MONTHLY NEWS - kjo.com.sa · Affairs General Saeed bin Abdullah Al-Qahtani inaugurated the activities of the Saudi International Oil Fire Safety Conference “ Saudi OFSAC 2019 ”

Year 10 Vol.No: (116) September 2019 M O N T H LY N E W S

Technical Support Supervisor Salem Al-DousariManaging Editor Falah Al-AjmiEditor-in-Chief Eng. Riyadh Al-Hassan Editing Supervisor Abdullah Al-Shammari

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US Dollar

Oil Price (Monthly)

5525C-JOC’s

Message on The

National Day

KGOC Extends

Congratulationson the Saudi National Day

Al Khafji Joint Operations

participates in Saudi OFSAC 2019 in Riyadh

MDD holds a course

in building relationships

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Editorial

Saudi National Day 89

Every year… on 23rd of September, our Nation celebrates our great National Day with pride

and glory... Each anniversary, we renew allegiance and loyalty to our beloved Country and to our wise Leadership. The pillars of our unique national unity and solidarity were firmly anchored by King Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud «may Allah bless his soul» in line with the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, and in concordance with our native Arab traditions and customs, which are highly respected by the sons and daughters of our beloved Nation.This year, the 89th anniversary of our great National Day was marked by an exceptional identity, derived from the inspiring words of the Crown Prince, H.R.H. Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz; “The Determination of the Saudi people is as high and unbreakable as the Mountain of Tuwaiq”. From such zealous words, the slogan of this Anniversary was “Determination until reaching the pinnacles of glory” to feature and emphasize our strong national solidarity, which was the main motive for our success, progress, and prosperity, thanks to our prudent Leadership, which enhanced such unity and made it firm and integrated.Yes… “Determination until reaching the pinnacles of glory” is a slogan that came to reflect the great achievements of the loyal Saudi citizens and to show the whole world that we are standing in mutual solidarity behind our prudent Leadership, hand in hand, to achieve the Vision of the Kingdom 2030, which will surely make us one of the advanced countries in terms of building, production, progress and prosperity.May the Almighty Allah bless our Country; the Nation of firmness and determination, under the wise leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques H.R.H. King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud – may Allah preserve him – and his faithful Crown Prince H.R.H. Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saudi – may Allah preserve him. Bless you our Nation, our People, and may this great anniversary have many happy returns to our Nation with security and success.

Chief EditorEng. Riyadh bin Abdul Rahman Al-Hassan

Manager - Public and Government Relations Department

Our Identity is our History and our Future

DORRA I Newsletter3

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Joint Operation’s News

On the occasion of the 89th National Day of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and on behalf of my colleagues in KJO, I have the pleasure to extend my sincere

greetings and congratulations to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, H.R.H. King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud – may Allah preserve him – and Crown Prince H.R.H. Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud – may Allah preserve him – and to all Saudi people. I supplicate to the Almighty to protect our Country, and keep it safe and secure under the wise leadership of H.R.H. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and his government. Our Nation celebrates the 89th anniversary of the National Day, which is the anniversary of uniting the Country by the Founder King Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud – may Allah have mercy on him. It is the anniversary of founding and establishing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the Country which achieved unique and distinguished developments in a short span of time.All sons of this Nation remember the great achievement of the Founder King in building the Kingdom, as well as the huge gains of national unity which he enhanced. All citizens are determined and consolidated to enhance such national unity and keep the Country strong and powerful. No doubt, one of the major pillars of security and stability of this beloved Country is the unity of citizens and establishing the Kingdom as per the instructions of the Holy Quran and Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him. Thanks to that, we have the strongest unity and consolidation among our people. His Royal Highness, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, stressed that many times and took utmost care of religion. In this regard, the Kingdom provides limitless support and generous hospitality to the pilgrims every year, and ensures their safety and security, together with providing all means of comfort to them. The march of development is going forward in all fields and areas as per the set plans, and yielded fruitful results to the Country and citizens. Each day we raise the ceilings of our ambitions and expectations, and with high determination we go forward to implement the Vision of the Kingdom, 2030, which was launched by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, H.R.H. King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud – may Allah preserve him – and was closely followed up by Crown Prince H.R.H. Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, may Allah preserve him. In translation to that, the motto of the National Day this year was “Determination until reaching the pinnacles” The great achievements attained by our Country give us pride and confidence, and motivate us to continue hard work to achieve more excellence. In this beloved occasion; National Day, we remember and appreciate the sacrifices of our Armed Forces and Security Forces, who protect our Country and keep our security. We laud all efforts of the citizens of this Country toward achieving our prosperity and progress.

C-JOC’s Message on The National Day

Eng. Azeb Al-Qahtani Chairman, Joint Operational Committee

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Year 10 Vol.No: (116) September 2019

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KGOC Extends Congratulationson the Saudi National Day

We have the pleasure to extend the warmest congratulations and greetings to the Saudi People on the occasion of the 89th Anniversary of the National Day. We share you the celebrations

of this beloved occasion. We pray to the Almighty to bless you with security and stability, under the wise leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, H.R.H. King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, and Crown Prince H.R.H. Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud. Wish you all success and progress in pursuing the vision of the Kingdom 2030, and attaining more and more accomplishments and prosperity to the Country.

In the 89th anniversary of the National Day of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we extend our sincere greetings and best wishes to our Saudi brothers and colleagues in the Joint Operations, both in

Aramco Gulf Operations and Chevron Saudi Arabia. We supplicate to the Almighty to bless the Kingdom with more security and stability, and make these happy celebrations return again and again, under the wise leadership of H.R.H. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and H.R.H. Crown Prince. Wishing the best to the Saudi Government and people.

We extend our sincere greetings and congratulations to our brothers in Saudi Arabia, both Leadership and People, in the occasion of the Kingdom’s National Day. Special greetings to

our colleagues and success partners in Wafra and Khafji Joint Operations. Wish all success and progress to our joint operations. We extend our sincere greetings and best wishes to H.R.H. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and H.R.H. Crown Prince, and the Saudi Government. May the Almighty bless the Kingdom with more success, prosperity and development under its strategic plans and wise vision.

Eng. Abdullah Al-Sumaiti Acting CEO

Eng. Mohammad S. Al-HaimerDeputy CEO for Joint Operations

Mr. Abdullah Mansi Al-Shammari Deputy CEO for Financial and Administrative Affairs:

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Under the patronage of the Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Higher

Commission for Industrial Security His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Assistant to the Minister of Interior for Operations Affairs General Saeed bin Abdullah Al-Qahtani inaugurated the activities of the Saudi International Oil Fire Safety Conference “ Saudi OFSAC 2019 ” at the

Ritz Hotel in Riyadh.Executive Director of Industrial Services Abdullah bin Mufleh Al-Qahtani, awarded a memorial shield to the Assistant to the Minister of Interior during his visit to the Khafji Joint Operations Pavilion at the exhibition. The pavilion was also visited by the Industrial Security and Safety Department Manager Sultan bin Mishari Al-Sadoun, and Public and Government

Relations Department Manager Eng. Riyadh bin Abdul Rahman Al-Hassan.After the opening ceremony, the sponsors of the conference were honored, where the Executive Director of Industrial Services received an appreciation shield from HE Assistant to the Minister of Interior, on behalf of Khafji Joint Operations as Silver Sponsor of the Conference.The conference aims to review the reality

of fire disasters in the oil and gas and petrochemical industries, best practices and innovations to prevent them. It was accompanied by holding lectures and seminars in various fields related to the achievement of its objectives, an exhibition featuring the latest technologies and engineering methods, systems, software and consultancy services, and training programs in the field of oil fire safety.

In the presence of the Executive Director of Industrial Services

Al Khafji Joint Operations participates in Saudi OFSAC 2019 in Riyadh

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On September 12, 2019, the National Services and Management Company held training course for its

national staff - Saudis and Kuwaitis - entitled «Communication skills in the work environment» in the presence of a group of trainees. Amani Al-Ghamdi presented the lecture. The program included some practical skills that came in the form of questions and competitions, which aimed to motivate the trainees to participate.At the end of the course, Khalid Al-Enezi handed the trainees their certificates and thanked them for their attendance and interaction, and praised the lecture for the outstanding effort, and said that these courses benefit the trainees, develop their skills, increase their knowledge, and contribute to the quality of work they do.This course is part of the efforts supported by KJO in training its employees and developing their skills, as well as urging its contractors to train their employees.

On Tuesday, September 17, 2019, MDD held a training course entitled “Building Relationships”``.This course is part of

the internal training courses conducted by the Department in the framework of its development plan, and presented by lecturer Salama Mahasneh. The course aims in the concept of relationships, and their multiple applications, to serve individuals and teams, and strengthen the role of the individual in different task forces. It also aims to strengthen his self-confidence to create a good initial impression of others, enable them to work fruitfully together, communicate effectively in order to achieve the objectives, understand the methods of effective dialogue in order to reach the best ways to accomplish them, and be able to accept different opinions.In the same context, a series of management courses will be held to allow for the development of staff skills in many important areas, which have an impact on raising job performance, investing time and reducing costs.

MDD Holds a Course in Building Relationships

National Services and Management Company Holds Training Course for its Eemployees

Qur’an Memorizing Program and Event Launched in the Families Housing Area

With the beginning of each new academic year, the mosques of the families housing area in KJO begin to receive the

children of the employees who live there and those who wish to join the Holy Quran Memorization programs. These programs are supervised by CBD. On Wednesday, September 11, 2019, Ad-Dorra visited the memorization workshops in the family housing area. Housing Supervisor, Salim Al-Taisan greeted them and said that the Quranic episodes are aimed at students residing in the family housing. The program includes memorization, intonation, education and prophetic stories age-appropriate, in addition to targeted recreational activities and competitions to attract students to the Quranic episodes.He added that the Holy Quran Memorization Programs aim to teach the Holy Quran from memorizing and reciting the correct recitation and is held daily after Asr prayer on weekdays.


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| Management || Safety |

https://www.creativesafetysupply.com

Customer retention is a point of pride for most companies around the

world. Companies spend countless amounts on marketing to previous customers in hopes they return, they create loyalty programs, frequent buyer privileges, etc. The reason for all of this is to keep customers coming back, and despite their efforts, these strategies aren’t always successful. Why is it so hard to pinpoint the key to make a customer come back? For most consumers, the reason for returning is simple: quality control and quality assurance.Having strong quality control practices is one of the best ways an organization can ensure customer satisfaction. When customers, suppliers, and partners know you produce high quality work, then they’ll always come back. But being consistent with quality isn’t always easy. Quality depends on number of factors—machine conditions, training, consistent employees, etc.—that can be hard to predict.

Here’s An Example Of The Catastrophic Consequences When Quality Control Goes Awry:

In 2015, Blue Bell, America’s third-largest ice cream manufacturer, was forced to halt production from April to August. They also pulled products from 23 states, including their home state of Texas. To have a recall that huge is devastating at any time, but for an ice cream company, having to recall products for nearly the entire summer was just about the worst scenario imaginable. Fans of Blue Bell bemoaned the recall on social media. Even Texas’ Senator Cruz posed for a photo with a sign that read “God bless Blue Bell.” All of this attention undercut the serious, avoidable reason for why this recall and halt in production took place: Blue Bell was found responsible for 10 infections of the bacteria called listeria, three of which were fatal. The worst part? Blue Bell had detected listeria in one of its facilities two years earlier. An investigation later revealed that the outbreak actually dated back to 2010.Strong quality control measures, as well as quick responses to defects, could’ve prevented Blue Bell’s 2015 recall and saved lives.

Benefits of quality controlEliminating Errors—strong quality control practices like Six Sigma not only help spot quality issues but also work to prevent defects from happening in the first place.Sustained quality—quality control practices help detect the root problem of a defect, then revise processes to fix issues and improve over quality and avoid defects in the future.Improved compliance—improving quality control often includes focusing on quality standards, including those that OSHA and other regulatory bodies use to monitor companies and products.

What does quality control mean, anyway?Quality control aims to put processes into place to manage these various factors so that quality remains consistently high. Since early manufacturing technologies were developed, so did measures to control, manage, and maintain quality.Quality control accomplishes product improvement with a three-fold approach:Implementing controls such as job management processes, performance criteria, and record tracking standardsPrioritizing employee knowledge through training and hiringShaping company culture so that values like integrity, team spirit, and continuous improvement are guiding principles for all employeesJust how do companies do that? Great question. There are many methods for improving quality control in industrial environments. Here are the most common methods:

ISO 9000Created by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the ISO 9000 is a defined set

of international standards for quality management and assurance that

help companies effectively document quality control so that

efficient quality systems can be maintained. Since ISO is a trusted standards organization throughout the world, holding ISO certification means that

customers, suppliers, and potential partners can be sure

your company meets regulatory requirements and strives toward

continuous improvement.

Six SigmaSix Sigma’s popularity has sky-rocketed since its inception in the late 1980s. First developed by a desperate and frustrated quality control team, Six Sigma is an ideology that aims to reduce the number of product defects as close to zero as possible. More specifically, Six Sigma considers that any manufacturing process making more than 3.4 defects per million products is incurring too much waste, and is therefore inefficient.The changes that Six Sigma requires are significant; this is a method that is a long-term solution, and since it’s such a complex, expansive concept, it’s a good idea to hire a Six Sigma expert to help with implementation. To help assess experts, Six Sigma has the Six Sigma belt certification system, which allows you to quick assess the experience level of a Six Sigma specialist. These certification mirror the Karate belt system: yellow, green, brown, black, and master black. Like Karate, earning a black belt or master black belt in Six Sigma takes years of experience, whereas yellow and green belts represent beginners in Six Sigma experience.

Quality Control ToolsImplementing Six Sigma is big work, but luckily there are a number of tools to help companies successfully install QC practices.

DMAICAssociated closely with Six Sigma, this methodology is comprised of five phases:

Define the system, the expectations of customer, project goals, etc. specifically. Well-defined goalsand expectations mean product specifications are more clear and consistent.Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data; calculate the “as-is” Process Capability.Analyze data to confirm cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what causal relationships are; take all actions possible to ensure all conditions and special circumstances have been considered and accounted for. Seek out root cause of the defect under investigation.Improve current process using data analysis as basis for improvement. Techniques like design of experiments, poka yoke, and mistake proofing. Experiment with pilot runs to establish Process Capability.Control the processes to ensure that any aberrations are corrected before they turn into defects.Value Stream MappingA process that maps all the steps involved in making a product. It reveals where waste occurs.

CTQ TreeCritical-to-quality trees are figures that help companies translate customer needs into actionable production specifications.

5 WhysUsually used in the Analyze phase of Six Sigma, this strategy of asking “Why?” five times helps get to the root cause of production problems.

Quality control is a vital part of any business, and these concepts can help decrease defects and improve overall efficiency. Change is hard, but the change it takes to improve quality have benefits that will yield rewards for years to come.

We Live In Times Of Great Change

Have you heard this before—say in the last hour? Did you know that when a laptop

detects a CEO about to type a speech, it automatically enters: “We live in times of great change.” Why bother the CEO to type it again, since just about every management speech in the past few decades has begun with this line. That never changes.

Do we really live in times of great change? Look around and tell me what’s changed fundamentally. Your food, your furniture, your friends, your fixations? Are you wearing a tie, or high heels? How come: because you always have? How about your car? Under the hood is probably a four-cycle, internal combustion engine. That was in the Model T Ford.When you got dressed this morning, did you say to yourself: “If we live in times of great change, how come we are still buttoning buttons?” (from Wikipedia: “Functional buttons with buttonholes for fastening or closing clothes appeared first in Germany in the 13th century”).What’s my point? That we only notice what is changing, and most things are not. Of course, some things are changing: information technology, most notably. Zap, I hit a few keys and Wikipedia tells me about buttons. I hope you have taken notice of this new technology, because it is rendering great changes. But I hope that you are also taking notice of all the things that are not changing, because they are no less important. Managing change without managing continuity is anarchy.

The World Is Becoming More GlobalOften, when I work with groups of managers in various parts of the world, I ask them whose businesses have more than half their sales outside the home country. You would be surprised how few do. (If a quintessentially global company like General Electric has about half its sales in the United States, then it is better described as a quintessentially American company.) Think of how much retailing, banking, food, and so on, is local. On the other hand, more than a century ago, Singer sewing machines were sold as globally as are Apple phones today.The fact of the matter is that some businesses have long been global, and a great many remain local.

Management Sits On TopOf what? The pay scale, to be sure, and probably the headquarters building too. But mostly on top of that ubiquitous chart. So what? If, as CEO, you see yourself on top of your organization, does that help you keep on top of what is going on in your organization? No. This top is the worst place to manage an organization: looking down on everybody else. Try the ground instead. Don’t we have enough disconnected managing already?

From This Top Comes Decisions And Strategies For Everyone Else To ImplementIKEA has a terrific strategy: selling unassembled furniture so that we can take it home in our cars, which saves us and the company lots of money. According to IKEA’s own website, this idea came from the ground. A worker tried to put a table in his car, and it didn’t fit, so he took off the legs. Then came the key insight that eventually changed the strategy, and the industry: “If we have to take the legs off, don’t our customers do too?” Who asked that: a CEO on top?Of course, key to this becoming strategic was a company culture that enabled this idea to get to the CEO, to sprinkle holy water upon it. But I’ll bet this particular CEO, like most successful entrepreneurs, spent lots of time at the bottom finding out what was going on.Thus: from everywhere, “implementation” included, come little insights that can emerge into big strategies.

Organizations Need Heroic LeadersReally? How often have heroic leaders ridden into established organizations on great white horses, only to fall into black holes? New organizations may need aggressive leadership, but most others need engaged management—quiet, humble, thoughtful. Enough narcissism in the executive suites.

People Are Human ResourcesNot me! Feel free to let yourself be called a human resource. I am a human being, thank you. Not even a human asset, let alone human capital. Enough of the demeaning vocabulary of economics—turning us all into things. Resources are things we throw away when we no longer need them. Is that how to build a great enterprise: by throwing away the human beings? (It’s politely called “downsizing”.) Airlines used to refer to passengers as “self-loading cargo.” Are the HR words really any better?

If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage ItThis is just plain silly. If you can’t measure it, you had better manage it. And if you can measure it, you had better manage it even more carefully. Think of all that matters in management—and in life—that is tough to measure: culture, engagement, leadership, the market for a truly novel product (whoever got that right?), even management itself. And tell me, did anyone who uttered this nonsense ever even try to measure the performance of measurement, instead of assuming it is wonderful? I guess, then, that we shall have to get rid of management and measurement too, not to mention truly new products.I could go on, since too much management goes on and on with its half-truths. Instead, I’ll just quote Winston Churchill, that human being who lived in times of greater change than most of us can possibly imagine:“[People] occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.”

Henry Mintzberg about some Half-Truths of Management

Quality Control

https://managemagazine.com

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| Science |

| Environment |

Einstein’s Theory Predicts a Weird State of Matter. Could It Be Lurking in the World’s Largest Atom Smasher?

https://www.downtoearth.org

The search narrows for a mysterious form of matter predicted from Einstein›s theory of special relativity. After more than a decade of looking, scientists at the world›s largest particle collider believe that they are on the verge of finding it.But the researchers are not searching in the exploded guts of particles smashed together at nearly light speed.Instead, physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a -17mile (27 kilometers) ring buried underground near the border between France and Switzerland, are looking for the missing matter, called a color glass condensate, by studying what happens when particles don›t collide, but instead zoom past each other in near misses. Related: Strange Quarks and Muons, Oh My! Nature’s Tiniest Particles DissectedScience and Sci-Fi at the Movies, with Live...17/12/28Science and Sci-Fi at the Movies, with Live Science and Space.com-70Ton Titanosaur Becomes World›s...-1770/08/10Ton Titanosaur Becomes World›s Largest DinosaurSlime Made Simple! Live Science Shows You How17/08/10Slime Made Simple! Live Science

Shows You HowNewfound Hydrothermal Vent Is Out of This Worldvideo playingThe Strangest Science News of 201818/12/24The Strangest Science News of 2018Don›t Fear The Dark Matter Hurricane18/11/16Don›t Fear The Dark Matter HurricaneIn the Standard Model of physics, the theory which describes the zoo of subatomic particles, %98 of the visible matter in the universe is held together by fundamental particles called gluons. These aptly named particles are responsible for the force that glues together quarks to form protons and neutrons. When protons are accelerated to near the speed of light, a strange phenomenon occurs: The concentration of gluons inside them skyrockets. «In these cases, gluons split into pairs of gluons with lower energies, and such gluons split themselves subsequently, and so forth,» Daniel Tapia Takaki, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas, said in a statement. «At some point, the splitting of gluons inside the proton reaches a limit at which the multiplication

of gluons ceases to increase. Such a state is known as the color glass condensate, a hypothesized phase of matter that is thought to exist in very high-energy protons and as well as in heavy nuclei.»According to Brookhaven National Laboratory, the condensate could explain many unsolved mysteries of physics, such as how particles are formed in high-energy collisions, or how matter is distributed within particles. However, confirming its existence has eluded scientists for decades. But in 2000, physicists at Brookhaven›s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider found the first signs that the color glass condensate could exist. When the lab smashed together gold atoms stripped of their electrons, they found a strange signal in the particles

streaming out of the collisions, hinting that the atoms› protons were jam-packed with gluons and beginning to form the color glass condensate. Further experiments with colliding heavy ions at the LHC have had similar results. However, colliding protons together at relativistic speeds can only give a fleeting glimpse of the protons› innards before the subatomic particles violently explode. Probing the insides of protons takes a more gentle approach.When charged particles, such as protons, are accelerated to high speeds, they create strong electromagnetic fields and release energy in the form of photons, or particles of light. (Thanks to the dual nature of light, it is also a wave.) These energy leaks were once dismissed as an unwanted side-effect of particle accelerators, but physicists have learned novel ways to use these high-energy photons to their advantage.If protons find themselves whizzing past each other in the accelerator, the storm of photons they release can cause proton-on-photon collisions. These so-called ultra-peripheral collisions are the key to understanding the inner workings of high-energy protons.

«When a high-energy light wave hits a proton, it produces particles — all kinds of particles — without breaking the proton,» Tapia Takaki, said in a statement. «These particles are recorded by our detector and allow us to reconstruct an unprecedentedly high-quality picture of what›s inside.»Tapia Takaki and an international collaboration of scientists are now using this method to track down the elusive color glass condensate. The researchers published early results of their study in the August issue of The European Physical Journal C. For the first time, the team was able to indirectly measure the density of gluons at four different energy levels. At the highest level, they found evidence that a color glass condensate was just beginning to form.The experimental results «…are very exciting, giving new information about the gluon dynamics in the proton, [b]ut there are many theoretical questions that have not been answered,» Victor Goncalves, a professor of physics at the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil and a co-author of the study, said in the statement.

| Health |

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com

A new meta-analysis examines 40 years› worth of research in an attempt to find

out the ideal amount of fiber that we should consume to prevent chronic disease and premature mortality.person eating cereals and fruitWhole grain cereals and fruit are excellent sources of fiber.Researchers and public health organizations have long hailed the benefits of eating fiber, but how much fiber should we consume, exactly?This question has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to commission a new study. The results appear in the journal The Lancet.The new research aimed to help develop new guidelines for dietary fiber consumption, as well as reveal which carbs protect the most against noncommunicable diseases and can stave off weight gain.Noncommunicable diseases are also called chronic diseases. They typically last for a long time and progress slowly. According to WHO, there are «four main types of noncommunicable diseases:» cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.Professor Jim Mann, of the University of Otago, in New Zealand, is the corresponding author of the study, and Andrew Reynolds, a postdoctoral research fellow at Otago›s Dunedin School of Medicine, is the first author of the paper.Prof. Mann explains the motivation for the study, saying, «Previous reviews and meta-analyses have usually examined a single indicator of carbohydrate quality and a limited number of diseases, so it has not been possible to establish which foods to recommend for protecting against a range of conditions.»To find out, the researchers performed a meta-analysis of observational studies and clinical trials.Daily intake of 29–25 grams of fiber is idealReynolds and colleagues examined the data included in 185 observational studies — amounting to 135 million person-years — and 58 clinical trials which recruited over 4,600 people in total. The studies analyzed took place over almost 40 years.The scientists investigated the incidence of certain chronic diseases, as well as the rate of premature deaths resulting from them.These conditions were: coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, and a range of obesity-related cancers, such as breast cancer, endometrial cancer, esophageal cancer, and prostate cancer.Why fiber is so good for youProf. Mann comments on the significance of the findings, saying, «The health benefits of fiber are supported by over 100 years of research into its chemistry, physical properties, physiology, and effects on metabolism.»«Fiber-rich whole foods that require chewing and retain much of their structure in the gut increase satiety and help weight control and can favorably influence lipid and glucose levels,» he adds.«The breakdown of fiber in the large bowel by the resident bacteria has additional wide-ranging effects including protection from colorectal cancer.»

Study reveals how much fiber we should eat to prevent disease

The Indian coastline is home to an ancient and diverse coral reef

system that provides natural habitat for diverse marine underwater ecosystem. Also, they hold importance in fisheries, tourism and as a repository of medicinal, agronomical and industrial products.A team of Indian researchers has warned that rising sea temperatures due to climate change could put these wondrous underwater systems under peril. Their study, which analysed data of sea surface temperatures since 1982, has found that three mass bleaching events occurred in 2010 ,1998 and 2016, impacting five major Indian coral reef regions — in Andaman, Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Gulf of Mannar and Gulf of Kutch.Oceans act as massive sinks for the greenhouse gases emitted by anthropogenic activities. However, as they absorb them, the oceans warm up and there are changes in the seawater chemistry.Corals are sensitive to temperature changes, which affect photosynthesis and calcification of their structures, making them prone

to diseases and even death.“Sea algae and corals share a symbiotic existence in the ocean. When the sea waters turn warm in summers and remain so for more than 28 days, the corals experience thermal stress. Due to this, the corals expel the algae residing in their tissues, and turn colourless or bleach,” explained Mohit Arora from Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, and first author of the study, while speaking to India Science Wire.The findings were been published in the journal Current Science.For their study, the team utilised the sea temperature data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Optimum Interpolated Sea Surface Temperature database and analysed them for the period from 1982.They used daily computation and index parameters obtained from advanced satellite monitoring data under NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch. By analysing sea surface temperature patterns, the thermal stress on coral reefs and corresponding bleaching indices were computed based on information on magnitude, duration

of thermal stress and intensity experienced in these regions.The different regions experienced hottest summers at different times, with Andaman, Nicobar and Gulf of Kutch being severely affected in 2010, while Lakshadweep and Gulf of Mannar experienced a similar fate in 2016.A coral bleaching alert report protocol developed by SAC recorded that the years 2010 ,1998 and 2016 witnessed mass bleaching in the five coral reefs. They observed that Andaman, Nicobar and Gulf of Kutch regions recorded an ‘alert level2-’ warning status in 2010, while the Gulf of Mannar recorded a level1- alert in 2016.Although coral reefs are known to recover from bleaching ina decade or two, the severity of the bleaching event could overwhelm them and hamper their ability to recover.“There is a likelihood of high-intensity coral bleaching events in the future also. Our study will be helpful to marine biologists and can be used for early warning of coral bleaching in future,” said Arora.

Risingsea temperaturespose athreat to coral reefs: Study

Three mass bleaching events occurred in 2010 ,1998 and 2016, impacting five major Indian coral reef regions — in Andaman, Nicobar,

Lakshadweep, Gulf of Mannar and Gulf of Kutch

https://www.livescience.com

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| Technology |

Our fingers are the trusty conduits of our commands for the digital world,

whether we’re swiping, tapping or even gesturing away on our mobile devices and computers. But a growing host of startups are betting on technologies that could come to replace them with electrical signals from the brain. Facebook has just pushed a few extra chips into this pot with the purchase of CTRL-labs, a young company developing brain-computer interfaces.The acquisition is part of a wider push from the social media giant as it looks to explore how computers can be used to decode electrical signals from the brain. Generally speaking, these brainwaves could be used for all kinds of things, with helping amputees control prosthetic

limbs or exoskeletons, a couple of particularly promising possibilities.And Facebook, too, has previously backed research that has brought about some promising advances. Earlier this year, through a partnership with scientists at the University of California San Francisco, it showed off technology that could convert these brain signals into words and phrases in real time, which it billed as a world-first breakthrough.Where that technology was geared towards giving sufferers of strokes and brain diseases their voices back, this latest development is part of Facebook’s focus on virtual and augmented reality. CTRL-labs, which is developing non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, will join the Facebook Reality Labs team, which has

a focus on producing consumer-ready products.In a Facebook post announcing the news, its VP of AR/VR Andrew Bosworth offers a few details on how it hopes to put the startup’s expertise to use. He describes a wristband that reads electrical signals generated by neurons in the spinal cord, with hopes of producing “this kind of tech at scale.”These signals could be instructing hand muscles to perform specific maneuvers, like to click a mouse button, but instead the device would convert them into commands for digital devices.“It captures your intention so you can share a photo with a friend using an imperceptible movement or just by, well, intending to,” Bosworth writes.

People may not be as cyber-savvy as they believe they are when it comes to identifying email phishing scams, according to Missouri S&T researchers.

But employers may benefit from teaching employees how to spot phishing by regularly sending them fake phishing emails.Phishing is a method of gathering personal information, banking and credit card details, and passwords through links in messages, that on the surface, appear to be legitimate.“You should just be pretty suspicious in general with email,” says Dr. Casey Canfield, Missouri S&T assistant professor of engineering management and systems engineering. “People definitely tended to be overconfident in their ability to spot phishing emails.”Canfield’s latest study, published with open access this month in the journal Metacognition and Learning, examined metacognition metrics around phishing—or individuals’ understanding of their ability to detect phishing emails. Canfield worked with Carnegie Mellon University colleagues Baruch Fischhoff and Ales Davis on the study, which measured how well people’s confidence in their ability to detect phishing matched with reality.Study participants viewed a series of legitimate and phishing emails and answered questions to determine if they could identify the two types. Researchers then asked how confident they were about their answer, and how negative the consequences would be if they missed a phishing email.The researchers found that when people were 90-99% confident they had correctly identified an email as either phishing or legitimate, they only identified phishing emails correctly about 56% of the time.Canfield then took the research a step further by comparing their answers with what was actually happening on their home computers. The researchers used data from the Security Behavior Observatory at Carnegie Mellon—a long-term study in which every action on a volunteer’s computer is monitored. Using those same study participants, Canfield found an interesting correlation.“Surprisingly, we saw that people with better metacognition tended to be better at protecting themselves,” says Canfield. “They had fewer malicious files on their computers. My previous study looking at performance metrics was inconclusive.”Canfield suggests that artificially increasing the number of phishing emails people received could potentially improve their ability to distinguish scams from legitimate messages.“One of the challenges with phishing emails is that you don’t necessarily get feedback on whether or not you made the right decision,” says Canfield. “You may have malicious files on your computer, but you may never know. You may just be a portal to some other target. Without that feedback, it’s really hard for people to learn whether they’re good at detecting phishing emails.”

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Research shows people are overconfident about identifying phishing emails


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