12 Sep

9/12 is the saga of the epic nine-year legal battle waged by William H. Groner against the City of New York and its contractors on behalf of the more than ten thousand first responders who became ill as a result of working on the Ground Zero cleanup. These first responders—like AT&T Disaster Relief head Gary Acker and New York Police Department detectives Candiace Baker, Thomas Ryan, and Mindy Hersh—rushed to Ground Zero and remained to work on the rescue and recovery mission, which lasted for the next nine months. Their selfless bravery and humanity were rewarded with horrible health issues resulting from the toxic stew of chemicals present in the dust and debris that government officials such as Mayor Rudy Giuliani and EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman had assured them was safe. Groner, a lead attorney in the mass tort litigation, fought for their illnesses to be acknowledged and for them to receive validation and closure, as well as for compensation—an eventual aggregate award of more than $800 million. As detailed in 9/12, the battle for the Ground Zero responders was waged not only in the courtroom but also in the press, in medical and scientific research centers, and among politicians at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as in the halls of Congress to pass the Zadroga Health and Compensation Act. 9/12 weaves together Groner’s firsthand account with glimpses into the first responders’ lives as they try to understand and overcome their illnesses. The result is an intimate look into their battles—physical, mental, and legal—that will leave you cheering for these heroes who, in spite of everything, would do it all again. Told by Groner and journalist Tom Teicholz, 9/12 is the story of the brave public servants who showed up when their country needed them most, of their fight for redress, and of their victory in the face of the seemingly insurmountable.

Volume 1 of 4. The January and July issues of the Indian Army List contain not only the distribution of officers on the active list of the Army in India, including officers of British army regiments, battalions etc stationed in India, but are supplemented by the addition of Orders of Knighthood, Honours and Awards, including Foreign Orders, by the non-effective officer list and the War Services of officers of the Indian Army. Details of each officer include dates of birth (except for wartime commissioned officers), date of first commission, of appointment to the Indian Army and dates of promotion. Officers are grouped according to their rank and by seniority within that rank, and are again shown under their regiments/battalions. In the case of British units, their date of arrival in India is shown, and with Indian units their date of formation and changes in title since, plus details of the backgrounds of men recruited, e.g. Sikhs, Punjabis, Dogras, Rajputs, etc. This army list also includes all native Viceroy Commissioned Officers - Subadar Majors, Subadars and Jemadars - and their war services, Major HQs and their staffs, divisional and brigade commanders and their staffs, schools, colleges, Administrative Departments of the Army are all shown. Non-regular Indian Defence Force units such as 22nd Bengal and North-Western railway Battalion, and the Indian Army Reserve of Officers are all there, along with British Warrant Officers serving in departments of the Indian Army. In 1914 there were 116 Indian and 10 Gurkha Regiments, all with one battalion apart from the cavalry, 32 Indian and one Gurkha regiment had been formed and the majority of the original regiments had raised second and sometimes third battalions. This splendid four-volume work reflects the tremendous contribution made by the Indian Army to the Empire's war effort. A full index is included.

Rational Exuberance for Renewable Energy is a beyond-the-hype account of the underlying issues that encourage or plague widespread dissemination of renewable energy (RE) technologies. Renewable energy operates in the real world, and it cannot be assumed that the conventional theories and incentive structures of economics and business do not apply. The author argues that grants and subsidies could be provided to support research, development and technology improvement efforts, but should not be employed as an instrument of state policy to intervene in specific markets. It is important to recognize that although investors often demonstrate an appetite for market risk, they find technology risks and policy uncertainty much less appealing. Rational Exuberance for Renewable Energy blends classical economic theory with the everyday realities of the RE industry to identify incentive structures contributing to the success – or otherwise – of project implementation involving renewable sources and appropriate technologies. The book is a compilation of articles that analyze individual RE technologies, and offer multiple perspectives of the RE industry and markets. Rational Exuberance for Renewable Energy is intended for policy makers, advanced students of energy economics and sustainable development, and for potential mainstream investors.

Extreme weather and climate change aggravate the frequency and magnitude of disasters. Facing atypical and more severe events, existing early warning and response systems become inadequate both in scale and scope. Earth Observation (EO) provides today information at global, regional and even basin scales related to agrometeorological hazards. This book focuses on drought, flood, frost, landslides, and storms/cyclones and covers different applications of EO data used from prediction to mapping damages as well as recovery for each category. It explains the added value of EO technology in comparison with conventional techniques applied today through many case studies.

This 2015 Article IV Consultation highlights that growth in Lithuania has remained resilient, despite challenges in the external environment. Strong domestic demand growth on the back of improving labor market conditions underpinned real GDP growth of 2.9 percent in 2014. Exports held up reasonably well despite Russian import bans. Growth should remain largely unchanged at 2.8 percent from last year in 2015, as positive external factors counterbalance negative ones and domestic demand remains robust. The main policy challenge will be to secure reasonably rapid convergence with living standards in western Europe going forward.