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Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI USA: New Modeling Assesses Age of Next Target Asteroid for NASA’s Lucy

    Source: NASA

    Although NASA’s Lucy spacecraft’s upcoming encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson is primarily a mission rehearsal for later asteroid encounters, a new paper suggests that this small, main belt asteroid may have some surprises of its own. New modeling indicates that Donaldjohanson may have been formed about 150 million years ago when a larger parent asteroid broke apart; its orbit and spin properties have undergone significant evolution since.

    When the Lucy spacecraft flies by this approximately three-mile-wide space rock on April 20, 2025, the data collected could provide independent insights on such processes based on its shape, surface geology and cratering history.
    “Based on ground-based observations, Donaldjohanson appears to be a peculiar object,” said Simone Marchi, deputy principal investigator for Lucy of Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado and lead author of the research published in The Planetary Science Journal. “Understanding the formation of Donaldjohanson could help explain its peculiarities.”
    “Data indicates that it could be quite elongated and a slow rotator, possibly due to thermal torques that have slowed its spin over time,” added David Vokrouhlický, a professor at the Charles University, Prague, and co-author of the research.
    Lucy’s target is a common type of asteroid, composed of silicate rocks and perhaps containing clays and organic matter. The new paper indicates that Donaldjohanson is a likely member of the Erigone collisional asteroid family, a group of asteroids on similar orbits that was created when a larger parent asteroid broke apart. The family originated in the inner main belt not very far from the source regions of the near-Earth asteroids Bennu and Ryugu, recently visited respectively by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s) Hayabusa2 missions.
    “We can hardly wait for the flyby because, as of now, Donaldjohanson’s characteristics appear very distinct from Bennu and Ryugu. Yet, we may uncover unexpected connections,” added Marchi.
    “It’s exciting to put together what we’ve been able to glean about this asteroid,” said Keith Noll, Lucy project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “But Earth-based observing and theoretical models can only take us so far – to validate these models and get to the next level of detail we need close-up data. Lucy’s upcoming flyby will give us that.”
    Donaldjohanson is named for the paleontologist who discovered Lucy, the fossilized skeleton of an early hominin found in Ethiopia in 1974, which is how the Lucy mission got its name. Just as the Lucy fossil provided unique insights into the origin of humanity, the Lucy mission promises to revolutionize our knowledge of the origin of humanity’s home world. Donaldjohanson is the only named asteroid so far to be visited while its namesake is still living.
    “Lucy is an ambitious NASA mission, with plans to visit 11 asteroids in its 12-year mission to tour the Trojan asteroids that are located in two swarms leading and trailing Jupiter,” said SwRI’s Dr. Hal Levison, mission principal investigator at the Boulder, Colorado branch of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “Encounters with main belt asteroids not only provide a close-up view of those bodies but also allow us to perform engineering tests of the spacecraft’s innovative navigation system before the main event to study the Trojans. These relics are effectively fossils of the planet formation process, holding vital clues to deciphering the history of our solar system.”
    Lucy’s principal investigator is based out of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of Southwest Research Institute, headquartered in San Antonio. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th mission in NASA’s Discovery Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Discovery Program for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
    By Deb Schmid and Katherine Kretke, Southwest Research Institute
    Media Contact:Karen Fox / Molly WasserHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1600karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
    Nancy N. JonesNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Failure of Turkish authorities to give written permission to the Ecumenical Patriarchate to celebrate the Feast of the Dormition on 15 August at the historic Panagia Soumela Monastery – E-001530/2024(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    Freedom of religion, tolerance and respect for fundamental rights are core values of the EU and, as such, a crucial element of the EU accession process. Türkiye as a candidate country needs to adhere to those values as well.

    The freedom of thought, conscience and religion is monitored under Chapter 23 (Judiciary and fundamental rights) of the annual country report on Türkiye[1].

    While the last report from 2024 notes that freedom of worship is generally respected in Türkiye, it also underlines that the situation of freedom of thought, conscience and religion needs to be improved.

    In particular, the Venice Commission’s recommendations[2] on the legal status of non-Muslim religions and the right of the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate to use the title ‘Ecumenical’ have yet to be implemented.

    The EU is committed to the preservation of cultural heritage in Türkiye. The Sümela Monastery is inscribed in the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s tentative World Heritage list[3].

    Once inscribed as a World Heritage site, Türkiye has the obligation to ensure that the outstanding universal value of the inscribed site on its territory is not impacted.

    The Commission will continue reporting on the rights of non-Muslim religious communities. It takes note of the mutual agreement between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Turkish authorities on the celebration of the Feast of the Dormition on 23 August 2024.

    • [1] https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/document/download/8010c4db-6ef8-4c85-aa06-814408921c89_en?filename=T%C3%BCrkiye%20Report%202024.pdf, p. 31.
    • [2] https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/?pdf=CDL-AD%282010%29005-e
    • [3] https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/?action=listtentative&state=tr&order=states
    Last updated: 17 March 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: SED mourns passing of Dr Lee Shau-kee

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    SED mourns passing of Dr Lee Shau-kee 
         Dr Choi said, “Over the past decades, Dr Lee had exhibited extensive generosity in setting up the Hong Kong Pei Hua Education Foundation and the Lee Shau Kee Foundation, donating to various tertiary institutions, and secondary and primary schools in Hong Kong and Mainland China for campus expansion, facility improvements, and the establishment of various scholarships that have benefited numerous students. The education sector is deeply inspired by Dr Lee’s commitment to the country, his passion for education and dedication to nurturing outstanding talent.”
     
         Dr Choi firmly believed that the philanthropist, who had made enormous contributions to the community, will be remembered fondly by Hong Kong people.
    Issued at HKT 23:51

    NNNN

    Categories24-7, Asia Pacific, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Government special administrative region, MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth Organizes 28th Convocation & Shishyopanayaniya Samskara

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth Organizes 28th Convocation & Shishyopanayaniya Samskara

    Integrate Technology and Research to Further Strengthen Ayurveda: Shri Pratap Rao Jadhav

    LifeTime Achievements Award conferred to Prof. Banwari Lal Gaur, Prof. Kulwant Singh, Vaidya Mohan Narayan Tambe, and Dr.Bidhubhusan Nanda

    More than 100 CRAV Gurus and 120 Shishyas from across the country felicitated

    Posted On: 17 MAR 2025 8:06PM by PIB Delhi

    Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth (RAV), under the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, hosted its 28th Convocation & Shishyopanayaniya Samskara in New Delhi today. To enhance quality education and globalize Ayurveda, RAV also accredited one international and 6 National institutions for upholding high standards in Ayurveda education and practice. For doing exemplary work in the field of Ayurveda, RAV also conferred LifeTime Achievements Awards to Prof. Banwari Lal Gaur, Jaipur (Rajasthan), Prof. Kulwant Singh (Jammu and Kashmir), Vaidya Mohan Narayan Tambe, Satara (Maharashtra) and Dr. Bidhubhusan Nanda, Dhenkanal (Odisha). 

    Addressing the august gathering, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Ayush, and Union Minister of State for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Prataprao Jadhav praised RAV’s contributions in recognizing the invaluable work of Ayurvedic practitioners through the Lifetime Achievement Award & Fellow of RAV Award. He emphasized upon “Desh Ka Prakriti Parikshan” achievement, a national initiative aimed at mapping the natural health profiles of the population. He highlighted how Ayurveda’s role in preventive healthcare is becoming more prominent and urged practitioners to integrate technology and research to further strengthen the field.

    Shri Jadhav praised RAV’s contributions in recognizing the invaluable work of Ayurvedic Vaidyas through the Lifetime Achievement Award, acknowledging their lifelong dedication to Ayurveda. He commended RAV’s unique approach in training students through the CRAV course under the Guru-Shishya Parampara, ensuring that authentic Ayurvedic knowledge is passed in its purest form.

    Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, addressed the guests and announced the launch of the Diplomate of National Board Ayurveda (DNB) program, a major milestone in advancing Ayurvedic education. He also emphasized upon the initiative of the Ministry of Ayush to introduce a 7.5-year Gurukul Schooling Program, reinforcing the Guru-Shishya Parampara and providing a more immersive learning experience for students.

    More than 100 CRAV Gurus and 120 Shishyas from across the country were felicitated during the event, marking their dedication to the Guru-Shishya Parampara. Shri Jadhav commended RAV’s efforts in imparting knowledge through the CRAV course, ensuring that students receive authentic and practical Ayurvedic education directly from experienced Gurus.

    A significant highlight of the event was RAV’s accreditation of 1 international and 6 national institutions for upholding high standards in Ayurveda education and practice. This initiative reinforces RAV’s commitment to enhancing quality education and globalizing Ayurveda.

    During the event, Vaidya Rajeev Bhardwaj, Member of Parliament from Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), Vaidya Meeta Kotecha from Jaipur (Rajasthan), Prof Sanjeev Sharma from Jaipur, Prof Arun Kumar Tripathi from Uttarakhand, Dr G Prabhakar Rao from New Delhi, Prof Lakshman Singh from Varanasi, Vaidya Ashutosh Gupta, Vaidya Urmila A Pitkar and Vaidya Nitin M Kamat from Maharashtra, Vaidya Shailja Uppinakuduru from Karnataka, Vaidya Vinod Kumar Vairagi from Madhya Pradesh, Vaidya Tuhin Kanti from West Bengal, Vaidya Tapan Kumar from Gujarat were given Fellow of RAV (FRAV) Award,  and felicitated by Minister of Ayush.

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    MV/AKS

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump shrugs off stock market slump, but economic warning signs loom

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Conor O’Kane, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Bournemouth University

    bodrumsurf / Shutterstock

    During Donald Trump’s first term as US president, he regularly referred to rising stock markets as evidence of the success of his economic policies. “Highest Stock Market EVER”, Trump wrote on social media in 2017 after record gains. “That doesn’t just happen!”

    And after securing a second term in November 2024, some of Trump’s close advisers told the New York Times that the president “sees the market as a barometer of his success and abhors the idea that his actions might drive down stock prices”.

    This, in addition to a broader economic policy agenda committed to lower regulation and significant tax cuts, had Wall Street investors bullish about their prospects under the new Trump administration.

    But fears of an escalating trade war have seen the S&P 500, an index of the leading 500 publicly traded companies in the US, drop more than 10% from its February 2025 high. A decline of this magnitude in a major index is what professional traders refer to as a “correction”. In less than a month, roughly US$5 trillion (£3.9 trillion) has been wiped off the value of US stocks.

    So, what exactly is driving down stock prices? Economists cite the president’s brinkmanship, as well as his start-stop approach to tariffs with Canada and Mexico, as having rattled global investors. Some commentators believe this “chaotic” trade agenda has created huge uncertainty for consumers, investors and businesses.

    In view of such policies, a recent JP Morgan report said that US economic policy was “tilting away from growth”, and put the chances of a US recession at 40%, up from 30% at the start of the year. Moody’s Analytics has upped the odds of a US recession from 15% to 35%, citing tariffs as a key factor driving the downturn in its outlook.

    Any economic downturn would have an adverse impact on the profitability of US corporations, and the declining share prices reflect the negative outlook from investors.

    So far, the Trump administration appears unfazed by the US stock market decline. In an address to Congress on March 4, Trump declared his use of tariffs was all about making America rich again. “There will be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that,” he said.

    The White House has, since then, announced that some short-term pain may be necessary for Trump to implement his trade agenda successfully, which is designed to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US.

    So, should we read this economic turbulence as a temporary blip? Or is it symptomatic of a more fundamental shift in the US economy?

    Change of strategy

    Stephen Miran, who was recently confirmed as chairman of Trump’s council of economic advisers, wrote a paper in November 2024 titled: A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System. The paper gives us an insight into the Trump administration’s wider economic strategy.

    It sets out Trump’s desire “to reform the global trading system and put American industry on fairer ground vis-a-vis the rest of the world”. Miran cites persistent US dollar overvaluation as the root cause of economic imbalances.

    Miran does not believe that tariffs are inflationary, and argues that their use during Trump’s first presidential term had little discernible macroeconomic consequences. He does concede that tariffs may eventually lead to an appreciation – or further overvaluation – of the US dollar. However, Miran sees the extent of that appreciation as “debatable”.

    He sees tariffs as a tool for leverage in trade negotiations. The administration could, for example, agree to a reduction in tariffs in exchange for significant investment is the US by key trading partners. China investing in car manufacturing in the US is specifically mentioned in his analysis.

    Miran also states his belief that tariffs can be used to raise tax revenues from foreigners in order to retain low tax rates on American citizens.

    Some economists agree that the US dollar is overvalued. A combination of its role as the world’s reserve currency, as well as the attractiveness of the US economy as an investment destination, fuels demand for the US dollar and makes it stronger.

    A strong US dollar has made American manufacturing exports less competitive. This has cost American jobs. The “rust belt” states of the north-eastern and mid-western US have experienced a decline in manufacturing employment over the past 40 years, which is evidence of this.

    However, it is worth noting that the many US manufacturers who import manufactured parts or components to make their products do benefit from a stronger dollar. This is because it makes the parts and materials they are importing cheaper. US mortgage holders and investors also benefit from a stronger dollar through lower interest rates on loans.

    Steven Englander, the head of research and strategy at Standard Chartered bank, believes there are some contradictions in the Trump administration’s approach.

    In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Englander said: “The problem for the new administration is that it simultaneously wants a weaker dollar, a reduced trade deficit, capital inflows, and the dollar to remain the key currency in international reserves and payments.”

    Reduced trade deficits and capital inflows would typically strengthen the US dollar, as does its position as the world’s reserve currency.

    As Miran says in his paper: “There is a path by which the Trump administration can reconfigure the global trading and financial systems to America’s benefit. But it is narrow, and will require careful planning, precise execution, and attention to steps to minimise adverse consequences.”

    Only time will tell whether the Trump administration can successfully navigate this “narrow” path. In the meantime, the recent turbulence in US stock prices appears to be acceptable to the Trump administration in their pursuit of reforming the global financial system.

    Conor O’Kane 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. Trump shrugs off stock market slump, but economic warning signs loom – https://theconversation.com/trump-shrugs-off-stock-market-slump-but-economic-warning-signs-loom-251988

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: The women spies who fooled the Nazis with simple tricks

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Josephine Durant des Aulnois, PhD student in Sociology, University of Oxford

    If spy films have taught us anything, it’s that the people chosen for a career in espionage are special. They are the cream of the crop selected because they exhibit unique skills: high levels of intelligence and certain emotional traits that made them perfect for spying.

    During the second world war, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British agency tasked with training spies to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and in east Asia. Active from 1940 to 1946, SOE was a pioneering British secret service. This is because it employed civilians, from all backgrounds, including women, which was unusual at a time where most spies were recruited from the army.

    The women hired by the agency were the only ones allowed to take on a combatant role by the British Army during the second world war. However, many have been unjustly forgotten.

    These women were active throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, but most women worked in France. They were not French, but French speakers who tried to pass for local. On paper, this might seem impossible, since being fluent in a language does not make you a spy.

    SOE recruited prospective agents on the basis of their language skills, and trained most of them in England before sending them into the field. Despite their lack of experience, many SOE women successfully duped German soldiers. Here are some of the simple but effective ways they managed such deception.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Emotional control

    First, women spies sometimes fooled people simply by appearing calm. Irish agent Maureen Patricia “Paddy” O’Sullivan had grown-up in Belgium and was renowned for her daring personality. In a post-war interview, she described how she avoided a thorough search while carrying compromising documents. O’Sullivan acted confident and friendly to divert the soldier’s attention from her bag:

    As she laughed and joked with the German, he was distracted from making a closer examination.

    The spies’ cool was frequently praised in post-war commendations. Remaining calm was no mean feat, especially since most SOE recruits had never worked undercover. In France, they could be questioned by Nazis at any time and nervousness made them look suspicious.

    Agent Yvonne Cormeau joined SOE after losing her husband during a bombing at the beginning of the war. In a 1989 interview, she summarised the situation perfectly: “We learned to live with fear.”

    Physical appearance

    SOE spies did alter their appearance in order not to be recognised, but for most, this merely involved picking clothes which matched their cover. Yvonne Cormeau was sent to a farm in southern France, where the pro-Allied owners gave her new clothes and an apron. She was supposed to pass as their assistant and needed to look like one.

    A few agents went a step further and dyed their hair. This was the case of Noor Inayat Khan (code name Madeleine), a Sufi Muslim of royal lineage born to Indian and American parents. Betrayed to the Germans, she was executed at Dachau concentration camp in 1944.

    Noor Inayat Khan.
    Imperial War Museums/Wikimedia, CC BY

    Inayat Khan’s contribution to SOE proved invaluable. For several months in 1943, she was the sole radio operator still active in Paris amid the growing Gestapo presence.

    However, her constant hair dyeing was less effective. To try and escape the notice of the Gestapo, she regularly bleached her hair blonde, but this actually brought her to the attention of the Germans.

    They questioned Alfred and Emilie Balachowsky, her contacts who lived near Paris and led a local resistance network, about the presence of a woman “sometimes blonde and sometimes brunette”. The agent was not arrested on that occasion, but her efforts had backfired.

    Everyday habits

    Locals like the Balachowskys provided crucial support for SOE women, who could be given away by any small gesture. Despite having grown up near Paris, Inayat Khan threatened her cover just by pouring tea.

    Shortly after her arrival, Mrs Balachowsky invited neighbours to a tea party, during which the SOE agent poured the milk first into her cup, leading a neighbour to comment that she behaved like a Brit. Emilie Balachowsky quickly corrected Inayat Khan, who was not the only spy to make errors based on cultural differences.

    Yvonne Cormeau.
    Imperial War Museums/Wikimedia, CC BY

    While at the farm, Yvonne Cormeau was asked to watch the owner’s cows. She was about to bring her knitting kit, until her contact explained that this would give her away: “I was forbidden from knitting, as we Englishwomen knit differently.”

    These anecdotes are a testament to the importance of everyday habits and of the agents’ local contacts. For SOE women, espionage in France was very much about teamwork.

    While Inayat Khan was compromised and executed, for the most part the SOE’s civilian programme for women was a success. The SOE paved the way for other agencies which gradually started to recruit civilians of all genders after the second world war.

    Some of its methods are also used by modern secret services, such as the illegals programme, a Russian initiative which involves sending Russian operatives fluent in English undercover in the US.

    Despite this success, the contribution of women like Patricia O’Sullivan, Yvonne Cormeau and Noor Inayat Khan has remained widely overlooked. They deserve to be remembered along with the period’s male spies.

    Josephine Durant des Aulnois receives funding from the Clarendon Fund, managed by Oxford University.

    – ref. The women spies who fooled the Nazis with simple tricks – https://theconversation.com/the-women-spies-who-fooled-the-nazis-with-simple-tricks-251653

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why Americans care so much about eggs prices – and how this issue got so political

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Clodagh Harrington, Lecturer in American Politics, University College Cork

    The price of eggs has risen dramatically in recent years across the US. A dozen eggs cost US$1.20 (92p) in June 2019, but the price is now around US$4.90 (with a peak of US$8.17 in early March).

    Some restaurants have imposed surcharges on egg-based dishes, bringing even more attention to escalating costs. And there are also shortages on supermarket shelves.

    In the coming months, the US plans to import up to 100 million of this consumer staple. Government officials are approaching countries from Turkey to Brazil with enquiries about eggs for export.

    Agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins, who previously said that one option to the crisis was for people to get a chicken for their backyard, suggested in the Wall Street Journal that prices are unlikely to stabilise for some months. And Donald Trump recently shared an article on Truth Social calling on the public to “shut up about egg prices”.

    The main cause of the problem is an outbreak of avian flu that has resulted in over 166 million birds in the US being slaughtered. Around 98% of the nation’s chickens are produced on factory farms, which are ripe for contagion.

    According to the Centers for Disease Control, the flu has already spread to several hundred dairy cattle and to one human. The USDA recently announced a US$1 billion plan to counter the problem, with funding for improved bio-security, vaccine research and compensation to farmers.

    In January 2025, Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, blamed the previous administration for high egg prices. It is true that birds were slaughtered on President Joe Biden’s watch, but this was and remains standard practice at times of bird flu outbreaks and had also been the case during the Obama and first Trump administrations.

    However, this points to the way the rising price of eggs has become a political touchstone. It was referred to regularly in campaign speeches and press briefings as a sign of things going wrong and a symbol of the US economy faced. Donald Trump promised to fix the price of eggs swiftly if elected, but so far the issue shows no sign of going away.

    Prices are still trending up. Even when prices suddenly drop, as they have this week, the public know how much cheaper they used to be until recently, and do not tend to feel better.

    There are a number of reasons why egg prices have become an important to US politicians. First, almost everyone buys eggs. So the shortage and subsequent price rise is newsworthy and affects consumers in all income brackets.

    Secondly, they are a measure of broader economic vulnerabilities, so egg-related problems tend to be part of a larger story about how weak the economy is. And thirdly, egg prices are political because of Trump’s promise to bring them down.



    Read more:
    US inflation has increased since Trump took office – why prices are unlikely to come down soon

    Polls showed that the economy and inflation were key factors in voter choice on election day 2024. In February 2025, Donald Trump did an interview with NBC News in which he said he won the election on the border and groceries.

    On immigration, voters often base their opinions on what they perceive to be true. For example, tough rhetoric on building a wall may equate with a sense of feeling that the president is taking strong action, whether anything tangible actually materialises or not.

    With groceries, reality trumps perception. The price of eggs is printed on the box and the cost is paid directly by voters.

    Donald Trump on what he’s doing on egg prices and the economy.

    Then there are the egg producers. US farmers tended to overwhelmingly support Trump on election day, so it is prudent for him to feel their pain, or at least appear to. Farming areas voted for him increasingly in his three election efforts, even increasing their support for him in 2020 after trade wars and price increases which would have negatively impacted them.

    Another factor that may push up egg prices is that an estimated 70% of the factory farm workforce is immigrant labour, and as many as 40% are undocumented. Should the administration’s plans for high tariffs and mass deportations come to fruition, the industry would struggle to function.

    Further food price increases will be inevitable, with potential exacerbation via the funding freezes for some USDA programmes that Trump has enacted. As of March 2025, US$1 billion in cuts has been announced, the consequences of which are already being felt by farmers. The “pain now for gain later” message is a tricky political sell.

    Even in the current era of international turbulence, elections are largely won on more pedestrian matters. Specifically, “kitchen-table” economics is relatable to every voter, regardless of how grand, or not, their table is.

    Americans will be aware that in neighbouring Canada, egg prices have not risen dramatically and there have not been shortages. But prices in Canada have been traditionally higher than the US, this is in part at least because farming standards differ.

    The US does not have high welfare standards for agricultural workers or animals, and this shortcoming needs to be addressed in order to help reduce future risk of flu, but this is likely to also raise prices.

    Blaming the previous incumbent is not a durable stance for Donald Trump. As former president Harry Truman might remind him: “The buck stops here.” Right at his desk.

    Clodagh Harrington 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. Why Americans care so much about eggs prices – and how this issue got so political – https://theconversation.com/why-americans-care-so-much-about-eggs-prices-and-how-this-issue-got-so-political-251752

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Plans to link electricity bills to where you live are unlikely to bring down prices – and that’s a big problem for net zero

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nicholas Harrington, Research Associate in Electricity Market Reform, University of Glasgow

    Diana Mower/Shutterstock

    A proposed reform to the way electricity is priced in Britain could see households pay a different bill based on their postcode.

    Presently, Britain’s electricity system operates as a single market across England, Wales and Scotland. Around 30% of electricity is traded through half-hourly auctions, known as the spot market, while the remaining 70% is traded in forward markets via contracts covering weeks, months, or even years of demand in advance.

    The price of electricity is, broadly speaking, determined by the spot market, as forward market contracts are hedged on the basis of current and expected future spot market prices.

    “Zonal pricing” would divide the British market into multiple separate zones instead, each with its own spot and forward markets to serve demand within it. In effect, zonal pricing would split one large market into a series of smaller, interconnected markets.

    Whether it is the right approach depends on what you expect it to achieve, and where your interests lie. The UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, tasked with the decision, has three main objectives: decarbonising the country’s power sector, securing the supply of power and lowering the prices consumers pay.

    I’m an academic investigating the factors that influence the UK’s ability to decarbonise the housing sector, in particular, the way people heat their homes. I’m most concerned with the affordability of electricity, since I take the view that the lower the price of electricity, the easier our journey to net zero emissions will be – and vice versa.

    A lower electricity price would make clean heating systems (such as heat pumps, which run on electricity) more attractive to consumers and reduce the scale of insulation and draughtproofing required to make the running cost of these systems competitive with gas boilers. My research suggests that the UK’s high electricity price is behind the country’s comparably low rate of heat pump adoption.

    Zonal pricing, as an electricity market reform, seems unlikely to lower electricity prices and drive decarbonisation on its own. Closer scrutiny of the electricity system and its mechanisms suggests it may only make things more complicated.

    The root cause of high bills

    At €0.321 (£0.27) per kilowatt-hour (kWh), the UK has the second-highest electricity price when compared to European Union countries. The EU average is €0.218 per kWh, meaning UK electricity costs around 47% more than it does for most of our EU neighbours.

    Despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (which triggered a spike in energy prices) starting more than three years ago now, electricity prices across the UK remain about 53% higher than pre-crisis levels. If the UK is generating more electricity from renewables each year — and renewable electricity is the cheapest on the market — why do prices keep rising instead of falling, as one might expect?

    The UK’s high electricity prices are the result of system marginal pricing, which lies at the heart of the spot market. At the end of each half-hourly auction, all electricity that is bid into the market is purchased at the price of the last unit required to meet demand.

    Since total demand is rarely met by renewables, the much more expensive gas generators typically set the price. It’s like going to a fruit market to buy ten apples, finding the first nine for £1 each, the last one for £3, and then having to pay £30 for the lot, rather than the expected £13.

    Because forward markets follow the spot market, and the spot market operates under system marginal pricing, UK consumers end up paying gas-generated electricity prices 98% of the time.



    Read more:
    How gas keeps the UK’s electricity bills so high – despite lots of cheap wind power

    Will zonal pricing lower these prices? On its own, no. This is because all zones under the scheme will still have spot markets operating under the marginal pricing model. Zonal pricing doesn’t address the fundamental problem that’s keeping electricity prices in Britain so high.

    Advocates of zonal pricing argue that it will encourage investment in the infrastructure required to lower electricity prices – namely, storage and transmission.

    Grid-scale and home batteries, pumped hydro and thermal energy storage help reduce final electricity prices by storing excess renewable energy for use when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining, so grid operators don’t have to rely on expensive gas-generated electricity to fill supply gaps. Meanwhile, transmission lines and cables ensure that renewable electricity is delivered where it is needed.

    By creating price differences between zones, so the argument goes, the market receives clear signals about where such investments would be most profitable.

    Would zonal pricing help build more of these?
    EOSMan/Shutterstock

    This argument, however, assumes that electricity prices will fall in some zones, and that the market has a strong incentive to invest in high-price areas.

    I’m compelled to ask two questions. What prevents zones that generate a lot of renewable electricity from selling their supply at higher prices in other zones, which could prevent renewables from meeting total demand and lead to the same price distortions currently seen due to marginal pricing?

    And if investments in storage and transmission are underwhelming when electricity prices are high everywhere, why would they suddenly become more likely when prices are only high in specific areas?

    Overall, I think the argument in favour of zonal pricing is unconvincing as it doesn’t address the structural issue underlying the UK’s high electricity prices: spot markets that operate according to system marginal pricing.

    If zonal pricing neither lowers consumer electricity prices nor significantly stimulates investment in storage and transmission on its own — and does not alter the geographic and planning factors that determine wind and solar farm locations — then it is unclear what it would achieve beyond adding complexity to an already complex electricity system.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Nicholas Harrington receives funding from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSCR).

    – ref. Plans to link electricity bills to where you live are unlikely to bring down prices – and that’s a big problem for net zero – https://theconversation.com/plans-to-link-electricity-bills-to-where-you-live-are-unlikely-to-bring-down-prices-and-thats-a-big-problem-for-net-zero-251922

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: BBC Gaza documentary: how an editorial blame game overshadowed an important film and destroyed trust

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dorothy Byrne, President of Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge

    The war in Gaza has been a notoriously controversial and difficult story to cover as a journalist. The Israeli government banned international journalists from the territory. At least 171 journalists and media workers in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank have been killed since the war began.

    The BBC has faced relentless accusations of bias from all sides. You would think, then, that when it commissioned the film Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, billed as a “vivid and unflinching view of life” in Gaza seen through the eyes of children, it would have been meticulous in its commissioning and oversight.

    Yet almost as soon as the programme was broadcast on February 17, a journalist outside the BBC revealed that one of the children featured in the film, 13-year-old Abdullah, who also acted as its narrator, was the son of a Hamas official. His father, Ayman Al-Yazouri, is a deputy minister of agriculture and therefore, as Hamas runs the government of Gaza, a Hamas official.

    No major investigation was required to find out who this man was – an expert on wastewater treatment, in particular on the removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater, who received degrees from UK universities. No evidence has emerged that he is linked to Hamas’s militant operations. But getting someone with any link to what is classified as a terrorist organisation by western governments to narrate the film was inevitably going to be criticised – especially because the link wasn’t explained to viewers.

    The BBC pulled the film four days after its premiere and said it would investigate the matter. Where it really went wrong was that, for 12 days, the BBC tried to pin the blame elsewhere. It dumped on the production company, Hoyo Films, stating: “The production team had full editorial control of filming with Abdullah.” T

    I argue this is a weak defence. A broadcaster can’t blame someone else when a mistake appears in a film.

    Under Ofcom regulations, the broadcaster has full editorial responsibility, regardless of whether a freelance or independent crew carried out filming. Any mistake is the BBC’s mistake.

    I was head of news and current affairs at Channel 4 for 17 years. We sometimes made mistakes. It happens. But the key is not to make things worse by trying to wriggle out of blame.

    As it happens, Channel 4 also featured this child in some of its news coverage without initially disclosing his father’s role. “As international media access is restricted, Abdullah was sourced through an established journalist who has also worked for other major global media outlets,” Channel 4 News said in a statement.

    Ofcom regulations

    The BBC’s second excuse was even weaker. It said that filmmakers were asked in writing a number of times whether this child had any connection with Hamas.

    Here is a journalistic tip for the BBC’s news bosses: if you ask someone a question and they don’t answer, you don’t just keep asking. You demand answers or you go and get the answer yourself. As a former news boss myself, I would have demanded to see the boy’s entire family tree.

    Finally, after 12 days, the BBC took responsibility and issued an apology.
    BBC chair Samir Shah told MPs that people “weren’t doing their job” when it came to oversight of the production. Shah described it as “a dagger to the heart of the BBC claim to be impartial and to be trustworthy”.

    A child of 13 should arguably not have narrated the film at all. He was not narrating his own words but a script written by the programme makers, which included facts about the history and geopolitics of Gaza. I would point the BBC to Ofcom guidance that children under 16 should not be asked for views on matters likely to be beyond their capacity to answer properly without the consent of a responsible adult.

    On a subject like this, I would not have had a child narrate a film – especially not when one of the responsible adults in his life was a Hamas official.

    This was a powerful and beautifully shot film. It’s hard to see how any of its content could be described as pro-Hamas propaganda. The strongest moment was when a child said he hated Hamas because they had caused the war and all the misery being suffered now. But it’s almost certainly politically impossible for an amended version of the documentary to now be shown, which is a great loss.

    This debacle even resulted in a bizarre decision by the Royal Television Society to drop an award recognising the brave and brilliant work of journalists in Gaza (it has since reversed this after backlash from journalists). We have relied on journalists in Gaza to show us what is happening.

    They have continued filming when their own families have been killed. Their reports have been powerful and moving and true. Why should they be punished for a BBC cock-up?

    Falling trust

    I have never worked for the BBC, but I have always admired it for two things. First, for the brilliance of its journalists. Second, for its ability to turn a mistake into a PR catastrophe.

    The film contained editorial errors, but in my view the outrage built over days, resulting in calls not just for a public inquiry, but even a police inquiry, because the BBC wouldn’t take the rap. My journalistic heart went out to the great people who work at the BBC.

    This ghastly incident sits alongside other (quite different) recent scandals about the BBC: the bad behaviour (whether alleged or proven) of powerful presenters and figures Huw Edwards, Russell Brand, Tim Westwood and Gregg Wallace. In each case, it turned out that BBC bigwigs had received complaints over long periods of time before the stories went public.

    For many reasons beyond the BBC’s control, trust in the broadcaster is falling. It is constantly being attacked by the right-wing press, and undermined by conspiracy theorists who say you can’t trust the so-called mainstream media and that there is no such thing as truth.

    In a 2023 YouGov survey on trust in media, only 44% of Britons said they trust BBC journalists to tell the truth. That was nearly half the level of trust in the BBC 20 years earlier, yet it still made the BBC the most trusted media outlet in the UK. Other surveys by Ofcom of people who actually watch TV news put trust in its accuracy much higher – something like 70%.

    There is a general fall in trust in all institutions in the UK. The politicians and tabloids who attack the BBC are trusted far less than BBC journalists. But their unfair assaults make it all the more essential that the BBC avoids errors like this, and is transparent when those errors are revealed.

    Dorothy Byrne was formerly Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel Four, and Editor at Large at Channel Four.

    – ref. BBC Gaza documentary: how an editorial blame game overshadowed an important film and destroyed trust – https://theconversation.com/bbc-gaza-documentary-how-an-editorial-blame-game-overshadowed-an-important-film-and-destroyed-trust-251760

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why we are so scared of space – and how this fear can drive conspiracy theories

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tony Milligan, Research Fellow in the Philosophy of Ethics, King’s College London

    klyaksun/Shutterstock

    There are many home-grown problems on Earth, but there’s still time to worry about bad things arriving from above. The most recent is the asteroid 2024 YR4, which could be a “city killer” if it hits a heavily populated area of our planet in the early years of the next decade.

    The chances of that happening are now estimated to be around 0.001%. But there was a brief moment after the asteroid’s discovery last year when the estimated danger of a direct hit crossed the 1% threshold of comfortable risk.

    There’s a need to worry about planetary defence if we are to avoid going the way of the dinosaurs. But there are many other things that could kill us, including climate change and wars. So what is it about space that grabs our attention? And how do these fears affect us – individually and as a society?

    In the long run, something big will hit us, unless we can redirect it. The responsibility for preparation begins with us.

    Yet preparation also carries risks. Daniel Deudney, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University in the US, has warned that the technologies used for planetary defence can not only guide asteroids away from Earth – they can also guide them towards it as a tool in a military conflict.

    As explained in his book Dark Skies, Deudney’s solution is to reverse, regulate and relinquish most of our human activities in space for several centuries to come. The more we do in space, he believes, the greater the likelihood that states will end up in catastrophic conflict. “The avoidance of civilisation’s disaster and species extinction now depends on discerning what not to do, and then making sure it is not done,” he writes.

    He ultimately argues space expansion has come too soon, and we must reverse the process until we are ready. That said, he thinks we may still need some form of planetary defence, but that it can be limited.

    Holding off for centuries is an unlikely option though. The chances of an asteroid strike may well be too high. And the political interest in space expansion is, at this point, irreversible.

    Fear of space has grown alongside space programs. Worries about asteroid strikes and over-militarisation lean into deeper fears about space as the unknown. Yet they also lean into worries about the self-destructive side of humanity.

    Both fears are very old. One of our earliest traceable human tales, the story of the Cosmic Hunt dating back at least 15,000 years, combines the two.

    An indigenous Sami version, surviving in Scandinavia, describes how a great hunt in the skies would go wrong if the hunter is impatient and fires an arrow which misses its target and accidentally strikes the pole star. This would bring the canopy of the night sky crashing down to Earth. Again, fears about misguided human actions and the threat from above fuse.

    We can see this in modern technologically driven fears such as UFOlogy. Some hard-core believers in UFOs are not only concerned about hostile visitors, but about secret collaborations among scientists on Earth, or, an entire conspiracy to keep the truth from the public.

    Without belief in a conspiracy to suppress the evidence, the whole idea falls apart. But without belief that there is actually something to fear from space, there is nothing for the conspiracy to be about. Fear of space is a necessary part of this picture.

    This is an idea neatly captured in recent times by the Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu, who compares space to a “dark forest” in which alien civilisations are trying to hide from each other.

    All of this presupposes something of a bunker mentality, an over-separation of Earth and space, or sky and ground. This is something I have referred to as ground bias. The bias allows space to appear as a threatening outside, rather than something that we, too, are part of.

    Alien viruses

    The rationalisation for such fear shifts about and is not restricted to asteroids, aliens, meteors and runaway military conflict. There is even a theory that viruses come from space.

    When COVID sceptics went looking for an idea to explain why mask wearing was pointless, what many of them struck upon was an obscure theory put together by the astrophysicists Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramsinghe in 1979.

    Some believe Covid came from space.
    Viacheslav Lopatin

    The duo ultimately had a good idea which they followed up with a bad idea. The good idea was that the components for the emergence of life may have come from space. The bad idea was that they came ready formed, as viruses and bacteria, and that they are still coming.

    According this theory, well known pandemics of the past (such as the lethal 1918 flu pandemic and even epidemics in antiquity) were apparently the result of viruses from space and could not be the result of person-to-person transmission – least of all from asymptomatic carriers.

    The COVID version involved a meteor exploding over China. In an interview, Wickramsinghe claimed “a piece of this bolide containing trillions of the COVID-19 virus broke off from the bolide as it was entering the stratosphere” releasing viral particles which were then carried by prevailing winds.

    The idea illustrates the way in which fears about space are used to drive anxiety about human failings or wrongdoing. COVID scepticism has since gone all the way into the White House.

    But fears about space can also be used to critique those in power. In our own times, they are used to fuel narratives about billionaires with private space agendas and presidential access, wealthy space tourists and even wealthier prospective colonisers of Mars and beyond. It is a tempting narrative, but one that sees Earth as closed system, which should not be opened to the outside.

    We may, at some level, be afraid of space itself. We certainly have an exaggerated sense our our Earthly separateness from it. And there are some particular things that we do have cause to worry about. But there is also the risk that a fear of space can combine with suspicions about governments, leading us to embrace conspiracy theories as a way to consolidate different kinds of worries into a single, manageable, set of beliefs.

    Tony Milligan receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 856543).

    – ref. Why we are so scared of space – and how this fear can drive conspiracy theories – https://theconversation.com/why-we-are-so-scared-of-space-and-how-this-fear-can-drive-conspiracy-theories-252195

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: PHOTOS: Capito Visits Boone Memorial Hospital

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Shelley Moore Capito

    MADISON, W.Va. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS), visited Boone Memorial Hospital to meet with the hospital’s leadership team and tour the facility to view new equipment and hospital upgrades.

    Over the years, Senator Capito has supported Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) projects that benefit patients at the hospital. In September 2023, Senator Capito announced she secured $3,000,000 in CDS funding for Boone Memorial to renovate the rural health center, adding a drive-through clinic, pharmacy and other community needs. The project aims to provide specialty and primary care, as well as to reduce preventable hospital stays. In August 2024, Senator Capito announced she secured $2,202,000 in CDS funding to support Boone Memorial’s installation of state-of-the-art robotic surgery equipment. During today’s visit, Senator Capito had the chance to receive an update on these projects.

    “I have made it a priority to improve West Virginians’ access to quality health care, and I have been proud to support Boone Memorial Hospital’s efforts to expand and better its services,” Senator Capito said. “It was great to visit the hospital again today where I had the chance to meet with the hospital’s leadership, tour the facility, and see firsthand how investments through the Congressionally Directed Spending Process are making a real difference. These upgrades will help Boone Memorial continue providing critical care to the community, and I look forward to supporting their mission in the future.”

    “The $2.2 million secured through Senator Capito’s efforts has allowed us to become only the second hospital in West Virginia to offer Intuitive’s latest and most advanced robotic-assisted surgical technology—the Da Vinci 5,” Boone Memorial Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Virgil Underwood. “This innovative equipment can allow patients to experience less pain, shorter hospital stays, quicker recovery times, and improved surgical outcomes, all without having to travel far from home. We genuinely appreciate Senator Capito’s unwavering support, which helps us deliver world-class care to our patients right here in Southern West Virginia.”

    Photos from today’s visit are below:

    U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) visits Boone Memorial Hospital in Madison, W.Va. on Monday, March 17, 2025.


    U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) visits Boone Memorial Hospital in Madison, W.Va. on Monday, March 17, 2025.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Secretary-General Appoints Antonio Aranibar of Bolivia United Nations Resident Coordinator in Equatorial Guinea

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

    United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Antonio Aranibar of Bolivia as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Equatorial Guinea, with the host Government’s approval, on 16 March.

    Mr. Aranibar brings more than 20 years’ experience in sustainable development, governance and peacebuilding to the role.  Prior to his appointment in Equatorial Guinea, he served as the UN Special Adviser to the Office of the Resident Coordinator in Venezuela from 2019 to 2024, where he supported the search for negotiated solutions to a protracted crisis, including through social and humanitarian agreements.  He was Head of Office of the UN Verification Mission in Medellin, Colombia, from 2016 to 2018, where he supported the implementation of the peace process between the Colombian State and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

    From 2013 to 2016, he was a researcher at the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE) and Global Network Director of the Social Progress Index, a leading indicator to track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

    Mr. Aranibar served as the Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Political Analysis and Prospective Scenarios Project, an initiative promoted by the United Development Programme (UNDP) in Latin America with proven impact in conflict prevention, dialogue promotion and institutional reform.  In this capacity, he served as Special Adviser to the United Nations in more than 20 countries from 2008 to 2013 using future studies for preventive diplomacy as well as for policy advocacy on development policies and institutional reforms.

    He began his career in UNDP Bolivia as an economist of the Human Development Network and Senior Policy Adviser.

    Mr. Aranibar holds a master’s degree in econometrics from the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain and a bachelor’s degree in economic development from the University of Paris IX-Dauphine in France.  He is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.  He is married and the proud father of three children.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: NREL Researchers Advance Substrate Engineering Pathways To Improve Power Electronics

    Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    As the growth in global electricity need and supply continues to accelerate, efficient power electronics will be key to improving grid efficiency, stability, integration, and resilience for all energy sources.

    Advances in wide-bandgap materials for semiconductors offer the potential to enable greater power handling in power electronics while reducing electrical and thermal losses. Wide-bandgap materials also allow for smaller, faster, more reliable, and more energy-efficient power electronic components than current commercial silicon-based power electronic components.

    Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Colorado School of Mines, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory examined a potential route to achieve peak performance of aluminum gallium nitride, AlxGa1–xN, a key material for increasing power electronics’ energy efficiency and performance, through growth on optimized substrate materials.

    This work was undertaken with funding support from the microelectronics initiative through the U.S. Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences Office and Advanced Scientific Computing Research program.

    The goal of the work is to grow higher-quality materials through the selection of a lattice-matched substrate. Better electron transmission means better device performance, but the growth of AlxGa1–xN on lattice-mismatched substrates leads to dislocation (line defects that distort a lattice due to the misalignment of atoms), resulting in diminished performance.

    “Substrate engineering enables the use of high-performing materials in real devices,” said NREL’s Dennice Roberts, a materials science researcher. “If we can engineer lattice-matched substrates to reduce the effect of dislocations, we can widen the range of sufficiently high-quality materials and build better, more energy-efficient power electronics.”

    As detailed in a new paper, “Designing TaC Virtual Substrates for Vertical AlxGa1−xN Power Electronics Devices,” published in PRX Energy, the research team proposed and demonstrated that electrically conductive, lattice-matched tantalum carbide (TaC) can act as a suitable substrate for AlxGa1–xN epitaxy that may meet growing power needs.

    Benefits of Transition Metal Carbides for AlxGa1–xN Growth

    Substrate engineering can improve device performance—but it is complicated. Defects, such as substrate cracking, are common with growth on AlN and GaN. Efforts to reduce dislocation have been effective but often increase device complexity and limit device design and performance. Lattice mismatching, again, leads to device performance issues.

    “Lattice matching is critical for high-quality epitaxial growth,” Roberts said. “We hypothesized that substrates from transition metal carbide and nitride families could enable desired conditions for AlxGa1–xN growth, not only because of ideal lattice matching but also because of ideal thermal and electrical conductivity properties. TaC and AlxGa1–xN are closely lattice-matched, TaC is highly conductive, and they display matched growth in size in response to changes in temperature.”

    The team grew, prepared, and used TaC thin films as virtual substrates for high-aluminum-content AlxGa1–xN and demonstrated AlxGa1–xN growth on TaC virtual substrates. To precisely and effectively deposit TaC onto the substrate, they used radio frequency sputtering. They formed substrates through high-temperature annealing, a process that increases ductility—the ability of a metal to undergo significant stress before cracking or breaking—and reduces defects.

    Before Annealing

    After Annealing

    Atomic force microscopy (AFM) shows the surface of the TaC thin film before and after annealing at high temperatures. The initial film surface is composed of many columnar grains, whereas after annealing the surface has reoriented to plateaus or “step terraces.” This flatter surface facilitates growth of much higher quality AlGaN layers and thus leads to higher performing electronics. Figure by Dennice Roberts, NREL

    Rational Design of Heterostructural Interfaces Enables Novel Device Concepts

    Motivated by the work of Roberts and her coauthors, NREL materials science postdoctoral researcher Sharad Mahatara and NREL senior scientist Stephan Lany approached the problem of interfaces between materials with different crystal structures from a computational perspective.

    Their work, “Heterostructural Interface Engineering for Ultrawide-Gap Nitrides From First Principles: TaC/AlN and TaC/GaN Rocksalt-Wurtzite Interfaces,” was recently published in Physical Review Applied. The broader context of this study is that lattice-matched substrates with the same crystal structure are often unavailable. Therefore, there are new opportunities to use heterostructural interfaces for conversion and control, if the formation of these more complex interfaces can be understood and controlled.

    The formation of interfaces between rocksalt structure (rs) and wurtzite structure (wz) materials—e.g., between TaC and AlN (GaN) films—can be modeled by considering the different possibilities of stacking the individual atomic layers. This problem is somewhat related to the question of how to arrange oranges in a box so as to get as many as possible into it.

    The NREL researchers approached this problem by writing a computer code with an algorithm to systematically enumerate the possible stacking sequences within a few atomic layers near the interface. This algorithm can be used to understand the atomic structures of various commensurate rs/wz interfaces, including the oxide interfaces.

    Mahatara and Lany then used first-principles density functional theory calculations to determine the most energetically stable atomic structure arrangement for each combination of substrate termination (the type of the last substrate atomic layer, Ta or C), film nucleation (the first nitride film layer, Al/Ga or N), and wz polarity (Al/Ga or N polarity, describing the orientation of the atomic bonds). Additionally, they used this data to predict which of the combinations will be most favorable under different experimental synthesis conditions. This information is important because the detailed atomic structure at the interface will determine the material’s functionality and performance in a device.

    For example, the polarity affects electric fields that are responsible for the transport of electrons across the interface. Controlling the polarity of the film during growth is therefore an important aspect of AlGaN epitaxy.

    “Our results may guide experimentalists on how to regulate nitrogen-polarity against metal-polarity of nitride films grown on TaC substrates as a function of growth conditions,” Mahatara said.

    As a follow-on to the current work, Mahatara and Lany are now investigating the electronic properties of their predicted structures. This ongoing effort will provide further information and predictions on how these structures will act and perform in new device concepts. The goal is to give experimentalists critical data for rational device design to accelerate the development of novel concepts in microelectronics.

    The findings from both studies may inform substrate engineering that improves power electronics as the needs of an electrified future grow.

    “We’re excited about the potential for these materials to address power and energy efficiency challenges,” Roberts said. “From a research perspective, it’s really neat to see a creative solution to a longstanding problem look like it has a lot of promise in real world applications, so we look forward to the developments to come.”

    Learn more about NREL’s materials science research.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two Executives of Louisiana Compounding Pharmacy Convicted of Defrauding TRICARE and New Jersey State Health Benefits Programs, Identity Theft, and Money Laundering

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

    CAMDEN, N.J. – Two former executives of a Louisiana compounding pharmacy were found guilty of conspiring to use the pharmacy to defraud New Jersey and military health benefits programs of approximately $100 million, conspiring to commit identity theft in connection with the fraud, and conspiring to transact in the criminal proceeds, U.S. Attorney John Giordano announced.

    Christopher Kyle Johnston, 46, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Trent Brockmeier, 62, of The Villages, Florida, were convicted on March 10, 2025 of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, one count of conspiring to commit identity theft by fraudulently using a means of identification, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering by transacting in criminal proceeds following a six-week trial before U.S. District Judge Edward S. Kiel.

    According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

    Central Rexall Drugs was a pharmacy in Louisiana that prepared compounded medications, which are specialty medications mixed by a pharmacist to meet the specific medical needs of an individual patient.  In 2013, Johnston and Brockmeier entered into an agreement to take over the management of the pharmacy and expand the compounding business in exchange for 90 percent of the profits.  Brockmeier became chief operating officer of Central Rexall and Johnston became general counsel. 

    Johnston and Brockmeier learned that certain insurance plans would reimburse thousands of dollars for a one-month supply of certain compounded medications – including pain, scar, and antifungal creams, as well as vitamin combinations.  The health plans for New Jersey state and local government and education employees, including teachers, firefighters, municipal police officers, and state troopers, covered these medications, as did TRICARE, which insures current and former members of the U.S. military and their families.

    Johnston and Brockmeier designed compounded medications and manipulated the ingredients in the medications in order to obtain high insurance reimbursements rather than serve the medical needs of patients.  To determine which ingredients and combinations resulted in high insurance reimbursements, Johnston and Brockmeier directed Central Rexall employees to submit false prescription claims to test out different combinations of ingredients, but they did not have a valid prescription signed by a doctor for these formulas.   Central Rexall submitted these false claims using, without their consent, individuals’ names, dates of birth, and identifying information (including insurance information) from pre-existing Central Rexall prescriptions.

    By use of these false claims, Johnston and Brockmeier designed compounded medications with combinations of ingredients that were chosen solely based on the amount of money that insurance would pay rather than on the medications’ ability to serve the medical needs of patients.

    Johnston and Brockmeier retained and directed an outside sales force that used various methods to get doctors to prescribe these medications and patients to accept them, including having prescriptions signed without the patient seeing a doctor or knowing about the medications, having medications or refills ordered without the patients’ knowledge, paying patients to accept the medications, and paying doctors to prescribe them.

    Johnston and Brockmeier caused approximately $100 million in fraudulent insurance claims for compounded medications that were not medically necessary.  Johnston received approximately $34 million and Brockmeier received approximately $5 million in illicit profits.

    50 people have been convicted or pled guilty in the overarching conspiracy.

    The health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy count carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense.  The conspiracy to commit identity theft count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.  The conspiracy to commit money laundering charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense or not more than twice the amount of the criminally derived property involved in the transactions.  Sentencing is scheduled for July 21, 2025.

    U.S. Attorney John Giordano credited special agents of the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly in Newark; special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer Piovesan  in Newark; and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone, with the investigation leading to today’s conviction.

    The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. David Walk, Jr. and Daniel A. Friedman of the Criminal Division.

                                                                 ###

    Defense counsel:

    Johnston: Lawrence S. Lustberg, Anne Collart, and Andrew Marino, Esqs. (Newark, NJ)

    Brockmeier: Marc Agnifilo and David Gelfand, Esqs. (New York, NY)

    MIL Security OSI –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: Streaming, surveillance and the power of suggestion: the hidden cost of 10 years of Netflix

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marc C-Scott, Associate Professor of Screen Media | Deputy Associate Dean of Learning & Teaching, Victoria University

    Shutterstock

    This month marks a decade since Netflix – the world’s most influential and widely subscribed streaming service – launched in Australia.

    Since then the media landscape has undergone significant transformation, particularly in terms of how we consume content. According to a 2024 Deloitte report, Australians aged 16–38 spent twice as much time watching subscription streaming services as free-to-air TV (both live and on-demand).

    Part of the success of streaming services lies in their ability to provide content that feels handpicked. And this is made possible through the use of sophisticated recommender systems fuelled by vast amounts of user data.

    As streaming viewership continues to rise, so too do the risks associated with how these platforms collect and handle user data.

    Changing methods of data collection

    Subscription streaming platforms aren’t the first to collect user data. They just do it differently.

    Broadcasters have always been invested in collecting viewers’ information (via TV ratings) to inform promotional schedules and attract potential advertisers. These data are publicly available.

    In Australia, TV data are collected anonymously via the OzTam TV ratings system, based on the viewing habits of more than 12,000 individuals.

    Each television in a recruited household is connected to a metering box. Members of the household select a letter that corresponds to them, after which the box records their viewing data, including the program, channel and viewing time. But this system doesn’t include broadcasters’ video-on-demand services, which have been around since the late 2000s (with ABC iView being the first).

    In 2016 a new system was launched to measure broadcast video-on-demand data separately from OzTam ratings.

    However, it collected data in a rolling seven-day report, in the form of total minutes a particular program had been watched online (rather than the number of individuals watching, as was the measurement for TV). This meant the two data sources couldn’t be combined.

    In 2018, OzTAM and Nielsen announced the Virtual Australia (VoZ) database which would integrate both broadcast TV and video-on-demand data. It took six years following the announcement for the VoZ system to become the industry’s official trading currency.

    Streamers’ approach

    Streaming platforms such as Netflix have a markedly different approach to acquiring data, as they can source it directly from users. These data are therefore much more granular, larger in volume, and far less publicly accessible due to commercial confidence.

    In recent years, Netflix has shared some of its viewing data through a half-yearly report titled What We Watched. It offers macro-level details such as total hours watched that year, as well as information about specific content, including how many times a particular show was viewed.

    Netflix also supplies information to its shareholders, although much of this focuses on subscriber numbers rather than specific user details.

    The best publicly accessible Netflix data we have is presented on its Tudum website, which includes global Top 10 lists that can be filtered by country.

    The main data Netflix doesn’t share are related to viewer demographics: who is watching what programs.

    Why does it matter?

    Ratings and user data offer valuable insights to both broadcasters and streaming services, and can influence decisions regarding what content is produced.

    User data would presumably have been a significant factor in Netflix‘s decision to move into live content such as stand-up comedy, the US National Football League (NFL) and an exclusive US$5 billion deal with World Wrestling Entertainment.

    Streaming companies also use personal data to provide users with targeted viewing suggestions, with an aim to reduce the time users spend browsing catalogues.

    Netflix has an entire research department dedicated to enhancing user experience. According to Justin Basilico, Netflix’s Director of Machine Learning and Recommender Systems, more than 80% of what Netflix users watch is driven by its recommender system.

    As noted in its privacy statement, Netflix draws on a range of information to provide recommendations, including:

    • the user’s interactions with the service, such as their viewing history and title ratings
    • other users with similar tastes and preferences
    • information about the titles, such as genre, categories, actors and release year
    • the time of day the user is watching
    • the language/s the user prefers
    • the device/s they are watching on
    • how long they watch a particular Netflix title.

    If a user isn’t happy with their recommendations, they can try to change them by editing their viewing and ratings history.

    Personalised or predetermined?

    The rise of streaming hasn’t only transformed how we watch TV, but also how our viewing habits are tracked and how this information informs future decisions.

    While traditional broadcasters have long relied on sample anonymised data to measure engagement, streaming platforms operate in a landscape in which detailed user data can be used to shape content, recommendations and business decisions.

    While personalisation makes streaming more appealing, it also raises important questions about privacy, transparency and control. How much do streaming platforms really know about us? And are they catering to our preferences – or shaping them?

    Marc C-Scott 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. Streaming, surveillance and the power of suggestion: the hidden cost of 10 years of Netflix – https://theconversation.com/streaming-surveillance-and-the-power-of-suggestion-the-hidden-cost-of-10-years-of-netflix-244921

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: ASIC puts payday lenders on notice they may be breaching the law

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeannie Marie Paterson, Professor of Law (consumer protections and credit law), The University of Melbourne

    Late last week, corporate watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a warning to lenders that provide high-fee small-amount loans – known as payday lenders – that they may be breaching consumer-lending laws.

    Trying to provide effective protections to borrowers of these small loans is fiendishly difficult. People in financial hardship turn to payday loans, even though they are expensive. Lenders can charge high fees for such loans but may change products to avoid regulation.

    If access to payday loans dries up, borrowers in need are likely to turn to other products. And so the cycle begins again.

    The regulator’s report might be a prompt to government to think about other strategies.

    What is payday lending and why is it a concern?

    Payday lending is the name commonly given to loans of small amounts (under A$2,000) for short periods of time (16 days to one year) that promise quick credit checks and don’t require collateral.

    They are called payday loans because the original idea was borrowers would pay them back when they got their next pay cheque. But often that is not how it works, and borrowers struggle to repay.

    Payday lenders offer fast cash, but there are strings attached.

    ASIC said the total value of small and medium loans provided to consumers in 2023–24 was $1.3 billion. An earlier study by Consumer Action Law Centre found 4.7 million individual payday loans were written over three years to July 2019.

    Why do borrowers use (expensive) payday loans?

    Small, short-term loans like payday loans have been around for a long time – and in part, they respond to a reality that, for many people, their income is not sufficient to give them buffers.

    Payday loans can be used by borrowers who don’t have savings or credit cards to pay for one-off unexpected bills – a broken fridge, an emergency medical appointment or even utilities bills. But they can also be used to meet daily living expenses.

    There are limited other practical options – for some types of bills, there are hardship schemes, but these are not always well-known. For one-off expenses, there are low and no-interest loan schemes but they can be quite restrictive. Free financial counselling may also help, but knowledge and access can be an issue.

    Payday lenders have been moving customers into bigger loans that are harder to repay.
    Doucefleur/Shutterstock

    Why were new laws dealing with payday loans introduced?

    Payday lenders have typically charged very high fees. In 2013, concerns about the high cost of payday loans led to specific provisions to limit the fees that could be charged.

    Nonetheless, regulators and consumer advocates remain concerned these kinds of loans lock borrowers into debt spirals because they keep accumulating and that lenders manage to avoid many of the restrictions.

    Further reforms in 2022 introduced a presumption a loan is unsuitable if the borrower has already taken out two payday loans in the preceding 90 days. The reforms also prohibit payday lenders from offering loans where the repayments would exceed a prescribed proportion of a borrower’s income.

    What did ASIC say?

    ASIC said it found a trend of payday lenders moving borrowers who previously might have borrowed relatively small amounts ($700 to $2,000) to medium-sized loans ($2,000 to $5,000), which are not subject to the same consumer protections.

    The regulator said small loan credit contracts fell from 80% of loans in the December quarter of 2022 to less than 60% of loans by the August 2023 quarter.

    It said it was concerned by this approach and reminded lenders they were still subject to the reasonable lending regime. This effectively means not lending amounts that would be unsuitable for borrowers.

    Why are payday lenders moving consumers to larger loans?

    It’s a concern that lenders change products to avoid restrictive rules. But it is not altogether surprising.

    One response from increasing restrictions on one form of credit might be that lenders decide to focus on other, less restricted, products like medium-sized loans – this is what ASIC seems to have found.

    This is problematic if those larger loans are not meeting consumers’ needs and objectives (for instance, if they only needed a smaller amount), or complying with the loan would cause substantial hardship. It’s important to remind lenders that the responsible lending obligations apply to medium size loans, and for ASIC to take enforcement action where appropriate.

    What might be a better approach?

    The ASIC report highlights the increasing complexity of the National Consumer Credit Act regime – with the standard obligations complemented by specific and unique rules for a range of credit products. These include small amount credit, standard home loans, credit cards, reverse mortgages, and Buy Now Pay Later.

    It’s worth thinking about whether a better strategy might be to go back to a simpler approach, where one set of rules applied to all consumer credit products. Regulatory exceptions and qualifications are minimised.

    If access to payday loans becomes more restrictive, borrowers are likely to turn to other products. This means ASIC should also be looking at other products that are used to provide short-term small loans. These are likely to include buy now pay later schemes and pawn broking.

    Buy now pay later products are subject to their own regulations, including responsible lending obligations. But
    pawn brokers aren’t covered by the Consumer Credit laws and are subject to little regulatory scrutiny. This is also something that should change.

    We also need to consider whether there are financial inclusion options not dependent on lenders out to make a profit from borrowers struggling with the cost of living.

    Jeannie Marie Paterson receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a project on Treating Consumers Fairly.

    Nicola Howell receives funding from funding from the Australian Research Council for a project on Treating Consumers Fairly. She is affiliated with the Consumers’ Federation of Australia, as a member of the CFA Executive.

    – ref. ASIC puts payday lenders on notice they may be breaching the law – https://theconversation.com/asic-puts-payday-lenders-on-notice-they-may-be-breaching-the-law-252375

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why build nuclear power in place of old coal, when you could have pumped hydropower instead?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Weber, Research Officer for School of Engineering, Australian National University

    Phillip Wittke, Shutterstock

    Australia’s energy policy would take a sharp turn if the Coalition wins the upcoming federal election. A Dutton government would seek to build seven nuclear power plants at the sites of old coal-fired power stations.

    The Coalition says its plan makes smart use of the existing transmission network and other infrastructure. But solar and wind power would need to be curtailed to make room in the grid for nuclear energy. This means polluting coal and gas power stations would remain active for longer, releasing an extra 1 billion to 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.

    So is there another option? Yes: pumped hydro storage plants. This technology is quicker and cheaper to develop than nuclear power, and can store solar and wind rather than curtail it. It’s better suited to Australia’s electricity grid and would ultimately lead to fewer emissions. Drawing on our recent global analysis, we found the technology could be deployed near all but one of the seven sites the Coalition has earmarked for nuclear power.

    The Coalition is likely to spend anywhere from A$116 billion to $600 billion of taxpayers’ money to deliver up to 14 gigawatts of nuclear energy. Experts say the plan will not lower power prices and will take too long to build. Our findings suggest cheap storage of solar and wind, in the form of pumped hydro, is a better way forward.

    This way, we can continue to build renewable energy capacity while stabilising the grid. More than 45GW of solar and wind is already up and running, with a further 23GW being supported by the Capacity Investment Scheme until 2027. Only a handful of the pumped hydro sites we found would be needed to decarbonise the energy system, reaching the 1,046 gigawatt-hours of storage CSIRO estimates Australia needs.

    Building pumped hydro storage systems near old coal-fired power generators has some advantages, such as access to transmission lines – although more will be needed as electricity demand increases. But plenty of other suitable sites exist, too.

    Filling the gaps

    Pumped hydro is a cheap, mature technology that currently provides more than 90% of the world’s electrical energy storage.

    It involves pumping water uphill from one reservoir to another at a higher elevation for storage. Then, when power is needed, water is released to flow downhill through turbines, generating electricity on its way to the lower reservoir.

    Together with battery storage, pumped hydro solves the very real problem of keeping the grid stable and reliable when it is dominated by solar and wind power.

    By 2030, 82% of Australia’s electricity supply is expected to come from renewables, up from about 40% today.

    But solar panels only work during the day and don’t produce as much power when it’s cloudy. And wind turbines don’t generate power when it’s calm. That’s where storage systems come in. They can charge up when electricity is plentiful and then release electricity when it’s needed.

    Grid-connected batteries can fill short-term gaps (from seconds to a few hours). Pumped hydro can store electricity overnight, and longer still. These two technologies can be used together to supply electricity through winter, and other periods of calm or cloudy weather.

    Two types of pumped-storage hydropower, one doesn’t require dams on rivers.
    NREL

    Finding pumped hydro near the Coalitions’s proposed nuclear sites

    Australia has three operating pumped hydro systems: Tumut 3 in the Snowy Mountains, Wivenhoe in Queensland, and Shoalhaven in the Kangaroo Valley of New South Wales.

    Two more are under construction, including Snowy 2.0. Even after all the cost blowouts, Snowy 2.0 comes at a modest construction cost of A$34 per kilowatt-hour of energy storage, which is ten times cheaper than the cost CSIRO estimates for large, new batteries.

    We previously developed a “global atlas” to identify potential locations for pumped hydro facilities around the world.

    More recently, we created a publicly available tool to filter results based on construction cost, system size, distance from transmission lines or roads, and away from environmentally sensitive locations.

    In this new analysis, we used the tool to find pumped hydro options near the sites the Coalition has chosen for nuclear power plants.

    Mapping 300 potential pumped hydro sites

    The proposed nuclear sites are:

    • Liddell Power Station, New South Wales
    • Mount Piper Power Station, New South Wales
    • Loy Yang Power Stations, Victoria
    • Tarong Power Station, Queensland
    • Callide Power Station, Queensland
    • Northern Power Station, South Australia (small modular reactor only)
    • Muja Power Station, Western Australia (small modular reactor only).

    We used our tool to identify which of these seven sites would instead be suitable for a pumped hydro project, using the following criteria:

    • low construction cost (for a pumped hydro project)

    • located within 85km of the proposed nuclear sites.

    We included various reservoir types in our search:

    • new reservoirs on undeveloped land (“greenfield” sites)

    • repurposing existing reservoirs (“bluefield” sites)

    • repurposing existing mining pits (“brownfield” sites).

    Exactly 300 sites matched our search criteria. No options emerged near the proposed nuclear site in Western Australia, but suitable sites lie further north in the mining region of the Pilbara.

    One option east of Melbourne, depicted in the image below, has a storage capacity of 500 gigawatt-hours. Compared with Snowy 2.0, this option has a much shorter tunnel, larger energy capacity, and larger height difference between the two reservoirs (increasing the potential energy stored in the water). And unlike Snowy 2.0, it is not located in a national park.

    Of course, shortlisted sites would require detailed assessment to confirm the local geology is suitable for pumped hydro, and to evaluate potential environmental and social impacts.

    More where that came from

    We restricted our search to sites near the Coalition’s proposed nuclear plants. But there are hundreds of potential pumped hydro sites along Australia’s east coast.

    Developers can use our free tool to identify the best sites.

    So far, the Australian electricity transition has mainly been driven by private investment in solar and wind power. With all this renewable energy entering the grid, there’s money to be made in storage, too.

    Large, centralised, baseload electricity generators, such as coal and nuclear plants, are becoming a thing of the past. A smarter energy policy would balance solar and wind with technologies such as pumped hydro, to secure a reliable electricity supply.

    Timothy Weber receives funding from the Australian government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics.

    Andrew Blakers receives funding from the Australian government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and other organisations.

    – ref. Why build nuclear power in place of old coal, when you could have pumped hydropower instead? – https://theconversation.com/why-build-nuclear-power-in-place-of-old-coal-when-you-could-have-pumped-hydropower-instead-252017

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: I’m avoiding a hearing test because I don’t want chunky hearing aids. What are my options?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Ekberg, Senior Lecturer, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University

    Ksenia Shestakova/Shutterstock

    One in six Australians have hearing loss and, for most adults, hearing starts to decline from middle age onwards.

    Many of us, however, hesitate to seek help or testing for our hearing. Perhaps you’re afraid you’ll be told to wear hearing aids, and envision the large and bulky hearing aids you might have seen on your grandparents decades ago.

    In fact, hearing aids have changed a lot since then. They’re often now very small; some are barely noticeable. And hearing aids aren’t the only option available for people experiencing hearing loss.

    The earlier you do something about your hearing, the greater the likelihood that you can prevent further hearing decline.
    PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

    Why you shouldn’t ignore hearing loss

    Acquired hearing loss can have a serious impact on our life. It is associated with or can contribute to:

    • social isolation
    • loneliness
    • not being able to work as much, or at all
    • memory problems
    • trouble thinking clearly
    • conditions such as dementia.

    Hearing loss has also been associated with depression, anxiety and stress. A systematic review and meta-analysis found adults with hearing loss are 1.5 times more likely to experience depression than those without hearing loss.

    A large population study in the US found self-reported hearing loss was associated with:

    • higher levels of psychological distress
    • increased use of antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications, and
    • greater utilisation of mental health services.

    The good news is that doing something about your hearing loss can help you live a happier and longer life.

    So why don’t people get their hearing checked?

    Research has found adults with hearing loss typically wait ten years to seek help for their hearing.

    Less than a quarter of those who need hearing aids actually go ahead with them.

    Hearing declines slowly, so people may perceive their hearing difficulties aren’t concerning. They may feel they’re now used to not being able to hear properly, without fully appreciating the impact it’s having on their life.

    Some people harbour negative attitudes to hearing aids or don’t think they’ll actually help.

    Others may have overheard their partner, family or friends say negative things or make jokes about hearing aids, which can put people off getting their hearing checked.

    Stigma can play a big part.

    People often associate hearing loss with negative stereotypes such as ageing, weakness and “being different”.

    Our recent research found that around one in four people never tell anyone about their hearing loss because of experiences of stigma.

    Adults with hearing loss who experience stigma and choose not to disclose their hearing loss were also likely not to go ahead with hearing aids, we found.

    Modern hearing aids may be a lot smaller than you realise.
    Daisy Daisy/Shutterstock

    What are my options for helping my hearing?

    The first step in helping your hearing is to have a hearing check with a hearing care professional such as an an audiologist. You can also speak to your GP.

    If you’ve got hearing loss, hearing aids aren’t the only option.

    Others include:

    • other assistive listening devices (such as amplified phones, personal amplifiers and TV headphones)
    • doing a short course or program (such as the Active Communication Education program developed via University of Queensland researchers) aimed at giving you strategies to manage your hearing, for instance, in noisy environments
    • monitoring your hearing with regular checkups
    • strategies for protecting your hearing in future (such as wearing earplugs or earmuffs in loud environments, and not having headphone speakers too loud)
    • a cochlear implant (if hearing loss is severe)

    Hearing care professionals should take a holistic approach to hearing rehabilitation.

    That means coming up with individualised solutions based on your preferences and circumstances.

    What are modern hearing aids like?

    If you do need hearing aids, it’s worth knowing there are several different types. All modern hearing aids are extremely small and discrete.

    Some sit behind your ear, while others sit within your ear. Some look the same as air pods.

    Some are even completely invisible. These hearing aids are custom fitted to sit deep within your ear canal and contain no external tubes and wires.

    Some types of hearing aids are more expensive than others, but even the basic styles are discrete.

    In Australia, children and many adults are eligible for free or subsidised hearing services and many health funds offer hearing aid rebates as part of their extras cover.

    Despite being small, modern hearing aids have advanced technology including the ability to:

    • reduce background noise
    • direct microphones to where sound is coming from (directional microphones)
    • use Bluetooth so you can hear audio from your phone, TV and other devices directly in your hearing aids.

    When used with a smartphone, some hearing aids can even track your health, detect if you have fallen, and translate languages in real time.

    Modern hearing aids use Bluetooth so you can hear audio from your phone.
    Daisy Daisy/Shutterstock

    What should I do next?

    If you think you might be having hearing difficulties or are curious about the status of your hearing, then it’s a good idea to get a hearing check.

    The earlier you do something about your hearing, the greater the likelihood that you can prevent further hearing decline and reduce other health risks.

    And rest assured, there’s a suitable option for everyone.

    Katie Ekberg has previously received funding from the Hearing Industry Research Consortium, which funded research into stigma associated with hearing loss and hearing aids.

    Barbra Timmer is a part-time employee of Sonova AG, a global hearing care company. She was a Chief Investigator on a Hearing Industry Research Consortium grant that investigated the experiences of stigma for adults with hearing loss. She is the president of Audiology Australia.

    – ref. I’m avoiding a hearing test because I don’t want chunky hearing aids. What are my options? – https://theconversation.com/im-avoiding-a-hearing-test-because-i-dont-want-chunky-hearing-aids-what-are-my-options-250925

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: Local newspapers are a lifeline in Ukraine, but USAID cuts may force many to close or become biased mouthpieces

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Galyna Piskorska, Associate Professor, Faculty of Journalism, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University (Ukraine) and Honorary Principal Fellow at the Advanced Centre for Journalism, The University of Melbourne

    Three years into Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, Ukrainian journalists are facing enormously difficult challenges to continue their work.

    Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, 40% of Ukrainian media outlets have been forced to close down, mostly due to the Russian occupation or financial difficulties caused by the war. Many of these are in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.

    Ukrainian journalists and media outlets have also become targets. More than 100 media workers have been killed since the full-scale war began.

    Some, like 28-year-old journalist Viktoriya Roshchyna, were captured by Russian forces and died in brutal conditions in captivity. More than 30 media workers are still in Russian captivity.

    Others were killed by Russian missile and drone attacks, like Tetiana Kulyk, who died alongside her husband, a surgeon, after her home was hit by a drone in late February.

    For those journalists that remain, fatigue is a major issue. Many are emotionally exhausted. Some cannot cope and leave their jobs. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) helps with seminars and psychological support.

    Despite the dangers, local media remains in high demand near the front lines of the war. These outlets have lost so much – advertising, subscribers and staff – but their journalists still have the passion and determination to continue their work documenting history.

    The role of local media on the front lines

    According to researchers who interviewed 43 independent local media outlets last year, the key challenges for newsrooms have not changed since the start of the war:

    • a shortage of employees (22% of respondents said this was a challenge in 2023, compared to 16% in 2022);

    • psychological stress (18% in 2023, 16% in 2022)

    • lack of funds (16% in both years).

    Often, journalists must perform different roles in their work, including being a driver, mail carrier and even a psychotherapist.

    Without working telephones or internet in areas near the front lines, print newspapers remain the only source of trusted information for many people. This includes up-to-date information on evacuation plans and humanitarian aid, as well as content not related to the war, such as public transport schedules and how to access medicines and necessary items for home repairs.

    Tetiana Velika, editor in chief of the Voice of Huliaipillia in southeastern Ukraine, was one of about 120 journalists who took part in a recent online conference organised by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine to discuss the state of Ukraine’s media.

    She said media have remained connected with readers through both openness and authenticity. This includes having active social media networks, publishing journalists’ mobile phone numbers and allowing people to reach out anytime.

    Vasyl Myroshnyk, the editor in chief of Zorya, a newspaper in eastern Ukraine, described how he travelled 400 kilometres each week to deliver copies of his newspaper to even the most dangerous places.

    Svitlana Ovcharenko, editor of the newspaper Vpered in the city of Bakhmut, which was destroyed by Russian forces in the opening weeks of the war, said the paper has remained a lifeline for a displaced population.

    We have a unique situation — we don’t have a city. It’s virtual, it’s only on the map, it doesn’t physically exist. Not only is it destroyed, but it’s also been bombed with phosphorus bombs, and no one lives there.

    Ovcharenko, who now lives in the city of Odesa, said her newspaper’s readers are scattered all over the world. (There are 6,000 printed copies distributed each week across Ukraine.) The coverage focuses on how former Bakhmut residents have restarted their lives elsewhere, while also paying homage to the city’s past.

    Independent media is now at stake

    Funding remains a formidable challenge. Advertising revenue has dried up for many outlets, leaving international donors as the primary journalism funding source.

    Now, the Trump administration in the United States is gutting much of this funding through its dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). According to one estimate, 80% of Ukrainian media outlets received funding through USAID. As Oksana Romaniuk, director of the Institute of Mass Information, said:

    The problem is that almost everyone had grants. The question is that for some, these grants amounted to 100% of their income and they could only survive thanks to grants. These grants amounted to 40–60% for some, less for others.

    According to media researchers, without donor aid or state budget support in 2025, newspapers and magazines may decrease by a further 20% in Ukraine, while subscription circulation could drop by 25–30%.

    The heavy reliance on such funding has already led to the closure of some outlets, while others have been forced to launch public fundraising campaigns.

    Donor funding has also given Ukrainian outlets a measure of independence, allowing them to report on corruption within the Ukrainian government, for example. Many independent outlets are now vulnerable to being taken over by commercial or political entities. When these groups gain control, they can influence media coverage to benefit their own interests. This is known as “media capture”.

    Research shows how this has occurred in other post-conflict and developing countries where independent media outlets have been transformed into business entities more focused on profits and maintaining good relations with authorities than on producing quality journalism.

    This is a critical time for the future of Ukrainian media, to ensure it remains financially self-sufficient and free from the influence of both Russian propaganda and Ukrainian oligarchs. Without this funding, the preservation of Ukraine’s independent media and democracy remain under dire threat.

    Galyna Piskorska 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. Local newspapers are a lifeline in Ukraine, but USAID cuts may force many to close or become biased mouthpieces – https://theconversation.com/local-newspapers-are-a-lifeline-in-ukraine-but-usaid-cuts-may-force-many-to-close-or-become-biased-mouthpieces-250917

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: Scientific misconduct is on the rise. But what exactly is it?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nham Tran, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Technology Sydney

    PowerUp/Shutterstock

    German anaesthesiologist Joachim Boldt has an unfortunate claim to fame. According to Retraction Watch, a public database of research retractions, he is the most retracted scientist of all time. To date, 220 of his roughly 400 published research papers have been retracted by academic journals.

    Boldt may be a world leader, but he has plenty of competition. In 2023, more than 10,000 research papers were retracted globally – more than any previous year on record. According to a recent investigation by Nature, a disproportionate number of retracted papers over the past ten years have been written by authors affiliated with several hospitals, universities and research institutes in Asia.

    Academic journals retract papers when they are concerned that the published data is faked, altered, or not “reproducible” (meaning it would yield the same results if analysed again).

    Some errors are honest mistakes. However, the majority of retractions are associated with scientific misconduct.

    But what exactly is scientific misconduct? And what can be done about it?

    From fabrication to plagiarism

    The National Health and Medical Research Council is Australia’s primary government agency for medical funding. It defines misconduct as breaches of the Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.

    In Australia, there are broadly eight recognised types of breaches. Research misconduct is the most severe.

    These breaches may include failure to obtain ethics approval, plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification and misrepresentation.

    This is what was behind many of Boldt’s retractions. He made up data for a large number of studies, which ultimately led to his dismissal from the Klinikum Ludwigshafen, a teaching hospital in Germany, in 2010.

    In another case, China’s He Jiankui was sentenced to three years in prison in 2019 for creating the world’s first genetically edited babies using the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR. His crime was that he falsified documents to recruit couples for his research.

    The “publish or perish” culture within academia fuels scientific misconduct. It puts pressure on academics to meet publication quotas. It also rewards them for greater research output, in the form of promotions, funding and recognition. And this can mean research quality is sacrificed for quantity.

    Honest mistakes

    But not all research misconduct is premeditated. Some is the result of honest mistakes made by scientists.

    For example, Sergio Gonzalez, a young scientist at the Institute for Neurosciences of Montpellier in France, mistakenly uploaded several wrong images to an academic paper and its supplementary material. This didn’t have any effect on the findings of the paper, which were based on the correct images.

    But it still represented a case of image duplication and misrepresentation of data. This lead to the journal retracting the paper and launching an investigation. The investigation concluded the breach was unintentional and resulted from the pressures of academic research.

    Fewer than 20% of all retractions are due to honest mistakes. Researchers usually contact the publisher to correct errors when they are detected, with no major consequences.

    The need for a national oversight body

    In many countries, an independent national body oversees research integrity.

    In the United Kingdom, this body is known as the Committee on Research Integrity. It is responsible for improving research integrity and addressing misconduct cases. Similarly, in the United States, the Office of Research Integrity handles allegations of research misconduct.

    In contrast, Australia lacks an independent body directly tasked with investigating research misconduct. There is a body known as the Australian Research Integrity Committee. But it only reviews the institutional procedures and governance of investigations to ensure they are conducted fairly and transparently – and with limited effectiveness. For example, last year it received 13 complaints, only five of which were investigated.

    Instead Australia relies on a self-regulation model. This means each university and research institute aligns its own policy with the Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research. Although this code originated in medical research, its principles apply across all disciplines.

    For example, in archaeology, falsifying an image or deliberately reporting inaccurate carbon dating results constitutes data fabrication. Another common breach is plagiarism, which can also be applied to all fields.

    But self-governance on integrity matters is fraught with problems.

    Investigations often lack transparency and are carried out internally, creating a conflict of interest. Often the investigative teams are under immense pressure to safeguard their institution’s reputation rather than uphold accountability.

    A 2023 report by the Australia Institute called for the urgent establishment of an independent, government-funded research integrity watchdog.

    The report recommended the watchdog have direct investigatory powers and that academic institutions be bound by its findings.

    The report also recommended the watchdog should release its findings publicly, create whistleblower protections, establish a proper appeals process and allow people to directly raise complaints with it.

    Research credibility is on the line

    The consequences of inadequate oversight are already evident.

    One of the biggest research integrity scandals in Australian history involved Ali Nazari, an engineer from Swinburne University. In 2022 an anonymous whistleblower alleged Nazari was part of an international research fraud cartel involving multiple teams.

    Investigations cast doubt on the validity of the 287 papers Nazari and the other researchers had collectively published. The investigations uncovered numerous violations, including 71 instances of falsified results, plagiarism and duplication, and 208 instances of self-plagiarism.

    Similarly, Mark Smyth, formerly of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, fabricated research data to support grant applications and clinical trials. An independent inquiry concluded he used his reputation, status and authority to bully and intimidate junior colleagues.

    If Australia had a independent research integrity body, there would be a clear governance structure and an established and transparent pathway for reporting breaches at a much earlier stage.

    Timely intervention would help reduce further breaches through swift investigation and corrective action. Importantly, consistent governance across Australian institutions would help ensure fairness. It would also reduce bias and uphold the same standards across all misconduct cases.

    The call for an independent research integrity watchdog is long overdue.

    Only through impartial oversight can we uphold the values of scientific excellence, protect public trust, and foster a culture of accountability that strengthens the integrity of research for all Australians.

    Nham Tran has received funding from Australian Research Council.

    – ref. Scientific misconduct is on the rise. But what exactly is it? – https://theconversation.com/scientific-misconduct-is-on-the-rise-but-what-exactly-is-it-247352

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: Less than 1% of the world’s biggest radio telescope is complete – but its first image reveals a sky dotted with ancient galaxies

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Randall Wayth, SKA-Low Senior Commissioning Scientist and Adjunct Associate Professor, Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, Curtin University

    The first image from an early working version of the SKA-Low telescope, showing around 85 galaxies. SKAO

    Part of the world’s biggest mega-science facility – the SKA Observatory – is being built in outback Western Australia.

    After decades of planning, countless hours of work, and more than a few setbacks, an early working version of the telescope has captured its first glimpse of the sky.

    Using 1,024 of what will eventually be 131,072 radio antennas, the first SKA-Low image shows a tiny sliver of sky dotted with ancient galaxies billions of light-years from Earth.

    This first snapshot shows the system works, and will improve dramatically in the coming months and years – and starts a new chapter in our exploration of the universe.

    A glimpse of the universe

    The SKA-Low telescope is currently under construction on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia, around 600 kilometres north of Perth. Together with the SKA-Mid telescope (under construction in South Africa), the two telescopes will make up the world’s largest and most sensitive radio observatory.

    SKA-Low will consist of thousands of antennas spread across a vast area. It is designed to detect low-frequency radio signals from some of the most distant and ancient objects in the universe.

    The first image, made using just 1,024 of the planned 131,000 antennas, is remarkably clear, confirming that the complex systems for transmitting and processing data from the antennas are working properly. Now we can move on to more detailed observations to analyse and verify the telescope’s scientific output.

    Bright galaxies, billions of years old

    The image shows a patch of the sky, approximately 25 square degrees in area, as seen in radio waves.

    Twenty-five square degrees is an area of sky that would fit 100 full Moons. For comparison, it would be about the area of sky that a small apple would cover if you held it at arm’s length.

    The first image from an early working version of the SKA-Low telescope, showing around 85 galaxies.
    SKAO

    The dots in the image look like stars, but are actually some of the brightest galaxies in the universe. These galaxies are billions of light-years away, so the galaxies we are seeing now were emitting this light when the universe was half its current age.

    They are so bright because each of these distant galaxies contains a supermassive black hole. Gas orbiting around black holes is very hot and moves very quickly, emitting energy in X-rays and radio waves. SKA-Low can detect these radio waves that have travelled billions of light years across the universe to reach Earth.

    The world’s largest radio telescope

    SKA-Low and SKA-Mid are both being built by the SKAO, a global project to build cutting-edge telescopes that will revolutionise our understanding of the universe and deliver benefits to society. (SKA stands for “square kilometre array”, describing the initial estimated collecting area of all the antennas and radio dishes put together.)

    My own involvement in the project began in 2014. Since then I, along with many local and international colleagues, have deployed and verified several prototype systems on the path to SKA-Low. To now be part of the team that is making the first images with the rapidly growing telescope is extremely satisfying.

    A complex system with no moving parts

    SKA-Low will be made up of 512 aperture arrays (or stations), each comprised of 256 antennas.

    Unlike traditional telescopes, aperture arrays have no moving parts, which makes them easier to maintain. The individual antennas receive signals from all directions at once and – to produce images – we use complex mathematics to combine the signals from each individual antenna and “steer” the telescope.

    The SKA-Low telescope uses arrays of radio antennas (called stations) to create images of the universe.
    SKAO / Max Alexander

    The advantages and flexibility of aperture arrays come at the cost of complex signal processing and software systems. Any errors in signal timing, calibration or processing can distort the final image or introduce noise.

    For this reason, the successful production of the first image is a key validation – it can only happen if the entire system is working.

    The shape of the universe and beyond

    As SKA-Low grows, it will see more detail. Simulations show the full telescope may detect up to 600,000 galaxies in the same patch of sky shown in the first test image.
    SKAO

    Once completed, SKA-Low promises to transform our understanding of the early universe.

    The antennas of the full telescope will be spread across an area approximately 70 kilometres in diameter, making it the most sensitive low-frequency radio array ever built.

    This unprecedented sensitivity to low-frequency radio signals will allow scientists to detect the faint signals from the first stars and galaxies that formed after the Big Bang – the so-called “cosmic dawn”. SKA-Low will be the first radio telescope capable of imaging this very early period of our universe.

    It will also help map the large-scale structure of the universe. We expect the telescope will also provide new insights into cosmic magnetism, the behaviour of interstellar gas, and the mysterious nature of dark matter and dark energy.

    The sensitivity and resolution of SKA-Low gives it a huge discovery potential. Seven out of the top 10 discoveries from the Hubble Space Telescope were not part of the original science motivation. Like the HST, SKA-Low promises to be a transformative telescope. Who knows what new discoveries await?

    What’s next

    SKA-Low’s commissioning process will ramp up over the course of the year, as more antenna arrays are installed and brought online. With each additional station, the sensitivity and resolution of the telescope will increase. This growth will also bring greater technical challenges in handling the growing complexity and data rates.

    By the end of 2025, SKA-Low is expected to have 16 working stations. The increased volume of output data at this stage will be the next major test for the telescope’s software systems.

    By the end of 2026, the array is planned to expand to 68 working stations at which point it will be the the most sensitive low-frequency radio telescope on Earth.

    This phase will be the next big test of the end-to-end telescope system. When we get to this stage, the same field you see in the image above will be able to comprehensively map and detect up to 600,000 galaxies. I’m personally looking forward to helping bring it together.

    Randall Wayth 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. Less than 1% of the world’s biggest radio telescope is complete – but its first image reveals a sky dotted with ancient galaxies – https://theconversation.com/less-than-1-of-the-worlds-biggest-radio-telescope-is-complete-but-its-first-image-reveals-a-sky-dotted-with-ancient-galaxies-252382

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Banking: AI at work: Reasoning models and the future of business

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: AI at work: Reasoning models and the future of business

    We are now living in a new reality—one in which AI can think and reason like humans, solving complex problems that have stumped even the most capable experts. This reality emerged just a few months ago, when OpenAI released the first of its AI “reasoning” models, which can understand and solve problems by making logical inferences and adapting to new information. More recently, DeepSeek made waves with a reasoning model that was developed more quickly and cheaply than we thought possible, and Anthropic released a hybrid reasoning model that can handle both immediate responses and those that require deeper consideration.  

    Let’s decode what happens when AI “reasons,” and what this remarkable new capability will mean for your business. 

    Understanding the breakthrough—and why it matters 
    Most current AI models rely heavily on pattern recognition to answer questions almost instantly, but reasoning AI takes a more deliberate approach. It engages in logical, multi-step analysis—a process called chain-of-thought reasoning—to break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable chunks. That lets the AI explore different paths and backtrack or pivot when it’s wrong, similar to how humans solve problems.  

    Until recently, the go-to method for improving AI model performance was feeding it increasingly massive data sets during the training stage. Reasoning models leverage a different strategy called test-time compute, which involves using more processing power and time during the actual problem-solving stage. This means the AI takes more time and uses more resources to think deeply and provide more complete, accurate answers. 

    Reasoning AI isn’t perfect: humans still have a premium on common sense, and AI struggles with tasks that require understanding context beyond logical reasoning, such as interpreting nuanced language. Still, reasoning capabilities make AI extraordinarily powerful, able to solve problems that stymie other systems. 

    Here’s one example of that power in action: Ethan Mollick, professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, wondered if OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model could spot a recently unearthed math error in a research paper that briefly sparked a panic about the safety of black plastic cooking utensils. He asked it to “carefully check the math in this paper,” and it quickly pinpointed the mistake.   

    As Mollick wrote, “When models are capable enough to not just process an entire academic paper, but to understand the context in which ‘checking math’ makes sense, and then actually check the results successfully, that radically changes what AIs can do.” 

    Reasoning models are racking up astonishing results on intelligence benchmarks, as Mollick points out. The GPQA Diamond benchmark tests high-level science knowledge that isn’t available online, and OpenAI o3 beat human experts with a score of 87.7%. In FrontierMath, a set of incredibly tough math problems, o3 scored 25.2%, a major improvement over previous models. And on ARC-AGI, a test designed to be doable for humans but hard for AIs, o3 scored 87.5%, besting both previous AIs and the baseline human level. 

    All this isn’t to say that AI is going to take the place of human expertise and judgment. But reasoning as a scalable, always-on resource represents a powerful new paradigm. This is a watershed moment—one that every leader and organization will need to come to terms with. 

    Decoding reasoning’s potential impact on business 
    Reasoning AI offers huge promise for business, across industries. Think of its potential for research and development. AI can now propose hypotheses and simulate outcomes on its own—thinking that’s well beyond the capabilities of standard prompt-and-response models. That advancement could cut years off traditional R&D cycles and bring breakthroughs in fields from renewable energy to pharmaceuticals. 

    More broadly, reasoning AI will upend many of our assumptions about work. Leaders should keep two things in mind: First, these models can perform cognitive labor that is equivalent to or better than humans. In other words, they can perceive, understand, reason, and execute—sometimes even create—at levels that approach or surpass human abilities. For every task your team needs to tackle, ask yourself, “Can AI do this job?” If the situation doesn’t call for uniquely human skills like judgment, nuance, originality, or emotional intelligence, the answer is now yes. We need to imagine a new division of labor for humans and AI—and new approaches to managing that labor. 

    Second, reasoning models change the economics of work. Historically, “acquiring” reasoning meant hiring humans, but that’s no longer exclusively the case. You can now rent or purchase cognitive labor on a consumption basis, similar to acquiring any other input for your business, from electricity to equipment. And that’s a very big deal. With efficient and affordable reasoning capabilities, your organization and industry will radically change. I expect that disruption to come from AI-native firms rather than incumbent companies. AI natives will have a competitive edge simply because they’ve been weaving AI into every process from the start.  

    It’s still early days for AI reasoning—and these are my initial thoughts. I’m certain that reasoning will crack open possibilities—and opportunities for business—that I haven’t even begun to imagine.  

    For more insights on AI and the future of work, subscribe to this newsletter.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Cutting digital curbs: How Azure AI Foundry is building a more accessible world

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Cutting digital curbs: How Azure AI Foundry is building a more accessible world

    As we celebrate innovation in accessibility at Microsoft’s Ability Summit 2025, we invite you to explore how Azure AI can enhance accessibility in your products and services. The future isn’t just about removing barriers—it’s about building a world where everyone moves forward together.

    When my wife and I had our first child, I started seeing the world differently. Pushing a stroller through our neighborhood, I quickly realized how much I had taken for granted—sidewalks that suddenly ended, intersections without curb cuts, pathways that were technically walkable but not built for wheels.

    It wasn’t just a minor inconvenience. It made me think about my elderly grandmother, who relied on a walker. And my parents, who are active now but won’t always move as easily as they do today. Mobility and accessibility are deeply connected, and for the first time, I saw how infrastructure shapes our daily experiences—whether we notice it or not.

    But physical mobility is only part of the equation. In the digital world, there are just as many curbs that need cutting. Websites that don’t work with screen readers. Captions that lag behind real-time speech. AI models that fail to understand diverse voices. These barriers may be invisible to many, but they create real limitations for millions of people.

    And just like curb cuts in sidewalks, digital accessibility doesn’t just benefit one group—it makes technology better for everyone. That’s where Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI Service, and the latest innovations in multimodal AI and Responsible AI (RAI) come in—helping organizations cut digital curbs and build a world that works for all.

    As we recognize the impact of accessibility innovation at Microsoft’s Ability Summit 2025, we encourage you to explore how AI can drive greater inclusion in your products and services. 

    The goal isn’t just to eliminate obstacles—it’s to design a world where everyone moves forward together. Here are some of my favorite real-world examples.

    Build with Azure AI Foundry today

    Real-world impact: How Azure AI is cutting digital curbs

    The curb cuts of digital accessibility didn’t start with generative AI—Microsoft has been building inclusive technologies for decades. From early screen readers to speech-to-text innovations, AI has long played a pivotal role in expanding access. But now, we’re going even bigger. 

    Bridging the mental health gap with AI-powered conversations 

    Technology: Azure AI

    Mental health support is a growing necessity worldwide, but in Kenya, where there are only about 100 psychiatrists for a population of 50 million, access to professional care is extremely limited. Financial and cultural barriers often keep people from seeking the help they need.

    Kenya Red Cross saw an opportunity to bridge this gap using Azure AI-powered chatbots. In partnership with Pathways Technologies, they developed Chat Care, an AI-based mental health assistant that provides guidance, emotional support, and referrals—all in English and Swahili.

    This isn’t just a chatbot; it’s a lifeline for people who may otherwise suffer in silence. Chat Care allows users to start conversations about their mental health in a low-pressure, anonymous way, reducing stigma and offering resources that are accessible 24/7. It can suggest breathing exercises, gratitude practices, and in-person services, all tailored to the user’s responses.

    And for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or unable to speak on the phone, Chat Care offers text-based support, ensuring mental health services are available to everyone, regardless of ability or circumstance.

    Improving AI speech recognition for non-standard speech

    Technology: Azure AI Speech x UIUC Partnership

    Voice recognition technology often struggles to understand people with non-standard speech patterns, making it harder for individuals with conditions like cerebral palsy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to interact with AI-powered experiences.

    To solve this, Microsoft partnered with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and fellow tech leaders to build the Speech Accessibility Project—a research initiative to train AI models that recognize diverse speech patterns.

    By integrating this breakthrough into Azure AI Speech, Microsoft is ensuring that AI-powered voice technology works for everyone, making digital experiences more inclusive across industries.

    Making AI more accessible from the ground up

    Technology: Azure AI Foundry

    With Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft has embedded accessibility into the AI development lifecycle itself. By partnering with EY, the Azure AI Foundry now empowers neurodivergent customers, and features improved usability, reducing cognitive overload and improving navigation for all people.

    In 2024, Azure AI Foundry reached a milestone for usability, reflecting feedback from people with disabilities that helped improve the platform. The updates included:

    • Grouping notifications and deployment errors to reduce cognitive overload.
    • Ensuring screen readers provide structured, easy-to-follow AI workflows.
    • Enhancing keyboard navigation for people who rely on shortcuts over mouse input.

    This is a prime example of why accessibility is about building better, more intuitive technology for everyone.

    Making accessible AI work for agents

    Technology: Computer-Using Agent (CUA)

    Microsoft’s Computer-Using Agent (CUA) in Azure AI Foundry enables AI-powered automation of digital interactions, making software more accessible for people with limited mobility or dexterity. By allowing CUA to navigate interfaces, complete multi-step tasks, and execute actions through natural language commands, it reduces reliance on traditional keyboard and mouse inputs.

    This breakthrough enhances digital accessibility, empowering people who use any kind of assistive technology. As CUA dynamically interprets UI elements, it makes it easier to navigate applications and workflows.

    Hope, action, and moving forward together with Azure AI

    There are days when it feels like progress is slow. That accessibility, whether physical or digital, takes too long to improve. But then I think about something as simple as the sidewalks at my cross streets.

    Not that long ago, they were completely inaccessible. But after making a call, filing a report, and pushing the issue, those sidewalks finally got curb cuts just in time for the birth of our second child. It was a small fix in the grand scheme of things, but it made a real difference.

    The truth is, sometimes it just takes someone noticing the problem and taking action. But I also know I say that from a place of privilege—I had the time, the resources, and the ability to advocate for that change. Many people don’t. That’s why it’s so important that we build accessibility into our systems from the start—so that no one has to fight for the basics.

    With Azure AI Foundry, organizations can now scale accessibility faster than ever, making the digital world more navigable, usable, and welcoming to all. The curb cuts are being built—and the future of accessibility is wide open.

    Join us at Ability Summit 2025

    As we celebrate innovation at Microsoft’s Ability Summit 2025, we invite you to explore how AI can enhance accessibility in your products and services.

    The future isn’t just about removing barriers—it’s about building a world where everyone moves forward together. 

    Join us for the fifteenth annual Ability Summit

    The 2025 Ability Summit is a free digital event where you will find the latest in AI and accessibility

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Security: John A. Sarcone III’s Remarks Upon his Swearing-In as United States Attorney

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ALBANY, NEW YORK – United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III made these remarks today upon his swearing-in at the James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse:

    Thank you, Chief Judge Sannes. Thank you to the Judges of the Northern District of New York, to Clerk of the Court John Domurad, and to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Hanlon, who has ably assisted me with the onboarding process.

    I would like to first thank my family for the support and love throughout my life and career, My Wife Cecilia and Children who could not join us today, John Anthony (a Junior at Penn State) and Francesca (a freshman at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina) and Juliet, a sophomore at Croton Harmon High School who is missing school to be here.

    Also present are my Mom Deann, my sister Jennifer Genes, Aunt Jane Fiorito and cousins Bill and Janet Tuttle, Cousin Bruce Fiorito and his wife Lorraine, thank you for your steadfast support.

    To my brothers Michael and Raymond and their families who could not join us today and extended Sarcone, Fiorito and Hickey families and my wife Cecilia’s family, thank you for your love and support.

    Thanks, and a big shout out to my close confidante and friend Ola Hawatmeh.

    My dear friends Father Douglas Crawford and Rabbi Abraham Klein. Thank you for joining me today.

    Thank you, Governor George Pataki, for all your support throughout the years.

    I would like to recognize Senate Leader Rob Ortt, Senator Bill Weber, Assembly Leader Will Barclay, Assemblyman Robert Smullen, my dear friends Chairman Douglas Colety and Chairman Don Minichino, who took time out of their busy schedules to join me today.

    Thank you, Ambassador Elise Stefanik, for your support of my appointment.

    Also joining me are my Dear friend, mentor and former law partner, NYS Appellate Division 2nd Department Justice Mark Dillon and his wife Michelle, my longtime friend and colleague Maury Heller, Al Buonamici, and mentor in everything election law John Ciampoli.

    Thanks to some very special friends who believed in me and fought with me in the political trenches for the past 10 years, Former Congressman John Sweeney, White House Counsel David Warrington, First Deputy White House Counsel Gineen Bresso, Deputy White House Counsel Stuart McCommas.

    And to all friends and colleagues who traveled to Albany today to witness my swearing-in on this most sacred and blessed day, THANK YOU.

    Incidentally, the family bible that I swore my oath on was passed down from my great grandmother Jennie Curtis Hickey to my grandmother Dorothy “Dot” Hickey Fiorito and to my mom Deann Sarcone. I chose today to be sworn in to honor my late grandmother Dot! I was also spiritually moved when my brother Raymond pointed out the date Attorney General Bondi signed the Order appointing me to this most prestigious position, February 28. That day would have been my father’s 87th birthday, whom we lost 35 years ago.

    During the first Trump Administration, I had the privilege and honor of serving as the 14th Regional Administrator for the United States General Services Administration, Northeast Caribbean Region. My jurisdiction included the Northern District of New York and this historic courthouse.

    These federal courthouses mean something – they project the majesty and authority of our government. Everyone knows that important work is going on inside.

    I am honored to be welcomed again into this building, this time as U.S. Attorney, to lead the men and women of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, who are doing the important work of representing the United States in enforcing its laws both civil and criminal.

    Since I was appointed U.S. Attorney two weeks ago, here are just some of the great results this office has achieved:

    • A Nigerian citizen, who has been illegally present in this country for decades and living under stolen identities, pled guilty to bank fraud and money laundering conspiracies that caused $1.7 million in losses;
    • A North Country woman pled guilty to her role in an alien smuggling conspiracy that left a Romanian family of four dead in the St. Lawrence River; and
    • A former music teacher was convicted after trial of transporting students across state lines, and raping and sexually abusing them.

    These cases are each the result of close collaboration between AUSAs and our law enforcement partners. My goal is to continue this great work, and to implement the mandate by President Trump and task of Attorney General Pam Bondi to restore public confidence in our justice system. I am humbled and honored that President Trump and Attorney General Bondi have placed their faith and trust in me to carry forth that mandate as the chief federal law enforcement officer in this district.

    Which leads me to this subject – what makes a good prosecutor? It’s not what college or law school you went to, or whether you have been a career prosecutor, as recent events show. What matters is judgment.

    A good prosecutor has wisdom, common sense, a strong moral and ethical compass, a sense of fairness and empathy, coupled with legal skills and acumen honed over time and from a diversity of representations and matters. As recent events have also shown, there’s just no substitute for common sense. For instance, we recently witnessed the heads of Ivy League institutions equivocate on whether calling for the genocide of Jews by a minority of its students and others violates their own rules.

    I believe the prosecutorial power, and discretion, is best entrusted to those with the full breath of professional and life experiences, from which common sense, wisdom and informed judgment emerge. With these values in mind, I look forward to working together with everyone at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in collaboration with our dedicated Federal, State and Local law enforcement agencies, in pursuit of honest, transparent, non-political enforcement of federal laws and to restore public confidence in our federal government and our Justice Department.

    As United States Attorney leading this office, I will prioritize our resources to keep our northern border secure; to work with federal, state and local authorities to maintain safe communities; root out public corruption; protect our seniors from being victimized by endless scams and consumer fraud; to end lawlessness and willful disregard for Federal laws; keep our kids safe from illegal drugs; and combat human trafficking.

    I pledge to dedicate steadfast resources to root out hate crimes of all kinds and will not tolerate violations of college students’ rights to be free from harassment or threats because of their religious beliefs and I give fair warning to university leaders that our reach will not stop at prosecuting those who choose to violate our laws but also those who knowingly support any violations in any way, shape or form.

    In conclusion, I am honored and humbled to be standing here before you, my family, friends, colleagues, distinguished guests and our amazing Judges of the Northern District of New York. Thank you all for honoring me with your presence.

    MIL Security OSI –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Security: Slingerlands Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Sexual Exploitation of a Child

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Victim Reported Abuse After Attending Elementary School Presentation on Inappropriate Touching

    ALBANY, NEW YORK – Daniel Fuino, age 75, of Slingerlands, New York, was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for the sexual exploitation of a child who was 6 years old during the abuse.  United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

    Last year, Fuino pled guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor and admitted that between the summer of 2022 and April 2023, he babysat a female child born in 2016 and used the child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography.  According to statements previously made in court, the victim reported the abuse in May 2023 after attending an elementary school presentation on inappropriate touching and sexual contact.  During the execution of a federal search warrant at Fuino’s residence in Slingerlands shortly after the child’s report, Fuino admitted having touched the victim’s genitals.  Fuino has been incarcerated in pretrial detention since that time.

    Today, United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino sentenced Fuino to 15 years’ incarceration, followed by 15 years of supervised release.  Judge D’Agostino also ordered Fuino to pay restitution to the victim in the amount of $36,962.25 and imposed special assessments totaling $5,100.  Fuino will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison. 

    The FBI investigated this case, with assistance from the New York State Police and the Colonie Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin S. Clark prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood.

    Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

    MIL Security OSI –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK Strengthens Commitment to Biodiversity and Community Development in the Trifinio Region

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    World news story

    UK Strengthens Commitment to Biodiversity and Community Development in the Trifinio Region

    • English
    • Español de América Latina

    Senior British officials toured Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to witness first-hand the impact of the UK’s Biodiverse Landscapes Fund (BLF).

    British Ambassador to Guatemala and designated to Honduras, Juliana Correa, British Ambassador to El Salvador, Ramin Navai, and the British Deputy Head of Mission to El Salvador, Tanya Robinson, met with local authorities, community representatives, and members of the Trinational Commission of the Trifinio Plan (CTPT) to discuss fire prevention strategies, sustainable land management, and community-led conservation efforts. 

    The officials travelled to Chiquimula (Guatemala). Ocotepeque (Honduras), and Metapán (El Salvador), where they engaged with local communities and project implementers working to safeguard natural ecosystems while fostering sustainable livelihoods. 

    A key milestone of the visit was the inauguration of biofactories in Aldea El Rincón (Guatemala) and El Llano (El Salvador). These facilities will produce biofertilizers with mountain microorganisms, promoting sustainable agriculture practices while reducing reliance on chemical fertilizers. 

    Additionally, fire brigades in Sumpul (Honduras), Metapán (El Salvador), and San Jose la Arada (Guatemala) received firefighting tools and cutting-edge drones for forest monitoring and early fire detection, significantly enhancing regional fire prevention capabilities. 

    The UK’s Biodiverse Landscapes Fund is a global initiative supporting six biodiversity hotspots worldwide. The Trifinio region’s projects are led by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), in close collaboration from national and local governments. 

    This visit reaffirms the UK’s continued partnership with Central American communities, promoting environmental resilience, sustainable development, and regional cooperation addressing pressing ecological challenges while building a more sustainable future.

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    Published 17 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Lankford Leads Package of Bills to Counter China’s Predatory Tactics

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford
    OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) introduced a package of bills to tackle China’s predatory tactics on American farmland, college campuses, and lending practices.
    “China continues to buy up American farm land, steal our patents, and expand their authoritarian world view. America will demonstrate to the world our values and maintain our economic and military strength to assure the globe has the best opportunity for freedom. No one in China should doubt America’s resolve and commitment to liberty,” said Lankford.
    Background:
    This package of bills includes the Belt & Road Oversight Act to establish a Country China Officer at each embassy worldwide tasked with tracking China’s investment, particularly investment in critical infrastructure funded through predatory lending practices.
    The Security and Oversight for International Landholdings (SOIL) Act will provide oversight and transparency of purchases of US agricultural land that threaten national security. Oklahoma has over 7,000 licensed marijuana grows. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) believes that 2,000 of those farms have a Chinese connection. The marijuana market in Oklahoma has ushered in other serious crimes like human trafficking, forced labor, and money laundering. Lankford is joined on the SOIL Act by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jim Risch (R-ID), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). 
    Senator Blackburn also joined the Countering Adversarial and Malicious Partnerships at Universities and Schools (CAMPUS) Act, which prohibits joint research between US universities and universities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with connections to the Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The bill notably prohibits Department of Education funds for K-12 schools partnering with PLA-linked entities, as well as federal contracts and research dollars for universities that partner with PRC military enterprises.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Klobuchar, Colleagues Raise Concerns About How Great Lakes Will Be Impacted by NOAA Firings

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led her colleagues in pressing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for more information about the termination of probationary staff and the potential impact these firings will have on the Great Lakes.

    “We write to express our deep concern over the firing of probationary staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the potential impact these firings will have on the Great Lakes,” wrote the Senators.

    “The Great Lakes are among the United States’ greatest natural treasures, strengthening our economy and attracting millions of visitors each year. The Lakes provide drinking water to over 30 million people, generate clean hydropower, and generate $3.1 trillion in gross domestic product,” the Senators continued. “National and regional NOAA programs help protect these lakes and support our constituents who call the Great Lakes home.”

    The Senators pressed Admiral Hann to detail (1) the number of people fired at NOAA during her tenure as Acting Administrator, (2) the number of people fired at each NOAA program serving the Great Lakes, (3) the services that will be terminated as a result, and (4) her plan to preserve these services.

    In addition to Klobuchar, the letter was also signed by Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Gary Peters (D-MI).

    The full text of the letter is available here and below.

    Dear Vice Admiral Nancy Hann:

    We write to express our deep concern over the firing of probationary staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the potential impact these firings will have on the Great Lakes. We request information on these firings—including at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) and any other NOAA installations and programs that serve the Great Lakes area—as well as a concrete plan for re-establishing terminated public services.

    The Great Lakes are among the United States’ greatest natural treasures, strengthening our economy and attracting millions of visitors each year. The Lakes provide drinking water to over 30 million people, generate clean hydropower, and generate $3.1 trillion in gross domestic product.

    National and regional NOAA programs help protect these lakes and support our constituents who call the Great Lakes home. The National Weather Service provides our weather and climate forecasts and warnings. The National Sea Grant Program helps conserve our aquatic resources. The Marine Debris Program prevents microplastics and litter from entering the Great Lakes, protecting our wildlife, natural resources, fishing and boating economy, and nearby residents’ health. The Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research invests in our clean drinking water. And the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) provides critical information for resource use and management decisions, including information on algal blooms and hypoxia, invasive species, ice cover and shipping navigability, and storm surges and coastal flooding.

    We are deeply concerned that the layoffs at NOAA will harm these critical initiatives. The staffing reductions have already required the GLERL, for example, to take an “indefinite hiatus” from its public communications, depriving the public of critical information such as what to do during a flood warning and how to stay safe in the extreme cold. When these communications go dark, the public suffers.

    Therefore, we request the following information by March 28, 2025:

    1. The number of people fired at NOAA during your tenure as Acting Administrator.
    1. The number of people fired at each NOAA program that serves the Great Lakes: 
      1. National Weather Service
      2. National Estuarine Research Reserve System
      3. NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries
      4. National Sea Grant Program
      5. NOAA Marine Debris Program
      6. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS)
      7. Great Lakes Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET)
      8. Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
      9. Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN)
      10. Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR)
      11. Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS)
      12. Midwestern Regional Climate Center (MRCC)
    1. The services that will be terminated as a result of the firings at each of the above programs.
    1. Your plan to maintain or restore these services.

    Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: The Department Of Education Has Failed — Trump Is Delivering Much Needed Reform

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator MarkWayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma)

    ICYMI: The Department Of Education Has Failed — Trump Is Delivering Much Needed Reform

    Washington, D.C. – ICYMI, The Daily Wire published U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin’s (R-OK) op-ed detailing how the Department of Education has failed America’s children and why he believes President Trump is taking the right approach to improve student outcomes. The Senator notes that our country has one of the highest education expenditures on the planet while national test scores have only fallen since the Department’s inception. “By dismantling the Department of Education, we will return power to where it belongs: states, parents, and teachers,” said Sen. Mullin.

    Read the full story from The Daily Wire HERE and below:

    The Department Of Education Has Failed — Trump Is Delivering Much Needed Reform

    By Senator Markwayne Mullin | March 13, 2025

    For more than four decades, the federal government has controlled American education, and the results speak for themselves: declining test scores, skyrocketing costs, and millions of students left behind. Since its creation in 1979, the Department of Education has burned through more than $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars. What do we have to show for it?

    The latest data from the Nation’s Report Card paints a bleak picture. Mathematics and reading scores for 13-year-olds are at their lowest in decades. Barely a third of elementary school students can read at grade level. Low-performing students are faring even worse. And despite the government throwing more money at the problem — per-pupil spending has surged by more than 245% since the 1970s — outcomes have only gotten worse.

    Meanwhile, the cost of college has exploded by 155% since the Department of Education’s founding. Students are graduating with crushing debt, only to land jobs that don’t even require degrees. We have seen funding fall by 50% for career and technical education while Democrats continue to spend money on woke nonsense. Funding for Indian education has also declined by 27% alongside impact aid for schools serving military families which has dropped by 41%. Instead of fixing these problems, the Biden administration made things worse. Our kids deserve better.

    Under Biden, the Department of Education wasted $1 billion on grants pushing radical ideologies and rewrote Title IX to let men compete in women’s sports. Bureaucrats in Washington are drowning schools in regulations, adding $3.9 billion in costs. Even a simple task like simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) proved too much for Biden’s team.

    Enough is enough.

    President Trump is delivering the reform America needs. His administration has already canceled $226 million in woke grants which forced divisive agendas like race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology onto states. But that’s just the beginning. By dismantling the Department of Education, we will return power to where it belongs: states, parents, and teachers.

    The Constitution never envisioned a federal role in education — it’s a responsibility reserved for the states. Yet for decades, the Department of Education has smothered schools with regulations, diverted resources to ideological crusades, and undermined teachers, parents, and students. Thanks to President Trump, taxpayers will no longer foot the bill for progressive experiments and obsolete programs.

    This isn’t just about cutting costs — it’s about unleashing potential. Imagine empowering states to achieve educational excellence: going back to basics like math and reading — not divisive ideologies — and adopting patriotic civics lessons that inspire pride in our nation’s history. Governors will be measured by student success, not by how well they comply with Washington’s bureaucratic demands. Education will be brought closer to the students and our system will be transformed.

    The benefits will ripple outward. Teachers, freed from layers of red tape, will be able to do what they do best — teach. Parents will finally have a real say in their children’s education. And America’s schools will no longer be controlled by faceless bureaucrats or teachers’ unions pushing political agendas. The woke stranglehold on public education will be broken.

    Critics will cry that eliminating the Department of Education will hurt students. But the truth is, Washington has failed them for generations. It’s time to try something new. President Trump’s vision trusts states and parents to deliver what Washington never could: an education system that works.

    With President Trump’s leadership, we’re not just reforming education — we’re reclaiming it. The future of our children, and our nation, depends on it.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 18, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: Rwanda has moved people into model ‘green’ villages: is life better there?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Allyn Dale, Director of the MA in Climate and Society program at the Columbia Climate School, Columbia University

    After the devastating 1994 genocide, Rwandans returning from the violence established homes and began farming where they could find land.

    Since then, the Rwandan government has aimed to bring people scattered across rural parts of the country into grouped settlements which they have called “model villages”. These are intended to provide extra support for highly vulnerable residents, such as the homeless and those who are living in “high risk zones” – areas prone to floods, drought and mudslides, and which are likely to be affected by climate change in the future.

    Rwanda has a population of 14.5 million. An estimated 62,000 rural families have been resettled into 14,815 villages, of which 253 are considered “model villages”. Some of them are considered “green”, because they use solar power and biofuels as energy sources. Rainwater harvesting, tree planting, and terraced vegetable plots are other features of the green, environmentally friendly model villages.

    We conducted a study to understand the impact of relocating rural communities from high risk zones where they face threats from a changing climate, such as erratic rainfall, drought, floods and landslides. We looked at two lake island communities who were experiencing floods. They also suffered a lack of health and education services and security problems from being too close to an unguarded border.

    We used the Rweru Model Green Village as a case study. Based on our interviews with families who were moved there, we found that relocating people can be double-edged. On the positive side, resettlement increased access to modern facilities and social services. On the downside, people found it hard to earn a living. They lacked access to natural and financial capital and had to adapt to a different climate.

    The resettlement programme overall is now understood to be part of the government of Rwanda’s approach to climate change adaptation. However, our findings suggest that this should be done with care, considering factors like community expectations and government development plans.

    Why people were moved

    The Rweru Model Green Village was set up in 2016 to house residents from two nearby islands on Lake Rweru, Sharita and Mazane. Located along the southern border with Burundi, these islands were home to generations of Rwandans. But they lived in relative isolation without access to services like education, healthcare or markets.

    We interviewed and surveyed people from 64 households in the Rweru village. At the time of our research, 1,777 people had been moved in, all from Sharita and Mazane islands.



    Read more:
    Rising risks of climate disasters mean some communities will need to move – we need a national conversation about relocation now

    Participants said fishing had been a way of life on the islands, providing them with a consistent source of protein. Beans, potatoes, cassava and sorghum grew successfully. Even relatively impoverished households said they had enough food to live on: 55% said the productivity of the land was high.

    However, 84% of respondents also described an isolated life without services. As one put it:

    we were cut off from the rest of the world.

    Many mentioned the lack of drinking water, roads and electricity as a major drawback to living on the islands. While primary school was available, older children could only get to a secondary school by a two hour boat ride. Some dropped out of school.

    Healthcare was absent, and respondents described harrowing journeys to find medical attention. As one woman said:

    When we were still there in Sharita, a woman could want to deliver a baby but getting a boat it takes a long time, a woman can even lose her life waiting.

    The boat rides were dangerous because of hippos in the lake, malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and the risk of drowning.

    Others said that people from Burundi could access the islands easily and sometimes assaulted or killed the island residents. About 76% of the people we interviewed described their lives before relocation as dangerous. Residents had been asking to be resettled for some time because of these problems.

    One of the driving forces for organising rural life into model villages is to enhance the capacity of residents to adapt to changes, including climate impacts such as the increased risks of flooding, drought or landslides. In that way, the model green village programme is also understood to have climate change adaptation elements.

    The pros and cons after resettlement

    After resettlement, most respondents described improvements in their overall quality of life. They were less exposed to floods, which they’d experienced on the islands. They had improved access to healthcare, social services and quality housing.

    Many (66%) described the housing they received as the most important advantage of their new lives:

    Above all, the nicest thing I was given was the house.

    They also described clean water (26%), markets (50%), healthcare (55%), schools (50%) and electricity (24%) as benefits of living in the new model village. It was the first time they’d been able to manage livestock, having only had chickens on the islands. Their children were benefiting from having milk.



    Read more:
    Climate change will force up to 113m people to relocate within Africa by 2050

    Some residents appreciated having a mattress for the first time; 50% indicated furniture and kitchen equipment as advantages. About 34% of respondents were pleased that they no longer needed to travel by boat.

    They also felt safer. But despite these positive outcomes, they said they were poorer and had less food. Unlike the islands, the micro-climate inland was very hot, with little rain and increasing drought.

    Most people we interviewed (55%) said their new, smaller plots of land were “infertile”, “unproductive” or “barren”. They couldn’t fish or grow enough fruit or vegetables. One person said many of the elderly people who were moved only ate one meal a day in the village “and others are starving completely”.

    Increased hunger caused children to miss school:

    Sometimes I cannot put food on the table, my son sleeps with an empty stomach and he cannot go to school the next day.

    The future of model green villages

    The Rwandan government plans to continue setting up model villages, and wants these to be sustainable for many years.

    More research is needed to determine whether living in a model village provides young people with a better quality of life. The government will also need to address the economic challenges, food insecurity and welfare needs of residents in the new villages.

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

    – ref. Rwanda has moved people into model ‘green’ villages: is life better there? – https://theconversation.com/rwanda-has-moved-people-into-model-green-villages-is-life-better-there-250975

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    March 18, 2025
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