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Published Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, in
Vol. 17, No.
246
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San José,
Costa Rica, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, Vol.
17, No. 246
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Despite
moon, Geminid will be visible
By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration reports that a full moon could potentially outshine the Geminid meteor shower occurring at a peak time today and Wednesday. Typically, the Geminid meteor shower is one of the best and most reliable of the annual displays. It also happens to be ideal for those who do not want to stay up late as the peak hours in which one can see the sight is around 9 or 10 p.m., according to NASA. Although NASA notes that a full moon will bask the shower in its lunar glow, an article published by the American Meteor Society said that the brighter Geminid meteors could still be seen and especially in areas opposite the moon. According to HubbleSite, the webpage for NASA’s Hubble space telescope, a meteor is the flash of light seen in the night sky when a chunk of space debris burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere. The debris itself is called a meteoroid, which are particles so tiny that they vaporize completely before reaching the planet’s surface. Many women cite unwanted pregnancy By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Half the women who responded to a sexual health survey told interviewers that they did not want their last pregnancy. And a third of the women said they were sexually abused or harassed. This is the second such survey, and it was conducted in 2015. Results were released Monday by the Ministerio de Salud. A strong majority of survey participants could identify HIV/AIDS as an infection that could be sexually transmitted, but less than half could list any other sexually-transmitted-infection, the ministry said. Some of the other results included an increasing desire on the part of the participants to start sex education at the primary school level, and by the age of 18 over half of the women and two-thirds of the men claimed to have had sex. Interviews were conducted with around 3,200 people between the ages of 15 and 64 all across the country, officials said. The questionnaire covered 16 topics related to sexual and reproductive health including the use of contraception, sexual practices, diseases, and opinions on reproductive health rights. The results of this survey are intended to help implement new strategies in addressing the rights and health of the public, health officials hoped. Officials commented on the importance in acquiring the information, but have not commented on the specifics as to what they will actually do in committing to action initiatives or some form of legislation. The vice president of Costa Rica, Ana Helena Chacón said the state should educate the population about sexual and reproductive health because ignorance and stigmatization make it an issue of human rights. Mother campaigns for legal cannabis oil By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
David Bastos Soto is a child diagnosed with Dravet syndrome which, according to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders, is a severe form of epilepsy. It appears in the first year a baby is born and is noted for particularly violent fits of epileptic seizures and involuntary muscle spasming. The seizures, the health institute reports, is difficult to control but could be reduced with varying anticonvulsant drugs. Most diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, are dependent on caregivers into their teens. Saray Soto Rivera, the mother of David, said her son had shown significant improvement in his condition since incorporating cannabis oil into his treatment. After trying 18 other anticonvulsant drugs, she said, it was cannabis that made the most significant change in her son’s life. The only problem with this treatment is it is illegal in Costa Rica. She claimed that David had to swallow 124 pills each month before using medical cannabis. David was experiencing a serious deterioration in the organs of his body and sleeping for abnormally long hours, she said. “Now David, only takes 30 pills a month. He no longer has the same number of seizures and participates in school activities,” Ms. Soto said, “Little by little, we have managed to reduce the dose of other, very expensive medicines thanks to the cannabis oil.” Ms. Soto is urging the national legislature to legalize medicinal cannabis so that her son can legally and easily access what she views is a life-improving treatment. Her story was circulated by the Partido Acción Ciudadana. A bill was introduced in August 2014 in the Costa Rican legislature calling for the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes. Cannabis is the plant from which the illegal drug marijuana is produced. This proposal states that the recreational use of the drug would not be legalized, however there would be an aim to regulate the research and control its use for medicinal, industrial, and food usages of cannabis and hemp plants throughout all the stages of production and consumption. According to the information within the legislation itself, the bill would establish the necessity of conducting scientific research on the health usages of cannabis as well as construct new pharmaceutical locations for its preparation as a medicine. It also would establish a new institute related to its regulation and research within the government in coordination with other involved parties. Currently, according to the legislature, the bill has remained in committee since late September 2014, but lawmakers made a revision to the text in April 2015. These adjustments mainly entail the bureaucratic structuring of the institution that would be regulating cannabis or that certain forms of cannabis would be legalized nor freely sold by any grower. It also lists the type of medical professionals who could administer the drug. Special wheelchair designed for kids By the
A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Ergonomía Aplicada laboratory of Tecnológico de Costa Rica, or ErgoTEC, is making progress with their new design of a robotic wheelchair
“We modified the design of the vehicle so that the children could sit well and then made other changes to allow them to control it better,” Luis Diego Araya, the coordinator for the research project, said. At the same time, students from the Ingeniería en Diseño Industrial focused on improving the control panel to make it more user-friendly to the patients. Researchers hope to begin having these vehicles produced at the national level now that they believe they have the human and technological resources to do so. The project began in Costa Rica in 2015.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San José, Costa
Rica, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 246
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| The
sounds of the jungle are being captured here by
researchers |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Even frogs cannot escape stealthy surveillance. Purdue University reported that a professor there had been visiting the La Selva Biological Research Station in Costa Rica since 2008. His goal is to record and archive sounds from threatened species. Among the species being recorded are amphibians believed to be in danger of extinction. The professor is Bryan Pijanowski, director of the Discovery Park Center for Global Soundscapes. Pijanowski's work has been featured in the U.S. media. The university said he has collected more than 1.2 million recordings, totaling about 250,000 hours of sound in trips all over the world. The professor reported that a comparison of his recordings over time indicates a significant decline in amphibian species in Costa Rica, which is noted for its biodiversity, the university said. “I’m worried that these would potentially become acoustic fossils,” he was quoted as saying. “In other words, the animals that are in these files are no longer alive. And the only record that we have of some of their presence is an audio recording.” The reason for the decline in amphibians is complex, other researchers have reported. Chytridiomycosis, a disease caused by a fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, has been credited with bringing a number of species to near extinction. But as the University of Oregon has reported ultraviolet radiation also might be lethal. There also has been a virus linked to frog deaths. And habitat destruction also has been cited. Recent estimates suggest that nearly one-third of all amphibians, some 2,000 species, are threatened with extinction. In the last two decades alone, nearly 168 species are thought to have gone extinct, according to news files. |
 Purdue Forestry and
Natural Resources photo/Matthew Harris
Bryan Pijanowski is seeking sounds.Costa Rica has the highest density of amphibians among all the countries in the world, 4.05 species per 1,000 square kilometers compared to 2.9 for Panama and 1.9 for Ecuador, according to the research site AmphibiaWeb. The site said it received the statistics from a new field guide by Twan Leenders, published by the Cornell University Press. Leenders reported Costa Rica has 204 native amphibian species. The Web site notes that one more salamander was described since the book appeared. That numbers an increase of 27 species since a 2002 book, AmphibiaWeb said. Now there are here 147 plus three introduced frogs, 53 salamanders and seven caecilians, the website said, adding that only Guatemala with 85, Mexico with 143 and the United States with 190 have more salamanders, but many countries, including Brazil with 992 have more frogs. The crisis facing amphibians does not seem to have captured the hearts and wallets of the public. Researchers at the University of Puerto Rico had plans to set up a worldwide system of sound monitors to captured songs of birds, mammals, frogs and insects. A Kickstarter campaign to start the project in Costa Rica, Perú, and Madagascar only raised $2,954 by Oct. 6 of an $80,000 goal. |
| Lawmaker
says kids should get in free to cultural and sports
events |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A lawmaker wants to give youngsters up to 12 years free entry into the nation's cultural, sports and recreational activities. The bill, No. 20.196, if passed, would cover both public and private events. The event would have to have been declared suitable for minors by the Consejo Nacional de Espectáculos Públicos, and the youngster or youngsters would have to be accompanied by an adult, according to the text. The lawmaker, Francisco Camacho, said one goal of the |
legislation
is to open up such events to children from poor
families. He estimated their number at 353,000, based on
data provided by the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas
y Censos. The Frente Amplio lawmaker said that in the case of private events, the youngsters who get in free would be relegated to the cheapest seats if there is a difference in price. The goal is to guarantee the adequate physical and psychological development of youngsters, he said in a summary. Many commercial cultural events already admit youngsters at a cut rate. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Dec.
13, 2016, Vol.
17, No. 246
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| Postal
service is looking for a few good stamp designers |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Correos de Costa Rica has set a deadline of Thursday for youngsters up to age 18 to submit entries in a stamp design contest. There are three categories by age, from 9 to 12, from 13 to 15 and up to 18. There are prizes in each category, and the overall winner will be the design for the 2017 Ciudad de los Niños stamp that will be issued Dec. 1, the postal service said. In addition, the overall winner will be entered in an international postal union contest. The contest is being coordinated by the postal service's Museo Filatélico, which is located in the central offices in San José. Contest rules are on the Correos Facebook page. |
 Correos de Costa Rica
graphic
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Dec.
13, 2016, Vol.
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 Michigan State
University photo
An electrifying swipeSwiping on a smart
phone
may make charging obsolete By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
One day soon, your smart phone could be charged by finger swipes, according to new research. Writing in the journal Nano Energy, researchers from Michigan State University say they have developed a film-like device to harvest energy from human motion. The researchers say the nanogenerator was able to operate an LCD touch screen, 20 LED lights and a flexible keyboard with the device and without a battery. The film is made using a silicone wafer upon which thin layers of silver, polyimide and polypropylene ferroelectret are added. Ions are added and create energy when the device is compressed by human motion. "What I foresee, relatively soon, is the capability of not having to charge your cell phone for an entire week, for example, because that energy will be produced by your movement,"said Nelson Sepulveda, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and lead investigator of the project. Furthermore, researchers say the device is lightweight, flexible, biocompatible, scalable, low-cost and robust. Moreover, they add that the device becomes more powerful when it is folded. "Each time you fold it you are increasing exponentially the amount of voltage you are creating," Sepulveda said. "You can start with a large device, but when you fold it once, and again, and again, it is now much smaller and has more energy. Now it may be small enough to put in a specially made heel of your shoe so it creates power each time your heel strikes the ground." Congress seeks Russian clues with twin bipartisan probes By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Intelligence committees in both houses of Congress launched investigations Monday into accusations that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election to boost the chances that president-elect Donald Trump would win. The separate probes about allegations of Russian cyberattacks to influence the outcome of last month's election amounted to an early rebuke of Trump, who over the weekend said the Central Intelligence Agency conclusion was ridiculous that Russia engaged in cyberattacks to help him win. He continued to assail the finding Monday. Even before he assumes power next month, the Republican Trump's mocking of the CIA conclusion about Russian interference on his behalf put him at odds with both of the top Republican lawmakers, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan. They endorsed bipartisan probes conducted by the intelligence committees in each chamber of Congress. "The Russians are not our friends," McConnell said. He added that the investigation should be undertaken with the idea that the Russians do not wish us well. Ryan said the House probe should not cast doubt on Trump's victory, but that foreign interference in a U.S. election was entirely unacceptable and Russian involvement especially problematic. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the congressional review is certainly warranted when you consider the stakes and the consequences. But Trump spokesman Jason Miller called the CIA conclusion about Russian interference an attempt to delegitimize president-elect Trump's win. Trump's election opponent, Democrat Hilary Clinton, has been silent about the Russian hacking allegations. But her campaign manager, John Podesta, Monday demanded that the administration of President Barack Obama declassify and release all the information it has about Russia meddling in the election. Mrs. Clinton won the national popular vote against Trump but lost where it mattered, in the Electoral College that decides U.S. presidential elections. Podesta called for release of the intelligence data before electors in the Electoral College vote to formally ratify Trump's victory Dec. 19. In a pair of comments on Twitter, Trump questioned why information about the computer hacking was not widely known before the election. He contended that if Mrs. Clinton had won the election and Republicans tried to play the Russia/CIA card, it would be called conspiracy theory. He added, "Unless you catch hackers in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn't this brought up before election?" Reid claims FBI's Comey was siding with Trump By the A.M. Costa wire services
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is directly blaming FBI Director James Comey for the Democrats' loss in last month's election, saying Comey ignored pleas to investigate possible Russian cyber-interference. "I am saying the FBI did nothing," Reid told CNN television Monday. "All the information that we've heard in the last couple weeks, it was available to the FBI. He just ignored it. He did not make it public. We asked him more than once and he didn't do it." Reid said he believes the Democrats would have won the Senate and Donald Trump would have lost the presidency if Comey had acted. Reid accused the FBI chief of breaking the decades-old precedent of not getting involved in politics. He also said Comey's revelation that more Hillary Clinton emails had surfaced two weeks before the election hurt her chances of winning the White House. Comey has not yet responded to Reid's accusations. Silicon Valley school offers new approach in education By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Employing a startup style, Khan Lab School brings back one-room concept to teach young students Silicon Valley, known for its innovative tech companies and startups, also is the birthplace of an experimental school that is disrupting the traditional concept of education. Mishal Junaid, 12, loves the unconventional methods of this Khan Lab School. “When I wake up in the morning I want to wake up, unlike my last school where I want to sleep in and not go to school,” she said. Ms. Junaid and her sister’s response to the school surprises their parents. “Our children, they love going to school, to the point that even if they are tired or sick or have the flu or whatever, they will not skip school. To the point that we worry why kids come home so happy and are they really learning things?” said Junaid Qurashi, Mishal’s father. Students ages 5 to 15 attend the experimental Khan Lab School. It has no grade levels and no homework. Students of different ages all work together. “You get to choose what you learn, and it’s not just a teacher hands you a worksheet and tells you to do it. You get to set your own goals. You have a schedule. You go to different classes,” said 9-year-old student Holly Thompson. The school is the idea of Salman Khan, the founder of Khan Academy which is famous for its free online educational videos that have millions of users worldwide. Khan said he started Khan Lab School because he thinks the current education system is flawed and he hopes to create a better learning model. “Where I see the future going is somewhat revisiting the past. There’s a lot of really good things about the one-room schoolhouse that you might have had in the rural areas that you still have today in a lot of places where you have mixed age classrooms. The advantage there is that older students can take responsibility and mentor younger ones. Younger students get more people. They get the teacher, but also other students being invested in their work,” said Khan. Khan said students also learn material at their own pace through videos and more attention from teachers through one-on-one dialogue instead of lectures. And they learn by doing projects. Malika Junaid noticed a change in her daughters after attending the school. “The biggest difference we saw literally six months into the school was the confidence level in the kids has skyrocketed. She continued, “I’ve seen the biggest difference in Mishal. Talking to elders, talking to others, presenting themselves, doing the eye contact and always wanting to help.” Dominic Liechti, Khan Lab School executive director, said this way of learning better prepares students for the future. “We can be innovative and think ahead of kind of what we are heading toward the fourth industrial revolution where a lot of labor force is going to be replaced by robots and we are, at the moment where I see education is actually they are stuck in their classroom. They are stuck in their artifacts. What we’re trying here is really to challenge that,” he observed. “The role of a teacher needs to change from being kind of a lecturer toward more being like a curator, a tutor but also lifelong learner and an assessor instead of just somebody who just lectures. And on the student side the student is shifting, as well, from a consumer to be more creative.” Khan is experimenting to see what elements of this private school can apply to public schools, with students from more disadvantaged families. U.S. seeks to stop conflicts with competitors in space By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A top U.S. military official says the U.S. is actively pursuing abilities to deter Russia and China from waging a conflict in space. Speaking at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in Arlington on Friday, General Jay Raymond, Commander of U.S. Air Force Space Command, said some of China's military modernization is aimed at weakening the U.S. advantage in space and other domains. "China's military modernization has the potential to reduce core U.S. military technological advantage," he said, citing an annual report to Congress by Defense Secretary Ash Carter. "Moreover, China is investing in capabilities designed to defeat adversary power projection and counter intervention during a crisis or conflict." U.S. efforts to strengthen space deterrence include working with allies, Raymond added. "Our coalition partnerships have evolved from just information sharing to joint war fighting," he said. "They provide an incredible deterrence value. We must leverage the growing space capabilities of our allies." Air Force representatives from Japan and Brazil said that their countries are actively seeking to work with the U.S. in space cooperation in the face of growing threats in that domain. World Health touts progress, but with some caution noted By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
In its latest annual report, the World Health Organization says strong progress has been made in the fight against malaria, particularly in offering effective control programs to children and pregnant women in Africa. The organization, however, warns funding has plateaued, putting targets for tackling the disease at risk. World Health’s 2016 report highlights significant achievements in the global fight against malaria. Mortality rates for the annual number of deaths from malaria have been halved in the past 16 years to just over 400,000. Programs to distribute insecticide-treated mosquito nets are the cornerstone of malaria prevention efforts in Africa, says Jo Lines of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “The progress is that now 53 percent, just over half that target population and it's a very large target population in some very difficult to reach places. Fifty-three percent of those people now report sleeping under an insecticide-treated net,” Lines said. As more insecticide is used to prevent malaria, however, the mosquitoes that transmit the disease are becoming resistant. "Insecticide resistance is spreading very rapidly. Now that we're achieving those high levels of coverage, it's spreading more rapidly than ever and becoming really strong in some places,” said Lines. Diagnostic testing for malaria has also increased sharply in the last five years allowing for the rapid prescription of life-saving treatment, particularly for children. "What's clear now is that we need to do a much more differentiated set of interventions,” said Lines. “We need to tailor what we do to each place.” By far, the highest share of the global malaria burden is borne by sub-Saharan Africa where 92 percent of malaria deaths occurred in 2015. Guterres takes up U.N job and urges solving conflicts By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Portugal's António Guterres was sworn in Monday as the ninth U.N. secretary-general. "The United Nations needs to be nimble, efficient and effective," Guterres told member states. "It must focus more on delivery and less on process; more on people and less on bureaucracy," he said. The 67-year-old former prime minister and U.N. refugee chief beat out more than a dozen other candidates during a 10-month long public process to lead the organization. With the world facing its largest refugee and migrant crisis since World War II, numerous armed conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, the threat of terrorism, and the effects of climate change, Guterres will have a full plate when he takes up his duties on Jan. 1 from outgoing U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon. "The United Nations was born from war. Today we must be here for peace," he said. Guterres said he would make conflict prevention his top priority. "Where prevention fails, we must do more to resolve conflicts," he said, adding he would use his good offices to personally engage in conflict resolution where it brings added value. He also called for mediation, arbitration and creative diplomacy for addressing crises. During a post-ceremony news conference, Guterres was asked what he would do about the situation in Syria. He said he hopes to be an honest broker, creating the conditions for confidence to be established to find a solution. U.N. member states also held a tribute to Ban Ki-moon, who has led the organization for the past decade. They praised his stewardship of the organization through a global financial crisis, conflicts, natural disasters and outbreaks of disease, and they gave him a standing ovation. Over his tenure, Ban has often referred to his own upbringing and the role the United Nations played in his youth, in struggling post-war Korea. Ban's term will expire at the end of this month. He will return to his native South Korea in mid-January, where there is widespread speculation he may run for president. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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San José,
Costa Rica, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, Vol.
17, No. 246
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Capital gets a very
advanced vehicle
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
San Jose's municipal police just got from the United States a $198,000 vehicle of the kind the evil government villain uses in some spy movie. The panel truck contains a generator, computer screens, radios, internet hookups, an exterior camera, recording devices, office space and a storage area. The truck also has interior cameras, according to the municipality. And if there is not enough room, there is a tent that can be erected outside. The municipality said that the vehicle will be used to visit communities for preventative programs and to strengthen security. Except for the paint job that says Municipalidad de San José, the new truck is clearly designed for surveillance. The announcement said that the electronics were state of the art. Two performances to tell nativity story By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Banda de Conciertos de San José, the groups Gaviota and Trío Matices and actors will present two performances of a 90-minute musical recounting of the birth of Jesus. The first performance will be at at 7 o'clock tonight in the Escuela Porfirio Brenes in Moravia and at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Catedral Metropolitana in San José. The actors will play characters from the biblical account in the 1990 work composed by Costa Rican Carlos Guzmán. |
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| From Page 7: Analytics firm here adopts Moody's name By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Copal Amba finance company has officially come under the umbrella of financial analytic giant Moody’s Corp. with the changing of the Costa Rican-based group’s name to Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services. Miriam Manrique, the director of Moody’s, said that this is a part of a wider move on the part of the corporation to expand markets into South and Central America. Ms. Manrique said that the firm will also generate 50 additional jobs in 2017. “We have brought Wall Street to Costa Rica and we have been successful in the process,” she said, “Given the trust of a company like Moody’s in the country and its talent, the objective is to continue hiring highly qualified personnel and grow the operation.” Moody’s will offer investment analysis training through 2017 in Costa Rica. The foreign trade ministry praised the move by Moody’s Analytics and continues to voice its support toward creating a better environment for the operation. The agency also noted of the necessity in developing the services sector of the Costa Rican economy for its continued diversification. Moody’s is an organization providing credit ratings, research, tools and analysis that contribute to the transparency and integration of financial market, the company’ statement said. Moody’s Analytics offers advice and research services in credit or economic analysis as well as financial risk management. According to the corporation, Moody’s earned around $3.5 billion in 2015 with a presence in 36 countries. |
