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Ebola in West Africa at One Year — From Ignorance to Fear to Roadblocks

Editorial urging U.S. academic medical centers to do more to fight Ebola
in West Africa

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE                            Dec. 24, 2014
By Jeffrey M. Drazen, M.D., Edward W. Campion, M.D., Eric J. Rubin. M.D., Ph.D., Stephen Morrissey, Ph.D., and Lindsey R. Baden, M.D.

... As the Ebola outbreak has burned its way deep into Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, in one of the worst acute public health crises in 50 years, our academic medical centers have sat largely on the sidelines.

...The leaders of academic medical centers that have put roadblocks in the path of those wishing to serve need to rethink their priorities. They should be making it easier, not harder, for altruistic physicians, nurses, and other health care providers to help care for the sick and control the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. ... Something is wrong when some of the greatest health care centers in the world are not helping in the fight against this disastrously dangerous threat to human health. We ask the leaders of every medical center in the country to figure out how to make it possible for their staff, and even qualified trainees, to help on the ground in West Africa.

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CSIS Podcast - Ebola in West Africa

csis.org - Center for Strategic and International Studies

The CSIS podcast “Ebola in West Africa” has been named by Apple as one of its “Best of 2014” podcasts on iTunes U.

“Ebola in West Africa” was produced by Sahil Angelo, a young professional who works in the CSIS Global Health Policy Center in conjunction with our team of multi-media professionals in the CSIS Ideas Lab.

CSIS multimedia is available on iTunes, iTunes U and on www.CSIS.org/multimedia

CLICK HERE - iTunes - Ebola in West Africa

CLICK HERE - Tweet - iTunes U - Best of 2014

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Lessons From an Outbreak: How Ebola Shaped 2014

Interviews with experts on what to take away from the devastation of the disease.

THE ATLANTIC   by Julie Beck                                                                                                 Dec. 17, 2014

...While some in the Western media criticized West Africans' fear of health workers and resistance to public-health measures, the United States got a small taste of Ebola panic when Thomas Eric Duncan became the first case diagnosed in the country in September, followed by three other cases this fall. Duncan was the only patient to die in the U.S., and the panic died down quietly.

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What Ebola can teach us about a new bubonic plague outbreak in Africa

THE WEEK -- by S.E. Smith                                                                                                     Dec. 5, 2014
While West Africa battles Ebola, another outbreak is striking just across the continent. In Madagascar, cases of plague are erupting in the small village of Mandritsara and the disease is spreading to neighboring communities. The two outbreaks are related by more than simple surface similarities, though. In fact, fighting the first has provided an invaluable blueprint for containing the second.West Africa's Ebola outbreak could inform responders to Madagascar's plague cases.

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Class from International Baccalaureate School in Houston Seeks Ebola Education from Global Resilience System

Pictured here are the students in
Ms. Appel’s class in Houston, gathering information on the Ebola virus
from a Global Resilience System volunteer, Kathy Gilbeaux, with their website shown in the background. 
Photo Credit: Emma Goerges

On Thursday, a fifth grade class from an International Baccalaureate school in Houston sought answers to their questions regarding the Ebola virus. After a short period of investigating its symptoms, spread, and severity, the students were left with several unanswered questions. Specifically, the students continued to inquire about the origin of Ebola, details of its spread to Texas, in what ways the United States is helping, and Ebola treatment options.

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Billionaire Jack Dangermond's Esri Pledges $1 Billion Of Mapping Software To America's K-12 Schools

Jack Dangermond of Esri

Image: Jack Dangermond of Esri

forbes.com - Liyan Chen - May 27th 2014

After supporting America’s K-12 and STEM education for more than two decades, billionaire Jack Dangermond is now taking his commitment to the next level by bringing free mapping software to more than 100,000 schools.

Dangermond, the 69-year-old founder and president of the mapping software company Environmental Science Research Institute (known as Esri), announced today that the company will make its advanced mapping software ArcGIS available for free for all the K-12 schools across the country. Through the program, students will now have access to the cloud-based software — the same GIS technology used by governments and businesses — to map and analyze data.

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Mississippi State University Student-Athletes Respond in Tornado Relief

      

MSU student-athletes set up a tornado relief shelter on Tuesday. (PHOTO CREDIT: Megan Bean)

hailstate.com - April 30, 2014

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A day after destructive tornadoes swept through the state of Mississippi, Mississippi State student-athletes from all sports responded as volunteers in the relief efforts.

MSU student-athletes, graduate assistants, athletic department staff, weight room staff and equipment staff quickly set up a tornado relief center and shelter in the parking lot of the Palmeiro Center on the MSU campus. The relief center is being coordinated by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

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Security and Quality Top Companies' Reasons for Using Open Source

      

Surprisingly, the fact that it's often free is not the main reason most businesses choose open source software.

pcworld.com - by Katherine Noyes - April 7, 2014

Why should you use open source software? The fact that it’s usually free can be an attractive selling point, but that’s not the reason most companies choose to use it. Instead, security and quality are the most commonly cited reasons, according to new research.

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Black Duck and North Bridge Venture Partners - The Eighth Annual Future of Open Source Survey

Black Duck and North Bridge Venture Partners
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NCFPD Webinar - Community Resilience and Impacts of Interdependent Infrastructure Disruptions as Experienced from Hurricane Sandy

       

ncfpd.umn.edu - Friday, April 4, 2014

Under the dynamic conditions of rapid climate change and broader global changes, resilience and sustainability are not being achieved through traditional emergency management and humanitarian approaches alone. While community-based resilience networks are now beginning to emerge in a race to stabilize New York City's coastal communities significantly impacted by Superstorm Sandy in 2012, many impacted neighborhoods are still trending toward greater vulnerability plaguing recovery and preparedness for the next wave of potentially larger storms.

10amCT / 11amET (One hour long)

Presented By: 
Michael D. McDonald, Dr.P.H.
Chairman, Global Resilience Inititatives
Executive Director, Health Initiatives Foundation, Inc.

Facilitated By:
John T. Hoffman, Col., USA, Ret.
Senior Research Fellow, National Center for Food Protection and Defense

CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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White House Builds Open Data Backbone for Climate Resilience

          

A sampling of maps from the new government website

greenbiz.com - by Christina DeConcini and C. Forbes Tompkins

As communities across America continue to experience increasing climate impacts in the form of rising seas, heat waves and extreme weather, local and federal leaders are starting to roll up their sleeves.

Last week, the White House unveiled the Climate Data Initiative, a project aimed at arming local leaders across the country with information they need to plan for climate impacts while building more resilience. The initiative provides a key tool for helping those at the frontlines of climate change — America’s local communities.

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NOAA - IBTrACS

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