Tuesday, April 29, 2014

April 30, 2014. NSF Funding Opp Webinar and Workshop

NSF Funding Opp Webinar and Workshop
To: "Reeves, Philip (DSLBD)" <Philip.Reeves@dc.gov>

I wanted to send a quick note about the NSF solicitation that is due on June 10th.

1.       As a reminder, you should get in touch with the program manager for your topic if you’re planning to submit a proposal. The email to the program manager should consist of a 1-2 page executive summary discussing the following aspects of the project: 1) the company and team, 2) the market opportunity, value proposition, and customers, 3) the technology/innovation, and 4) the competition.

For more information about the NSF grant (and to see the program manager contact info) please click here

2.       NSF is hosting a webinar about the solicitation on April 30th at 2:00pm. To register for the webinar click here

3.       DSLBD is partnering with Anant Labs to host a proposal workshop around the NSF application on May 3rd. To learn more about the workshop click here

Thanks,
Phil

PHILIP REEVES, Manager, Small Business Technology and Innovation
DC Department of Small and Local Business Development
441 4th Street, NW | Suite 850N | Washington, DC 20001

twitter: @smallbizdc

Disability & Veterans Community Resources Directory


Lists organizations that are available to provide assistance with training, recruiting, and hiring Veterans and individuals 

June 11, 2014. The Eighth (8th) Annual Interagency Chaplaincy Conference “Contingency Management – How Do Civil Authorities and the Military Work Together”.

The Joint Force Headquarters, Military District of Washington (JFHQ/MDW)
in Collaboration with
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Public Safety Chaplains Subcommittee
PRESENTS
The Eighth (8th) Annual Interagency Chaplaincy Conference
Contingency Management –
How Do Civil Authorities and the Military Work Together
.

           The Joint Force Headquarters/Military District of Washington’s (JFHQ/MDW) 8th Annual Interagency Chaplaincy Conference entitled “Contingency Management – How Do Civil Authorities and the Military Work Together” will be held on WEDNESDAY, June 11, 2014 at the Spates Club at Fort Myer beginning with Registration and Continental Breakfast at 7:30 AM and Opening Prayer at 8:00 AM.  PLEASE MARK/UPDATE YOUR CALENDARS ACCORDINGLY!! 

            The JFHQ-NCR Chaplains, represented by  CH (Commander) Paul Anderson and CH (COL) Michael Brainerd, Command Chaplain, JFHQ-NCR/MDW will have the lead.  As always, it will be another wonderful training day. 

POLICE – FIRE AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS
            This training is pertinent also to Police, Fire and Emergency Managers.  This training has been prepared also with Law Enforcement, Fire and Emergency Manager attendees in mindYour attendance and participation (or proxy) is requested. 

DETAILS

REGISTRATION
            If you have not already done so, you may register by clicking HERE OR by going to the COG Events Calendar at www.mwcog.org, and following the calendar to Wednesday, June 11, 2014.  Please click on the associated registration link towards the bottom of the registration page.

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
            Continental Breakfast will be provided beginning at 7:30 AM

LUNCH
            Lunch will once again, be provided compliments of the Joint Force Headquarters Military District of Washington.

CERTIFICATES
            Certificates will be provided to all registrants who have registered on or before Monday, June 9, 2014.  You must complete the entire day’s training in order to receive your certificate.  Certificates will only be available at the close of the training at 3:00 PM (1500 Hours).

PROPER IDENTIFICATION
            Proper Identification will be required in order to enter the military base.  Please be prepared to provide Official Driver’s License and auxiliary ID.
TRAVEL DIRECTION
            Please see attached Fort Myer Travel Directions.

SPECIAL DIETARY NEEDS
            If you have any special dietary needs, e.g., kosher and/or gluten free meals, please contact Sargeant Joshua Nelson at Joshua.T.Nelson.mil@mail.mil at your very earliest convenience.  For your specific groups, please specify how many of the special meals you will need.

OTHER SPECIAL REQUESTS
            For questions or any other special requests, please contact Dennis Bailey at DBailey@mwcog.org at your very earliest convenience.  You may also reach Dennis Bailey on the morning of the event at 202-441-9104.


            We look forward to another wonderful training event and to seeing you all!

May 20-22, 2014. 4th USAfrica Air Transportation Summit/Expo

http://origin.library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1102561678585-171/USAfrica+Summit+Brochure-post+04+10+14.pdf

The 4th USAfrica Air Transportation Summit/Expo is approximately 3 weeks away,  May 20-22, 2014, and here are few announcements:
We are pleased to let you know that Mr. Francesco Violante, CEO, SITA is our luncheon keynote speaker on Wednesday, May 21.
Francesco Violante, CEO, SITAAdd a descriptionFrancesco Violante has been CEO of SITA since 2006. Under his leadership,  SITA has undergone a dramatic transformation with the merging of previously separate entities into a single company, delivering complex IT solutions to the world's air transport industry.  His vision is to strengthen SITA's position at the heart of the air transport industry by using technology to solve industry and business issues. To this end, he initiated the creation of the SITA Lab as a world class R&D facility and oversaw the opening of a software center of  excellence in Ireland.

Francesco has grown the company to achieve consolidated revenues of  US$1.57 billion in 2012 and employ over 4,500 staff in 200 countries and territories. In addition, over 1,800 people work for SITA in offshore operations, predominantly on software development in India. SITA won over  $1 billion worth of new business for the first time in 2006 and has repeated this achievement every year since.   Read more! 
 
It's not too late to register, but please do so immediately if you have not
already done so - Register here!      



Hotel Accommodations: We have secured the special rate of $129.00 per night plus applicable taxes at the Summit/Expo hotel, the Double Tree by Hilton located at 711 NW 72 nd Avenue, Miami, Florida 33126, Tel: 305-261-3800 

The Doubletree is conveniently adjoins the Miami Airport Convention Center (MACC), and offers complimentary 24 hour shuttle to and from Miami International Airport (MIA).
 
To receive this special rate you  must  register by May 7, 2014,
and use  the special rate code, Group Code:  AVI  to receive  the discount Click here to make hotel reservations!
We look forward to seeing everyone next month!

 


  Sponsors

Could your plans take the scrutiny? Training Opportunity - Master Exercise Practitioner Program (MEPP) Series

You’ve written the plans (hazard, pandemic, containment, etc.).

Have you designed your plan, policy, and procedures with any of the exercise types: table-top, drills, functional, full-scale, etc. in mind?

Now that your plans are written part of your planning should have been for the implementation of exercising the plans.  

If not, step back and re-write before final approval.  

Design exercises in your overall project planning, and approval process.

CDS


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Washington, D.C.  20020
Office:   202-618-9097 
bEMA 

Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.   Tom Peters
…….The search is on.



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FEMA EMI News
Website Update


Training Opportunity

Master Exercise Practitioner Program (MEPP) Series

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.
Emmitsburg, MD — You are subscribed to EMI News for FEMA. The following information has recently been updated, and is now available on http://training.fema.gov/EMI/

Program Description/Course Design:

The Master Exercise Practitioner Program (MEPP) is a three-course series designed to improve the capabilities of emergency management exercise personnel in every phase of the overall exercise process and in accordance with the policy, doctrine, practices and tools in the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)...



Emergency Management Institute Mission

To support the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA’s goals by improving the competencies of the U.S. officials in Emergency Management at all levels of government to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the potential effects of all types of disasters and emergencies on the American people. Read more about EMI's mission...=============
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Emergency Management Institute
16825 S. Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727

Switchboard: (301) 447-1000
Office of Admissions:
(301) 447-1035      Fax:  (301) 447-1658 
netc-admissions@fema.dhs.gov
FEMA Independent Study Program Office:
(301) 447-1200     Fax: (301)447-1201
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Google for Education Student Ambassador Program

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Student Ambassador Program
Google for Education



    The Google Student Ambassador Program is an opportunity for students to act as liaisons between Google and their universities. These ambassadors:
  • Learn about innovative Google products and programs.
  • Plan and host fun events on campus.
  • Act as a campus contact for Google teams.
  • Help Google better understand each university's culture. 

                         Ambassador requirements
      Ambassadors are thrilled by new technology, enthusiastic about Google, and involved in their school communities. They have majors from Computer Science, to Anthropology, to Business, to Zoology! Google Ambassadors have the opportunity to enhance their professional development, leadership, and communication skills, and access to a unique network of Google Ambassadors across the world. Plus, there's swag!
An ideal Student Ambassador is:
  • Enrolled in full-time undergraduate/postgraduate study
  • Available 10 hours per month to spend on Google evangelist work
  • Familiar with Google products including but not limited to Google Docs, Chrome, Search, and YouTube
  • An active Google+ user
  • Involved with student organizations and activities.




News:


Education On Air
You have the best seat in the house to learn with educators around the world. Connect with them on the web for free using Google+ Hangouts.

High School Symposium
This is a one day program designed to provide high-achieving high school seniors with valuable business skills before starting college.
 

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Full version is available at: Apple Store, Google Play, facebook and our website (Search for "callofculture". Free version is available at: Facebook Page - COC Magazine Tab


Monday, April 28, 2014

DHS\FEMA OIG Report: FEMA Should Recover $1.7 Million of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the City of Waveland, Mississippi - Hurricane Katrina

FYI.
 
Keep in mind that reporting discrepancies in any federal contract is not considered reporting as a 'tattle tale', but ensuring that your community contracts are fulfilled under federal guidelines for your community.

Questions for ensuring your community, your 'whole community' involvement.

  • Are contractors hiring locally?
  • Are set-aside opportunities available for small minority and women owned business?


DHS\FEMA OIG Report:  FEMA Should Recover $1.7 Million of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the City of Waveland, Mississippi - Hurricane Katrina

      http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/GrantReports/2014/OIG_14-63-D_Apr14.pdf



ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

To view this and any of our other reports, please visit our website at: www.oig.dhs.gov. 

For further information or questions, please contact Office of Inspector General (OIG) 
Office of Public Affairs at: DHS-OIG.OfficePublicAffairs@oig.dhs.gov, or follow us on 
Twitter at: @dhsoig. 

OIG HOTLINE 

To expedite the reporting of alleged fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement, or any 
other kinds of criminal or noncriminal misconduct relative to Department of Homeland 
Security (DHS) programs and operations, please visit our website at www.oig.dhs.gov 
and click on the red tab titled "Hotline" to report. You will be directed to complete and submit an automated DHS OIG Investigative Referral Submission Form. 

Submission through our website ensures that your complaint will be promptly received and reviewed by DHS OIG.  Should you be unable to access our website, you may submit your complaint in writing 
to: 

Department of Homeland Security 
Office of Inspector General, Mail Stop 0305 
Attention: Office of Investigations Hotline 
245 Murray Drive, SW 
Washington, DC 20528-0305 

You may also call 1(800) 323-8603 or fax the complaint directly to us at 
(202) 254-4297. 

The OIG seeks to protect the identity of each writer and caller. 


  
1231  Good Hope Road  S.E.
Washington, D.C.  20020
Office:   202-618-9097 
bEMA 

Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.   Tom Peters
…….The search is on.



Thursday, April 24, 2014

Washington Diplomat: African Bioethicist Urges More Oversight for Clinical Trials


http://www.washdiplomat.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8871:african-bioethicist-urges-more-oversight-for-clinical-trials&catid=1498:february-2013&Itemid=508


The Washington Diplomat

African Bioethicist Urges More Oversight for Clinical Trials


A few years ago, medical ethics expert Paul Ndebele, a noted African scholar, saw something at a malaria research site in Malawi that disturbed him: The project was using junior staff as bait to collect mosquitoes for research colonies and feeding the malaria-carrying insects human blood — straight from the source.
When the staffers offered their arms at mosquito mealtimes, they naturally risked infection, Ndebele said, warning that those who continued doing this while taking drugs to prevent or treat malaria were potentially sparking malarial drug resistance in mosquito populations.
Using humans as insect bait — a practice that has its own scientific label, Human Landing Catch (HLC) — is considered the most effective way to capture adult mosquitoes, but Ndebele questioned the ethics of it in an article for the Malawi Medical Journal in 2011.
Ndebele, assistant director for research ethics at the University of Botswana, was recently tapped to be a bioethicist contractor by the Henry Jackson Foundation in Bethesda, Md. With research sponsors at the National Institutes of Health and the European Commission, he's a well-connected, peripatetic activist and academic.
c2.medical.paul.ndebele.wife.story
Paul Ndebele and his wife Sharon attend a reception for international scholars at Michigan State University. After political unrest in his native Zimbabwe threatened his work on bioethics, Ndebele was able to leave the country in 2003 with the help of a fellowship from the Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund.
He alerted his networks throughout sub-Sahara Africa about the issue of HLCs. He visited multiple malaria study sites in a number of nations. He brainstormed at his workshops for professionals and laypeople who monitor medical research.
Ndebele's resulting report dealt with the tensions between existing scientific standards and the principles of justice and "human dignity" written into contemporary medical research worldwide. "It was an ethical choice involving mosquitoes, humans and science," Ndebele told The Washington Diplomat.
Still, his report was labeled an opinion piece. Human Landing Catches are considered common medical practice — and are even called the gold standard for estimating malaria transmission by mosquitoes. A 2012 study on the incidence of malaria among mosquito collectors in western Kenya conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health groups found that if properly treated, "concern about increased risk of malaria among collectors should not be an impediment to conducting HLC studies."
But Ndebele questions the practice, and his report offers practical alternatives, such as using anesthetized animals to feed mosquitoes or getting blood from transfusion services. It also suggested ways to use existing products to protect workers from bites.
In addition to being a dogged problem solver, Ndebele doesn't mince words when it comes to thorny bioethical issues.
He chastised the principal investigators and other researchers in malaria vector studies for "resting in their comfortable homes" while their low-literacy and poorly paid staffers endured mosquito bites overnight for hours on end — and he even listed the bite rates to make his point.
Not only were such things ethically dubious, he warned, they could stir public controversy and thus do serious harm to important research.
Bioethics itself is a critical field of research that tackles the murky moral quandaries spurred by the ever-advancing march of medicine — a field that's been around as long as medicine has been in existence. Though debated in ancient times, bioethics grabbed the public's attention after the Nazis' horrifying medical experiments on humans during World War II. The subsequent Nuremberg Code outlined a set of international standards for research involving human subjects.
But bioethics as an academic interdisciplinary field evolved and solidified throughout the 1960s and '70s in the wake of game-changing advances such as organ transplants and end-of-life care. Key standards for governing ethics in medical research were set by the 1967 Helsinki Declaration and by groups such as the World Medical Association, World Health Organization, the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, the Council of Europe and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has established extensive regulations on human testing.
But just because standards have been set and regulations adopted doesn't mean they've always been followed — or that they've kept up with the rapid pace of medical innovation.
In 2010, a six decade-old injustice resurfaced when the U.S. government apologized to Guatemala for deliberately infecting hundreds of Guatemalans with venereal diseases in an attempt to study the effectiveness of penicillin. The experiments, conducted between 1946 and 1948, were particularly egregious. As documented by the New York Times, "American tax dollars, through the National Institutes of Health, even paid for syphilis-infected prostitutes to sleep with prisoners, since Guatemalan prisons allowed such visits. When the prostitutes did not succeed in infecting the men, some prisoners had the bacteria poured onto scrapes made on their penises, faces or arms, and in some cases it was injected by spinal puncture."
Today, though not as extreme, clinical trials on human subjects continue around the world — and particularly in the developing world. An eye-opening 2011 exposé by Vanity Fair called "Deadly Medicine" investigated how pharmaceutical companies scour far-flung corners of the globe to test their products on communities where recruiting patients is cheap and safety standards are lax or nonexistent — all in the hopes of eventually marketing their drugs to Americans for a healthy profit.
Though the ultimate destination is America, human drug testing in the United States has dwindled, while the number of such clinical trials abroad has skyrocketed — nearly 60,000 in more than 170 countries, according to the National Institutes of Health.
"Throw a dart at a world map and you are unlikely to hit a spot that has escaped the attention of those who scout out locations for the pharmaceutical industry," wrote Vanity Fair's Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, noting that China and India are home to hundreds of drug trials. Other popular pharmaceutical testing grounds include Russia, Thailand and Turkey.
Africa, of course, is also represented in this cocktail of questionable clinical trials — and that's where Ndebele's specialty lies.
Ndebele, who's worked in Botswana and Malawi, began his career in Zimbabwe, where he'd been a researcher with the principal monitoring agency for all medical and clinical trials in the country. But Ndebele was not immune to Zimbabwe's political unrest, which made his work increasingly impossible. He was able to leave the country in 2003 with the help of a fellowship from the Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund. The fund supports "persecuted academics" at risk around the world — 450 of them in 48 countries over 10 years. In 2012, it highlighted Ndebele as one of 10 scholars featured to celebrate its decade of work.
c2.medical.paul.ndebele.class.story
African scholar and bioethics expert Paul Ndebele gives a lecture on responsible authorship at the Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre at the University of Botswana. Ndebele has pushed for greater oversight of research ethics committees that monitor clinical trials and other studies using human subjects.
But the scholar wears many hats, serving on the editorial boards of journals and advising governments about medical research. However, his most important contribution, colleagues say, may be his campaign to train and strengthen the various boards, committees and agencies in developing nations that are supposed to oversee medical research that recruits their citizens — much of it spearheaded by large international corporations, including many based in the United States.
Monitoring of such research is done by research ethics committees, or RECs, that can approve, reject and track a medical project. (They're called institutional review boards, or IRBs, in the United States.) However, in many countries their oversight has been unsophisticated, and even in nations with tough regulations, including the United States, scandals are not uncommon.
"In the 1980's and '90s, there was an expansion of international medical research conducted by developed countries in less developed nations," Ndebele said. "I became concerned about weak local oversight of this research and issues of justice, and asked myself, 'What can I do?'"
His work started in 2001 with improvements he initiated at the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe. His efforts to strengthen REC oversight have continued throughout sub-Sahara Africa ever since — with, he says, some success.
The extent of the problem became painfully clear to Ndebele in 2007 when he became part of a group that examined studies of RECs and IRBs around the world and took a detailed look at research ethics committees in nine African nations. The results were not encouraging.
Most African committees they examined were weak, with poorly trained staff and insufficient funds. So Ndebele set out to strengthen them, focusing on training, support and, through his published research, creating new cross-cultural understandings of the ethics involved.
Sorrell L. Schwartz, professor emeritus of pharmacology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and an expert on RECs, praised Ndebele for his granular approach, bringing specifics and sophistication to the recruitment and training of people on research review boards.
This is particularly important in countries that don't have regulations controlling oversight, Schwartz added — because very detailed understandings are needed to monitor and judge the merits of a clinical trial.
"You can be a Nobel Prize winner and still lack the insight to understand good human research protections," Schwartz noted.
Much of that insight comes down to culture. To that end, Ndebele has studied the issue of "informed consent" and whether trial participants know what they're getting into. For example, he's written finely grained field studies of medical confidentiality in cultures where family members share everything and examined the independence of women who must offer informed consent before enrolling their children in medical research.
In addition, he's questioned the meaning of "voluntary" participation in medical studies conducted in regions where health care is scarce and researchers entice participants with access to high-quality Western medicine as part of the deal.
One of his papers took a hard look at a clinical trial for two new drugs to prevent HIV transmission (they ultimately didn't work). The research was conducted in a farming community in Africa, and Ndebele found that most participants didn't understand the basic concepts behind scientific trials. Most had a poor grasp of three key research fundamentals — "randomization," "double-blinding" and "placebo use" — which was so poor that many felt cheated or deceived at the end of the trial.
Ndebele and colleagues then developed research explanations that used story-telling techniques popular in the local culture and everyday examples taken from their farming employment to help participants understand the scientific concepts behind clinical trials.
One factor in Ndebele's persistence to advocate for vulnerable trial subjects — and wade into territory fraught with thorny ethical debates and unglamorous research analysis — is his family's roots. Ndebele says his native Tonga ethnic group of Zimbabwe, a culturally distinct people who have traditionally lived by farming in a harsh climate, has an ethos of hard work. His father, a farmer, eventually became a pastor "and encouraged me and my brothers to work hard in school as well. It's the reason why we all went to university."
And perhaps it's why the quiet scholar continues the hard work of asking tough questions to hold the medical industry accountable. "I'm glad I can say I've contributed an African voice internationally in my professional work."


About the Author

Carolyn Cosmos is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat
.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Internship Opportnities: CP12 *Army Safety and Occupational Health Career Program

1. CP12 Intern process, a Fort Jackson P.O.C Vernell Sample 803-751-3625/6004 (tell her Rj referred you) )

Enter as an scholar...

2. Intern Selection Process Facts:

a. The intern selection process begins when an ACOM identifies the need for an intern.  All CP-12 interns are assigned to USACR/Safety Center, centrally managed, and placed at a primary duty location for training purposes.  Selection of a primary duty location is based, in large part, on assurance of placement of the graduating intern.

b. The intern positions are filled through the hiring practices of the Office of Personnel Management.  Job announcements are posted throughout the OPM system to all federal agencies.  Interested parties must submit their applications by mail to the address shown in the job announcement.  All needed information on how to apply is listed in the job announcement.

c. Interested applicants may locate the job announcement at the following links: http://www.usajobs.gov/ or www.cpol.army.mil/ .  Search under series 0018 for Safety and Occupational Health job announcements 7/9/11. (See attached example)  The intern positions can also be accessed on the intern website: https://ncweb.ria.army.mil/dainterns/default.htm


OUTSTANDING SCHOLAR:
US citizen college graduate with a GPA of 3.45 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all under-graduate work or have graduated in upper 10% of class or major university subdivision.


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