NewzIntel.com

Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Biographical note

    Source: Government of Canada News

    Michael Callan becomes High Commissioner in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Callan replaces Arif Keshani.

    Michael Callan (BA Hons [Political Studies], Queen’s University, 2000; MSc Econ [International Security], University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 2002). Prior to joining Global Affairs Canada, Michael Callan served in the Canadian Armed Forces and worked with the Aga Khan Foundation in Bangladesh and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Moscow. Upon joining the Canadian International Development Agency in 2004, Mr. Callan took on assignments with the Humanitarian Assistance Division and the Afghanistan Task Force. Abroad, Mr. Callan was the Government of Canada’s first civilian deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he served as director, development, for Canada’s Provincial Reconstruction Team (2005 to 2006). His subsequent deployments included assignments as head of aid in Khartoum (2008 to 2010) and director, development, for the Middle East and North Africa in Cairo and Amman (2012 to 2016). He was then seconded to the Privy Council Office (2016 to 2017) before taking up a fellowship with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University (2018). Mr. Callan served as director of conflict prevention, stabilization and peacebuilding (2019 to 2021) prior to his most recent assignment as ambassador to Algeria (2021 to 2024).

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Ghost forests: Learn more as Halloween sneaks up!

    Source: US Geological Survey

    These eerie forests, filled with standing dead trees, tell a story on the effects of sea level rise and extreme flooding. And scientists with the USGS are investigating!

    When coastal forests are inundated with salt water or frequently flooded, trees can be stressed to levels they can’t withstand. If trees don’t survive, coastal forests can transform into different types of settings such as marshes or open water, creating ghost forests and leaving behind remnants of the ecosystems that once were.

    What the USGS knows…

    Coastal ghost forests typically occur in low-lying areas, and USGS scientists are studying how and where these shifts are happening across the nation. The USGS and partners are also working to forecast what areas might be impacted in the future, considering various sea level rise scenarios. 

    Changes can lead to potentially positive or negative impacts. Healthy coastal forests provide numerous benefits such as supporting wildlife habitat, filtering pollutants and offering flood protection along coastlines, while marshes also provide species habitat, improve water quality and absorb floodwaters, among many other purposes.

    A ghost forest stands in Goose Creek State Park in North Carolina. This is an example of a freshwater forested wetland that is transitioning to open water. Photograph by Melinda Martinez, USGS.

    USGS science can be used by decisionmakers such as land and wildlife managers as they consider the costs and benefits of conservation and restoration.

    An example: The Chesapeake Bay

    The eastern U.S. is a particular concern, as these transitions are taking place up and down the Atlantic coast. The USGS has projects in several areas, including, for example, ongoing research in the Delmarva Peninsula within the Chesapeake Bay. This region consists of several low sloped landscapes, which allows for rapid change to occur.

    Drilling into the trees

    Here’s where it gets even more interesting! The USGS and partners recently drilled into trees to see what’s inside. Why? To understand the role of ghost forests in greenhouse gas fluxes.

    Trees are known to naturally absorb and release gases, but there’s limited research on whether and how that process changes when coastal forests die. A recent study finds that standing dead trees in ghost forests have tiny organisms that actually convert methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to carbon dioxide, which is less potent.

    This insight is another piece of the puzzle as officials consider the trade-offs for how to manage these landscapes.

    The USGS is a coauthor on that study, which was led by Hollins University. 

    Share the tale

    Don’t forget to share what you learned with friends! Do they know ghost forests are real?

    Ghost forest on the Delmarva Penninsula. Photograph by Kyle Derby, USGS.
    A ghost forest stands in Goose Creek State Park in North Carolina. This is an example of a freshwater forested wetland that is transitioning to open water. Photograph by Melinda Martinez, USGS.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Time to freak out? How the existential terror of hurricanes can fuel climate change denial

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jamie Goldenberg, Professor of Psychology and Area Director, Cognitive, Neuroscience and Social Psychology, University of South Florida

    Hurricane Milton flooded parts of the Tampa Bay region just days after Hurricane Helene made landfall nearby. Bryan R. Smithy/AFP via Getty Images

    As TVs across Florida broadcast the all-too-familiar images of a powerful hurricane headed for the coast in early October 2024, people whose homes had been damaged less than two weeks earlier by Hurricane Helene watched anxiously. Hurricane Milton was rapidly intensifying into a dangerous storm, fueled by the Gulf of Mexico’s record-breaking temperatures.

    Many residents scrambled to evacuate, clogging roads away from the region. Officials urged those near the coast who ignored evacuation warnings to scrawl their names on their arms with indelible ink so their corpses could be identified.

    The two hurricanes were among the most destructive in recent memory. They are also stark reminders of the increasingly extreme weather events that scientists have long warned would be the consequence of human-driven climate change.

    Still, many people deny that climate change is a worsening threat, or that it exists at all. As its impacts grow more visible and destructive, how is this possible?

    Views of Hurricane Milton’s damage across Florida.

    One answer lies in a unique facet of human psychology – specifically, in how people manage the fear aroused by existential threats. For many people, denying the existence of a climate crisis is not only convenient, but may feel psychologically necessary.

    Terror management theory

    The Pulitzer Prize-winning anthropologist Ernest Becker put it this way: “The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else … to overcome it by denying it in some way is the final destiny for man.”

    In plain terms, he was saying that most people struggle to accept their mortality and take pains to distort their perception of reality to avoid confronting it.

    In the 1980s, social psychologists developed “terror management theory,” showing the lengths people go to deny death. Hundreds of experiments have tested its implications. In a common method, participants reflect on their own death, while control groups consider less threatening topics, like dental pain. The key question: What does death awareness do to people?

    After writing about death, people tend to quickly move on, pushing thoughts of it from consciousness with distractions, rationalizations and other tactics. Health care professionals see this every day. For example, people often dodge screenings and diagnostic tests to avoid the frightening possibility of discovering cancer.

    Skidmore College psychologist Sheldon Solomon discusses Ernest Becker’s ‘The Denial of Death’ and terror management theory in the context of humanity’s history of brutal behavior.

    But here’s the rub: Terror management theory suggests that when people are not thinking about death, it nevertheless holds influence. The unconscious mind lingers on the problem even after people have used strategies to quiet the fear by pushing it from awareness.

    Social psychology experiments show that people often cope with the specter of death by attaching themselves to cultural ideologies, such as religious, political or even sports fandom. These worldviews imbue life with meaning, values and purpose. And that can ease the terror of mortality by connecting people to an enduring and comforting web of ideas and beliefs that transcend one’s own existence.

    When people are made aware of death, those systems of meaning become even more critical to their psychological functioning. Existential threats make us cling even tighter to the meaning systems that sustain us.

    Climate denial as a defense mechanism

    Much like a terror management lab experiment – or the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic – natural disasters like hurricanes Helene and Milton trigger death anxiety.

    Rising sea levels, warming oceans and intensifying storms – all tied to global warming fueled by human actions – represent an existential threat.

    From our perspective, it is not surprising that climate-related disasters disappear from the public consciousness almost as soon as they have passed. Google Trends data exemplifies this: Incoming storms instigated an uptick in searches for “climate change” and “global warming” in the days before Hurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 25, 2024, and Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9, 2024. Then those searches quickly declined as people shifted their focus away from the threat.

    Unfortunately, climate change isn’t going away, no matter how hard anyone tries to deny it.

    While climate denial allows people to protect themselves from feelings of distress, terror management theory suggests that denying death is just the tip of the iceberg. For some people, accepting the reality of climate change would necessitate reevaluating their ideologies.

    Terror management theory predicts that individuals whose ideologies conflict with environmental concerns may ironically double down on those beliefs to psychologically manage the existential threat posed by climate-related disasters. It’s similar to how mortality reminders can lead people to engage in risky behavior, such as smoking or tanning. Hurricanes may reinforce denial and commitment to a worldview that rejects climate change.

    A path forward: Building new worldviews

    Although denial may be a natural psychological response to existential threats, the U.S. may be getting to a point where even deniers can’t ignore the existential threat associated with climate change.

    Again and again, Americans are gobsmacked by the devastation – from hurricanes to severe flooding, wildfires and more.

    A terror management analysis suggests that overcoming this crisis requires weaving a solutions-focused narrative into the ideologies that people rely on for comfort. As psychologists who work on terror management, we believe the fight against climate change should be framed not as an apocalyptic battle that humanity is destined to lose, but as a moral and practical challenge that humanity can collectively overcome.

    Tampa, Florida, meteorologist Denis Phillips had the right idea as the two hurricanes headed for his community: His fact-based social media updates eschew partisan critique, encourage neighbors to support one another and emphasize preparedness and resilience in the face of incoming storms.

    As Milton approached, Phillips told residents to remember his Rule #7: Don’t freak out. That doesn’t mean do nothing – it means evaluate risks without letting emotion interfere, and take action.

    Shifting the narrative from helplessness to collective empowerment and action can help people confront climate change without triggering the existential anxieties that lead to denial – offering a vision for a future that is both secure and personally meaningful.

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

    – ref. Time to freak out? How the existential terror of hurricanes can fuel climate change denial – https://theconversation.com/time-to-freak-out-how-the-existential-terror-of-hurricanes-can-fuel-climate-change-denial-242390

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: Assistant Secretary of the Navy Emphasizes National Call to Maritime Service and Education During Visit to California

    Source: United States Navy

    Each institution is essential to promoting the National Call to Maritime Service by building the Department of the Navy’s civilian maritime workforce and enhancing the Navy’s warfighting capability by equipping service members through education opportunities.

    “Our Navy is committed to building a diverse warfighting team of not only Sailors and Marines, but also talented civilians to bolster warfighting capabilities across the Department of the Navy that operates around the globe,” said Parker. “This begins by seeking motivated students who take interest in maritime service, in or out of uniform.”

    Mr. Parker began the trip by visiting Cal State Maritime Academy and highlighting the opportunity for maritime service at a pivotal point in their education. The school offers a unique pathway to maritime service and underscores the importance of U.S. Maritime Heritage, Military Sealift Command and Military to Mariner transition.

    The visit comes at a fundamental time as the Department of the Navy seeks to encourage civilian commitment to the maritime service. The Navy aims to educate Americans on the careers available to them across a broad range of industries and government agencies that directly support the United States global standing as a maritime nation.

    Mr. Parker also visited the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) highlighting the school’s recent successes and progress implementing the Secretary of the Navy’s Naval Education Strategy, such as the efforts modernizing education programs, and enhancing partnerships. One example of the Department taking action to implement the Secretary of the Navy’s guidance is the Department’s Naval Innovation Center at NPS, which is a collaborative academic facility, applied research, and innovation capability that will bring industry, academia, and the Department together to develop technological talent throughout the total Naval Force and accelerate the creation of relevant defense solutions at speed and scale. The Naval Innovation Center at NPS will provide a venue for NPS

    students and faculty to further hone innovative research and an intellectual edge that will permeate the fleet.

    The trip culminated with a visit to the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University. In a partnership with the Office of Naval Research, the center features a network of national security professionals, all dedicated to mentoring and nurturing the future generation of leaders.

    Education is a critical warfighter enabler and the Department of the Navy is committed to providing a range of learning opportunities for service members and the Department’s civilian workforce across the fleet.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Hydropower engineers discussed new developments and technologies at the Polytechnic

    Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    On October 30, the Polytechnic University opened the 16th RusHydro scientific and technical conference “Hydropower. Hydraulic engineering. New developments and technologies.” Over 600 experts from 200 Russian and foreign organizations will discuss the most important problems of the industry over three days. The event was organized by PJSC RusHydro, JSC VNIIG im. B. E. Vedeneyev, and SPbPU.

    The conference “Hydropower. Hydraulic engineering. New developments and technologies” is the largest industry event in our country for specialists in the field of hydropower and hydraulic engineering.

    The event is attended by specialists from RusHydro hydroelectric power plants and other hydroelectric power plants in the country, representatives of hydraulic engineering construction industries, as well as employees of Russian universities, research institutes in the construction field, marine and port facilities, and transport infrastructure. Experts from other countries also speak at the conference.

    At the opening of the conference, the greeting from the Chairman of the Board – General Director of PJSC RusHydro Viktor Khmarin was read by his First Deputy – Chief Engineer of RusHydro Sergey Kondratyev.

    Hydrotechnics and hydropower engineering respond to the challenges of the time and develop in accordance with the course taken on technological registers. In the conditions of growing demand for electric energy, we are faced with even more ambitious tasks today. The construction of modern power plants requires new solutions. This gives scientists and engineers an incentive for development and creates a wide field for research activities, the application of innovations. I am confident that a constructive exchange of opinions will allow us to develop practical recommendations and proposals that will contribute to the successful development of the country and the industry as a whole, said Sergey Kondratyev.

    The first projector of SPbPU, Vitaly Sergeev, gave a welcoming speech.

    This conference always arouses great interest. And it has already become a good tradition that such a large-scale event is regularly held at our university. The Polytechnic University has always been famous for its great scientists in the field of hydropower and hydraulic engineering. The Civil Engineering Institute is now the legal successor of the hydrotechnical faculty and maintains its reputation, interacting with RusHydro and other organizations. I hope that the energy that is at the Polytechnic, the aura of new knowledge, innovative developments and youthful spirit will contribute to your work, – noted Vitaly Sergeev.

    The conference started with a plenary session, where experts discussed issues of design, construction and operation of hydroelectric power plants and hydraulic structures for various purposes. Top managers of PJSC RusHydro made reports. The winners of the competition for the best research work in the field of hydropower were also awarded at the session.

    The work continued with scientific sections and round tables, where scientists and engineers discuss the most pressing issues of industry development, exchange experiences and build professional contacts. The conference’s thematic areas include: equipment for hydroelectric power plants and hydraulic structures, scientific and practical issues of hydraulics and hydrology, concrete and reinforced concrete structures of hydraulic structures, environmental issues in energy and hydraulic engineering, new materials and technologies in construction, ensuring the safety of hydraulic structures, small hydropower, hydraulic engineering construction in the Arctic, personnel training, etc.

    Representatives of SPbPU actively participate in the conference. The co-chairman of the section “Scientific and Practical Issues of Hydraulics and Hydrology” was Professor of the Higher School of Hydraulic Engineering and Power Engineering Alexander Bolshev. Director of the Higher School of Hydraulic Engineering and Power Engineering Galina Kozinets, Associate Professors Vita Belousov and Irina Frolova presented the report “Analysis of the Environmental Monitoring System of the GTS Safety”. Also Galina Kozinets, Leading Engineer of the Higher School of Hydraulic Engineering and Power Engineering Viktor Chechevichkin, Engineers Leonid Yakunin and Alexey Chechevichkin spoke about the possibilities of using nature-like technology for cleaning surface wastewater at hydropower facilities. Professors of the Higher School of Hydraulic Engineering and Power Engineering Viktor Elistratov, Vladimir Maslikov and Mikhail Shilin presented the results of a study related to the impact of the Kolyma Hydroelectric Power Plant on the ichthyofauna of the reservoir. Associate Professor of the Higher School of Hydraulic Engineering and Power Engineering Armen Girgidov presented the report “Improvement of End Devices of Bottom Spillways”. Associate professors of the Higher School of Hydroelectric Power Engineering Andrey Chusov and Svetlana presented a forecast of the water quality of the Svetlinskaya hydroelectric power station reservoir based on forest clearing options.

    An important part of the conference will be the youth day, which will take place on November 1. Participants will share their work experience, discuss current tasks and future challenges.

    Following the three-day work, collections will be published, including plenary reports, section reports, and the final decision of the conference.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Secretary-General’s message to the 2024 Global Education Meeting

    Source: United Nations secretary general

    As you gather for the 2024 Global Education Meeting, you confront a critical global challenge.

    Education is the key to unlocking opportunities, equality, prosperity and peace.

    But for millions of people around the world, that door remains shut tight.

    Seventy per cent of 10-year-olds are unable to understand a basic text, while 250 million children and young people are out of school altogether. This is worsened by a huge financing gap of $97 billion annually for education in low and middle income countries.  

    We don’t have a moment to lose. At the Transforming Education Summit in 2022, governments committed to ending the learning crisis, and boosting investment in quality education systems that can reach every learner, throughout their lives.

    Your meeting is an opportunity to measure how governments are — and are not — living up to this commitment.

    In particular, I welcome your focus on closing the financing gap for education through more effective resource mobilization and innovative financing initiatives. I call on governments to arrive at next year’s Conference on Financing for Development and the World Social Summit with concrete solutions that can deliver the education systems all people need and deserve. 

    Through the recently adopted Pact for the Future, governments committed to investing in accessible, safe, inclusive and equitable quality education for all.

    The United Nations is proud to stand with you in this essential global effort.

    ***
     

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Nationalism is not patriotism: 3 insights from Orwell about Trump and the 2024 election

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mark Satta, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Law, Wayne State University

    Donald Trump hugs an American flag as he arrives at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 24, 2024, in Baltimore. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    Shortly after Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States in January 2017, George Orwell’s 1949 novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” shot to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list. Apparently, lots of people thought Orwell had something relevant to say in that political moment.

    Nearly eight years later, the United States once again faces the prospect of a Trump presidency.

    In 2016, many Americans were caught off guard by Trump’s win, leading them to grapple with the potential consequences of a Trump presidency only after he was elected. But this time, more people seem to be thinking about the ramifications of such an outcome in advance.

    In my work as a professor of philosophy and law, I’ve spent a lot of time studying Orwell’s writing. I think people were correct eight years ago to conclude that Orwell could provide insight into a Trump presidency.

    Here are three such insights that I think are useful for Americans to keep in mind as they prepare to vote for their next president.

    Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they try to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
    Brent Stirton/Getty Images

    Nationalism is not patriotism

    In his 1945 essay “Notes on Nationalism,” Orwell distinguishes between the terms nationalism and patriotism.

    For Orwell, nationalism was “the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.”

    He was quick to point out that this was distinct from the concept of patriotism, which he defined as “devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people.”

    To understand Orwell’s conception of patriotism, I find it useful to consider an analogy. Many parents think that their kids are the best kids in the world. This doesn’t mean that they think there are objective metrics that could be used to rank children. Most parents recognize that there is no such thing, and they don’t go around saying other children aren’t as good as theirs. Yet there is still a real sense in which they see their own kids as the very best.

    There is something similar in the attitude of Orwell’s patriot. They may think that their country or their way of life is the best, but – and this may be the most important part – they have no wish to force their views or way of life on others.

    Not so with the nationalist. Orwell claims, “Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.” The nationalist is like a parent who goes around tearing other people’s kids down in order to lift theirs up.

    Mere love of country is not inherently dangerous. Making advancement of one’s nation or culture one’s top priority is extremely dangerous. Patriotism sticks to the former. Nationalism goes in for the latter.

    Orwell insightfully recognizes that when the nationalist makes advancement of their way of life their top priority, they inevitably end up placing that goal “beyond good and evil.” This makes the nationalist susceptible to endorsing unethical means for advancing their own way of life.

    A prime example of such a nationalist mentality was Trump’s response to losing the 2020 presidential election. He sought to subvert the election results by lying and by encouraging insurrection.

    Similarly, Trump’s supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were embracing a nationalist mentality. They engaged in an unethical means of trying to advance their own political agenda.

    Donald Trump does exactly what Orwell predicts the nationalist will do. He conceptualizes everything, as Orwell put it, “in terms of competitive prestige” and “his thoughts always turn on victories, defeats, triumphs and humiliations.”

    Fixation on competitive prestige is not patriotic. It’s unadulterated nationalism.

    An autocrat is easy to underestimate

    In a 1942 essay written during the middle of World War II and reflecting on his experiences as a volunteer soldier in the Spanish Civil War, Orwell wrote that “our traditions and our past security have given us a sentimental belief that it all comes right in the end and the thing you most fear never really happens,” and that “we believe half-instinctively that evil always defeats itself in the long run.”

    Orwell was worried by these optimistic instincts because he thought they ran counter to the evidence. The evidence, on the contrary, suggested that things typically don’t turn out right on their own. Rather, social improvements normally require concerted effort and vigilance against backsliding.

    In another essay from the same year, Orwell criticized various intellectuals who treated Hitler as “a figure out of comic opera, not worth taking seriously.” And he criticized many English-speaking countries for being places where it was “fashionable to believe, right up to the outbreak of war, that Hitler was an unimportant lunatic and the German tanks made of cardboard.”

    As numerous commentators and news outlets have noted, Trump routinely speaks like an autocrat.

    Yet many Americans excuse such talk, failing to treat it as the evidence of a threat to democracy that it is. This seems to me to be driven in part by the tendency Orwell identified to think that truly bad things won’t happen – at least not in one’s own country.

    Orwell thought it was worth taking the possibility of bad outcomes seriously. This is one way to understand what he was up to in his most famous books, “Animal Farm” and “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Americans would benefit from taking potential threats to U.S. democracy seriously, too.

    George Orwell, whose writings from the middle of the 20th century have relevance in 2024.
    Ullstein Bild/Getty Images

    Nationalism can attack within

    You can read “Nineteen Eighty-Four” as Orwell’s attempt to think about what a ruling political party completely captured by nationalism might look like.

    In “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” orthodox party members in the fictional nation of Oceania are obsessed with “competitive prestige” and “the desire for power.” Activities such as the Two Minutes Hate, where party members were encouraged to scream and jeer at a video of a political opponent, prompt party members to focus their thoughts on “victories, defeats, triumphs and humiliations.”

    A notable feature of the party is how often it turns on its own members through kidnapping, torture and murder. The occurrence was so frequent in Oceania that it had a name: being “vaporized.” Nationalists are a threat not only to those outside the nation but also to those inside the nation who don’t fully support the nationalist’s pursuit of power at any cost.

    From this perspective, Trump’s threats against those whom he views as “the enemy from within” reveal his own nationalistic desire to turn on Americans who threaten his pursuit of power.

    Orwell’s writing suggests that voters should take such threats seriously.

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

    – ref. Nationalism is not patriotism: 3 insights from Orwell about Trump and the 2024 election – https://theconversation.com/nationalism-is-not-patriotism-3-insights-from-orwell-about-trump-and-the-2024-election-241883

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: People with blindness and low vision are squeezed by high costs of living − new research

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Zachary Morris, Associate Professor of Social Welfare, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)

    A young blind man prepares to board a Denver RTD light rail train in 2019. Robert Alexander/GettyImages

    Colin Wong, a blind Ph.D. student, can’t forget having to pay US$100 for an Uber when he needed to take a standardized test. There was no testing center in San Francisco, where he lived, that could accommodate his disability.

    That kind of expensive hassle isn’t unusual. It costs nearly $7,000 more per year to live in the U.S. with his disability, according to research I, a social work scholar, conducted with four experts at the American Foundation for the Blind – a nonprofit dedicated to promoting equality and inclusion for people with blindness or low vision.

    For our research, we looked at survey data from a representative sample of Americans, focusing on how people with visual impairments answered. We considered anyone who said they live with a vision disability – or said that they have a lot of trouble seeing or can’t see at all, even with glasses – as a person with low vision or blindness.

    We calculated that people with blindness or low vision spend, on average, 27% of their household income on expenses related to their disability – about $7,000 per year.

    Low-income Americans with disabilities are shouldering an even bigger burden. The people who took this survey and were earning less than $25,000 per year said they spent about 40% of their income on costs related to their disability, on average, compared with 16% for those with higher incomes.

    That leaves them with less money for other essentials such as food and housing. About 1 in 4 of the people we surveyed said they spent less on food to cover their expenses associated with their disability.

    And about 2 in 3 of the people we surveyed said they frequently go without goods and services they need, including medical care, assistive technologies and transportation to get to school or go to work.

    Why it matters

    Cost-of-living issues rank at the top of all Americans’ concerns, according to a recent Gallup survey. And people with disabilities, including those with physical or mental health conditions, tend to have more trouble making ends meet than the average person.

    That includes the roughly 7 million Americans with blindness or vision loss who are among the more than 1 in 4 people in this country with a disability.

    One reason for the higher costs of living is that people with disabilities tend to incur many other extra expenses, such as spending more on transportation, prepared foods and grocery delivery services. Others struggle to afford the prescription and over-the-counter drugs and supplements they need.

    Politicians and policymakers appear to be paying more attention to this problem, which my research team calls the “disability squeeze.” Vice President Kamala Harris, for example, announced in October 2024 a proposal to expand Medicare to cover the long-term care needs for older adults and people with disabilities.

    Denise Chamberlin and her guide dog, Ridley, emerge from a Toronto subway station.
    AP Photo/Business Wire

    What still isn’t known

    Our survey included 288 people with blindness or low vision. Studies with larger numbers of participants could greatly expand upon what’s known about this problem and what can be done about it.

    Expanding accessible public transit, making assistive technologies more affordable and increasing disability benefits might be enough for some people with disabilities to have an opportunity to thrive, but not for others.

    Future research could shed a brighter light on the cracks in the U.S. health and social welfare systems. For example, researchers could look into why people with health insurance from Medicaid or Medicare told us they had more unmet needs rather than fewer than those with coverage through private insurers. Other studies could examine how the disability squeeze affects the health and employment of people with disabilities over the long term.

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

    Zachary Morris’ research presented here is funded from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents of this survey do not necessarily represent the policy of the federal government or any government agency.

    – ref. People with blindness and low vision are squeezed by high costs of living − new research – https://theconversation.com/people-with-blindness-and-low-vision-are-squeezed-by-high-costs-of-living-new-research-241752

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Religion in the workplace is tricky – but employers and employees both lose when it becomes a total taboo

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Christopher P. Scheitle, Associate Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University

    Many offices make a point to celebrate diversity, but what does that look like when it comes to faith? FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images

    Since we spend so much of our lives at our jobs, it’s only natural that conversations with colleagues go beyond the work in front of us. People share interests and hobbies, family struggles, health concerns, and hopes or goals, from the silly to the serious.

    The topic of religion, however, can provoke anxiety. Many people might second what the Muslim CEO of a technology company told us: “If you want to express faith, do it! Just do it on your own time.” Uncertainty surrounding religion’s role in the workplace tends to lead to silence. Even among researchers who study workplaces, religion is often ignored.

    Yet for many people, faith is a core component of their identity – part of the “whole self” that employees are increasingly encouraged to bring to work. It’s an important piece of diversity but one that managers often tiptoe around. And for many Americans, faith is part of why they show up at their job each day: 1 in 5 consider their work a spiritual calling.

    We are social scientists who spent the past five years conducting research on the role of faith at work. Our findings – from more than 15,000 surveys with a nationally representative population, and nearly 300 in-depth interviews with some of those workers – confirm that there are many challenges when religion comes into the workplace. However, the costs of ignoring or suppressing workers’ faith often exceed those risks and challenges.

    Conflict and discrimination

    The most common concern we heard about bringing up religion in the workplace is that it will lead to conflict – including conflict from people trying to change each other’s beliefs. A Catholic woman who works in eldercare told us, “I think we shouldn’t talk about religion at work because that’s when the problems arise. I’m going to defend what I think, and they will defend what they think, their way of being, their religion.”

    Several other people we interviewed also expressed concerns that some forms of religious expression could make people uncomfortable, or even turn into harassment. A nonreligious security guard noted that during Christmas and Easter some of his Christian co-workers will say, “‘God bless,’ ‘Let’s pray,’ and stuff like that. It becomes very uneasy for me, uncomfortable.”

    Asking workers to bottle up their faith when they start the workday may seem like the easiest way to avoid these problems. Some workers we interviewed agreed with this sentiment. As one Muslim federal employee told us, “If I wear my religion as a badge on my shoulder, it will rub somebody the wrong way. So, why do that?”

    What’s more, silence around religion may seem like a neutral request. If no one expresses their faith, after all, then no one can be discriminated against, no one can be offended, and no one is seen as getting special treatment for their religious beliefs.

    Not so neutral

    There are a few problems with this logic, however.

    First, employers are legally required to provide reasonable accommodations tied to workers’ religion. Under most conditions, this includes things such as providing time off for religious observances. It also generally includes accommodating dress and grooming practices tied to one’s religion, such as wearing Sikh turbans or Christian crosses.

    What’s more, vague expectations about not acknowledging faith at work aren’t necessarily so neutral and often tend to disproportionately harm minority groups.

    In our survey, we asked individuals whether they “conceal their religious beliefs at work for fear of others’ perceptions.” Nineteen percent of Jewish workers, 51% of Hindus, 29% of Muslims and 28% of Buddhists said they did. By contrast, only 9% of evangelical Protestants, 15% of nonevangelical Protestants and 13% of Catholics reported that they conceal their faith at work.

    A Jewish project manager at an engineering firm told us how she has tried to conceal her faith from others: “The times that I did have to pray, I actually walked outside into a closed corner in the hallway to do it.”

    In the same survey, we asked individuals if they “have been treated unfairly” at work due to their “religion or non-religion.” Overall, 31% of U.S. adults agreed, and such experiences are most common among Muslim and Jewish workers.

    One Muslim woman we interviewed described how her colleagues made life extremely difficult for her, calling her names that were derisive, and said she’s received little support from her employer. Indeed, during one meeting her boss “got up and talked a lot about me being Muslim, and it was all negative.”

    Satisfaction and belonging

    Whether their co-workers or managers like it, many U.S. adults do see their work and faith as interwoven.

    One of our surveys, for example, asked workers whether they “turn to faith for support through stressful times in their work life.” Nearly half agreed.

    For many Americans, faith is also part of why they do their work in the first place. According to another one of our surveys, 20% of U.S. adults “see their work as a spiritual calling.” This percentage is higher among certain groups, such as evangelical Protestants and Muslims: 33% and 30%, respectively. Viewing work in spiritual terms is also more likely among women, at 24%, and Black workers, at 31%.

    And it is not just workers in explicitly religious jobs who view their work this way. One marine biologist explained to us, “I think that all truth is from God and, as a scientist, I try to understand and reveal the truth of how the world works.”

    Importantly, our research finds that individuals who feel a sense of spiritual connection to their work report greater job satisfaction, find more meaning in their work and better manage negative experiences they encounter in the workplace.

    Social science research has found that people’s well-being, social interactions and performance are harmed when they feel the need to suppress an important part of themselves within a group or organization. In other words, everyone suffers when individuals are not allowed to bring their whole selves to work.

    Welcome at work

    Despite such evidence, our research finds that many organizations are not taking even basic steps to accommodate individuals’ religious lives.

    In one survey, we asked workers whether their “workplace provides accommodations that allow people to practice their religion.” Almost one-fifth of workers disagreed. This percentage was highest among Muslim workers: 54%.

    Workers appreciate when their employers take active steps to let employees know that religious accommodations are available and that religious expression in general is not forbidden. Having upfront conversations about what is or is not appropriate – not only legally but socially – can go a long way toward setting boundaries.

    A Muslim optometry technician we interviewed, for example, recounted how appreciative she was when her boss told her, “If you ever do prayers or anything, feel free to go to that room – it can be your space, you can leave your mat in there.”

    Ideally, however, organizations would take active steps to establish and communicate policies to all employees, rather than reacting to situations as they arise.

    While we recognize the challenges when it comes to addressing individuals’ faith in the workplace, proactively engaging in conversations about the appropriate role of religion at work is better for workers and workplaces.

    Christopher P. Scheitle receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation.

    Denise Daniels receives funding from the Lilly Endowment.

    Elaine Howard Ecklund receives funding from the Templeton Religion Trust and the Lilly Endowment.

    – ref. Religion in the workplace is tricky – but employers and employees both lose when it becomes a total taboo – https://theconversation.com/religion-in-the-workplace-is-tricky-but-employers-and-employees-both-lose-when-it-becomes-a-total-taboo-239996

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What the presidential candidates have done − and where they stand − on education

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Robert Shand, Assistant Professor of Education, American University

    Donald Trump and Kamala Harris present dueling platforms for U.S. education. Getty Images

    When it comes to education policy, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris not only have mostly distinct visions but also distinct track records.

    Harris is calling for a wider role for the federal government and larger investment to improve educational opportunities. Trump is focused on reducing the federal role in education and relying upon states, localities and parents to make educational decisions and investments.

    At the same time, there are some commonalities, including the growing importance of career and technical education. What follows is a review of what the two candidates have done in the world of education while in office.

    On higher education

    The candidates share a concern about the high cost of higher education. But they have different visions for how to address those costs. As California’s attorney general, Harris secured a US$1.1 billion judgment against Corinthian Colleges for false advertising. The judgment provides refunds for students who were misled by claims about job placement rates, program offerings and military affiliations.

    Whereas Harris has pursued for-profit colleges for fraud, Trump has focused on promoting innovation by reducing regulation and expanding alternatives to traditional higher education. This includes making it easier for online, faith-based and for-profit institutions to be accredited.

    As part of the Biden administration, Harris has pursued student loan debt forgiveness. She has also strongly signaled her support for expanding access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. This follows her having co-sponsored legislation for debt-free college as a United States senator.

    The administration has faced challenges to the constitutionality of the loan forgiveness initiative on the grounds that the president does not have the authority under present law to unilaterally cancel debt. Opponents have also said any debt forgiveness would have to be authorized by Congress. Critics say further that loan forgiveness does not address the root causes of rising costs of higher education. Loan forgiveness could cause further price increases if institutions thought that students would care less about the cost of college in anticipation of having their debt forgiven.

    Trump created two entities to advise the federal government on workforce development and training needs: a council of federal officials and an advisory board of business leaders.

    In 2019, Trump signed a bipartisan bill to make permanent $250 million in annual federal funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, that was previously subject to annual renewal.

    Harris has called for reducing degree requirements for federal jobs. She also promoted job training programs as an alternative to incarceration in her Back on Track initiative as attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017.

    As attorney general and then a U.S. senator from California, she called for greater oversight of advertising by for-profit colleges and debt forgiveness for former students of for-profit colleges. She also supported expanding federal aid to public and nonprofit colleges, including free community colleges and large grants to HBCUs.

    On K-12 education

    The 2024 Trump campaign platform calls for sweeping changes to K-12 education policy. This includes universal school choice and more parental control over schools, which would entail allowing parents across the country to use educational funds to pay for private school through vouchers or tax credits if they chose. It also features a drastically reduced federal role in education. In fact, Trump wants to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. Many of these plans, such as direct election of school principals by parents, are unlikely to come to fruition due to the fact that schools in the United States are mainly under state and local control.

    Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Trump expanded college savings 529 plans to allow parents to save up to $10,000 per year tax-free for K-12 private school tuition.

    While president, Trump made several other proposals that could foreshadow his future plans. These proposals include creating a $5 billion federal tax credit for private school tuition, cutting the budget for the U.S. Department of Education in annual budget requests and turning the Title I allocation for supplemental services for students in poverty, such as smaller classes or tutoring, into a block grant to states.

    The Biden administration has sought to expand federal funding for full-service community schools.
    Full-service community schools are public schools that receive additional funding and staffing to help address the academic needs of students as well as factors outside of school, such as access to health care and healthy food, that affect learning.

    The Biden administration also expanded Title IX gender discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

    As a candidate for the presidential nomination in 2019, Vice President Harris also called for federal funding to provide teachers with an average of a $13,500 raise, though she has not made a similar call in this campaign.

    As California attorney general, Harris made reducing chronic absenteeism a signature issue when she led the In School and On Track anti-truancy initiative. This initiative included additional funding to districts and schools to use data to better understand and monitor absenteeism and to communicate with parents about the importance of school attendance.

    The data and communication-focused approach was an evolution from her initial approach as San Francisco district attorney, which placed more emphasis on prosecuting parents for truancy.

    On early childhood learning

    Neither Trump nor Harris has a significant record of tangible actions when it comes to early childhood education. Project 2025, which Trump has disavowed but was written by close allies of the former president, calls for eliminating Head Start, a federally funded, locally run, early childhood learning program to support low-income families.

    Although Trump made several similar proposals to cut funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant by about 5%, they were not passed into law by Congress.

    Harris has made calls for free, universal prekindergarten for all 4-year-olds, but the Biden administration was not able to get its early childhood proposals through Congress.

    More recent studies of some universal pre-K programs have raised questions about how long the academic gains from early childhood programs persist. On net, however, the evidence from the highest-quality studies for high-quality early childhood programs in general, and the Head Start program in particular, suggests that they improve cognitive skills among children.

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

    – ref. What the presidential candidates have done − and where they stand − on education – https://theconversation.com/what-the-presidential-candidates-have-done-and-where-they-stand-on-education-239555

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Scholar’s new rap album seeks to turn the tables on the ‘masters’ from the Old South

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By A.D. Carson, Associate Professor of Hip-Hop, University of Virginia

    Could the path to the Ph.D. run through the recording studio? Ratchapon Supprasert via iStock / Getty Images Plus

    Usually when a rap artist comes out with a new album, it’s released by a record label as part of their career as an entertainer. For Dr. A.D. Carson, a professor of hip-hop at the University of Virginia, his latest album – “Owning My Masters (Mastered): The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions” – represents a capstone in his academic career.

    Published and released in October 2024 by University of Michigan Press, the album and digital archive features two volumes of hip-hop music, an annotated timeline, several videos and a digital book. The album – originally submitted to Clemson University in South Carolina as Carson’s doctoral dissertation – has been mastered. In the following interview with The Conversation U.S., Carson explains the significance of the project and what it means for hip-hop in the world of academe.

    ‘Owning My Masters’ seems like a deep play on words. Is it?

    Yes. The Latin word “magister” was used to describe a master or teacher in ancient Rome. I earned a master’s degree before enrolling in my doctoral program, so I own that. People probably know that the final step in the process of composing an album is called mastering. In that process, a master version of the recording is created. This is what gets duplicated and released on streaming services, vinyl or whatever way you receive music.

    It’s not always guaranteed that an artist owns the rights to those recordings, but I own all of my music.

    Also, the album was written in South Carolina at Clemson University, which is located on a former plantation owned by the slaveholding U.S. politician John C. Calhoun. Buildings there are named for people who had owned, enslaved and trafficked people; fought in the Civil War to preserve the right to traffic people; and lynched Black people. Earning a terminal degree from a place with that kind of reprehensible history seemed like a way to figuratively own those so-called slave masters and so-called masters and teachers.

    Who is your audience for this album?

    I’m always thinking about multiple audiences. For lovers of hip-hop, the album demonstrates the power and promise I feel listening to albums that have influenced me. For academics, I believe it is the future of research. Academic credentials have been used by folks to perpetuate the idea that expertise looks and sounds a certain way, and this project infiltrates that system to disprove that idea.

    If you’re interested in learning about hip-hop, academia and how arguments are made, the album can be instructive, challenging, entertaining and educational.

    The album had to pass through a doctoral dissertation defense committee and then academic peer review. But before then, I posted drafts on SoundCloud to get feedback from regular folks who use that site to listen to new music.

    What kind of themes does the album address?

    My Ph.D. is in rhetorics, communication and information designs, so it’s also about rap rhetorics – including emphasis on the local and how hip-hop can preserve information like histories and counter-histories.

    Since I had moved to Clemson, and was feeling anxiety about leaving home in Illinois, I wrote “Dissertation (Part 1: The Introduction)” early on in the process. And because I lived in that South Carolina college town, “See the Stripes” is a song about Clemson’s history and its present. The song and its video moved through Clemson’s communities, but then, as protests were happening on campuses across the world, it found national and global audiences with whom the subject matter resonates. When students were finally able to get Calhoun’s name removed from the honors college in 2020, they acknowledged their work was continuing efforts since “See the Stripes.”

    More generally, the album is about form and content. With its form, it demonstrates knowledge production using hip-hop creative and compositional practice. The contents interrogate ideas of home, history, historical imagination, citizenship, political contradictions, race and humanness.

    The album is presented in chronological order from the time I arrived on campus in 2013 until I finished my coursework and submitted the 34-song project to my dissertation committee.

    Owning My Masters (Mastered) Vol. One by A.D. Carson

    Owning My Masters (Mastered) Vol. Two by A.D. Carson

    How would you measure its success?

    I would say earning a Ph.D., earning tenure and having the album count as my academic work qualify as success. Those are things that sound kind of selfish, but I think are incredibly significant for hip-hop and for the ways we think about expertise and success in the culture.

    To me, success is being able to make a living creating challenging and thought-provoking music that doesn’t have to abide by traditional notions of success like sales charts or commercial music awards. I also measure success by the inquiries and applications of students who want to do similar kinds of critical thinking and making. When those people are able to launch and sustain careers, that’s a measure of success in my eyes as well.

    Why haven’t we seen more albums in academia?

    Change in academia comes at a glacial pace, it seems.

    Audiences associate expertise, especially regarding subjects that are considered academic, with how people have demonstrated their understanding of the matters in writing, like traditional theses, dissertations, books and essays. I believe this is connected to the histories in the U.S. that link credibility with formal education and literacy. This is difficult to separate from the history of Black folks being legally prohibited from learning to read.

    While music has long been one of the ways information is recorded and passed from one generation to the next, in my experience, music itself is still not taken as seriously as a form of scholarship as writing books or essays about music.

    These previously excluded forms of scholarship can change the ways people regard academia. In my mind, music sits alongside other scholarly forms that emphasize academic prose. I believe universities should make space and resources available for students to explore it the same way. More generally, I think citing more albums as scholarship – the same way journal articles and academic monographs are cited – would also be transformative.

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

    – ref. Scholar’s new rap album seeks to turn the tables on the ‘masters’ from the Old South – https://theconversation.com/scholars-new-rap-album-seeks-to-turn-the-tables-on-the-masters-from-the-old-south-241895

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Head of the Kirov Military Medical Academy Evgeny Kryukov became an Honorary Doctor of the Polytechnic University

    Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    At the meeting of the Academic Council of the Polytechnic University on October 30, a ceremony was held to present the diploma and mantle of the Honorary Doctor of SPbPU to the head of the S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy (VMedA), Lieutenant General of the Medical Service, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Evgeny Kryukov.

    The decision to award the honorary title to Evgeny Kryukov was made unanimously by the members of the Academic Councilmeeting on May 24 this year.

    Evgeny Vladimirovich graduated with a gold medal from the military medical faculty of the Gorky Medical Institute, served in the Black Sea Fleet as a doctor and head of the medical service of a submarine. He was a senior resident and head of the therapeutic department, chief therapist, and since 2009 – head of the Naval Hospital named after Academician N. I. Pirogov. From 2014 to 2020, he headed the Main Military Clinical Hospital named after Academician N. N. Burdenko. In 2020, he was appointed to the post of head of the Military Medical Academy named after S. M. Kirov.

    Evgeny Vladimirovich is a legendary man who has visited all the hot spots, a doctor with a capital letter. In our difficult times, he heads the Military Medical Academy named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov, famous for the names of outstanding scientists and healers. It is the highest honor for us to accept you, Evgeny Vladimirovich, into our ranks as an Honorary Doctor of the Polytechnic University, – the rector of SPbPU, chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Andrei Rudskoy opened the ceremony.

    The new Honorary Doctor of the University was presented by the University Scientific Secretary Dmitry Karpov: Today, the large family of Polytechnicians welcomes a man for whom caring for the lives of others has become his life’s work. Often, saving lives. Evgeny Vladimirovich is a military doctor: from the Crimean Medical Institute and the Military Medical Faculty of the Gorky Medical Institute, which he graduated with honors, to the title of Honored Doctor of Russia and veteran of military service. Evgeny Vladimirovich is a scientist: since 1994 – Candidate of Medical Sciences, since 2004 – Doctor of Sciences, since 2016 – Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Department of Medical Sciences, since 2022 – Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the specialty of “military field therapy”. The author of more than six hundred scientific papers, prepared eleven candidates and doctors of science.

    Dmitry Karpov noted that Evgeny Kryukov contributed to the formation of a system for providing troops in armed conflicts, the creation of principles for interaction between military and civilian healthcare, and the adjustment of the scientific process to the needs of the army and navy.

    Dmitry Anatolyevich also said that Yevgeny Vladimirovich made a significant contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and participated in the trials of the Sputnik V vaccine. As the head of the Main Military Clinical Hospital at the time, Yevgeny Kryukov put on a protective suit and carried out procedures in the red zone himself to understand the operating conditions of medical personnel. For his dedicated work during the pandemic, he received the specially established Pirogov Order. Yevgeny Vladimirovich’s awards also include the Certificate of Honor of the President of the Russian Federation (2021), the Order of Honor (2022) and “For Military Merit” (2024).

    Evgeny Kryukov significantly strengthened the ties of the Military Medical Academy with the Russian Academy of Sciences and relevant international organizations. In conclusion of the presentation, Dmitry Karpov expressed confidence that such a connection will also be strengthened with the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.

    After all the welcoming words, the rector of the Polytechnic gave the command: Bring in the Honorary Doctorate Diploma, the mantle and the medal!

    According to tradition, the doctoral gown and cap were brought into the hall of the Academic Council by students dressed in the uniform of polytechnics of the early 20th century. The ceremony was accompanied by the Gaudeamus anthem performed by the Polyhymnia choir. Yevgeny Vladimirovich was also presented with a book about the Honorary Doctors of the Polytechnic — his page is already in it.

    In his response, Evgeny Kryukov thanked the members of the Academic Council for the honor of being elected as an Honorary Doctor of the country’s leading engineering university.

    Our cooperation in medicine dates back about sixty years, when the Department of Biophysics was created at the Polytechnic University. In 1997, the outstanding professor of the Military Medical Academy Vladimir Olegovich Samoilov headed the faculty of medical physics at your university, – said Evgeny Vladimirovich. – Over this time, more than a hundred people have been awarded the high honor of becoming Honorary Doctors of the Polytechnic University, mainly representatives of engineering and exact sciences. Today’s event is especially valuable for me, because for the first time a doctor has been elected Honorary Doctor of the Polytechnic University. First of all, this is, of course, the merit of scientific schools, professors of the Military Medical Academy, the merit of all military medicine. Your decision demonstrates the unity of science, the army and society. Probably, it was this unity that allowed our country to win victories over enemies in all historical periods, preserve its cultural identity and gave a powerful incentive to the scientific and technical development of the country. It is symbolic that this event is taking place on the eve of the great holiday of National Unity Day.

    At the end of the ceremony, the rector of the Polytechnic invited Evgeny Kryukov, as an Honorary Doctor, to support the tradition and give a lecture to the students.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: DTE Energy earns top score in Customer Satisfaction for Business Natural Gas Service in Midwest from J.D. Power

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Detroit, Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — DTE Energy, Michigan’s largest energy provider, is ranked “#1 in Customer Satisfaction with Business Natural Gas Service in the Midwest” in the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study.

    In addition to ranking DTE first overall in customer satisfaction, customers placed DTE highest in the individual study factors of Price and Corporate Citizenship.

    DTE’s top score in the Price study factor reflects the efforts the company takes to keep natural gas service affordable for customers. DTE has saved its customers millions of dollars by buying natural gas before it’s needed, often when prices are lower, and storing it underground until customers need it. This smooths out natural gas costs and protects customers from sudden price spikes.

    DTE’s corporate citizenship efforts were also singled out by business customers as best in the Midwest region. DTE has consistently fostered a culture of community involvement and, in 2023 alone, nearly 4,000 of its employees volunteered more than 75,000 hours with 862 nonprofit organizations throughout Michigan.

    Additionally, in 2023 the DTE Energy Foundation — the philanthropic arm of DTE — supported nearly 300 non-profit organizations across Michigan focused on driving positive, meaningful change in key areas like jobs, equity, human needs and the environment.

    “We’re focused on improving lives for our customers and communities while also keeping natural gas service safe, reliable and affordable,” said Bob Richard, president and chief operating officer, DTE Gas. “We truly value the trust that nearly 90,000 businesses across the state place in us, and we will continue to invest in our system to keep meeting their needs and helping Michigan’s local economies grow.”

    DTE is helping to foster business development by expanding natural gas service to rural communities throughout northern and greater Michigan, making them more attractive locations for business growth. Further, DTE invested $2.7 billion with Michigan businesses in 2023, creating and sustaining more than 12,000 jobs across the state.

    DTE remains committed to customer satisfaction and has consistently expanded its list of services for business customers. These include:

    • A range of energy efficiency programs that serve thousands of businesses annually, helping them optimize their energy use, reduce operational costs and enhance sustainability.
    • A dedicated business call center that connects business customers directly with DTE representatives who are knowledgeable about the unique energy needs of businesses.
    • An enhanced web experience for business customers allowing them to manage their accounts 24/7. 

    About DTE Energy
    DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) is a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. Its operating units include an electric company serving 2.3 million customers in Southeast Michigan and a natural gas company serving 1.3 million customers across Michigan. The DTE portfolio also includes energy businesses focused on custom energy solutions, renewable energy generation, and energy marketing and trading. DTE has continued to accelerate its carbon reduction goals to meet aggressive targets and is committed to serving with its energy through volunteerism, education and employment initiatives, philanthropy, emission reductions and economic progress. Information about DTE is available at dteenergy.com, empoweringmichigan.com, x.com/dte_energy and facebook.com/dteenergy.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: ChargeUp Accelerator for Battery Startups Opens Application Period for Cohort 2

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BINGHAMTON, N.Y., Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — New Energy New York (NENY) has opened applications for the second cohort of ChargeUp. The six-month accelerator program is designed to support startups working on battery innovations to help them advance their technology development and their business. Early-stage U.S. companies that are working on battery innovations anywhere in the supply chain are encouraged to apply. Companies accepted into the accelerator will receive $25,000, connections to investors, and opportunities for follow-on investment, including up to $100,000 in vouchers for technical development. Each month, participation in the Binghamton-based accelerator includes one week of in-person instructional workshops and regional tours of supply chain partners and three weeks of virtual activities, such as instruction provided by industry and business experts, pitch coaching, regional showcases, and building out each company’s data room so they are ready for investment.

    The program follows the success of the inaugural cohort of companies that includes Ateios Systems, Fermi Energy, MITO Materials and Standard Potential.

    “ChargeUp stands as a flagship accelerator for battery startup companies. Completing the program, we emerged with significant tasks ahead but equipped with essential know-how. Additionally, the ChargeUp network proved tremendously beneficial, enabling us to establish pivotal business relationships. I strongly recommend this program to any battery startup considering joining an accelerator to enhance their growth and success,” said Ray Xu, Co-Founder and CTO of Fermi Energy.

    The initiative is part of a $4.5 million grant awarded to NextCorps from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF-2334103) to test an accelerator model focused on technology commercialization for early-stage, deep-tech businesses, and strengthen economic development within region-specific technology hubs located across the U.S. The accelerator is based on curriculum and learnings from two of NextCorps’ proven accelerators: Luminate, the world’s largest accelerator for startups developing technologies enabled by optics, photonics and imaging, and the Manufacturing Accelerator, which helps early-stage companies reduce the risk, waste, and cost associated with getting hardware from prototype to mass production. The methodology used by both programs leverages university, community, and industrial involvement to guide and speed the delivery of emerging technologies.

    ChargeUp will follow a similar format, and will be run by Binghamton University’s Koffman Southern Tier Incubator. During the program, companies will receive over 200 hours of curriculum that will prepare them to become investment-ready by mastering business due diligence, design for manufacturing, complex supply chains, product pricing, and other topics. The accelerator also will connect them to resources within the region’s rapidly growing battery industry cluster, which has been federally designated as a battery tech hub, and New York State’s efforts to pioneer critical energy storage technologies through the NENY project.

    “The Binghamton region and our network of partners are internationally recognized for its expertise in energy storage. This accelerator will continue to attract the best startups and talent to the region, and connect them to the benchmark assets and expertise available here to change the trajectory of their business and technology commercialization. We had a very successful inaugural cohort and plan to build off the first year of running this program,” said Bandhana Katoch, Assistant Vice President, Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnership at Binghamton University.

    Since 2017, the Southern Tier Clean Energy Incubator program has fostered over 60 startup companies. Binghamton University, through its Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships, is leading the NENY initiative, with the cornerstone project, Battery-NY, for the development of a battery technology and prototyping center in the Southern Tier of NY.

    Startups applying to ChargeUp must be incorporated, have at least two people working full time on the business, and should have proven their core technology, preferably having developed a working prototype. ChargeUp Cohort 2 begins in April 2025 and concludes in October 2025. Virtual info sessions will be held November 13 and December 10, 2024 and on January 8, 2025, to help companies assess if the program is right for their business.

    To apply to ChargeUp, go here.

    “Our world is facing energy storage issues that are affecting almost every industry. Testing our proven accelerator methodologies within battery innovation to solve these pressing challenges, and doing so within a rich, industry-leading battery ecosystem makes perfect sense,” said Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, Managing Director, Luminate NY. “We’re eager to support the ChargeUp accelerator and to assess the impact it has on improving success rates for bringing novel technologies to market.”

    For more information on ChargeUp, visit https://newenergynewyork.com/programs/chargeup-accelerator/

    For more information about Binghamton University’s Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, visit thekoffman.com.

    For more information on NextCorps, visit nextcorps.org.

    For more information about Binghamton’s New Energy New York initiative, go to newenergynewyork.com.

    For more information about NSF grants, visit nsf.gov.

    Media Contact
    Kari Bayait
    kbayait@binghamton.edu
    607-725-5975

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9af0d78d-54d3-4f3b-8e9c-da6eedf25490

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Fortinet Delivers AI-Enhanced Data Protection and Insider Risk Management

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

    News Summary
    Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today announced the general availability of FortiDLP, a next-generation data loss prevention (DLP) and insider risk management solution. Based on Next DLP’s innovative technology and integration into the Fortinet Security Fabric, the new solution bolsters Fortinet’s overall portfolio of DLP capabilities. FortiDLP enables effective management of data security, dynamic enforcement of data protection, and enhanced visibility of insider threats at scale for large enterprise customers.

    “In an era when data protection is paramount, FortiDLP offers a next-gen solution that combines AI-enhanced detection and insider risk management to secure sensitive information,” said John Maddison, chief marketing officer at Fortinet. “By leveraging an AI-powered data protection solution with the help of generative AI, security teams can anticipate risks, streamline incident response, and mitigate threats faster than legacy DLP solutions. Protecting your data from both internal and external threats starts with visibility and proactive prevention, and FortiDLP delivers that protection on day one.”

    Traditional DLP Solutions Fall Short for CISOs
    Gartner® recently predicted in its latest Market Guide for Data Loss Prevention that, “By 2027, 70% of CISOs in larger enterprises will adopt a consolidated approach to address both insider risk and data exfiltration use cases.” However, CISOs and security teams continue to struggle with traditional DLP challenges, like managing data silos and dispersed data with a growing hybrid workforce, navigating cumbersome and rigid policies to classify data, slow performance of legacy tools, and the increasing risk posed by malicious insiders having access to sensitive data.

    What Sets FortiDLP Apart from Legacy DLP Solutions
    Fortinet’s answer to traditional DLP challenges is FortiDLP, an AI-enhanced, cloud-native endpoint data protection solution that enables customers to address all their data protection requirements with a single solution. With the recent acquisition of Next DLP, Fortinet adds a powerful data protection solution to the Fortinet Security Fabric, giving security teams a more effective way to prevent data leaks and loss, detect behavior-related threats, train employees to make risk-informed decisions and comply with security policies. The solution also addresses employees’ use of unsanctioned SaaS applications and guards against data leakage when employees use shadow AI (unapproved GenAI tools). Some of the key features that set FortiDLP apart from the competition include:

    • Shadow AI Data Protection: FortiDLP enables employees to safely use publicly available GenAI tools, such as OpenAI ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and others. Administrators can set policy actions to alert employees to proper data handling practices while allowing them to continue using these tools. The result is a balance between enabling greater productivity while securing the organization against sharing sensitive corporate data with these tools.
    • Day One Data Visibility and Protection: FortiDLP provides automated data movement visibility and protection from day one with out-of-the-box policies and machine learning embedded at the endpoint for baselining, with contextual and content inspection that works even if endpoints are disconnected from the network.
    • Insider Risk Protection: FortiDLP can identify actions, behaviors, and other indicators and apply appropriate policy actions to identify and stop insiders from disclosing sensitive data outside of the organization. Security teams can also monitor individual user risk with the solution by identifying, analyzing, and capturing employee activity when sensitive data is accessed and/or policies are violated.
    • SaaS Application Data Protection: FortiDLP provides comprehensive visibility into user interactions with data in the cloud and maintains protection as data moves out of the cloud. The solution builds a comprehensive risk-scored inventory of SaaS applications utilized across an organization, with insights into data ingress, egress, and credentials. It also fortifies defenses against potential data breaches from business data exposure via unauthorized application usage.
    • Origin-Based Data Protection: FortiDLP provides instant visibility into data exposure risk with Secure Data Flow, which complements traditional content and sensitivity classification-based approaches with origin-based data identification, manipulation detection, and data egress controls. Security teams can track and prevent data egress from endpoints and unmanaged mobile devices to USB drives, printers, and SaaS apps like Slack, Office 365, and Google Workspace.
    • Risk-Informed User Education: Administrators can configure policies and actions that include the presentation of customizable messages to educate users on the importance of safeguarding sensitive data while also enabling mechanisms that drive accountability for employee behavior.
    • AI-Powered Guidance: The FortiDLP AI-powered assistant enhances incident analysis by using FortiAI to summarize and contextualize data associated with observed high-risk activity, mapped to the MITRE Engenuity Insider Threat Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) Knowledge Base for easy consumption by analysts and peers.

    As part of its ongoing commitment to offering customers enterprise-grade data protection, Fortinet plans to sell FortiDLP as a stand-alone solution in addition to adding advanced AI-driven data loss prevention capabilities to its security service edge (SSE) offering and integrate additional insider risk and data protection capabilities across the Fortinet Security Fabric.

    FortiDLP is based on the next-generation, cloud-native SaaS data protection platform from Next DLP. Next DLP was recognized as a Representative Vendor in the 2023 Gartner Market Guide for Data Loss Prevention1 and the 2023 Gartner Market Guide for Insider Risk Management Solutions.2

    Additional Resources

    GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

    Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

    1Gartner Market Guide for Data Loss Prevention, Ravisha Chugh, Andrew Bales, 4 September 2023.

    2Gartner Market Guide for Insider Risk Management Solutions, Brent Predovich, 13 November 2023.

    About Fortinet
    Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a driving force in the evolution of cybersecurity and the convergence of networking and security. Our mission is to secure people, devices, and data everywhere, and today we deliver cybersecurity everywhere you need it with the largest integrated portfolio of over 50 enterprise-grade products. Well over half a million customers trust Fortinet’s solutions, which are among the most deployed, most patented, and most validated in the industry. The Fortinet Training Institute, one of the largest and broadest training programs in the industry, is dedicated to making cybersecurity training and new career opportunities available to everyone. Collaboration with esteemed organizations from both the public and private sectors, including CERTs, government entities, and academia, is a fundamental aspect of Fortinet’s commitment to enhance cyber resilience globally. FortiGuard Labs, Fortinet’s elite threat intelligence and research organization, develops and utilizes leading-edge machine learning and AI technologies to provide customers with timely and consistently top-rated protection and actionable threat intelligence. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, and FortiGuard Labs. 

    Copyright © 2024 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. The symbols ® and ™ denote respectively federally registered trademarks and common law trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortinet’s trademarks include, but are not limited to, the following: Fortinet, the Fortinet logo, FortiGate, FortiOS, FortiGuard, FortiCare, FortiAnalyzer, FortiManager, FortiASIC, FortiClient, FortiCloud, FortiMail, FortiSandbox, FortiADC, FortiAI, FortiAIOps, FortiAntenna, FortiAP, FortiAPCam, FortiAuthenticator, FortiCache, FortiCall, FortiCam, FortiCamera, FortiCarrier, FortiCASB, FortiCentral, FortiConnect, FortiController, FortiConverter, FortiCSPM, FortiCWP, FortDAST, FortiDB, FortiDDoS, FortiDeceptor, FortiDeploy, FortiDevSec, FortiEDR, FortiExplorer, FortiExtender, FortiFirewall, FortiFlex FortiFone, FortiGSLB, FortiGuest, FortiHypervisor, FortiInsight, FortiIsolator, FortiLAN, FortiLink, FortiMonitor, FortiNAC, FortiNDR, FortiPenTest, FortiPhish, FortiPoint, FortiPolicy, FortiPortal, FortiPresence, FortiProxy, FortiRecon, FortiRecorder, FortiSASE, FortiSDNConnector, FortiSEC, FortiSIEM, FortiSMS, FortiSOAR, FortiStack, FortiSwitch, FortiTester, FortiToken, FortiTrust, FortiVoice, FortiWAN, FortiWeb, FortiWiFi, FortiWLC, FortiWLM and FortiXDR. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fortinet has not independently verified statements or certifications herein attributed to third parties and Fortinet does not independently endorse such statements. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, nothing herein constitutes a warranty, guarantee, contract, binding specification or other binding commitment by Fortinet or any indication of intent related to a binding commitment, and performance and other specification information herein may be unique to certain environments.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Secretary-General’s message to the 2024 Global Education Meeting

    Source: United Nations – English

    s you gather for the 2024 Global Education Meeting, you confront a critical global challenge.

    Education is the key to unlocking opportunities, equality, prosperity and peace.

    But for millions of people around the world, that door remains shut tight.

    Seventy per cent of 10-year-olds are unable to understand a basic text, while 250 million children and young people are out of school altogether. This is worsened by a huge financing gap of $97 billion annually for education in low and middle income countries.  

    We don’t have a moment to lose. At the Transforming Education Summit in 2022, governments committed to ending the learning crisis, and boosting investment in quality education systems that can reach every learner, throughout their lives.

    Your meeting is an opportunity to measure how governments are — and are not — living up to this commitment.

    In particular, I welcome your focus on closing the financing gap for education through more effective resource mobilization and innovative financing initiatives. I call on governments to arrive at next year’s Conference on Financing for Development and the World Social Summit with concrete solutions that can deliver the education systems all people need and deserve. 

    Through the recently adopted Pact for the Future, governments committed to investing in accessible, safe, inclusive and equitable quality education for all.

    The United Nations is proud to stand with you in this essential global effort.

    ***
     

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Oxford set to mark Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day

    Source: City of Oxford

    Oxford will remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to secure and protect our freedom at Remembrance services next week.

    Remembrance Sunday 

    The Lord Mayor of Oxford, Councillor Mike Rowley, in partnership with the Oxford City branch of the Royal British Legion, is set to host a Remembrance Sunday service at the War Memorial in St Giles’ on Sunday 10 November. The Lord Mayor will be joined by military units, uniformed organisations, community groups, civic dignitaries, residents and visitors from across the county to mark Remembrance Sunday. 

    Remembrance Sunday takes place on the second Sunday in November and honours those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to secure and protect our freedom. Military units, organisations and community groups will gather for 10am at the junction of Beaumont Street and St Giles’. They will then march up St Giles’ from 10.30am. 

    The service will start at 10.45am, with a two minute silence at 11am. 

    Comment 

    “Every year Oxford observes Remembrance Sunday to commemorate those who have lost their lives in war and conflict. In this 80th anniversary year of D-Day, we think of the sacrifices that were made to free Europe from the most murderous of tyrannies, honour all who defend us today, and recommit ourselves to the pursuit of peace here and throughout the world.” 
    The Lord Mayor of Oxford, Councillor Mike Rowley 

    The order of service is: 

    • Welcome: Councillor Mike Rowley, Lord Mayor of Oxford, and The Revd Anthony Buckley, City Rector 

    • Hymn: Abide With Me 

    • The Last Post, the Great Silence and the Reveille: Phil King, Bugle Major of the Quirinus Band & Bugle Corps 2011 e.V. 

    • The National Anthem 

    Representatives from Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Thames Valley Police, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, Help for Heroes, and Oxford’s twin cities will be present. If members of the public require British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation, the interpreter will be located on the junction of St Giles and Woodstock Road to the west of the dais. 

    Members of the public are welcome to put tributes on the monument before the service. 

    Armistice Day 

    There will be a service marking Armistice Day on Monday 11 November, starting at 10.55am, on the landing area at the top of the stairs in Oxford Town Hall. The service will be led by the Lord Mayor and all are welcome to attend. There will be a two-minute silence at 11am. 

    Wreath laying at Leiden Square, Westgate 

    A wreath laying ceremony by the Oxford-Leiden twin city link group will take place in Leiden Square, Westgate Oxford, on Saturday 9 November. The Lord Mayor of Oxford will be in attendance. The Oxford-Leiden link was Oxford’s first twin link and was established immediately after the Second World War in 1946. 

    Flying the flag 

    The Royal British Legion flag will be flown above Oxford Town Hall in the run up to Remembrance Sunday from Monday 4 November to 10 November, when the flag will be changed over to the Union Jack on Sunday 10 November until after King Charles III birthday on 14 November. 

    Road closures and parking suspension will be in place from 12.01am to 2pm on Sunday 10 November as follows: 

    • The pavement on Banbury Road, opposite the war memorial, will be closed. Members of the public are advised to follow pedestrian diversions or use Woodstock Road 

    • Keble Road 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: TopLine Financial Credit Union Receives a Star Tribune 2024 Minnesota’s Best Award

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MAPLE GROVE, Minn., Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TopLine Financial Credit Union, a Twin Cities-based member-owned financial services cooperative, has been voted a 2024 Minnesota’s Best bronze winner in the Insurance Company category.

    As Minnesota’s number one local choice for news, information and advertising, the Star Tribune’s Minnesota’s Best program recognizes the best Minnesota businesses from over 390 categories. The Minnesota’s Best Awards are determined by the votes of Minnesota Star Tribune readers, celebrating the businesses and services that stand out in the community.   A complete list of winners is available online at https://www.votedminnesotasbest.com/categories/2024 and published in the 2024 Winners Guide.

    The communities the credit union serves has recognized TopLine as one of the most appreciated and trustworthy insurance companies in Minnesota. Several qualities that make TopLine stand out include the credit union’s dedication to our mission of “Connected, We All Do Better” by providing affordable and competitive financial services, commitment of employees to help consumers achieve their financial goals, positively making a local and global impact through community outreach activities through non-profit TopLine Credit Union Foundation, and helping consumers with homeownership and investment-related services.

    “We are grateful to our members, communities and Minnesota Star Tribune readers who selected us as the Star Tribune’s Minnesota’s Best bronze award recipient in the Insurance Company category,” says Mick Olson, President and CEO of TopLine Financial Credit Union. “Our TopLine Insurance Agency team is dedicated in providing personal service, and ensuring individuals and families have the proper coverage to protect against unforeseen circumstances.”

    The Star Tribune Minnesota’s Best Awards recognize the top businesses and organizations in the Twin Cities metro area, as voted by the community. The awards celebrate excellence across various industries, highlighting those who consistently deliver outstanding service and contribute to the vibrancy of the region. For more information, visit www.votedminnesotabest.com.

    TopLine Financial Credit Union, a Twin Cities-based credit union, is Minnesota’s 9th largest credit union, with assets of over $1.1 billion and serves over 70,000 members. Established in 1935, the not-for-profit financial cooperative offers a complete line of financial services from its ten branch locations — in Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Champlin, Circle Pines, Coon Rapids, Forest Lake, Maple Grove, Plymouth, St. Francis and in St. Paul’s Como Park — as well as by phone and online at www.TopLinecu.com or www.ahcu.coop. Membership is available to anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or volunteers in Anoka, Benton, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Pine, Ramsey, Scott, Sherburne, Washington and Wright counties in Minnesota and their immediate family members, as well as employees and retirees of Anoka Hennepin School District #11, Anoka Technical College, Federal Premium Ammunition, Hoffman Enclosures, Inc., GRACO, Inc., and their subsidiaries. Visit us on our Facebook or Instagram. To learn more about the credit union’s foundation, visit www.TopLinecu.com/Foundation.

    CONTACT:
    Vicki Roscoe Erickson
    Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
    TopLine Financial Credit Union
    verickson@toplinecu.com | 763.391.0872

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5086f707-3428-447c-9b49-ae4b0175c78e

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: IntelliTrans Appoints Mayank Sharma as Chief Product Officer to Drive Product Innovation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ATLANTA, Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — IntelliTrans, a global leader in multimodal transportation management solutions, has named Mayank Sharma as its new Chief Product Officer. In this role, Sharma will drive product strategy and direction, guiding the development and improvement of IntelliTrans’ product lineup to deliver smarter, simpler solutions for customers. With over 20 years of experience in product innovation and leading global teams, he brings forward-looking insights into the company’s growth and commitment to making complex logistics easier.

    Sharma has a strong background in creating innovative products across different sectors. Most recently, he led the launch of a top-rated dash camera and safety solution at Teletrac Navman, which helped transportation customers improve safety and efficiency. He also worked on strategic partnerships to develop solutions for customers transitioning their truck fleets to cleaner energy options like electric, hydrogen, and CNG/RNG, supporting their shift towards sustainability.

    “We are excited to welcome Mayank to the IntelliTrans team,” said Chad Raube, President and CEO of IntelliTrans. “His vast experience in product management and innovation will be instrumental as we continue to strengthen our product portfolio. Mayank’s unique approach to developing market-leading solutions, commercial focus, and fostering agile teams will help propel IntelliTrans forward in achieving our long-term goals.”

    “I’m thrilled to join the IntelliTrans team and work on delivering high-value solutions that address the real-world challenges our clients face in their supply chains,” said Sharma. “I see a great opportunity to use emerging technologies to make our products smarter and more user-friendly, simplifying how our customers manage their operations. I look forward to enhancing the overall experience for IntelliTrans customers and driving innovation in our product suite.”

    Sharma holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and has multiple advanced degrees in Engineering, Design, and Anthropology. This diverse educational background gives him a well-rounded approach to product development and leadership.

    By bringing Sharma on board, IntelliTrans reinforces its dedication to product innovation and growth. The company remains focused on enhancing its multimodal SaaS-based TMS solution, making logistics operations more streamlined, visible, and efficient for its global customers.

    About IntelliTrans Multimodal Transportation Solutions

    IntelliTrans, a Roper Technologies business (Nasdaq: ROP), empowers businesses to optimize their supply chains with seamless freight management and shipment execution across all modes of transportation, including rail, truck, ocean, and barge. IntelliTrans’ trusted transportation management solutions enable customers to solve complex business challenges and help achieve a holistic digital strategy by incorporating multimodal solutions backed by extensive industry knowledge. Recognized as a top transportation management provider, IntelliTrans has recently received the Inbound Logistics Top 100 Logistics IT Provider Award, the 2023 BIG Innovation Award, the Cloud Computing Product of the Year Award, and the Food Logistics/SDCE Top Software and Technology Award. Unlock hidden efficiencies in your supply chain. Visit our website to see how IntelliTrans can help.

    Media Contact for IntelliTrans:
    Becky Boyd
    MediaFirst PR (M1PR.com)
    404.421.8497
    becky@mediafirst.net

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/060fceb0-b427-493e-a790-3336ff225870

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Murphy Announces Kate McDonnell as Chief Counsel

    Source: US State of New Jersey

    TRENTON – Governor Phil Murphy today announced that Kate McDonnell, currently serving as Deputy Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, will be his next Chief Counsel. McDonnell will assume the role in mid-November following the departure of Parimal Garg, who is leaving to pursue an opportunity in private practice.

    “I am thrilled to welcome Kate McDonnell back to the Governor’s Office as my new Chief Counsel,” said Governor Murphy. “Her decades of service to the Garden State and her strong background in public policy demonstrate the ideal skillset to excel in this role. I look forward to working alongside Kate as we continue working to advance the goals of our Administration and build a stronger, fairer New Jersey.”

    “I want to thank Governor Murphy for his confidence in me, and for giving me the opportunity to serve as his next Chief Counsel,” said incoming Chief Counsel Kate McDonnell. “I would also like to thank Parimal Garg for his valuable support over the years and through this transition. I look forward to returning to the Governor’s Office and continuing to build upon the great work and tremendous accomplishments of the Murphy Administration.”

    “I served with Kate McDonnell in the Governor’s Counsel’s Office for five years, and continued to work with her as she assumed senior roles in the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Community Affairs,” said outgoing Chief Counsel Parimal Garg. “Kate is brilliant, deeply versed in public policy, and the consummate team player. Her entire career has been dedicated to public service and her contributions to this state are already immeasurable. I know Kate will do an outstanding job as Governor Murphy’s chief counsel and solidify the Murphy Administration’s legacy of historic achievements.”

    Kate McDonnell first began her career in public service in 2006, serving the New Jersey Assembly Democratic Office for nearly 12 years, including nine years as General Counsel under Speakers Joe Roberts, Sheila Oliver, and Vincent Prieto.

    Following Governor Murphy’s inauguration in 2018, McDonnell served for nearly five years as his Deputy Chief Counsel and then later Senior Deputy Chief Counsel.

    In November 2022, McDonnell took on the role of Chief Counsel to New Jersey’s Attorney General Matt Platkin. In January 2024, McDonnell moved to the Department of Community Affairs to serve as Deputy Commissioner under Commissioner Jacquelyn Suarez.

    McDonnell received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame, magna cum laude, and earned her Juris Doctor from Rutgers School of Law, Camden. She also holds a Master’s degree from Rutgers New Brunswick’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Africa’s flagship universities have a proud history – but are they serving local communities?

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By James Ransom, Researcher: societal challenges, UCL

    Universities play a number of crucial roles in society. They educate students, research solutions to problems and serve as spaces for national debate. This is especially true for large public institutions, often referred to as flagship universities. A number were launched with great fanfare around the time of a country’s independence from colonial rule. They were tasked with driving national development by training skilled graduates to fill workforce gaps and conducting applied research to address societal challenges. Many have done well in their historic national missions. But how are they performing today when it comes to serving their local communities?

    Higher education researcher James Ransom set out to answer this question in his new book, Revisiting Africa’s Flagship Universities: Local, National and International Dynamics. He analysed local engagement at ten African flagship universities: Ethiopia’s University of Addis Ababa; Makerere University in Uganda; the universities of Ghana, Namibia, Rwanda, Mauritius, Zambia and Zimbabwe; the University of Cape Town in South Africa and Nigeria’s University of Ibadan. He tells The Conversation Africa what he learned.

    What is a flagship university?

    They are pillars of the nation: their campuses are intertwined with history as sites of protest and revolution; their researchers lead the way in publications and research; their students are tomorrow’s leaders.

    Sometimes there is one flagship in a country. Sometimes a country will be home to several. In Nigeria, the University of Ibadan is joined by the University of Nigeria at Nsukka.

    A map showing the ten flagship universities the author studied. Dr James Ransom, Author provided (no reuse)

    Small, specialist institutions and private universities all play important roles in national higher education systems. But flagships are the trendsetters. They often mentor new universities by seconding senior staff to lead them, and helping design the curricula. Their staff sit on government committees. They have international partnerships and projects.

    The term “flagship” has been used elsewhere in the world, not just in post-colonial countries. In the book I focused on Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa, including countries that were not traditional colonial states, such as Ethiopia.

    Read more: The untold story of how Africa’s flagship universities have advanced

    What made you write this book and why now?

    In the UK, where I live, we have seen a shift in the expectations placed upon universities.

    The “redbrick” universities, such as Birmingham and Liverpool, are a good example. They were founded in the 19th century to meet local needs. Then they developed strong global ambitions over the next hundred years, excelling in world-leading research and innovation.

    During the past couple of decades, the local question returned: what are you doing to serve your local community? The redbricks (and many others) have responded – nudged along by national policies and frameworks – with serious programmes of civic engagement. These include projects designed with communities, seconding staff into local planning organisations, and opening up their campuses to communities – from 5-a-side football pitches to photography exhibitions.

    The shift I witnessed in the UK, and mirrored in my work across Europe and Canada, made me wonder: has a similar shift, from a historic national mission to a local one, taken place for African universities?

    The question is timely. Societal challenges may be national or global in scale. But they need local knowledge and local partnerships to solve at the local level. This means universities working with local government, which is a key focus of my work. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has calculated that 100 of the 169 UN Sustainable Development Goal targets can only be achieved if local governments are involved. Universities can play an important supporting role.

    What did you find?

    It is clear that flagship universities’ local work is growing and will continue to grow. For instance, Addis Ababa University established a railway engineering centre to train engineers to maintain the city’s light rail transit system, with students employed by the Ethiopian Railway Corporation. The University of Ghana runs satellite campuses in all ten regional capitals. This allows it to reach remote areas and to establish a local presence in different regions.

    Successful projects often emerge from deep links with local communities. Ibadan has worked closely with a few communities over many decades. These “field laboratories” include a community health programme in the village of Ibarapa, which began in the early 1960s with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and technical support from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

    The programme has trained hundreds of medical students in community medicine through practical work in rural areas, while also improving health services and conducting research on health issues in the Ibarapa community. An example is studying and addressing neglected tropical diseases such as onchocerciasis (river blindness) and guinea worm.

    In 2020 the University of Ibadan signed a memorandum of understanding with the local government on the Ibarapa programme. Over half a century after it began, local partnerships continue to sustain the programme.

    However, a national focus continues to dominate at all ten institutions I studied. This is perhaps best illustrated by the University of Rwanda. Local engagement activity is secondary to the nation’s development strategy spearheaded by its Vision 2050, an ambitious effort to become an upper-middle income country in the next 25 years.

    There is some local activity, of course. Students provide health services to the community, staff run community workshops on informal housing, and there are plans to open model farms to showcase irrigation and agricultural mechanisation. But all of this ultimately serves the national vision.

    Rwanda is a small country, but this finding – of national priorities dominating at the expense of local programmes – was consistent across all the flagships I studied, in large countries like Nigeria as well as in other small countries like Mauritius and Namibia.

    What can other universities on the continent learn from your findings?

    Flagships are complex institutions, with rich histories and often complicated relationships with government. They are survivors, skilled at balancing multiple roles. There is much that other universities can learn from flagships, and that flagships can learn from each other – and more of these partnerships are needed.

    But one senior staff member at a flagship university told me that many African university heads

    feel rather oppressed by the narratives from higher education leaders in other parts of the world

    They were talking about international benchmarking, unequal research partnerships, and models of “best practice”. These constrain the local role of flagships, creating identikit institutions. The result is a race to local irrelevance. Relevance can only emerge from an approach that reflects the local and national context.

    Universities that capture the work they do locally, effectively communicate this, and can demonstrate how it is relevant to society, will be in a good place to chart their own path as a pillar of the nation.

    – Africa’s flagship universities have a proud history – but are they serving local communities?
    – https://theconversation.com/africas-flagship-universities-have-a-proud-history-but-are-they-serving-local-communities-240813

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Mining must become more responsible and sustainable. Where hi-tech solutions fit in

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Rennie Naidoo, Professor of Information Systems, University of the Witwatersrand

    If you visit a commercial mining operation anywhere in the world today, some sights and sounds – workers descending in elevators to underground shafts, the roar of truck engines – will be much the same as they have been for decades.

    But, like many other industries, mining is changing. Digital mining involves the use of digital technologies to make mining operations more efficient, safer, and sustainable. This industry emerged about a decade ago and has developed quickly over the past few years. This uptick is the result of recent advances in sensor technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning.

    However, while technology improves, old problems persist. Large-scale mining causes massive deforestation in regions like the Amazon. It also threatens and displaces communities, as in the case of Brazil’s Xikrin and Kayapó people. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the mining of cobalt, copper and coltan (all crucial for modern technology) contaminates local water supplies and puts workers – including children – in danger.

    Read more: What coltan mining in the DRC costs people and the environment

    Is it time to make mining obsolete? This is not a realistic solution, at least not in the near future. Many modern technologies, like smartphones, electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines, depend on minerals extracted through mining. The global move towards renewable energy and low-carbon technologies means demand for minerals like lithium and cobalt is rising.

    So, while mining has environmental costs, it’s also critical in the shift to a greener economy. And mining is economically important in many parts of the world. In African countries it supports millions of jobs and contributes significantly to GDP.

    This is why sustainable mining is crucial. I am a professor of information systems. I investigate the complex interactions between technology, people and organisations in achieving sustainability goals. In a recent paper with a co-author, I examined how digital technologies could help mining operations to balance economic objectives with environmental and social sustainability.

    The findings make it clear that digital technologies can transform mining practices and achieve sustainability goals at the same time.

    Economic outcomes

    Our paper took the form of a case study. We interviewed professionals from a leading digital mining solutions company. It has operations in South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Chile and the United States. The interviewees were engineers, senior managers and executives. They offered a glimpse into how their large-scale mining clients were using digital technologies like automated haul trucks and collision avoidance systems.

    We wanted to know how their clients saw the role of digital technology in balancing business and other goals. They outlined some successful cases and others where companies were struggling to align all their aims.

    It was clear that the company and its clients recognised the importance of safety and environmental issues in their work. But they saw these issues through the lens of business sustainability. For instance, while some mining companies pursued safety improvements, they did it primarily to boost productivity and bring down costs.

    One interviewee gave the example of collision avoidance systems. Companies valued these because they reduced downtime and improved productivity. They focused on immediate business needs.

    A balancing act

    It’s time for mining companies that are serious about sustainability to shift their focus. Rather than simply looking to make immediate profits, they need to consider environmental and social impacts – and the role digital technology can play.

    As a simple example, AI can predict when machinery is likely to fail. This allows companies to carry out timely maintenance. Equipment lifespan is extended. Downtime and repair costs are reduced. And worker safety is improved because there are fewer unexpected breakdowns. This is the kind of sustainable approach, underpinned by digital technology, that can help mining companies tick all the right boxes.

    Mining leaders must not exclude employees and stakeholders when considering these issues. Environmental advocates have a role to play, too: companies must work with these groups and with local communities. A shared understanding of how digital technologies can meet both financial and sustainability targets is key.

    Mining companies are more likely to change if there are clear financial benefits or penalties tied to sustainability. Governments can help by introducing stricter environmental regulations and offering incentives to adopt sustainable digital technologies. In South Africa, for instance, there are tax incentives and subsidies to encourage the use of renewable energy in mining. These measures, expanded recently in response to the country’s energy crisis, have sparked significant investment in solar power.

    Read more: Africa doesn’t have a choice between economic growth and protecting the environment: how they can go hand in hand

    When paired with digital monitoring systems, renewable energy solutions can enhance efficiency by optimising energy consumption and reducing carbon emissions. Technologies like AI-driven energy management systems can help mines integrate renewable sources with less energy wastage. Thus, tax breaks or subsidies for digital solutions that support green energy adoption could motivate companies to embrace greener and more tech-driven mining practices.

    Consumers and investors, meanwhile, should invest in those mining companies that demonstrate responsible practices. Ethical investment funds need to support companies with strong environmental, social, and governance credentials.

    – Mining must become more responsible and sustainable. Where hi-tech solutions fit in
    – https://theconversation.com/mining-must-become-more-responsible-and-sustainable-where-hi-tech-solutions-fit-in-240558

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: President appoints Jakub Seidler as a new member of the Bank Board

    Source: Czech National Bank

    Jakub Seidler is to become a new member of the Bank Board of the Czech National Bank (CNB), taking office on 1 December 2024. President Petr Pavel appointed him to the Czech central bank’s supreme governing body today.

    Jakub Seidler graduated in economics from the Institute of Economic Studies at Charles University in Prague, where he also completed his PhD. He has also undertaken a number of research stays abroad and courses in econometric methods, financial stability and central banking. He returns to the CNB after ten years. In 2008–2014, he held various expert positions at the central bank, specifically in the Financial Stability Department, the Economic Research Department and the Monetary Department. He also served as chief economist at ING Bank and the Czech Banking Association.

    The Bank Board is the supreme governing body of the CNB. Its main activities include setting monetary and macroprudential policy and the instruments for implementing them, and making decisions on measures in the area of financial market supervision. It has seven members appointed by the President of the Czech Republic for up to two terms of six years.

    The current members of the CNB Bank Board are Governor Aleš Michl, Deputy Governor Eva Zamrazilová, Deputy Governor Jan Frait and Bank Board members Karina Kubelková, Jan Kubíček, Jan Procházka and Tomáš Holub. Jakub Seidler will fill a vacant position on the Bank Board after Tomáš Holub’s mandate expires on 30 November 2024.

    Jakub Holas
    Director, Communications Division

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Mining must become more responsible and sustainable. Where hi-tech solutions fit in

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Rennie Naidoo, Professor of Information Systems, University of the Witwatersrand

    Digital technologies can make mining more sustainable. Sunshine Seeds/Shutterstock/For editorial use only

    If you visit a commercial mining operation anywhere in the world today, some sights and sounds – workers descending in elevators to underground shafts, the roar of truck engines – will be much the same as they have been for decades.

    But, like many other industries, mining is changing. Digital mining involves the use of digital technologies to make mining operations more efficient, safer, and sustainable. This industry emerged about a decade ago and has developed quickly over the past few years. This uptick is the result of recent advances in sensor technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning.

    However, while technology improves, old problems persist. Large-scale mining causes massive deforestation in regions like the Amazon. It also threatens and displaces communities, as in the case of Brazil’s Xikrin and Kayapó people. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the mining of cobalt, copper and coltan (all crucial for modern technology) contaminates local water supplies and puts workers – including children – in danger.



    Read more:
    What coltan mining in the DRC costs people and the environment

    Is it time to make mining obsolete? This is not a realistic solution, at least not in the near future. Many modern technologies, like smartphones, electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines, depend on minerals extracted through mining. The global move towards renewable energy and low-carbon technologies means demand for minerals like lithium and cobalt is rising.

    So, while mining has environmental costs, it’s also critical in the shift to a greener economy. And mining is economically important in many parts of the world. In African countries it supports millions of jobs and contributes significantly to GDP.

    This is why sustainable mining is crucial. I am a professor of information systems. I investigate the complex interactions between technology, people and organisations in achieving sustainability goals. In a recent paper with a co-author, I examined how digital technologies could help mining operations to balance economic objectives with environmental and social sustainability.

    The findings make it clear that digital technologies can transform mining practices and achieve sustainability goals at the same time.

    Economic outcomes

    Our paper took the form of a case study. We interviewed professionals from a leading digital mining solutions company. It has operations in South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Chile and the United States. The interviewees were engineers, senior managers and executives. They offered a glimpse into how their large-scale mining clients were using digital technologies like automated haul trucks and collision avoidance systems.

    We wanted to know how their clients saw the role of digital technology in balancing business and other goals. They outlined some successful cases and others where companies were struggling to align all their aims.

    It was clear that the company and its clients recognised the importance of safety and environmental issues in their work. But they saw these issues through the lens of business sustainability. For instance, while some mining companies pursued safety improvements, they did it primarily to boost productivity and bring down costs.

    One interviewee gave the example of collision avoidance systems. Companies valued these because they reduced downtime and improved productivity. They focused on immediate business needs.

    A balancing act

    It’s time for mining companies that are serious about sustainability to shift their focus. Rather than simply looking to make immediate profits, they need to consider environmental and social impacts – and the role digital technology can play.

    As a simple example, AI can predict when machinery is likely to fail. This allows companies to carry out timely maintenance. Equipment lifespan is extended. Downtime and repair costs are reduced. And worker safety is improved because there are fewer unexpected breakdowns. This is the kind of sustainable approach, underpinned by digital technology, that can help mining companies tick all the right boxes.

    Mining leaders must not exclude employees and stakeholders when considering these issues. Environmental advocates have a role to play, too: companies must work with these groups and with local communities. A shared understanding of how digital technologies can meet both financial and sustainability targets is key.

    Mining companies are more likely to change if there are clear financial benefits or penalties tied to sustainability. Governments can help by introducing stricter environmental regulations and offering incentives to adopt sustainable digital technologies. In South Africa, for instance, there are tax incentives and subsidies to encourage the use of renewable energy in mining. These measures, expanded recently in response to the country’s energy crisis, have sparked significant investment in solar power.



    Read more:
    Africa doesn’t have a choice between economic growth and protecting the environment: how they can go hand in hand

    When paired with digital monitoring systems, renewable energy solutions can enhance efficiency by optimising energy consumption and reducing carbon emissions. Technologies like AI-driven energy management systems can help mines integrate renewable sources with less energy wastage. Thus, tax breaks or subsidies for digital solutions that support green energy adoption could motivate companies to embrace greener and more tech-driven mining practices.

    Consumers and investors, meanwhile, should invest in those mining companies that demonstrate responsible practices. Ethical investment funds need to support companies with strong environmental, social, and governance credentials.

    Rennie Naidoo 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. Mining must become more responsible and sustainable. Where hi-tech solutions fit in – https://theconversation.com/mining-must-become-more-responsible-and-sustainable-where-hi-tech-solutions-fit-in-240558

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Africa’s flagship universities have a proud history – but are they serving local communities?

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By James Ransom, Researcher: societal challenges, UCL

    Students pictured in 1955 in a reading room at what is today the University of Ibadan. Flagship universities have long histories. Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images

    Universities play a number of crucial roles in society. They educate students, research solutions to problems and serve as spaces for national debate. This is especially true for large public institutions, often referred to as flagship universities. A number were launched with great fanfare around the time of a country’s independence from colonial rule. They were tasked with driving national development by training skilled graduates to fill workforce gaps and conducting applied research to address societal challenges. Many have done well in their historic national missions. But how are they performing today when it comes to serving their local communities?

    Higher education researcher James Ransom set out to answer this question in his new book, Revisiting Africa’s Flagship Universities: Local, National and International Dynamics. He analysed local engagement at ten African flagship universities: Ethiopia’s University of Addis Ababa; Makerere University in Uganda; the universities of Ghana, Namibia, Rwanda, Mauritius, Zambia and Zimbabwe; the University of Cape Town in South Africa and Nigeria’s University of Ibadan. He tells The Conversation Africa what he learned.

    What is a flagship university?

    They are pillars of the nation: their campuses are intertwined with history as sites of protest and revolution; their researchers lead the way in publications and research; their students are tomorrow’s leaders.

    Sometimes there is one flagship in a country. Sometimes a country will be home to several. In Nigeria, the University of Ibadan is joined by the University of Nigeria at Nsukka.

    Small, specialist institutions and private universities all play important roles in national higher education systems. But flagships are the trendsetters. They often mentor new universities by seconding senior staff to lead them, and helping design the curricula. Their staff sit on government committees. They have international partnerships and projects.

    The term “flagship” has been used elsewhere in the world, not just in post-colonial countries. In the book I focused on Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa, including countries that were not traditional colonial states, such as Ethiopia.



    Read more:
    The untold story of how Africa’s flagship universities have advanced

    What made you write this book and why now?

    In the UK, where I live, we have seen a shift in the expectations placed upon universities.

    The “redbrick” universities, such as Birmingham and Liverpool, are a good example. They were founded in the 19th century to meet local needs. Then they developed strong global ambitions over the next hundred years, excelling in world-leading research and innovation.

    During the past couple of decades, the local question returned: what are you doing to serve your local community? The redbricks (and many others) have responded – nudged along by national policies and frameworks – with serious programmes of civic engagement. These include projects designed with communities, seconding staff into local planning organisations, and opening up their campuses to communities – from 5-a-side football pitches to photography exhibitions.

    The shift I witnessed in the UK, and mirrored in my work across Europe and Canada, made me wonder: has a similar shift, from a historic national mission to a local one, taken place for African universities?

    The question is timely. Societal challenges may be national or global in scale. But they need local knowledge and local partnerships to solve at the local level. This means universities working with local government, which is a key focus of my work. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has calculated that 100 of the 169 UN Sustainable Development Goal targets can only be achieved if local governments are involved. Universities can play an important supporting role.

    What did you find?

    It is clear that flagship universities’ local work is growing and will continue to grow. For instance, Addis Ababa University established a railway engineering centre to train engineers to maintain the city’s light rail transit system, with students employed by the Ethiopian Railway Corporation. The University of Ghana runs satellite campuses in all ten regional capitals. This allows it to reach remote areas and to establish a local presence in different regions.

    Successful projects often emerge from deep links with local communities. Ibadan has worked closely with a few communities over many decades. These “field laboratories” include a community health programme in the village of Ibarapa, which began in the early 1960s with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and technical support from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

    The programme has trained hundreds of medical students in community medicine through practical work in rural areas, while also improving health services and conducting research on health issues in the Ibarapa community. An example is studying and addressing neglected tropical diseases such as onchocerciasis (river blindness) and guinea worm.

    In 2020 the University of Ibadan signed a memorandum of understanding with the local government on the Ibarapa programme. Over half a century after it began, local partnerships continue to sustain the programme.

    However, a national focus continues to dominate at all ten institutions I studied. This is perhaps best illustrated by the University of Rwanda. Local engagement activity is secondary to the nation’s development strategy spearheaded by its Vision 2050, an ambitious effort to become an upper-middle income country in the next 25 years.

    There is some local activity, of course. Students provide health services to the community, staff run community workshops on informal housing, and there are plans to open model farms to showcase irrigation and agricultural mechanisation. But all of this ultimately serves the national vision.

    Rwanda is a small country, but this finding – of national priorities dominating at the expense of local programmes – was consistent across all the flagships I studied, in large countries like Nigeria as well as in other small countries like Mauritius and Namibia.

    What can other universities on the continent learn from your findings?

    Flagships are complex institutions, with rich histories and often complicated relationships with government. They are survivors, skilled at balancing multiple roles. There is much that other universities can learn from flagships, and that flagships can learn from each other – and more of these partnerships are needed.

    But one senior staff member at a flagship university told me that many African university heads

    feel rather oppressed by the narratives from higher education leaders in other parts of the world

    They were talking about international benchmarking, unequal research partnerships, and models of “best practice”. These constrain the local role of flagships, creating identikit institutions. The result is a race to local irrelevance. Relevance can only emerge from an approach that reflects the local and national context.

    Universities that capture the work they do locally, effectively communicate this, and can demonstrate how it is relevant to society, will be in a good place to chart their own path as a pillar of the nation.

    James Ransom 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. Africa’s flagship universities have a proud history – but are they serving local communities? – https://theconversation.com/africas-flagship-universities-have-a-proud-history-but-are-they-serving-local-communities-240813

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Cybersport reaches a new level: GUU Vice-Rector took part in a discussion of the future of online competitions

    Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

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

    On October 30, 2024, Vice-Rector of the State University of Management Vitaly Lapshenkov took part in a round table on the topic “Development of student eSports in the international arena”, which was held in the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

    The meeting participants were addressed with a welcoming speech by the President of the Russian Computer Sports Federation Dmitry Smith and the head of the working group under the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports “Development of High-Tech Sports in the Russian Federation” Amir Khamitov.

    Next, the floor was taken by the Vice-President of the Russian Computer Sports Federation, President of the Association “National Student League of Computer Sports” Alexey Shemyakin. Literally the other day, the first international competitions under the official name “Open Cyber-Sports Student Games for the Prizes of the Governor of Krasnodar Krai” ended in Sochi. Teams from 16 countries came to participate in the large-scale competitions. Alexey Shemyakin summed up the results of the tournament.

    Together with the Director of the Public Relations Department of the Russian Federation of Computer Sports Dmitry Tereshchenko, those gathered discussed the coverage of the international tournament, future work and the possibility of increasing the number of events held.

    Next to speak was Vice President of the Russian Federation of Computer Sports Oksana Gural, who spoke about the directions of international scientific research in the field of computer sports.

    At the end of the meeting, all participants of the round table discussed strengthening the position of the Russian Federation in the international arena in the field of student computer sports.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 10/30/2024

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Icymi: Manchin Attends The Thomas Orthopedic Hospital Grand Re-Opening, Ribbon -Cutting

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Joe Manchin
    October 30, 2024
    Charleston, WV – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) attended the grand re-opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for West Virginia University Health System’s (WVU Medicine) Thomas Orthopedic Hospital in Charleston.
    “WVU Medicine continues to be a leader in high-quality patient care and cutting-edge medical research,” said Senator Manchin. “This hospital is set to be at the forefront of orthopedic medicine, focused on bone and joint issues. I am certain all West Virginians will be able to receive quality, specialized treatment from experienced professionals using the latest medical technology. I look forward to returning to the hospital soon to hear all about its positive impacts on the community and the continued great work of everyone involved.”
    Photos from the event are available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SEC Announces New Members of Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee

    Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

    The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced four new members of the Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee. The new members were appointed to four-year terms and will join the 14 current Commission-appointed committee members.

    “I thank the new members for their willingness to serve on the Advisory Committee, which plays an important role in our work to facilitate capital formation for companies of every size,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “Small businesses employ nearly half of America’s workforce and make up more than 99 percent of America’s businesses. The new members named today understand this well, and I am pleased the SEC will benefit from their valuable experiences and insights.”

    The new Commission-appointed committee members are:

    • Jennifer Newton – Managing Attorney and Founder, StartSmart Counsel; Miami
    • Rose Standifer – Partner, Foley Hoag LLP; Denver
    • Wendy Stevens – Partner, Forvis Mazars LLP; New York
    • Emily Underwood – Clinical Professor of Law, Bluhm-Helfand Director of the Innovation Clinic, The University of Chicago Law School; Chicago

    In addition to the 14 appointed members, the current committee members include the SEC’s Small Business Advocate, and three non-voting members appointed by the SEC’s Investor Advocate, the North American Securities Administrators Association, and the Small Business Administration, respectively. The committee also has an observer appointed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

    The committee provides advice and recommendations to the Commission on rules, regulations, and policy matters relating to small businesses, including smaller public companies. Committee members represent a diverse spectrum of entrepreneurs, investors, and advisers who work with early-stage private companies and smaller public companies, including minority- and women-owned small businesses. Additional information about the committee, its members, and prior meeting materials is available on the committee webpage.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Scientists from the State University of Management took part in the International Conference on Sustainable Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex

    Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

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

    From October 29 to 30, the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Sustainable Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex: Innovations, Technologies, Education” was held at the Oryol State Agrarian University.

    At the event, scientists from the State University of Management presented the results of their research on current issues of sustainable development of the agro-industrial complex of our country – from the export of agricultural products under sanctions and the distribution of resources in multi-level logistics ecosystems to reverse engineering and digital transformation of the agro-industrial complex.

    The plenary session was opened by the rector of Oryol State Agrarian University Vladimir Masalov. The participants were also addressed with a welcoming speech by the Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly Altukhov, the State Duma deputy, Deputy Chairperson of the State Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education Ekaterina Kharchenko and the director of the Oryol regional branch of JSC Rosselkhozbank Mikhail Shikhman.

    At the plenary session, the co-chair of the conference organizing committee, Vice-Rector of the State University of Management Maria Karelina and research fellow of the Center for Management of Engineering Projects of the State University of Management Dmitry Rybakov presented the report “Digital platforms in the agro-industrial complex as elements of the infrastructure of sustainable development”.

    Young scientists from the State University of Management also took part in the conference: technician of the Reverse Engineering Laboratory Dmitry Taldykin and junior research fellow of the Scientific Research Coordination Department Nikita Loganov. At the sections, they presented reports on “Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Optimizing Technological Processes of Reverse Engineering in the Transport Industry” and “Digital Transformations in Managing Technological Processes of Reverse Engineering in the Transport Industry of the Russian Federation: Experience and Prospects.”

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 10/30/2024

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The Secret of Creativity: What is Needed for Industry Development

    Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –

    On the first day of the conference, four thematic sessions were held. The first was dedicated to creative cities. “This is a complex topic, and now in Russia it is very acute, very relevant, popular. In 2020, this was completely different, four years have changed everything. Our measurements show that creative industries are incredibly unevenly distributed across regions and cities and are concentrated in certain places. That is, they are very selective. This is very important knowledge, and of course, I want to understand what kind of cities and spaces are that attract the creative industry, and what their secret is,” shared the session moderator, Director Center “Russian Cluster Observatory” Evgeny Kutsenko, Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

    Head of Department “Creative Industries Research Laboratory” Victoria Boos, Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, National Research University Higher School of Economics, presented Rating of innovative attractiveness of world citieswith an analysis of the distribution of creative industries around the world.

    “The key feature of our rating is that it provides an information base for making management decisions in the field of urban management. Another feature is a truly unique system of indicators: we do not use municipal statistics, we do not use expert assessments, we use data from independent platforms that aggregate information about the best representatives of creative industries, that is, about the leaders of creative industries,” she said.

    The study included eight industries that together account for about 90% of the income of the entire creative sector in the world. These are cinema and animation, computer games, music, fashion, advertising and PR, architecture, industrial design and art, which includes literature, performing arts and contemporary art.

    The top 5 cities with the highest concentration of creative industry leaders include London, New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Paris. “If we look at this rating, we will see that in the top twenty there is parity between the East and the West, and in the top thirty there are more Western cities. Accordingly, we can say that the East is declaring itself as a full-fledged participant in the creative industries market,” Victoria Boos noted.

    At the same time, the study showed that the top five cities are distinguished by a very large gap from all other cities. “You shouldn’t think that mega-creative cities only do what they do, pull creative leaders away from other settlements. The fact is that these mega-creative cities develop themselves and create creative leaders themselves,” the speaker emphasized.

    The researchers also noted that over the past two years, the proportion between developed countries and the Global South in terms of the number of creative industry representatives has changed. Today, every tenth artist who has released the most downloaded music tracks is a representative of Latin America, while 150 of the most popular fashion brands, designers, and architectural firms are concentrated in the countries of North Africa and West Asia.

    Creative industries are also developing in small towns – they have their own special style of creativity. It turned out that in some industries, more than 5% of stars are concentrated in cities with a population of less than 250 thousand people.

    Over the past year, many cities have shown impressive dynamics, the speaker noted. For example, Dubai rose from 76th to 38th place, and Tokyo entered the top three. Victoria Boos emphasized that creative support measures are needed to develop creative industries. For example, a special economic zone for creative industries is being developed in Dubai. Similar zones have recently begun to appear and develop in China. In Australia, there are three professional associations in the field of architecture and sustainable construction. In Chile, localized music streaming services are developing. Korea subsidizes cable TV prices. India and Russia are creating film cities.

    Also speaking at the session were the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Creative Initiatives and Cultural Heritage Foundation (Kazakhstan) Dina Abdrakhmet, the co-founder and Chairman of the Expert Council of the Agency for Strategic Development “CENTER” Sergey Georgievsky and the Chairman of RuGBC Guy Ims.

    The second session was devoted to the management of creative industries in Russia, the third to strategic planning of creative industries and best global practices, and the fourth to education and skills in this area.

    On the second day of the session, October 31, the IV International Forum of Young Researchers of the Creative Economy will take place. The authors of scientific papers that have passed the competitive selection will present their reports.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –