LONDON // It is the fish that really annoy Hafiz Khalid.
Erected as part of the multibillion-pound development project that accompanied last year's Olympic Games, the fish are the 250-metre long Stratford Shoal, a gold and green leaflike titanium sculpture, raised to hide the concrete behemoth that is Stratford Centre, the East London shopping complex where Mr Khalid has a clothes stall.
To Mr Khalid, the fish are a waste of money.
"I don't understand what they are for," the 29-year-old said with some exasperation. "And I don't like them."
The British government says the Olympics, which started a year ago today, were an unmitigated success that poured billions into the economy and revitalised previously deprived areas such as Stratford, home to what is now the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, on Thursday went so far as to call the Olympic legacy an "astonishing economic story of regeneration" in poor parts of East London such as Stratford.
But that is not a story Mr Khalid recognises. To him, it was business as usual as soon as the Games finished. And now, "business is going down".
Economists paint a more complex picture.
In a report on the Olympic legacy published last week, the government claimed hosting the Games has injected ?9.9bn (Dh55.88bn) into the British economy so far, comfortably covering the ?8.7bn it cost the public coffers to play host nation.
But that version is "something of an exaggeration", said Gavin Poynter, an economist with the University of East London who has written extensively on urban development in London, and co-edited a book on Olympic cities.
In fact, if one takes into account what would have happened anyway in terms of investment in the area, Mr Poynter said, "at a generous level" one would halve the government figure and get nearer to the truth.
That takes some considerable shine off the government's boasted Olympic legacy, but is not to be sniffed at. Investment in infrastructure, Mr Poynter noted, left Stratford not only better connected to London but a more attractive place to visit.
The shoal sculpture that so annoys Mr Khalid was part of a ?13.5 million development project of the Stratford Centre. Just across Stratford International, the rail station that was completely refurbished ahead of the Games, now lies the vast new Westfield shopping complex, one of the largest urban shopping areas in Europe.
Westfield created about 8,000 jobs in the area. It was a "godsend", said Jean Smith, 27, a shop assistant. Ms Smith is originally from Ireland but has spent 11 years in Stratford. Most of those years she had been unemployed, she said on Thursday.
"Without this, I'd still be out of a job. I am very happy with what's happened."
But "this" - a high-end retail haven of sushi chain restaurants, Armani clothes shops and Omega watch outlets - is out of a shop assistant's range. It stands in marked contrast to the burger chains, 99-pence shops, discount supermarkets and market stalls of the older Stratford Centre.
For all its shiny new buildings, four in 10 children still grow up in poverty in Newham Borough, of which Stratford is a part. According to The Economist, it is the second-most deprived borough in Britain.
Jobs were created, said Mr Poynter. But like the jobs that were lost with the almost 250 small business enterprises that gave way to the Olympic park, they are on the low wage scale end, if in retail rather than manual labour.
Mr Poynter said he was pessimistic about the long-term benefits of the Olympics for the local population in Stratford, even with plans for more affordable housing.
"In the longer term it seems to me that the types of development that are happening will inevitably create the kind of gentrification that has occurred in other parts of London," leaving the area out of reach of the traditional working class that makes up the bulk of the population.
These are still early days, and Mr Johnson has cautioned against cynicism.
The 2012 Games were a huge sporting and entertainment success and eventually won over sceptical Londoners, who had feared the worst for the creaking infrastructure of their city, he said.
Cynics then were forced to eat large helpings of "humble pie", Mr Johnson said. The same would apply now, he promised.
But like the government's best-of-all-possible-worlds figures, the Olympic legacy remains aspirational, in that it closely resembles Stratford International Station, which, despite its name, serves no destination outside England.
Anyone in the UK on Vodafone hoping for some LTE soon will be disappointed, as their CEO has confirmed the carrier won't be switching on 4G until around September. This is in part due to the current iPhone 5 being incompatible with their proposed LTE network. Speaking to The Guardian, CEO Vittorio Colao said:
"We are convinced our own 4G will be better performing. We want to be able to launch it when it's really ready. End of the summer means when there is going to be a good commercial window for launching it."
Currently, the iPhone 5 will only operate LTE on the 1800MHz bands in the UK, while Vodafone acquired 800MHz and 2600MHz in the recent spectrum auctions. Had Vodafone launched soon as they were initially expected to, they would have launched without an LTE iPhone. Not a great marketing play. Stepping back to September plays right into the "good commercial window for launching it," as we're naturally expecting a new iPhone in the latter stages of the year.
The Wisconsin Humane Society received dogs from Oklahoma just before the tornado struck. Now, they?re preparing for the possibility of receiving more. Video by tmj4.com
MILWAUKEE - The Wisconsin Humane Society received dogs from Oklahoma just before the tornado struck. Now, they?re preparing for the possibility of receiving more.
?Two days ago we received a transport of animals from that shelter, which now, as it turns out, would have likely been impacted by the disaster,? said Matt Witte with the Wisconsin Humane Society.
This shelter in Milwaukee may get called again. Shelters in disaster areas often ask others to take animals in their care. Those centers need to make room for a spike in strays and pets owners just can?t care for when they?ve lost everything.
On short notice, the Wisconsin Humane Society could send a van to Oklahoma City to transport overflow animals back to Milwaukee.
?We just started our conversation today, but we are very interested in being able to go down to that region to pick up dogs that need help, which is the plea they have put out,? Witte said.
The Humane Society said, if needed, they can accommodate 35-40 dogs from Oklahoma.
Contact: Ole Winther olwi@dtu.dk Technical University of Denmark
DTU Compute has developed a search tool to help doctors home in on the right diagnosis for patients with rare diseases
If you hear the sound of galloping hooves behind you, your immediate reaction is, 'here comes a horse'. But in very rare cases it is actually a zebra approaching. Doctors are trained to think 'horse' or 'common disease' when they meet patients in their practices, and as they rarely or never meet a 'zebra', in the form of a rare disease, it often takes many years to reach the right diagnosis. A new search tool called FindZebra can dramatically reduce this time in many cases.
Ole Winther is Associate Professor at DTU Compute, where he works with algorithms and other mathematical tools that can make the Internet more 'intelligent'. Three years ago, he was set on the path to develop FindZebra which has now become known around the world via various journals, websites and blogs.
Targeted search
There is a wealth of articles on the Internet describing rare diseases and their symptomssome of which are high quality and very thorough, while others are more haphazard and undocumented. Doctors often use the PubMed biomedical article database, which also has a search function. However, searching on individual symptoms is usually not enoughdoctors ideally need to know the name of an article's author or the like in order to get useful results.
If you search on Google you may be fortunate enough to find articles on rare diseases, but Google's (secret) algorithms are optimized based on how many clicks search results receive. Common searches are therefore continually improved, while specialized searches, for example for rare diseases, do not necessarily benefit from Google's ongoing development.
"When I became aware of the problem of finding the right diagnosis using normal Google searches, I thought to myself: 'There must be a better way!'," says Ole Winther.
He put together a small team to develop a search engine with a special focus on rare diseases. Two undergraduates were initially assigned to the project, and they were later joined by two MSc thesis students, Radu Dragusin and Paula Petcu.
The project team gathered material from the 6-8,000 known and documented rare diseases from 10 different Internet sites. All sources have been selected in cooperation with Henrik L. Jrgensen, Consultant at the Clinical Biochemical Department at Bispebjerg Hospital.
FindZebra searches over 31,000 articles in total. This is a limited amount compared to Google's breadth, but they are all potentially relevant to doctors seeking diagnoses for rare diseases.
State of the art
A major element of the work on FindZebra has been to thoroughly test the search engine, and Henrik L. Jrgensen has also been a great help in this area by finding good test cases, i.e rare cases of illness where a diagnosis has been made.
"Rare diseases are defined as occurring in less than 1 in 1500 people, so they are not something doctors normally encounter. When you have a patient for whom all the more common diseases have been ruled out, FindZebra has been of great assistance," says Henrik L. Jrgensen.
"The search engine cannot make a final diagnosis, but a search on symptoms and any genetic information returns 20 possible diagnoses in priority order, giving the doctor input into new alternatives which can be investigated."
During the test phase researchers compared results from Google searches both covering the entire web and limited to relevant materialand searchers in FindZebra, and the result was surprisingly good: In 56 searches, Google found the correct answer in 32 per cent of the cases, while FindZebra produced twice as many useful results.
Overwhelming interest
FindZebra has become known around the world via various journals, websites and blogs, and 30,000 people have already visited findzebra.com, where it has been possible for anyone to perform searches in the new lexicon of rare diseases since mid-March.
Ole Winther is very pleased with the overwhelming interest in the search engine, the more than 500 daily visits to the website, and several invitations to talk about the project at conferences around the world.
The plan for the moment is for FindZebra to continue to be an open and freely available resource. The database will be updated every three months to ensure that all available and relevant material is included at all times.
However, Ole Winther also conceives that the search engine could achieve even greater value by becoming part of a forum for doctors where they enter new data each time they encounter a patient with a rare disease.
"In this way the engine could 'learn' from the many cases and become even more useful. But we will have to wait and see how things develop. Our primary goal is for doctors around the world to become aware of FindZebra," says Ole Winther.
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Contact: Ole Winther olwi@dtu.dk Technical University of Denmark
DTU Compute has developed a search tool to help doctors home in on the right diagnosis for patients with rare diseases
If you hear the sound of galloping hooves behind you, your immediate reaction is, 'here comes a horse'. But in very rare cases it is actually a zebra approaching. Doctors are trained to think 'horse' or 'common disease' when they meet patients in their practices, and as they rarely or never meet a 'zebra', in the form of a rare disease, it often takes many years to reach the right diagnosis. A new search tool called FindZebra can dramatically reduce this time in many cases.
Ole Winther is Associate Professor at DTU Compute, where he works with algorithms and other mathematical tools that can make the Internet more 'intelligent'. Three years ago, he was set on the path to develop FindZebra which has now become known around the world via various journals, websites and blogs.
Targeted search
There is a wealth of articles on the Internet describing rare diseases and their symptomssome of which are high quality and very thorough, while others are more haphazard and undocumented. Doctors often use the PubMed biomedical article database, which also has a search function. However, searching on individual symptoms is usually not enoughdoctors ideally need to know the name of an article's author or the like in order to get useful results.
If you search on Google you may be fortunate enough to find articles on rare diseases, but Google's (secret) algorithms are optimized based on how many clicks search results receive. Common searches are therefore continually improved, while specialized searches, for example for rare diseases, do not necessarily benefit from Google's ongoing development.
"When I became aware of the problem of finding the right diagnosis using normal Google searches, I thought to myself: 'There must be a better way!'," says Ole Winther.
He put together a small team to develop a search engine with a special focus on rare diseases. Two undergraduates were initially assigned to the project, and they were later joined by two MSc thesis students, Radu Dragusin and Paula Petcu.
The project team gathered material from the 6-8,000 known and documented rare diseases from 10 different Internet sites. All sources have been selected in cooperation with Henrik L. Jrgensen, Consultant at the Clinical Biochemical Department at Bispebjerg Hospital.
FindZebra searches over 31,000 articles in total. This is a limited amount compared to Google's breadth, but they are all potentially relevant to doctors seeking diagnoses for rare diseases.
State of the art
A major element of the work on FindZebra has been to thoroughly test the search engine, and Henrik L. Jrgensen has also been a great help in this area by finding good test cases, i.e rare cases of illness where a diagnosis has been made.
"Rare diseases are defined as occurring in less than 1 in 1500 people, so they are not something doctors normally encounter. When you have a patient for whom all the more common diseases have been ruled out, FindZebra has been of great assistance," says Henrik L. Jrgensen.
"The search engine cannot make a final diagnosis, but a search on symptoms and any genetic information returns 20 possible diagnoses in priority order, giving the doctor input into new alternatives which can be investigated."
During the test phase researchers compared results from Google searches both covering the entire web and limited to relevant materialand searchers in FindZebra, and the result was surprisingly good: In 56 searches, Google found the correct answer in 32 per cent of the cases, while FindZebra produced twice as many useful results.
Overwhelming interest
FindZebra has become known around the world via various journals, websites and blogs, and 30,000 people have already visited findzebra.com, where it has been possible for anyone to perform searches in the new lexicon of rare diseases since mid-March.
Ole Winther is very pleased with the overwhelming interest in the search engine, the more than 500 daily visits to the website, and several invitations to talk about the project at conferences around the world.
The plan for the moment is for FindZebra to continue to be an open and freely available resource. The database will be updated every three months to ensure that all available and relevant material is included at all times.
However, Ole Winther also conceives that the search engine could achieve even greater value by becoming part of a forum for doctors where they enter new data each time they encounter a patient with a rare disease.
"In this way the engine could 'learn' from the many cases and become even more useful. But we will have to wait and see how things develop. Our primary goal is for doctors around the world to become aware of FindZebra," says Ole Winther.
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In April NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission took a huge panorama. From 438 miles above the Earth, the satellite shot a 6,000-mile-long, 120-mile-wide strip of planet from Russia to South Africa. It is aptly named ?The Long Swath.? Oh and it's 19.06 gigapixels.
New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton, right, shoots under Indiana Pacers forward Paul George during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton, right, shoots under Indiana Pacers forward Paul George during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert, left, dunks over New York Knicks guard James White during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert (55) is fouled by New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler, right, as he shoots in front of Knicks guard Pablo Prigioni during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
New York Knicks' Tyson Chandler (6) reacts after being called for a foul by referee Ken Mauer, left, during the first half of Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony (7) shoots against Indiana Pacers' Roy Hibbert (55) and George Hill, right, during the first half of Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Indiana spent the entire season perfecting its defense.
On Saturday, it produced the biggest payoff for the Pacers in nearly a decade.
Roy Hibbert's block of Carmelo Anthony's dunk attempt midway through the fourth quarter spurred an 11-2 run that rallied the Pacers to a 106-99 victory in Game 6 of their second-round series, sending them into their first Eastern Conference final since 2004.
New York native Lance Stephenson scored nine points in the run, finishing with a playoff career-high 25.
"That's why they pay me the big bucks this summer, so I have to protect the paint," said Hibbert, who signed a $58 million contract last summer. "If all else fails, meaning the offense, I have to protect the paint."
With players from both teams standing on the court as the final seconds ticked off and Pacers fans roaring in appreciation, the sellout crowd wasted little time breaking into chants of "Beat The Heat!"
For Indiana, it sets up a postseason rematch with the defending NBA champs, the team that eliminated them last May after the Pacers had taken a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven semifinals. The Heat wound up winning Game 4 at Indiana and followed that with two more wins as Danny Granger struggled with a knee injury.
Indiana used the lessons from that series as motivation to improve this season and wound up beating the Heat twice at home before losing the third game of the season series at Miami. The Pacers will return to South Florida for Game 1 on Wednesday night.
With Granger missing all but five games this season because of the lingering knee injury, the Pacers put an even greater emphasis on playing defense and it showed.
Indiana led the league in rebounding, defensive field goal percentage and defensive 3-point percentage while finishing second in points allowed per game during the regular season. It was no different in the playoffs, as the Knicks found out.
New York had another subpar shooting night Saturday, making just 40 percent of its shots, and again wound up on the wrong side of a 43-36 rebounding discrepancy. In the paint, New York was outscored 52-20, and Anthony, who finished with 39 points, scored just four points in the final 12 minutes when he went 2 of 7 from the field.
Iman Shumpert added 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and J.R. Smith scored 15. Nobody else was in double figures.
The combination, as it had been in the previous three losses to Indiana, produced the same frustrating result.
"They have a hell of a defense. They hold down the paint. They do a great job, do a hell of a job of controlling the paint, closing it down, making it tough for guys," Anthony said. "You've got to give them guys credit, especially when they got a chance to set. Roy Hibbert gets to sit in the paint, causes havoc."
It's not just that.
The biggest question coming into Saturday's game was whether starting point guard George Hill would play. He took part in the team's morning shootaround, was cleared by the team doctors and wound up returning two days after missing Game 5 with a concussion. His return gave the Pacers a big boost.
Hill finished with just 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting but had five rebounds and four assists, and kept the Pacers composed enough to commit only nine turnovers ? 10 fewer than Thursday night's loss in New York.
The results showed up everywhere on the floor.
Paul George had 23 points, five rebounds and four assists. David West added 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Hibbert finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks, none bigger than the stuff on Anthony that changed the game. Stephenson had 10 rebounds and three assists in his best postseason game ever.
The reason: He wanted to avoid a trip home.
"I just didn't want to go back to New York and play Game 7," Stephenson said. "Just get it done with now and I'd do whatever it takes to do that today. It showed tonight."
The New York native made sure of it.
After George grabbed the rebound off of Hibbert's block, Stephenson took a pass from West and scored on a layup to tie the score at 92 with 4:51 left in the game. Stephenson followed that with a steal and drove in for a layup, drawing a foul and completing a three-point play. After grabbing another rebound and making two more free throws, West tipped in a miss and Stephenson closed the decisive spurt with another layup. Suddenly, the Pacers led 101-94 with 1:53 to go.
New York never got another chance to tie the score or take the lead again despite making a far more typical 13 of 30 from 3-point range.
"It's tough to go out this way," coach Mike Woodson said. "I didn't make it happen for us and that's what's disappointing."
The Pacers have a far different goal now as they get ready to face LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Miami.
"We're not satisfied with where we're at," coach Frank Vogel said. "We feel like there's no ceiling on this team this year."
Notes: New York failed to become the ninth team to rally from a 3-1 deficit. ... Indianapolis 500 pole winner Ed Carpenter made the short trip from the track to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where he is a regular attendee. ... Colts coach Chuck Pagano also attended the game. ... The Knicks were 18 of 18 from the free throw line.
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Public release date: 21-May-2013
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