The International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, Volume 2, Number 2, November 2004, is available for viewing or downloading at http://www.ijamt.org/. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal, which is published on line biannually by the School of Management, Walden University, includes the article "Information Technology and the Countermarketing of Derivitive Risks: ISDA’S (International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s) Response," by Joseph Bonnici and Dwight M. Scherban of Central Connecticut State University, in addition to several submissions from outside the United States. The journal's next issue will be published in May 2005. (posted 12/7/04)

ComET Described and Demonstrated; Developers Seeking More Comments and Data. Health Canada hosted a meeting on November 8, 2004, to describe the new complex exposure model ComET and invited interested parties to submit comments and data. Health Canada scientists and the model developers from The LifeLine Group described the ComET model, how it is being built, what data it contains, what it is capable of, and how interested stakeholders can submit relevant information to possibly improve the information platform that will be used in ComET. The meeting was neither a peer review of the tool or its application by Health Canada nor a discussion of the individual chemicals and data used for those chemicals, but rather it provided participants the opportunity to examine the structure and some of the assumptions that are being used. Fifty people attended the meeting in person, and approximately 50 others participated via webcast and teleconference. A recording of the meeting webcast is available at http://www.tera.org/peer/Exposure/ExposureWelcome.htm. The LifeLine Group and Health Canada are actively seeking additional comments and data to improve the contents of ComET. Instructions for submitting information are available in MS Word format. (posted 11/29/04, updated 11/30/04)

Principles of Survivability and Information Assurance provide system administrators--from professionals to home computer systems owners--an educational foundation for reacting to technology changes, minimizing disruptions, and managing computer systems and network infrastructure components. The ten principles are available on the website of CERT^® Coordination Center, a center of Internet security expertise located at the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center operated by Carnegie Mellon University. (posted 11/18/04)

Regulation of Hormetic Substances, the topic of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis' bimonthly Risk in Perspective, October 2004, concludes: "Although the linear no-threshold model is often used when setting environmental regulatory standards, proponents of an alternative hypothesis, hormesis, suggest that the relationship between exposure and harm may be better represented as a J-shaped function for many environmental toxicants." The center's director, James K. Hammitt, wrote this essay. A PDF version is available on line. (posted 11/15/04)

London-based spiked To Host Discussions on Manmade Chemical Risks and on Killer Bugs and Viruses. The online publication spiked will host a discussion on the human health effects of manmade chemicals in everyday household products. This event, which will be held from 7:00 to 8:30 PM on Tuesday, November 23, at Faraday Lecture Theatre, Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Abermarle Street, London, will require tickets to attend. In December, the publication and the British Association for the Advancement of Science will cohost a discussion on whether we are at greater risk of global outbreaks of killer bugs and viruses. Michael Fitzpatrick, author of MMR and Autism: What Parents Need to Know, and John Oxford, professor of virology at Saint Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, will speak on "Plagues of the Future" from 7:00 to 8:30 PM, Wednesday, December 8, at Dana Centre, 165 Queen's Gate, South Kensington, London. The event is free but reservations are required to attend. Go to spiked Events Events Events for more information. (posted 11/4/04)

Full Body Scans: The Promise and Pitfalls of Self Initiated Health Care? Full body CT scans are gaining popularity among patients as a way to spot health problems such as heart disease and cancer at an early stage. A public seminar for educational purposes only, sponsored by the National Academies' Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program, will explore whether the potential benefits of pre-emptive diagnosis outweigh the risks of increased radiation exposure and false positives and whether advertising to increase patient awareness of these scans also increases demands for unprescribed tests. The seminar will run from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, on Friday, November 12, 2004, in Room 100 of the Academies' Keck Center, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. No report or summary will be produced from this seminar. (Click here for more information.) (posted 11/2/04)

The U.S. Presidential Race: New Scientist Suggests Some Issues. A special feature on the United States election that is published in the New Scientist print edition dated October 9, 2004, suggests there are several global issues besides Iraq and the economy that the next U.S. president will have to address. Many of the articles in "Are You Listening, America? Global Issues a President Cannot Ignore" are accessible on line now. (posted 10/6/04)

A Tennessee Professor's Contribution to Photosynthetic Solar Cell Research. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Tennessee, and U.S. Naval Research Laboratory researchers who collaborated on the world's first solid-state photosynthetic solar cell included the project's "gardener," Barry Bruce of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Tennessee. Douglas Hullander writes about Bruce and the project in the October 4 issue of his weekly "Science in Your World" for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Read "Scientists Bridging Gap Between Green, Electricity" (free registration is required to access this article) and an earlier news release from MIT. (posted 10/4/04)

Nanotechnology's "Inherent Risks." Ernie Cook's article "Nanotechnology: Looking as We Leap," which is featured in the Environmental Health Perspectives September issue (Volume 112, Number 13), asks scientists to "focus attention on the environmental and human health effects of nanomaterials to ensure that the new technology will not be rolled out too far ahead of critical health and safety information." Read the full article on line. (posted 9/30/04)

Not My Child. Clinical psychologist Paul Quinnett, who heads the QPR Institute, a training organization dedicated to the prevention of suicide, writes about suicide as the second leading cause of death among college-age students in his op-ed, which was published in The Oregonian on September 8, 2004. (posted 9/23/04)

35th Anniversary of the Internet To Be Commemorated. The birthplace of the Internet, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), will mark the 35th anniversary of the Internet with a day-long forum on October 29, 2004. Several of the Internet's founding fathers, current leaders, and young visionaries will be present to discuss the technology's impact on society. For more information, see the anniversary's homepage and a news release. (posted 9/20/04)

Example Exposure Scenarios, a tool to help the assessor develop estimates of exposure, dose, and risk, is now available for downloading from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Center for Environmental Assessment website. The NCEA published the example scenarios to demonstrate how data from the Exposure Factors Handbook (U.S. EPA, 1997) may be applied for estimating exposures. The download link is here. (posted 9/14/04)

Documentaries on Chernobyl and Indian Point To Air on HBO. Eighteen years after the world's worst nuclear accident at the Chernobyl power station in the Ukraine, filmmaker Maryann De Leo's Oscar®-winning documentary short Chernobyl Heart examines the effects of radiation that continue to plague the area through cancer, birth defects, and a heart defect that bears the name of the tragedy. Check HBO for showings. Another documentary, Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable, by independent documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, investigates why the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant has become the center of debate since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The center sits 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan amid approximately 20 million people living within its 50-mile radius--the highest population density surrounding any nuclear power plant in the United States. Check HBO for showings. (posted 9/13/04)

Weight of the Evidence Evaluation of Low-Dose Reproductive and Developmental Effect of Bisphenol A (BPA), the August 2004 issue of Risk in Perspective published by Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, summarizes the report from a panel the center convened to evaluate the weight of evidence in studies of BPA that were published as of April 2002. Exposure to BPA in the general population is widespread, since the plastic monomer is the starting material for the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics used in plastic bottles, jugs, baby bottles, and many other products and also lines the inside of food and beverage cans. The full peer-reviewed report was published in the Journal of Human and Ecological Risk Assessment Volume 10, No. 1, February 2004. The Risk in Perspective summary is available on line in Acrobat PDF. (posted 8/23/04)

U.S. EPA Updates CAMEO® and ALOHA® Software. A CAMEO® user identified a problem with AEGL (Acute Exposure Guideline Level) data that was just added to the Chemical Library (a new Level of Concern found under the Properties tab in the RIDS). The error was non-conservative, so the CAMEO management and development team corrected the information and has reissued the chemical databases used in CAMEO® and ALOHA®. Read more. (posted 8/5/04)

"Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives," the 2004 version of a publication the Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) launched in July 2002, is an unprecedented compilation of concrete examples of what people are doing to make the world a safer place. This indispensable guide for everyone interested in disaster risk reduction, humanitarian action, and sustainable development explores the ways in which the understanding of disaster management and risk has evolved over recent years and provides a comprehensive compilation of information on disaster risks around the world. (posted 7/27/04)

Governing for Enterprise Security, a series of several articles from the CERT^® Coordination Center (CERT/CC), intends to help corporate leaders mobilize, achieve, and sustain enterprise security in their organizations. The first two articles are available now: "Governing for Enterprise Security" and "Governing for Enterprise Security: Be Aware and Understand." CERT^® Coordination Center, a center of Internet security expertise, is located at the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center operated by Carnegie Mellon University. (posted 7/21/04)

TCE PBPK Peer Consultation Meeting Results Summary Is Available. A brief summary of meeting results is available for the peer consultation meeting on a draft harmonized physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for trichloroethylene (TCE) that was held on June 29, 2004, at the University of Cincinnati's Kingsgate Conference Center. Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) organized the public meeting at the request of the joint U.S. Air Force and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency workgroup that is developing the model. An independent panel of expert scientists provided input and recommendations to the model authors in a number of areas. A link to the summary is available now at http://www.tera.org/vera/TCE%20announcement.htm, and a more detailed meeting report will be made available in late summer. Please contact Dr. Jay Zhao (zhao@tera.org) for more information about the TCE PBPK project. (posted 7/15/04)

The Stability of Saudi Arabia in the Face of Mounting Terrorist Attacks, a political risk assessment by Steve Vickers of International Risk Ltd., is available on line in its entirety (PDF version). (posted 7/15/04)

TERA Accepting Nominations for 2005 VCCEP Core Panel. Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) has announced the opening of nominations for members of the 2005 core panel for the Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP) peer consultations. The nomination period for the new core group will close on Friday, September 3, 2004. Read more. (posted 7/13/04)

Individual and Subpopulation Variations in Response to Toxic Chemicals: Factors of Susceptibility, a paper written by Timothy T. Iyaniwura when he was a 1998-2002 senior research fellow at Biomedical Research Centre, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, Scotland, reviews factors that should receive attention in defining the toxicity of chemicals within a population setting, with emphasis on those factors that may confer the greatest susceptibility to toxic effects. The full paper is published in RiskWorld. (posted 7/1/04)

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