United Nations

SightMD Welcomes J. Kevin Belville, MD to its expert team

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

HAUPPAUGE, Md., Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- SightMD, a leading multi-specialty ophthalmology platform in New York, welcomes J. Kevin Belville, MD to its expert team.

Key Points: 
  • SightMD, a leading multi-specialty ophthalmology platform in New York, welcomes J. Kevin Belville, MD to its expert team.
  • HAUPPAUGE, Md., Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- SightMD, a leading multi-specialty ophthalmology platform in New York, welcomes J. Kevin Belville, MD to its expert team.
  • Dr. J. Kevin Belville is a board-certified ophthalmologist who completed his residency as Chief Resident at Cornell Medical Center at the New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Hospital in New York City.
  • SightMD is actively seeking ophthalmology professionals who are interested in joining our outstanding team.

Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg joins Ford Foundation as a senior fellow

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Ford Foundation announced that Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, PhD will join the organization as a senior fellow. Kamau-Rutenberg is an activist and academic known for her extensive work on women's leadership. During her fellowship, she will leverage her decades of experience supporting women's empowerment to scale Black Women in Executive Leadership (B-WEL), a global initiative focused on improving the numbers, experiences, and impact of Black women in senior and executive leadership across sectors. She will also work closely with Ford's Director for Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice International, the BUILD team, and Ford's fellowship team to inform the foundation's intersectional work to advance social justice.

Key Points: 
  • NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Ford Foundation announced that Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, PhD will join the organization as a senior fellow.
  • "Long inspired by the Ford Foundation's vision, and with deep admiration for this team of grantmakers and thought leaders, I am thrilled to be joining the foundation as a Senior Fellow.
  • Before founding B-WEL, Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg served as the inaugural director of the Rise Program, a joint initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust.
  • She also sits on the Board of the Autodesk Foundation, Syngenta Foundation, Landesa, the Global Food Banking Network, and the council of Co-Impact's Gender Fund & the African Climate Foundation.

Two Marriott Costa Rica Hotels Cut Food Waste by 25% in Just Months Using Leanpath

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

BEAVERTON, Ore., Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Two Marriott hotels in Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Marriott Hacienda Belen and Los Suenos Marriott Resort – launched the Leanpath food waste prevention platform last year and have already reduced the value of their food waste by 25%.

Key Points: 
  • BEAVERTON, Ore., Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Two Marriott hotels in Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Marriott Hacienda Belen and Los Suenos Marriott Resort – launched the Leanpath food waste prevention platform last year and have already reduced the value of their food waste by 25%.
  • This significant pace of food waste reduction results puts the hotels in line to easily meet Marriott International's Serve 360 corporate-wide sustainability goal of cutting food waste in half by 2025.
  • Leanpath's analytics platform identifies high-impact opportunities for food waste reduction and sets automated goals to break a large food waste problem into manageable wins.
  • In April 2023, Marriott International launched the Food Waste Reduction Rally to encourage sites to share their food waste data and best practices in reducing food waste.

Federal Housing Advocate's final report calls for national response to the crisis of encampments

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 13, 2024 /CNW/ - Today, Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josée Houle is calling for a national response to the human rights crisis facing people living in homeless encampments.

Key Points: 
  • OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 13, 2024 /CNW/ - Today, Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josée Houle is calling for a national response to the human rights crisis facing people living in homeless encampments.
  • In her final report on encampments released today, the Advocate is recommending that the federal government establish a National Encampments Response Plan by August 31, 2024.
  • This Act recognizes housing as a fundamental human right in Canada, and mandated the Federal Housing Advocate to undertake reviews of systemic housing issues.
  • The National Housing Strategy Act specifies that when the Minister responsible for housing receives the report of such a systemic review, the Minister must respond within 120 days.

Desalination Industry Innovations: New Research Reveals Cutting-Edge Technologies Redefining Water Security - ResearchAndMarkets.com

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

The rising population is driving global water demand and putting significant pressure on the global water supply chain.

Key Points: 
  • The rising population is driving global water demand and putting significant pressure on the global water supply chain.
  • The research service offers a deep-dive analysis of advanced desalination technologies, including multistage flash distillation, multiple-effect distillation, thermal vapor compression, reverse osmosis, and forward osmosis.
  • In addition, it covers growth drivers and restraints for desalination technology adoption, a detailed growth opportunity analysis for desalination plant developers and operators, and the patent landscape of desalination technologies.
  • The study also discusses the key stakeholders involved in the development of next-generation thermal and membrane-based desalination technologies.

University rankings are unscientific and bad for education: experts point out the flaws

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

The top 10 restaurants in our vicinity, the best cities to visit, the best movies to watch.

Key Points: 
  • The top 10 restaurants in our vicinity, the best cities to visit, the best movies to watch.
  • To understand whether the rankings were any good you’d want know who was doing the ranking.
  • These are exactly the same questions that are worth asking when looking at the international ranking of universities.
  • The experts noted that rankings were massively overvalued, and reinforced global, regional and national inequalities.

Who does the ranking, and how

  • They all ultimately generate an index or score from the data they collect.
  • They are not completely transparent about what they measure and how much each component of the measure counts.
  • For example, Times Higher Education sends out a survey to academics who are invited to rate their own – or other – institutions.
  • The don’t count everything, they don’t count it equally and they don’t tell people who get the rankings how they have weighted what they do count.

Why should we care?

  • In addition, a lot of public money goes into universities.
  • We, the public, should care how that money is spent.
  • That is a good university; it is fulfilling an important social function.
  • There are so many important questions to be asking about a higher education system.


Do we have the right mix of tertiary education institutions and do they fit together well?
Are our research institutions producing enough high quality research to help us develop as a nation or region?
Are they producing enough master’s or PhD graduates to staff other tertiary education institutions (as well as other sectors in society)?
The rankings steer universities away from these key endeavours. An obsession with ranking creates perverse incentives to act to improve a rank rather than get on with the worthwhile work of universities.

What to do?

  • Profit-driven companies will inevitably drive ranking systems towards making more profit rather than towards the public interest and social functions of universities.
  • We need ranking institutions to be completely transparent so we can see whether it is useful information.
  • Once we understand what the rankings are, and what they are not, we will not value their reports as much.
  • Sharon Fonn works at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg South Africa and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
  • She is a founder of and the co-director of CARTA.

His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan to visit Canada

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, February 11, 2024

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 11, 2024 /CNW/ - The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan will visit Canada on February 14, 2024.

Key Points: 
  • OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 11, 2024 /CNW/ - The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan will visit Canada on February 14, 2024.
  • During the visit, the two leaders will discuss peace and security in the Middle East.
  • "The partnership between Canada and Jordan is deep and enduring.
  • This will be His Majesty King Abdullah II's seventh visit to Canada since his ascension to the throne in 1999.

NEF AND UNDP SIGN MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING TO DEVELOP INNOVATIVE JOINT RESPONSES TO PROTRACTED CRISIS IN THE ARAB REGION

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, February 11, 2024

Thirteen years into the Syria crisis, protracted displacement remains significant against a worsening socio-economic context and emerging crises in the region.

Key Points: 
  • Thirteen years into the Syria crisis, protracted displacement remains significant against a worsening socio-economic context and emerging crises in the region.
  • "Creative funding is crucial for tackling evolving financial challenges and crises in the Arab region and globally.
  • "The MoU with UNDP marks an important step in promoting innovative and sustainable responses to protracted crises, including through the crowding-in of private sector and non-traditional actors.
  • NEF has pioneered sustainable responses to displacement for over a century and is delighted to further develop its partnership with UNDP," said John Ashby, NEF president.

The first edition of the Space Debris Conference debuts in Riyadh, with the participation of 470 experts and speakers

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, February 11, 2024

Its goal is to foster dialogue on space debris, highlighting Saudi Arabia's commitment to space protection, collaboration, and knowledge exchange.

Key Points: 
  • Its goal is to foster dialogue on space debris, highlighting Saudi Arabia's commitment to space protection, collaboration, and knowledge exchange.
  • Engineer Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha, Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Space Agency, emphasized the urgency of addressing space debris amid increasing space activities.
  • Discussions will include initiatives for space debris removal, enhancing orbital safety, and shaping the future of space governance.
  • In summary, the Space Debris Conference serves as a pivotal platform for global cooperation and innovation in addressing the challenges of space debris, underscoring Saudi Arabia's commitment to space protection, sustainable development, and collaboration in the global space economy.

The first edition of the Space Debris Conference debuts in Riyadh, with the participation of 470 experts and speakers

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, February 11, 2024

Its goal is to foster dialogue on space debris, highlighting Saudi Arabia's commitment to space protection, collaboration, and knowledge exchange.

Key Points: 
  • Its goal is to foster dialogue on space debris, highlighting Saudi Arabia's commitment to space protection, collaboration, and knowledge exchange.
  • Engineer Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha, Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Space Agency, emphasized the urgency of addressing space debris amid increasing space activities.
  • Discussions will include initiatives for space debris removal, enhancing orbital safety, and shaping the future of space governance.
  • In summary, the Space Debris Conference serves as a pivotal platform for global cooperation and innovation in addressing the challenges of space debris, underscoring Saudi Arabia's commitment to space protection, sustainable development, and collaboration in the global space economy.