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Friday, June 13, 2003 |
Several months ago I mentioned the National Environmental Exchange Network. The June issue of Maine's IS newsletter has an update on the project. The XML Design Rules are 221 pages and available for comment. I met yesterday with a group that came together to analyze the status of the State's Medicaid service on the web. Previously, the effort to create a web presence has been disjointed with various groups doing their own thing with respect to Medicaid services and no central focus. A new team will bring these efforts together and give focus to the various stakeholders, including clients, providers, employees, advocates, etc. I expect to see a lot of progress in this area over the next few months. DARPA, the agency that brought you TIA, is now working network centric concepts for a multi-mission combat system that will be overwhelmingly lethal, strategically deployable, self-sustaining and highly survivable in combat through the use of an ensemble of manned and unmanned ground and air platforms (Future Combat Systems). The State of Utah just sold $407 million worth of bonds at a rate of only 2.8% - that a week after the New York bonding agencies reconfirmed our AAA bond rating. The bonds will fund a variety of projects including a new library at Utah State University. Another project approved during the 2003 legislative session, the State Archives building, is already moving ahead on a rigourous schedule. The National Center for Biotechnology Information has created the Journal Archiving and Interchange Document Type Definition for exchanging journal content. NCBI provides free full text access and search on over 80,000 articles through its PubMed service. Ross Mayfield tells us that free WIFI is popping up all over Estonia. I love the Baltics. 2:08:58 PM ![]() |
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Monday, April 07, 2003 |
Last week, the Congressional Budget Office released their analysis of the President's 2004 budget. The Homeland Security budget shows an increase of 20% over the previous period.
Last week. the Infectious Disease Society of America strongly supported the project, stating that it will "provide important incentives to accelerate pharmaceutical research to ensure the availability of drugs and other tools to respond to bioterrorism outbreaks." The NIAID sponsors this site on Biodefense research. With unemployment at 5.8% in March, more Utahns are going online to find or upgrade their employment. That is actually a decrease from 2002 when the rate was 6.2%. The options for online jobseekers are increasingly diverse. Jobs.utah.gov is a tremendous resource for both employers and job-seekers. It allows employers to manage the whole process online in partnership with the Utah Department of Workforce Services. The latest bulletin from the Department had this to say about high tech employment in the state:
See the latest Trendlines Report for more info. The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection has a new website. 12:38:37 PM ![]() |
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Monday, March 03, 2003 |
The Center for Infectious Disease at the University of Minnesota maintains Bioterrorism Watch, which is a regularly updated chronology of bioterrorism-related events and issues. 7:26:18 AM ![]() |
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Wednesday, January 22, 2003 |
Many related projects to GenData already exist such as the Breast Cancer Gene database, the Evaluation of a Family History Tool for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention projects (CDC will fund three projects, proposals are due by February 19th), Online Mendelian Inheritance of Man, and GeneCards. CDC (Office of Genomics and Disease Prevention) also sponsors HuGE Net, a global collaboration of individuals and organizations who develop and communicate epidemiologic information on the human genome. Here's an online multimedia introduction to human genome epidemiology. 7:33:09 AM ![]() |
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Monday, January 06, 2003 |
Radar photos from the Laboratoria de Teledeteccion of the Universidad de Vigo of the oil spill A Simulation from the Instituto Hidrografico Portugues More information from the University of Vigo Blogpocket is another excellent Spanish weblog. SmartMobs, by Howard Rheingold - author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution and Greater Democracy, a team blog by David Weinberger among others, are two more interesting reads on issues related to how technology is transforming society. 9:29:40 AM ![]() |
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Monday, October 14, 2002 |
The Department of Community and Economic Development has created an online forum to discuss the merits of establishing a BSL4 laboratory in the state of Utah. A biosafety level 4 lab, or BSL4, would be used for developing countermeasures for biological and chemical agents. More information on the BSL4 proposal. 12:56:16 PM ![]() |
![]() The competition among states is stiffening according to an article in Government Technology. Linda Johnson writes,
Meanwhile, Utah continues to make advancements in biotech that should help keep the state at the forefront. Utah State University is helping to extend biotech education into the high schools. A symposium from high school science and agriculture teachers will be held on November 4th. The USU Biotechnology and Genomics Research Center supports a wide variety of biotech research. The Utah Life Science Association is offering a seminar series entitled Biotechnology and Medical Devices for Utah Professionals. Just part of the overall effort to stimulate the Utah biotech economic ecosystem. 8:41:55 AM ![]() |
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Tuesday, September 24, 2002 |
Progress is being made in cloning pigs that don't have the genes that make humans reject pig tissue. The idea is that pigs will be able to provide a tremendous source of organs for humans. First, however, they want to try the transplants on baboons to see how it works. That makes for an interesting triangle. 9:30:19 AM ![]() |
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Tuesday, September 17, 2002 |
Utah also ranked eighth in the research and development category which has positive implications for future development. The state also ranked high (6th) in the technology concentration and dynamism category. The study also mentions that Utah ranks first in percent of households with computers. One area where Utah dropped into the third tier was intensity of engineers. Governor Leavitt began taking steps to address this shortage several years ago by boosting the engineering programs in the state. Funding and building space has already been provided in support of the state's university level engineering programs. A particularly interesting indicator is the fact that Utah ranks fourth in terms of high tech LQ. This refers to the number of high tech industries that have higher than average concentrations. Utah ranks only behind California, Massachussetts, and Colorado for this indicator. 12:43:49 PM ![]() |
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Monday, August 26, 2002 |
Visit my TechUtah blog for weekend posts:
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Tuesday, August 20, 2002 |
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The report emphasizes the overall importance of Federal technology R&D in maintaining critical strategic advantages:
PDF Version of the entire report 12:57:16 PM ![]() |
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Monday, July 29, 2002 |
Utah Among Few States to Act on Bioterrorism Legislation I think this (see SL Tribune article) is probably due to the combination of events related to 9-11 and the anthrax scare (I think we had about 26 incidents in Utah, several in State buildings) along with our Olympics preparation, as well as Utah's normal penchant for preparedness... 9:47:11 PM ![]() |
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Wednesday, July 17, 2002 |
Biotech Blog In an earlier post, I mentioned Utah's efforts to create an economic cluster associated with biotechnology. The effort is part of Governor Leavitt's 1000-Day Plan. I found this Biotech Blog dedicated specifically to that industry. 11:35:39 AM ![]() |