BU Veteran to Manage RE, Facilities Services | BU Today | Boston ...

Michael Donovan?s new job gives him oversight of BU?s real estate, campus planning, and facilities management operations. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

A 33-year University veteran will lead BU?s sprawling, newly consolidated real estate and facilities management operations.

Michael Donovan has been promoted to vice president for real estate and facility services, effective July 1, the start of the University?s fiscal year. He will oversee campus planning, real estate purchases and sales, residential and commercial leasing, building design and construction, and facilities management.

Donovan will manage roughly 800 employees and more than 15 million square feet of property, spanning the Charles River and Medical Campuses to BU sites throughout the United States and internationally. He says more efficient integration of master planning, real estate operations, and facilities management, both day-to-day and long-term, will be a key task.

?There are synergies between these functions, and I am sure that the staffs no doubt see the same opportunities,? says Donovan, whose current title is senior associate vice president for real estate management. ?I am confident that we can provide tangible benefits to both the University and the hardworking and dedicated employees who work in these offices.?

Having worked on both campuses during his career, he says, ?I can honestly say that in 33 years at Boston University, no two days have ever been the same, and that variety has appealed to me.?

The consolidation completes a restructuring that began with the retirement two years ago of University executive vice president Joseph Mercurio. ?This is a combination of two groups that have campus planning, construction, and operations in common. There?s a lot of overlap between the two,? says Gary Nicksa, senior vice president for operations. Nicksa says Donovan is ?exceptionally qualified? for his new post.

?Michael?s training is as a lawyer. His experience over 33 years at BU, in roles ranging from human resources to environmental health and safety to real estate development, has given him incredible breadth and depth of understanding of the University and its operation,? he says.

Over his decades of service at BU, Donovan led, among other initiatives, the Charles River Campus Institutional Master Plan (the University?s growth guidelines and goals) through drafting and city approval; the leasing and incubation activities at BioSquare, the South End biomedical research laboratory; the Goldman School of Dental Medicine?s space master plan; the Cummington Mall purchase; and the occupancy of the new School of Medicine Student Residence.

He has served on the boards of the Association of University Research Parks, the International Association of Science Parks, and the Council of Biotechnology Centers. He earned a bachelor?s degree from Boston College and a law degree from Suffolk University.

Source: http://www.bu.edu/today/2013/bu-veteran-to-manage-real-estate-facilities-services/

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Footwear's (carbon) footprint: bulk of shoes' carbon footprint comes from manufacturing processes

May 22, 2013 ? A typical pair of running shoes generates 30 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to keeping a 100-watt light bulb on for one week, according to a new MIT-led lifecycle assessment.

But what's surprising to researchers isn't the size of a shoe's carbon footprint, but where the majority of that footprint comes from.

The researchers found that more than two-thirds of a running shoe's carbon impact can come from manufacturing processes, with a smaller percentage arising from acquiring or extracting raw materials. This breakdown is expected for more complex products such as electronics, where the energy that goes into manufacturing fine, integrated circuits can outweigh the energy expended in processing raw materials. But for "less-advanced" products -- particularly those that don't require electronic components -- the opposite is often the case.

So why does a pair of sneakers, which may seem like a relatively simple product, emit so much more carbon dioxide in its manufacturing phase?

A team led by Randolph Kirchain, principal research scientist in MIT's Materials Systems Laboratory, and research scientist Elsa Olivetti broke down the various steps involved in both materials extraction and manufacturing of one pair of running shoes to identify hotspots of greenhouse-gas emissions. The group found that much of the carbon impact came from powering manufacturing plants: A significant portion of the world's shoe manufacturers are located in China, where coal is the dominant source of electricity. Coal is also typically used to generate steam or run other processes in the plant itself.

A typical pair of running shoes comprises 65 discrete parts requiring more than 360 processing steps to assemble, from sewing and cutting to injection molding, foaming and heating. Olivetti, Kirchain and their colleagues found that for these small, light components such processes are energy-intensive -- and therefore, carbon-intensive -- compared with the energy that goes into making shoe materials, such as polyester and polyurethane.

The group's results, Kirchain says, will help shoe designers identify ways to improve designs and reduce shoes' carbon footprint. He adds that the findings may also help industries assess the carbon impact of similar consumer products more efficiently.

"Understanding environmental footprint is resource intensive. The key is, you need to put your analytical effort into the areas that matter," Kirchain says. "In general, we found that if you have a product that has a relatively high number of parts and process steps, and that is relatively light [weight], then you want to make sure you don't overlook manufacturing."

Kirchain and his colleagues have published their results in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

The sum of a shoe's parts

In 2010, nearly 25 billion shoes were purchased around the world, the majority of them manufactured in China and other developing countries. As Kirchain and his co-authors write in their paper, "An industry of that scale and geographic footprint has come under great pressure regarding its social and environmental impact."

In response, companies have started to take account of their products' greenhouse-gas contributions, in part by measuring the amount of carbon dioxide associated with every process throughout a product's lifecycle. One such company, ASICS, an athletic equipment company based in Japan, approached Kirchain to perform a lifecycle assessment for a running shoe manufactured in China.

The team took a "cradle-to-grave" approach, breaking down every possible greenhouse gas-emitting step: from the point at which the shoes' raw materials are extracted to the shoes' demise, whether burned, landfilled or recycled.

The researchers divided the shoes' lifecycle into five major stages: materials, manufacturing, usage, transportation and end-of-life. These last three stages, they found, contributed very little to the product's carbon footprint. For example, running shoes, unlike electronics, require very little energy to use, aside from the energy needed to infrequently wash the shoes.

The bulk of emissions, they found, came from manufacturing. While part of the manufacturing footprint is attributable to a facility's energy source, other emissions came from processes such as foaming and injection molding of parts of a sneaker's sole, which expend large amounts of energy in the manufacture of small, lightweight parts. As Kirchain explains it, "You have a lot of effort going into the molding of the material, but you're only getting a very small part out of that process."

"What stood out was this manufacturing burden being on par with materials, which we hadn't seen in similar products," Olivetti adds. "Part of that is because it's a synthetic product. If we were looking at a leather shoe, it would be much more materials-driven because of the carbon intensity of leather production."

An improved design

In tallying the carbon emissions from every part of a running shoe's lifecycle, the researchers were also able to spot places where reductions might be made. For example, they observed that manufacturing facilities tend to throw out unused material. Instead, Kirchain and his colleagues suggest recycling these scraps, as well as combining certain parts of the shoe to eliminate cutting and welding steps. Printing certain features onto a shoe, instead of affixing them as separate fabrics, would also streamline the assembly process.

Kirchain and Olivetti view their results as a guide for companies looking to evaluate the impact of similar products.

"When people are trying for streamlined approaches to [lifecycle assessments], often they put emphasis on the materials impact, which makes a lot of sense," Olivetti says. "But we tried to identify a set of characteristics that would point you to making sure you were also looking at the manufacturing side -- when it matters."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/TYIM0605Efg/130522123147.htm

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CSN: McClouth's walk-off in 10th snaps O's skid

BALTIMORE ? For the last week, Jim Johnson?s locker has been the most popular stopping point in the Orioles clubhouse. Three times he stood there and explained what went wrong.

Never made any excuses, never any whining.

On Tuesday, his space was a happier place. After blowing three straight saves, Johnson picked up a win after pitching a flawless 10th inning. After Nate McLouth?s game-winning home run, Johnson could breathe a lot more easily.

The Orioles had lost six straight, and their 3-2 win over the New York Yankees in 10 innings before 29,040 at Oriole Park made for a lot of happy people.

?I?m glad the fans are worried because they care,? McLouth said.

?It?s our job to come out that night and play that game and not let the previous day ? or two or three or six ? affect what we do tonight.?

Perhaps bigger news was made after the game when an industry source confirmed a Foxsports.com report that last year?s No. 1 draft choice Kevin Gausman was expected to make his major league debut with the Orioles in Toronto on Thursday.

Manager Buck Showalter said he had no problem with Johnson saving the game. ?Watch it again,? he said on Monday night. There was no game to save.

After Miguel Gonzalez?s excellent seven innings, Tommy Hunter came on to relieve him, and as the game headed to the ninth, Johnson was warming up in the bullpen.

When the game remained tied at 2, Hunter came out to pitch the ninth and Johnson (2-4) watched.

He pitched the top of the 10th and quickly retired the Yankees in order.

McLouth hit his fourth home run of the year off Vidal Nuno (1-1) and the Orioles (24-21) had the win.

?There were a lot more good positive things than a guy that pitched in the 10th inning tonight,? Johnson said.

?It?s been tough, but when I go home at night, it stays here. When I come to the field, I try to work just like I?ve done many years since I?ve been up here. I?ll continue to do that.?

The left-handed hitting McLouth had a game-winning home run off a left-hander. Chris Dickerson had the first two home run game of his career, and Gonzalez pitched valiantly.

Gonzalez hadn?t pitched since May 3 because of a blister on his right thumb, and he did a fine job.

Brett Gardner led off the game with a double, and Travis Hafner?s two-out single drove him in for a 1-0 New York (28-17) lead.

Dickerson?s second home run of the year tied the score in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Manny Machado and Nick Markakis singled off Phil Hughes, but didn?t score as Adam Jones flied deep to right field.

Vernon Wells led off the fourth with a double. Hafner scored him on a single, and New York led 2-1. It was Hafner?s fourth straight at-bat with a home run.

Dickerson led off the fifth with a long homer to right field, his third and the Orioles? first multi-home run game of the season.

It was the Orioles? first win in nine days.

?You know what it hasn?t been that difficult,? Dickerson said.

?This team never gets too down, never gets crushed, you know, it never feels the weight of the pressure.?

?

Gonzalez pitched seven innings. It?s just the fourth time an Orioles pitcher has gone that far this season. He allowed two runs on five hits and struck out five.

?I think that rest helped me out a little bit,? Gonzalez said. ?The thumb was fine. I didn't have a problem with it. I was confident with all my pitches."

Hughes also allowed two runs on five hits. He pitched six innings, walked two and struck out five.

Showalter was happy with the win, and admitted that the losing affects him.

?It's frustrating. It eats at you. It bothers you because you know there's a lot of people counting on you to make an enjoyable summer. It wasn't a whole lot of fun riding home and seeing all the Orioles shirts down the streets going home at night and knowing they had planned their time around our game. That bothers me,? Showalter said.

NOTES: McLouth had a game-winning home run on Apr. 20, 2010 when he was playing for Atlanta against Philadelphia?s Jose Contreras.

-In his second rehab start, Tsuyoshi Wada pitched four-plus innings, allowing two runs on six hits against Durham. He walked two, struck out one and hit a batter.

-The Yankees became the last major league team to lose a game after scoring first. They?re now 19-1 when that happens.

-Jason Hammel (5-2, 5.72) works against New York?s Hiroki Kuroda (6-2, 1.99) in the finale of the homestand.

?

Source: http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/mclouths-10th-inning-homer-makes-johnson-os-winners

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Polish man gets quick face transplant after injury

WARSAW, Poland (AP) ? A 33-year-old Polish man received a face transplant just three weeks after being disfigured in a workplace accident, in what his doctors said Wednesday is the fastest time frame to date for such an operation. It was Poland's first face transplant.

Face transplants are extraordinarily complicated and relatively rare procedures that usually require extensive preparation, typically months or years. But medical officials said the Polish patient's condition was deteriorating so rapidly that a transplant was seen as the only option. The patient is now being watched for any potential infections.

The patient worked at stonemason's workshop near the southwestern city of Wroclaw where on April 23 a machine used to cut stone tore off most of his face and crushed his upper jaw.

The man, identified only as Grzegorz, received intensive treatment at a hospital in Wroclaw, but an attempt to reattach his own face failed, leaving an area close to the brain exposed to infections, doctors said. The damage was too extensive for doctors to temporarily seal the exposed areas.

So he was taken to the Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice, which is the only place in Poland licensed to perform face transplants. The center has experience in facial reconstruction for patients disfigured by cancer and its experts have practiced face transplants on cadavers.

Doctors at the center said the 27-hour face and bone transplant was performed May 15 soon after a matching donor was found.

The surgery reconstructed the area around the eyes, the nose, jaws and palate and other parts of the man's face. Pictures show surgery stitches running from above the patient's right eye, under the left eye and around the face to the neck.

The donor, a 34-year-old man, was chosen from a national registry of potential donors after his age, gender, blood group and body features were determined to be a good match for the injured man.

The head of the team of surgeons and other specialists, Dr. Adam Maciejewski, said the operation was the world's first life-saving face transplant carried out so soon after the damage. Face transplants are usually a last resort after conventional reconstructive and plastic surgeries have been tried.

"In such an extensive injury, where the structures close to the skull base and in contact with the brain area are exposed, any infection would be dangerous, not to mention the impossibility to function normally including problems with breathing, with eating," Maciejewski said. "All that led us in one direction."

"We assume the surgery will allow the patient to return to normal life. He will be able to breathe, to eat, to see."

The patient is now breathing on his own and responds to questions by nodding his head or squeezing the hands of doctors. But his condition is serious and it will be months before the doctors can describe the procedure as a full success, said Dr. Krzysztof Olejnik, head of the team of anesthesiologists.

Another member of the transplant team, surgeon Dr. Michal Grajek, told The Associated Press that the patient is receiving drugs to ward off any potential viral, bacterial or skin infections.

Though he is in sterile isolation, the patient has started the rehabilitation process. He will stay on special drugs for the rest of his life to prevent rejection of his new face.

A picture of the patient taken Tuesday, six days after the surgery, showed him giving a thumbs-up sign from his hospital bed. Another picture, based on computer tomography, shows the extensive damage to his skull.

More than two dozen transplants of the face or parts of the face have been performed around the world. The first one was a partial face transplant in a woman maimed by her dog in France in 2005.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-22-Poland-Face%20Transplant/id-44f923ef96414802a5c4c9bfc5346f37

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Lawyer: No background check done on Jackson doctor

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? AEG Live LLC did not conduct any background checks or supervise the doctor who was later convicted of killing Michael Jackson, a corporate attorney testified Tuesday in a lawsuit claiming the concert promoter was negligent in hiring the physician.

AEG Live General Counsel Shawn Trell told jurors that no legal or financial checks were done involving Conrad Murray or anyone else who worked as an independent contractor on the "This Is It" shows.

Jackson's mother Katherine is suing AEG claiming it failed to properly investigate Murray, who was deeply in debt when he agreed to serve as Jackson's tour physician in 2009 for $150,000 a month.

Trell said he thought a background check would be appropriate for people working in financial roles, but not tour personnel who weren't employees of AEG.

Murray's employment status is a central issue in the case. Katherine Jackson's lawyers contend he was hired by AEG, but the company denies it hired him and notes the singer died before signing the doctor's contract.

Trell also acknowledged while testifying that numerous people in the company knew of concerns that Jackson's health was declining.

Five days before Jackson died, AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips alerted the promoter's parent company that Jackson had missed a rehearsal and didn't appear to be ready for his comeback concerts.

"We have a real problem here," Phillips wrote in the message to the CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group.

Trell agreed with a statement by plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish that company executives knew by then there was a "deep issue" with Jackson.

Trell also said he continued discussions with an insurance broker about additional coverage to recoup AEG Live's investment if the tour had to be canceled.

Hours after Phillips sent the warning email, attorney John Branca, who later became co-executor of Jackson's estate, offered to enlist a spiritual and substance abuse specialist to help Jackson, according to an email shown in court.

On that same day, Phillips and others met with Jackson and Murray at the singer's home.

Hours later, Phillips sent an email to tour director Kenny Ortega telling him not to worry. Ortega had expressed grave concerns about Jackson.

"This doctor is extremely successful ? we check everyone out ? and he does not need this gig so he (is) totally unbiased and ethical," Phillips wrote.

Panish called Phillips' statement "a flat out lie" and asked Trell whether he agreed with it or if it signified how AEG did business. Trell said he didn't know what Phillips thought he knew when he wrote the message.

"I know this statement is not accurate, but you'd have to speak with Mr. Phillips about what he thought or meant in saying it," Trell said.

Phillips is listed as a potential witness in the case, and Trell said he expects him to testify later in the trial.

Outside court, AEG's attorney Marvin S. Putnam declined comment on the email or Panish's characterization of it.

Trell also said on Tuesday that no one at AEG supervised or monitored Murray, who was convicted in 2011 of administering a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol to Jackson.

Trell is considered the most knowledgeable person on numerous issues involving the shows, including contracts and Jackson's health. He has not yet been questioned by AEG's trial lawyers.

Earlier in the day, Trell revised previous testimony in which he told jurors that tour director Ortega worked on "This Is It" without a contract.

The lawyer said Monday that Ortega worked under an agreement forged through a series of emails but didn't have a signed contract.

On Tuesday, he told jurors he was mistaken, and Ortega did have a contract. The agreement was signed in April and included three pages of legal text and several pages of emails laying out the terms.

Trell said he had been reminded of Ortega's agreement by AEG's trial attorneys.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawyer-no-background-check-done-jackson-doctor-192339561.html

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Tunisia announces 3 cases of coronavirus, 1 death

RABAT, Morocco (AP) ? A 66-year-old Tunisian man has died from the new coronavirus following a visit to Saudi Arabia and two of his adult children were infected with it, the Tunisian Health Ministry reported.

His sons were treated and have since recovered but the rest of the family remains under medical observation, the ministry said in a statement Monday. The World Health Organization confirmed the cases of the children, but said one of them was a daughter who was with her father for part of the trip to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. There was no immediate way to reconcile the differing reports.

The cases are the first for Tunisia and indicate that the virus is slowly trickling out of Saudi Arabia, where more than 30 coronavirus cases have been reported. There have been at least 20 deaths worldwide out of 40 cases.

"These Tunisia cases haven't changed our risk assessment, but they do show the virus is still infecting people," said Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for WHO in Geneva.

The Tunisian fatality, a diabetic, had been complaining of breathing problems since his return from the trip and died in a hospital in the coastal Tunisian city of Monastir. Many previous coronavirus patients have had underlying medical problems, which WHO said might have made them more susceptible to getting infected. There is no specific treatment for the disease, but the agency has issued guidelines for how doctors might treat patients, like providing oxygen therapy and avoiding strong steroids.

The new virus has been compared to SARS, an unusual pneumonia that surfaced in China then erupted into a deadly international outbreak in early 2003. Ultimately, more than 8,000 SARS cases were reported in about 30 countries and over 770 people died from it.

The new coronavirus is most closely related to a bat virus and is part of a family of viruses that cause the common cold and SARS. Experts suspect it may be jumping directly from animals like camels or goats into people, but there isn't enough proof to narrow down a species yet. The virus can cause acute respiratory disease, kidney failure and heart problems.

"We still do not have a good idea of how people are getting infected and that is a major concern," said Hartl.

Last week, WHO said it was worried about "cases that are not part of larger clusters and who do not have a history of animal contact." WHO said those cases suggest the virus may already be spreading in the community.

The Saudi Arabian cities of Mecca and Medina will receive millions of pilgrims from around the world during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which falls in July and August this year.

___

AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng contributed to this report from London.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tunisia-announces-3-cases-coronavirus-1-death-102328940.html

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Viruses and mucus team up to ward off bacteria

Phages may play unforeseen role in immune protection

By Tina Hesman Saey

Web edition: May 20, 2013

The last thing most people would want in their bodies is mucus laden with viruses. But a new study suggests that viruses called bacteriophages, or phages, grab onto mucus and then infect and kill invasive bacteria. The finding, reported May 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Forest Rohwer of San Diego State University and colleagues, could mean that some viruses partner with animals and humans to stave off bacterial infections and control the composition of friendly microbes in the body.

Bacteriophages are viruses that break open bacteria, killing them. Researchers have studied bacteriophages for decades, and some disease therapies take advantage of the viruses? bacteria-slaying abilities, says microbiologist Frederic Bushman of the University of Pennsylvania medical school. But the study provides what Bushman says is a revelation that should have been obvious; phage may be a natural part of the immune system. ?It?s new in a way that is sort of common-sensey,? he says.

Previously, researchers thought of mucus mainly as a physical barrier to keep invading organisms from entering the body. The slimy substance made by our noses, intestines and other organs also fights invaders with antimicrobial molecules. ?Some researchers had found bacteriophages stuck in mucus, but they figured that the mucus had stopped or slowed the viruses. No one realized that the viruses are part of the body?s defense, says study coauthor Jeremy Barr, who works in Rohwer?s lab. ?This is a natural use of phage therapy that has probably been around since mucosal surfaces evolved,? Barr says.

Rohwer, who studies corals, had noticed that phages tend to concentrate in mucus. To find out why, the researchers collected mucus from human gums, sea anemones, fish, corals and mouse intestines. Mucus layers had more phages and fewer bacteria than the surrounding environment, suggesting that the viruses helped to limit the number of bacteria allowed into the mucus.

Phages are coated in proteins that latch onto sugars called glycans, anchoring the viruses in the mucus, the team discovered. From there the phages can ambush encroaching bacteria.

So far, the researchers have demonstrated that mucus and phages can work together to protect cells in a dish. The next step, Bushman says, would be determining what happens inside an organism, an experiment the researchers are already planning.

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/350573/title/Viruses_and_mucus_team_up_to_ward_off_bacteria

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