NewzIntel.com

Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI USA: Quantum quasiparticle could make future quantum computers more reliable

    Source: US Government research organizations

    Newly found subatomic phenomenon known as fractional excitons have unique properties predicted by earlier theoretical work

    Supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, physicists have revealed the presence of a previously unobserved type of subatomic phenomenon called a fractional exciton. Their findings confirm theoretical predictions of a quasiparticle with unique quantum properties that behaves as though it is made of equal fractions of opposite electric charges bound together by mutual attraction.

    The discovery was supported by NSF through multiple grants and laboratory work performed at the NSF National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. The results are published in Nature and show potential for developing new ways to improve how information is stored and manipulated at the quantum level, which could lead to faster and more reliable quantum computers.

    “Our findings point toward an entirely new class of quantum particles that carry no overall charge but follow unique quantum statistics,” says Jia Li, leader of the research team and associate professor of physics at Brown University. “The most exciting part is that this discovery unlocks a range of novel quantum phases of matter, presenting a new frontier for future research, deepening our understanding of fundamental physics and even opening up new possibilities in quantum computation.”

    Li and his team were able to observe fractional excitons by using a phenomenon known as the fractional quantum Hall effect, which occurs when a strong magnetic field is applied to layers of atomically thin materials at very low temperatures. Under these conditions, the electrons flowing through the layers behave as though they have broken up into fractions of a single electron, containing only a portion of a single electron’s negative charge. Identical but opposite fractional amounts of positive charge, called “holes,” were also observed in adjacent layers within the material. 

    The researchers found that the attraction between the two oppositely charged fractional particles creates the predicted fractional exciton.

    “We’ve essentially unlocked a new dimension for exploring and manipulating this phenomenon, and we’re only beginning to scratch the surface,” says Li. “This is the first time we’ve shown that these types of particles exist experimentally, and now we are delving deeper into what might come from them.”

    The team’s next steps will involve studying how fractional excitons interact and whether their behavior can be controlled.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Dallas Conducts Federal Civil Rights Training with San Angelo-Area Law Enforcement

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    SAN ANGELO, TX—The FBI Dallas Field Office and FBI San Angelo Resident Agency partnered with the Angelo State University Police Department (ASUPD) to serve as the host for federal civil rights training for regional law enforcement this week.

    The interactive training explains how federal criminal statues related to law enforcement misconduct applies to local and state agencies, and outlines the roles of the FBI and Department of Justice. Presentation materials included body camera footage, scenario-based discussions and case study review.

    Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock explained, “Training is critical to the continued education of our law enforcement population to recognize and prevent potential civil rights violations. We are grateful for Angelo State University Police Department’s commitment to host this session for regional law enforcement, and thank them for their continued partnership.”

    The FBI is the primary federal agency responsible for investigating allegations regarding possible violations of federal civil rights statutes and works closely with its partners to prevent and address hate crimes and color of law violations.

    More than 25 law enforcement officers from 10 departments participated.

    For additional information on the FBI’s Civil Rights program please visit https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/civil-rights.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Flywire Deepens Collaboration with Ellucian to Deploy Software and Payment Solutions to Banner through Integrations via Ellucian Ethos

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BOSTON and ORLANDO, Fla., April 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, at the Ellucian Live conference, Flywire Corporation (Nasdaq: FLYW) (Flywire), a global payments enablement and software company, announced newly deployed integrations with Ellucian, a leading provider of software and services built to power higher education. Flywire’s new integration pathway with Ellucian Ethos, Ellucian’s API layer, enables institutions to accelerate their implementations of Flywire’s solutions, and ensures Flywire can be implemented on any Ellucian instance, including Banner and Colleague SaaS. These new achievements build off of Flywire and Ellucian’s award-winning integrations that enhance the student experience, while reducing complexity for institutions.

    George Mason University in the United States leveraged Flywire’s Ellucian Ethos integration to successfully deploy Flywire Collection Management software, allowing, among other things, single sign-on access for students directly from their familiar Banner interface. Additionally, Oxford Brookes University will be the first institution to go live with Flywire’s Ellucian Ethos integration for international payments, making Flywire the first Ethos integration in the United Kingdom.

    Flywire successfully deploys Banner integration via Ellucian Ethos at George Mason University

    George Mason University, a longtime client using Flywire for cross-border tuition payments, leveraged Flywire’s Student Financial Software (SFS) integration via Ellucian Ethos to implement Flywire’s Collection Management solution. This automates the past-due collection process, providing proactive visibility and alerts to prompt student engagement, offering flexible payment plans, and accelerating collection timelines and cash flow. With the Flywire SFS/Ellucian integration, past-due accounts are loaded seamlessly, communications are automated, and students are always able to see their accurate balance, saving significant time and resources for administrative staff. Additionally, for staff, they can manage all workflows related to the student financial journey from their familiar Banner or Colleague platform.

    “As a result of the Flywire SFS integration with Ellucian Banner, our students have secure, single sign-on access to our collection management application,” said Bill Cunningham, Director of Student Accounts at George Mason University. “This makes it easier for them to view their past-due balance and take action before it becomes a collection issue. This also reduces the workload for our internal collections team. The project was also one of the smoothest we’ve seen.”

    Oxford Brookes University in the U.K. leverages Flywire’s payments integration with Ellucian Ethos & EPS

    One of Ellucian’s earliest adopters to integrate a payment solution via Ellucian Ethos & EPS, Oxford Brookes University in the U.K., is leveraging the integration between Flywire and Ellucian Banner to offer a streamlined payment experience with hundreds of payment choices to their students and families directly within their Banner instance, without significant IT investment. Additionally, Flywire helps their students and families easily make and track payments in native currencies, and they get the benefit of seeing and accessing all payment information within their familiar Banner workflow.

    “Embedding Flywire’s payment solution into our student information system makes it a natural part of the workflow – for both students and our finance team,” said a representative from Oxford Brookes. “Regardless of where they are in the world, students can easily and securely view charges and make payments. At the same time, reconciliation is fully automated and our systems are updated in real time. That kind of tight integration will drive huge efficiencies for our finance team.”

    Building on a longstanding partnership between Flywire and Ellucian

    With a singular focus on higher education, Ellucian has been empowering colleges and universities with powerful, enterprise solutions for over 50 years. Now, more than 2,900 higher education institutions across the globe rely on Ellucian for everything from managing business workflows to improving the student experience. This has been the driving force behind the long-standing partnership between Ellucian and Flywire. Thanks to ongoing innovation and collaboration, Flywire has previously been named an Ellucian Partner of the Year for Integration Excellence, recognition that highlights how Flywire’s integrations reduce complexity for institution administrators wanting to offer a streamlined experience with more flexible payment options to students and their families.

    Additional benefits of Ellucian/Flywire integrations include:

    • Convenient and secure digital payment experience – Flywire’s powerful Global Payment Network allows students to securely pay in 140+ currencies across 240+ countries and territories with hundreds of payment options
    • Real-time payment and payment plan updates and automated reconciliation – via seamless data flow between Flywire and Ellucian Banner and Ellucian Colleague systems
    • Consolidated payment options – ability to offer a variety of payment options in one place accelerates funds flow, eases reconciliation, and streamlines financial operations

    “Our ability to embed intuitive payment capabilities directly into Ellucian’s existing workflows enables schools to optimize the student financial experience, expand payment options, and streamline their backend financial processes,” said David King, Chief Technology Officer at Flywire. “And as one of the first partners to integrate a payment solution via Ellucian Ethos and EPS, Flywire is committed to building off a longstanding relationship to continue to drive technical innovation for global institutions.”

    Zach Tussing, Director of Partnerships, Ellucian, added: “The Flywire and Ellucian teams have been working closely together to deliver an improved integration and an innovative customer experience. Flywire’s powerful global payments network and payments software, integrated with Ellucian’s suite of products, will deliver significant improvements for institutions around the world.”

    Resources

    • To meet with the Flywire team at Ellucian Live:
      • Visit Flywire booth #234
      • Attend Flywire’s “Rethink Payments & Collections with University of South Florida & Texas A&M for Student Success” and “Texas A&M Automates Sponsor Invoicing to Drive Efficiency” sessions
      • See SFS in action during our solution showcase Tuesday, April 8th at 2:55pm ET
    • To learn more about Flywire’s partnership with Ellucian: Unifying the student experience with Ellucian and Flywire
    • To learn more about Flywire’s Ellucian product integrations: Better Together: Flywire and Ellucian
    • To learn more about Flywire’s capabilities for higher ed: Flywire’s education solutions

    About Flywire

    Flywire is a global payments enablement and software company. We combine our proprietary global payments network, next-gen payments platform and vertical-specific software to deliver the most important and complex payments for our clients and their customers.

    Flywire leverages its vertical-specific software and payments technology to deeply embed within the existing A/R workflows for its clients across the education, healthcare and travel vertical markets, as well as in key B2B industries. Flywire also integrates with leading ERP systems, such as NetSuite, so organizations can optimize the payment experience for their customers while eliminating operational challenges.

    Flywire supports more than 4,500 clients with diverse payment methods in more than 140 currencies across 240 countries and territories around the world. Flywire is headquartered in Boston, MA, USA with global offices. For more information, visit www.flywire.com. Follow Flywire on X (formerly known as Twitter), LinkedIn and Facebook.

    About Ellucian

    With more than 2,900 customers in over 50 countries, Ellucian delivers technology solutions that drive student success and institutional excellence. For more information visit www.ellucian.com.

    Safe Harbor Statement

    This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding Flywire’s expectations regarding the benefits of its education clients and business, Flywire’s business strategy and plans, market growth and trends. Flywire intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as, but not limited to, “believe,” “may,” “will,” “potentially,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “target,” “plan,” “expect,” or the negative of these terms, and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations that involve risks, changes in circumstances, assumptions, and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in Flywire’s forward-looking statements include, among others, the factors that are described in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of Flywire’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and available on the SEC’s website at https://www.sec.gov/. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and Flywire undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

    Media Contacts:

    Sarah King
    Media@Flywire.com

    Investor Relations Contact
    Masha Kahn
    ir@flywire.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: MissionSquare Retirement to build out personal wealth unit, hires Betsy Schroeder to lead retail solutions

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Washington, D.C., April 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MissionSquare Retirement is pleased to announce the appointment of Betsy Schroeder as head of Retail Products. In this newly created position, Schroeder will be responsible for building out the firm’s retail product offering and solution set. 

    “At MissionSquare, we understand the important role in- and out-of-plan solutions can play when it comes to serving the holistic needs of individuals and their families,” said Andre Robinson, chief executive officer and president of MissionSquare Retirement. “Introducing this new position to the firm is an important step for our team as we look to build the most optimal and efficient model to align with today’s evolving retirement plan industry. We are thrilled that Betsy will lead the team as she brings an experienced background in retail solutions development.”

    Schroeder comes to MissionSquare with more than 25 years of financial services experience and a successful, proven track record of retail product development. Most recently, she was head of Investment Product Management and Relationship Management at MassMutual. In this role, she was responsible for managing and overseeing MassMutual’s broker-dealer investment products and developing and growing the firm’s overall competitive product offering.

    “Betsy’s deep industry experience will benefit us greatly as we look to further advance our retail personal wealth offerings,” added Jeffrey Gibson, chief product strategy officer at MissionSquare Retirement. “With a strong history of developing and growing retail product offerings for employers, Betsy will play an instrumental role in expanding our solution set and executing our go-to-market strategy.”  

    Schroeder earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bryant University, is a Certified Public Accountant and holds FINRA Series 6 and 26 licenses. She is based in Canton, Conn., and reports directly to Gibson.

    MissionSquare continues to grow and expand its solutions to further strengthen its position in the market. This includes introducing new tools and resources to help employees and their families build retirement security.

    About MissionSquare Retirement

    Since its founding in 1972, MissionSquare Retirement has been dedicated to simplifying the path to retirement security for public service employees. As a mission-based, nonstock, nonprofit financial services company, we manage and administer over $72.0 billion in assets.* Our commitment to delivering results-oriented retirement plans, education, investments, and personalized advice sets us apart. Explore how we enable public service workers to build a secure financial future. For more information, visit www.missionsq.org or follow the company on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.

    *As of Dec. 31, 2024. Includes 457(b) plans, 401(a) plans, 403(b) plans, Retirement Health Savings plans, Employer Investment Program plans, affiliated IRAs, and investment-only assets.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Adams Introduces HBCU Arts Act

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Alma Adams (12th District of North Carolina)

    WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. (NC-12), founder and co-chair of the Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Caucus and an HBCU art professor of 40 years, introduced the HBCU Arts Act, investing in arts education and conservation at HBCUs.

    “Art is a universal language that allows people everywhere to experience and celebrate unique cultures and communities. It expands our worldview,” said Congresswoman Alma Adams. “Unfortunately, art programs and departments are often among the first ones cut when schools face financial hardship. Through the HBCU Arts Act, we can provide a historic investment to our HBCUs and ensure these programs remain accessible to our students of color for generations to come.”

    The HBCU Arts Act aims to remove financial and other barriers to arts education and conservation for HBCUs, making these programs more accessible to their students. This bill recognizes the importance of fostering a diverse generation of artists and art professionals who are essential for creating, conserving, educating, and supporting African American art.

    Specifically, the HBCU Arts Act:

    • Provides financial and other assistance to students in arts, arts education, and cultural programs.
    • Establishes outreach programs and development offices for arts, arts education, and cultural arts departments.
    • Provides comprehensive wraparound services for arts, arts education, and cultural students, including faculty and peer mentorship, work-based learning opportunities, guidance counseling, and career advising.
    • Exhibits, maintains, monitors, and protects African American art collections in exhibition and in storage.
    • Provides well-paid apprenticeship, internship, and fellowship opportunities to students in arts, arts education, and cultural programs through partnerships with nonprofit arts, arts education, and cultural institutes. 

    The HBCU Arts Act has a number of prominent organizations endorsing the bill, including Americans for the Arts, and the National Association for Music Education.

    “As a Howard University graduate with a background in business and art history, I witnessed how HBCUs foster artistic excellence and creative leadership,” said Americans for the Arts CEO Erin Harkey. “The HBCU Arts Act is a smart, crucial investment that addresses historical funding inequities and establishes the support systems our students deserve. This legislation aligns with Americans for the Arts’ mission to ensure that arts and culture enrich every community. We fully endorse this bill and are prepared to mobilize our national network of arts leaders to amplify its impact. We commend Representative Adams for her vision in creating sustainable pathways that will strengthen HBCU arts programs and the future of American culture.”

    “The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) is proud to once again endorse the HBCU Arts Act, reintroduced by Congresswoman Alma Adams,” said Dr. Deborah Confredo, President of the National Association for Music Education. “This important legislation addresses longstanding inequities in funding for arts programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. These institutions have historically nurtured extraordinary artistic talent, often in the face of systemic barriers. By providing targeted support to strengthen music and arts programs at HBCUs, this bill takes a meaningful step toward diversifying the pipeline of professional artists and educators. Artistic expression is both a reflection of and a pathway to understanding the complexity of human experience. Ensuring that creators from a broad spectrum of cultural and historical backgrounds are supported in their development is essential to the health and vitality of our field. NAfME remains steadfast in its commitment to equitable access to high-quality music and arts education, and we strongly urge the 119th Congress to advance this legislation.”

    “HBCU Art Programs and the National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (NAAHBCU) promotes art and art education with HBCUs, fostering artistic and life skills for students, and providing opportunities for artists and art professionals,” said Dr. Willie Hooker, Professor of Art at North Carolina A&T University.

    HBCUs have an outsized impact on art:

    • HBCUs have a long-standing legacy of producing African American artists, fostering the careers of artists from Augusta Savage to Megan thee Stallion and everyone in between.
    • HBCUs are some of the most comprehensive collectors of art produced by artists of color. The Hampton University Museum remains the country’s oldest African American museum and houses one of the largest collections of African, African American, and Indigenous arts in the United States.
    • Arts and cultural production is a quickly growing economic center. In 2022, arts and cultural economic activity accounted for 4.3% of the GDP, or $1.1 trillion.

    The bill is cosponsored by (12): Reps. Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Joyce Beatty (OH-03), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Shontel Brown (OH-11), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-At-Large), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Frederica Wilson  (FL-24), Terri Sewell (AL-07), Jonathan L. Jackson (IL-01), Valerie Foushee (NC-4), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Andre Carson (IN-7).

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Boyle, Norcross Introduce Bills to Give Tax Breaks to Workers

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Brendan Boyle (13th District of Pennsylvania)

    WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Representatives Brendan F. Boyle (D-PA-02) and Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01) announced the introduction of their bills, the Tax Fairness for Workers Act and No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act. Representative Judy Chu (D-CA) joined the members in leading the introduction of the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act.

    The Tax Fairness for Workers Act will allow workers to deduct employment expenses such as union dues, travel, and uniform costs, restoring a deduction that was stripped by the 2017 Trump tax law. The No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act will end the ability for corporations to deduct union busting expenses from their taxes.

    “While Republicans continue to push tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, we are focused on easing the burden on hardworking people and strengthening unions. It’s time for a tax system that works for teachers buying school supplies, workers paying for uniforms, and union members fighting for fair wages,” said Congressman Boyle. “The Tax Fairness for Workers Act and the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act are both key steps in restoring fairness and supporting those who build our economy.”

    “The No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act and Tax Fairness for Workers Act both focus on protecting America’s workers,” said Rep. Norcross. “Every worker deserves a free and fair choice to join or form a union, and it’s time that our tax code reflects that. The No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act will end corporate handouts for union-busting campaigns, make our tax code fairer, and level the playing field for workers. The Tax Fairness for Workers Act will restore fairness and put money back into the pockets of workers who bet on themselves. During a time when the Trump Administration is attacking workers’ rights, I’m honored to have Representatives Brendan Boyle and Judy Chu partner with me in the fight to put more money into the pockets of hardworking Americans.”    

    “We need policies and a tax code that support American workers and ensure wealthy corporations pay their fair share,” said Rep. Chu. “But in the last few months, this Trump-Musk administration and its corporate allies have waged an all-out assault on worker rights: paralyzing the agencies responsible for enforcing fair labor laws, revoking collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees, and advancing trillions in tax cuts for corporations – the same ones that spend heavily on anti-union campaigns against their own workers, and then write that off as a business expense. We need to pass our No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act to finally end the government subsidies for illegal union-busting, as well as the Tax Fairness for Workers Act to once again allow union employees to deduct their dues from their taxes.”

    “There’s nothing fair about a tax code that’s loaded with deductions and giveaways for corporate union busters and the super-wealthy while penalizing workers for exercising their right to have a seat at the table,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “At a time when high costs are squeezing working families and the freedom to form a union is under attack, AFSCME thanks Reps. Boyle and Norcross for spearheading commonsense legislation like the Tax Fairness for Workers Act and the No Tax Breaks for Union Busters Act to level the playing field for workers.”

    “It is unacceptable for Congress to support anti-worker tax provisions, especially when they’re considering more tax cuts for the wealthy while ignoring the urgent needs of working families. It’s time to give workers their fair share,” said Dan Mauer, Communications Workers of America’s Government Affairs Director. “Our tax code should prioritize workers organizing to have a voice on the job. That is why we wholeheartedly support the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act and the Tax Fairness for Workers Act. We commend Representatives Norcross, Boyle, Chu and all those championing a fairer tax system for working families.”

    “The Tax Fairness for Workers Act will restore basic fairness to the tax code by allowing hard-working middle-class families to, once again, deduct common employment expenses like safety equipment, tools or the classroom supplies teachers use every day from their federal taxes—just as they could before Trump’s 2017 tax law, and just like the wealthy do now,”said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “It’s a simple, necessary step to right a wrong. This bill would make a noticeable difference to the monthly budget of millions. If a CEO can write off business expenses, workers should be able to do the same.”

    “The IAM Union applauds Senator Tina Smith and Representatives Donald Norcross and Brendan Boyle for introducing the Tax Fairness for Workers Act,” said IAM Union International President Brian Bryant. “The GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act wrongly eliminated workers’ ability to deduct many employment related expenses, such as the cost of union dues, uniforms and tools. The IAM strongly supports the Tax Fairness for Workers Act, which rightly restores these tax deductions for working families.” 

    “The IAM Union applauds Senator Ben Ray Lujan and Representatives Donald Norcross, Brendan Boyle, and Judy Chu for introducing the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act,” said IAM Union International President Brian Bryant. “Union busting, or union avoidance campaigns, have a chilling impact on workers’ ability to exercise their right to freely form and join unions.  This legislation would end the taxpayer subsidization of these anti-union, anti-American campaigns.” 

    The Tax Fairness for Workers Act will allow workers to deduct common employment expenses such as travel, union dues, and uniform costs, restoring a deduction stripped by the 2017 Trump tax law. Workers will be able to deduct business expenses, just as employers can.

    Read the full text here.

    The No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act would end taxpayer subsidies for corporations’ anti-union behavior by classifying corporate interference in worker organization campaigns like political speech rather than an “ordinary and necessary” business expense. Additionally, this bill would require corporations to report anti-worker interventions to the IRS and grant the Department of Treasury greater enforcement authority to hold them accountable for using company money to interfere in protected worker activities.

    Read the full text here.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Steil Introduces Bill to Maintain Sanctions on Terrorists in Iran

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Bryan Steil (Wisconsin-1)

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Contact: Michael Donatello

    Steil Introduces Bill to Maintain Sanctions on Terrorists in Iran

    Washington, DC – This week, Congressman Bryan Steil (WI-01) introduced the No Sanctions Relief for Terrorists Act, part of the Republican Study Committee’s Enforcing Maximum Pressure Initiative. Steil’s bill ensures that sanctions on Iran cannot be lifted unless the country stops funding terrorist activity.

     

    “The Iranian regime is the largest State Sponsor of Terrorism in the world and has continued to finance terrorist proxies for more than four decades. Iran’s actions have endangered U.S. citizens, companies, and allies around the world,” said Steil. “No administration should repeat the errors of the Biden Administration.  We must ban sanctions waivers that can enable the Iranian regime to finance attacks on America and our allies.”

    Background:

    • In 2023, the Biden Administration allowed the Islamic Republic of Iran to access up to $10 billion in previously restricted funds using a sanctions waiver.
    • This action occurred despite increasing terrorist activities and Iran’s role in funding and arming Hamas, including providing weapons used in the October 7th terrorist attack against Israel.
    • Congressman Steil previously called on the Biden Administration to cease the use of this workaround and address why the administration saw fit to provide relief to the world’s largest State Sponsor of Terrorism.
    • Congressman Steil joined his colleagues with the Republican Study Committee at a press conference Wednesday to introduce a package of bills that would restore maximum pressure on the Iranian Regime and protect the American people from terrorism.
    • The No Sanctions Relief for Terrorists Act prevents any presidential administration from providing sanctions relief to individuals and entities in Iran sanctioned for terrorism unless the President could certify to Congress that Iran was no longer sponsoring terrorism.
    • Specifically, the legislation would prevent the abuse of humanitarian waivers and licenses, as used under the Biden Administration, which allowed the administration to circumvent terrorism-related sanctions.
    • This bill follows the restoration of significant sanctions on Iran by the Trump Administration.
    • Video of the press conference can be found here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: RELEASE: REP. RO KHANNA RECEIVES PUBLIUS AWARD FROM THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF THE PRESIDENCY AND CONGRESS

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Rep Ro Khanna (CA-17)

    On March 25th, Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17), alongside Senator Todd Young, received the Publius Award from the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress –– a non-partisan, non-profit dedicated to promoting bipartisan leadership. The award honors political leaders who put the public good and pragmatism over partisanship and special interests. Past recipients include Secretary Ash Carter, Senator Tim Kaine, Congressman Mike Gallagher, and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. 

    “I was honored to receive the Publius Award alongside Senator Young, with whom I co-authored the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to invest in innovation, good-paying jobs, and the revitalization of communities left behind by the offshoring of manufacturing. At a moment of deep division in Washington, we can’t lose sight of delivering for working-class people and strengthening our economy. Thank you to President Glenn Nye and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress for this honor and for your work to promote cooperation and innovative problem solving,” said Rep. Ro Khanna. 

    “CSPC is proud to honor Rep. Ro Khanna, together with Senator Todd Young, with our Publius Award, recognizing their bipartisan leadership on American competitiveness and innovation. This kind of cooperation doesn’t usually make headlines, but it is vital for our country to honor such statesmanship,” said CSPC President and CEO Glenn Nye. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Rep. Omar Speaks at Hands Off! People’s Veto Rally in Washington D.C.

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Ilhan Omar (DFL-MN)

    WASHINGTON– On Saturday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) spoke at the Hands Off! People’s Veto Rally at the National Mall in Washington D.C.

    Rep. Ilhan Omar called out the chaos, corruption, and callousness of the Trump Administration. She emphasized the importance of fighting and defending our democracy and upholding our Constitution.

    The full video can be found here.

    Full transcript below:

    “Hello everyone! 

    It is so good to be here with over 100,000 American patriots. 

    It is a reminder that the American fighting spirit is alive, because folks we are in a fight! 

    We are in a fight for our democracy.

    We are in a fight for our constitution.

    We are in a fight for our families.

    We are in a fight for the kind of future we want for this country.

    We are currently living through a president who wants to be a dictator.

    In America, we do not accept dictators and we do not accept kings.

    We have a billionaire who has bought a seat next to the President, using him as a puppet.

    American democracy has never been for sale and it won’t be today.

    We are seeing a cowardice — congressional Republicans that are utilizing the chaos our fascist president is creating to cut Medicaid, Social Security and take away our rights, while they give $4.5 trillion in tac cuts to their billionaire puppeteers.

    None of this is normal!

    This is why we have to fight for our constitution. Because here is the thing, no matter who you are, Elon Musk and Donald Trump and corrupt congressional Republicans are coming for you.

    If you are a mother struggling to put food on the table, they are coming for you.

    If you have elderly parents that you are trying to put in a nursing home, they are coming for you.

    If you are a senior relying on Social Security, they are coming for you.

    If you have disabled children and you’re trying to make sure they have access to education, by cutting the Education Department, they are coming for you.

    So they want you to believe— they want you to believe to look at your neighbor as your enemy.

    They want you to believe that it is because of trans kids that you can’t have the necessary access to the programs we already paid for.

    They want you to think it is okay to snatch people in the middle of the night and disappear them.

    They want to take away our pride, as Americans, in the constitution and due process by putting people in foreign prisons in a dark hole.

    They want to crash the economy so that they can set up a process of punishment and reward.

    So they can grab more power for who will bend the knee and give them access.

    None of this is normal!

    So if you want a country that has the marvelous constitution we have, we have to fight for it!

    If you want a country that still believes in due process, we have to fight for it!

    If you believe in a country where we take care of our neighbors, look after the poor and make sure our children have a future they can believe in, we have to fight for it!

    So are you ready to fight?

    Are you ready to fight?

    Let’s go fight and win!

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Nigeria’s Agro-Revolution: Construction of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) begins

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    ABUJA, Nigeria, April 8, 2025/APO Group/ —

    Nigeria’s food and agriculture sector is set to enter a new era of industrialization, as the Nigerian government, the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), and the State government of Kaduna kickstart the construction of Phase 1 of the Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) program.   

    The groundbreaking ceremony starts in Kaduna on Tuesday, 8 April, where the chief guest, African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi Adesina, will join Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, and the State Governor of Kaduna, Uba Sani. From Kaduna, Dr Adesina will head to Cross River State, where, together with the Federal Government and the State Governor, Bassey Edet Otu, a second groundbreaking ceremony will take place.  

    The $538 million first phase of the Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones program project includes eight states: Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Cross River, Imo, Ogun, Oyo, and the Federal Capital Territory. The program launched in 2022 with $210 million from the African Development Bank and support from the Islamic Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms. 

    The Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones program will boost Nigeria’s food production and reduction importation, generate jobs for youth, safeguard the country’s foreign exchange, and transform rural areas from areas of misery into zones of prosperity.  

    Last year, Nigeria spent $4.7 billion importing food.  The Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones program is designed to reverse this trend by unlocking local production potential and strengthening agro-industrial value chains nationwide.  

    This initiative will increase agricultural productivity by over 60%, reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen value chains from farm to market. The cities of Kaduna and Cross River will host the Agro-Industrial Hubs, Agricultural Transformation Centers, and Aggregation Centers in the production zones, which are the foundational building blocks of the SAPZ program.  

    The program has the potential to create more than 60,000 jobs in each of the pioneering states.  The sites were strategically selected for their agricultural potential, infrastructure readiness, and prime geographical location, ensuring they drive Nigeria’s agro-industrial growth. For Kaduna, the focus will be on maize, soybeans, ginger, and tomatoes.  Cross River will leverage its cocoa, cassava, and rice.  Additionally, for both states, the SAPZ sites are located near major universities, such as Ahmadu Bello University in Kaduna and the University of Calabar in Cross River. Proximity to universities will provide access to research, innovation, and skilled human capital, further strengthening the agro-industrial transformation. 

    Several other state governors, federal government officials, and development partners will attend the two groundbreaking ceremonies. With 37% of the African Development Bank Group’s $5.1 billion Nigeria portfolio dedicated to private sector initiatives, Nigeria presents substantial opportunities for partnership in its ongoing development.  

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Samsung Announces Collaboration with Stanford Medicine to Advance Sleep Apnea Detection and Beyond

    Source: Samsung

    Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Stanford University today jointly announced a research project with Stanford Medicine to initiate an innovative health solution based on Samsung’s obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) feature1 which has received De Novo — the first of its kind authorization — by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In recognition of World Health Day, this project underscores the importance of sleep in overall health by taking further steps in proactive care, beginning with a pioneering study.
    Led by professor Robson Capasso as principal investigator and professor Clete Kushida as co-principal investigator, the joint study is designed to explore potential ways to further enhance Samsung’s Sleep Apnea feature to better support sleep health through timely interventions. Looking ahead, efforts will focus on going beyond detection by leveraging AI technology for daily monitoring to sleep apnea management, empowering users with the best possible sleep tools to improve their health.

    Samsung’s Sleep Apnea feature on the Galaxy Watch2, which detects signs of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, previously received authorization by the US FDA following approval by Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). With its latest approval by Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), the feature will become available to users in Brazil in late April, increasing availability to 29 markets globally. The Sleep Apnea feature will continue to be expanded to more countries around the world, allowing more people to proactively spot symptoms earlier, which help prevent further long-term OSA health-related complications.
    “The ethical, equitable and evidence-based use of technology, after its validation through research is crucial in developing new approaches to detection and management of sleep apnea and other serious sleep-related health conditions,” said Robson Capasso, MD, FAASM, Chief of Sleep Surgery, Professor of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, former Associate Dean of Research, Stanford University School of Medicine. “We are excited about this groundbreaking collaboration and proud to be initiating a study utilizing smartwatches, a friendly and commonly accepted wearable”
    “This collaboration with Stanford Medicine will combine our deep technological expertise with Stanford’s leading research capabilities to unlock new innovation in preventive care,” said Dr. Hon Pak, Senior Vice President and Head of the Digital Health Team, Mobile eXperience Business, Samsung Electronics. “Together, we aim to move beyond screening to also provide more meaningful daily support that helps people better understand and manage their sleep health.”

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Providing farmworkers with health insurance is worth it for their employers − new research

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By John Lowrey, Assistant Professor of Supply Chain and Health Sciences, Northeastern University

    Farmworkers at Del Bosque Farms pick and pack melons on a mobile platform in Firebaugh, Calif., in July 2021. AP Photo/Terry Chea

    Agricultural employers who provide farmworkers with health insurance earn higher profits, even after accounting for the cost of that coverage. In addition, farmworkers who get health insurance through their employers are more productive and earn more money than those who do not.

    These are the key findings from our study published in the March 2025 issue of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

    To conduct this research, we crunched over three decades of data from the Labor Department’s National Agricultural Workers Survey. We focused on California, the nation’s largest producer of fruits, nuts and other labor-intensive agricultural products in the U.S., from 1989 to 2022.

    We determined that if 20% more farmworkers got health insurance coverage, they would have earned $23,063 a year in 2022, up from $22,482 if they did not. Their employers, meanwhile, would earn $7,303 in net profits per worker annually in this same scenario, versus $6,598.

    Why it matters

    Roughly half of California’s agricultural employers are facing labor shortages at a time when the average age of U.S. farmworkers is also rising.

    Some of them, including grape producers, are responding by investing more heavily in labor-saving equipment, which helps reduce the need for seasonal manual labor. However, automated harvesting isn’t yet a viable or affordable option for labor-intensive specialty crops such as melons and strawberries.

    Despite labor shortages, agricultural employers may be reluctant to increase total compensation for farmworkers. They may also be wary of providing additional benefits such as health insurance for two main reasons.

    First, seasonal workers are, by definition, transient, meaning that the employer who provides coverage may not necessarily be the same one who benefits from a healthier worker. Second, it costs an employer money but doesn’t necessarily benefit them in the future if the worker moves on.

    Most U.S. farmworkers are immigrants from Mexico or Central America. Roughly 42% are immigrants who are in the U.S. without legal authorization, down from 55% in the early 2000s.

    As the share of farmworkers who are unauthorized immigrants has declined, the share who are U.S. citizens – including those born here – has grown and now stands at about 39%.

    The low wages farmworkers earn offer little incentive for more U.S. citizens and permanent residents to take these jobs. These jobs might become more attractive if employers offered health care coverage to protect the health of the worker and their household.

    Farmworkers who lack legal authorization to be in the U.S. are not eligible for private health insurance policies, and many can’t enroll in Medicaid, a government-run health insurance program that’s primarily for low-income Americans and people with disabilities. Regardless, some employers do take steps to help them gain access to health care services. As of 2025, a large share of farmworkers remain uninsured, including many citizens and immigrants with legal status.

    Limited access to health care is an unfortunate reality for farmworkers, whose jobs are physically demanding and dangerous. In addition, farmworkers are paid at or near the minimum wage and are constantly searching for their next employment opportunity. This uncertainty causes high levels of stress, which can contribute to chronic health issues such as hypertension.

    What still isn’t known

    It is hard to estimate the effect of employer-provided health insurance on workers and employers, since labor market outcomes are a result of highly complex interactions.

    For example, wages, productivity and how long someone keeps their job are highly interdependent variables determined by the interaction between what workers seek and what employers offer. And wages do not always reflect a worker’s skills and abilities, as some people are more willing to accept a job with low pay if their compensation includes good benefits such as health insurance.

    The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Providing farmworkers with health insurance is worth it for their employers − new research – https://theconversation.com/providing-farmworkers-with-health-insurance-is-worth-it-for-their-employers-new-research-253200

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The founder kings of Silicon Valley: Dual-class stock gives US social media company controllers nearly as much power as ByteDance has over TikTok

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Gregory H. Shill, Professor of Law & Michael and Brenda Sandler Faculty Fellow in Corporate Law, University of Iowa

    When Congress passed a law in 2024 to ban TikTok unless it came under U.S. ownership, lawmakers argued that the app’s Chinese parent company posed national security concerns. The Trump administration, which had granted the viral video app a reprieve shortly after taking office in January 2025, extended that pause again on April 4 after the Chinese government reportedly scuttled a planned deal.

    Regardless of how this all shakes out, the TikTok fight underscores deeper concerns about who controls social media in the United States.

    Given that worry, it might surprise Americans to learn that nearly every social media giant is controlled by just one or two men. For example, Mark Zuckerberg controls Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, while Larry Page and Sergey Brin control Alphabet, which owns YouTube and Google.

    What does “control” mean? These companies are publicly traded – anybody can buy or sell their shares – but a legal mechanism known as dual-class stock gives founders extra votes in shareholder decisions. The dual-class structure crowns these men “corporate royalty,” as one former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner has put it, granting them near-absolute control of corporate policy and resources without requiring them to take on commensurate financial risk.

    While TikTok is unusual in many respects, the way it vests power in one man is actually quite banal. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is privately held, but it’s reportedly controlled by a co-founder, Chinese national Zhang Yiming, via a dual-class structure.

    As a professor of corporate law, I’d urge policymakers and the public to consider the societal risks of a system that allows a single person to wield full control over a major corporation through dual-class stock.

    The dual-class effect: Meta as a case study

    In a standard single-class structure – where voting power tracks the amount of company equity a shareholder owns – someone seeking total control of a company must ordinarily spend a lot of money buying up shares, which also means assuming a lot of risk. This “skin in the game” requirement limits how much influence a single person can exert on a company.

    That safeguard is informal, not mandatory, and dual-class structures do away with it. Ascendant among Silicon Valley firms since Google’s 2004 initial public offering in the U.S. and recently legalized in the U.K., the dual-class model is fiercely debated in corporate governance circles. To date, however, its downsides have been understood only as a problem for shareholders, not society, despite broad and bipartisan concern about the influence of Big Tech.

    Let’s pick on Meta as an example. Zuckerberg reportedly owns just 13.5% of the company’s equity, but because he owns 99.7% of the supervoting shares, he controls 61% of the company’s votes.

    This setup gives him a lock on corporate policy as a controlling shareholder, even though he only owns a bit over one-eighth of Meta stock by value. He has full control of the company without placing anywhere near an equivalent amount of money at risk.

    You don’t have to be the parent of an Instagram-addicted teenager to see that Meta has generated what might be described as social costs. For example, Amnesty International has alleged that Facebook algorithms “substantially contributed to the atrocities perpetrated by the Myanmar military” in 2017. Facebook has also been criticized for promoting misinformation during past U.S. elections and for suppressing embarrassing stories about Hunter Biden.

    These examples underscore broader social concerns around content moderation, privacy and tech titans’ outsized political influence. Notably, Zuckerberg – who has been associated with progressive causes in the past – has moved to embrace President Donald Trump strongly in recent months and asked for Trump’s support for Meta in a legal battle with the European Union.

    When corporate control meets the Supreme Court

    In a 2023 law journal article, I noted that recent Supreme Court decisions expanding corporate constitutional rights stand to give company founders unprecedented power to shape society. While the rise of founder-controlled social media giants with distinct political agendas has gotten a lot of attention, the widening scope of what is deemed protected corporate speech and religious exercise hasn’t been a part of that conversation.

    I think there’s a real possibility that these two streams will converge, granting constitutional protection to “founder kings” who wish to leverage company resources for private agendas. Two recent legal developments raise the stakes.

    First, the courts – and in particular the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts – have been expanding corporate constitutional rights, which could allow dual-class founders to carve out exceptions to generally applicable laws.

    Second, recent legal changes in Delaware – which despite its tiny size is the leading corporate law jurisdiction in the U.S. – could make it easier for dual-class controlling shareholders to exercise power within their companies.

    To get a sense of the potential consequences, suppose the controlling shareholder of a dual-class company were to cause it to defy a federal mandate – for example, a requirement to offer health insurance plans that cover contraception – on the grounds that complying would violate their religious beliefs. The Supreme Court in Hobby Lobby v. Burwell recognized exactly this sort of faith-based exception for a large family-owned but privately held business.

    Would it recognize such an exception for a company like Snap? The company, best known for its app Snapchat, is publicly traded, but just two men, Robert Murphy and Evan Spiegel, control 99.5% of the voting power.

    We can’t be sure. Hobby Lobby is different from Snap in many ways. Yet what they have in common is the ability of their owners to plausibly claim a unitary speech or religious exercise interest that would not characterize a typical large business. Snap’s public owners have no say at all – zero votes – in the company’s affairs. If the controllers of Snap asserted a religious basis for exempting the company from a regulation – and to be clear, this is a purely hypothetical example – the courts might well indulge the claim.

    The judicial system’s expanding view of corporate constitutional rights – seen not just in Hobby Lobby but in Citizens United v. FEC and a number of more recent and ongoing cases in state and lower federal courts – could empower founders to leverage their businesses for private agendas. Whether or not this is likely for Snap in particular, the combination of the dual-class model and changes in the law would seem to leave the door open.

    Elon Musk vs. the dual-class model

    A fitting contrast might be none other than Twitter – renamed X after Elon Musk acquired it and who recently merged it into xAI, another Musk-led venture.

    As a privately held company, xAI is not required to file public investor reports, and much about its ownership structure remains opaque. But let’s assume the company is majority-owned by Musk in a conventional single-class structure – the type Twitter had before he bought it. Given a chance to provoke, Musk has consistently proved eager to raise his hand. Couldn’t he use his control to get X or xAI – we’ll stick with “X” for simplicity – to exercise the same vast control that Murphy and Spiegel could at Snap, or Zuckerberg at Meta?

    Yes – but with a subtle yet important difference.

    There’s a certain logic to X’s key corporate decisions being vested in Musk. Quite famously, he ponied up US$44 billion to buy the entire company. Legal prohibitions on the deployment of private resources for influence are confined to a small universe of cases – antitrust, bribery, certain types of campaign contributions. Those resources include businesses, which are a form of property, that are owned by wealthy individuals or groups. With limited exceptions, people can use their own property as they wish.

    In a dual-class company, though, controllers use other people’s property as they wish. They can get the immense legal, economic and organizational power of the corporate form without having to put much skin in the game.

    Beyond TikTok: The conversation the US should be having

    Traditionally, questions of rich-guy influence have been seen through the lens of politics, taxes or public regulation. But seeing them as questions about the exercise of private corporate control makes clear the special social challenges posed by dual-class stock.

    Wall Street has mostly accepted the bargain: ironclad insulation of Zuckerberg in exchange for rock-solid Meta returns. But this debate is not only of interest for the investment community. Everyone has a stake in its outcome.

    It’s fair for the public to question the wisdom of allowing company founders to leverage the resources and newly jumbo-sized constitutional rights of large corporations in service of a special agenda – be it for a foreign government, a political party or a religious faith – that isn’t even connected to classical purposes of the corporation or advantages of the dual-class model.

    The distinctive risks posed by TikTok are mostly unrelated to its share structure. But the debate over the ban-or-sell law offers a reminder: The powers created by dual-class stock aren’t unique to Chinese control. America’s homegrown-found kings wield them, too.

    Gregory H. Shill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. The founder kings of Silicon Valley: Dual-class stock gives US social media company controllers nearly as much power as ByteDance has over TikTok – https://theconversation.com/the-founder-kings-of-silicon-valley-dual-class-stock-gives-us-social-media-company-controllers-nearly-as-much-power-as-bytedance-has-over-tiktok-253671

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Cities that want to attract business might want to focus less on financial incentives and more on making people feel safe

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kaitlyn DeGhetto, Associate Professor of Management, University of Dayton

    To attract business investment, American cities and states offer companies billions of dollars in incentives, such as tax credits. As the theory goes, when governments create a business-friendly environment, it encourages investment, leading to job creation and economic growth.

    While this theory may seem logical on its face, it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. Business investment follows employees, not just the other way around. In fact, our research suggests workers care less about whether a city has business-friendly policies and more about how safe they feel living in it. And interestingly, we found that politics influence people’s risk perceptions more than hard data such as crime statistics.

    Our findings have major implications for cities and businesses. If people choose where to live and work based on perceived safety rather than economic incentives, then entrepreneurs and city leaders may need to rethink how they approach growth and investment.

    The many faces of risk

    We are management professors who surveyed more than 500 employees and entrepreneurs from across the country to better understand how they rate 25 large U.S. cities on various dimensions of risk.

    We asked about three different types of risk: risk related to crime, government function and social issues. Risk related to government function includes corruption and instability, while risk related to social issues includes potential infringements on individual rights.

    We found that people’s views of risk weren’t driven primarily by objective statistics, such as FBI crime data. Instead, they were shaped by factors such as media representations, word of mouth and geographic stereotypes.

    For example, studies suggest that crime in Denver has been rising, and U.S. News and World Report recently ranked it as the 10th most dangerous city based on FBI crime reports. However, the employees and entrepreneurs we surveyed ranked Denver as the safest city in the country.

    It’s all politics

    We found that political perspectives were the main factor biasing the rankings. For example, conservative-leaning employees and entrepreneurs believed that Portland, Oregon, is dangerous, ranking it as America’s ninth-riskiest city. In contrast, those who are liberal-leaning ranked it as the second-safest city in the country.

    Both of these beliefs can’t be accurate. Instead, when basing the ranking on objective crime data from the FBI, U.S. News ranked Portland the 15th most dangerous city in the country.

    When assessing risk related to how the government functions, conservatives praised politicians in Nashville, Charlotte and Dallas, while the liberals praised those in Denver, Minneapolis and Portland. Similarly, when considering risk related to social issues, conservatives said New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco were “risky,” while the liberals said Tampa, Miami and Houston should be avoided.

    Our findings also suggest that political perspectives influence the types of risk that employers and employees care about. For example, conservatives tend to care more about crime-related risk than liberals, and liberals care more about risk related to social issues.

    Now what?

    We’re not advocating that city leaders drop financial incentives altogether, or that employers ignore them. Evidence suggests that financial incentives and other business-friendly policies may be effective at attracting businesses and strengthening local economies.

    However, our research suggests that when individuals are making important life decisions about where to live, work and invest, a city’s level of risk matters. Importantly, beliefs about risk are subjective and are biased by political perspectives.

    In our view, city leaders must recognize and address concerns about crime, governance and social issues while actively working to improve public perceptions of their cities. Likewise, businesses may want to consider investing in cities that are less politically polarized when making investment decisions.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Cities that want to attract business might want to focus less on financial incentives and more on making people feel safe – https://theconversation.com/cities-that-want-to-attract-business-might-want-to-focus-less-on-financial-incentives-and-more-on-making-people-feel-safe-250247

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Peru’s ancient irrigation systems turned deserts into farms because of the culture − without it, the systems failed

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ari Caramanica, Assistant Professor of Archaeology, Vanderbilt University

    A pre-Hispanic canal funnels water from mountains to farm fields. Ari Caramanica

    Seeing the north coast of Peru for the first time, you would be hard-pressed to believe it’s one of the driest deserts in the world.

    Parts of the region receive less than an inch of rain in an entire year. Yet, water and greenery are everywhere. This is the nation’s agro-industrial heartland, and, thanks to irrigation canals, almost every inch of the floodplain is blanketed in lucrative export crops, such as sugarcane, asparagus and blueberries.

    However, the apparent success of this system masks an underlying fragility.

    Water shortages have plagued the region for centuries, and now modern climate change combined with agro-industrial practices have further intensified droughts. In response, the Peruvian government has invested billions of dollars in irrigation infrastructure in recent years designed to deliver more water from a resource more than 100 miles away: glaciers in the Andes.

    But the Andean glaciers are disappearing as global temperatures rise. Peru has lost over half its glacier surface area since 1962. At the same time, floods often connected to wet El Niño years are increasing in both frequency and intensity. These floods often destroy or obstruct critical irrigation infrastructure.

    Andean glaciers are disappearing as global temperatures rise. Peru lost over half its glacier surface area in the past half-century.
    mmphoto/DigitalVision via Getty Images

    As an archaeologist investigating societal responses to environmental and climate disaster in Peru, I’m interested in unraveling the histories of complex systems to understand how to improve similar systems today. To understand the Peruvian heartland’s vulnerabilities, it helps to look to the deep past.

    Most of the modern canal network originally dates to pre-Hispanic times, more than 1400 years ago. However, evidence suggests that while the canal systems of the past may have looked similar to those of the present, they functioned in more efficient, flexible ways. The key to adapting to our present and future climate may lie in comprehending the knowledge systems of the past – not just the equipment, technology or infrastructure, but how people used it.

    An environment of extremes

    The north coast of Peru is an environment of extremes.

    In this desert, thousands of years ago, societies encountered many of the same challenges posed by the modern climate crisis: expanding drylands, water scarcity, vulnerable food production systems, and frequent, intense natural disasters.

    Yet, people not only occupied this area for millennia, they thrived in it. Moche and Chimu societies created sophisticated, complex political and religious institutions, art and technology, and one of the largest pyramidal structures in the Americas.

    Relief of fish adorn an adobe wall in the historic Tschudi Complex archaeological site at Chan Chan, the former capital of the Chimu empire in Peru.
    FabulousFabs/Flickr, CC BY-NC

    When the Spanish arrived on the desert north coast of Peru shortly after 1532 C.E., early chroniclers remarked on the verdant, green valleys across the region.

    The Spanish immediately recognized the importance of the canal network. They had used similar canal technology in Spain for centuries. So, they set about conscripting Indigenous labor and adapting the irrigation system to their goals.

    Just a few decades later, however, historic records describe sand dunes and scrublands invading the green valleys, water shortages, and in 1578 a massive El Niño flood that nearly ended the young colony.

    So how did the Indigenous operation of this landscape succeed, where the Spanish and the modern-day agro-industrial complex have repeatedly failed?

    Culture was crucial for ancient canal systems

    Ancient beliefs, behaviors and norms – what archaeologists call culture – were fundamentally integrated into technological solutions in this part of Peru in ancient times. Isolating and removing the tools from that knowledge made them less effective.

    Scientists, policymakers and stakeholders searching for models of sustainable agriculture and climate adaptations can look to the archaeological record. Successfully applying past practices to today’s challenges requires learning about the cultures that put those tools to work effectively for so long, so long ago.

    The pre-Hispanic societies of Peru developed agricultural principles around the realities of the desert, which included both dry seasons and flash floods.

    Large-scale irrigation infrastructure was combined with low-cost, easily modified canals. Aqueducts doubled as sediment traps to capture nutrients. Canal branches channeled both river water and floodwater. Even check-dams – small dams used to control high-energy floods – worked in multiple ways. Usually made of mounded cobble and gravel, they reduced the energy of flash floods, captured rich sediments and recharged the water table.

    A drone’s view of sugarcane fields shows a pre-Hispanic adobe aqueduct on the right and small feeder canals in the modern fields.
    Ari Caramanica

    The initial failures of the Spanish on the north coast exemplify the problem of trying to adopt technology without understanding the cultural insights behind it: While they may be identical in form, a Spanish canal isn’t a Moche canal.

    Spanish canals operated in a temperate climate and were managed by individual farmers who could maintain or increase their water flow. The Moche and Chimu canal was tied to a complex labor system that synchronized cleaning and maintenance and prioritized the efficient use of water. What’s more, Moche canals functioned in tandem with floodwater diversion canals, which activated during El Niño events to create niches of agricultural productivity amid disasters.

    A handmade gate on a modern canal in northern Peru doesn’t seem that different from ancient canals, but the pre-Hispanic canal systems were generally more conceptually complex and interconnected.
    Ari Caramanica

    Desert farming required flexibility and multifunctionality from its infrastructure. Achieving that often meant forgoing impermeable materials and permanent designs, which stands in stark contrast to the way modern-day water management works are constructed.

    Copying ancient practices without the culture

    Today, the Peruvian government is pushing forward with a decades-old, multibillion-dollar project to deliver water to the north coast from a glacier-fed river.

    The Chavimochic project promises a grand transformation, turning desert into productive farmland. But it may be sacrificing long-term resilience for short-term prosperity.

    The project feeds on the temporary abundance of glacial meltwater. This is creating a water boom as the ice melts, but it will inevitably be followed by a devastating water bust as the glaciers all but disappear, which scientists estimate could happen by the end of the 21st century.

    Farmers sell locally grown corn and other crops at a street market in Piura, Peru.
    Christian Ender/Getty Images

    Meanwhile, sustainable land management practices of past Indigenous inhabitants continue to support ecosystems hundreds and even thousands of years later. Studies show higher levels of biodiversity, crucial to ecosystem health, near archaeological sites.

    On the Peruvian north coast, pre-Hispanic infrastructure continues to capture floodwater during El Niño events. When their modern-day fields are flooded or destroyed by these events, farmers will sometimes move their crops to areas surrounding archaeological remains where their corn, squash and bean plants can tap into the trapped water and sediments and safely grow without the need for further irrigation.

    Critics might point out the difficulty of scaling up ancient technologies for global applications, find them rudimentary, or would prefer to appropriate the design without bothering with understanding “the cultural stuff.”

    But this framing misses the bigger point: What made these technologies effective was the cultural stuff. Not just the tools but how they were used by the societies operating them. As long as modern engineering solutions try to update ancient technologies without considering the cultures that made them function, these projects will struggle.

    Understanding the past matters

    Archaeologists have an important role to play in building a climate-resilient future, but any meaningful progress would benefit from a historical approach that considers multiple ways of understanding the environment, of operating an irrigation canal and of organizing an agriculture-based economy.

    That approach, in my view, begins with saving indigenous languages, where cultural logic is deeply embedded, as well as preserving archaeological and sacred sites, and creating partnerships built on trust with the people who have worked with the land and whose cultures have adapted their practices to the changing climate for thousands of years.

    Ari Caramanica receives funding from The National Endowment for the Humanities.

    – ref. Peru’s ancient irrigation systems turned deserts into farms because of the culture − without it, the systems failed – https://theconversation.com/perus-ancient-irrigation-systems-turned-deserts-into-farms-because-of-the-culture-without-it-the-systems-failed-251199

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The ‘courage to be’ in uncertain times − how one 20th-century philosopher defined bravery

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mordechai Gordon, Professor of Education, Quinnipiac University

    Over the past few weeks, as negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine drag on, I’ve thought back to Feb. 28, 2025: the day of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s heated visit to the Oval Office.

    Zelenskyy has called the tone of the meeting “regrettable” as he tries to salvage support for Ukraine. But in some ways, he has stood by his decision to speak up as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated his country, calling it ungrateful for foreign assistance. “In that conversation, I was defending the dignity of Ukraine,” he told Time magazine.

    Watching Zelenskyy left me thinking about political courage. Philosophers have written about bravery for thousands of years, but what is it?

    Plato, for instance, wrote about courage as an important virtue that can assist political leaders. Plato scholar Linda Rabieh argues that courage is the ability to be steadfast in the moment of truth. Angela Hobbs, a British scholar, says that courage might be called “spiritedness”: the ability to act boldly in adverse situations.

    Some of my own recent research in philosophy of education has also focused on courage. In particular, I have been interested in Paul Tillich’s notion of the “courage to be,” as well as its implications for politics and education. Tillich was a German philosopher and theologian who left the country after the Nazis rose to power.

    Tillich Park in New Harmony, Ind., dedicated to the philosopher and theologian.
    christina rutz/Flickr, CC BY-SA

    More than a mindset

    Born in a village in eastern Germany in 1886, Tillich lived in a Europe ravaged by two world wars. As such, he experienced firsthand the fundamental anxiety that many felt during this period of prolonged violence and destruction.

    In the early 1930s, Tillich wrote “The Socialist Decision,” which can be interpreted as a challenge to right-wing populist movements. The Nazis banned the book, and he soon immigrated to the United States, where he would spend the rest of his life and write his most important philosophical and theological works.

    Tillich’s book “The Courage to Be,” published in 1952, is based on a series of lectures that he delivered at Yale University. Tillich was inspired to address courage, since he viewed this concept as one that integrates theological, sociological and philosophical problems. Moreover, Tillich suggests that this concept was useful for understanding societies’ challenges after World War II.

    Tillich moved to the U.S. in the 1930s, after the Nazis’ rise to power.
    Fritz Eschen/ullstein bild via Getty Images

    At its core, the book springs from an attempt to respond to anxiety: people’s anxious search for meaning and security, especially as many people lost faith in the religious traditions that once anchored their sense of purpose and reality. There is courage, Tillich writes, in affirming oneself despite that sense of emptiness, and despite the knowledge that our lives are short and uncertain.

    Tillich defines “the courage to be” as “the ethical act in which man affirms his own being in spite of those elements of his existence which conflict with his essential self-affirmation.” In other words, it is not simply an attitude or disposition. The courage to be is a deed – the ability to stay true to oneself.

    When it comes to ethics or politics, Tillich’s idea of courage entails the ability to sacrifice things such as pleasure, happiness and, in the most extreme cases, one’s life for some higher cause. Such acts of courage are praiseworthy because they suggest that the most ethically essential parts – the noble aspects – of our being are prevailing over the less essential.

    In spite of, a part of

    What Tillich calls “courage to be” consists of two indivisible parts or aspects.

    The first is what he refers to as “the courage to be in spite of”: courageously choosing to affirm one’s essential being, one’s core values, despite tough and even daunting forces of resistance.

    Martin Luther King Jr.’s struggle for civil rights during the 1960s provides a good example of this aspect of the courage to be. Documentary evidence indicates that the FBI tried to destroy his reputation with blackmail and wiretaps, not to mention the close to 30 times he was jailed.

    Martin Luther King Jr., kneeling on left, leads marchers singing and praying during a protest against segregated housing policies in Chicago in August 1966.
    AP Photo/File

    The second aspect Tillich describes in his book is “the courage to be as a part,” to partake in something larger than oneself. Tillich writes that “the self is self only because it has a world, a structured universe, to which it belongs.” The courage to be as a part could mean participating in a political movement, a religious community, a worker strike, or any other initiative that involves people coming together for a common purpose.

    For Tillich, these types of courage should not be considered separate qualities but two interrelated aspects of the courage to be.

    At Zelenskyy’s meeting in the Oval Office, I believe we witnessed a leader embodying both senses of the courage to be. As a president, Zelenskyy stood up for the right of his country to defend itself in the face of Russia’s assault. He remained steadfast in spite of efforts by Trump and Vance to pressure him to accept an agreement that would not have provided security guarantees for Ukraine.

    Yet it seemed to me the plainspoken, animated Zelenskyy also displayed Tillich’s notion of the courage to be as a part. He acted not only as an individual, or a politician, but as a Ukrainian trying to defend his country from an invader − a cause that has inspired protests around the globe.

    Mordechai Gordon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. The ‘courage to be’ in uncertain times − how one 20th-century philosopher defined bravery – https://theconversation.com/the-courage-to-be-in-uncertain-times-how-one-20th-century-philosopher-defined-bravery-250576

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Social media before bedtime wreaks havoc on our sleep − a sleep researcher explains why screens alone aren’t the main culprit

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brian N. Chin, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Trinity College

    Social media use before bedtime can be stimulating in ways that screen time alone is not. Adam Hester/Tetra Images via Getty Images

    “Avoid screens before bed” is one of the most common pieces of sleep advice. But what if the real problem isn’t screen time − it’s the way we use social media at night?

    Sleep deprivation is one of the most widespread yet overlooked public health issues, especially among young adults and adolescents.

    Despite needing eight to 10 hours of sleep, most adolescents fall short, while nearly two-thirds of young adults regularly get less than the recommended seven to nine hours.

    Poor sleep isn’t just about feeling tired − it’s linked to worsened mental health, emotion regulation, memory, academic performance and even increased risk for chronic illness and early mortality.

    At the same time, social media is nearly universal among young adults, with 84% using at least one platform daily. While research has long focused on screen time as the culprit for poor sleep, growing evidence suggests that how often people check social media − and how emotionally engaged they are − matters even more than how long they spend online.

    As a social psychologist and sleep researcher, I study how social behaviors, including social media habits, affect sleep and well-being. Sleep isn’t just an individual behavior; it’s shaped by our social environments and relationships.

    And one of the most common yet underestimated factors shaping modern sleep? How we engage with social media before bed.

    Emotional investment in social media

    Beyond simply measuring time spent on social media, researchers have started looking at how emotionally connected people feel to their social media use.

    Some studies suggest that the way people emotionally engage with social media may have a greater impact on sleep quality than the total time they spend online.

    In a 2024 study of 830 young adults, my colleagues and I examined how different types of social media engagement predicted sleep problems. We found that frequent social media visits and emotional investment were stronger predictors of poor sleep than total screen time. Additionally, presleep cognitive arousal and social comparison played a key role in linking social media engagement to sleep disruption, suggesting that social media’s effects on sleep extend beyond simple screen exposure.

    I believe these findings suggest that cutting screen time alone may not be enough − reducing how often people check social media and how emotionally connected they feel to it may be more effective in promoting healthier sleep habits.

    How social media disrupts sleep

    If you’ve ever struggled to fall asleep after scrolling through social media, it’s not just the screen keeping you awake. While blue light can delay melatonin production, my team’s research and that of others suggests that the way people interact with social media may play an even bigger role in sleep disruption.

    Here are some of the biggest ways social media interferes with your sleep:

    • Presleep arousal: Doomscrolling and emotionally charged content on social media keeps your brain in a state of heightened alertness, making it harder to relax and fall asleep. Whether it’s political debates, distressing news or even exciting personal updates, emotionally stimulating content can trigger increased cognitive and physiological arousal that delays sleep onset.

    • Social comparison: Viewing idealized social media posts before bed can lead to upward social comparison, increasing stress and making it harder to sleep. People tend to compare themselves to highly curated versions of others’ lives − vacations, fitness progress, career milestones − which can lead to feelings of inadequacy and anxiety that disrupt sleep.

    • Habitual checking: Social media use after lights out is a strong predictor of poor sleep, as checking notifications and scrolling before bed can quickly become an automatic habit. Studies have shown that nighttime-specific social media use, especially after lights are out, is linked to shorter sleep duration, later bedtimes and lower sleep quality. This pattern reflects bedtime procrastination, where people delay sleep despite knowing it would be better for their health and well-being.

    • Fear of missing out, or FOMO: The urge to stay connected also keeps many people scrolling long past their intended bedtime, making sleep feel secondary to staying updated. Research shows that higher FOMO levels are linked to more frequent nighttime social media use and poorer sleep quality. The anticipation of new messages, posts or updates can create a sense of social pressure to stay online and reinforce the habit of delaying sleep.

    Taken together, these factors make social media more than just a passive distraction − it becomes an active barrier to restful sleep. In other words, that late-night scroll isn’t harmless − it’s quietly rewiring your sleep and well-being.

    How to use social media without sleep disruption

    You don’t need to quit social media, but restructuring how you engage with it at night could help. Research suggests that small behavioral changes to your bedtime routine can make a significant difference in sleep quality. I suggest trying these practical, evidence-backed strategies for improving your sleep:

    • Give your brain time to wind down: Avoid emotionally charged content 30 to 60 minutes before bed to help your mind relax and prepare for sleep.

    • Create separation between social media and sleep: Set your phone to “Do Not Disturb” or leave it outside the bedroom to avoid the temptation of late-night checking.

    • Reduce mindless scrolling: If you catch yourself endlessly refreshing, take a small, mindful pause and ask yourself: “Do I actually want to be on this app right now?”

    A brief moment of awareness can help break the habit loop.

    Brian N. Chin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Social media before bedtime wreaks havoc on our sleep − a sleep researcher explains why screens alone aren’t the main culprit – https://theconversation.com/social-media-before-bedtime-wreaks-havoc-on-our-sleep-a-sleep-researcher-explains-why-screens-alone-arent-the-main-culprit-251453

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How racism fueled the Eaton Fire’s destruction in Altadena − a scholar explains why discrimination can raise fire risk for Black Californians

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Calvin Schermerhorn, Professor of History, Arizona State University

    Altadena is inherently prone to fire. But Black residents are the most vulnerable. Mario Tama/Getty Images

    The damage from the Eaton Fire wasn’t indiscriminate. The blaze that ravaged the city of Altadena, California, in January 2025, killing 17 people and consuming over 9,000 buildings, destroyed Black Altadenans’ homes in greatest proportion.

    About 48% of Black-owned homes sustained major damage or total destruction, compared with 37% of those owned by Asian, Latino or white Altadenans, according to a February 2025 report from the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies.

    The Eaton Fire’s uneven devastation reveals a pattern of racial discrimination previously concealed along neat blocks of mid-century, ranch-style homes and tree-lined streets.

    ‘A place for white people only’

    In the early 20th century, Altadena was a professional enclave connected to Los Angeles, 13 miles away, by the Pacific Electric Railway, or “Red Car” system.

    It was also lily-white, and that’s how homeowner groups liked it, according to research by Altadena historian Michele Zack.

    These organizations, which had lofty names such as the Great Northwest Improvement Association and West Altadena Improvement Association, urged homeowners to write language into their deeds that would bar Black, Latino or Asian tenants from buying or renting there.

    “We want our section of Pasadena and Altadena to be a place for white people only,” read one homeowners association notice sent to property owners in 1919.

    A ladies golf lesson in Altadena, Calif., 1958.
    Maryland Studio/PGA of America via Getty Images

    By the end of World War II, most properties in Altadena had racially restrictive deeds or covenants – a trend being repeated in white suburbs across the country.

    In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down such restrictions in Shelley v. Kraemer as unenforceable. Still, the 1950 census shows that Altadena had no Black residents.

    Building the new LA

    But the Los Angeles area was changing. The West Coast economy boomed after the war, and Black Americans from Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas began heading to California. Many landed in Pasadena, directly south of Altadena.

    Claiming that Americans preferred buses and automobiles to trains, a consortium of automobile, oil and tire companies persuaded Los Angeles officials to rip out the electric railway and replace it with roads.

    Los Angeles’ “Red Car” system, which had connected the region, closed for good in 1961. Altadena had already lost its rail connection to Los Angeles long before, in 1941.

    By mid-century, broader Los Angeles had become a series of homeowner-controlled enclaves connected by freeways and choked with smog.

    The construction in 1958 of Interstate 210, which connected the San Fernando Valley to the San Gabriel Valley, ran a four-lane highway through mostly Black and Latino neighborhoods of Pasadena. Following a national pattern of displacing poor minority communities in the name of urban renewal, it was part of a redevelopment spree that ultimately pushed 4,000 Black and Latino residents out of the city.

    Some relocated within Pasadena or moved to Duarte, Monrovia, Pomona or South Los Angeles. But a handful of families bought homes in Altadena, defying the illegal racial covenants still in place there.

    One new Black resident, Joseph Henry Davis, bought a home west of Lake Avenue, the main north-south artery dividing the city, in what was, as one local newspaper put it in 1964, an “all-white Altadena neighborhood.”

    When Davis moved in, the story reports, his new neighbors put up “a 40-inch white plaster cross that (read) ‘you are not welcome here.‘” The Davis family “paid it no attention.”

    Altadena embodied a paradox seen nationwide. The city integrated, but block-by-block segregation kept white and Black residents apart.

    Discrimination in new forms

    By 1970, roughly one-third of Altadena’s population was Black, and 70% of Black households in Altadena owned their homes – nearly double Los Angeles County’s Black home ownership rate of 38%.

    Black residents almost exclusively lived in West Altadena. Lots there were smaller than those on the east side of town, so they were more affordable. They were also older, which made them more vulnerable to fires because they were built with materials that were more flammable than those used in newer homes.

    As my book “The Plunder of Black America: How the Racial Wealth Gap Was Made” shows, once Black families surmounted one obstacle, such as racial covenants, another rose in its place.

    In the 1960s and 1970s, many white Altadenans resisted school integration, opposing boundary changes and busing that would have put Black and Latino students in predominantly white Altadena schools. California passed Proposition 13 in 1978, freezing property taxes at 1% of their assessed value. Public schools lost significant funding, private schools gained affluent students, and educational segregation deepened.

    Educational discrimination feeds wealth inequality, which was severe nationwide: In 1980, for every dollar a white household owned, a Black one owned 20 cents.

    Rising home values, paradoxically, had a similarly malignant effect. In the 1980s, the Los Angeles area became one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation. Many Black Altadenans could no longer afford to live there. The share of the city’s population that was Black fell from 43% in 1980 to 38% in 1990. By the 2000s it had dropped to below 25%.

    Great Recession takes its toll

    Black homeowners who remained in Altadena were hit hard by the 2008 housing crisis. That crisis was caused in part by lenders steering borrowers, particularly borrowers of color, into subprime loans, even when they qualified for better deals.

    Between 2007 and 2009, Black households lost 48% of their wealth – nearly half their assets. White wealth dropped during the Great Recession, too, but only by about one-quarter.

    Research into this racial discrepancy later showed that because white families had more of a financial cushion, they could stem their losses.

    These and other factors have all dragged down the wealth of Black Californians over the years. In 2023, California’s task force on reparations calculated that the state’s discriminatory practices cost the average African American in California $160,931 in homeownership wealth compared with a white Californian.

    Racism fuels the fire

    Those inequities were a tinderbox that the Eaton Fire ignited.

    Altadena is inherently prone to fire because it borders the Angeles National Forest, gets Santa Ana winds that spread embers, and has highly flammable vegetation. But because Black Altadenans’ homes sit on smaller lots, with structures and landscaping located closer together, the ember fire spread more easily in Black neighborhoods.

    Altadena, Calif., March 26, 2025: A scene of ruin.
    Mario Tama/Getty Images

    Black Altadenans also tend to be older than their white neighbors, because most had bought into the area before the real estate boom of the 1980s. The physical and financial strains typical of an aging household may have caused hardships for removing vegetation – a best practice in protecting a structure from an ember fire.

    All these factors likely contributed to the Eaton Fire disproportionately burning Black-owned homes. All are connected to the city’s legacy of discrimination and exclusion. And they will all make fire recovery harder for Black Altadenans, too.

    Calvin Schermerhorn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. How racism fueled the Eaton Fire’s destruction in Altadena − a scholar explains why discrimination can raise fire risk for Black Californians – https://theconversation.com/how-racism-fueled-the-eaton-fires-destruction-in-altadena-a-scholar-explains-why-discrimination-can-raise-fire-risk-for-black-californians-250582

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: 3D Systems’ Solution Enables World’s First Facial Implant Manufacturing at Point-of-Care

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • First 3D-printed PEEK facial implant manufactured at the point-of-care using 3D Systems’ EXT 220 MED
    • Point-of-care collaboration between surgeons, engineers, and technology enables tailored solutions to address complex patient needs
    • 3D Systems’ solutions accelerating additive manufacturing use in maxillofacial reconstruction — total market anticipated to reach more than $4 billion by end of 2034

    ROCK HILL, S.C., April 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) announced that in collaboration with the University Hospital Basel (Switzerland) the Company’s unique point-of-care additive manufacturing solution has been used to design and produce the world’s first Medical Device Regulation (MDR)-compliant 3D-printed PEEK facial implant. Prof. Florian Thieringer and Dr. Neha Sharma, together with their team of biomedical engineers, successfully designed and manufactured a custom device to address a patient’s unique need using 3D Systems technology and product manufacturing expertise. They used this implant as part of a successful surgery completed at the hospital on March 18, 2025. Production of the first MDR-compliant facial implant was completed using VESTAKEEP® i4 3DF PEEK by Evonik on 3D Systems’ EXT 220 MED. The cleanroom-based architecture of the printer and simplified post-processing workflows enable the efficient production of patient-specific medical devices directly at the hospital.

    “Our goal is always to provide the best possible care for our patients,” said Prof. Thieringer. “Being directly involved in both the design and manufacturing of patient-specific implants — right here in our hospital — allows us to tailor treatments precisely to individual needs, respond faster, and improve surgical outcomes. The ability to produce implants on demand represents a new era in personalized care.”

    For more than a decade, surgeons have used VSP® surgical planning solutions that combine best-in-class digital workflows with the industry’s broadest additive manufacturing portfolio of printers and materials to deliver comprehensive patient-matched solutions. Bringing together surgeons, engineers, and technology in the clinical setting allows for the immediate development of patient-specific treatments, overcoming the limitations of standard medical devices. As a result, healthcare providers are improving outcomes1,2, increasing efficiency3, and lowering the cost of care4. 

    “The rapid adoption of the EXT 220 MED by leading healthcare institutions combined with our expanding applications pipeline, underscores the transformative power of 3D printing in clinical settings,” said Stefan Leonhardt, Ph.D., director, medical devices, 3D Systems. “We are proud to collaborate with the pioneering clinicians at University Hospital Basel and other leading hospitals worldwide to expand the applications that can be addressed with additive manufacturing. Since its launch in August 2023, our innovative solution has already been utilized in more than 80 successful cranial implant surgeries at partner hospitals, demonstrating its swift integration and real-world effectiveness in delivering personalized patient care. The successful use of the EXT 220 MED for maxillofacial implants showcases our commitment to ongoing innovation that delivers personalized healthcare solutions for new applications.”

    It is anticipated that the use of 3D-printed facial implants will accelerate based on the availability of advanced technologies. According to Market Research Future5, the 3D-printed maxillofacial implant market size was estimated at more than $2 billion in 2024 and is anticipated to more than double to over $4 billion by the end of 2034. Additive manufacturing is disrupting this sector by enabling a more cost-effective, efficient solution. As a pioneer in personalized healthcare solutions, 3D Systems has worked with surgeons for over a decade to plan more than 150,000 patient-specific cases and additively manufacture more than two million implants and instruments for 100+ CE-marked and FDA-cleared devices from its world-class, FDA-registered, ISO 13485-certified facilities in Littleton, Colorado, and Leuven, Belgium. For more information, please visit the Company’s website.

    Forward-Looking Statements
    Certain statements made in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In many cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “estimates,” “intends,” “anticipates” or “plans” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are based upon management’s beliefs, assumptions, and current expectations and may include comments as to the company’s beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company. The factors described under the headings “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” in the company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other factors, could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected or predicted in forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not, and should not be relied upon as a guarantee of future performance or results, nor will they necessarily prove to be accurate indications of the times at which such performance or results will be achieved. The forward-looking statements included are made only as of the date of the statement. 3D Systems undertakes no obligation to update or review any forward-looking statements made by management or on its behalf, whether as a result of future developments, subsequent events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law.

    About 3D Systems
    More than 35 years ago, Chuck Hull’s curiosity and desire to improve the way products were designed and manufactured gave birth to 3D printing, 3D Systems, and the additive manufacturing industry. Since then, that same spark continues to ignite the 3D Systems team as we work side-by-side with our customers to change the way industries innovate. As a full-service solutions partner, we deliver industry-leading 3D printing technologies, materials and software to high-value markets such as medical and dental; aerospace, space and defense; transportation and motorsports; AI infrastructure; and durable goods. Each application-specific solution is powered by the expertise and passion of our employees who endeavor to achieve our shared goal of Transforming Manufacturing for a Better Future. More information on the company is available at www.3dsystems.com.

    Investor Contact:   investor.relations@3dsystems.com 
    Media Contact:      press@3dsystems.com

    1 Ballard DH, Trace AP, Ali S, et al. Clinical Applications of 3D Printing: Primer for Radiologists. Acad Radiol 2018;25(1):52–65. 
    2 Chepelev L, Wake N, Ryan J, et al. Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 3D printing Special Interest Group (SIG): guidelines for medical 3D printing and appropriateness for clinical scenarios. 3D Print Med 2018;4(1):11. 
    3 Morgan C, Khatri C, Hanna SA, Ashrafian H, Sarraf KM. Use of three-dimensional printing in preoperative planning in orthopaedic trauma surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis. World J Orthop 2020;11(1):57– 67.
    4 Ballard DH, Mills P, Duszak R Jr, Weisman JA, Rybicki FJ, Woodard PK. Medical 3D Printing Cost-Savings in Orthopedic and Maxillofacial Surgery: Cost Analysis of Operating Room Time Saved with 3D Printed Anatomic Models and Surgical Guides. Acad Radiol. 2020 Aug;27(8):1103-1113.
    5 Market Research Future, 3D Printed Maxillofacial Implant Market Research Report By Application (Craniomaxillofacial Reconstruction, Dental Implants, Orthognathic Surgery, Trauma Reconstruction), By Material (Titanium, POM, Polyether Ether Ketone, Glass Ceramics), By Technology (Stereolithography, Selective Laser Sintering, Fused Deposition Modeling, Computer-Aided Design), By End Use (Hospitals, Dental Clinics, Ambulatory Surgical Centers) and By Regional (North America, Europe, South America, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa) – Forecast to 2034 (March 2025).

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Reality check: coral restoration won’t save the world’s reefs

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Node Leader in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, Flinders University

    A coral ‘rope’ nursery in the Maldives Luca Saponari/University of Milan, CC BY-ND

    Coral reefs are much more than just a pretty place to visit. They are among the world’s richest ecosystems, hosting about a third of all marine species.

    These reefs also directly benefit more than a billion people, providing livelihoods and food security, as well as protection from storms and coastal erosion.

    Without coral reefs, the world would be a much poorer place. So when corals die or become damaged, many people try to restore them. But the enormity of the task is growing as the climate keeps warming.

    In our new research, we examined the full extent of existing coral restoration projects worldwide. We looked at what drives their success or failure, and how much it would actually cost to restore what’s already been lost. Restoring the reefs we’ve already lost around the world could cost up to A$26 trillion.

    Bleached Acropora corals in the Maldives.
    Davide Seveso/University of Milan

    Global losses

    Sadly, coral reefs are suffering all over the world. Global warming and marine heatwaves are the main culprits. But overfishing and pollution make matters worse.

    When sea temperatures climb above the seasonal average for sustained periods, corals can become bleached. They lose colour as they expel their symbiotic algae when stressed, revealing the white skeleton underneath. Severe bleaching can kill coral.

    Coral bleaching and mass coral deaths are now commonplace. Last month, a massive warm-water plume bleached large areas of Ningaloo Reef on Australia’s northwest coast just as large sections of the northern Great Barrier Reef were bleaching on the northeast coast.

    Since early 2023, mass coral bleaching has occurred in throughout the tropics and parts of the Indian Ocean.

    Over the past 40 years, the extent of coral reefs has halved. As climate change continues, bleaching events and coral deaths will become more common. More than 90% of coral reefs are at risk of long-term degradation by the end of the century.

    Dead corals in the Maldives following a bleaching event.
    Simone Montano/University of Milan

    Direct intervention

    Coral reef restoration can take many forms, including removing coral-eating species such as parrot fish, transferring coral spawn, or even manipulating the local community of microbes to improve coral survival.

    But by far the most common type of restoration is “coral gardening”, where coral fragments grown in nurseries are transplanted back to the reef.

    The problem is scale. Coral restoration can only be done successfully at a small scale. Most projects only operate over several hundred or a few thousand square metres. Compare that with nearly 12,000 square km of loss and degradation between 2009 and 2018. Restoration projects come nowhere near the scale needed to offset losses from climate change and other threats.

    Conservationists work to garden coral and help preserve these unique life forms.

    Sky-high costs

    Coral restoration is expensive, ranging from around $10,000 to $226 million per hectare. The wide range reflects the variable costs of different techniques used, ease of access, and cost of labour. For example, coral gardening (coral fragments grown in nurseries transplanted back to the reef) is relatively cheap (median cost $558,000 per hectare) compared with seeding coral larvae (median $830,000 per hectare). Building artificial reefs can cost up to $226 million per hectare.

    We estimated it would cost more than $1.6 billion to restore just 10% of degraded coral areas globally. This is using the lowest cost per hectare and assuming all restoration projects are successful.

    Even our conservative estimate is four times more than the total investment in coral restoration over the past decade ($410 million).

    But it’s reasonable to use the highest cost per hectare, given high failure rates, the need to use several techniques at the same site, and the great expense of working on remote reefs. Restoring 10% of degraded coral areas globally, at $226 million a hectare, would cost more than $26 trillion – almost ten times Australia’s annual GDP.

    It is therefore financially impossible to tackle the ongoing loss of coral reefs with restoration, even if local projects can still provide some benefits.

    Rope nurseries nurture coral fragments until they’re ready to be planted out.
    Luca Saponari/University of Milan

    Location, location, location

    Our research also looked at what drives the choice of restoration sites. We found it depends mostly on how close a reef is to human settlements.

    By itself, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But we also found restoration actions were more likely to occur in reefs already degraded by human activity and with fewer coral species.

    This means we’re not necessarily targeting sites where restoration is most likely to succeed, or of greatest ecological importance.

    Another limitation is coral gardening normally involves only a few coral species – the easiest to rear and transplant. While this can still increase coral cover, it does not restore coral diversity to the extent necessary for healthy, resilient ecosystems.

    Measuring ‘success’

    Another sad reality is that more than a third of all coral restoration efforts fail. The reasons why can include poor planning, unproven technologies, insufficient monitoring, and subsequent heatwaves.

    Unfortunately, there’s no standard way to collect data or report on restoration projects. This makes it difficult – or impossible – to identify conditions leading to success, and reduces the pace of improvement.

    Succeed now, fail later

    Most coral transplants are monitored for less than 18 months. Even if they survive that period, there’s no guarantee they will last longer. The long-term success rate is unknown.

    When we examined the likelihood of extreme heat events immediately following restoration and in coming decades, we found most restored sites had already experienced severe bleaching shortly after restoration. It will be difficult to find locations that will be spared from future global warming.

    Sometimes the young coral is bleached before the restoration project is complete.
    Davide Seveso/University of Milan

    No substitute for climate action

    Coral restoration has the potential to be a valuable tool in certain circumstances: when it promotes community engagement and addresses local needs. But it is not yet – and might never be – feasible to scale up sufficiently to have meaningful long-term positive effects on coral reef ecosystems.

    This reality check should stimulate constructive debate about when and where restoration is worthwhile. Without stemming the pace and magnitude of climate change, we have little power to save coral reefs from massive losses over the coming century and beyond.

    Other conservation approaches such as establishing, maintaining and enforcing marine protected areas, and improving water quality, could improve the chance a coral restoration project will work. These efforts could also support local human communities with incentives for conservation.

    Reinforcing complementary strategies could therefore bolster ecosystem resilience, extending the reach and success of coral restoration projects.



    Read more:
    Coral restoration is a speculative, feel-good science that won’t save our reefs

    Corey J. A. Bradshaw receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    Clelia Mulà receives funding from the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

    Giovanni Strona does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Reality check: coral restoration won’t save the world’s reefs – https://theconversation.com/reality-check-coral-restoration-wont-save-the-worlds-reefs-251055

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Election Diary: The election’s first debate was disaster-free but passion-free too

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    The election’s first debate, on Sky News on Tuesday night, was disappointingly dull. Viewers who’d been following the campaign would have learned little. There was minimal spontaneity.

    Among the 100 undecided voters in the room, 44 said Anthony Albanese won, 35 thought Peter Dutton came out ahead and 21 were undecided.

    Both camps will be satisfied, because each leader’s main aim was to avoid disaster. A bad mistake, an undisciplined moment, can sour the following day.

    The Liberals will be especially relieved. After difficult days for Dutton, with Trump wading into the campaign and the fiasco over the work-from-home policy, the opposition leader needed to perform creditably. He did that, with commentators scoring the result variously (in some cases in line with the scorer’s political leaning).

    Dutton was under added pressure – just before the two men faced off he learned his father Bruce had been taken to hospital.

    Both leaders were well prepared, and carefully polite. Questions canvassed the “Trump pandemic”, education, health, cost of living, immigration, Albanese’s tax cuts, Dutton’s fuel excise promise, and Gaza.

    When moderator Kieran Gilbert asked audience members to raise their hands if they were “doing it pretty tough” about half did so.

    Albanese seemed to have more material to work with, and made sure he homed in on Dutton’s nuclear policy and his time as health minister.

    Naturally, we saw Albanese’s well-worn Medicare card again.

    The PM dodged an awkward reference to NSW premier Chris Minns’ returning public servants to the office, pivoting to Dutton’s dumping his working from home policy. “Peter hasn’t been able to stand up for his own policy, so I don’t know how he can stand up for Australia.”

    Albanese had a good zinger countering Dutton’s spiel on gas: “The only gas policy that the Coalition have is the gaslighting of the Australia public.”

    Dutton had a cut-through point on the PM’s promise to subsidise solar batteries. “He’s asking you to provide a subsidy or to support a subsidy for people on higher incomes like me to buy a battery at a subsidised price and I don’t believe that’s fair.”

    Rather bizarrely, the Coalition used the cover of the debate to release its delayed modelling for its gas reservation policy, sending it out just as the debate started, embargoed until its finish.

    “Modelling conducted by Frontier Economics has concluded that the Coalition’s National Gas Plan will see a 23% reduction in wholesale gas prices,” the statement said. This would “progressively mean

    • 15% reduction in retail gas bills for industrial customers
    • 7% reduction in retail gas bills for residential customers
    • 8% reduction in wholesale electricity prices
    • 3% reduction in residential electricity prices.”

    And do the debates matter anyway?

    Australian election debates are punctuation points in the campaign. They don’t necessarily carry much weight, although they can affect a candidate’s immediate momentum.

    Ian McAllister, director of the ANU’s Australian Election Study, says fewer and fewer people are watching these debates. In 1993, about seven in ten voters watched; in 2022 only a third did.

    McAllister also says our debates are low grade compared to some overseas. For example, in France, the two candidates sit across from each other, with two moderators and “go for it”. In Australia, debates are “stylised” and the candidates rely heavily on prepared answers.

    Winning or losing the debates is not necessarily a guide to the election result. As the table shows John Howard performed better in elections than in debates.

    NSW Premier Minns defends a back-to-the-office policy

    Peter Dutton took a serious fall over his now-abandoned plan to force Canberra public servants back to the office. But Chris Minns already has many state bureaucrats back at their desks, and on Tuesday declared firmly he won’t be for turning.

    The Minns policy, announced last year, admittedly has had a bumpy start, including problems with the unions. But Minns’ “sell” is very different from the Coalition’s unsuccessful attempt.

    The federal opposition, which often seems obsessed with Canberra public servants, left the impression these bureaucrats working from home were ripping off the system and needed to be brought into line.

    Contrast the positive spin from Minns on Tuesday. After noting most NSW public servants can’t work from home – they’re on the front line – for the rest: “We believe it’s the only way of mentoring the next generation of people, to come through offices and ensure that they’ve got good modelled behaviour, a sense of shared mission and an idea of where they’re going collectively together.

    “In order for us to fulfil the mission of government and public service, it means that you’ve got to build a team culture. And that can really only be done in the workplace.

    “I think our policy is different to Peter Dutton’s, but I just don’t want to mince words. We’ve got to be clear and consistent and we’re not changing our policy.

    “I don’t want any ambiguity about our position. We made that call last year. It was the right decision. And in terms of the mentoring role that a senior person plays in a workplace, whether they’re a manager or not, if they’ve got years under their belt and they’ve got experience, it’s amazing the positive impact they will have on a junior recruit that we’ve just got into the public service and that doesn’t happen on zoom and it doesn’t happen on YouTube and it doesn’t happen over the phone.”

    Minns has consistently proved himself a strong communicator. He often ran rings around Anthony Albanese in responding to the antisemitism crisis.

    Jim Chalmers does the rounds on the tariff crisis

    Treasurer Jim Chalmers is making the most of incumbency in the wake of the Trump tariff upheaval, undertaking an intense round of official activity.

    Chalmers will convene a meeting on Wednesday of the Council of Financial Regulators to discuss the impact globally and locally. Those attending will include the heads of the Reserve Bank, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, Treasury and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

    He will also meet the heads of the Future Fund and the ASX. On Thursday, he will have talks with major employers.

    Chalmers has already convened and attended a Treasury briefing for the prime minister. He has talked with Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock, and been in touch with the CEOs of the major banks and superannuation funds representatives.

    Chalmers is due to debate shadow treasurer Angus Taylor on Wednesday evening.

    Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Election Diary: The election’s first debate was disaster-free but passion-free too – https://theconversation.com/election-diary-the-elections-first-debate-was-disaster-free-but-passion-free-too-183208

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Robert Aderholt Announces Winners of 2025 4th Congressional District Art Competition

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04)

    Best of Show Winner to Have Artwork Displayed in U.S. Capitol, Receives Full Scholarship

    HANCEVILLE, AL — Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04) proudly announced the winners of the 2025 4th Congressional District Art Competition during a special awards ceremony held Monday morning at Wallace State Community College.

    The top honor, Best of Show, was awarded to Natalie Jones, an 11th grader at DAR School in Grant. Natalie’s exceptional piece—a colorful 3D crocheted tree—will be displayed in the United States Capitol for the next year as part of the national Congressional Art Competition exhibit. As the Best of Show winner, Natalie will also travel to Washington, D.C. this summer to participate in the national awards ceremony. In addition to this prestigious recognition, she has been awarded a full two-year scholarship to Wallace State Community College. 

    Reflecting on her piece, Natalie said:

    “So, I really like the art collages and most of them that I see on places like Pinterest and other websites all the pieces are flat. I wanted to do something that came off of the canvas. Something that was really colorful and brought the colors of art and nature together.”

    Congressman Aderholt praised all the participating students for their creativity and talent, stating:

    “Each year I continue to be amazed at the level of artistic ability we see from students across the 4th District. The imagination and dedication these young artists pour into their work is truly inspiring. I want to extend my sincere thanks to Wallace State Community College and its president, Dr. Vicki Karolewics, for once again hosting this wonderful event and for their continued support of arts education in our schools.”

    Additional Winners by Category:

    Paintings

    1. Lilli Gilliland – JB Pennington High School
    2. Yadira Juan – Russellville High School
    3. Yumiya Xie – Florence High School

    Drawings

    1. Elianna Hollis – Cullman High School
    2. Ashley Pankey – Boaz High School
    3. Luke McCurdy – Guntersville High School

    Collages

    1. Flor Gonzalez – DAR High School
    2. Alexx Stadelman – DAR High School
    3. Frankie Kate Kruger – Cullman High School

    Prints

    1. Holt Hurt – Florence High School
    2. Emma Beavers – West Point High School
    3. Peyton Millsap – Haleyville High School

    Mixed Media

    1. Vanessa Corona Rios – Guntersville High School
    2. Isabella Smith – Sumiton Christian School
    3. Harper Granger – Cullman High School

    Computer Graphics

    1. Maria Agnello – St. Bernard Prep School
    2. Laiken Rice – DAR High School
    3. Matthew Jiminez – Crossville High School

    Photography

    1. Juan Dominguez – Haleyville High School
    2. Stacy Johnson – Florence High School
    3. Crystal Gonzalez – Guntersville High School

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: A Winning Collaboration: How an Internship Program is Connecting Top Data Science Students to UConn Sports Teams

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Six years ago, UConn Field Hockey head coach Paul Caddy reached out to the head of the Department of Statistics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He wanted to find an informal way for students learning statistical methods to work with his team, integrating data analytics to gain a competitive edge.

    After a pandemic and various other obstacles, the collaboration never came to fruition.

    Then, in Fall 2023, Alyssa O’Keefe, an academic advisor in the Department of Statistics and Applied Data Analysis, launched a formalized sports analytics internship program and Caddy saw a new opportunity to bring that vision to life.

    For the past two years, the Sports Statistics Experiential Learning Program has provided UConn Athletics with statistical information to improve their performance while allowing students the opportunity to gain practical hands-on experience to prepare them for careers in data.

    O’Keefe says she got the idea for the program after the parent of an incoming student asked if it would be okay for her to leverage her connection with a coach to get her son experience with a team. O’Keefe says she saw an opportunity to expand that access to other students who may not have those personal connections.

    “I’ve had so many students sit across my desk telling me that their dream job would be sports analytics,” O’Keefe says. “We have 18 teams. How could we not have a way to make this connection for them?”

    In the Fall 2024, the program paired Caddy with Julia Mazzola ’25 (CLAS), a statistical data science and economics double major, who analyzed attacking penalty corners, a crucial scoring opportunity that happens when a foul is made in the area around the goal. The data provided real-time insights that Caddy says he’ll use as part of his coaching throughout the seasons.

    “In the couple of seasons leading up to this one, our performance has not been what it needs to be offensively or defensively on corners,” Caddy says. “So, we need to get some data to see what works and what doesn’t.”

    Julia Mazzola ’25 (CLAS), a statistical data science and economics double major, worked as a sports analytics intern with UConn Field Hockey in the Fall of 2024. (Contributed by Julia Mazzola)

    Having previously met Joe Ferriss, former director of Men’s Hockey Operations, O’Keefe reached out with her idea of partnering statistics students with athletic teams. Ferriss was impressed with the concept and became the first to agree to join the program.

    As word spread around the Athletics teams of O’Keefe’s initiative, more teams began to show interest. The program began with just three teams— baseball, men’s hockey and football—but has since expanded to 11 teams including the women’s basketball team which won the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.

    The internship program will be adding the Department of Sports Performance to its list of participating athletics programs in the fall and O’Keefe says she hopes more teams will sign on.

    Unlike traditional coursework, this internship places students in dynamic sports environments where they work on various analytical projects tailored to the needs of the teams they’re paired with. Projects include tracking player positioning and movement through game footage, assessing player performance during various points of the game to refine strategy, providing statistical insights during competitions, and analyzing recruitment data.

    Many interns work directly with coaching staff, integrating data into team meetings and game planning, O’Keefe says.

    Students can earn credits for the internship and can intern for a semester or a full year. The time commitment varies from one placement to another, and O’Keefe says students selected for the program must agree to the conditions before they begin.

    Mazzola interned with Caddy’s team for one semester, and Caddy says she felt like a member of the team.

    “It is a unique experience,” Caddy says. “She’s on the sidelines during games. She’s going to get a championship ring because we won the Big East Championship. We think she’s part of the field hockey family.”

    He says he hopes to continue working with student interns and that Mazzola’s project is something the team “can lean on a little bit, moving through the seasons.”

    For Mazzola, the program is a career stepping stone. She plans to start her career in underwriting at the Cigna Group after she graduates in May and credits the internship with reinforcing her passion for analytics and problem-solving.

    “One thing about underwriting is there’s a lot of moving pieces, and there’s a lot to learn,” she says. “You have to take in many aspects when you make a decision, and the field hockey internship was very helpful in learning how to piece things together, like solving a puzzle.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: UConn Graduate Programs Ranked Among the Best in the Nation

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    The University of Connecticut offers graduate programs across a wide variety of fields and disciplines that rank among the very best in the United States, according to rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

    Programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, the Neag School of Education, and UConn School of Law were all singled out as being among the best among their peers. The recognition highlights UConn’s commitment to student excellence and support generally, as well as the efforts of the schools and colleges measured in the rankings.

    “We are proud to see our graduate programs recognized among the nation’s best in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings,” says Provost and Chief Academic Officer Anne D’Alleva. “This achievement reflects the exceptional dedication of our faculty, the talent of our students, and our continued investment in graduate education.”

    The School of Business’ Flex MBA programs ranked No. 33 in the nation for the second consecutive year, up from 37 two years ago. Executive Director Mia Hawlk credits the program’s commitment to innovation for its continued success.

    “The MBA market is very competitive, and we’ve worked hard to pair the best of a traditional business education with new, relevant, and current course topics. It is a constant cycle of re-examining and updating programs,” she says.

    The MBA program offers optional “MBA Now’’ courses which have included special courses on topics such as sustainability and artificial intelligence for managers.

    “I think our success is testament to the commitment of the University and the School of Business to deliver outstanding business education to our students and to the Connecticut workforce,’’ Hawlk says.

    For the second year in a row, multiple graduate programs within UConn’s Neag School of Education have earned recognition as among the best in the country.

    In addition, the Neag School appears for the tenth consecutive year as one of the top 30 public graduate schools of education in the United States, tied at No. 28. Among all graduate schools of education across the nation, both public and private, the Neag School stands tied at No. 37.

    All of the Neag School’s three departments are represented in the 2025 specialty education program rankings: No. 18 (tie) in Special Education Programs; No. 28 (tie) in Educational Administration Programs; and No. 34 in Curriculum and Instruction programs.

    “For more than a decade, the Neag School has been recognized as one of the preeminent schools of education in the nation,” Dean Jason G. Irizarry says. “The longevity of our impressive national rankings are a direct result of the unwavering dedication of faculty, staff, and students, and I’m proud that several of our individual programs are once again featured in the specialty rankings. This achievement reflects the pride we all share in our collective commitment to excellence and further solidifies our position as a leader in higher education.”

    Among graduate programs within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences ranked by U.S. News, the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences has long been renowned for its education, research, clinical practice, and public outreach missions. The new rankings reflect that, with the Audiology program rising 5 points to No. 14 in the country, and the Speech Language Pathology program rising seven points to No. 32 in the country.

    The UConn School of Public Policy, within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, earned praise for its Public Affairs program, which was ranked No. 36 in the country, up three places from last year. The School’s Public Finance and Budgeting Program was ranked No. 9 in the country.

    UConn School of Law rose 5 points to the rank of 50, up 21 from two years ago, and the school’s part-time Evening Division rose from No. 10 to the seventh best in the country. The overall rank in the magazine’s 2024-25 Best Law Schools list reflects particular strength in bar passage and employment outcomes for UConn Law graduates.

    In addition to U.S. News, in recent years The National Jurist’s preLaw magazine has listed the UConn School of Law among the best value law schools in the nation. It has also recognized UConn Law as a top school in environmental law, tax law, intellectual property, alternative dispute resolution, child and family law, and human rights law.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/SENEGAL – International Colloquium on Religious Diplomacy: An impetus for peace amid global crises

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Dakar (Agenzia Fides) – Yesterday, April 7, the International Colloquium on Religious Diplomacy (CIDiR) opened at the Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar and will conclude today, April 8. This international event brings together diplomats, researchers, religious authorities, and civil society representatives to discuss the role of religion in resolving today’s conflicts.The opening ceremony was attended by Msgr. Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag, Apostolic Nuncio to Senegal; André Gueye, Archbishop of Dakar; Chief Rabbi of Paris; representatives of the European Union; and leading Muslim religious figures.The CIDiR is part of an initiative led by Thierno Amadou Tidiane Ba, Caliph of Bambilor, and Professor Ahmadou Aly Mbaye, former Rector of UCAD. Together, they are working to strengthen the links between academic knowledge and religious practices to create a more inclusive diplomacy, rooted in local realities while also capable of responding to global challenges.For Thierno Amadou Tidiane Ba, religious diplomacy, long relegated to the background, is an essential response to the tensions in today’s world: “It is not just an alternative, but a necessity,” he emphasizes. “We all have a role to play in building peace. It is not about learning from states and politicians,” the Muslim representative continues.”Instead, we must participate actively, individually, and intellectually to overcome barriers. Peace begins where the will of the people is expressed, where people across borders and institutions decide to forgive one another and reach out.” Both Msgr. André Gueye and Msgr. Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag emphasized that, at a time when geopolitical crises are increasing, religious diplomacy represents an alternative and complementary lever to traditional state-based approaches. Supported by distinguished moral figures, it plays an essential role in mediation, peacemaking, and intercultural dialogue. The conference will address the following topics in plenary sessions and thematic blocks: The Senegalese model of religious coexistence; The contribution of religions to peace in Africa; and issues of immigration and globalization. The aim of the discussions is to formulate concrete ways to better integrate religious actors into decision-making processes at the local and international levels. (A.TS.W) (Agenzia Fides, 8/4/2025)
    Share:

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/COTE D’IVOIRE – Appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Gagnoa

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Tuesday, 8 April 2025

    Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Jean-Jacques Koffi Oi Koffi, until now bishop of San-Pedro-en-Côte d’Ivoire and apostolic administrator of the same archdiocese, as metropolitan archbishop of the archdiocese of Gagnoa, Cote d’Ivoire.Archbishop-elect Jean-Jacques Koffi Oi Koffi was born on 22 March 1962 in Bongouanou. He was ordained a priest on 4 August 1990, for the diocese of Abengourou. He was awarded a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical Urbaniana University of Rome.He has held the following offices: parish vicar and diocesan head of catechesis for children, parish priest, vicar general and spiritual assistant of the Association of Christian Families, and president of the diocesan ecclesiastical tribunal of first instance.On 21 November 2003 he was elected bishop of Abengourou, and was consecrated on the following 21 December. On 3 January 2009 he was transferred to the diocese of San Pedro-en-Côte-d’Ivoire. Since 4 October 2023 he has been apostolic administrator of the metropolitan archdicoese of Gagnoa. (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 8/4/2025)
    Share:

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: 8 April 2025 A journey to safer childbirth in Pakistan

    Source: World Health Organisation

    It’s time. A pregnant woman in Punjab, Pakistan, dials 1-0-3-4, toll-free. Her journey to safe childbirth has been complicated by a lack of transportation. She is connected to a call centre in Lahore that receives 5000 calls a day from pregnant women and their caregivers in need of transportation for delivery or antenatal complications. The call centre was established in 2017 and currently employs 87 call agents. Utilizing Google maps, GPS trackers and text messaging, the call centre operator dispatches a driver to collect labouring women from their homes and transfers them to a primary care centre, where they will deliver their babies with access to interventions to ensure healthy beginnings for both mother and baby. 

    Call agents in Lahore processing calls and dispatching drivers. © RAS Call Center Lahore / IRMNCHN Program

    In 2007, the maternal mortality ratio in Punjab was 227 deaths per 100 000 live births. This was a result of poor socio-economic conditions, challenges in accessing health care in rural areas, and a lack of decision-making power among young women. At the time, approximately 30% of maternal deaths in Pakistan were attributable to delays in reaching health-care facilities, with many women facing long travel distances to give birth as well as lack of access to transportation.

    Over the last two decades, the Government of Punjab has scaled up around 2500 basic health units and equipped 1800 with 24-hour basic obstetric care services. These basic units, the country’s first-level health-care facilities, play a crucial role in addressing maternal and child health issues, especially in rural areas where access to health care is limited. Based on the 2023 census, nearly two thirds of Pakistan’s population resides in rural areas.

    Under the national universal health coverage essential package of health services, the Government of Punjab has now funded a fleet of over 600 ambulances to transport pregnant women from their homes in rural areas to birth centres for delivery. The same service also transports sick children (under age 5 years) for urgent medical care. On average, the rural ambulance service transports 2800 women each day across the province, including public holidays. The cost per transfer for a typical case is approximately US$ 10–15. The service is vital for the more than 30% of pregnant women in Punjab who cannot reach health facilities for safe delivery. Without the service, they would be forced to deliver at home, without access to emergency obstetric and neonatal care.

    “We promote the rural ambulance service through a combination of community outreach and public awareness campaigns. We visit homes, hold community meetings, and distribute informational materials to ensure that every pregnant woman knows about the toll-free number 1-0-3-4 and how to access the service. During the first antenatal care visit, the staff facilitates the registration of pregnant women for the ambulance service. Their personal touch and deep knowledge of their respective communities make a significant difference in spreading the word effectively,” said Saeeda Khan, Lady Health Worker, Ali Raza Abad, Lahore.

    The government’s Integrated Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health & Nutrition Programme oversees the technical and financial aspects, while the central call centre and daily operations are managed by a telecom operator and a private car rental company, respectively. The rental company supplies fuel, drivers and maintains the ambulance, with performance tracked via a dashboard that requires the engine to start within two minutes of case assignment. 

    A pregnant women arriving at a rural health centre in Challian Wala, Punjab to safely deliver her baby. © RHC Challian Wala / M.B. Din

    The real-time dashboard shows GPS-tracked ambulance locations, allowing call centre operators to assign the nearest vehicle to waiting women and their caregivers. Once assigned, both the driver and the woman receive a call and a text message with their respective contact information. The text messages enable communication between drivers and women and allow drivers to pinpoint exact addresses, a task that is often difficult in rural areas.

    “We prioritize calls based on the urgency of the situation, with high-risk pregnancies and emergencies at the top of the list. If a connection drops or a phone battery dies, our system automatically sends text messages to both the driver and the client, ensuring they can still communicate. Additionally, Lady Health Workers and Skilled Birth Attendants are always ready to step in and provide support, ensuring that no woman is left without assistance,” said Bilal Ahmed, District Transport Officer, Outsourced Management Firm.

    Since its debut in 2017, the ambulance service has facilitated the transport of over 3 million women from their homes to health facilities, approximately three and a half million women from primary care to secondary or tertiary hospitals, and around 10 000 children for urgent referrals. It is estimated that at least half of the 500 000 emergency referrals to secondary and tertiary care hospitals have effectively prevented severe morbidity and mortality among mothers and newborns in Punjab. 

    “Without the rural ambulance service, my birth experience would have been incredibly stressful and risky. I would likely have had to deliver at home without skilled medical assistance, which could have jeopardized both my health and my baby’s. The timely support from Lady Health Workers and Skilled Birth Attendants ensured that I received quality care and safe delivery at a health facility. Their presence and the ambulance service made all the difference,” said Keenza Faisal, Beneficiary, Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore.

    Today, there are 157 maternal deaths for every 100 000 live births in Punjab, a decrease of more than 30% from 2007. This decrease has resulted from interventions related to improved access to maternal health services, in addition to addressing the underlying causes for maternal deaths – for instance, through improved access to family planning.

    Still, there is work to be done. 

    Removing barriers like discriminatory social norms, financial constraints and limited decision-making power for women is essential to advancing maternal and newborn health outcomes.

    Ellen Mpangananji Thom / Deputy WHO County Representative, Pakistan

    “Sustainable progress demands more than just service delivery: health systems must address gender inequalities, strengthen sexual and reproductive health and rights, and ensure equitable access to quality emergency obstetric and newborn care, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Removing barriers like discriminatory social norms, financial constraints and limited decision-making power for women is essential to advancing maternal and newborn health outcomes,” said Ellen Mpangananji Thom, Deputy WHO County Representative, Pakistan.

    This story was originally brought to life on the WHO-UNFPA Learning by Sharing Portal (LSP), which highlights the critical work of various stakeholders in improving access to sexual and reproductive health and rights services within the broader context of universal health coverage. The LSP seeks to create a repository of implementation stories on effective health system interventions and serves as a valuable resource for shared learning, advocacy and capacity building at global, regional and country levels.

    In follow up to World Health Day, please join the WHO-UNFPA Learning by Sharing Portal (LSP), WHO Pakistan, and the Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department, Punjab, Pakistan, on 9 April at 13:00 CET for an interactive discussion with experts and implementers involved in the roll out of the rural ambulance service in Punjab, Pakistan. Please register for the event here. If you have questions for the implementers, please submit them here.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Two Major Grants for Teen Substance Use Treatment

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Sarah Feldstein Ewing, Vice Chair for Research in UConn School of Medicine’s psychiatry department, is fascinated by teen psychology. Why do teens make the choices they make? What factors influence their decision-making? And how can caregivers and counselors help support them in making healthy decisions? 

    Her research into these questions has spanned an impressive early career across multiple institutions. Now, Feldstein Ewing is the enthusiastic recipient of two major federal grants. 

    Pain and Teen Substance Use

    Feldstein Ewing leads one of two sites receiving a combined $3,355,184 over five years from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) for a project exploring young adult use of cannabis and opioids. As an expert in adolescent substance use, Feldstein Ewing is partnering with Anna C. Wilson, a pediatric pain specialist. Wilson is a colleague at Feldstein Ewing’s former institution, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). 

    The study follows young people in Oregon, where underage cannabis use saw a significant uptick following state legalization of recreational adult cannabis use in 2015. 

    “Kids in Oregon were starting to make choices not to drink, but instead to use cannabis, because they were under the impression that it would not have been legalized if cannabis wasn’t safe,” says Feldstein Ewing.  

    Sarah Feldstein Ewing is the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry at UConn Health. (Courtesy photo)

    At the same time, many teens and young adults are prescribed opioids at some point, whether due to a major injury or a routine procedure like wisdom teeth extraction. This means that co-use of cannabis and opioids is likely occurring for this age group.  

    But little is understood about the potential harms of using these two types of substances simultaneously, especially for young people. It is also unclear how effective and safe cannabis is for relieving pain in this age group, even though many young people report self-medicating pain with cannabis. 

    The research team will be alerted to new opioid prescriptions for emerging adults via local medical record updates. From there, they can follow up with the patients to assess their pain and substance use history, as well as personal risk factors for substance use and related problems. 

    Patients will be monitored closely for two weeks after their initial opioid prescription, and will receive follow-up check-ins at regular intervals over the next two years. Throughout this time, the researchers will track their outcomes in terms of pain, mental health, and substance use. The central hypothesis is that pain experiences, as well as patterns of opioid and cannabis use in the acute pain period (immediately after the inciting medical event), will influence opioid use, cannabis use, and related problems over time. 

    “Often, for people who have opioid addiction later on, they talk about how they started when they got a prescription after a broken bone or some other medical event during their teen years,” Feldstein Ewing says. 

    The team will also explore psychosocial risk factors for substance use and related problems, like loneliness and depression. 

    “We just don’t know what goes into the choice around who uses what [substances],” Feldstein Ewing explains. “We do know that if you’re struggling with sadness and loneliness, you’re more likely to use cannabis and other substances, so we want to know, is that also true for prescription pain medication?” 

    Into the Hyperscanner

    From the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Feldstein Ewing has received a five-year grant totaling $2,737,888 to help determine the efficacy of group therapy for adolescents who are in counseling for alcohol use. 

    “Most kids get group therapy,” Feldstein Ewing says, “but even though group therapy is widely used, the data on how well it works and why are ambiguous at best.” 

    Part of the problem is that teens are uniquely influenced by what others think and say about them. Socially, this is a gift, Feldstein Ewing points out – it allows them to adapt to a variety of social environments, with greater ease than most adults – but it can be a hindrance in the context of group healing. 

    The research team is looking for iatrogenic effects, meaning effects that occur in the context of treatment.  

    Like an infection picked up at a hospital, harmful statements from peers in group therapy may lead to poorer therapeutic outcomes for teens. On the flip side, though, hearing positive encouragement from peers may provide a healing boost for this age group that is even greater than what adults would experience in the same type of behavioral treatment. 

    To test this hypothesis, the researchers are using a technique called hyperscanning, where MRI units are connected side by side so that two patients can interact with each other and be scanned simultaneously. The equipment is located at the University of Texas at Dallas, where Feldstein Ewing’s longtime neuroimaging collaborator and co-PI, Francesca Filbey, is a neuroscience professor.  

    In the scanner, each patient will hear negative and positive statements about their capacity to reduce or stop their drinking, in the voice of the other patient. These statements will come directly from their group therapy session, which will be recorded. 

    Then, the researchers can observe the real-time changes in the brain as the patients actively select each type of statement for their co-participating peer.

    How does it feel to hear a disparaging remark about your perceived ability to stop drinking – even when it’s something you’ve heard countless times before? How does it feel to be encouraged by someone whose opinion you value? How much does that make you feel like you can change your drinking? Feldstein Ewing will be able to examine how these peer statements impact patients’ brains, as well as how these statements impact patients’ own perceived ability to change their behavior.

    The researchers will also track the participants following their group therapy experiences to see how their drinking behavior changes or stays the same over the course of 12 months. 

    Toward Effective Interventions for Teens

    Both these projects are geared toward designing better interventions for teens who are struggling with alcohol and substance use.  

    Currently, many young people receive the same therapy as adults. But Feldstein Ewing’s research has shown that this may be a “square peg, round hole” approach – what works for adults may be ineffective or even discouraging for adolescents. 

    With the insight gained from these projects, Feldstein Ewing will help pioneer new clinical strategies to revolutionize the field of teen substance use treatment. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Art Festival at the State University of Management: We are waiting for everyone at the Kinosfera Festival

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    On April 11, the State University of Management’s Assembly Hall will host the ceremonial part of the VI All-Russian Festival of Student Short Films “KinoSfera”.

    Guests will be able to join the screening of competitive animated and feature films, watch the awards ceremony for the winners and interact with film industry talents.

    In addition, those who come will enjoy a bright photo zone, a buffet and a prize drawing.

    We are waiting for everyone to come to the festival! Guests from outside the State University of Management must fill out the registration form before 10:00 on April 10.

    The festival will take place on April 11 from 12:00 to 17:30 in the Assembly Hall of the State University of Management.

    Subscribe to the tg channel “Our State University” Announcement date: 04/11/2025

    КиноСфера»….” data-yashareImage=”https://guu.ru/wp-content/uploads/2tBj0HAoHEc.jpg” data-yashareLink=”https://guu.ru/%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%b0%d0%b7%d0%b4%d0%bd%d0%b8%d0%ba-%d0%b8%d1%81%d0%ba%d1%83%d1%81%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b2%d0%b0-%d0%b2-%d0%b3%d1%83%d1%83-%d0%b6%d0%b4%d1%91%d0%bc-%d0%b2%d1%81%d0%b5%d1%85-%d0%bd%d0%b0-%d1%84/”>

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: LPL Financial Welcomes Vaughn Harvey as Chief Data and AI Officer

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN DIEGO, April 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LPL Financial LLC, a leading wealth management firm, announces the appointment of Vaughn Harvey as executive vice president and chief data and artificial intelligence (AI) officer. Harvey will lead the company’s data and AI initiatives, driving innovation and digital transformation across the organization.

    Harvey brings over 25 years of experience in AI-driven digital transformations and enterprise-wide data strategies. Most recently, he served as managing director and head of product and transformation for consumer and community bank finance at JP Morgan Chase. Prior to joining JP Morgan Chase, Harvey held a variety of senior analytical roles at Morgan Stanley, PwC and Jefferies.

    “Vaughn’s extensive experience and proven track record in leveraging AI and data to drive business outcomes make him the perfect fit for LPL as we continue to scale our offering and leadership in this space,” said Gary Carrai, chief product officer at LPL Financial. “We look forward to the significant contributions he will bring to our advisors who are looking to AI to streamline and grow their practices in a meaningful way.”

    “Joining LPL Financial is a unique opportunity to lead the next wave of innovation in wealth management,” said Harvey. “I am eager to work with the talented tech team here to drive digital transformation and deliver sophisticated solutions that enhance our clients’ experiences.”

    Harvey holds an MBA in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Sydney. He is based in New York City.

    LPL has already made significant strides in helping advisors implement AI effectively and compliantly. In Q4 2024, LPL launched AI Advisor Solutions, a curated program designed to help advisors maximize their days, deliver bespoke client experiences, and leverage data to provide more sophisticated and personalized financial advice.

    Additionally, LPL’s AI Accelerator program supports the firm’s goal to incorporate and deliver AI solutions that have a tangible and immediate impact on advisors’ businesses. LPL is also actively piloting a program that applies AI to generate customized insights for personalized financial planning and a streamlined new client onboarding process powered by AI.

    About LPL Financial

    LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) is among the fastest growing wealth management firms in the U.S. As a leader in the financial advisor-mediated marketplace, LPL supports nearly 29,000 financial advisors and the wealth management practices of approximately 1,200 financial institutions, servicing and custodying approximately $1.7 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets on behalf of approximately 6 million Americans. The firm provides a wide range of advisor affiliation models, investment solutions, fintech tools and practice management services, ensuring that advisors and institutions have the flexibility to choose the business model, services, and technology resources they need to run thriving businesses. For further information about LPL, please visit www.lpl.com.

    Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial LLC (“LPL Financial”), a registered investment advisor and broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC.

    Throughout this communication, the terms “financial advisors” and “advisors” are used to refer to registered representatives and/or investment advisor representatives affiliated with LPL Financial.

    We routinely disclose information that may be important to shareholders in the “Investor Relations” or “Press Releases” section of our website.

    Media Contact: 
    Media.relations@LPLFinancial.com
    (402) 740-2047 

    Tracking #: 719808

    The MIL Network –