New technology, he said, may allow researchers to predict a drug's side effects at an earlier stage, alerting the government and industry to potential problems, like liver damage, without waiting for the results of lengthy clinical trials with large numbers of patients.
The New Orleans Levee Board went into a second-stage alert on September 21, and cleared debris from floodwall openings.
"Los Angeles, which has the dirtiest air in North America, in the late 1980's had first-stage alerts 120 to 150 times a year," Mr. Martin said.
Mr. Martin said that while it was hard to measure the effect of California's program, he said cities like Los Angeles had seen improvements in air quality over the past 20 years as measured by high pollution days, known as first-stage alerts.
However, the five-stage combat alert level remained at DEFCON 4, the second-lowest level.
Manila was placed on "stage three" alert initially, but after the storm passed south of the city, it was downgraded to "stage two" alert.
A Stage 3 alert is automatically called if reserves fall below 1.5percentt.
Police Scotland issued a stage three alert – for a high risk of disruption – for Dumfries & Galloway, Argyll and Central Scotland.
At one point, they went to a Stage 4 alert, which meant dressing in full chemical weapons uniform -- masks, clothing, boots and gloves -- in considerable haste.
Today, the state was still on a so-called Stage 2 alert, in which the supply of power was just 5percentt greater than actual use.
The blackouts and the Stage 3 alert over the weekend raised fears of what might happen Monday when the work week begins and demand increases.
