a 222 unit office-to-multifamily conversion in the heart of D.C. took place on February 6th to celebrate its grand opening a newly transformed 222-unit multifamily community located at 1313 L Street NW in downtown Washington Balsa has been strategically designed and converted to offer modern studio and three-bedroom residences in the heart of the nation’s capital brought together residents and key project contributors to commemorate this significant milestone “Balsa is a remarkable addition to D.C.'s vibrant urban landscape designed to cater to those seeking a walkable lifestyle in a prime location,” said Mark Kirchmeyer EVP of Development at Willow Bridge Property Company “Residents are already enjoying the exceptional amenities and thoughtful design We are thrilled to celebrate this achievement and look forward to Balsa becoming a central part of the community for years to come.” Balsa offers a diverse range of premium amenities designed to enhance both work and relaxation The rooftop features an outdoor kitchen and grilling space complemented by a calming water feature to create a quiet outdoor retreat with stunning city views A private lounge with games and music further enriches the space while the state-of-the-art fitness center offers residents a chance to focus on wellness with floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing the city skyline the property is equipped with co-working pods and a conference room designed for streaming the catering kitchen and dining area offer the perfect setting for private events or casual get-togethers with neighbors Balsa offers residents an elevated living experience with a private access lobby and lounge featuring a craft coffee bar offering local favorites including cold storage for grocery and meal deliveries The building is equipped with cutting-edge smart home technology and controlled access The private-access garage offers EV stations A standout addition to the resident programming is the SOLATO ice cream machine set to make its debut at an upcoming resident event residents can enjoy a private landscaped courtyard with dining as well as a fire pit to enjoy the outdoors beneath twinkling lights Unit interiors are meticulously designed with features such as sleek designer cabinetry, energy-efficient appliances, and custom closet/wardrobe systems. One standout feature is the Ori Cloud Bed system This innovative solution allows residents to seamlessly convert their space between a bedroom and a stylish living area at the touch of a button offering flexibility for modern urban living Balsa’s prime location boasts a Walk Score™ of 99 placing residents just steps from a diverse selection of restaurants For information on leasing or to schedule a tour, please visit livebalsa.com or call 571-506-0636 We encourage you to republish Dialogue Earth articles, online or in print, under the Creative Commons license. Please read our republishing guidelines to get started Blocks of balsa wood ready for transport on canoes in the Achuar Indigenous territory a rush to cut balsa to sell for export brought opportunity for many in the Amazon but also social and environment challenges (Image: Fundación Pachamama) A group of young Indigenous Achuar are installing cameras capturing hundreds of photographs and videos and mapping vulnerable spots along the Pastaza River which flows through the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon into neighbouring Peru They are Los Lanceros Digitales – “the digital lancers” – who keep watch over this area aiming to prevent loggers from returning in search of balsa trees “So far we haven’t found any loggers,” explains Roberto Peas, the deputy coordinator of the group, an initiative of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon “They know that everything is under surveillance.” This is a new way for Indigenous groups to exercise authority over this corner of the Amazon, and comes after the region experienced one of the harshest episodes in its recent history: the so-called “balsa fever”. In the past decade, Ecuador has emerged as the world’s top exporter of balsa (Ochroma pyramidale) with the majority of wood shipments making their way to China – where it is used to build wind turbines for the transition to greener energy systems and balsa’s emergence as a potential source of income for Indigenous communities hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic As the country faced the pandemic and scientists strove to develop vaccines, loggers travelled up the Pastaza River to Sharamentsa, an Achuar community of more than 7,500 inhabitants, close to the Peruvian border. “Nobody was prepared to sell balsa,” says Tiyua Uyunkar, from the Achuar Nation of Ecuador explaining that there was no existing cultivation of the tree in the area Although Achuar communities broadly opposed such business some members cut down trees for the middlemen “This generated discrepancies between those who wanted to sell and those who preferred to preserve them.” primary forests were cut down in order to grow balsa for sale this pattern was repeated in other communities balsa only takes three years to be ready for its first cut the Achuar say that this rush for balsa left only grief our reporters found hundreds of logs on the ground and 15 loaded boats bound for the port of Manta For Uyunkar Domingo Peas, president of Cuencas Sagradas (Sacred Basins) an alliance of Indigenous organisations and NGOs working in Ecuador and Peru the worst consequence was the social rupture caused by the rush: “Many were cheated Various sources confirmed that, at the time of the rush, an average balsa “leg”, as cut trees are dubbed, was worth USD 40. One source reported that middlemen regularly paid less than half of this, citing one example where a group was paid USD 5,000 for 280 “legs”, less than half of the USD 11,200 they could have been worth. Waorani and Kichwa tribes were also cheated in this way, according to WWF Another impact of these incursions was gender-based violence they even ‘married’ some young women and left them pregnant,” says Andrea Wampach Vargas president of the Association of Indigenous Women of Pastaza and Morona Santiago Since 2022, the Achuar nation has sanctioned community members who sell balsa, according to the Sharam Project, an initiative funded by international organisations such as Fundación Pachamama and Amazon Conservation Team loggers must request permission and replant 10 trees for each cut down respect for the nation’s women has reportedly been stipulated as the first condition for buying balsa But Wampach still expresses concern that the violence will not stop especially for those who live near the road where wood is still sold illegally In 2020, Ecuadorian loggers crossed just over the border into north-eastern Peru to raid the Wampís Indigenous territory. More than 1.5 million cubic feet of balsa, which was growing in their forests, were estimated to have been illegally logged according to the autonomous government of the Wampís nation “The balsa brought us many disputes and threats,” recalls Teófilo Kukush, the highest authority of the Wampís nation which is made up of 22 communities along the Santiago and Morona rivers that cut through this part of the Peruvian Amazon “The state’s inaction didn’t help either,” he adds Despite reprisals from loggers, the Wampís ordered a stop to all logging and blocked boats from accessing their territory “We managed to stop these disputes,” says Kukush During 2020 and 2021, balsa – known locally as topa – was one of the five most exported timber species in Peru, according to Forest Trends. Over the two years, 44,855 cubic metres of the wood were exported, according to data from national customs agency Sunat almost all of the balsa wood (97%) was shipped to Ecuador where it is processed into panels and blocks on its way to the Chinese market Alfredo Rodríguez, a Peruvian forestry specialist and co-author of the Forest Trends report, points out that practically all illegal timber found a way to be traded. In 2021, 13,393 cubic metres of licensed production of balsa logs and sawn timber was produced, according to data requested from the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (Serfor) – but far more than this was exported “The Ecuadorian industry discovered how easy it was to take Peruvian balsa in a forestry industry that struggles with falsified documents unverified information and corruption,” he says balsa plantations have been registered under the guidance of Serfor But this does not account for its growth usually occurring in deforested areas of secondary forest they take a truck from a supposed plantation and bring in wood from all the communities whether they are registered or not,” says Rodríguez Currently, there are 875 plantations with the potential to collectively produce 371,866 cubic metres of balsa wood, according to Serfor “It is a simple and automatic register,” explains independent forestry expert Frank Rivero He adds that forest management plans or extraction permits are not verified and are not required nor can the Forestry and Wildlife Resources Oversight Agency (Osinfor) inspect these plantations Only when a forest is going to be harvested can there be an inspection “Serfor should correct the regulations on the registration and use of forestry plantations,” says Rivero “Many times the balsa is illegally extracted from unauthorised areas and laundered with plantation registers.” the group reportedly set up the company in 2020 with the support of former officials of the environmental authority of the Amazonian region of San Martín managing to secure falsified documents to enable them to exploit balsa only 12,778 cubic metres were shipped from Peru Serfor approved guidelines for logging in secondary forests which outline that areas where wild balsa wood grows will now require supervision by Osinfor and cannot be treated as plantations Serfor was approached for comment on the trafficking of balsa wood and plantations the Wampís nation has opted to reforest areas with the species in order to market it in a sustainable way “We are looking for a direct market with China,” says Teofilo Kukush “But so far we haven’t found a company that will pay a fair price.” Around the same time as the “balsa fever” in Ecuador and Peru word of this wood reached Maximino Morales in the south-western department of Putumayo near the borders with both Ecuador and Peru the 50-year-old farmer planted coca in this Amazonian village long affected by armed conflict and illicit crops Morales travelled to Ecuador to learn about the “balso” business He then sent his sons to work in the industry who returned with the contact of an Ecuadorian company “Each truck loaded 12 cubic metres of balsa wood slats One hectare generated three lorries – or USD 31,000.” Morales currently has 12 hectares of balsa planted, five of which are thanks to “green credits” granted by REM Visión Amazonía a government initiative that aims to reduce deforestation in Colombia’s Amazon 60 producers in the area have benefited from this programme which is managed by the Ministry of the Environment and financed by government agencies from Germany “The farmers told us that wood from the forests was being used and that is why many people wanted to plant so we promoted the credit,” explains Yezid Beltrán leader of the organisation’s agro-environmental development department The project provides farmers with financing of up to USD 6,300 and can offer further grants of up to 50% of the value of each loan disbursed This incentive is conditional on a conservation agreement “The balso has been a blessing,” says Morales who was the first producer to be granted a loan “Not even in the time of illicit crops did coca awaken me to cultivate so much.” Morales recalls that there is still a lack of comprehensive assistance for farmers who want to stop growing coca Nor is there sufficient interest from some entities in balso as an alternative to illicit crops describing how credit schemes for balso have made gains in dissuading some producers from opting for the illicit crop it’s a very big and long-term issue for the Amazon.” This story was produced with support from Earth Journalism Network Olga Cecilia Guerrero is a Colombian environmental journalist and director of Red Prensa Verde biodiversity and socio-environmental issues In 2022 she won the Ángela Restrepo Moreno National Award on climate change in digital media Sally Jabiel is a Peruvian journalist who writes on climate crisis Distintas Latitudes and Migraciones Climáticas Wajai Moisés Peas Senkuan is a journalist from the Achuar Indigenous community He is a student at the State University of the Amazon in Puyo he researches and reports on biodiversity in the Amazon Select from our bespoke newsletters for news best suited to you We’ve sent you an email with a confirmation link 我们向您的邮箱发送了一封确认邮件，请点击邮件中的确认链接。如果您未收到该邮件，请查看垃圾邮件。 If you would like more information about the terms of our republication policy or 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The winners will not be announced until all high schools have competed and scores have been calculated The first place team will receive a five hundred dollar check and second through fifth place will also take away monetary prizes 43,000+ global companies doing business in the region 102,000+ key contacts related to companies and projects news and interviews about your industry in English The house designed for a family of young professionals and their newborn son by the Balsa Crosetto Piazzi architectural studio led by architects Juan Manuel Balsa Rocio Crosetto Brizzio and Leandro Piazzi is located on the outskirts of the city of Córdoba in an environment and landscape where the boundaries between the countryside and the city are blurred The house is conceived as an opportunity to explore the typological possibilities of domestic housing in the suburbs which has experience in the development of this type of intervention in recent years includes this new project interpreting it as part of a network of constellations The new house proposed by Balsa Crosetto Piazzi is located on a plot with dimensions of 12.00 x 21.50 m Taking as a reference the galleries of the “chorizo ​​house” typology of the Argentine pampas and generating a patio of the same dimensions as the house This type of house maximizes lighting and ventilation achieved through a system of mobile carpentry which allows for complete integration between the interior and the exterior the social space is housed under a steeply inclined roof The volume formed by the inclined roof does not aim to increase the total surface area but rather to connect the dining room with a small studio located on the second floor which facilitates a closer relationship between the domestic and the work The project uses two construction systems to cover the house: The social space uses a system of parallel beams that spans a span of 17 meters without pillars that support a light roof made of rectangular tubes and that allows the future construction of a second floor Project description by  Balsa Crosetto Piazzi designed for a family of young professionals and their newborn child is located on the outskirts of the city of Córdoba where the boundaries between countryside and city tend to blur which is part of a larger constellation of operations in similar territories that the office has been working on in recent years emerges as an opportunity to explore typological possibilities for domestic life in the suburbs Located on a 258 m² plot (12.00 x 21.50 m) occupies half of the plot while opening to its best orientation responding to lessons learned from the galleries of the "casa chorizo" typology of the Argentine pampas This not only maximizes lighting and ventilation but also creates a patio of the same dimensions as the house allows for complete integration between the interior and exterior resolved through a section that prioritizes volume over surface area and vertically connects the living-dining room with a small study on the second floor due to a limited budget from a mortgage loan the tectonics of the project are resolved through a system of two parallel beams they support a lightweight roof made of rectangular tubes (160 x 60 mm) in the social space and a solid concrete slab over the bedrooms which will allow for an additional floor in a future second phase Balsa Crosetto Piazzi Marcos Guiponi Archive HOUSING The global Balsa Wood Market size reached 170 USD Million in 2023 All 5 Releases Montenegrin writer and poet Balsa Brkovic believes that the worst legacy of the pandemic is that it has led to excessive fear which usually turns people into insensitive and wild creatures but also that it has fueled all possible populism and nonsense as one of the disturbing experiences of the pandemic Brkovic states the media mediation of reality "The pandemic has led to an unusual confrontation with the near future A German art historian put it nicely: "What seemed impossible to us until yesterday seems inevitable today." The world has changed significantly in these two years The positive change is that Montenegrins changed the habits when meeting a friend What was interesting was a kind of outline of dystopia call into question the very status of testimony as such It was one of the most disturbing experiences of pandemic reality The best thing is that the loser routine of blossoming capitalism has been shaken and the worst thing is the excessive fear that turns people into insensitive and wild creatures The pandemic also gave impetus and fuel to all possible populisms internet experts and amateurs of all kinds welcomed their moment because you used to have social mechanisms that make stupidity somewhat more invisible or marginal .. who in the 1990s was part of Montenegrin intellectuals who opposed war cries believes that no country in the region even before the Covid had a serious and sustainable cultural policy that would encourage social evolution and make society better current cultural policies hold society hostage to the most ordinary conservatism "The problem is that the modernization of our societies has been abruptly stopped and in that case we can't even talk about cultural policies still went significantly further than the rest of the region it is a reason to hurry elsewhere and find a valid way to change cultural policy Look at Montenegro - first we had a court-commissioner concept of culture where the national commissioners measured whether you were for Montenegro or against even though it was actually about one party and not Montenegro Then came the national-church commissioners - orthodoxy is measured again and others are discriminated against of the exceptional novel "Paranoia in Podgorica" the pandemic has shown that the lack of performances literary evening gatherings - the authorities in Montenegro and beyond The bottom line is - does anyone really miss it Do the citizens have a way to clearly state that they lack it but many have agreed to this alleged dictate of force majeure It is especially easy to agree when the victim is culture Authorities do not depend on artists anywhere that is why they do not turn to them in such times I often had the feeling that the authorities were relieved that an entire social segment had disappeared" Brkovic believes that the entire history of the region could be written as an attempt to establish essential literacy among nations that raise orality above anything else "As long as they call themselves war criminals it will be like that - the cruel domination of orality does not even belong to history - those are the murky limbos of parahistorical consciousness here it is easier for people to decide to go with the flow plot of which takes place in 1932 in Podgorica The entire interview (in Serbian) can be found on this link Funded by the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021 of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut and other partners, goethe.de/relieffund is a former Serbian pro basketball player and EuroLeague champion (Partizan) Koprivica played soccer and learned Taekwondo and he reached seven feet tall by his freshman year of high school where he would later attend University School of Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale Koprivica transferred to Windermere Prep in Lake Butler but he transferred again in December of 2017 — this time to Montverde Academy in Montverde where he would play his final two years of high school basketball Koprivica was a consensus four-star recruit ranked inside the top 100 by ESPN Koprivica averaged 4.7 points and 2.4 rebounds per game across 27 appearances 5.6 rebounds and a team-leading 1.4 blocks in 19.5 minutes per game 10.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks en route to ACC All-Tournament First-Team honors Koprivica has also competed in international competitions for Serbia He was a member of the Serbian U18 national team that captured the gold medal at the 2017 FIBA Europe U18 Championship Koprivica was selected by the Detroit Pistons with the No balsa wood has become a favorite of hobbyists this wood can become a building block of electrical circuits By Stephen Ornes This is another in our series of stories identifying new technologies and actions that can slow climate change reduce its impacts or help communities cope with a rapidly changing world they’re scientists exploring how wood can lead to greener electronic devices — ones whose production spews less climate-warming gas into the air Their latest invention is a transistor made from balsa wood Transistors play a critical role in computers and other devices They act like tiny switches to control the flow of electricity Engineers use them to process and store data they must be tiny — only a little wider than a strand of DNA This new tech shows a “proof of concept” — that the idea can work even if the new device is not yet ready to put into today’s electronics such a transistor still might prove useful for electronics that require little voltage The new transistor suggests that future electronic devices might be made in living plants “Imagine peeling away some bark from a living tree,” he says “and stamping electronic circuits into the living wood.” “there are so many ways that we can use wood and the components of wood that we would never have thought of.” For instance he can now imagine a wood-based sensor that could monitor crop health measure pollution or survey a forest for fire risk “Green electronics is a very hot topic,” notes Guido Panzarasa The term “green electronics,” he explains usually refers to devices “that rely less on nonrenewable sources” — such as things that must be mined That’s what got this materials scientist interested in wood-based devices Transistors in computers are usually made of silicon. Producing silicon for such uses can release substantial amounts of pollutants. The first, carbon dioxide, is a climate-warming gas These gases can harm the lungs and aggravate asthma Turning this silicon into devices for electronics then relies on fluorinated gases — which are thousands of times more potent at warming the climate than CO2 A wood transistor would do away with silicon altogether It doesn’t allow electricity to flow through The Linköping team he’s part of wondered how wood might be altered so that it would conduct electricity You could treat the surface of wood with materials to start a chemical reaction that turns the wood into a better electrical conductor He’s working on devices that use this process A second approach uses the structure of the wood to support conducting materials That’s the idea behind the new Linköping transistor Figuring this out “was [our] first step,” Tran says Water flows through these channels as a tree grows His group suspected those channels could be useful — especially if they were a bit larger That would mean changing wood on the inside of those channels Lignin is the material in cell walls that helps plants stand tall the team filled those hollowed-out channels with an electrically conducting material (It’s an abbreviation for poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)–polystyrene sulfonate.) PEDOT:PSS is a synthetic chemical sometimes used in other devices, including solar cells. On a microscopic level, this polymer looks like a long string of identical molecules the Linköping team poured the liquid into the inner tunnels of the wood to coat their surfaces the team used three small pieces of the treated wood Each was one millimeter (0.04 inch) thick and 30 millimeters (1.2 inches) long The narrower piece was sandwiched crosswise between the other two and at a right angle they created the shape of a lower-case letter t Tests showed this device indeed worked like an electrical switch The top and bottom pieces acted like gates the channels were filled with a gel called an electrolyte Charged ions flowing through this electrolyte created a current But when a voltage was applied between the top and bottom gates other charged particles moved through the electrolyte This changed the conductivity of the channel in the middle — and effectively turned the ion flow “off.” the researchers could control the flow of current through the middle piece Finding the best design for this device required trial and error It conducted electricity three times as well as either of the other two types of wood Its “channels are relatively big,” he says Tran and his group also had to find the right recipe for removing lignin Take out too little and the wood wouldn’t conduct electricity well Take out too much and the wood softened and collapsed his team wants to make the device even better “We want to improve the performance” — such as how much voltage it can handle His group suspects the PEDOT:PSS didn’t coat the interior of the wood evenly they think their new transistor could conduct electricity more efficiently They are also studying ways to remove more lignin says researchers could also keep testing the wood itself He’d like to see the balsa transistor compared against those built out of other porous materials Engquist is also looking to find the right application That might be an environmental sensor, Tran says. Or it might be a tree-based battery they think about other exotic ideas around green electricity “we have even discussed growing the transistor inside the tree.” Now how’s that for the ultimate in green electronics This is one in a series presenting news on technology and innovation made possible with generous support from the Lemelson Foundation.  angle: The space (usually measured in degrees) between two intersecting lines or surfaces at or close to the point where they meet application: A particular use or function of something asthma: A disease affecting the body’s airways which are the tubes through which animals breathe Asthma obstructs these airways through swelling the production of too much mucus or a tightening of the tubes but loses the ability to exhale appropriately The most common cause of asthma is an allergy Asthma is a leading cause of hospitalization and the top chronic disease responsible for kids missing school balsa: Trees of the Ochroma genus that grow in the tropical Americas model airplanes and other projects that may require light weight and the ability for someone to sculpt parts easily odorless gas produced by all animals when the oxygen they inhale reacts with the carbon-rich foods that they’ve eaten Carbon dioxide also is released when organic matter burns (including fossil fuels like oil or gas) Plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen during photosynthesis the process they use to make their own food climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area component: Something that is part of something else (such as pieces that go on an electronic circuit board or ingredients that go into a cookie recipe) conductive: Able to carry an electric current current: (in electricity) The flow of electricity or the amount of charge moving through some material over a particular period of time DNA: (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) A long double-stranded and spiral-shaped molecule inside most living cells that carries genetic instructions these instructions tell cells which molecules to make usually from the movement of negatively charged particles usually found orbiting the outer regions of an atom; also electronics: Devices that are powered by electricity but whose properties are controlled by the semiconductors or other circuitry that channel or gate the movement of electric charges engineer: A person who uses science and math to solve problems material or process that will solve some problem or unmet need environmental footprint: A measure of the impacts someone’s activities (purchases or use of resources) has on the environment One common example is the so-called carbon footprint of human activities It’s a measure of how much those actions contribute to a release of carbon dioxide and methane erode topsoil or put toxic pesticides into the environment And taking down forests to build new roads and towns not only can reduce the habitat for wildlife but also limit the ability of soils to absorb moisture and build break down organic matter into useful nutrients exotic: An adjective to describe something that is highly unusual strange or foreign (such as exotic plants) focus: (in physics) The point at which rays (of light or heat for example) converge sometimes with the aid of a lens "to focus") The action a person's eyes take to adapt to light and distance (in behavior) To look or concentrate intently on some particular point or thing graduate student: Someone working toward an advanced degree by taking classes and performing research This work is done after the student has already graduated from college (usually with a four-year degree) green: (in chemistry and environmental science) An adjective to describe products and processes that will pose little or no harm to living things or the environment humidity: A measure of the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere (Air with a lot of water vapor in it is known as humid.) insulator: A substance or device that does not readily conduct electricity ionized) An atom or molecule with an electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons is where all of the electrons have been separated from their parent atoms lignin: A natural substance that helps strengthen the cell walls of plants Although lignin is made from a large number of sugar molecules livestock can’t digest this material because of the way its sugars are chemically bonded together nitrogen oxides: Pollutants made up of nitrogen and oxygen that form when fossil fuels are burned The scientific symbol for these chemicals is NOx (pronounced “knocks”) The principal ones are nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) physicist: A scientist who studies the nature and properties of matter and energy porous: The description of a substance that contains tiny holes (in biology) The minute openings in the skin or in the outer layer of plants pressure: Force applied uniformly over a surface equivalent to any inside corner on a square risk: The chance or mathematical likelihood that some bad thing might happen exposure to radiation poses a risk of cancer (For instance: Among cancer risks that the people faced were radiation and drinking water tainted with arsenic.) sensor: A device that picks up information on physical or chemical conditions — such as temperature light intensity or radiation — and stores or broadcasts that information Scientists and engineers often rely on sensors to inform them of conditions that may change over time or that exist far from where a researcher can measure them directly (in biology) The structure that an organism uses to sense attributes of its environment semiconducting element used in making electronic circuits dark-gray crystalline form and as a shapeless powder often land or broad aspects of a landscape transistor: A device that can act like a switch for electrical signals voltage: A force associated with an electric current that is measured in units known as volts Power companies use high-voltage to move electric power over long distances wood: A porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees A version of this article appears in the June 1, 2024 issue of Science News Explores Journal:​ V.C. Tran et al. Electrical current modulation in wood electrochemical transistor Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Journal:​ J. Sun et al. Scalable and sustainable wood for efficient mechanical energy conversion in buildings via triboelectric effects Journal:​ G. Panzarasa and I. Burgert. A second life for wood residuals A paper delivered at Infacon XVI: International Ferro-Alloys Congress He has written for Science News Explores since 2008 on topics including lightning award-winning online publication dedicated to providing age-appropriate science news to learners a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education Post Courier The Bougainville Public Investment Corporation Limited has identified two immediate projects to be included as immediate impact projects to pave a pathway to economic recovery for Bougainville’s independence under the Bougainville Economic Development Plan in its board meeting at the Holiday Inn VIP Room in Port Moresby last week for the Autonomous Bougainville Government to take the lead as the key exporter BIPCL will take charge of the commercial and trade aspects of these products They have also identified Kuruwina Plantation an expropriated plantation currently owned by the state The BIPCL has identified these two projects as economic impact activities that would double within the next three years to deliver Bougainville its economic independence To ensure that these projects have the dual support of the ABG and National MPs at political and financial fronts and that the National Government is committed to funding these short-term impact projects a special project implementing team will be set up to take charge of driving the implementation of these projects Bougainville is currently the leading producer of cocoa in PNG; however it has been missing out on the export revenue of cocoa produced within the region It has also ventured into Balsa production and now hopes to make it a leading export commodity for the region Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox Maize was domesticated from its wild ancestor more than 8,700 years ago led by Anthony Ranere of Temple University and Dolores Piperno of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History reported their findings in two studies — “The Cultural and chronological context of early Holocene maize and squash domestication in the Central Balsas River Valley Mexcio” and “Starch grain and phytolith evidence for early ninth millennium B.P maize from the Central Balsas River Valley Mexico” — being published in the PNAS Early edition recent studies have confirmed that maize derived from teosinte a large wild grass that has five species growing in Mexico The teosinte species that is closest to maize is Balsas teosinte which is native to Mexico’s Central Balsas River Valley “We went to the area where the closest relative to maize grows looked for the earliest maize and found it,” said Ranere “That wasn’t surprising since molecular biologists had determined that Balsas teosinte was the ancestral species to maize So it made sense that this was where we would find the earliest domestication of maize.” The study began when Piperno found pollen and charcoal in lake sediments in the Central Balsas River Valley indicating that forests were being cut down and burned to create agricultural plots as early as 7,000 years ago She also found maize and squash phytoliths — rigid microscopic bodies found in many plants — in lakeside sediments joined in the study to find rock shelters or caves where people lived in that region thousands of years ago His team carried out excavations in four of the 15 caves and rockshelters visited in the region but only one of them yielded evidence for the early domestication of maize and squash Ranere excavated the site and recovered numerous grinding tools Radiocarbon dating showed that the tools dated back at least 8,700 years Although grinding tools were found beneath the 8,700 year level the researchers were not able to obtain a radiocarbon date for the earliest deposits the earliest evidence for the cultivation of maize came from Ranere and Piperno’s earlier research in Panama where maize starch and phytoliths dated back 7,600 years was found in crevices of many of the tools that were unearthed “We found maize starch in almost every tool that we analyzed all the way down to the bottom of our site excavations,” Ranere said “We also found phytoliths that come from maize or corn cobs and since teosinte doesn’t have cobs we knew we had something that had changed from its wild form.” Ranere said that their findings also supported the premise that maize was domesticated in a lowland seasonal forest context as opposed to being domesticated in the arid highlands as many researchers had once believed I thought it strange that researchers argued about the location and age of maize domestication yet never looked in the Central Balsas River Valley the homeland for the wild ancestor,” said Ranere “Dolores was the first one to do it.’ other researchers in the study included Irene Holst of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Jose Iriarte of the University of Exeter The study was funded by the National Science Foundation Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Temple University College of Liberal Arts NOTE: Copies of the studies are available to working journalists only and may be obtained by contacting Preston M. Moretz in Temple University’s Office of News Communications at 215-204-4380 or pmoretz@temple.edu SOURCE CONTACT: Anthony Ranere, Temple University professor of anthropology, 215-204-1423 (office) or ranere@temple.edu Temple Now: The official source for Temple news.Copyright 2015 THE Autonomous Bougainville Government and a private company are now in discussion over a potential joint venture for establishing a balsa industry in Bougainville the Vice President and Minister for Commerce Patrick Nisira met with 3A Composites General Manager Gina Vidamo and her Forestry Manager Victor Penias to discuss the potential of balsa industry in Bougainville The 3A Composite Company specialises in balsa cultivation and working with individual cooperatives to buy process and export Balsa wood and has met ISO and other international standards The parties – ABG and 3A – have verbally agreed to partner in establishing a 200-hectare balsa plantation and mill at Kuruwina Plantation in Central Bougainville The Kuruwina Plantation was the biggest operational coconut and cocoa plantation in the Southern Hemisphere and was managed by 28 line managers Mr Nisira told Ms Vidamo that the ABG had recently bought Kuruwina Plantation and is seeking investors and local farmers are engaging in Balsa cultivation due to its economic potential.” Ms Vidamo thanked Mr Nisira for their confidence in 3A Composites a reputable balsa company in East New Britain that employs 700 people and adheres to compliance requirements with the Forest Stewardship Council (SFC) Its operations are based on three pillars- economic have been overlooked by other competitors that have damaged the industry’s reputation Mr Nisira emphasised the need to regulate the Balsa Industry and informed 3A that Bougainville is developing its Balsa Policy and guidelines which would incorporate elements of the three pillars that 3A operates within to ensure effective regulation “This agreement marks a significant milestone in strengthening public-private partnerships aimed at accelerating economic development and investment in Bougainville it will contribute to the local economy through balsa cultivation downstream processing and international export,” hesaid “The primary goal is to enhance trade and industrial growth through strategic collaboration in the agriculture and forestry sector Key focus areas include promoting domestic manufacturing and value addition technology transfer and skills development enhancing export competitiveness and developing infrastructure in underdeveloped areas through agriculture.” The two parties agreed to proceed with the following actions · The 3A Composites will conduct feasibility studies on the proposed 200 hectares and report to its board for approval · ABG will ensure land accessibility for 3A composites to commence feasibility studies · A joint agreement signing is planned for June 2025 in Bougainville Mr Nisira assured that the department and ministry will facilitate necessary approvals and policy support through the draft Balsa Policy and related investment policies to ensure 3A can operate smoothly He reiterated the government’s commitment to fostering an enabling environment for private sector growth noting that the partnership with 3A reflects confidence in Bougainville’s economicpotential "Las Balsas" is the longest known raft journey in human history The 1973 trip stretched more than 9,000 miles from Ecuador to Australia It was the first known multi-raft crossing of the Pacific Ocean The explorers were faced with violent storms and hammerhead sharks '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page He had been in custody in lieu of $250,000 bail since he was arrested in January on a felony bomb threat charge near Independence Mall an Arizona State professor from 2004 to 2011 was touring the city’s historic sites on his way to a job interview at Rutgers University Witnesses testified that he became upset when authorities started to search his courier sack and backpack and said “This is the way they treat you in America,” according to witnesses National Park Service rangers followed him and arrested him nearby Authorities searched the backpack and found no explosives a Portuguese citizen who has been in the United States for 17 years “I have a bunch of exclusives” — a literal translation of the Portuguese word for personal property Prosecutors said Balsas had never offered that explanation before and they argued that such a miscommunication was unlikely involving someone who had taught college classes and written books and articles in English Common Pleas Court Judge Diana Anhalt said she would have convicted Balsas of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct This story is a reporting partnership between Mongabay Latam and La Barra Espaciadora with the country exporting $402 million worth of the timber in 2020 alone But the lucrative trade has reportedly come at a cost to communities living in the country’s Amazon region who allege they have suffered from the impacts the industry is having on the land where balsa trees are harvested Wood from the balsa tree (Ochroma pyramidale) is soft and lightweight Ecuador established itself as the top balsa exporter in 2015 the country had doubled the value of its annual exports to $150 million China is the biggest market for Amazonian balsa accounting for 85% of the 77,140 tons Ecuador exported in 2020 Ecuador exported $28.7 million worth of balsa The Pastaza River Basin is one of the areas most affected by the balsa industry Copataza and other rivers are used as logging access routes with satellite imagery showing their banks increasingly pockmarked by deforestation Sources tell Mongabay Latam that the logging has been so intense that balsa has been completely removed from some areas a Kichwa Indigenous leader from the Sarayaku community said she has seen dozens of trucks loaded with wood plying the roads in her territory She recalled seeing logged clearings proliferating along the edges of roads Narcisa Mashienta is involved with maternal and child health programs in the Achuar territory that straddles the provinces of Morona Santiago and Pastaza She said balsa logging activity in the Shuar and Achuar territories was “like a machine which advocates for Indigenous and environmental rights is working with other researchers on a balsa management plan to address the impacts the trade is having on the Ecuadoran Amazon She said loggers are starting to harvest other timber species in areas that have been denuded of balsa “The same loggers and traders that one year ago arrived from [the cities of] Quevedo Esmeraldas or Guayaquil are now arriving to look at what else is there,” Páez said “There is an ongoing process of deforestation of valuable tree species in Indigenous territories” with no monitoring by the authorities Mashienta expressed concern that the balsa industry may be leading to increased drug use in Indigenous communities She alleged that after logging commercially valuable tree species the loggers plant illegal crops like coca and marijuana Allegations have also surfaced connecting the industry to human trafficking disappeared from her community in the Wampis Indigenous Territory in neighboring Peru The Wampis Nation’s communication team wrote in a report that “the only option is that it was balsa loggers because it happened at a time when balsa loggers invaded from Ecuador.” As of the time this story was published a group of Wampis people traveled to Tiwintza the president of the Shuar Arutam community announced a joint communal effort to oversee the legal process and search for Rubí Atilio Noningo, technical undersecretary with the Wampis Nation’s government, reported that Ecuadorans had entered their territory illegally and demanded the government of Ecuador take responsibility for Rubí’s search “There is no territorial control by [our] Ecuadoran neighbors there are many intrusions to extract the natural resources that are in the Wampis Nation territories,” Noningo said He added that binational “articulated work” is needed to stop the illegal extraction of resources a leader of the Wampis Nation in the autonomous government of the Cuenca-Kanús-Río Santiago also warned about loggers arriving from Ecuador saying “they are also extracting other wood secretly.” Narcisa Mashienta said that when the balsa boom began residents thought it could be a way to help them make a living “Families saw that it was much easier to extract balsa than [other types of] wood because they were on the riverbank and it was easier to sell them,” Mashienta said But Patricia Gualinga said locals who logged and sold their balsa trees ended up with a meager income “They are the last link in the middlemen chain,” she said Domingo Peas, the leader of the Achuar Nation of Ecuador and adviser of the initiative Sacred Headwaters: Territories of Life said the balsa logging industry “has broken the organizational structural order” of Ecuador’s Amazonian communities Peas’s own native community of Sharamentza and communities in the surrounding Sapara territory have imposed a ban on balsa harvesting are trying to blend sustainable harvesting with habitat conservation Peas said he is in talks with the Swiss company Plantabal to design a program that would train communities to harvest balsa without damaging the surrounding environment is leading an initiative to produce online lectures that explain the symbolic importance of the forest and how it contributes to Sapara religious beliefs and practices “All kinds of birds use balsa to balance their energy also nocturnal animals like the jaguar and the agouti,” Ushigua said at night there are spiritual beings from the mountains that come to the balsa to balance their energy.” Rodrigo Sierra is a scientist working with the Achuar Nation to find ways to resist and adapt to balsa exploitation He said logging is facilitated by a “lack of effective control” by the government due to the remoteness of the regions where balsa is harvested “Balsa goes out without a harvesting permit,” Sierra said a biologist and lecturer at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador said what the government is doing on paper is different than what’s happening on the ground “One of the biggest issues with the ministry [of environment] is that it doesn’t have good forest control and that’s why legal logging Recent movements in the federal government have given rise to some hopes that Ecuador’s environmental exploitation can be reined in During an event for World Environment Day that took place June 5 in the Shuar community of Río Limón Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso announced his new environmental public policy which includes a “mandate toward renewable energy” and focus on developing a sustainable circular economy he also renamed the government agency charged with environmental regulation the Ministry of Environment Water and Ecological Transition — the first such agency in Latin America Together with newly appointed minister Gustavo Manrique Lasso said his government needs to “understand that our relationship with the planet cannot be based on exploitation because there is no respect in exploitation no care.” He talked about new production models and sustainable consumption and the intention of “mobilizing green funds to reactivate the economy.” However, during campaigning ahead of the election that he won earlier this year, Lasso promised to increase oil and mining exploitation in Ecuador, leaving some wondering whether he has the capacity and will to follow through on these new aspirations for sustainability This story was reported by Mongabay’s Latam team and first published here on our Latam site on July 12 Editor’s note: This story was powered by Places to Watch a Global Forest Watch (GFW) initiative designed to quickly identify concerning forest loss around the world and catalyze further investigation of these areas Places to Watch draws on a combination of near-real-time satellite data automated algorithms and field intelligence to identify new areas on a monthly basis GFW is supporting data-driven journalism by providing data and maps generated by Places to Watch Mongabay maintains complete editorial independence over the stories reported using this data Feedback: Use this form to send a message to the editor of this post The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] the page you were looking for could not be found The most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web a village of nine indigenous Waorani families on the Curaray river in the Ecuadorean Amazon a fast-growing species of tree whose wood is used in blades for wind-power turbines a fortune in a region where most people have no jobs This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “A worrying windfall” Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents Just as in the United States, working-class and immigrant voters swung right The Conservatives suffered one of the most astonishing falls from popularity in political history An interview with Evo Morales in his tropical highland stronghold MAGA bombast has upended Canada’s political universe and given Mark Carney’s Liberals an edge Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau’s toxic legacy have pushed Canadians to the centre a region marked by half a century of extractive industries a new threat to the conservation of these forests has emerged: the cultivation of balsa and oil palm under a contract farming model production developed under a prior agreement between farmers and buyers “Ecuador is among the five most deforested countries in Latin America,” said Natalia Greene, vice president of the Ecuadorian Coordinating Body of Organizations for the Defense of Nature and the Environment (CEDENMA) are around the large extractive projects for which roads have been built since the mid-20th century This infrastructure has given free rein to loggers and settlers seeking land for agricultural and livestock production these areas border Yasuní National Park and the foothills of the Andes Mountains where there are diverse and endemic ecosystems “Their destruction can cause habitat fragmentation and species extinction,” Greene said Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE) doesn’t think so according to their response to a request for information for this article: “There is a low risk of fragmentation [in the province] because there are conservation categories such as the Socio Bosque Project Intangible Zones and initiatives promoted by this Ministry that are conserving the forest in the province of Orellana.” MAATE’s series of historical land cover change maps shows that between 2018 and 2020 the most recent period with available data Orellana was among the five provinces in Ecuador with the highest annual gross deforestation rate with 8,417 hectares (20,800 acres) of forest lost an area 25 times the size of New York’s Central Park the province lost 6,170 hectares (15,250 acres) of primary forest According to early warnings from MAATE’s National Forest Monitoring System 376 deforestation alerts were issued in Orellana between January and March 2023 mainly in the cantons of Joya de los Sachas and Francisco de Orellana Each alert represents the loss of at least one hectare (2.47 acres) of forest in areas that do not have environmental permits for logging coordinator of Forest Governance for MAATE’s REM Program which receives international cooperation funding to reduce emissions from deforestation GFW registered 64,316 deforestation alerts throughout the province of Orellana between January and March this year each alert represents the possible loss of 30×30 meters (100×100 feet) of tropical forest approximately the size of a basketball court In addition to the increase in deforestation, “there is a lack of consistency between regulations,” said Alonso Jaramillo, part of the Ecuadorian Social Group Fondo Populorum Progressio (FEPP) and former director of Yasuní National Park “While it is true that there are laws to protect biodiversity there are also regulations that allow large-scale logging,” he said the MAATE issued 1,364 logging licenses on 25,952 hectares (66,600 acres) in Orellana according to information sent by the entity to this journalistic collaboration MAATE responded that forest harvesting licenses that “allow the sustainable harvesting of forest resources (timber and non-timber) in the humid Andean and dry forests […] are issued to the owners of the properties in which Integral Management Plans Forest Management and Cutting Programs have been previously approved.” Meanwhile Jaramillo alleges that this type of exploitation benefits from illegal timber extraction they extract wood from protected areas where they do not have a license and load it where they do have a license That’s how they legalize it,” he said Via Auca is located in the Francisco de Orellana canton (Coca), the most deforested canton in Ecuador between 2001 and 2020, according to a report released in late 2022 by Mapbiomas an initiative that integrates a collaborative network of specialists on issues such as land use the canton saw deforestation rates of around 5,339 hectares (13,200 acres) per year between 1990 and 2000 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) per year between 2000 and 2018 and 4,300 hectares (10,600 acre) per year between 2018 and 2020 GFW has more current data and records indicating that Francisco de Orellana lost 3,480 hectares (8,600 acres) of primary forest in 2022 The canton recorded 36,561 deforestation alerts between January and March in 2023 which represents 56.8% of all alerts in the province The Via Auca road connects Francisco de Orellana Both the road and the block are named so because the area used to be the territory of the Waorani called Auca (“savages”) by the Kichwa Indigenous people little remains of the forests and swamps that were once home to crops of morete or aguaje palms the fruit used by the Waorani to make chicha (a fermented beverage) or to the animals that were historically hunted for food the area is inhabited mainly by settlers and began exploration in the Auca oil field and when mestizo migrants from the provinces of Manabí and Loja arrived in search of productive land The road crosses the city of Francisco de Orellana The latter two are within Yasuní National Park The expansion of the agricultural and oil frontiers has taken its toll. On the one hand, oil spills are frequent, according to Washington Wilca, a territorial technician at the Alejandro Labaka Foundation and organizational support for the Indigenous peoples of the northern Ecuadorian Amazon “there are very few primary forests [left],” Martínez said “Most of them were exploited many years ago to illegally extract timber The remaining primary forests are in the territories of the Indigenous nationalities.” This journalistic team captured images and videos of deforested areas that were reported between January and March 2023 in the GFW alerts Wilca assures that these areas are destined for balsa and palm cultivation some palm crops can be seen in satellite images The Labaka Foundation technician has observed a phenomenon related to a recent plantation where small investors used savings or money received from the oil companies’ payouts to buy farms in Inés Arango or Dayuma to plant African palm since these areas are cheaper than locations closer to the provincial capitals “It’s incredible how much oil palm cultivation is advancing,” said Alonso Jaramillo of FEPP the area destined for oil palm production in Ecuador was in decline due to “bud rot and the war between Russia and Ukraine,” the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock said in response to a request for information for this article The planted area was 16,071 hectares (39,700 acres) in 2017 and fell to 11,546 hectares (28,500 acres) in 2022 The Ministry did not provide data for 2023 but stated that Francisco de Orellana is the canton with the largest area of oil palm cultivation in the province with 7,955 hectares (19,600 acres) planted in 2022 Both Wilca and Jaramillo agree that oil palm monocultures require a lot of pesticides which, due to the water cycle, will end up in the rivers and cause bioaccumulation of toxins in the larger fish species There are also other effects: “There is complete clearing of the land avoiding reforestation with the native ecosystem,” said Natalia Greene there are about 150 hectares (370 acres) of land for palm cultivation in this parish “more palm plants [from small investors] will be ready for transplanting in new hectares.” The increase in oil palm cultivation is partly explained by the fact that oil companies provide facilities for farmers to plant: they supply seeds The Via a Loreto runs from the canton of Francisco de Orellana to the canton of Loreto It runs along a stretch of the Transversal Norte E20 highway which connects the Amazon with Quito in the Andes and with the coastal province of Esmeraldas Francisco de Orellana and Loreto are mostly inhabited by Kichwa communities with global property titles although there are also settler communities an employee at the canton’s environmental office Most of the deforestation in this area occurred between 1990 and 2010, according to data from MAATE’s historical land cover change maps “the current forests are mostly secondary,” said Calva GFW recorded the loss of about 1,370 hectares (3,385 acres) of natural forest in 2022 in the canton of Loreto and generated 9,963 deforestation alerts between January and March 2023 equivalent to 15.4% of the alerts in the province of Orellana deforestation in these areas is due to small-scale rotational agriculture leader of the Altomanduru Kichwa community located on a stretch of the Via a Loreto in the Francisco de Orellana canton assures that his community conserves 60% of its territory while the remaining 40% is used for houses the community members have been cultivating gmelina (Gmelina arborea Roxb) “There is still high demand for this product [balsawood] despite the fact that the price fluctuates from $30-40 per cubic meter [35.3 cubic feet] of roundwood It has become evident that most of the administrative authorizations for balsawood harvesting programs are issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock they are natural regeneration trees and not plantations,” MAATE told the reporters According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock “Balsa is a pioneer species that regenerates in agricultural production sites or abandoned sites that do not constitute native forest.” In the last six years the Ministry has issued 262 administrative authorizations for balsa harvesting programs in Orellana with an approved volume of 172,376 cubic meters (6 million cubic feet) The figure was 2,538 m3 (90,000 ft3) in 2018; 4,515 m3 (160,000 ft3) in 2019; 12,717 m3 (449,000 ft3) in 2020; 1,115 m3 (39,300 ft3) in 2021; and a record 80,988 m3 (2.8 million ft3) in 2022 the approvals were already at 70,504 m3 (2.48 million ft3) of balsawood harvested; if the trend continues 2023 will see the most timber harvesting ever recorded in the province The increase in demand for balsa is due to the upturn in renewable energy as it is used in the construction of blades for wind turbines Its cultivation requires less investment and effort than palm this native species of the Amazon reappears as its seeds are dispersed by winds and grows fast community members have turned to cultivating balsawood “One of the main effects of the change from secondary forest to balsa cultivation is the decrease in ecosystem recovery,” said Belén Paéz an NGO that works with Amazonian Indigenous peoples on autonomous territorial management the cultivation and logging of balsa prevents forests from recovering The result is a loss of ecosystem services such as nitrogen fixation there can be a loss of carbon sources and habitats as well as changes in microclimates and water patterns The high demand for this product is causing “an exponential increase in the rate of deforestation that’s not only affecting secondary forests but also extending to primary forests,” Páez said which has about 3,100 hectares (7,660 acres) of land there are about 50 hectares (124 acres) of balsa They have been planted in secondary forests Marino Calva said that along the Via a Loreto balsa crops have expanded on land that had already been transformed “Very few have cleared forest to plant balsa,” he added he is concerned that this new commercial dynamic promotes the felling of this species which has important environmental functions The Kichwa communities along the Via a Loreto Given the increase in the area dedicated to palm and balsa cultivation the experts consulted for this report agree that it is urgent that Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Agriculture increase efforts to train farmers so that their crops productivity increases together with the Achuar community of Sharamentza in Pastaza province created a sustainable balsa management plan based on the compensation provided for not cutting down trees in fragile areas which they hope can be replicated in Orellana Natalia Greene believes that another option to address deforestation caused by palm and balsa monocultures is to involve more communities in monitoring the land and biodiversity it is common to find patches of deforested land that will later be planted with agricultural or agroforestry crops This article is the result of a journalistic collaboration between Mongabay Latam and La Barra Espaciadora in Ecuador This article was first published on Mongabay Latam website here on Apr “Sinchiurco is coated with oil”: The Kichwa people going up against Petroecuador Support NYU Law the Black Allied Law Students Association has been a voice and a community for students at NYU Law When the Class of 1969 came to NYU Law as 1Ls in the fall of 1966 the United States was in the midst of cultural and political upheaval and Washington Square Park was an epicenter of change The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had become law only the previous year and the civil rights movement was sweeping the country and Kool and the Gang performed in neighborhood cafés like Cafe Wha and Le Figaro; beatniks and hippies thronged the park; and at NYU students protested the Vietnam War and demanded broad curriculum changes.  The black students in the Class of 1969 faced significant pressures in the mostly white community of the Law School They often struggled internally with competing priorities of individual achievement and improving conditions for the black community “Black students cannot expect to pick up their diplomas and books and go away and live as if the ‘brothers and sisters’ didn’t exist,” wrote Joseph Armstrong ’69 a graduate of Howard University who penned a series of columns examining the black law student experience in the student newspaper The Commentator black students were caught in a “crossfire” when issues involving race came up while outside of class they felt besieged by white classmates who wanted to discuss race issues Armstrong and some of the other eight black students in the Class of 1969 had arrived a few weeks early on campus for a legal writing class designed to offer extra support The legal profession was beginning to open for more black students and NYU Law was ahead of the times in efforts to diversify (According to a 1968 report from a committee of the Law School data from the Association of American Law Schools showed that of the 14,665 law students who graduated from 126 association law schools in 1965 fewer than 100 were black.) A small number of white students felt that the summer program gave participants an unfair advantage who was Armstrong’s roommate in the summer program says that Dean Robert McKay wanted NYU Law’s black students to be rigorously prepared “so no matter what we decided to do—civil rights or work at a law firm on Wall Street—we would be as well trained as aggressive as anyone else who ever graduated NYU.” the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr came as an explosive shock to the nation and the Law School community the Black Allied Law Students Association (BALSA) came into being Cooper recalls that the idea for a black law students’ association had first come up in discussions with his roommates in the summer program “We would just bump this idea around like law students can,” says Cooper until finally they drafted a constitution with bylaws then president of the Student Bar Association (SBA) remembers that the SBA provided seed funding to BALSA initially called the Black American Law Students Association Members of the group acted as legal observers at demonstrations protesting alleged discrimination against blacks and Jews at the New York Athletic Club Holmes points to King’s assassination as a galvanizing spark for the organization: “It was almost like somebody said what are you going to do now?’” He remembers giving a speech at a heated gathering at the student union an NYU professor who had been a Tuskegee Airman in World War II “He could see in our faces that we were really angry and we were going to do something,” says Holmes But just try to do something that will last.’”  Although their numbers were small at the outset the advocacy and leadership of BALSA members helped position NYU Law as a law school at the vanguard of equality and social justice the NYU Law community gathered for a “day of examination,” according to the April 17 Dean McKay spoke about the challenges of recruiting black students and efforts to increase financial aid for black students He also pointed to Law School programs such as the Welfare Law Project and noted that many courses at the Law School were relevant to the problems of discrimination and poverty the Law Students Civil Rights Research Council and other student groups to advance proposals to increase the number of black students and create opportuni.ties for community and public service work the Faculty-Student Committee on Racial Problems at the Law School published a report endorsing many of BALSA’s proposals The Hughes report called for the Law School to take action alongside NYU and schools like Harvard University and Yale University to recruit more minority faculty and to aim for a real “jump” in numbers of minority students while providing academic and financial support to ensure student success “The times call for radical innovations,” the committee members wrote The Law School adopted these recommendations plus others: appointing a black administrator in the admissions office to recruit and advise minority students; increasing scholarship funds; creating a clinical program in welfare and poverty law; and forming a clearinghouse to connect students with municipal and community organizations By this time Cooper was determined to take BALSA national He traveled uptown to Columbia Law School to start a second chapter and then headed south to Howard University School of Law to found a third chapter driving the Austin-Healey 3000 Mark III that his father had given him upon college graduation With $5,000 in support from the Ford Foundation Cooper ultimately seeded 26 BALSA chapters traveling around the country as national treasurer of the American Bar Association’s Law Student Division.  BALSA at NYU Law is one of 200 National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA) chapters at law schools around the country hosts aca.demic retreats and networking events participates in policy discussions with lawmakers and counts more than 15,000 alumni throughout the legal profession.  what started out as a kernel of an idea during Cooper’s 1L year at NYU Law has expanded into an institution that has shaped genera.tions of American lawyers.  As more black students enrolled at NYU Law Just as BALSA members in the class of 1969 had supported each other so black students have leaned on each other in all the years since Some have been first-generation law students or even first-generation college students.  “Many of us didn’t have the done-it understanding that would have come from parents about how to get through law school how to think about law firm internships and clerkships,” says Dean Garfield ’94 who is now president and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council My closest friends in life are the people I met in law school at NYU.”  BALSA members took a lead role in founding the alumni organization now known as Law Alumni of Color Association (LACA) Garfield notes that when he moved to Washington he found a BALSA network in place that included Congressman Hakeem Jeffries ’97; Anthony Foxx ’96 former secretary of transportation under President Barack Obama; and Keith Harper ’94 who would become ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council.  BALSA has also served as a home away from home a place where students could connect on issues relevant to the black community Simpson trial and the Rodney King beating occurred while Garfield was in law school “I remember riots and storefronts broken in New York during that time,” says Garfield “BALSA was a place that we could engage constructively and talk about the issues that were pertinent to society at the time at NYU.”  He recalls a table on the first floor of the library where BALSA friends always sat—a place so full of warmth and a sense of family that it felt like a Thanksgiving table to him “You could not enter the library without stopping at that table,” Garfield says BALSA helped her grapple with emotional stress from reported police shootings of African Americans it was BALSA that was there,” says Afolabi “To be in a room of people who felt the same way you do is important.” the BALSA chapter at NYU Law today functions as both professional organization and social group Each 1L is matched with two mentors in the upper years Members share advice on subjects ranging from classes and the job search to the best black hair salons “I had many BALSA mentors who shared many outlines with me and that was important to my success as a student,” says Afolabi The year begins with a weekend retreat in upstate New York BALSA also holds a day-long resumé boot camp in the fall which is fortified by interview workshops and panels with alumni from different law firms Part of what makes the BALSA network so powerful are the lengths to which alumni will go to support one another and current students “Whenever I reached out to an alum from any year and said we need X,’ they were there,” Afolabi says BALSA began sponsoring a service trip to West Africa over winter break about 20 students volunteered in Ghana with the Happy Kids Foundation holding workshops for teenagers in an orphanage about career development Students also visited historical sites such as Ghana’s “slave castles,” forts where slaves were sold “Particularly for our students who are African American and whose families have been [in the US] for generations Students from BALSA—as well as other affinity groups—also play a key role in bringing more students of color to NYU Law by reaching out to admitted students “Their efforts have gone a long way to helping us attract and enroll the types of candidates who will not only be successful at the Law School but who will also be involved community members long term,” says Sandy Williams Chigozie Onyema ’11 wondered whether he really belonged at the school—until a student invited him to a BALSA event Meeting BALSA members transformed his experience the black law students of today pursue their legal education as issues of race and criminal and social justice are at the forefront of the national conversation many of the same challenges persist in law school and the legal profession Black law students across top schools continue to express concerns about representation in the student body and faculty as well as in the contextualizing of case law in their courses And there is still work to be done once they enter the working world: Despite an increasing focus on diversity among law firms African Americans made up only 3.14 percent of lawyers at US firms in 2017 according to the 2017 diversity survey from Vault/Minority Corporate Counsel Association.  in a panel discussion of the role of lawyers in addressing inequalities in the US Though the Law School has made significant progress there is broad agreement that more remains to be done and other law schools took actions to raise awareness of discrimination on campus Some members of BALSA and other groups helped organize events at NYU Law “This week is about making our schools reflective of and accountable to people of color by incorporating our perspectives and voices into our studies and practice,” the organizers of the campaign we hope that we can begin the process of reimagining a more equitable and transformative idea of legal education and practice.”  “A pledge to continued progress in making this a more diverse and inclusive school is an important part of how I see the Law School, both as an institution of learning and as a place where people find—and feel part of—a community,” said Dean Trevor Morrison in an email to the student body.   Students from BALSA and other groups are key partners in moving the institution forward “I appreciate that student voices can and should inform our continued work toward achieving the goals we set for this institution and I share the urgency that many students feel on these issues,” said Morrison the BALSA community gathered at a Rosenthal Pavilion gala Announcing that the Law School would install a plaque near Golding Lounge to commemorate BALSA’s founding Morrison thanked the organization’s founding members for “their amazing vision.”  Each had taken on significant roles after law school The first African American mayor of Prichard Cooper was also chief of staff and tax counsel to Congressman Harold Ford Sr Holmes had a long career in entertainment law and business negotiating record deals with artists such as Diana Ross and leading Columbia Pictures Entertainment Music Group as executive vice president.  The event also honored Lisa Marie Boykin ’95, who is now senior counsel, business and legal affairs, at Netflix; Professor Paulette Caldwell; and Chigozie Onyema now policy and regulatory affairs director at the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Holmes and event co-chairs Micah Desaire ’19 and Ellen Gong ’18 awarded three high school seniors $3,500 BALSA Legends scholarships Cooper said that he had created BALSA as a “bridge over troubled waters” where black students could support each other is at partnership meetings in major law firms,” Cooper said referencing Martin Luther King Jr.’s comment about segregated worship in the US Onyema addressed the continuing civil rights movement “As we engage in the important work of the Third Reconstruction we must use every tool at our disposal,” he said using a phrase popularized by civil rights leader William Barber II “Let’s discover our mission and never betray it Victory is ours if we fight for it.”  His remarks were met with a standing ovation.  Michelle Tsai is public affairs officer at NYU Law. Additional reporting by M.P The members of the newly formed BALSA at NYU Law didn’t have to look far for inspiration Starting in the 1960s the Law School  began to attract prominent veterans of the legal fight for civil rights Board of Education before the US Supreme Court and served as chief deputy to Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund who joined the Law School in 1968 and became its first black tenured faculty member in 1974 as a lecturer and then as an adjunct professor of law and went on to serve as a federal judge in the Southern District of New York Clark was selected by President Jimmy Carter as general counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; he was later a professor at Catholic University of America a lawyer with the NAACP LDF and general counsel to Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign the same year he founded the National Conference of Black Lawyers Burns defended activist Angela Davis against kidnapping and murder charges and later became dean of the City University of New York School of Law at Queens College Professor Paulette Caldwell joined the faculty in 1979 and continues to teach at the Law School in her retirement She specializes in critical race theory and civil rights particularly in the areas of employment discrimination law and the rights of women of color.  Although he did not join the Law School until 1991 Derrick Bell was another NAACP LDF lawyer who had been recruited by Thurgood Marshall Bell became the first black law professor to receive tenure at Harvard Law School; he famously resigned over the lack of tenured women of color on Harvard’s law faculty and critical race theory continues to serve as an example for the Law School community today while former students remember his mentorship gratefully and I would not be a lawyer if it were not for Derrick,” says Lisa Marie Boykin ’95 The product recommendations on our site are independently chosen by our editors Fans of balsa wood baits have long mourned the discontinuation of Ed Chambers classic W.E.C through his own creation— the Black Label Balsa Wreck Square-bill crankbait Many know Cliff Pace as a talented professional angler but he might be an even more gifted tackle builder Here’s a look into his extremely well-made balsa squarebill BUY AT TACKLE WAREHOUSE I’ll admit that I personally haven’t had much experience with the W.E.C These were popular a little ahead of my time and became rare and expensive by the time I might have feigned a little interest in them these baits are sought after like an old-school Wiggle Wart in the mountains of Missouri Cliff Pace had such a longing for this classic lure that he chose to replicate it to the best of his ability in the Black Label Wreck based solely off the fact that the materials and processes available for lure manufacturing these days are far superior to what was around 20 or even just 10 years ago Pace may have outdone himself and one-upped the original even I can’t personally speak to whether or not this one is as good or better than the W.E.C But I can speak to the quality of the Wreck in its own right The thing that has impressed me the most about the Wreck is its durability simply because of a few bad experiences I’ve had over the years I paid $20 or so for a bait that I just had to have saw a strand of grass on one of the trebles and gave the bait a quick smack on the water just to watch my $20 bait bust into two worthless halves right in front of me smacking a balsa bait on the water is a big no-no and one that sent me back to the more durable plastic baits that I’d long prior (and have long since) relied on and caught tons of fish with I’m not arguing balsa-wood baits are unnecessary There are anglers much better than myself that swear by their effectiveness at getting bit when other hard baits can’t But I personally have steered clear of them most of my life without even thinking about it I instinctually went right back to smacking the water with it About the time it made contact with the water that first time I was sure I had shattered the only one of these that I had on hand to review I was pleasantly surprised though to find that the Wreck had withstood the blow I have errantly smacked this thing on the water a half dozen times now to free it from entangled debris proving itself the most durable balsa-bait I’ve ever used or even heard of The durability doesn’t stop with just the quality of the balsa wood or the orientation of its grain (two key elements to making a balsa bait that will last) a thicker material that Pace likes to use in lieu of circuit board for crankbaits that he intends to beat and bang off heavy cover This material makes for a more durable bill according to the 2013 Classic champ And the thicker bill does a better job avoiding hanging up in cracks as well says the craftsman who builds each of these baits each of these Black Label baits are hand carved with Mustad Triple Grip treble hooks putting the finishing touch on these masterpieces The lazer-sharp trebles make this a bait that’s sticky to even hold in the palm of your hand; but still it comes through cover shockingly well At 2-inches long and weighing 3/8ths of an ounce the Wreck is a quality squarebill that settles right into the size range of many of its plastic competitors This bait has the wide wobble and high buoyancy you’d expect from a rounded balsa wood bait like this Though the official specs show a 2- to 3- foot diving range Pace claims the bait can reach 5 feet on 12 pound line and I’d say that’s a fair guesstimate based on my experiences with it The best online fishing resource to learn and stay current on the latest fishing gear Members of NYU Law’s Black Allied Law Students Association (BALSA) gathered at Capitale on April 14 for the student organization’s 2023 gala The spirited celebration was themed “First to Lead Many to Follow: A Recognition of BALSA Trailblazers.” BALSA recognized three Law School alumni for their contributions to the field of law and beyond. Dean Troy McKenzie ’00 founder of the Young Black Lawyers’ Organizing Coalition As a bright winter moon illuminated the Rosenthal Pavilion on February 2 the Black Allied Law Students Association (BALSA) celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding with a gala event has spread beyond NYU to become a national student-run group the National Black Law Student Association (NBLSA) Dean Trevor Morrison announced that the law school will install a plaque commemorating BALSA’s founding outside Golding Lounge and thanked BALSA’s founders for “their amazing vision.” Recognized at the event were Algernon Johnson “AJ” Cooper former executive vice president of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s music group More than a million Balsa tree seedlings have been distributed across five districts of Madang Province by Omega Consultancy in an effort to boost local growers’ income not only aims to increase local growers’ income but also seeks to position Madang Province as the second-largest exporter of balsa wood in PNG East New Britain is the leading province in PNG for growing and exporting balsa wood contributing nine percent (9%) of the global balsa wood supply Madang has embarked on its journey to grow and export balsa wood with the rollout of seedlings beginning in 2023 The project has now reached five districts: Sumkar visited these districts to raise awareness about the importance of balsa wood and distributed seedlings to local communities over 100,000 local growers have started planting balsa trees “The distribution of seedlings is the first phase of the project and the second phase will focus on exporting the wood.” He highlighted that the project team is working on this initiative because they have already secured potential investors who are ready to support and export Madang’s balsa wood The first export of Madang balsa wood is projected for around 2027 or 2028 The Madang Balsa Project team is encouraging growers to plant the trees before December 2024 to ensure that they can harvest and export their wood after three years Balsa trees take approximately 36 months to mature making them a quicker return on investment for local growers compared to other cash crops Usino Bundi was the last district to join the project officers from the Madang Balsa Project visited all 34 wards in the district The communities were excited to participate in the Madang Balsa Project with people from far and wide attending the event to learn about the project’s benefits and how they can be involved The significant of this project will not only boost Madang province economy but will provide better life for its people in a local setting I get accused of being old school at times the new Bagley Balsa B crankbaits are anything but old school Hand-crafted designs have met the future with these balsa jewels State of the art craftsmanship from design to action and because they are made of balsa they are in a league of their own have killer new paint jobs and the hardware and hooks are exceptional I am totally impressed with their buoyancy and just how well they come through cover too There is something very special about balsa Lure manufacturers found out very early that wooden materials formed well and could be replicated didn’t have buoyant properties or didn’t hold up well Balsa is a lightweight wood that is high floating and until recent years was plentiful and inexpensive Recently more balsa is being used in wind turbines and laminates in the recreation and auto industries so it has become more of a premium for bait building than in years past.  Fast growing balsa trees are native to Mexico and Brazil but now plantations in Ecuador is a prime source for this mallow wood About 95% of the commercial balsa now comes from Ecuador It is farmed specifically for commercial use like lure building and is of a higher quality Early balsa innovators included Rapala and Bagley and today cottage businesses mainly in East Tennessee and below the Mason-Dixon build specialty crankbaits out of balsa They can be shaped and finished easily and hold paint exceptionally well Balsa topwaters and jerkbaits are sought after for their durability and fast float properties by in-the- know top pros and weekend anglers The Balsa B Crankbait can be run at a fast pace with high speed reels or equally well with a stop and go retrieve The aerodynamic design of the square bill doesn’t have a seam in the bill like many others and with the centered line tie to the nose of the bait allows it to run true out of the package The line tie to the nose also allows for a wire through anchor for split rings and hooks both on the belly and the tail They utilize premier hook makers VMC and Mustad on all of their baits.  I truly believe that balsa is a huge advantage One of the key ingredients to balsa baits is how well they float up when stopped Grinding the bottom through rocks and limbs or through a clump of weeds is smooth the bait floats quickly backwards to free itself most times a slow retrieve with a 5.4:1 gear ratio on 12-pound line seems to garner more bites The side to side wobble of the Balsa B2 attracts lethargic fish holding tight to stumps and rocks this time of year but a stop and go retrieve particularly around objects I like to bang into cover when water temps are near 60 degrees to trigger bites It will float up and many times the fish that is using that piece of cover will smash it Don’t worry much about hurting these baits as they extremely durable.  The new 2 1/2-inch B2 weighs 7/16 ounce and casts exceptionally well.  The Balsa B2 paint schemes are off the charts The attention to small details like eyes and scales make the B2 more visible but also more lifelike too The rounded body allows the bait to catch more light and reflect it causing flash My early spring favorites include Tennessee Shad all the crawfish patterns and bluegill lookalikes too.  The Bagley Balsa B is available at Tackle Warehouse and starts at $8.99 It is now available in 2 sizes (B2 & B3) and 14 colors including: Bagley’s Balsa B square bill crankbaits are back and better than ever.  Materials scientists at Harvard SEAS have developed cellular composite materials of unprecedented light weight and stiffness 2014 – In wind farms across North America and Europe sleek turbines equipped with state-of-the-art technology convert wind energy into electric power But tucked inside the blades of these feats of modern engineering is a decidedly low-tech core material: balsa wood Optical photograph of a translucent hexagonal honeycomb printed using the baseline epoxy ink with ~1 vol.% carbon fibers added for visualization The aligned black fibers are clearly visible within the cell walls and throughout the structure The complete structure is 3 mm high and 30 x 40 mm in area with cells that are 6 mm from wall to wall Like other manufactured products that use sandwich panel construction to achieve a combination of light weight and strength turbine blades contain carefully arrayed strips of balsa wood from Ecuador which provides 95 percent of the world’s supply the fast-growing balsa tree has been prized for its light weight and stiffness relative to density But balsa wood is expensive and natural variations in the grain can be an impediment to achieving the increasingly precise performance requirements of turbine blades and other sophisticated applications As turbine makers produce ever-larger blades—the longest now measure 75 meters almost matching the wingspan of an Airbus A380 jetliner—they must be engineered to operate virtually maintenance-free for decades In order to meet more demanding specifications for precision manufacturers are searching for new sandwich construction material options the researchers say these new materials mimic and improve on balsa and even the best commercial 3D-printed polymers and polymer composites available A paper describing their results has been published online in the journal Advanced Materials Until now, 3D printing has been developed for thermo plastics and UV-curable resins—materials that are not typically considered as engineering solutions for structural applications. “By moving into new classes of materials like epoxies, we open up new avenues for using 3D printing to construct lightweight architectures,” says principal investigator Jennifer A. Lewis the Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard SEAS we are broadening the materials palette for 3D printing.” “Balsa wood has a cellular architecture that minimizes its weight since most of the space is empty and only the cell walls carry the load It therefore has a high specific stiffness and strength,” explains Lewis who in addition to her role at Harvard SEAS is also a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute “We’ve borrowed this design concept and mimicked it in an engineered composite.” spiked with viscosity-enhancing nanoclay platelets and a compound called dimethyl methylphosphonate and then added two types of fillers: tiny silicon carbide “whiskers” and discrete carbon fibers Key to the versatility of the resulting fiber-filled inks is the ability to control the orientation of the fillers Left: Optical image of 3D printing of a triangular honeycomb composite Right: Schematic illustration of the progressive alignment of high-aspect-ratio fillers within the nozzle during composite ink deposition The direction that the fillers are deposited controls the strength of the materials (think of the ease of splitting a piece of firewood lengthwise versus the relative difficulty of chopping on the perpendicular against the grain) Lewis and Compton have shown that their technique yields cellular composites that are as stiff as wood 10 to 20 times stiffer than commercial 3D-printed polymers and twice as strong as the best printed polymer composites The ability to control the alignment of the fillers means that fabricators can digitally integrate the composition and toughness of an object with its design 3D printing of honeycombs with fiber-reinforced cell walls,” said Lorna Gibson a professor of materials science and mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of world’s leading experts in cellular composites “Of particular significance is the way that the fibers can be aligned through control of the fiber aspect ratio—the length relative to the diameter—and the nozzle diameter This marks an important step forward in designing engineering materials that mimic wood long known for its remarkable mechanical properties for its weight.” “As we gain additional levels of control in filler alignment and learn how to better integrate that orientation into component design we can further optimize component design and improve materials efficiency,” adds Compton who is now a staff scientist in additive manufacturing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory we will be able to use 3D printing technology to change the degree of fiber filler alignment and local composition on the fly and triangular honeycomb structures composed of SiC-filled epoxy Center and right: Optical images of a triangular honeycomb structure composed of SiC/C-filled epoxy which reveal clear evidence of highly aligned carbon fibers oriented along the print direction The work could have applications in many fields including the automotive industry where lighter materials hold the key to achieving aggressive government-mandated fuel economy standards shedding 110 pounds from each of the 1 billion cars on the road worldwide could produce $40 billion in annual fuel savings 3D printing has the potential to radically change manufacturing in other ways too Lewis says the next step will be to test the use of thermosetting resins to create different kinds of architectures especially by exploiting the technique of blending fillers and precisely aligning them This could lead to advances not only in structural materials Previously, Lewis has conducted groundbreaking research in the 3D printing of tissue constructs with vasculature and lithium-ion microbatteries.  Primary support for the cellular composites work came from the BASF North American Center for Research on Advanced Materials at Harvard Additional support was provided by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at Harvard funded by the National Science Foundation (DMR 0820484) 3D Printing of Lightweight Cellular Composites Materials scientists at Harvard University have created lightweight cellular composites via 3D printing These fiber-reinforced epoxy composites mimic the structure and performance of balsa wood Because the fiber fillers align along the printing direction their local orientation can be exquisitely controlled These 3D composites may be useful for wind turbine where high stiffness- and strength-to-weight ratios are needed Researchers unravel entanglement between stiff Transducer could enable superconducting quantum networks student Aaron Day shares some key everyday items he uses in researching semiconductors for quantum applications