text:
Demands for Exposure Science
Knowledge of exposure is key to predicting, preventing, and reducing environmental and human health risks. A robust exposure science is necessary to support policy decisions for managing potentially harmful exposures without adversely affecting economic activities, personal liberties, and the health of people. The need for exposure science extends beyond policy considerations, however, and includes societal goals related to population health, economic security, and human well-being. This chapter addresses the demands for exposure science that the committee's proposed vision will help to meet. The committee's vision will help transform exposure science into a more forward-looking discipline that supports universal exposure surveillance and integrated predictive systems that facilitate early detection of and even anticipate harmful exposures.
The committee's vision (Chapter 2) arises in part from multiple and complex scientific, societal, commercial, and policy demands. The committee did not attempt to develop an exhaustive list of those demands but rather selected examples to illustrate their nature and their importance in shaping research needs for exposure science in the 21st century. This chapter builds on the concepts and terminology in Chapter 1 and the applications of exposure science in Chapter 3. It sets the stage for Chapter 5, which identifies scientific and technologic advancements needed to support the committee's vision.
The committee broadly explored research-based and decision-based activities to identify emerging needs for exposure information. This exploration reveals that the demand for exposure information is growing. One example of this is the knowledge gap resulting from the introduction of thousands of new chemicals into the market each year. The U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act and the Green Chemistry Initiative of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (CA DTSC 2008) demonstrate that the rate of introduction of new substances exceeds our ability to design and conduct exposure assessments of these new chemicals and their mixtures that enter the market. Other examples
of emerging demands for exposure information are EPA's Premanufacturing Notice requirements and the European Union's program for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals. The industries that market chemicals and the government agencies that regulate them need more and better exposure information to conduct screening and regulatory assessments.
Another example is the increasing need to address long-term health effects of low-level exposures to chemical, biologic, and physical stressors over years or decades, such as low-level radiation exposure. A dearth of exposure data contributed to uncertainty in communicating the radiation risk posed by the Fukushima incident in Japan to policy-makers and the public. Previous opportunities to reduce uncertainties through the collection of more and better exposure data have been missed, including opportunities in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear incident, which spewed radionuclides over a large swath of Europe (Normile 2011). There were few systematic or sustained applications of exposure-science techniques in the collection of radiation-exposure data at Chernobyl (UNSCEAR 2011).
Growing efforts to collect, organize, and evaluate medical-surveillance data in the absence of corresponding efforts to assemble, evaluate, and track exposure data present another example of the need for data. The paucity of exposure data has been observed repeatedly—in the followup of health effects in veterans of the Gulf War (IOM 2000), in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Tracking Program (CDC 2011a), and in the monitoring of the health of volunteers and professionals after exposures to the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill (IOM 2010; King and Gibbons 2011).
The committee defined the complex and overlapping needs for exposure information in four broad categories: health and environmental science, market, societal, and policy and regulatory (illustrated schematically in Figure 4-1). Health and environmental sciences require reliable quantitative data on human and ecosystem exposures. Market demands require the identification and control of exposures resulting from the manufacture, distribution, and sale of products and the provision of services (for example, energy, transportation, and health care). Societal demands arise from the aspirations of individuals and communities—relying on an array of health, safety, and sustainability information—for example, to maintain local environments, personal health, the health of workers who make consumables, and the health of the global environment. Policy-makers drive the need for exposure science when they require knowledge to inform their actions—particularly the setting of policies directed at mitigating environmental risks and avoiding hazards in cost-effective ways. Policy-makers need to establish a balance among the different science (health), market, and societal demands as they establish regulations and set budgetary priorities. The remainder of this chapter explores the four categories of needs for exposure science information. The committee recognizes that many of these demands can conflict. For example, individuals and communities may have different goals
FIGURE 4-1 The four major demands for exposure science.
and aspirations with respect to research and policies to maintain the environment, the health of individuals, and communities. Similarly, policy makers and regulatory agencies often have different and even competing goals, and each will be interested in exposure studies that support their particular perspectives. The goal is to explore the various demands, recognizing the potential for competing and conflicting demands.
The need to protect human health has been and will continue to be an important demand for exposure information (NRC 2009a). Accurate assessment of human exposures is a critical component of environmental health research (McKone et al. 2009). Air pollution epidemiology, risk assessment, health tracking, and accountability assessments are examples of health research studies that require but often lack adequate exposure information (McKone et al. 2009). The expanding number of environmental factors that are or will be the focus of health research creates a continuing demand for exposure information. In many health studies the lack of accurate exposure information has led to the use of questionnaires and qualitative assessments in place of more robust quantitative observations.
Demand for health and environmental science information includes the need for more and improved data on broad issues, such as direct stressor—target relationships—for example, air pollution and health and the multiple, complex, and sometimes indirect linkages among environmental exposures and ecosystems, water and land resources, and the built environment. Demands for expo-
sure information also arise from specific health or environmental issues—for example, a rise in autism, asthma, or childhood brain cancer; reproductive failure in specific wildlife populations; or deterioration of popular local habitats. There is also a need to integrate health and ecologic sciences to support a more harmonized framework for assessing the fate and effects of industrially produced and naturally occurring pollutants. Protecting human health and ecosystem integrity requires long-term and spatially and temporally resolved tracking of multiple stressors. For humans, that type of tracking has been conceptualized as the "exposome", defined as collective exposures from conception on (Wild 2005, 2012). An analogous ecologic-science approach is the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)—a continental-scale research instrument proposed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide a nationally networked research, communication, and informatics infrastructure for biologic systems (NEON 2011)—intended to assess the direct effects and feedbacks between environmental change and biologic processes. A similar NSF program, the Long Term Ecological Research network, has been in operation since 1980 (LTER 2012).
Environmental exposures contribute substantially to human health risks, accounting for a greater fraction of risk than genetic variation (Rappaport and Smith 2010). New analytic capabilities are needed for environmental surveillance and biomonitoring and for linking biomarkers to stressors on the basis of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic models (Sohn et al. 2004; Clewell et al. 2008).
With regard to the influence of environmental exposures on health, direct cause—effect relationships are sometimes apparent, as in the cases of radiation from nuclear weapons in Japan; dioxin in Seveso, Italy; and methyl isocyanate in Bhopal, India. Such relationships can be evident even if there is a substantial lag in the development of health effects, as in the 10- to 50-year delay in development of mesothelioma from asbestos exposure.
More commonly, however, exposure—effect relationships are difficult to establish because of other variables. For example, studies of cancer risk in migrants show that environmental factors can cause large increases in risk (see Ziegler et al. 1993). The increase in risk is attributed to lifestyle differences, such as differences in air and water, food, pharmaceuticals, and many household and occupational exposures. Effective monitoring methods, such as CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), directly reveal such health changes as the rise in obesity. An ability to link those changes rapidly to specific exposures—for example, endocrine-disrupting chemicals (Heindel 2003), diet, and urban patterns—requires continuing exposure assessment. The need for innovative and cost-effective means of separating and measuring specific exposures constitutes an important demand for exposure science.
Scientific advances in epigenomic research (the study of epigenetic modification at a level much larger than a single gene) have revealed long-term effects of early-life exposures on modification of DNA-methylation patterns (Jirtle and Skinner 2007). Relevant exposures and vulnerable life stages are beginning to be understood, but preliminary results illustrate the need for better exposure data for assessing long-term disease risks. That need is underscored by concern about transgenerational risks posed by fetal exposures, including those during ovarian-cell development, which can affect health outcomes in later generations (Skinner et al. 2010). These types of observations suggest the opportunity for novel approaches to translate internal markers into measures of exposure at critical life stages. To achieve this, scientists need to quantify current exposures and preserve the data in forms that permit them to be used in the future to elucidate transgenerational risks posed by particular exposures.
Increasing use of burden of disease metrics (such as disability adjusted life years [DALYs]) and comparative risk assessment covering a wide array of risk factors, including chemical exposures, diet, and lifestyle, to inform policy decisions demands better and more consistent methods of characterizing diverse exposures in large populations. The problem that arises from this demand is the need to provide measures of environmental exposures that are consistent in statistical and causal terms with measures used to characterize exposures to nonenvironmental risk factors—such as smoking, unsafe sex, and micronutrient deficiencies. Consistent measures of both environmental and nonenvironmental exposures are needed if meaningful policy comparisons are to be made.
There are growing demands for comprehensive information on global, regional, and local environmental problems. Improvements in air and water quality, mostly in developed countries, have been made possible by advances in science and technology. Those improvements will provide a foundation for addressing future demands stemming from growing populations and shrinking resources.
Air Quality
Over the last 2 decades, emissions from energy use in transportation, power generation, industry, and households have steadily decreased in developed countries as a result of emission-control strategies (HEI 2010; EPA 2011a,b; NRC 2010). This has contributed to decreased ambient concentrations of particulate and gaseous air pollutants in many cities, and the effects of transported emissions from other states and countries have become important contributors to total exposures. Those changes drive new needs to monitor fluctuations in ambient air pollutants in space and time, link them to mitigation strategies, and assess health benefits of reducing human exposures. That will
require development and validation of spatiotemporal exposure models that will use data on land use, human activity, housing characteristics, atmospheric concentrations, and personal monitoring. The models need to be specific to different populations, especially populations that are particularly susceptible, such as children and people who have pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases.
Water Quality
Water-quality and water-quality impact assessments have changed substantially over the last several decades with a greater focus on understanding the complex interactions among human populations and water supplies. This focus has created a growing demand for water-pathway exposure assessments. The number and quantities of new chemicals and materials (such as nanomaterials) now found in waste streams far exceed our capacity to monitor them (Kim et al. 2010; Nowack 2010). An ongoing need is to evaluate and limit adverse water-quality effects on aquifers, waterways, forests, and agricultural lands. Improved data on regional and global distribution of persistent chemicals of the types monitored in air-quality studies are needed to address these critical issues. In addition, although cumulative effects of mixtures are largely unknown, there is concern that global accumulations of contaminant mixtures may result in unexpected long-term effects on human and ecologic targets and on the water resources themselves (Macdonald et al. 2000; Woodruff et al. 2011).
Global Climate Change
Global climate change is expected to bring increasingly frequent extreme weather and local environmental changes that have the potential to affect human health, ecologic health, and key resources in several direct and indirect ways (Patz et al. 2007; NRC 2009a; USGCRP 2009). The effects will include those from increased temperature, such as acute and chronic health effects; those from extreme weather, such as physical injuries and drownings, structural collapses, and declines in habitability due to mold and other kinds of contamination; and indirect effects, such as shortages of clean water and increasing concentrations of contaminants due to drought (Frumkin et al. 2008). The National Research Council report on global climate change and human health (NRC 2009a) and a U.S. Council on Environmental Quality Climate Change Adaptation Task Force report (CEQ 2010) addressed recommendations for protecting against those effects. Global climate change will bring new needs for exposure science to examine the effects of climate changes on exposures to new and altered chemical, physical, and biologic stressors. Programs to address climate change and health have been established in CDC (CDC 2011b) and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS 2011). Those programs are seeking more input from the exposure-science community; see, for example, the CDC national
conversation with its emphasis on public health and chemical exposures (Brown 2011; CDC 2011c).
Energy Demand
The production and use of energy emit pollutants that have been linked to diseases (IIASA 2011) through exposure in the ambient environment (for example, to power-plant emissions) (NRC 2010) and in the indoor environment (for example, to cooking and heating emissions) (Smith et al. 2004). NRC (2010) reported that the quantifiable public-health costs of all energy production, distribution, and use in 2005 totaled $120 billion and were due mostly to criteria air pollutants. Of that amount, $62 billion was attributable to electricity (mainly coal) and about $56 billion to transportation; the remainder was attributable to process heat (for example, industrial boilers) and comfort control (for example, home or commercial-building heating and air-conditioning systems). There are expected to be increases in energy use, but an additional demand for exposure science will occur as a result of transitions from one energy source to another. Energy sources have different effects throughout the use chain (or fuel life cycle), from resource capture through energy production to conversion, distribution, and end use. Because the full burden of extant energy systems has not been adequately characterized (IIASA 2011), there is no appropriate baseline against which to compare the relative benefits of new systems. As world leaders consider options for changing the portfolio of future energy sources, there is growing demand for assessments of effects associated with the various options, including pollutant exposures, and a need to develop strategies to minimize the effects.
Sustainability describes both a process to ensure and a goal of ensuring long-term human well-being and ecologic health (NRC 2011). All technologies have benefits and effects, and an important aspect of long-term sustainability is that technologies achieve an overall balance. Increasing use of technology assessment can be expected to avoid strategic errors that could derail a promising technology and improve policy decisions to avoid long-term adverse effects. Life-cycle assessment of all stages of a process—including-raw material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use, and disposal—is an accepted approach to evaluating resource consumption and resulting pollution (Guinée et al. 2010). Such analysis is critical for supporting decision-making (Guinée and Heijungs 1993) to ensure sustainability of the environment and resources and to assess health and ecologic effects. NRC (2011) recommends that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) develop a "sustainability toolbox" that collectively makes it possible to analyze present and future consequences of alternative decision options on the full array of social, environmental, and economic indicators.
Because of increasing demands for sustainability metrics, an associated demand for exposure-science surveillance and for predictive tools to support life-cycle analysis can be anticipated (see, for example, the USEtox model [USEtox.org 2009]).
Industries and investors want to limit their liability for health and environmental damages and minimize regulatory oversight, and the rapid increase in technologic applications in commerce has created market demands for exposure science that often correspond with demands for information on health and the environment. For example, industries and investors use electronic media as a means of promoting and assessing consumption of their products, considering profitability, regulations, and liability. Organizations and Web sites provide health and environmental information and product scores or rankings of a wide variety of consumer products (for example, GoodGuide 2011). Social networks provide tools for building and exchanging information about the health, environmental, and societal effects of consumer products. Organizations, activities, and tools encourage consumers to consider alternative products and behaviors that can reduce such effects. Consequently, market demands for exposure science include the need for better and more extensive insight into how human activities, including consumption habits, contribute to pollutant emissions and how the emissions contribute to human and ecologic exposures.
Growth in Consumption and Demand for Sophisticated Consumer Products
The increase in global, national, and individual purchases of consumer products places a substantial burden on environmental resources (NRC 2011) and could continue to for decades before stabilization at a sustainable level (Hertwich 2005). Many factors affect that burden, such as increased population, increased personal wealth, and reductions in the useful lifetime of consumer products. Technologic advances have fueled an expectation for improved products, and that expectation contributes to their relatively short lifetimes (for example, mobile telephones, video players, and computers). New products with enhanced properties also lead to replacement of well-functioning equivalent products (for example, more efficient light bulbs or programmable appliances replace existing light bulbs or appliances). Studies of trends in consumer products show that the stability and durability of products have important roles in exposure potential (Hertwich 2005). Stable and durable products resist degradation and contribute less to emissions during their lifetime, but their disposal can be problematic. Information on exposure potential of new products is needed for evaluation of long-term health footprints of exposures and associated risks. There is also a need for exposure data to guide policy in the development of
short-lived products and new products designed to generate premature product replacement. Consumers can play an increasing role by demanding information on the effects of products on the climate, resources, and health—including considerations about exposures across the life-cycle of products.
Food Supply
Exposure science provides critical input for ensuring the sustainability and safety of the food supply. With increasing population growth and internationalization of the food supply, there is expected to be an increasing demand for exposure science (Schmidhuber and Shetty 2005). Demographics of health and disease suggest that diet is a major source of environmental exposures (Ames 1983; Willett 2002), and the increasing globalization and consolidation of food-distribution networks have created a potential for rapid, widespread dissemination of contaminated products (Regattieri al. 2007). In light of economic, political, and nutritional advantages of local food production, that has led to programs to reverse trends in the globalization of the food supply. The competing trend toward globalization vs localization will demand an expansion of exposure-surveillance structures to manage and monitor the changing array of agrarian practices and their influence on environmental quality (NRC 2002). The far-reaching effects of the changes will require a critical role for exposure science to support evaluation and development of policies.
Green Chemistry
Green chemistry or, more broadly, green commerce includes the design of products and processes with a focus on sustainability with regard to resource consumption and energy use, often accompanied by an effort to limit the human and ecologic health footprint (CA DTSC 2008).1 Green commerce encounters the same challenges as other businesses as practical considerations of profitability often require use of more available resources according to supply and demand; that is, as the feedstock diminishes and prices rise, manufacturers seek alternatives. Small businesses are especially vulnerable to such variations and could benefit from publicly accessible exposure data. New approaches in exposure assessment and information dissemination are critical for decreasing the pollution footprint of products and services while allowing for adaptive responses by free enterprise.
1EPA describes green-chemistry goals as including source reduction and the prevention of chemical hazards, such as through the use of feedstocks and reagents that are less hazardous to human health and the environment, the design of syntheses and other processes to be less energy-intensive and material-intensive, the use of feedstocks derived from annually renewable resources or from abundant waste, the design of chemical products for increased and easier reuse or recycling, treatment to render chemicals less hazardous, and proper disposal of chemicals (EPA 2011a).
The health, environmental, and market demands discussed above are direct reflections of a society and the complex needs and desires of its constituents. Over the last century, there has been a dramatic rise in world population combined with an increase in urbanization, and the result has been profound changes in not only where people live but how they live. The evolution of the U.S. and world populations from primarily agrarian communities to megacities and sprawling suburbs has led to societal (and scientific) questions about effects on human health and well-being and on ecosystems. Concurrently, there have been dramatic changes in what is eaten and how, how and how often people travel, and how technologies are used for communication. Major societal demands for exposure science include the understanding and assessment of the effects of urbanization and urban land-use modifications and of changes in manufacturing, consumption, and transportation.
Urbanization and Land-Use Changes
Projections of changes in urbanization and land use indicate both increased need for and more systematic means of exposure surveillance in the coming decades. The density of economic activity increases with urban population density (World Bank 2009); half the world population now lives in cities, and the UN projects that about 75% will live in cities by 2050 (UN 2008). The growth of suburban areas is especially pronounced in North America, where cities are highly energy-intensive and transportation is dominated by automobiles, but similar patterns of suburbanization are evident in many other places. Increased automobile use contributes to environmental problems—increased air pollution, storm-water runoff due to impervious surfaces, and higher intake of pollutants when roadways are near residences (Hough 1995; Frumkin et al. 2004; Jerrett et al. 2010).
There is a need for a systematic process to evaluate exposures associated with different layouts and designs of urban areas to guide planning to optimize urban and suburban structures with consideration of exposures and health (Marshall et al. 2005). The factors that have increased exposures appear to be growing as many previously poor nations undergo rapid economic transformations and higher economic growth (Wang et al. 2005). The complexity of those driving forces and the need to protect human and ecosystem health can be met with increased and more systematic exposure surveillance in the coming decades of the 21st century.
Societal Issues in Manufacturing and Transportation
Economic changes in the developing and developed worlds have altered where and how products are produced and distributed. There is an expectation
that consumer goods are to be convenient, mobile, and accessible. Rapid changes in style and capacity (for example, of telephones) lead to quick product turnover, which results in a growing waste-management challenge. The production of steel, electronics, and many consumer products is moving to Asia, leaving the large industrial regions of Europe and North America seeking "rebirth" and risking decay and abandonment. Transportation systems are facing growing demands. Web-based purchasing creates a growing need for home-delivery networks. Both tourists and business travelers are taking more and longer airline flights. Those dramatic changes in the world of manufacturing and distribution give rise to concerns and questions about how they will affect humans and the environment, motivating the acquisition of information on changing exposure patterns.
Other Societal Concerns
There are many other societal concerns that demand accurate and more comprehensive exposure information. For example exposures to biologic stressors in water supplies and food. In urban areas there are significant concerns about exposure to noise, which is often only well monitored and researched near "hot spots" such as airports and major roadways. Mixed exposures among chemical, physical, and biologic stressors are also of concern, but difficult to track and evaluate (WHO 2012).
For example, studies in the European Union reveal that excessive noise can harm human health and interfere with people's daily activities. It can disturb sleep, cause cardiovascular and psychologic stress, reduce performance, and cause changes in behavior (WHO 2012). Addressing these health concerns requires more reliable monitoring of noise levels over a broad range of geographic areas.
Exposure science used in policy-making can provide information to support environmental protection, resource management, chemical regulation, manufacturing goals, and health, energy, climate, and economic policies. The policy and regulatory demands for exposure science are unique in their link to governments. Policy-makers need to make tradeoffs among a broad array of outcome options. For example, they use exposure information to address conflicting societal, commercial, and scientific considerations, and they use it to monitor the health and environmental benefits of regulations (NRC 2007). Policy-makers have the capacity to use exposure information to inform and motivate activities or to address the reluctance of other policy-making entities or others to take action. For example, robust exposure science is a key asset in an era of limited resources. It is particularly useful for an agency that has responsibility for promoting the health and sustainability of communities in separating
perceived effects and benefits based on anecdotal evidence from those which are large and well documented, steering limited resources away from ineffective interventions. (The exposure metric called "Intake Fraction" is an example of a tool that might be used in regulations to improve health protection, see Chapter 1 discussion.)
Policy-makers and regulators have a demand for exposure information to inform the concerned public about products and exposures, to establish emergency preparedness and response, to set priorities for research and regulation among chemicals or stressors of concern, and to allocate funding and set policies for managing knowledge-integration systems to address health and ecosystem protection. Adding to the policy demands for exposure science are the community demands for access to technologies that allows community members to work with scientists, to generate their own exposure data, and to more effectively participate in the environmental policy and regulatory processes (Brown et al. 2012).
Health and environmental, market, societal, and policy and regulatory demands are creating increased needs for exposure science in the 21st century. Meeting those needs will require a scientific framework that supports the development of technologies to collect, analyze, and integrate exposure-science data. The remainder of this report addresses the framework for building the capacity to meet the demands for exposure science in the 21st century.
Ames, B.N. 1983. Dietary carcinogens and anticarcinogens. Oxygen radicals and degenerative diseases. Science 221(4617):1256-1264.
Brown, V.J. 2011. Are we on the same page? Action agenda of the National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures. Environ. Health Perspect. 119(11): A484-A487.
Brown, P., J. Green Brody, R. Morello-Frosch, J. Tovar, A.R. Zota, and R.A. Rudel. 2012. Measuring the success of community science: The northern California household exposure study. Environ. Health Perspect. 120(3):326-331.
CA DTSC (California Department of Toxic Substances Control). 2008. Green Chemistry Initiative Final Report. California Department of Toxic Substances Control. December 2008 [online]. Available: http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistryInitiative/upload/GREEN_Chem.pdf [accessed Dec. 27, 2011].
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). 2011a. National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program [online]. Available: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/tracking/ [accessed Dec. 10, 2011].
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). 2011b. Climate and Health Program [online]. Available: http://www.cdc.gov/climatechange/ [accessed Sept. 15, 2011].
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). 2011c. National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures [online]. Available: http://www.nationalconversation.us/ [accessed Dec. 27, 2011].
CEQ (U.S. Council on Environmental Quality). 2010. Progress Report of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force: Recommended Actions in Support of a National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, October 5, 2010 [online]. Available: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ceq/Interagency-Climate-Change-Adaptation-Progress-Report.pdf [accessed Dec. 27, 2011].
Clewell, H.J., Y.M. Tan, J.L. Campbell, and M.E. Andersen. 2008. Quantitative interpretation of human biomonitoring data. Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 231(1):122-133.
EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 2011a. Introduction to the Concept of Green Chemistry. Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [online]. Available: http://www.epa.gov/gcc/pubs/about_gc.html [accessed Dec. 27, 2011].
EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 2011b. National Emission Inventory Data & Documentation: 1999 through 2008. Technology Transfer Network Clearinghouse for Inventories and Emissions Factors, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [online]. Available: http://www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/net/ [accessed Dec. 27, 2011].
Frumkin, H., L. Frank, and R.J. Jackson. 2004. Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Frumkin, H., J. Hess, G. Luber, J. Malilay, and M. McGeehin. 2008. Climate change: The public health response. Am. J. Public Health. 98(3):435-445.
Good Guide. 2011. Find Healthy, Green, Ethical Products According to Scientific Ratings. Good Guide, Inc. [online]. Available: http://www.goodguide.com/ [accessed May 16, 2011].
Guinée, J., and R. Heijungs. 1993. A proposal for the classification of toxic substances within the framework of life cycle assessment of products. Chemosphere 26(10):1925-1944.
Guinée, J.B., R. Heijungs, G. Huppes, A. Zamagni, P. Masoni, R. Buonamici, T. Ekvall, and T. Rydberg. 2010. Life cycle assessment: Past, present, future. Environ. Sci. Technol. 45(1): 90-96.
HEI (Health Effects Institute). 2010. Traffic-Related Air Pollution: A Critical Review of the Literature on Emissions, Exposure, and Health Effects. Special Report 17. Boston, MA: Health Effects Institute [online]. Available: http://pubs.healtheffects.org/view.php?id=334 [accessed Dec. 12, 2011].
Heindel, J.J. 2003. Endocrine disruptors and the obesity epidemic. Toxicol. Sci. 76(2):247-249.
Hertwich, E.G. 2005. Life cycle approaches to sustainable consumption: A critical review. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39(13):4673-4684.
Hough, M. 1995. Cities and Natural Process, 2nd Ed. New York: Routledge.
IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis). 2011. Global Energy Assessment, Chapter 4. Energy and Health. Cambridge University Press.
IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2000. Gulf War and Health, Volume 1. Depleted Uranium, Sarin, Pyridostigmine Bromide, Vaccines. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2010. Research Priorities for Assessing Health Effects from the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: A Letter Report. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Jerrett, M., S. Gale, and C. Kontgis. 2010. An environmental health geography of risk. Pp. 418-445 in A Companion to Health and Medical Geography, T. Brown, S. McLafferty, and G. Moon, eds. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Jirtle, R.L., and M.K. Skinner. 2007. Environmental epigenomics and disease susceptibility. Nat. Rev. Genet. 8(4):253-262.
Kim, B., C.S. Park, M. Murayama, and M.F. Hochella. 2010. Discovery and characterization of silver sulfide nanoparticles in final sewage sludge products. Environ. Sci. Technol. 44(19):7509-7514.
King, B.S., and J.D. Gibbins. 2011. Health Hazard Evaluation of Deepwater Horizon Response Workers. Health Hazard Evaluation Report HETA 2010-0115 & 2010-0129-3138. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. August 2011. Available: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hhe/reports/pdfs/2010-0115-0129-3138.pdf [accessed Dec. 27, 2011].
LTER (The Long Term Ecological Research). 2012. 2011 Strategic and Implementation Plan (SIP). The Long Term Ecological Research Network [online]. Available: http://www.lternet.edu [accessed April 30, 2012].
Macdonald, R.W., L.A. Barrie, T.F. Bidleman, M.L. Diamond, D.J. Gregor, R.G. Semkin, W.M. Strachan, Y.F. Li, F. Wania, M. Alaeee, L.B. Alexeeva, S.M. Backus, R. Bailey, J.M. Bewers, C. Gobeil, C.J. Halsall, T. Harner, J.T. Hoff, L.M.M. Jantunen, W.L. Lockhart, D. Mackay, D.C. Muir, J. Pudykiewicz, K.J. Reimer, J.N. Smith, and G.A. Stern, 2000. Contaminants in the Canadian Arctic: 5 years of progress in understanding sources, occurrence and pathways. Sci. Total Environ. 254 (2-3): 93-234.
Marshall, J.D., S.K. Teoh, and W.W. Nazaroff. 2005. Intake fraction of nonreactive vehicle emissions in U.S. urban areas. Atmos. Environ. 39(7):1363-1371.
McKone, T.E., P.B. Ryan, and H. Ozkaynak. 2009. Exposure information for ozone, PM and toxic air pollutants in environmental health research: Current opportunities and future directions. J. Expo. Sci. Environ. Epidemiol. 19(1):30-44.
NEON, Inc. 2011 Science Strategy: Enabling Continental-Scale Ecological Forecasting. National Ecological Observatory Network [online]. Available: http://www.neoninc.org/sites/default/files/NEON_Strategy_2011u2.pdf [accessed Dec. 28, 2011].
NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences). 2011. Climate Change and Human Health: Programs and Initiatives. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Health [online]. Available: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/programs/climatechange/index.cfm [accessed Sept. 15, 2011).
Normile, D. 2011. Fukoshima revives the low-dose debate. Science 332(6032):908-910.
Nowack, B. 2010. Nanosilver revisited downstream. Science 330(6007):1054-1055.
NRC (National Research Council). 2002. Frontiers in Agricultural Research: Food, Health, Environment, and Communities. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
NRC (National Research Council). 2007. Scientific Review of the Proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin from the Office of Management and Budget. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
NRC (National Research Council). 2009a. Restructuring Federal Climate Research to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
NRC (National Research Council). 2010. Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
NRC (National Research Council). 2011. Sustainability and the U.S. EPA. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Patz, J.A., H.K. Gibbs, J.A. Foley, J.V. Rogers, and K.R. Smith. 2007. Climate change and global health: Quantifying a growing ethical crisis. EcoHealth 4(4):397-405.
Rappaport, S.M., and M.T. Smith. 2010. Environment and disease risks. Science 330(6003):460-461.
Regattieri, A., M. Gamberi, and R. Manzini. 2007. Traceability of food products: General framework and experimental evidence. J. Food Eng. 81(2):347-356.
Schmidhuber, J., and P. Shetty. 2005. The Nutrition Transition to 2030: Why Developing Countries are Likely to Bear the Major Burden. Presentation at the 97th Seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economists, April 21-22, 2005, University of Reading, UK [online]. Available: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/esa/Global_persepctives/Long_term_papers/JSPStransition.pdf [accessed May 30, 2012].
Skinner, M.K., M. Manikkam, and C. Guerrero-Bosagna. 2010. Epigenetic transgenerational actions of environmental factors in disease etiology. Trends Endocrinol. Metab. 21(4):214-222.
Smith, K.R., S. Mehta, and M. Maeusezahl-Feuz. 2004. Indoor smoke from household solid fuels. Pp. 1435-1493 in Comparative Quantification of Health Risks: Global and Regional Burden of Disease due to Selected Major Risk Factors, Vol. 2, M. Ezzati, A.D. Lopez, A.D. Rodgers, and C.J.L. Murray, eds. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Sohn, M.D, T.E. McKone, and J.N. Blancato. 2004. Reconstructing population exposures from dose biomarkers: Inhalation of trichloroethylene (TCE) as a case study. J. Expo. Anal. Environ. Epidemiol. 14(3):204-213.
UN (United Nations). 2008. An Overview of Urbanization, Integral Migration, Population Distribution and Development in the World. UN/POP/EGM-URB/2008/01, January 14, 2008. Contributed Paper at United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Population Distribution, Urbanization, Internal Migration and Development, January 21-23, New York. U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division [online]. Available: http://www.un.org/esa/population/meetings/EGM_PopDist/P01_UNPopDiv.pdf [accessed Dec. 10, 2011].
UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation). 2011. Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation. UNSCEAR 2008 Report to the General Assembly, Vol. II, Annex D. Health Effects Due to Radiation from the Chernobyl Accident. New York: United Nations Press [online]. Available: http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2008/11-80076_Report_2008_Annex_D.pdf [accessed Dec. 27, 2011].
USGCRP (U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program). 2009. Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. A State of Knowledge Report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program [online]. Available: http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts/download-the-report [accessed Dec. 27, 2011].
USEtox.org. 2009. Background of the U.S. EtoxTM model [online]. Available: http://www.usetox.org/background.aspx [accessed Mar. 7, 2011].
Wang, S., J. Hao, M.S. Ho, J. Li, and Y. Lu. 2005. Intake fractions of industrial air pollutants in China: Estimation and application. Sci. Total Environ. 354(2-3):127-141.
WHO (World Health Organization). 2012. Environmental Health Inequalities in Europe: Assessment Report. World Health Organization [online]. Available: http://www.euro.who.int/_data/assets/pdf_file/0010/157969/e96194.pdf [accessed May 16, 2012].
Wild, C. 2005. Complementing a genome with an "exposome": The outstanding challenge of environmental exposure measurement in molecular epidemiology. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 14(8):1847-1850.
Wild, C.P. 2012. The exposome: From concept to utility. Int. J. Epidemiol. 41(1):24-32.
Willett, W.C. 2002. Balancing the life-style and genomics research for disease prevention. Science 296(5568):695-698.
Woodruff, T.J., A.R. Zota, J.M. Schwartz. 2011. Environmental chemicals in pregnant women in the United States: NHANES 2000-2004. Environ. Health Perspect. 119(6):878-885.
World Bank. 2009. World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography. Washington, DC: World Bank [online]. Available: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2008/12/03/000333038_20081203234958/Rendered/PDF/437380REVISED01BLIC1097808213760720.pdf [accessed May 29, 2012].
Ziegler, R.G., R.N. Hoover, M.C. Pike, A. Hildesheim, A.M. Nomura, D.W. West, A.H. Wu-Williams, L.N. Kolonel, P.L. Horn-Ross, J.F. Rosenthal, and M.B. Hyer. 1993. Migration patterns and breast cancer risk in Asian-American Women. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 85(22):1819-1827.


text:
Disclosure- I was invited by Disney/ABC to attend this all expense paid press trip but all opinions are 100% my own.
Tonight's episode of The Family is a really great one. We had the opportunity to screen it last week when we were in Los Angeles for the #CaptainAmericaEvent and the #ABCTVEvent. It gets even more mysteriously shocking, twisty, and exciting. The pictures below give you a little taste of what it was like being in the room with 3 of it's stars and 2 of it's executive producers- Zach Gilford ("Danny"), Alison Pill ("Willa"), Floriana Lima ("Bridey") and Executive Producers Jenna Bans & Laurie Zaks. It was so surreal to watch this episode sitting in the same room with the actors, watching their expressions as they were watching themselves on screen. They were all so laid back and easy to talk to.
"The Family" stars Joan Allen stars as Claire Warren, Alison Pill as Willa Warren, Rupert Graves as John Warren, Margot Bingham as Detective Nina Meyer, Liam James as Adam Warren, Andrew McCarthy as Hank Asher, Zach Gilford as Danny Warren, Floriana Lima as Bridey Cruz, Madeleine Arthur as Young Willa and Rarmian Newton as Young Danny. Guest starring are Grant Show as Governor Charlie Lang, Michael Esper as Pock-‐‑Marked Man/Doug, Judith Ivey as Mrs. Asher, Matthew Lawler as Agent Gabe Clements, Zoe Perry as Jane Cardone, Lucy Owen as Randi and Rosyln Rugg as Patty Lang. "Sweet Jane" was written by Nicole Paulhus and directed by Colin Bucksey.
It was so interesting to listen to Jenna Bans share how the show came about:
"I lived in a house and across the street was a sex offender and I freaked out and got really scared. So part of it sort of came from there. The other part was ABC had been wanting to do this idea of an imposter and make it into a mystery thriller. So I married the two ideas."
We asked if they shoot all the ten years ago scenes and then go into present day and this is what Jenna told us:
"We figure out the present stories we want to tell and then we look at what flashbacks could possibly inform those stories because ideally, they're always connected together- thematically sort of tied together, where the past story is directly telling you something about the present story. We tried not to be tied to "we must have six flashbacks an episode". We really only use what we needed to use because we didn't want it to feel tired and wanted it to feel important when you were watching the past. There's a reason we're telling you the story."
Alison Pill was so sweet, and funny, and normal. So different from the uptight, religious, b*tchy character she plays but as the episodes go on we can see what has caused Willa to become the woman that she is. Alison does such a great job portraying her character Willa.
We asked Alison how she gets into character and this is what she said:
"First of all, we have really good writers, and it really makes sense to me. I think the sort of touchstone for me is the moment when me and Madeline Arthur (young Willa) switch places on the bed in the motel. She's fully frozen at thirteen. She is somebody who will do anything to keep her family together. Everything else that is built up- all of this armor is only to get to her ultimate goal, which is having her entire family under one roof again. That's it. And every- literally, everything else is driven by that, so when anything threatens that, that is like the worst thing that can happen in the world. So all of the emotion just comes from that thought of being thirteen and trying to keep your family together. I was a very emotional thirteen year old as most are. I also love the fact that she's written in this way that, it was a slow burn with Willa, of like not understanding her and just being Willa. She hates her brother, she's too uptight, and she's really religious and all this stuff and then [we] just slowly get to know her emotional life which is so deep and huge. It's been fun."
Floriana Lima is so down to Earth and sweet. It was so much fun seeing her interact with Zach Gilford almost in a brother/sister way teasing each other. At one point Zach (who doesn't have a Twitter account- BOOO!) took Floriana's phone and was tweeting pretending to be Floriana. It was so funny. Hopefully Zach will get his own Twitter account soon.
Zach Gilford was so adorable and funny, like a playful older brother (although I'm pretty sure he's younger than I am). He told us how so far in the show he never exchanged dialog with John (who plays his father). So now "it got to the point where if we even [Zach and John] make contact, we'd start laugh- eye contact, we'd start laughing." There are scenes together where they acknowledged each other's presence but they haven't actually had lines together. Crazy, right?
Can you find me in this picture? That's me on Alison Pill's left. 🙂
You can tell in the picture above just how much the cast liked each other and had fun with each other and with the 2 Executive Producers. They were cracking each other up the whole time. They told us how not only is Joan Allen a great actress but she is so nice, too. She made a hundred and fifty cookies from her grandmother's recipe on her day off and brought them in before their holiday break. "Cakey, amazing cookies with delicious icing". She also made a potato bar for the cast and crew to enjoy. Sounds like she likes to take care of everyone.
I didn't realize that tv shows often have different directors on each episode. Andrew McCarthy directed several of the episodes this season and Alison Pill remarked how it was nice to see a familiar face. "It's really weird going back and forth to different people and having Andrew [McCartney] a familiar face, because he came and did [episode three and then five and six] and having him for all of those you're just like, oh, at least you're not a stranger. Because often the annoying part is by the time you're done eight days of shooting, you finally know this person and their vibe, and then they're gone." Not only is Andrew McCarthy a great director, but Jenna and Laurie told us how Andrew McCarthy "kinda does that physical transformation when he's Hank. He walks different as Hank. He's so stiff [like when he] when he eats the sandwiches. He's obsessed with his walk."
Alison's cast mates shared with us that even off screen she still puts in a great performance. Even when the camera will be on the other actors she'll still cry and show emotion so the other actors have something to work off of. Floriana remarked that Alison is "a very giving actress".
Alison Pill delivers a raw and memorable performance as Willa in tonight's episode entitled "Sweet Jane" when confronted by her mother, Claire, played by the talented Joan Allen. In this episode Claire struggles with the aftermath of Willa's scheming and how to deal with everyday life with Adam now that she knows the truth. Nina starts to follow Adam as he disappears every night from his home. Can you guess where he's been going? Meanwhile Clements tries to figure out Jane's connection to Doug (the pock-marked man). Will Jane find out what Doug is up to? What do you think her reaction will be? The Governor's wife wants to get Claire out of the governor's race so she threatens to reveal Claire's drinking. Willa handles the situation in the media but not really in a way that Claire probably would have chosen. And hold on tight for the last few shocking minutes. I don't want to give away spoilers so all I'll saw is DON'T MISS THIS SHOW!!! The Family airs SUNDAY, APRIL 17 (9:00–10:00 p.m. EDT) on the ABC Television Network.
Make sure to view your favorite ABC shows within 3 days of airing (even on your DVR) for your view to count towards the show's ratings. Want your shows to be picked up for another season, make sure to tune in!!!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheFamily
Twitter: @TheFamily @ABC_Publicity @TheFamWriters
Hashtag: #TheFamily

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Risk Control Self Assessment
Risk Control Self- Assessment (RCSA) capabilities form a core part of the MetricStream Operational Risk Management (ORM) App. These capabilities enable banks and financial organizations to document and evaluate their risk frameworks at multiple levels including corporate, business unit, and process levels. The functionality provides a centralized risk framework to document, manage, and assesses all risks faced by an organization. It includes a risk register (library) where risk information for " risks under management " is created and maintained. The information includes the description, ownership, definition, impact, source, line of defense, and likelihood of risks, frequency of review, and key risk indicators, in accordance with financial industry best practices. Risk assessments and computations are based on configurable methodologies and algorithms, providing a clear view into organizational risks, and enabling risk managers to develop optimal risk and reward strategies.
MetricStream Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) solution
The solution provides an enterprise-class solution for data aggregation, reporting, and comparison to provide enterprise-wide visibility into the RCSA process and highlight issues that need to be addressed on priority. The real-time visibility provided by the solution enables organizations to track RCSA through its life-cycle from initiation to closure. Powerful analytics and reporting capabilities with graphical dashboards help managers perform trend analysis and spot recurring problems to drive root cause analysis in a timely manner.


text:
Root Canal Therapy
Many people worry or shy away from the word Root Canal therapy, and although they are often caused by tooth decay or severe trauma. A root canal can be the saving grace for relieving a patient of pain and saving the vitality, longevity or lifespan of a tooth. When the nerve of a tooth becomes irritated it will become inflamed and send off signals to a patient letting them know something may be wrong.
Significant discomfort when a tooth is exposed to hot and cold temperatures even after the sources has been removed or excessive pain when pressure is placed upon a tooth while chewing or brushing your teeth. This may be a key indicator that a tooth is dead or dying and root canal therapy may be indicated. There are times when a patient may be unaware or not notice any symptoms until the damage is too severe to treat with a filling or restoration. This is why Dr.Mostafa Aboulkhair recommends routine radiographs with your routine examinations/check-ups two times per year.
Dental emergencies should be addressed as quickly as possible to avoid permanent or costly damage. Common dental emergencies araIf Dr.Mostafa Aboulkhair determines that root canal therapy is necessary, you will be made comfortable with plenty of anesthesia and sedation dentistry is always an option to help relax you during the procedure. With advances in technology, a root canal is quick and painless. The tooth is opened and the nerve chamber is cleaned, removing disease or bacteria from the nerve space within the root, and then sealed off to reduce the risk of any further infection and then often times restored fully with a crown to secure the integrity and vitality of the tooth.e toothache, pain in the teeth, jaw or gums, broken teeth, knocked out tooth, broken fillings and swelling in the gums or mouth.
If you are currently experiencing pain or discomfort while chewing or biting on your teeth or have severe pain, don't wait any longer. Dr. Mostafa Aboulkhair and his team at Aesthetic Dentistry of Fairfax are available to help you get relief. Call us today at 703-218-8142
Ready to Get Started ?
Our team is standing by waiting to assist you. Fill out our online booking for and book your appointment with ease. Or feel free to contact our office at:
Tel: 1-703-218-8142


text:
Don't be fooled by U.S. President Barack Obama's relatively flat foreign aid budget request for fiscal year 2015.
Between the lines of a modest 1.4 percent decrease from 2014 enacted levels, the Obama administration is bolstering Power Africa partners, cutting U.S. support to some major global health programs and creating a new "global development lab" to spur research and partnerships at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
On Tuesday, Obama released his budget request for fiscal year 2015 — including international development — calling for just over $50 billion for State and Foreign Operations funding next year, which represents a slight $700 million reduction from the 2014 enacted budget.
That reduction is almost entirely explained by cuts to "overseas contingency operations," which have supported the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The base appropriation for other ongoing U.S. development programs has remained at its somewhat elevated level from 2014, after four consecutive years of cuts prior to the omnibus budget agreement late last year.
While that compromise already settled the top line caps on discretionary spending, the new budget request attaches concrete figures to specific accounts — thus giving a clearer picture of the Obama administration's vision for international engagement through diplomacy and development.
Given the tradeoffs required by a constrained fiscal environment that remains hotly contested during a midterm election year, the U.S. president's request sets up plenty of winners and losers for 2015.
It also reflects a broad administration appeal for American taxpayers — and Congress — to support a "new model of development" that uses official resources to leverage partnerships and spur institutional reforms in developing and middle income countries to increase the U.S. private sector's contribution to — and potential profit from — the achievement of economic development goals.
'The Lab'
The 2015 budget request includes support for creating the U.S. Global Development Lab, a merger of the Office of Science and Technology and the IDEA office at USAID that will apparently cost $146.3 million next year, most of which appears to come from the zeroed-out budgets of its two predecessor offices.
This project — initially dubbed "The Institute" but now known as "The Lab" — is seen by many as a legacy item for Administrator Rajiv Shah, who has strongly advocated for a bigger role for science, technology, innovation, and partnerships in USAID's portfolio.
"The Lab" will look to scale "major development breakthroughs and [support] a set of initiatives and reforms aimed at transforming the agency into a fully modern development enterprise."
USAID is reportedly still finalizing the list of "cornerstone partners," the corporations, universities, foundations, and NGOs who are expected "to jointly sponsor initiatives on innovation, science and technology, and evaluation," but these will be announced at a launch event later this month, according to an agency spokesperson.
Global health cuts
One of the biggest "losers" in the 2015 budget request is the multilateral Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB & Malaria, which loses 18 percent of its current U.S. contribution level — down from $1.65 billion to $1.35 billion.
The United States has traditionally been the biggest supporter of organization, pledging to match other international donors' contributions by a two to one ratio up to $5 billion over three years. Other donations have fallen short of what would be required for the U.S. to reach that $5 billion matching target.
Obama is open to injecting an additional $300 million for the Global Fund, as well as more funding for a number of foreign aid and international affairs accounts — if Congress agrees to support the "Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative," a $56 billion domestic and international spending pool the administration proposes to carve out above the agreed upon discretionary caps by closing tax loopholes they say will make the initiative budget neutral.
The proposal already faces steep opposition on Capitol Hill, so any foreign assistance accounts poised to benefit from its inclusion in an approved appropriations bill would do well not to hold their breath.
Frontline states
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria, the so-called "frontline states" received a budget cut in the budget request, as was expected given the Obama administration's message that the U.S. mission is transitioning away from extensive stability and reconstruction operations and toward a more "normal" relationship focused on long-term economic growth.
The OCO account, which funds programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq received a 9.3 percent cut to $5.9 billion.
But the account also became more inclusive, making room for a quarter of OCO funding to support the Syrian opposition and provide humanitarian relief to the war-torn country.
That flexibility in OCO spending could have the added benefit of U.S. relief programs respond to other global hot spots as the need arises, instead of seeing humanitarian assistance funds depleted by the ongoing tragedy in Syria.
Leveraging the private sector, Power Africa
A number of U.S. agencies specifically target private sector partnerships and reforms to drive economic growth, and each of them received a budget increase — some quite significant — under the president's proposed plan.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency would see its budget increase by 22 percent if Obama's request finds traction, a "plus-up" that comes after USTDA's budget already jumped 19 percent last year. The relatively small agency, which seeks to connect U.S. companies with infrastructure investments in emerging markets, has been lauded from both sides of the political aisle.
The Millennium Challenge Corp., the Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the Export-Import Bank likewise saw budget increases in the 2015 budget request.
Each of these agencies is involved in the whole-of-government Power Africa initiative, a $7 billion U.S. government commitment to help double access to energy in sub-Saharan Africa.
The accompanying budget justification describes a robust role for using the additional funding provided under the president's request in support of Power Africa's goals, although some observers have wondered where the $7 billion will come from, and whether it really represents concrete administration commitments or merely aspirational targets.
Each agency's specific contribution to the initiative cannot be parsed out of the 2015 numbers. However, the budget — together with the recent congressional vote in favor of the bipartisan "Electrify Africa Act," which directs the president to create a strategy for alleviating energy poverty in Africa –—suggests Power Africa transactions are poised to represent a substantially larger percentage of the U.S. development portfolio next year.
Climate change
The issue of global climate change has risen in profile since Secretary of State John Kerry took office last year, but funding for the Global Climate Change Initiative remained at a flat $840 million in the 2015 request.
The administration has maintained that a significant portion of Power Africa transactions will target clean energy development on the continent, but attempts to strip OPIC of a controversial cap on carbon power investments has led some observers to question whether Power Africa is truly committed to a balanced blend of clean and conventional fuels.
Just as the President's budget request does not specify how much it will spend directly on Power Africa, it also sheds little light on what portion of Power Africa's transactions will focus on non-carbon energy sources.
That could leave climate change advocates wondering what's in it for them — and whether the funding will ever match the rhetoric — when it comes to foreign affairs spending in 2015 and beyond.
Operating expenses, Middle East democracy
USAID receives a more than 20 percent increase to its operating budget in the president's request, after a 10 percent reduction to that same account in 2014. While agency officials were confident they could sustain current operations using carry over funding this year, they also maintained that surplus funding will be gone by 2015 and that staffing and programs would suffer if the OE budget was not restored.
The agency will have to wait and see if Congress agrees with Obama's show of support for investing in the agency's ability to hire new staff and continue funding the USAID Forward agenda, which seeks procurement system reforms and increased agency capacity.
One past administration request — the Middle East North Africa Incentive Fund — has been scrapped in favor of a new, scaled-back version, the Middle East North Africa Initiative Reforms, which will use $225 million to support "targeted programs that will advance the transitions under way across the region."
Such pro-democracy language and overt funding for "locally-led change and emerging reformists" could be read as a response to criticism some have leveled at the administration that it has not done enough to support opposition groups and popular movements against entrenched autocrats.
Next steps
The president's budget request marks the first step in an appropriations process that will play out for months and ultimately determine how the U.S. government prioritizes spending next year.
The proposal is strong on its message about a "new model of development," which sees opportunities for partnerships with the private sector in spurring development gains, as well as an obligation for U.S. action to respond effectively when global hot spots ignite.
Some signals — the Electrify Africa Act and USTDA's continued budget plus-ups, for example — suggest bipartisan support exists for the partnerships model of development, at least in some sectors. But it will be important to watch closely to see if the administration is nearly as successful in defending those priorities within the foreign affairs budget — like new emphases on maternal health and child stunting, and global climate change — that do not appear to lend themselves so easily to the mutual economic benefit argument.
Stay tuned as we continue to delve deeper into the ongoing evolution of the U.S. development funding landscape.
Read more on U.S. aid reform online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world's leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.


text:
You can just see the wheels turning in poor Selena's head.
"This seemed like such a good idea when they said they were costuming me for a remake of the seminal Esther Williams film Million Dollar Mermaid and I was wearing this to descend into a pool, singing, hanging onto a trapeze. But for the launch of my new perfume…let's just say I have concerns. A cardigan doesn't fix EVERYTHING, you guys. At least let me sign these perfume bottles out by the pool."


text:
Missing Person
Iain Mowatt
Iain we are here for you whenever you are ready; we can listen, talk you through what help you need, pass a message for you and help you to be safe. Call. Text. Anytime. Free. Confidential. 116000
- Age at disappearance: 32
- Missing Since: 12-Aug-2007
- Missing from: Arbroath, Scotland
- Reference No: 07-019281
- Download: a poster of Iain Mowatt


text:
Hoverboard by ZR Contest on H2RO
Hoverboard by ZR® is a trademark of Zapata Racing
The Hoverboard by ZR® is awesome. Limited Edition swag is awesome.
Put the two together = Double Awesome!
H2RO is excited to bring you our Hoverboard by ZR Contest and a chance to win a pair of limited edition Hoverboard by ZR flip flops courtesy of Zapata Racing.
(Men's Size 9.5)
All we would like you to do in order to enter is share why you enjoy reading H2RO Magazine on any social network you choose. (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr… you get the idea)
Simply include the hashtag #H2ROContest and our url http://h2romagazine.com/ – Easy as that. If you post to multiple social sites you'll receive multiple entries and increase your chances of rocking this unique footwear. All posts must be made before December 10th, 2014. H2RO will notify the winner on their social media accounts on December 13th.
Good luck to everyone who enters and thank you for helping introduce some new peeps to our magazine. Our goal is to build our sports up through meaningful connections with fellow Flyboarding and Hoverboarding fans. Rad people know other rad people so if you dig our content turn your friends onto us and help us achieve our goal.
You may be reading this post on either Flyboard Magazine or our new H2RO Magazine website. We will likely be transitioning while this contest is active. Any questions regarding this contest or our magazine please email: email@example.com
In support of the upcoming launch of our H2RO WEAR store you will see many more contests and chances to win unique Flyboarding inspired prizes coming just in time for the holiday season. Now go win yourself some flip flops!
* Did you know we have a dedicated Facebook Community for the sport of Hoverboarding? If you love the Hoverboard by ZR connect with H2RO on our Hoverboard Magazine page.


text:
Windsor's five-year-old triplets, Gail, Gay, and Gary Frosch, brought their teacher an apple on their first day of school in 1944. The triplets lived within sight of their school, Roger Wolcott School, on Maple Avenue.
In an interview at their home with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Allan C. Frosch, the triplets said with excitement, "We like school." The girl in blue added, "We like our teacher too, but we love our mother best."
"Me too," said the little boy in blue.
Their teacher, Marjorie Stephens, said the trio behaved very well. She said that Gail is the leader of the three and volunteered the first song of the day. Gay, the quiet one, busied herself by putting colored blocks into different designs. Gary built things with large blocks and made a big hit with his teacher by putting all his playthings away when quitting time came.


text:
Modern Languages & Cultures Department
Arabic, French, German, Italian, Spanish
The department of Modern Languages and Cultures offers a deeper understanding of foreign cultures and a more solid preparation for professional careers through the acquisition of foreign languages.
A Global Perspective
Language skills are key to understanding the cultural expressions of our friends, allies, and competitors on the world stage.
We offer beginning to advanced level courses in Spanish and French as well as beginning level I and II courses in Arabic, Italian and German. Not sure where to start? Take the online foreign language placement exam. The exam is free and can be taken any time.
We have a dedicated group of teachers and scholars in a variety of languages and related disciplines. Our expert and diverse faculty is committed to helping you reach your goal.


text:
Returns Policy
It is the policy of Handmade Hampers Ltd to ensure that all goods are supplied to our customers in perfect condition and that every possible precaution is taken to protect the integrity of the product that is sold. If you are unhappy with your unused purchase please return it within 7 days along with your receipt for an exchange or refund, by the original method of payment. To this end, it is our policy that we do not exchange or refund personalised items, special orders, food and beverage items (in these circumstances Handmade Hampers Ltd will not be responsible for the cost of returning goods), except where the item is faulty. Items must be returned in their original packaging and must be complete. Seasonal gift items ie, Christmas, Easter etc cannot be refunded after the occasion has passed.
Your statutory rights will not be affected.
Substitute Goods
The items delivered to you may differ slightly from the images shown on the www.Handmade-Hamper.co.uk site. We reserve the right to substitute items of a similar description and standard if the requested items are not available but we will use reasonable endeavours to match your order exactly.
Damaged Items
Claims for damage or loss in transit will be met provided the goods are signed for on receipt as either 'damaged' or 'unexamined' and we are informed at once and confirmed in writing within 3 days of delivery. Damaged goods must be retained for inspection and Handmade Hampers Ltd may wish to make arrangements for return of the goods to us at our expense. Returned goods should be clearly marked with the senders name and address. Our liability is limited to the selling price of the goods in all cases.
Undelivered Gifts
Every effort must be made by the recipient to arrange re-delivery of Hampers and Gifts if they are not home to take receipt of the delivery. Our delivery company will leave a 'sorry we missed you' card giving contact information to re-deliver the item to you or to leave in a secure safe place. If the recipient fails to contact the delivery company, this may result in the gift being returned to Handmade-Hampers after a period of time. A refund will not be offered in this case. Refunds cannot be offered on seasonal gifts that are returned back from the delivery company due to non collection/re-delivery from the recipient.
Incorrect Items
If we have sent you an incorrect item, please notify our sales team as soon as possible or within 3 days and return the incorrect item to us and specify the correct details in writing. If you would like us to replace the incorrect item with the item you ordered we will send you the correct item as soon as possible or alternatively we will refund the item once it has been returned. We will not charge you for the incorrect item and we must have the incorrect item returned before investigating.
Until you return items to us you are responsible for their safe keeping and taking reasonable care of them. We do not accept liability for returned packages damaged during transit back to us. It is your responsibility to wrap products adequately to prevent damage.