of Sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels by power plants and other industrial facilities.
Short-term exposures to SO can harm the human respiratory system and make breathing difficult. Children, the elderly, and those who suffer from asthma are particularly sensitive to effects of SO.
Ground-level Ozone: The ozone layer in the lower area of the lower portion of the stratosphere, approximately 12 to 19 miles above the surface of the planet (20 to 30 km).
Although ozone protects us against UV radiation, when it is found at ground level it can cause health problems for vulnerable people who suffer from lung diseases such as asthma.
It is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) – that are found in exhaust fumes – in the presence of sunlight.
Lead: Major sources of lead in the air are ore and metals processing and piston-engine aircraft operating on leaded aviation fuel.
Other sources are waste incinerators, utilities, and lead-acid battery manufacturers. The highest air concentrations of lead are usually found near lead smelters.
Depending on the level of exposure, lead can adversely affect the nervous system, kidney function, immune system, reproductive and developmental systems and the cardiovascular system.
Infants and young children are especially sensitive to even low levels of lead, which may contribute to behavioural problems, learning deficits and lowered IQ.
Source: EPA
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Federer Survives Opening Round Battle
World No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer survived his opening round match against American Robby Ginepri, prevailing 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-0 at the Lindner Tennis Center on Tuesday.
Federer, who fired 21 aces, avoided his first three-match losing streak since dropping four matches in a row in July-August 2002. Last week in Toronto Federer fell to Frenchman Gilles Simon in a three-set opening round match and prior to that in the Wimbledon final to Rafael Nadal on July 6.
After dropping the first set in a tie-break, Federer found himself on the brink of defeat as Ginepri served for the match at 6-5. But Federer broke at 30-40 and then grabbed a 6-4 lead in the tie-break before leveling the match.
In the third set, Federer lost only one point on serve and broke Ginepri three times as he improved to 5-0 lifetime against the Georgia resident.
Federer converted six of 16 break points while saving three of six on his serve in the two hour and 13 minute match. Going into the third set, Federer converted three of 10 break points.
"I mean I actually played okay I thought throughout the match. I Just missed some opportunities," said Federer. "I thought I was the better player actually throughout the match. I was down a set and 6-5 with the break. So it was dangerous today no doubt, but I believed in my chance all the way to the end."
Ginepri, added, "Honestly I was just caught up in the match and I didn't have too many feelings. Usually I would get pretty nervous or tight at that point, but from the first set on at four-all, five-four I was already, my anxiety was at a pretty high level. So the looking across the net and seeing Roger and playing in a high stakes match, it's tough. But I really didn't have a chance to really think about that game too much. Just kind of stepped up and played a couple sloppy points. Went into a tiebreak and obviously lost it."
In a first round match, 2002 Cincinnati champion Carlos Moya defeated Serb Janko Tipsarevic 7-6(5), 7-5 in just over two hours while improving his career tournament record to 17-9.
After an opening set that didn't include a break point for either player, Moya broke for the first time to go up 3-2. He lost serve in the eighth game but then broke in the 11th game. He then served out the match to even his match record at 16-16 on the season. Moya will take on No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the second round on Wednesday.
Moya converted two of seven break points while saving five of six break points on his serve. Tipsarevic's first serve percentage was only 44 and he double-faulted six times.
No. 10 seed Fernando Verdasco overcame nine double faults to defeat qualifier Victor Estrella of the Dominican Republic 6-3, 7-5. The Spaniard saved all five break points he faced while converting three of eight break point chances.
No. 11 seed Richard Gasquet of France defeated countryman Michael Llodra for the second week in a row as he advanced to the second round with a 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 ret. victory on Tuesday.
Last week at the Rogers Masters in Toronto, the top Frenchman prevailed in three sets before losing in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
After a slow start, Gasquet took control of the second set with breaks in the second and sixth games. He served out the set and then broke Llodra in the first game of the final set before the left-hander retired after 70 minutes with a left arm injury.
In second round play, top Swede Robin Soderling hit 10 aces and surprised No. 12 seed Tommy Robredo 7-6(6), 6-4. Soderling never faced break point on his serve and broke the Spaniard in the third game of the second set. He will face the winner of Philipp Kohlschreiber and No. 6 Andy Roddick on Thursday.
No. 16 seed Ivo Karlovic lost only two points on first serve (37 of 39) en route to a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Argentine Jose Acasuso. The towering Croat fired 17 aces and he will next face Federer in the third round on Thursday.
In the longest match of the tournament so far (2:35), French lucky loser Arnaud Clement fired a career-high 25 aces in a 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-3 first round win over Swede Thomas Johansson. The all-time series between the two veterans is now 6-6.
Johansson, who hit 28 aces, including 12 in the second set, was broken for the second straight time in the fourth game of the final set as he double-faulted. Clement closed out the match with his 25th ace.
American wild card John Isner set an ATP record by winning all 39 first serve points in his 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Italian qualifier Andrea Stoppini.
Isner fired 17 aces and only lost nine points, all on second serve, in 11 games. Since the ATP began keeping match statistics in 1991, no player had won more than 35 points without losing one in a match.
Frenchman Florent Serra saved a match point in the second set tie-break and rallied to defeat German qualifier Benjamin Becker 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4.
Serra trailed 5-6 in the tie-break before winning the next three points to level the match at one set each. In the final set, Becker was broken in the third game and Serra never faced break point in his last four service games.
He will face World No. 2 and seven-time '08 title winner Rafael Nadal in the second round on Wednesday. The Spaniard comes in with a career-best 29-match winning streak.


You are here: Riolo Law » Drone Aircraft, FAA, Legal » UAV for Christmas
Published on: Saturday - 27 December 2014
Categories: Drone Aircraft, FAA, Legal
Any day now, federal regulators will propose rules for safely operating small commercial drones over the U.S.. But the fledgling drone industry — in Los Angeles County and across the nation — has not been waiting to take off. Sales of the robotic flying machines are soaring. This month several thousand people flocked to the L.A. Memorial Sports Arena near USC for the commercial drone industry’s first expo.
Gauging from the energetic crowd and busy industry booths, spectators could easily forget that flying a drone to make money is illegal, and new rules won’t be finalized for months.
The Federal Aviation Administration says that by year-end it plans to propose rules for commercial drones weighing less than 55 pounds. The public will then get to comment. “Drones will affect and change the world—much like automobiles, but on a much larger scale.”
– Taylor Chien, DroneFly’s 30-year-old co-founder and chief executive
Near the Los Angeles expo entrance, a booth for DroneFly Inc., a Westlake Village start-up, was promoting its small helicopter-like drones with the help of music and a DJ. Young women in crop tops and short skirts attracted interest in the company’s drones that it was selling to anyone, including kids and professionals.
“Drones will affect and change the world — much like automobiles, but on a much larger scale,” Taylor Chien, DroneFly’s 30-year-old co-founder and chief executive, proclaimed in a video playing on a big screen.
The video showed footage taken by the company’s camera-equipped drone as it flew through downtown streets bordered with skyscrapers, along the Los Angeles River and over nearby neighborhoods, before landing with a thud.
Not everyone was impressed. “It frightens me. It really does,” David Morton, a retired Federal Aviation Administration inspector and speaker at the expo, said when a person in the crowd asked about DroneFly’s video 15 minutes later. “The technology is way ahead of the regulatory environment.”
Drones have hit buildings and people, but so far there have been no reports of serious injuries in the United States. A growing concern is the almost daily reports by pilots who see drones flying dangerously close to their aircrafts.
Two aircraft on approach to Los Angeles International Airport in May reported seeing a “trash can-sized” drone at 6,500 feet, according to a report filed with the FAA.
In October, a small plane flying above Burbank at 8,000 feet reported seeing a red-and-black drone, measuring three feet across, passing just off its wing in the opposite direction.
A Life Flight helicopter in Pennsylvania had to make a sudden hard turn when a nurse on board noticed a drone flying fast toward the craft.
A boy plays with the controls of a helicopter used to promote pilot training during the drone expo. Anyone can fly a drone for fun or personal use — as long as national safety guidelines are followed. YouTube has videos of drones flying out of control and then disappearing. The “flyaways” can be caused by faulty programming, interference with the drones’ GPS systems or lost connections with the ground controller.
The FAA’s ban on flying commercial drones until regulations are in place has clearly held back the industry. Yet some entrepreneurs have grown tired of waiting and are operating the unmanned robotic flying machines anyway — spurred by the agency’s lack of enforcement.
Sales are increasing fast as the drones become cheaper, more powerful and easier to fly. Drone prices start at under $50 on Amazon. Frank Tesoro, DroneFly’s 30-year-old president, said the company that he founded with Chien in a garage sold $3 million in drones in 2013 — its first year of operation. This year, he said, the company is set to triple that. Evidence of the industry’s booming sales comes from Parrot, a French firm that is one of the few drone makers that is a public company. The firm said last month that its third-quarter sales of the machines climbed 130% over the same period last year.
The public often connects drones to their controversial use by the military. Organizers of the expo, however, said they wanted to promote the technology’s many promising commercial uses.
Farmers want to use drones to monitor crops and improve yields. Industrial companies see using them to inspect smokestacks, pipelines and other hard-to-reach property. News media groups envision them as reporting tools. Only a handful of companies have received an exemption to fly drones commercially. Anyone, however, can fly a drone for fun or personal use — as long as national safety guidelines are followed.
Expecting thousands of drones to be given as Christmas gifts, the FAA began a safety campaign this week, reminding amateur operators of the rules. The guidelines require operators to keep drones below 400 feet, always within sight and at least five miles from airports. Entrepreneurs have been waiting for years for the FAA’s rules for commercial drones. Many expo attendees said they fear the proposed rules will be so onerous that many people will be kept out of the business. Among their concerns is that the agency will require drone operators to get a license similar to what is required of commercial pilots — a certificate that can take many months and cost tens of thousands of dollars.
“Licenses hold you accountable for doing the right thing with the technology,” Morton told a roomful of entrepreneurs and others at the expo, which attracted dozens of companies and an estimated 4,000 people. “We want to follow the rules,” A.J. Jolivette, chief executive of Terosaur, a drone firm in Huntington Beach, responded. But if the rules are too strict, he said, it will cause people to “go around the regulations.”
So far, the agency has filed notices of enforcement action against just five people who were flying drones commercially.
Raphael Pirker was fined $10,000 after he used a drone to film a promotional video of the University of Virginia. The FAA contended that he had operated the unmanned glider without a license and recklessly, nearly missing a pedestrian and buildings. Pirker challenged the fine, but last month the National Transportation Safety Board ruled the FAA had the power to punish drone operators for reckless behavior. An administrative law judge must now determine whether Pirker’s flight was reckless.
During an expo panel, the chief executives of four drone companies, including Chien, spoke of trying to succeed despite the ban on flying commercial drones. “I can teach anyone to fly in five minutes,” Chien said. “Who hasn’t had the dream to fly?… It’s a huge movement, and it’s here to stay.”
LA Times 24 Dec 2014
Want to Fly a UAV? - FAA Propose New Rules for Small UAS


David G Nigerian Gospel Singer
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DAVID Adedeji Adeleke popularly known as Davido. He is best known for his hit single Godwin, a semi-gospel and pop song which topped many music charts in Nigeria. In 2015, Korede got his hands on a.
of Nigerian descent – met at an under-18s hip-hop night and decided to form a band. Fifteen years later, Young Fathers have evolved from their puppyish hip-pop roots into one of Scotland’s most outsta.
Which State Is Home To Old Faithful We’ve rounded up recognizable tourist attractions, natural landmarks, and iconic buildings that are all so much a part of their state’s history that they. and hot springs — including the famous Old. Sep 20, 2018. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory reports a rare eruption of Ear Spring on Geyser Hill, just across
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July 6: King Sunny Ade, the legendary Nigerian. David Wax Museum, which blends Mexican folk with American roots music. The Chicago Gospel Music Festival, a free-admission event, takes place May 29-.
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Yogi’s journey from subsistence farmer to one of top traders of Surkhet - Blogs
Govinda Yogi manned the counter of his vegetable shop along a bustling road in Birendranagar, the headquarters of Surkhet district in mid-western Nepal. Green vegetables-- cabbages, cucumbers--were kept on racks as Yogi’s employees took orders from customers and weighed the vegetables. It was late afternoon, which meant customers were out shopping for vegetables. The shop, among a dozen wholesalers in this town of 50,000 people, remains busy every day in early morning and evening, when small shop owners and customers purchase vegetables.
Outside the shop, a pick-up truck and jeep were being loaded with dry vegetables such as onion and potato. Yogi, a 39–year-old man with a lean frame which he draped in layers of white shirt and black waistcoat, was himself travelling in the truck to Kalikot, a district 70 kilometres north in Karnali region, to sell the products.
“I am happy with what I have got now. I get to travel to several places in course of my business. I also get to meet farmers and talk about growing vegetables,” he said. “I will also tell famers what to grow in upcoming seasons and promote their products.”
A former subsistence farmer, Yogi’s fortunes took a turn for better after he moved from the village of Goganpani in Dailekh district to this burgeoning town nine years ago. Back in the village with about 46 households, his life was full of deprivation. After his 52-year-old father died in 1993, Yogi who was eldest among five brothers, shouldered the responsibility of running the family of nine including two sisters. He passed the grade 10 examination that year and travelled to Birendranagar to pursue higher education.
But that was not to be. Before long, he started to support his contractor uncle as an accountant, earning a monthly salary of 12,000 rupees. But he was under pressure to support his large family back in Dailekh. He spent most of time at work, hence missed his classes. As a result, he couldn’t complete his education. In 1999, he married and moved back to Goganpani.
Back at his native place, Yogi resumed vegetable farming at his 12 ropanis of farmland. In Kewal Singh Bogati, a local agriculture technician who ran a nonprofit called Forward, he found a mentor. “He encouraged me to grow vegetables,” Yogi recalled. Until then, smallholder farmers like Yogi grew maize, wheat and rice, but they could barely live off the products for six months. With the help of Bogati, he started to explore commercial farming.
Fourteen years ago, he and other farmers registered a cooperative and started to grow cauliflower, beans, tomato, potato and cabbage. But they faced stiff competition from businessmen who had better resources such as pick-up trucks to carry vegetables to bigger markets. “For almost a year, we had to battle against big businesses that enjoyed monopoly over vehicles for transportation,” he said.
Members of the cooperative decided to have their own vegetable collection centre in Ratanangla, a township of about 40 households. Yogi was tasked with setting it up. With the zeal of a man committed to perform better, Yogi explored new markets in Nepalgunj and elsewhere.
Farmers would carry the vegetable in doko, a weaker basket and sell it at his collection centre in Ratanangla. By 2005, his supply grew four times. “I used to send 4-5 trucks to Nepalgunj and Kohalpur in a day,” he recalled.
He was buoyed by the success at Ratanangla. So he moved to Birendranagar 10 years ago. Five years after his move, he made yet another stride, thanks in large part to High Value Agriculture Project in Hill and Mountain Areas (HVAP), a $18.9-million project funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) with Ministry of Agriculture Development as an executive agency and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and the Agro Enterprise Center as implementing partners. The seven-year project, launched in early 2011, targeted 13,500 households in seven districts in mid-western Nepal. Its goal: to reduce poverty and raise incomes of smallholder farmers.
Yogi benefited from several training programs and exposure visits organized by HVAP. He was part of a trip to nearby markets of Babiyachaur, Salkot and Bidhyapur, where he discussed with farmers about vegetable production. “We spoke about vegetable seeds and the market for the products. The famers also started to receive technical assistance through HVAP,” he said.
Traders, farmers, bankers and agriculture experts participated in the meetings called Multi Stakeholder Platform. They were crucial in helping develop links that would form the core of the network for the business. The value chain approach adopted by the project was instrumental in building business linkages in order to assist farmers make the crucial transition from subsistence farming to sustainable commercial farming. The initiative has allowed thousands of farmers to sell their agri-products in fast growing markets in and around the region.
Over the years, Yogi participated in training on accountancy, marketing and business management. For him, these sessions proved transformative. He has significantly upgraded his business.
But sometimes, effective learning derives from experience rather than lectures in a seminar hall.
In November last year, supplies of tomato suddenly increased, prompting him to scramble for market. “We hadn’t expected such huge output. It turned out that the harvest was good,” he recalled. Every day during the autumn season, he collected about 70 quintals of tomatoes from 120 farmers from three villages—Chiurikhet, Jangala and Salkot—of Surkhet district. Overwhelmed with the supply, he sought new markets and ended up sending vegetables to the capital Kathmandu, his first foray outside the region.
Still, he struggled to manage the shipment. He had to work overtime and cultivate contacts with traders in the bigger market of Kathmandu. The price of vegetables wildly fluctuated: he suffered loss of one quintal in each shipment. Nevertheless, Yogi learned a few lessons from the transaction. “After the deal, I gained confidence that I could supply to Kathmandu. But for now, I will concentrate on markets here because without cold storage, tomatoes can get damaged quickly. So it’s better not to take big risks,” he said.


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New Wave 2010: when the stars light up Jurmala
By Howard Jarvis. 31.07.2010
The budget is €2 million. The official prize money totals €100,000. The publicity is priceless. New Wave is back.
Gallery: New Wave 2010
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for young artists to display the verve and beauty of their natural musical talents in a significant and widely watched musical event. The ninth New Wave 2010 International Competition for Young Singers of Popular Music is once again underway.
Out of more than 12,000 initial applications from 31 countries received by the competition’s organizing committee, the expert jury selected 17 participants from 12 countries to compete for victory in the final in Jurmala, following qualifying rounds in Russia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Belarus, China, Latvia, Ukraine and Finland.
Taking place at the Dzintari Concert Hall in the coastal resort of Jurmala, from July 27 to August 1, this final stage in the competition is bound to be a grueling but ultimately rewarding process for the participants.
The New Wave 2010 prize fund is worth €100,000. The first-place winner will get €50,000, the runner-up will receive €30,000, and the third-place prize is €20,000.
Besides the upcoming stars, all eyes will be on the red carpet to watch the biggest names in the Russian and international music and entertainment business arriving in Jurmala. Many will be performing during the festival. This year, special guests include pop singers Toni Braxton, Lara Fabian and Engelbert Humperdinck, the Italian tenor Alessandro Safina, and soprano Anna Netrebko. A long list of big-name Russian stars includes Philipp Kirkorov, Vladimir Presniakov, Dima Bilan, Valery Leontiev, Kristina Orbakaitė and Zemfira. The organizers promise “a boundless sea of positive emotions in hospitable Jurmala” in which all fans of popular music will be able to see “a brilliant six-day show-program competition”.
The popularity of New Wave (Novaya Volna), with its pine-and-dune seaside setting, rivals that of Eurovision in many of the countries of the former Soviet Union. The 17 participants for the competition’s grand prize this year come from 12 countries: Sona Shahgeldyan from Armenia, Milk and Kisses from Azerbaijan, Litesound from Belarus, Gabriella from Brazil, Niki Manolov from Bulgaria, Uku Suviste from Estonia (see interview), Stacy from Finland, Hila Ben David from Israel, Kairat Tuntekov from Kazakhstan, the groups PeR and Lady's Sweet (see interview) from Latvia, three artists from Russia – Music Hayk, Murakami and Yegor Cesar – and three from Ukraine – Tatyana Shirko, Ivan Berezovsky and the girl group Payuschie trusy (Singin' Panties).
Some finalists were already named after the national selection rounds. Several applicants were given additional musical tasks on the basis of which the jury could make a final decision. Those who were selected by jury in the selection rounds participated in a semi-final at the Borodino Hall in Moscow on April 14 and 15. That was attended by as many as 125 performers, 51 of whom were admitted to the second day of the semi-final.
The event in Jurmala lasts for six days: three contest days, two special-event days involving the well-established stars, and, at the end, a day in which the competition results are announced followed by a final concert.
Competition participants will have to perform internationally known hit songs, hits known in their own countries, and songs specially written for the festival. The jury, headed by the well-dressed and easily distinguishable Igor Krutoi, is known to be highly critical of the participants and justifiably feared. Other jury members include Alexander Rumyantsev, New Wave’s general director, as well as music producers, composers, radio DJs and past New Wave winners.
Rivaling Eurovision
The similarity to Eurovision is evidenced by the fact that several of the participants – Milk and Kisses, Litesound, Niki Manolov, PeR and Ivan Berezovsky – have also been finalists in national Eurovision competitions. This is a fact that hasn’t escaped the watchful eyes of the organizers of Eurovision themselves, as they told RigaNOW!.
“Naturally, we keep an eye on other music contests organized around the world, so we are aware of the New Wave contest,” Jarmo Siim, communications director for Eurovision, said. “Especially as some of the participants of the Eurovision Song Contest have taken part in the New Wave competition too and have been successful.”
As examples, he mentioned the winners of the 2004, 2005 and 2007 New Wave contests – Cosmos, Intars Busulis and Natalia Gordienko, as well as Maarja (or Maarja-Liis Ilus) from Estonia. And, of course, Russia’s most famous music superstar Alla Pugacheva, who represented Russia at Eurovision in Dublin in 1997 and who has helped New Wave independently, even handing out her own special prize.
“But it seems that the way the two contests are organized is very different,” Siim cautioned. “The Eurovision Song Contest has a true television format, in which countries, represented by their public broadcasters, compete to find Europe’s best act and song. Viewers are heavily involved through tele-voting at the Eurovision Song Contest, which now has a long tradition.”
However, Eurovision has only the best things to say about New Wave. “We believe that the New Wave festival is organized at a high level and with the best intentions,” Siim explained. “Obviously, this is intensified because the festival has seen several of the biggest music names in Europe participate.”
To boost their chances, some of the participants from smaller countries have spent a lot of time working on their songs and routines in better-connected cities, increasing the international nature of the festival – and cooling any nationalistic fervor that may be felt by audiences.
Milk and Kisses, for example – the first artists from Azerbaijan to participate in New Wave – relocated to Kiev in the months leading up to the festival, recording, mixing and rehearsing their numbers for the competition. Their song written for the contest is called “Podruga” (Friend), written together with the popular Ukrainian musician Dmitry Shurov.
Latvia, the hosts, will be represented by two contestants this year. “The organizing committee, after thinking for a long time and weighing up all the pros and cons of the quality of the Latvian artists, announces that it invites two groups who were noted by the jury – PeR and Lady’s Sweet”, New Wave General Director Alexander Rumyantsev said at the national stage of the competition.
The trio PeR, founded in 2007 and named after the initials of the three members’ names Pēteris Upelnieks, Edmund Rasmanis and Ralph Eiland, sing in the style of beat-boxing. Lady’s Sweet also has three members, Karīna Tropa, Jolanta Strikaite and Vineta Elksne. Their musical career began with a collaboration with the group Sweet Waterz. This talented trio has also participated in a rock opera based on a Latvian national myth, “Lačplēsis”, and a concert series called “Stories of the Captains”.
RigaNOW! wishes all contestants and applicants, from all countries, the best of luck for the final.
Japan welcomes first store of Latvian goods Plastic Surgery: the knife that heals?
Artify-online 24.01.2011 05:23
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One of the main reasons why our group decided to choose this game was because we thought it looked fun and interesting. When we started researching the game, we found it originated from the 1700s in Britain, especially for sailors and boatsmen. We thought this would be an exciting topic as it was quite a unique topic as instead of just society as a whole, it was a specific time and place in which the game was played.
Crown & Anchor is a chance game that originated in Britain. The game is played with a board with the 6 symbols of the game (club, diamond, spade, heart, crown and anchor) on it. Then there are players, in our game we had two or three and a banker. The players had 3 chips in which they placed all of them on certain symbols in which they think they would role on. Each player was playing individually against the banker and depending on what symbols the dice landed on the more or less money they would win back from the banker.
At first, the game started off poorly as we took a while to set the game up and the players were getting frustrated and board, however, once the game did start it started to flow nicely and most people seemed to be enjoying the game and were doing well. We did have to enforce the rules a bit to some people but after that, the game got better and went into a better rhythm.
What we found that Crown & Anchor was a game that was played by mostly sailors and that it was a game that anyone could play as it required no skill just luck. And on a boat with lots of people and nothing to do, this game brought a sense of excitement as anyone could play and it was exciting to see who would win the jackpot.
Posted by Nicholas Calic on 07 Apr 11:36
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