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Football: Can cheating be caught on camera?

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Football: Can cheating be caught on camera?

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A top Premier League referee was in Hong Kong this week. He shared that video technology cannot capture all problems during a game! Then how can the playing of football improve?

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The use of video technology to help football referees is still having teething problems in the English Premier League, according to a top official, who is currently visiting Hong Kong.

Video Assisted Refereeing (VAR) was introduced in the Premier League last season and will be employed at the World Cup for the first time next month in Russia, though its effectiveness is still to be evaluated.

Referee Martin Atkinson, who is in town to officiate the upcoming Hong Kong Soccer Sevens, said VAR technology has issues that need to be resolved before its use in the World Cup.

"The world of football wants VAR and obviously Fifa and Uefa have put that forward," Atkinson told RTHK's Atom Cheung. "We've all tried it domestically so we'll see how that comes off."

"There's going to be issues that need to be solved and ironed out, and with it there were things that worked well," said Atkinson, who has been officiating in English football since 1995.

The Hong Kong Soccer Sevens kicks off this Friday at the Football Club.

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Video technology not perfect: top football referee - RTHK

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The use of video technology to help football referees is still having teething problems in the English Premier League, according to a top official, who is currently visiting Hong Kong. Video Assisted Refereeing (VAR) was introduced in the Premier League last season and will be employed at the World Cup for the first time next month in Russia, though its effectiveness is still to be evaluated.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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https://www.newscientist.com/article/2132650-newly-evolved-microbes-may-be-breaking-down-ocean-plastics/

http://mentalfloss.com/article/540380/scientists-accidentally-make-plastic-eating-bacteria-even-more-efficient

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/could-plastic-gobbling-bacteria-save-environment-180958386/. https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Ideonella_sakaiensis

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The Ideonella Sakaiensis can only survive in places where it is 15-40ºc with soil ph around 5.5-9.0. However, it grows best in places with around 30-37ºc and 7.0-7.5 soil ph.

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Very recently, scientists have accidentally created a mutant enzyme that could break down PET plastic even faster. The naturally occuring one had to take 6 weeks to only break down a thumbnail- sized piece of plastic. The 'mutant' one still takes days, but it isn't as slow.

Scientists believe that the bacteria can continue to be improved.

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On May 3, the Kilauea volcano erupted on Hawaii's Big Island. Since then, 18 fissures have opened in the earth, some hundreds of feet long. The USGS's Hawaii Volcano Observatory reports that some of these fissures are producing "lava fountaining, explosion of spatter bombs hundreds of feet into the air, and several advancing lava flow lobes." More than 2000 people have evacuated, and dozens of structures and vehicles have been destroyed. Five earthquakes have rattled the island as well.

Volcanoes are amazing portals to the hot, living interior of the Earth, but they're also dangerous. Even small-ish ones can have a global impact. Here are 15 explosive facts about volcanoes.

1. THE VOLCANIC EXPLOSIVITY INDEX MEASURES THE STRENGTH AND SIZE OF ERUPTIONS.

Created in 1982 by Chris Newhall of the United States Geological Survey and Stephen Self of the University of Hawaii, the VEI quantifies the strength of volcanic eruptions by measuring the volume of pyroclastic material spewed by a volcano, including volcanic ash, tephra (fragments of volcanic rock and lava), pyroclastic flows (fast-moving currents of gas and tephra), and other debris. The height and duration of the eruption are also factored in. The scale ranges from 1 to 8, and each step indicates a tenfold increase of ejecta. Fortunately, there hasn't been a VEI-8 eruption in the past 10,000 years.

2. "WAH WAH SPRINGS" SOUNDS KIND OF FUN. IT WAS ACTUALLY DEVASTATING.

One of the biggest eruptions ever occurred about 30 million years ago in what is today eastern Nevada and western Utah, when a supervolcano exploded 3500 cubic kilometers of magma over an area of about 12,000 square miles. The eruption left behind deposits of debris 13,000 feet deep. Consider that the 1883 eruption of Krakatau, in Indonesia, was heard thousands of miles away-and yet it was a minor burp compared to Wah Wah Springs, a VEI-8 eruption.

3. LAVA IS THE LEAST OF YOUR WORRIES.

Lava generally moves too slowly to be the biggest threat from an eruption-but that's not the case with pyroclastic flows. These super-hot, fast-moving currents of gas and tephra did in history's most famous volcano victims: the residents of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The flow that hit Herculaneum was as hot at 500 degrees-enough to boil brains and vaporize flesh-while the later, cooler wave that hit Pompeii "cooked" people's flesh, as the BBC puts it, but left their bodies intact; they were preserved by the falling volcanic ash.

4. JUST FOR FUN, THERE ARE 10 WAYS AN ERUPTION CAN KILL YOU.

As Io9 recounts, flying shrapnel, scalding-hot seawater, falling into a lava tube, poisonous gases, and volcanic smog, or vog, can also do you in.

5. THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.

Magmatic eruptions involve the decompression of gas within magma that propels it forward. Phreatic eruptions are driven by the heat from magma creating superheated steam. Phreatomagmatic eruptions are caused by the interaction of water and magma.

6. VOLCANOLOGISTS ARE CONTINUOUSLY KEEPING TABS ON ACTIVITY ALL OVER THE WORLD.

One of the many initiatives tracking potentially dangerous activity is the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. It also puts out a weekly report in conjunction with the USGS that features a map. The International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) especially monitors the so-called Decade Volcanoes -16 volcanoes that are potentially hazardous due to their history of large, destructive eruptions and proximity to populated areas. Among them are Rainier, Sakurajima, Vesuvius, and Santorini.

7. THERE ARE VOLCANOES ON OTHER PLANETS AND MOONS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.

That Jupiter's moon Io is volcanically active has been known since 1979, when Voyager 1 imaging scientist Linda Morabito discovered the first evidence of active volcanism on a body other than Earth. But it's far from alone. For instance, while Mars's volcanoes appear to be either dormant or extinct, recent evidence from the Venus Express spacecraft suggests that many of Venus's volcanoes are active.

8. SHARKS HANG OUT IN ONE VOLCANO.

Scientists recently recorded video of sharks happily swimming around in the acidic, hot, ash- and gas-filled waters near the Kavachi underwater volcano in the Solomon Islands, which is a mere 66 feet below the surface. This suggests extremophiles may be even more diverse than we thought.

9. THE USGS's ALL-TIME BEST-SELLING MAP FEATURES VOLCANOES.

"This Dynamic Planet" is now in its third edition. This map [ PDF] features more than 1500 volcanoes, 44,000 earthquakes, and 170 impact craters, as well as the major, minor, and micro tectonic plates whose movement creates these features. About 60 of Earth's 550 historically active volcanoes blow every year.

10. AN EARLY 19TH-CENTURY ERUPTION IN THE PACIFIC WAS WORLD CHANGING.

Gillen D'Arcy Wood argues in his book Tambora: The Eruption That Changed the World that the 1815 eruption of the volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, which created a massive sulfate dust cloud that fundamentally altered the planet's climate for three years, led to such diverse impacts as the first worldwide cholera pandemic, expanded opium markets in China, the U.S.'s first economic depression-and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

11. A VOLCANO STAMP SOLD CONGRESS ON THE PANAMA CANAL.

Before the Panama Canal opened in 1915, rival proposals for an Atlantic-Pacific link included a plan to carve a canal through Nicaragua, which had a lot more fresh water and much less deadly malaria than Panama. It also has significant volcanic activity, and in the early 20th century, one of its stamps featured an erupting volcano. In 1902, just before a U.S. congressional vote, a pro-Panama Canal French engineer sent this stamp to all 90 senators to hype the volcanic threat in Nicaragua. Panama got the vote by a slim margin. Today Nicaragua says it's building the canal with help from a Chinese funder.

12. SPEAKING OF NICARAGUA'S VOLCANOES-YOU CAN SURF ONE.

Cerro Negro, a new and very active volcano that first erupted in 1850-and has blown 23 times since, most recently in 1999-has black pebble-covered slopes you can surf down on a metal-bottomed wood board, if you're adventurous and also kind of insane. Intrigued? Here's our 7-point guide to surfing volcanoes.

13. THE MOST VOLATILE AREA ON EARTH IS THE RING OF FIRE.

Located at the rim of the Pacific Basin, the so-called Ring of Fire is a nearly continuous chain of oceanic trenches and hundreds of volcanoes spanning some 25,000 miles that's home to 75 percent of the world's volcanic activity, with some 452 volcanoes (active and dormant), 90 percent of the world's earthquakes, and 22 of the 25 biggest volcanic eruptions in the last 11,700 years.

14. THERE ARE MANY WARNING SIGNS OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY.

According to the USGS's Volcano Hazards Program, volcanologists keep an eye out for ground movements caused by magma forcing its way upward through solid rock, earthquakes resulting from this heaving, and changes in heat output and volcanic gases. Other indicators include cracks in the ground, small steam explosions, melting snow, and the appearance of new hot springs.

15. YOUR EUROPE FLIGHT WAS DELAYED IN 2010 BECAUSE OF AN ICELANDIC ERUPTION.

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano began erupting on April 14, 2010 and didn't stop for six weeks, spewing magma, ash, and gas. Planes were grounded across Europe. Though the eruption was a small one, it had an outsized impact because it spread unusually far and stayed for an unexpectedly long time in the atmosphere thanks to the irregular shape of the tiny porous ash grains, as LiveScience reports.

BONUS: NASA IS TRAINING FOR LIFE ON MARS ON THE SLOPES OF AN ACTIVE VOLCANO.

For several years, NASA has been simulating life on Mars through a simulation on the slopes of Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano, one of the Decade Volcanoes. Each year, a small team of adventurers who meet the basic qualifications for the NASA astronaut program live in a solar-powered geodesic dome. If they want to go outside, they have to put on space suits. Still beats trying to escape poisonous gases and pyroclastic flows.

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Scientists Accidentally Make Plastic-Eating Bacteria Even More Efficient

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On May 3, the Kilauea volcano erupted on Hawaii's Big Island. Since then, 18 fissures have opened in the earth, some hundreds of feet long. The USGS's Hawaii Volcano Observatory reports that some of these fissures are producing "lava fountaining, explosion of spatter bombs hundreds of feet into the air, and several advancing lava flow lobes."

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In 2016, Japanese biologists found bacteria that could break down PET plastic using two enzymes.

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By 2020, Hong Kong's landfills will be full to bursting with rubbish. Trash will be everywhere, and it would be unhealthy for people to live- unclean for everyone.

Janice Wan

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When I first meet Chan King Ming at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, it is difficult to imagine that the region is facing an environmental disaster. We are speaking on a crisp spring morning, in the leafy university campus in Hong Kong's New Territories. Between the trees, I can see the sea glistening under the gaze of the city's towerblocks and the steep climb of the mountains behind. There is not a single discarded plastic bottle or used newspaper in sight.

But appearances are deceptive. Hong Kong may be clean on the surface, but its public services are straining to keep a lid on its rubbish. Despite attempts to clean up its act, the region produced 3.7 million tonnes of municipal waste in 2015 - the highest figure for five years. It has already cycled through 13 landfill sites, which are now being repurposed as parks, golf courses, and sportsgrounds, with just three sites remaining open. At this rate, it will only be a matter of a few years before those too begin to overflow. "If Hong Kong continues in this way, we will reach breaking point by 2020," says Chan - an estimate supported by Hong Kong's own Environmental Protection Department.

Hong Kong could be a warning for many other countries, as more and more people feel the lure of city living

Chan is both an environmental scientist and a politician for the Neo Democrat Party of Hong Kong, experience that has given him an unparalleled view of the social, economic and technological difficulties of saving the city from this deluge. "We are moving in the direction of unsustainable urbanisation," says Chan. And that could be a warning for other countries, as more and more people feel the lure of city living - meaning that environmentalists across the world will be watching Hong Kong's next steps closely.

With around seven million people, crammed into an area of 2,000 square kilometres (772 sq miles), Hong Kong is currently the fourth most densely populated place in the world (after its neighbour, Macau, and Singapore and Monaco). With space at such a premium, there is precious little room to build new landfill sites.

Hong Kong's tourism now brings around 60 million additional people to the islands per year

Hong Kong's tourism has only piled on the pressure. As the region's industries moved to mainland China, the region made an active bid to attract more visitors from the mainland to boost its economy. It now brings around 60 million additional people to the islands per year (nearly seven times the permanent population), with around 70% coming from mainland China. Hong Kong's cuisine and shopping malls are both among the key attractions, meaning that each of those visitors will generate a lot of additional food and packing waste. "We need them to boost our economy, but there are also drawbacks," says Chan.

Compounding these problems is Hong Kong's status as a 'free economy', which means that the government is reluctant to impose regulations that may threaten trade. "It's supposed to be the most free economy in the world, so government officials try their best not to intervene in any way with our production lines, or consumer behaviours," says Chan. For this reason, there is currently little legislation on product packaging, for instance, or any other measures that could reduce waste.
Operation Green Fence
Along with many other countries, Hong Kong had once offloaded some of its rubbish to mainland China for recycling. While Chinese businesses were able to make use of scrap metals, plastics, and rare metals in electronic goods, it also often came with unusable and contaminated leftovers ( including food and medical waste) - creating further environmental issues for Chinese cities. As a result, the government decided to ban the importing of unprocessed materials - a move known as a "Green Fence " - in the hope that other countries would clean up their material before selling the valuable stuff.

Unfortunately, Hong Kong has not yet developed enough of its own recycling plants to compensate for the changing policy. "So stuff that would have been sent to China to be processed is just being put in the landfill," says Doug Woodring, an environmental campaigner and co-founder of the Ocean Recovery Alliance, who I meet after my conversation with Chan.

The result is that despite repeated warnings, Hong Kong's municipal waste had continued to grow over the last five years - and the government will need to act quickly before all the territory's landfills have been exhausted.

One big step will be the introduction of a "waste charge", which would force locals to pay around $0.11 Hong Kong dollars (around £0.01) for each litre of rubbish collected. The new legislation, announced earlier this year, should take effect by 2019, and the South China Morning Post estimates that it amounts to around $33-54 Hong Kong dollars (roughly £3-5) per household, per month. The legistlation's proponents point across the sea to Taipei in Taiwan, and Seoul in South Korea, which both managed to reduce waste disposal by more than 30% using similar schemes.

Hong Kong's Environmental Protection Department is also forging ahead with plans for a $10 billion dollar incinerator on Lantau (the largest of the territory's islands, towards the south west of the region). Burning the waste should shrink it to around a tenth of its size. Even so, it can only burn so much waste - about 30% of the city's total output overall, according to Chan's estimates. The solution is far from popular with the locals, who are understandably concerned about the increased air pollution it may bring.

Chan is more enthusiastic about plans to build a food processing plant on Lantau, which would recycle waste from the commercial kitchens around the airport. He points out that horticulturists currently import a lot of their garden compost from as far away as the Netherlands - whereas the decomposed food waste would be a natural local source. Such plants may also produce biogas to fuel cars. "By our rough estimation, we'd need 20 factories of that size to deal with our food waste," Chan says. "But I think it's worth doing, because we need to recycle as much usable material as possible."

The territory may also benefit from further e-waste 'upcycling' factories, allowing manufacturers to extract valuable raw materials for export - a move that could further boost Hong Kong's economy. But these schemes need further government support, including a better system that forces families and businesses to separate the different kinds of waste - food, plastics, glass - at the source, before it is collected. "Right now that's lacking," Chan says.

The sheer volume of waste, coming from so many people, makes it too difficult to sort the good from the bad after collection. "The problem is that right now, everything is put in one bag - food, grease, and then your paper, then your plastic - and that neutralises the value of them all," says Woodring. "Even if you sort wet waste from dry, it's so much easier for anyone to get some value from it."

Woodring would also like people and companies to calculate a "plastic footprint" - akin to the "carbon footprint" for greenhouse emissions - so that people are more conscious of the waste they are creating. "Because if you don't know what you have, you don't know how to manage it."

As Chan and Woodring both point out, environmental measures do not need to challenge Hong Kong's existing businesses: it can offer ways to generate new revenue. Woodring, for instance, points out that Pacific Coffee (one of the city's ubiquitous US-style coffee houses) has recently implemented its own recycling scheme, where you can return your used lids in return for a free refill, which helps the company to collect recycled materials while also increasing customer loyalty. So far, these kinds of strategies are rare in Hong Kong, but it's a move in the right direction, he says.

Chan's impatience is clear throughout our conversation: the problem has been apparent for at least a decade, he says, but progress has been slow, with endless discussions in place of decisive policy. "We've wasted all this time." As the deluge of rubbish continues to rise, inaction is now not an option.

--

David Robson is BBC Future's feature writer. He is @d_a_robson on Twitter.

If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called "If You Only Read 6 Things This Week". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.

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Hong Kong has a monumental waste problem

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When I first meet Chan King Ming at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, it is difficult to imagine that the region is facing an environmental disaster. We are speaking on a crisp spring morning, in the leafy university campus in Hong Kong's New Territories.

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Hong Kong is committed to building a sustainable future and to ensuring that our future generations can continue to thrive in a clean and green environment. But is it possible to incorporate the concept of sustainability into the building design and its management, hence reducing the environmental impacts to nature and improving our quality of life? The answer is a resounding Sure! This article talks about how to achieve sustainability in buildings, with case studies and examples.

What Are Green Buildings?

Green buildings are not a complicated or technical concept. They are designed, built, renovated, operated, and reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner to meet certain objectives such as protecting occupant health; improving employee productivity; using energy, water, and other resources more efficiently; and reducing the overall impact to the environment.

Green Buildings Save Energy

We can save energy through incorporating green building features and the use of energy efficiency technologies and products, thus achieving sustainability.

The use of natural ventilation and lighting can reduce energy consumption for air-conditioning, ventilation and lighting in buildings. Many of the renewable energy sources are free and inexhaustible, offering greener resources and economically viable options.

Since 1998, Electrical and Mechanical Services Department has implemented a voluntary Hong Kong Energy Efficiency Registration Scheme for Buildings to promote energy efficiency in buildings. In 2005, the Government issued a technical circular setting out the guidelines for all capital works projects and minor works projects on the adoption of energy efficient features and renewable energy technologies in Government Projects and Installations. The Government is working on legislation to make the implementation of building energy codes mandatory.
More on energy efficiency in buildings

Green Buildings Reduce Waste

Installing waste separation facilities such as bins or racks in green buildings together with publicity and promotional activities directed to the occupants of the building can help to recover more materials for recycling and reduce waste requiring disposal.
More on the programme on source separation of domestic waste More on the programme on source separation of commercial and industrial waste

Green Buildings Save Water

Green buildings save water with the following features:

Installation of flow restrictors at water taps.

Installation of optimized timing self-closing taps or sensor taps in public lavatories and washing rooms.

Reduction of water pressure of the plumbing systems to the lowest practical level.

Installation of dual flush cisterns (a choice between "full flush" and "half flush").

Provision of reclaimed water systems for toilet flushing, cleaning and irrigation.

More on tips of saving water More on using reclaimed water

Indoor Air Quality

The quality of indoor air should not be overlooked. It has a significant impact on building occupants since people spend more than 70% of their time indoors. Good indoor air quality (IAQ) safeguards the health of the building occupants and contributes to their comfort and well-being.

Better IAQ can be achieved by two major approaches; providing adequate ventilation and controlling the source of indoor air pollutants such as using low emission furnishing products.
More on achieving better IAQ Pamphlets on improving the IAQ in your buildings

Government's Efforts in Promoting Green Buildings

To premise on the recommendations of the Council for Sustainable Development subsequent to its public engagement exercise, the Government has reviewed the policy of allowing private buildings to increase floor areas to include green and amenity features for enhancing the living environment. It has been decided to tighten the policy including doing away with concessions for certain features, lowering the level of concessions for carparks, balconies, utility platforms and residents' recreational facilities, and imposing an overall cap of 10% for a number of features which still qualify for concessions. Incorporation of sustainable design elements for building separation or enhancement of building permeability, setback and greenery in new buildings, together with provision of environmental and energy consumption information in new buildings are pre-requisites for obtaining concessions. The revised package will strike a proper balance between fulfilling environment performance and comfort requirements of buildings on the one hand, and minimising the impact on the surrounding environment as far as possible on the other. It will also ensure room for creativity in Hong Kong's building designs.

The Considerate Contractor Site Award Scheme and the Green Contractor Award Scheme have been launched to encourage and give recognition to the private sector to practise sustainable design and construction.

To improve the indoor air quality and promote public awareness of the importance of IAQ, the Government has implemented an IAQ Management Programme. One of the core tasks of the Programme is to launch a voluntary IAQ Certification Scheme for Offices and Public Places. Premises have their IAQ meeting the two-level IAQ objectives (Good or Excellent) are awarded with "Good Class" or "Excellent Class" IAQ certificate. IAQ labels are also issued to these premises for posting at prominent locations to make known to the public of such achievement.

Explore Green Buildings in Hong Kong

The Government is building up momentum in developing green buildings. The following are some examples.
Hong Kong Children Hospital
This is the first public children hospital in Hong Kong, specialising in tertiary services and quality care for complex and rare pediatric cases. It consists of two 11-storey towers and a single-storey basement with three bridge linkages connecting both towers in the middle. The building provides a total floor space of around 168,000 square metres with a capacity of total 468 beds for in-patient, day-patient services, as well as research and training facilities.
More on Hong Kong Children Hospital

Sports Centre, Community Hall and District Library in Area 14B, Shatin (Yuen Chau Kok Complex)
The Sports Centre, Community Hall and District Library are built to meet the strong demand for sports facilities, a new venue for organizing community activities, and improved library services and facilities in the district of Shatin. It consists of 4-storey sports centre, 6-storey community hall and district library.
More on Yuen Chau Kok Complex

You can explore more on other green buildings through the following links: More on Community Green Stations More on Central and Western District Promenade - Western Wholesale Food Market Section More on Fire Services Training School at Pak Shing Kok More on The trade and Industry Tower in Kai Tak More on Sing Yin Secondary Secondary (near Choi Wan Road and Jordan Valley, Kwun Tong)

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Hong Kong is committed to building a sustainable future and to ensuring that our future generations can continue to thrive in a clean and green environment. But is it possible to incorporate the concept of sustainability into the building design and its management, hence reducing the environmental impacts to nature and improving our quality of life?