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Friday, 31 December 2010
BBC News - Australia: Queensland floods spur more evacuations
31 December 2010 Last updated at 11:31Australia: Queensland floods spur more evacuations
There are major concerns for the town of Emerald, now largely cut off by water
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Thousands more people are preparing to evacuate their homes as one of Australia's worst floods continues to inundate the state of Queensland.
Forced evacuations are being planned in Rockhampton as rising floodwaters threaten the town of 77,000.
Australian PM Julia Gillard has visited flooded Bundaberg, and flew over Emerald as evacuations there continued.
The floods have affected about 200,000 people over an area larger than France and Germany, Queensland's premier says.
An estimated 22 towns have been left isolated or inundated by the rising waters, with fears that damage could cost billions of Australian dollars to repair.
The situation in Emerald - a town of some 11,000 people - was particularly bad, Premier Anna Bligh told reporters.
There was also major concern for Rockhampton, where residents are said to be attempting to stockpile bread and fresh fruit and vegetables.
"We've seen lots of panic buying of food. Shelves in shopping centres are empty," Rockhampton resident Petros Khalesirad told the BBC.
"But I think people have been over-reacting. We have groceries arriving today and in the worst case scenario, the military will be involved in helping."
Continue reading the main storyQUEENSLAND
- North-eastern Australian state
- Largely tropical climate
- Area: 1.73 million sq km (668,000 sq mile)
- Coastal regions, including Great Barrier Reef, designated World Heritage Site
- Mining and cattle ranching important inland
Officials in Rockhampton - where the floods peak could be up to 48 hours away - said a shift was under way from voluntary evacuations to compulsory relocation.
"Police will order people in affected areas to leave their homes," Mayor Brad Carter said.
Elderly people and other at-risk groups would be the first moved out of their properties, officials said.
Speaking as she toured affected areas with the prime minister, Ms Bligh described the flooding as "a long way from over".
"Authorities think there will be a very large group of people who will be homeless in the next 24 hours.
"We now have three major river systems in flood; we have 17 evacuation centres active; we have more than 1,000 people in those evacuation centres and many more thousands staying with relatives and friends."
Helicopter evacuationsOfficials said the situation in Emerald remained uncertain and could yet get worse if floodwaters continue to rise.
The Nogoa River was due to peak on Friday afternoon, and 1,200 residents had already registered as evacuees before the waters hit their peak.
Helicopters including army Black Hawks have been ferrying residents to safer locations.
<div class="warning"> <img class="holding" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50623000/jpg/_50623614_010919567-1.jpg" alt="Wallaby stranded by floods in Queensland, Australia" /> <p><strong>Please turn on JavaScript.</strong> Media requires JavaScript to play.</p> </div>Click to play
More than half of Queensland is now a disaster zone
Julia Gillard and Anna Bligh were due to visit Emerald on Friday but were unable to land, instead flying over the area to get an aerial view of the devastation.
Ms Gillard's first stop on land was in Bundaberg, which has seen its worst flooding for four decades and has been split in two by the swollen Burnett River. Waters there are now receding.
She spoke to evacuees and volunteers, and was briefed on the rescue and recovery effort.
"As devastating as these floods are, we are seeing a magnificent response by all levels of government and by emergency personnel," Ms Gillard said.
Two smaller towns, Theodore and Condamine, have been completely evacuated. In Condamine some residents had been refusing to leave their houses.
Recovery work following the floods is expected to cost billions of dollars, with officials warning of severe damage to homes, crops and livestock.
Sewerage systems have also been affected, raising public health concerns.
Petros Khalesirad told the BBC that Rockhampton was well-prepared but the effect on Queensland as a whole would be significant.
"These floods are going to affect the state, the whole nation. It's going to have a huge impact on mining commodities - several coal mines are under water and some won't be operational for months."
Are you in Australia? Have you been affected by the floods? Have you been forced to leave your house? You can send your comments and pictures to us using the form below.
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
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BBC News - NI Water examines its response to the crisis
31 December 2010 Last updated at 12:09NI Water examines its response to the crisis
First Minister Peter Robinson says the response of NI Water has been "shambolic"
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The board of Northern Ireland Water will meet later to reflect on how the company has handled the ongoing water supply crisis.
They will report their findings in the coming days to Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy.
About 5,000 homes remain without running water.
NI Water has said that 20,000 properties will have an on/off supply, all of them in the east of Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, former Northern Ireland Water acting chief executive Christopher Mellor, who was sacked in March, has described the water crisis as a "disaster waiting to happen".
"I think this is what happens when you get rid of the directors at the top of NIW, who knew what they were doing, and replace them with people who have no experience of running a water utility.
"In my view, the politicians, as well as the company, must take some share of the blame.
"I think it was interesting but predictable to see the politicians lining up at Stormont to blame the company."
However, Conor Murphy, the minister with responsibility for NI Water, said he was "entirely correct" to sack the previous board.
"I would have been rightly criticised for leaving the board in place, on the basis that Chris Mellor alone had some experience in a water utility company, given the procurement practices that were going on," he said.
NI Water spokesman Liam Mulholland said on Friday morning: "Our sole focus at the moment is to get customers back on supply.
"There will be a review and there will be lessons we will take from this and try and improve things going forward.
"But right now it's about getting those 6,000 homes that are off supply completely back on."
ShambolicAn emergency session of the Executive was held on Thursday to discuss the problems affecting the water supply, after which First Minister Peter Robinson called NI Water's response "shambolic" and "ineffective".
He said he did not think anyone could suggest the state-owned company had "covered themselves in glory".
"People must assess their own position and of course if people don't assess their own position the (Executive's) review will look at where responsibility lies and decisions will be taken on the foot of that," he added.
In relation to the water company, Mr Robinson said: "It isn't simply a case of under-performing, we believe it has been shambolic at stages, it has been ineffective. It has not been the kind of organisation that is fit for purpose.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said NI Water's performance had been "totally unacceptable behaviour by an arms-length body".
Continue reading the main story“Start Quote
End Quote Peter Robinson NI First MinisterWe believe it has been shambolic at stages, it has been ineffective. It has not been the kind of organisation that is fit for purpose.”
He said it was "disturbing" that people at a senior level at the organisation had not anticipated the scale of the difficulties presented by the recent thaw in temperatures.
"We are not prepared to accept this treatment on behalf of citizens. Arms-length bodies need to be held to account," he said.
He said it was a "key priority" that schools and businesses would be able to resume after the Christmas period.
BurstsNI Water warned it could be next week before all homes and businesses are reconnected.
The Royal Victoria Hospital, South Tyrone Hospital, Dungannon, and Lagan Valley Hospital, Lisburn, have been affected by the water supply crisis.
The Northern Ireland Secretary of State has warned there could be major changes in how the NI water supply is financed.
Owen Paterson said Northern Ireland's infrastructure had suffered over the years and that changes were now needed.
"What will be looked at here is the difference in the way that water is paid for in the rest of the UK and the way it is paid for in Northern Ireland, where it is just an element of the rates," he said.
Eighty villages and towns have been affected as pipes burst in the thaw.
Trevor Haslett, director of engineering at NI Water, said the situation in urban areas was improving and should be better by Friday afternoon.
Burst pipesHowever, he added: "It could be early next week before everybody is on supply."
Mr Haslett said over a period of 12 hours the company suffered more burst service pipes than he could remember for 35 years.
The Scottish government is sending further supplies of water to Northern Ireland. Five lorry loads of bottled water are being delivered on Friday, with another two lorries scheduled for Saturday.
'Big pressure'<div class="warning"> <img class="holding" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50614000/jpg/_50614541_jex_912553_de24-1.jpg" alt="Trevor Haslett (left) and Laurence MacKenzie (right)" /> <p><strong>Please turn on JavaScript.</strong> Media requires JavaScript to play.</p> </div>Click to play
NI Water's Chief Executive, Lawrence MacKenzie, and Trevor Haslett, Director of Engineering & Procurement, take questions
NI Water, a state-owned company, which is the sole provider of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland, said an unprecedented number of leaks caused by the thaw following the long period of freezing weather had been putting "big pressure" on its systems.
The thaw followed the worst snow in Northern Ireland in 25 years and record cold temperatures.
As temperatures rose, burst pipes drained reservoirs, forcing NI Water to turn off the tap to the 80 locations.
Local councils are working to supply water and offer free showers to people without a mains supply and information is being provided on the NI Water website.
More information on the water shortage is available from the NI Water website, or telephone hot line on 08457 440088, on Ceefax page 169 and BBC News Online.
Are you in Northern Ireland? Are you experiencing problems with your water supply due to the weather? Do you run a small business? How has it affected trade? Send us your comments and experiences using the form below.
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
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Bulletin Board - Facultad de informática-Facultad de informática(UPM)
2 November 2010. Researchers from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid's Facultad de Informática have developed an application capable of human emotion recognition from automated voice analysis.
The application analyses the sound measurements of a conversation, output by another purpose-built program. Then, based on the rules described in the new application, it is able to identify the emotions hidden in an expression and determine whether the speaker is sad, happy or nervous. Even if the emotion is unclear, the application is able to specify how close the speaker is to each emotion in percentage terms. The application was presented by Susana Muñoz Hernández at the First International Conference on Fuzzy Computation, held in Madeira, Portugal, in 2009.
The application is based on a new tool called RFuzzy, implemented in the Prolog programming language. Prolog is able to represent and operate with what is known as fuzzy logic. Prolog is used primarily in artificial intelligence and expert systems applications.
RFuzzy is a programming support, which stands out for its ease of use and its expressivity. It is able to represent, handle and reason with subjective concepts like high, low, fast, slow, etc.
Apart from being applied to detect emotions in human conversations, RFuzzy has also been used to enhance robot intelligence. In this particular case, RFuzzy was used to program robots participating in the world robot soccer league (RoboCupSoccer), which has been held since 1996 with the aim of developing robotics and artificial intelligence. The experience was outlined in the book Robot Soccer, Inteh, Croatia, 2010, edited by Vladan Papic.
Being based on fuzzy logic, RFuzzy has important benefits for both conversation analysis and the enhancement of championship soccer robot behaviour. Its logical mechanisms are flexible and it leaves some margin of interpretation to the computer. The computer will then make the decision depending on a series of logical rules that take measurable parameters (volume, speech pitch and rate, position, speed or distance of the robot from the ball, etc.) as a reference.
The details of this research are to be published shortly in the INS- Information Science journal and can be consulted online at Science Direct.
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