Public Policy
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from public policy organizations whose goal it is to influence the debate Washington.
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US: Poor Medical Care, Deaths, in Immigrant Detention
WASHINGTON, June 20 -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
Poor medical treatment contributed to more than half the deaths reported by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a 16-month period, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, Detention Watch Network, and National Immigrant Justice Center said in a report released today.
Based on the analysis of independent medical experts, the 72-page report, "Code Red: The Fatal Consequences of Dangerously Substandard Medical Care in Immigration Detention," examines the 15 "Detainee Death Reviews" ICE released
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WASHINGTON, June 20 -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
Poor medical treatment contributed to more than half the deaths reported by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a 16-month period, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, Detention Watch Network, and National Immigrant Justice Center said in a report released today.
Based on the analysis of independent medical experts, the 72-page report, "Code Red: The Fatal Consequences of Dangerously Substandard Medical Care in Immigration Detention," examines the 15 "Detainee Death Reviews" ICE releasedfrom December 2015 through April 2017. ICE has yet to publish reviews for one other death in that period. Eight of the 15 public death reviews show that inadequate medical care contributed or led to the person's death. The physicians conducting the analysis also found evidence of substandard medical practices in all but one of the remaining reviews.
"ICE has proven unable or unwilling to provide adequately for the health and safety of the people it detains," said Clara Long, a senior US researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Trump administration's efforts to drastically expand the already-bloated immigration detention system will only put more people at risk."
12 people died in immigration detention in fiscal year 2017, more than any year since 2009. Since March 2010, 74 people have died in immigration detention, but ICE has released death reviews in full or in part in only 52 of the cases.
Based on the death reviews, the groups prepared timelines of the symptoms shown by people who died in detention and the treatment they received from medical staff, along with medical experts' commentary on the care documented by ICE and its deviations from common medical practice. The deaths detailed in the report include:
* Moises Tino-Lopez, 23, had two seizures within nine days, each observed by staff and reported to the nurses on duty in the Hall County Correctional Center in Nebraska. He was not evaluated by a physician or sent to the hospital after the first seizure. During his second seizure, staff moved him to a mattress in a new cell, but he was not evaluated by a medical practitioner. About four hours after that seizure, he was found to be unresponsive, with his lips turning blue. He was sent to the hospital but never regained consciousness and died on September 19, 2016.
* Rafael Barcenas-Padilla, 51, had been ill with cold symptoms for six days in the Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico when his fever reached 104, and nurses recorded dangerously low levels of oxygen saturation in his blood. A doctor, consulted by phone, prescribed a medication for upper respiratory infections. The ICE detention center didn't have the nebulizer needed to administer one of the medicines, so he did not receive it, and he showed dangerously low oxygen readings that should have prompted his hospitalization. Three days later, he was sent to the hospital, where he died from bronchopneumonia on April 7, 2016.
* Jose Azurdia, 54, became ill and started vomiting at the Adelanto Detention Facility in California. A guard told a nurse about Azurdia's condition, but she said that "she did not want to see Azurdia because she did not want to get sick." Within minutes, his arm was numb, he was having difficulty breathing, and he had pain in his shoulder and neck - all symptoms of a heart attack. Due to additional delays by the medical staff, two hours passed before he was sent to the hospital, with his heart by then too damaged to respond to treatment. He died in the hospital four days later, on December 23, 2015.
"Immigrant detention centers are dangerous places where lives are at risk and people are dying," said Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network, a national coalition that exposes the injustices of the US' immigration detention and deportation system. "The death toll amassed by ICE is unacceptable and has proven that they cannot be trusted to care for immigrants in their custody."
In fiscal year 2017, ICE held a daily average of nearly 40,500 people, an increase of nearly 500 percent since 1994. The Trump administration has asked Congress to allocate $2.8 billion for fiscal year 2019 to lock up a daily average of 52,000 immigrants in immigration detention facilities, a record number that would represent a 30 percent expansion from fiscal year 2017.
"To the extent that Congress continues to fund this system, they are complicit in its abuses," said Heidi Altman, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center, a nongovernmental group dedicated to ensuring human rights protections and access to justice for all immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. "Congress should immediately act to decrease rather than expand detention and demand robust health, safety, and human rights standards in immigration detention."
The new report is an update of a 2017 Human Rights Watch report that examined deaths in detention between 2012 and 2015, as well as a 2016 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Detention Watch Network, and the National Immigrant Justice Center that examined deaths in detention between 2010 and 2012.
The medical experts who analyzed the death reviews for the groups include Dr. Marc Stern, the former health services director for the Washington State Department of Corrections; Dr. Robert Cohen, the former director of Montefiore Rikers Island Health Services; and Dr. Palav Babaria, the chief administrative officer of Ambulatory Services at Alameda Health System in Oakland, California, and assistant clinical professor in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Six of the new deaths examined occurred at facilities operated by the following private companies under contract with ICE: CoreCivic, Emerald Correctional Management, the GEO Group, and the Management and Training Corporation (MTC).
"ICE puts thousands of people's health and lives at risk by failing to provide adequate medical care to the people it detains for weeks, months, and even years," said Victoria Lopez, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union.
Saudi Arabia: Unrelenting Crackdown on Activists
BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 20 -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
Saudi authorities have arrested two more women's rights activists in recent days in what appears to be an unrelenting crackdown on the women's rights movement, Human Rights Watch said today. Saudi activists have reported that the authorities have placed travel bans on numerous others since May 15.
On June 6, Saudi authorities arrested the writer and activist Nouf Abdelaziz, who had publicly expressed solidarity with three women's rights activists arrested in May, along with at least 14 other activists and supporters.
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BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 20 -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
Saudi authorities have arrested two more women's rights activists in recent days in what appears to be an unrelenting crackdown on the women's rights movement, Human Rights Watch said today. Saudi activists have reported that the authorities have placed travel bans on numerous others since May 15.
On June 6, Saudi authorities arrested the writer and activist Nouf Abdelaziz, who had publicly expressed solidarity with three women's rights activists arrested in May, along with at least 14 other activists and supporters.On June 10, the authorities arrested Mayaa al-Zahrani, an activist and friend of Abdelaziz, after she reportedly posted a letter Abdelaziz asked her to make public in case of her arrest. In the letter, addressed to her fellow Saudis, Abdelaziz explained who she was, stressing that she committed no crime: "I am not a provoker, not a vandalizer, not a terrorist, a criminal or a traitor... I have never been [anything] but a good citizen who loves her country and wishes for it nothing but the best." Both women are being held incommunicado.
"The Saudi government appears determined to leave its citizens without any space to show even rhetorical support for activists jailed in this unforgiving crackdown on dissent," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Nouf Abdelaziz and Mayaa al-Zahrani's only 'crime' seems to be expressing solidarity with their fellow imprisoned activists."
On June 4, the local newspaper Okaz reported that nine detained activists, four women and five men, will soon be referred to the Specialized Criminal Court, which was originally established to try detainees held in connection with terrorism offenses, to be tried for committing three "serious" crimes: "cooperating with entities hostile to the kingdom," "recruiting persons in a sensitive government agency to obtain confidential information to harm the interests of the kingdom," and "providing financial and moral support to hostile elements abroad."
Okaz earlier reported that, 15 days into the activists' detention, an investigating body had announced that all nine detainees had confessed to the latter two accusations. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison.
Among those arrested are the prominent women's rights activists Loujain al-Hathloul, Eman al-Nafjan, and Aziza al-Yousef; Ibrahim al-Modaimeegh, a lawyer; Mohammad al-Rabea, an activist; and Abdulaziz al-Meshaal, a philanthropist. They face charges similar to those against several imprisoned activists currently serving lengthy prison terms, including Waleed Abu al-Khair, Fadil al-Manasif, and Nadhir al-Majed. Immediately following their arrest, in a coordinated campaign, local media outlets publicly accused those detained of treason.
The recent crackdown on women's rights activists comes just weeks ahead of the much-anticipated lifting of the driving ban on women on June 24 - an occasion several of the currently detained activists had long campaigned to bring about. Saudi authorities arrested Abdelaziz and al-Zahrani just as Saudi Arabia's Information Ministry began distributing video footage and photos of women proudly displaying their new drivers' licenses.
On May 29, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a statement calling on Saudi Arabia to immediately release all recently detained activists "if, as it appears, their detention is related solely to their work as human rights defenders and activists on women's issues." In a strongly-worded resolution published on May 30, the European Parliament condemned the "ongoing repression of human rights defenders, including women's rights defenders, in Saudi Arabia" and called on the Saudi government to "put an end to all forms of harassment, including at the judicial level," against them.
Human Rights Watch has documented Saudi Arabia's use of its Specialized Criminal Court and counterterrorism law to unjustly prosecute human rights defenders, writers, and peaceful critics.
Following a five-day visit to Saudi Arabia in 2017, the former UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson, concluded in his report published on June 6, 2018, that Saudi Arabia had misused its counter-terrorism measures to stifle political dissent, suppress opposition, and silence peaceful critics. Emmerson provided a detailed overview of the nature of the Specialized Criminal Court, where local media reports say that the currently detained activists will be tried. He included sections on the use of torture and coerced confessions, as well as on pre-trial detentions and flawed investigations.
"It is imperative for Saudi Arabia's Western allies to speak out in solidarity with the detained activists and to pressure the Saudi authorities to unconditionally release those detained for their work as human rights activists before they are referred for trial," Whitson said. "There can be no real celebration on June 24 while the women who campaigned for the right to drive and their supporters remain behind bars."
Report Links Poor Medical Care to Deaths in ICE Detention
WASHINGTON, June 20 -- The American Civil Liberties Union, a 501(c)3 non-profit that works to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the U.S., issued the following news release:
Poor medical treatment contributed to more than half the deaths reported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a 16-month period, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, Detention Watch Network, and National Immigrant Justice Center said in a report released today.
Based on the analysis of independent medical experts, the report,
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, June 20 -- The American Civil Liberties Union, a 501(c)3 non-profit that works to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the U.S., issued the following news release:
Poor medical treatment contributed to more than half the deaths reported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a 16-month period, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, Detention Watch Network, and National Immigrant Justice Center said in a report released today.
Based on the analysis of independent medical experts, the report,"Code Red: Fatal Consequences of Dangerously Substandard Medical Care in Immigration Detention," examines the 15 "Detainee Death Reviews" ICE released from December 2015 through April 2017. Eight of the 15 public death reviews show that inadequate medical care contributed to the person's death. The physicians conducting the analysis also found evidence of substandard medical practices in all but one of the remaining reviews.
"ICE has proven unable or unwilling to provide adequately for the health and safety of the people it detains," said Clara Long, a senior U.S. researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Trump administration's efforts to drastically expand the already-bloated immigration detention system will only put more people at risk."
Twelve people died in immigration detention in fiscal year 2017, more than any year since 2009. Since March 2010, 74 people have died in immigration detention, but ICE has released death reviews in full or in part in only 52 of the cases.
"Code Red" contains timelines of the symptoms shown by people who died in detention and the treatment they received from medical staff, along with medical experts' commentary on the care documented by ICE and its deviations from common medical practice. The deaths detailed in the report include:
* Moises Tino-Lopez, 23, who had two seizures within nine days, each observed by staff and reported to the nurses on duty in the Hall County Correctional Center in Nebraska. He was not evaluated by a physician or sent to the hospital after the first seizure. During his second seizure, staff moved him to a mattress in a new cell, but he was not evaluated by a medical practitioner. About four hours after that seizure, he was found to be unresponsive with his lips turning blue. He was sent to the hospital but never regained consciousness and died on September 27, 2016.
* Rafael Barcenas-Padilla, 51, had been ill with cold symptoms for six days in the Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico when his fever reached 104, and nurses recorded dangerously low levels of oxygen saturation in his blood. A doctor, consulted by phone, prescribed a medication for upper respiratory infections. The ICE detention center didn't have the nebulizer needed to administer one of the medicines, so he did not receive it and showed dangerously low oxygen readings that should have prompted his hospitalization. Three days later, he was sent to the hospital, where he died there from bronchopneumonia on April 7, 2016.
* Jose Azurdia, 54, became ill and started vomiting at the Adelanto Detention Facility in California. An officer told a nurse about Azurdia's condition, but she said that "she did not want to see Azurdia because she did not want to get sick." Within minutes, his arm was numb, he was having difficulty breathing, and he had pain in his shoulder and neck--all symptoms of a heart attack. Due to additional delays by the medical staff, two hours passed before he was sent to the hospital, with his heart by then too damaged to respond to treatment. He died in the hospital four days later, on December 23, 2015.
"ICE puts thousands of people's health and lives at risk by failing to provide adequate medical care to the people it detains for weeks, months, and even years," said Victoria Lopez, senior staff attorney at the ACLU. "Despite known problems, ICE has failed to take necessary corrective action, and it continues to delay in disclosing records about deaths in detention to the public, making it nearly impossible for families of those who died to learn the causes of their loved ones' deaths."
In fiscal year 2017, ICE held a daily average of nearly 40,500 people, an increase of nearly 500% since 1994. The Trump administration has asked Congress to allocate $2.8 billion for fiscal year 2019 to lock up a daily average of 52,000 immigrants in immigration detention facilities, a record number that would represent a 30% expansion from fiscal year 2017.
"Immigrant detention centers are dangerous places where lives are at risk and people are dying," said Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network, a national coalition that exposes the injustices of the US immigration detention and deportation system. "The death toll amassed by ICE is unacceptable and has proven that they cannot be trusted to care for immigrants in their custody."
The new report is an update of a 2017 Human Rights Watch report, which examined deaths in detention between 2012 and 2015, as well as a 2016 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Detention Watch Network, and the National Immigrant Justice Center that examined deaths in detention between 2010 and 2012.
Six of the deaths examined in "Code Red" occurred at facilities operated by the following private companies under contract with ICE: CoreCivic, Emerald Correctional Management, the GEO Group, and the Management and Training Corporation (MTC).
"To the extent that Congress continues to fund this system, they are complicit in its abuses," said Heidi Altman, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center, a nongovernmental group dedicated to ensuring human rights protections and access to justice for all immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. "Congress should immediately act to decrease rather than expand detention and demand robust health, safety, and human rights standards in immigration detention."
"Code Red: Fatal Consequences of Dangerously Substandard Medical Care in Immigration Detention" is available here:
https://www.aclu.org/report/code-red-fatal-consequences-dangerously-substandard-medical-care-immigration-detention
For more information about:
ACLU's work on immigration detention
https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention
Detention Watch Network
https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/
National Immigrant Justice Center
http://www.immigrantjustice.org/
NASCIO Named Silver Award Recipient in American Society of Association Executives Power of a Program
LEXINGTON, Kentucky, June 20 -- The National Association of State Chief Information Officers issued the following news release:
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has been named a Silver Award recipient in the 2018 American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Power of A program for its Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity study.
The Power of A awards recognize associations that distinguish themselves with innovative, effective and broad-reaching programs and activities that positively impact America and the world. The Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity study, a biennial
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LEXINGTON, Kentucky, June 20 -- The National Association of State Chief Information Officers issued the following news release:
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has been named a Silver Award recipient in the 2018 American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Power of A program for its Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity study.
The Power of A awards recognize associations that distinguish themselves with innovative, effective and broad-reaching programs and activities that positively impact America and the world. The Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity study, a biennialreport begun in 2010, details how states are managing cyber risks. Throughout the years the study has continued to gain visibility, with this most recent release being cited in the White House's FY19 Budget Request as the most "comprehensive study of state-level cybersecurity spending."
Noting the significance of the study to NASCIO members, Elayne Starkey, Chief Security Officer for the State of Delaware shared, "The Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity study is incredibly helpful to states for measuring and comparing our progress against other states. The study has assisted Delaware in addressing and preparing for current and future cybersecurity threats."
As Meredith Ward, NASCIO Senior Policy Analyst and project lead stated, "I'm so very proud of this study, the success of which is directly tied to the dedication and participation of our state Chief Information Security Officers (CISO). They are an incredible group of individuals who work day and night to protect our states. I look forward to releasing the newest iteration of the study this fall where, for the first time, all 50 states participated."
A full list of Power of A award recipients for 2018 can be found on the ASAE website (https://www.thepowerofa.org/2018/06/asae-announces-2018-power-of-a-award-winners/).
The document was originally issued on June 19, but posted on June 20.
Gambia: Fully Probe Anti-Mining Protesters' Deaths
WASHINGTON, June 20 -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
The Gambian authorities should thoroughly investigate the alleged excessive use of force by police causing the deaths of two anti-sand mining demonstrators on June 18, 2018, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. The Gambian government should accelerate the reforms needed to ensure that government security forces have the supervision, training, and equipment needed to police demonstrations in accordance with international human rights standards.
Witnesses said that police fired live ammunition at demonstrators
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WASHINGTON, June 20 -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
The Gambian authorities should thoroughly investigate the alleged excessive use of force by police causing the deaths of two anti-sand mining demonstrators on June 18, 2018, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. The Gambian government should accelerate the reforms needed to ensure that government security forces have the supervision, training, and equipment needed to police demonstrations in accordance with international human rights standards.
Witnesses said that police fired live ammunition at demonstratorsin the village of Faraba Banta, killing local residents Bakary Kujabi and Ismaila Bah, and wounding at least six others. President Adama Barrow issued a news release the same day stating that he had opened an investigation and that all mining in the area had been suspended. The government also said that five police officers involved in the shooting were in police custody and will be suspended while investigations are conducted.
"The alleged excessive use of lethal force by the security forces has conjured up painful memories from Gambia's recent past," said Sabrina Mahtani, West Africa researcher at Amnesty International. "The government's promise to investigate is a positive move. Gambians should be able to hold demonstrations safe from disproportionate and excessive use of force by the security forces."
Members of Gambia's Police Intervention Unit (PIU), a police paramilitary force, clashed with residents of Faraba Banta, 50 kilometers south of the capital, Banjul, after local residents blocked mining-related traffic.
A journalist who observed the protest told Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, "As soon as [police reinforcements] came out of the vehicle they started firing live bullets. They did not issue a warning or alarm." Another journalist in the village, Pa Bojang, said that police officers detained him for six hours, slapped him, and confiscated his voice recorder.
Witnesses told Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that protesters threw stones and burned vehicles, injuring more than a dozen police officers. Gambia's police chief, Landing Kinteh, said in a June 18 media statement that police leadership, "did not authorize the use of firearms" by police in responding to the protests.
Several protesters arrested on June 18, including those injured, remain in police custody, and face possible charges for destruction of property. Injured detainees should receive medical attention and a court should promptly review the necessity of their continued detention. Those responsible for destroying property or committing other offenses should be prosecuted in accordance with international fair trial standards.
A May 26 protest in Faraba Banta against sand mining, which provides sand for concrete for construction, had also led to clashes between local residents and police, with officers firing teargas and rubber bullets to disperse at times violent demonstrators. Faraba Banta residents say that sand mining will damage the rice fields they rely on for food and income. The Police Intervention Unit had maintained a presence in the village following the May 26 clashes.
The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials state that the intentional lethal use of firearms by security forces "may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life." Furthermore, "[i]n the dispersal of violent assemblies, law enforcement officials may use firearms only when less dangerous means are not practicable and only to the minimum extent necessary."
The Guidelines on Policing Assemblies in Africa, adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, state that, "firearms must never be used to disperse an assembly" and that intentional use of lethal force is prohibited "unless it is strictly unavoidable to protect life." Where force is used, law enforcement officials must ensure that medical assistance is rendered to any injured person.
"Gambia's Police Intervention Unit has a history of using excessive force against demonstrators, and escaped censure during former President Jammeh's abusive rule," said Jim Wormington, West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Gambian government needs to show that it can conduct credible investigations and appropriately discipline or prosecute those responsible for abuses."
Cooler Computing Through Statistical Physics?
SANTA FE, New Mexico, June 20 -- Santa Fe Institute issued the following news release:
In the space inside a computer chip, where electricity becomes information, there's a scientific frontier. The same frontier can be found inside a cell, where information instead takes the form of chemical concentrations. Recent breakthroughs in the field of nonequilibrium statistical physics have revealed vast areas of research lying hidden within the field of "thermodynamics of computation." Advances in this field, which involves elements of statistical physics, computer science, cellular biology, and possibly
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SANTA FE, New Mexico, June 20 -- Santa Fe Institute issued the following news release:
In the space inside a computer chip, where electricity becomes information, there's a scientific frontier. The same frontier can be found inside a cell, where information instead takes the form of chemical concentrations. Recent breakthroughs in the field of nonequilibrium statistical physics have revealed vast areas of research lying hidden within the field of "thermodynamics of computation." Advances in this field, which involves elements of statistical physics, computer science, cellular biology, and possiblyeven neurobiology, could have far-reaching consequences for how we understand, and engineer, our computers. To kick-start this line research, Santa Fe Institute scientists and their collaborators have launched an online wiki for collaboration. This week they also published a paper that neatly summarizes recent advances and open questions that pertain to thermodynamics and computation.
"The thermodynamic restrictions on all systems that perform computation provide major challenges to the modern design of computers," the researchers write in the opening paragraph of the wiki, designed to "serve as a hub and a gathering place for all who are interested." They go on to outline the magnitude of energy consumed by computers and the engineering challenges that result when a portion of that energy is lost as waste heat. The wiki also compares natural computations, performed by cells or human brains, to artificial computations, which are markedly less efficient.
The research picks up on work by Rolf Landauer, who in 1961 postulated that in order to erase a single bit of information -- a 1 or a 0 -- a certain amount of energy must be lost as heat. Landauer's insight is well known to computer scientists and has led to an informal maxim to avoid bit erasure whenever possible.
Going beyond Landauer's cost, the new paper tries to convey that "there's more to the thermodynamics of computation than just bit erasure," says co-author Joshua Grochow of the University of Colorado Boulder. The paper, published in the computer science newsletter SIGACT News, presents additional factors that could affect how energy flows in and out of atoms during a computation.
To reach other scientists who might be interested in pursuing a thermodynamics of computation, Grochow and co-author David Wolpert of the Santa Fe Institute catalog some of the new tools from statistical physics that apply to nonequilibrium systems -- like computers.
"Part of what we are trying to do with this paper is package up the lessons from nonequilibrium statistical [physics] over the past 20 years in a way that makes clear what the new computational questions are," Grochow explains. He hopes that by presenting what is now known about the relationship between thermodynamics and the microscopic processes that occur during computation, the paper will "entice computer scientists to work on a new generation of questions."
One of these questions involves how to thermodynamically "tune" computers to the inputs they are most likely to encounter. Grochow gives the example of a calculator that is thermodynamically optimized for random 32-bit string inputs (equivalent to a decimal value of 10 digits). The majority of human users don't enter inputs that require any of the higher bits. If the calculator were re-engineered to "expect" fewer than 32 bits, would it waste less energy in the form of heat?
Beyond the accuracy of a computation, Grochow says the amount of memory a computation requires and how long the computation takes are other aspects that could affect its thermodynamic efficiency.
Wolpert hopes their research will expand to incorporate other recent breakthroughs from statistical physics, like the Jarzinski equation. This equation provides a probabilistic bridge between the macro-scale world, where entropy can only increase, and the micro-scale world, where it does not. Some computer transistors are tiny enough to exist between these macro and micro scales.
"We're extending computer science theory, which was originally motivated by real-world systems, to other aspects of those systems that it never even knew to think about before," says Wolpert.
The theory could lead to engineering advances that would enable cooler, more powerful machines, like exascale computers and even tiny swarm robots. It could also impact the sustainability of computing technology.
"Computers now use a non-trivial fraction of energy in first world countries," says Grochow. "Given that computing is going to continue to grow, reducing the energy they consume is hugely important to reducing our overall energy footprint."
Canada Becomes Second Country to End Marijuana Prohibition; Regulated Adult Sales to Begin Later This Year
WASHINGTON, June 20 -- The Marijuana Policy Project issued the following news release:
A bill to legalize and regulate marijuana for adult use in Canada received final approval from lawmakers Tuesday and will now be sent to the governor general for royal assent. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet will choose the specific date on which the law will take effect, and legal sales are expected to begin within eight to 12 weeks.
Canada will be just the second country -- and the first G7 nation -- to legalize marijuana for adults at the national level. The first was Uruguay, where legislation
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WASHINGTON, June 20 -- The Marijuana Policy Project issued the following news release:
A bill to legalize and regulate marijuana for adult use in Canada received final approval from lawmakers Tuesday and will now be sent to the governor general for royal assent. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet will choose the specific date on which the law will take effect, and legal sales are expected to begin within eight to 12 weeks.
Canada will be just the second country -- and the first G7 nation -- to legalize marijuana for adults at the national level. The first was Uruguay, where legislationwas signed into law in December 2013 and a limited number of pharmacies began selling marijuana to adults in July 2017. Nine U.S. states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws making marijuana legal for adults 21 and older, and eight of those laws include systems for regulating the cultivation and sale of marijuana.
Bill C-45, known as the Cannabis Act, creates an overarching national regulatory framework and enables each province to establish its own system of licensing and regulating marijuana businesses. Adults will be allowed to possess up to 30 grams of marijuana, and all products will be sold in plain packaging with clearly marked labels.
Statement from Mason Tvert, spokesperson for the Marijuana Policy Project:
"This is a historic step forward for the movement to end marijuana prohibition. We commend the members of Parliament and the prime minister for their extraordinary demonstration of leadership on this issue. Canada will set a great example for countries that are considering similar reforms, and it will inspire much-needed debate in those that are not.
"Marijuana is a less harmful substance than alcohol, and Canada is about to start treating it that way. Adults will finally be able to purchase it safely and legally in regulated, taxpaying businesses rather than resorting to the illegal market. Products will be tightly controlled and subject to strict packaging and labeling requirements, rather than being sold in plastic baggies alongside other illegal substances.
"It is time for the U.S. to take similar action and adopt a more rational federal marijuana policy. There has been a lot of positive movement in Congress lately, so hopefully members will be inspired to finally address this issue head on, as Canada has."
