Category: Education

MIL-OSI Canada: Health System Impact Fellows work to bring changes to our health systems
Source: Government of Canada News (2)

News release

Canadians deserve access to high-quality health care. To achieve this, improvements often begin with research that examines how health care services are organized, regulated, managed, financed, and delivered.

45 highly skilled researchers join health system organizations to help address pressing priorities and improve care for people in Canada

October 29, 2024 | Ottawa, Ontario | Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Canadians deserve access to high-quality health care. To achieve this, improvements often begin with research that examines how health care services are organized, regulated, managed, financed, and delivered.

Today, the Honorable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced an investment of over $4.3M to help transform Canada’s health systems through the Health System Impact Program. This funding comes from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and partners, Michael Smith Health Research BC and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé.

The Health System Impact Program focuses on health system transformation to ensure that people in Canada have access to the highest quality care. Through this initiative, PhD trainees, postdoctoral researchers and early-career researchers will collaborate with health organizations across the country to lead projects aimed at generating evidence to improve Canada’s health systems, services and policies. For the 2024 cycle, CIHR is supporting 25 PhD trainees and 20 postdoctoral researchers who are embedded in 34 health organizations and connected to 19 universities across Canada.

These researchers will address a variety of critical health system issues, including optimizing primary health care, improving quality in long-term care homes, supporting the health workforce, advancing equity in cancer care, leveraging digital health opportunities, predicting antimicrobial resistance using machine learning, mitigating the health impacts of climate change, ensuring cultural safety in health care, enhancing mental health services, and more.

Quotes

“I would like to congratulate the 2024 cohort of CIHR Health System Impact Fellows. It’s so exciting to see these future research leaders join health system organizations to help tackle pressing priorities and improve care for Canadians. Their dedication to evidence-informed health system improvement and improving access to care for all people in Canada is inspiring, and their skills will contribute to real-world solutions and stronger health systems.”

The Honourable Mark Holland
Minister of Health

“Each year, the contributions of Health System Impact Fellows invigorate our health systems with fresh insights and innovative solutions. It’s inspiring to see our next generation of health researchers thrive in this dynamic environment. They are not just advancing Learning Health Systems; they are helping to reshape the future of health care in Canada, ensuring it is more responsive, equitable, and driven by evidence.”

Dr. Tammy Clifford
Acting President, Canadian Institutes of Health Research

“Our long-standing partnership with CIHR on this fellowship is supporting researchers and strengthening evidence-informed policy throughout BC. The program equips PhD trainees and postdoctoral researchers to translate research into practice and drive positive outcomes in health care environments. That’s an important outcome — building both research and health system capacity.”

Dr. Bev Holmes
President & CEO, Michael Smith Health Research BC

Quick facts
- CIHR’s Health System Impact program began in 2017 and to date, 328 fellows (111 PhD trainees and 217 postdoctoral researchers) and 12 early-career researchers have been or are currently embedded within 139 health system organizations and connected to 25 universities.
- Through this program, fellows receive unparalleled mentorship from senior decision-makers from health system organizations and academic experts from across the country.
- The Health System Impact program is led by the CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research.
Associated links

Contacts

Matthew Kronberg
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Mark Holland
Minister of Health
343-552-5654

Media Relations
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
mediarelations@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

At the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) we know that research has the power to change lives. As Canada’s health research investment agency, we collaborate with partners and researchers to support the discoveries and innovations that improve our health and strengthen our health care system.

MIL OSI Canada News –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Biomedical Engineering Scientist Receives $1.5 Million General Medicine Grant

Source: US State of Connecticut

An accomplished bioengineering researcher at UConn’s College of Engineering (CoE) has received a $1.5 million National Institute of Health grant for his pioneering work in the field of computation-aided molecular design of DNA-inspired Janus Base Nanopieces (JBNps). These are a family of novel biomaterials that mimic DNA and are used in therapeutic and regenerative treatments for people with arthritis, cancer, and neurological diseases.

“JBNps have a distinct advantage for delivery into ‘hard-to-penetrate’ tissues such as articular cartilage, solid tumors, kidneys and the central nervous system,” says Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Yupeng Chen. “The impact in treatments will be significant.”

Chen is the principal investigator and grant recipient, and is studying the impact of manipulating Messenger RNA (mRNA), a molecule that carries the genetic instructions from DNA in the cell nucleus to the ribosomes in the cytoplasm, where those instructions are used to build proteins.

Essentially, Chen explains, mRNA acts like a “message carrier” to tell the cell which proteins to make.

“We will develop a novel delivery technology by manipulating the bio-interface properties of the DNA-inspired Janus Base Nanopieces,” Chen says. “JBNps are slimmer than conventional spherical particles, allowing for enhanced infiltration into tissue matrices and barriers.”

Messenger RNA, Chen adds, is the key ingredient in COVID-19 vaccines and anti-inflammatory drugs and offers the potential for myriad other applications. But there are numerous obstacles to overcome, he states. Unlike many chemical molecules or antibody proteins, mRNAs need to be delivered into cell cytoplasm to be functional. Various types of materials have been developed for successful intracellular delivery of small RNAs, but it is still a major challenge to achieve effective delivery of mRNAs at both cellular and systemic levels.

Yupeng Chen (photo by Christopher LaRosa)

Chen cites the study of arthritis as an example. Infiltrating articular cartilage, he says, poses a significant delivery challenge because its matrix has minuscule pore sizes. As a result, no disease-modifying drug exists to treat this condition. JBNps, he explains are smaller and more effectively shaped than the formulations currently being used. They are manufactured through the non-covalent assembly of Janus Bases, allowing researchers to control their formulations and properties by simply mixing different types of Janus Bases.

“For instance, we can use sidechain-modified Janus Bases for endosomal escape, zwitterion-modified ones for improved biodistribution, and unmodified Janus Bases as the basic building blocks for mRNA loading,” Chen says. “Additionally, focusing on molecule-linked Janus bases can be used for tissue targeting. In this way, JBNps can be easily tailored for a variety of purposes. We expect to develop sidechain-modified JBNps for the most effective mRNA delivery to treat cartilage diseases such as arthritis.”

Last year, Chen and a student team received international notoriety when NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) conducted an inflight, microgravity proof-of-concept study involving the fabrication of JBNps. During their experimentation, the astronauts communicated directly with Chen and some of his students via Axiom Space and Eascra Biotech as implementation and industry partners at their lab on the UConn campus in Storrs, Connecticut.

During the course of this four-year grant, Chen will be working with Dr. Ying Li from the University of Wisconsin, an expert in multiscale computational modeling and machine learning; and Dr. Harvey Lodish from MIT, who will provide expertise in cell and RNA biology and therapeutic development. Their proposal, he adds, is built on successful preliminary results and recent publication in high-impact journals such as in PNAS, Science Advances, Angewandte Chemie, ACS Nano, Advanced Functional Materials, Biomaterials, Computational Mechanics, and others.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Husky Back on Football Field Thanks to UConn Health Sports Medicine

Source: US State of Connecticut

Like most children in Germany, Alex Honig played soccer, but he fell in love with football. Following in the footsteps of his father, who played football in Germany, he moved onto flag football, then tackle around age 13. He was rated the No. 1 quarterback and overall player in Germany, and excelled for the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, one of the top American football youth teams in Germany.

His college career started at Texas Christian University (TCU) and in 2023 he transferred to UConn. He played tight end in the first two games of the 2023 season before he suffered an injury during a routine block at Georgia State, costing him the rest of the season.

Dr. Robert Arciero, Sports Medicine Division chief in UConn Health’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery and head orthopedic team physician at UConn, saw Honig when the team returned.

Dr. Robert Arciero, Sports Medicine Division chief in UConn Health’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery and head orthopedic team physician at UConn

“It was obvious on the physical exam that Honig tore the ligament holding the kneecap,” Arciero says. “He’s a big man and plays in a rough sport, where you hit people on purpose, so it became obvious, to get him back and have him not have a recurrent dislocating patella, that we needed to fix it by repairing the ligament. And in his case, augmenting it with a graph to make it stronger.”

The team physicians from UConn Health help maximize performance, prevent injuries and get UConn athletes back on the field or court after illness or injury.

Arciero explains that every individual athlete gets the same level of care, which includes a topflight training staff at UConn, where trainers are with the athletes every time they are on the court or field. When they get injured, the team physicians are on speed dial. In Storrs, the team physicians see the athletes once a week and are able to see an athlete within hours of an injury. At UConn Health, advanced imaging capabilities enable prompt MRIs and CT scans.

“Frankly our surgery center has some of the most experienced anesthesiologists, surgical techs, nurses, and staff, which is why I bring my athletes here,” says Arciero ” because I know I am going to give them the best shot I can. It all comes from a mindset and dedication, but then having all these pieces in place that can respond make it top notch.

“We get many people back to being active, but getting athletes back to the elite level at the same professional level is the thing that drives us.”

If you play sports, you are potentially going to get hurt. The team physicians rapidly evaluate, diagnose and put treatment into place whether it is nonsurgical, rehabilitative, or in-depth surgery.

“The goal: They are happy and can return to their sport at the same level,” Arciero says. “That’s the key.”

Alex Honig, UConn Football (Photo Credit: UConn Athletics)

When Honig was taken out of the game, he realized he had a long road to recovery.

“Dr. Arciero walked me through the injury and laid out what I needed to recover,” says Honig. “I never had surgery before, and he was really good at explaining everything to me, including the surgery and the recovery process.”

“You have a discussion. Some people would argue that you can fix this without an operation, and that would be applicable to someone who is sedentary, where you let the ligament try to heal on his own, but this does not define Alex, who works out every day and plays a collision sport. So, it became a discussion with him. I told him we could choose not to operate on it, but if we chose that route, it would become a recurrent problem,” explains Arciero.

Trust is crucial for team physicians and athletes, and in addition to reputation, Arciero says the other part of trust is face time.

“Being with the team, showing up early on a travel flight, talking to the kids and coaches, and balancing that with being like paint on the wall, because no one likes the team doctor,” Arciero says. “We are like the grim reaper: We usually have bad news, and the only time we have good news is when we tell them they can go back to play.

“It’s important to talk to them about their problems, they are pretty smart, they have a lot of resources, and they will challenge you, but you need to sit with them, look them in the eye and answer their questions, and really make an effort that they understand – that’s how you build trust. You also have to be able to bring the goods and have good outcomes.”

According to Honig, the first few days were tough. Using crutches, sleeping and moving around were hard. He had to relearn how to walk, and the rehab was different from what he was used to when working out with heavy weights.

Honig says he had lots of support, listened to his body and talked with the doctors regularly, including weekly check-ins with Arciero to make sure rehab was going well. Honig found it easy to set goals and work toward them.

“It’s scary, but following the guiding hands of the doctors and the trainers who have been here before and are supportive, their confidence is contagious, and you trust them,” says Honig.

He adds: “Football is unique: you practice and prepare all year and have 12 chances to play the game after preparing all year. It was important for me to find a way to support the team while focusing on rehab.”

By January he felt confident running again. By spring practice in March, he was cleared to practice and play in the spring game while wearing a brace.

“It felt good and got the excitement going again. Personally, I feel like I have developed and changed my perspective,” says Honig.

Honig is back on the field, playing well in what has become an exciting season for the football team. He feels faster and stronger this season.

“Nothing makes me happier to see the player back on the field, when you see them on the sideline coming back after an injury and they say, ‘It’s all you, doc.’ That’s all I need,” says Arciero. “That’s what keeps a sports physician taking care of athletes.”

UConn Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine has a long tradition of providing medical care for the UConn Huskies, professional sports teams, and other organizations, and is proud to help keep some of the world’s top athletes on the field, on the court, and in the game.

And the best news? You don’t have to be a Husky to be seen by a Husky. UConn Health believes that everyone deserves world-class orthopedic care whether you’re an elite athlete, weekend warrior, or you hurt your shoulder while mowing the lawn.

Learn more about UConn Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine or request an appointment with a doctor.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: AutoScheduler Adds Vice President of Customer Success to Reinforce Focus on Successful Customer Implementations

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AutoScheduler.AI, an innovative Warehouse Orchestration Platform and WMS accelerator, announces that Ian Johnston has joined the company as the Vice President of Customer Success. He will replace Stephen Zujkowski, who is retiring. Ian has over a decade of experience in supply chain operations, logistics management, and strategic leadership. He will use his expertise to help AutoScheduler’s customers gain value and success from deploying AutoScheduler solutions. He will be the face of success for all AutoScheduler’s customers, ensuring the talented implementation team continues delivering exceptional services and fostering true partnerships.

“As a leader within Amazon, Ian has demonstrated a deep understanding of operational planning and championed many technology implementations that enabled transformative changes within numerous operations,” says Keith Moore, CEO of AutoScheduler.AI. “His rich and diverse experience in leading and supporting innovation and a keen understanding of driving customer excellence make him a perfect fit for this pivotal role at AutoScheduler.AI.”

“I am looking forward to setting new benchmarks for excellence in customer success with the best project delivery experiences, clear communications, and robust customer relationships, enabling AutoScheduler.AI to be the market leader in warehouse orchestration,” says Ian Johnston, Vice President, Customer Success, AutoScheduler.AI. “I am dedicated to driving value for clients through our innovative solutions and aligning AutoScheduler’s capabilities with customer needs.”

As Vice President of Customer Success, Ian oversees the strategy, execution, and management of all aspects of customer deployment and satisfaction. He will ensure that customers derive maximum value from AutoScheduler, leading to improved fulfillment, better labor utilization, and lower costs. As the leader in the Customer Success organization, he will drive measurable positive business outcomes, customer satisfaction, retention, and expansion across the customer base.

Before joining AutoScheduler.AI, Ian served as Director of Supply Chain at Amazon, overseeing North America’s largest heavy bulky logistics network, which included managing demand forecasting, capacity management, and product development for the U.S. and Canada. Ian’s leadership contributed to significant advancements in operational efficiency, including the development of several novel planning products that enhanced forecast accuracy and capacity flexibility, reducing Amazon’s cost to serve and improving delivery speeds. Prior to Amazon, Ian served as a Marine Infantry Officer, where he led combat operations in Afghanistan and deterrence operations in Southeast Asia. He later served at the White House, supporting two administrations and several high-profile events.

Ian holds an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, a BA in Political Science with a minor in Spanish from The Citadel, and is actively pursuing a Master of Science in Real Estate at the University of San Diego.

About AutoScheduler.AI
AutoScheduler.AI orchestrates warehouse activities directly on top of your WMS, optimizing operations for peak performance. Developed alongside industry leaders like P&G and successfully deployed at prominent companies such as Pepsi, General Mills, and Unilever, our AI and Machine Learning platform seamlessly integrates with your existing systems. Focused on labor planning, inventory workflow, human-robotics interaction, and space utilization, we streamline operations, reducing travel and inventory handling while maximizing OTIF rates and labor efficiency. With prescriptive analytics driving insights, our clients harness the power to enhance efficiencies and generate value across their supply chains. Reach out to us at info@autoscheduler.ai for more information.

Contact:
Becky Boyd
MediaFirst PR
Becky@MediaFirst.Net
Cell: (404) 421-8497

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/199e4f06-1419-40e1-8665-b27f4eb199cd

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Four reasons weight-loss jabs alone won’t help get people back to work

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Lucie Nield, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics, Sheffield Hallam University

Weight-loss injectables don’t address the many core reasons for why weight gain and unemployment occur in the first place. oleschwander/ Shutterstock

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and health secretary Wes Streeting have recently discussed plans to trial weight-loss injections for around 250,000 people with obesity who are unemployed in a bid to get them back into work, ease pressure on the NHS and boost the economy.

Obesity is estimated to cost UK society around £35 billion annually. This is due to lower productivity and higher NHS treatment costs.

Around 26% of the English adult population (approximately 15 million) are considered obese. However, it’s not known what proportion of unemployed people are obese.

While weight-loss injections have proven to be very effective in helping people who are obese to lose weight and lower their risk of certain chronic diseases, there are many reasons why these drugs alone won’t help tackle obesity and unemployment rates in the UK.

1. Lack of capacity

The majority of UK people who are obese are likely to meet the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s eligibility criteria for weight-loss injections.

But prescribing these drugs is just one part of the equation. Eligible patients will require support from specialist services who provide guidance in making the appropriate lifestyle changes (such as to their diet) to successfully lose weight while on these drugs. This is crucial, as all of the weight-loss injection trials to date have involved a behaviour change component. This may potentially be key to the successful weight losses observed in these studies.

However, current demand for weight-loss services is already outstripping capacity. Nearly half of eligible patients in England are unable to get an appointment with a specialist team. Weight-loss injections can only be prescribed through such services currently. If the government is to roll out the proposed programme, they will need to rethink the way weight-loss services are delivered so all eligible patients can access support.

2. Won’t work for everyone

Weight-loss jabs don’t necessarily work for everyone. One study found that 9-15% of participants who took the drug tirzepatide (Mounjaro) did not lose clinically significant amounts of weight.

Weight-loss jabs may also cause intolerable side-effects for some. Trials have shown between 4-8% of participants couldn’t tolerate the side-effects, causing them to drop out of the study. Constipation, diarrhoea and nausea are some of the most commonly reported.

People with certain health conditions may be unable to use weight-loss injections – such as those with inflammatory bowel disease and pancreatitis. In such cases, weight-loss jabs may worsen symptoms or interact with the prescription drugs used to manage these conditions, increasing risk of harm.

There are many reasons why weight-loss jabs may not work for a person.
Douglas Cliff/ Shutterstock

Additionally, some people may not want to take an injection – whether that’s simply due to personal preference or even fear of needles.

3. Obesity is a complex issue

There are many complex factors that contribute to weight gain – such as opportunities for physical activity, access to healthy foods and levels of deprivation in a community. Prescribing weight-loss jabs to help people lose weight may not be effective long-term if the rest of these factors are not also addressed.

A more effective way of seeing significant, sustainable reductions in obesity levels across a population is by using a “whole systems approach”. This would address to the multiple environmental, social and economic factors that contribute to obesity.

Where whole systems approaches have been embedded in healthcare design and delivery, they have led to improvements in services and patient outcomes – including obesity-related metrics (such as patients making healthier food choices and being more active).

However, one limitation to whole systems approaches is challenges in measuring impact. This can reduce political will to implement these approaches.

4. Obesity stigma

Obesity stigma in the workplace is a huge barrier to satisfactory employment and leads to poor wellbeing and burnout.

Obesity stigma in the workplace perpetuates harmful weight-based stereotypes that overweight and obese people are lazy, unsuccessful, unintelligent and lack willpower. As a result, people with obesity are more likely to be in insecure and lower-paid jobs than those who may be considered of a healthy weight.

It’s also well-evidenced that regular exposure to stigmatising, isolating and degrading prejudices has long-term consequences on physical and mental health – and may lead to problems such as binge eating and depression.This can lead to a loss of productivity, absenteeism and loneliness.

Prescribing weight-loss jabs to help a person lose weight doesn’t address the core reasons for why they may have been absent from work or unemployed in the first place. Nor does it help to address the mental health struggles they may still harbour as a result of discrimination they might have experienced.

5. Barriers to employment

Weight loss alone does not begin to address the complex physical and mental health reasons for why a person might be unemployed. A person may also be unemployed due to factors such as caring responsibilities or disability.

Current prescribing restrictions also limit some injections to a maximum of 24 months (although further trials are ongoing). This means that even if a person has successfully lost weight, they may regain that weight again when they stop using the drug. This could mean any health problems they experienced prior to losing weight (and which may have prevented them from being in employment) could reemerge.

There are better ways of getting people back into work than prescribing weight-loss jabs. Flexible working approaches, for instance, may make it easier for someone who is unemployed due to caring responsibilities or health problems to transition back into employment. Supportive policies and workplace wellbeing programmes may be a more cost-effective way of helping people to overcome barriers, improve their health and transition back into work.

Lucie Nield has received funding from The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) for evaluation of children’s weight management services.

Lucie Nield sits on the Board of Trustees for Darnall Wellbeing (a local community service organisation).

– ref. Four reasons weight-loss jabs alone won’t help get people back to work – https://theconversation.com/four-reasons-weight-loss-jabs-alone-wont-help-get-people-back-to-work-241835

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Humans evolved to share beds – how your sleeping companions may affect you now

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Goffredina Spanò, Lecturer in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Kingston University

Jacob Lund/Shutterstock

Recent research on animal sleep behaviour has revealed that sleep is influenced by the animals around them. Olive baboons, for instance, sleep less as group sizes increase, while mice can synchronise their rapid eye movement (REM) cycles.

In western society, many people expect to sleep alone, if not with a romantic partner. But as with other group-living animals, human co-sleeping is common, despite some cultural and age-related variation. And in many cultures, bedsharing with a relative is considered typical.

Apart from western countries, caregiver-infant co-sleeping is common, with rates as high as 60-100% in parts of South America, Asia and Africa.

Despite its prevalence, infant co-sleeping is controversial. Some western perspectives, that value self-reliance, argue that sleeping alone promotes self-soothing when the baby wakes in the night. But evolutionary scientists argue that co-sleeping has been important to help keep infants warm and safe throughout human existence.

Many cultures do not expect babies to self-soothe when they wake in the night and see night wakings as a normal part of breastfeeding and development.

Concerns about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids) have often led paediatricians to discourage bed-sharing. However, when studies control for other Sids risk factors including unsafe sleeping surfaces, Sids risk does not seem to differ statistically between co-sleeping and solitary sleeping infants.

This may be one reason why agencies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the NHS either recommend that infants “sleep in the parents’ room, close to the parents’ bed, but on a separate surface,” or, if bedsharing, to make sure that the infant “sleeps on a firm, flat mattress” without pillows and duvets, rather than discouraging co-sleeping altogether.

Researchers don’t yet know whether co-sleeping causes differences in sleep or, whether co-sleeping happens because of these differences. However, experiments in the 1990s suggested that co-sleeping can encourage more sustained and frequent bouts of breastfeeding. Using sensors to measure brain activity, this research also suggested that infants’ and caregivers’ sleep may be lighter during co-sleeping. But researchers speculated that this lighter sleep may actually help protect against Sids by providing infants more opportunities to rouse from sleep and develop better control over their respiratory system.

Other advocates believe that co-sleeping benefits infants’ emotional and mental health by promoting parent-child bonding and aiding infants’ stress hormone regulation. However, current data is inconclusive, with most studies showing mixed findings or no differences between co-sleepers and solitary sleepers with respect to short and long-term mental health.

Co-sleeping in childhood

Childhood co-sleeping past infancy is also fairly common according to worldwide surveys. A 2010 survey of over 7,000 UK families found 6% of children were constant bedsharers up to at least four years old.

Some families adopt co-sleeping in response to their child having trouble sleeping. But child-parent bedsharing in many countries, including some western countries like Sweden where children often co-sleep with parents until school age, is viewed culturally as part of a nurturing environment.

It’s normal for children to bedshare in many parts of the world.
Yuri A/ Shutterstock

It is also common for siblings to share a room or even a bed. A 2021 US study found that over 36% of young children aged three to five years bedshared in some form overnight, whether with caregivers, siblings, pets or some combination. Co-sleeping decreases but is still present among older children, with up to 13.8% of co-sleeping parents in Australia, the UK and other countries reporting that their child was between five and 12 years old when they engaged in co-sleeping.

Two recent US studies using wrist-worn actigraphs (motion sensors) to track sleep indicated that kids who bedshare may have shorter sleep durations than children who sleep alone. But this shorter sleep duration is not explained by greater disruption during sleep. Instead, bedsharing children may lose sleep by going to bed later than solitary sleepers.

The benefits and downsides of co-sleeping may also differ in children with conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, mental health disorders and chronic illnesses. These children may experience heightened anxiety, sensory sensitivities and physical discomfort that make falling and staying asleep difficult. For them, co-sleeping can provide reassurance.

Adults sharing beds

According to a 2018 survey from the US National Sleep Foundation, 80-89% of adults who live with their significant other share a bed with them. Adult bedsharing has shifted over time from pre-industrial communal arrangements, including whole families and other household guests, to solo sleeping in response to hygiene concerns as germ theory became accepted.

Many couples find that bedsharing boosts their sense of closeness. Research shows that bedsharing with your partner can lead to longer sleep times and a feeling of better sleep overall.

Bedsharing couples also often get into sync with each other’s sleep stages, which can enhance that feeling of intimacy. However, it’s not all rosy. Some studies indicate that females in heterosexual relationships may struggle more with sleep quality when bedsharing, as they can be more easily disturbed by their male partner’s movements. Also, bedsharers can have less deep sleep than when sleeping alone, even though they feel like their sleep is better together.

Many questions about co-sleeping remain unanswered. For instance, we don’t fully understand the developmental effects of co-sleeping on children, or the benefits of co-sleeping for adults beyond female-male romantic partners. But, some work suggests that co-sleeping can comfort us, similar to other forms of social contact, and help to enhance physical synchrony between parents and children.

Co-sleeping doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all answer. But remember that western norms aren’t necessarily the ones we have evolved with. So consider factors such as sleep disorders, health and age in your decision to co-sleep, rather than what everyone else is doing.

Gina Mason receives funding from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation (grant #334-BS-24). The views expressed herein are her own, and do not represent the official views of the Academy or any other professional organization with which she is affiliated.

Goffredina Spanò 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. Humans evolved to share beds – how your sleeping companions may affect you now – https://theconversation.com/humans-evolved-to-share-beds-how-your-sleeping-companions-may-affect-you-now-241803

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: New NASA Instrument for Studying Snowpack Completes Airborne Testing

Source: NASA

The Rocky Mountains in Colorado, as seen from the International Space Station. Snowmelt from the mountainous western United States is an essential natural resource, making up as much as 75% of some states’ annual freshwater supply.

Summer heat has significant effects in the mountainous regions of the western United States. Melted snow washes from snowy peaks into the rivers, reservoirs, and streams that supply millions of Americans with freshwater—as much as 75% of the annual freshwater supply for some states.

But as climate change brings winter temperatures to new highs, these summer rushes of freshwater can sometimes slow to a trickle.

“The runoff supports cities most people wouldn’t expect,” explained Chris Derksen, a glaciologist and Research Scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. “Big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles get water from snowmelt.”

To forecast snowmelt with greater accuracy, NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) and a team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, are developing SNOWWI, a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar that could one day be the cornerstone of future missions dedicated to measuring snow mass on a global scale – something the science community lacks.

SNOWWI aims to fill this technology gap. In January and March 2024, the SNOWWI research team passed a key milestone, flying their prototype for the first time aboard a small, twin-engine aircraft in Grand Mesa, Colorado, and gathering useful data on the area’s winter snowfields.

“I’d say the big development is that we’ve gone from pieces of hardware in a lab to something that makes meaningful data,” explained Paul Siqueira, professor of engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and principal investigator for SNOWWI.

SNOWWI stands for Snow Water-equivalent Wide Swath Interferometer and Scatterometer. The instrument probes snowpack with two Ku-band radar signals: a high-frequency signal that interacts with individual snow grains, and a low-frequency signal that passes through the snowpack to the ground.

The high-frequency signal gives researchers a clear look at the consistency of the snowpack, while the low-frequency signal helps researchers determine its total depth.

“Having two frequencies allows us to better separate the influence of the snow microstructure from the influence of the snow depth,” said Derksen, who participated in the Grand Mesa field campaign. “One frequency is good, two frequencies are better.”

The SNOWWI team in Grand Mesa, preparing to flight test their instrument. From an altitude of 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), SNOWWI can map 100 square kilometers (about 38 square miles) in just 30 minutes.

As both of those scattered signals interact with the snowpack and bounce back towards the instrument, they lose energy. SNOWWI measures that lost energy, and researchers later correlate those losses to features within the snowpack, especially its depth, density, and mass.

From an airborne platform with an altitude of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers), SNOWWI could map 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) of snowy terrain in just 30 minutes. From space, SNOWWI’s coverage would be even greater. Siqueira is working with Capella Space to develop a space-ready SNOWWI for satellite missions.

But there’s still much work to be done before SNOWWI visits space. Siqueira plans to lead another field campaign, this time in the mountains of Idaho. Grand Mesa is relatively flat, and Siqueira wants to see how well SNOWWI can measure snowpack tucked in the folds of complex, asymmetrical terrain.

For Derksen, who spends much of his time quantifying the freshwater content of snowpack in Canada, having a reliable database of global snowpack measurements would be game-changing.

“Snowmelt is money. It has intrinsic economic value,” he said. “If you want your salmon to run in mountain streams in the spring, you must have snowmelt. But unlike other natural resources, at this time, we really can’t monitor it very well.”

For information about opportunities to collaborate with NASA on novel, Earth-observing instruments, see ESTO’s catalog of open solicitations with its Instrument Incubator Program here.

Project Leads: Dr. Paul Siqueira, University of Massachusetts (Principal Investigator); Hans-Peter Marshall, University of Idaho (Co-Investigator)

Sponsoring Organizations: NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), Instrument Incubator Program (IIP)

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Strengthened support to victims of prostitution and easier access to telephone help lines for victims of violence

Source: Government of Sweden

In its 2025 Budget Bill, the Government is presenting a range of initiatives to tackle men’s violence against women. The Government intends to propose strengthening support to victims of prostitution, and to allocate SEK 10 million for this purpose in 2025. The Government also intends to propose reinforcements to national telephone help lines for victims of violence, with the aim of preventing and combating men’s violence against women, intimate partner violence, honour-based violence and oppression, and prostitution and human trafficking. It is therefore proposed that the National Centre for Knowledge on Men’s Violence Against Women (NCK) at Uppsala University receive an additional SEK 7 million in 2025. The aim is to increase the national help lines’ response rate.

“Efforts to prevent and combat men’s violence against women, intimate partner violence and honour-based violence and oppression are top priorities for the Government and the parties cooperating with it. That’s why we want to see an increase in support to people who are victims of prostitution, a highly vulnerable group of people. We also want to continue increasing support to the national phone help lines for victims of violence so that response rates can be improved. In order to combat violence and oppression, it is important that victims of violence can get through to the help lines,” says Minister for Gender Equality and Working Life Paulina Brandberg.

“Displaced women are especially vulnerable to exploitation and are at risk of being forced into prostitution. Efforts to combat human trafficking are taking place on a broad front, of which an important part is supporting and helping those who are vulnerable,” says former Minister for Migration Maria Malmer Stenergard.

“Women who are subjected to violence, abuse and coercive control must be given the support they need. This Government is investing heavily in combating the oppression of women, regardless of which form it takes,” says gender equality spokesperson Camilla Rinaldo Miller (Christian Democrats).

“These initiatives are important steps in ensuring that no victim of violence is left on their own. The Sweden Democrats and the Government take these issues seriously and will continue working to ensure that every voice seeking help is heard,” says gender equality spokesperson Michael Rubbestad (Sweden Democrats).

Strengthened support to victims of prostitution

In the Budget Bill for 2025, the Government intends to propose a reinforcement of SEK 10 million in support to victims of prostitution in 2025. The Government also intends to propose a reinforcement of SEK 5 million in support to victims of prostitution in 2026. The proposal is based on an agreement between the Government and the Sweden Democrats.

It is a priority that adults who want to leave prostitution or who have been trafficked for sexual purposes receive the protection, support and help they need, and that no children are subjected to sexual exploitation or human trafficking.

In December 2023, the Government received the report Ut ur utsatthet (‘Out of vulnerability’ – Swedish Government Official Report 2023:97) from the Inquiry on an Exit Programme for Victims of Prostitution. The report is being processed by the Government Offices.

Strengthening national help lines for victims of violence

NCK operates help lines for women, men and trans people. NCK is implementing this help line on behalf of the National Centre against Honour-related violence and oppression.

The telephone help lines are under a lot of pressure. Currently, 16 per cent of callers to the women’s help line do not even get in the queue, because the lines are so busy and the queue is full. 31 per cent of those phoning the women’s help line, 44 per cent of those calling the men’s help line, and 47 per cent of those calling the help line for trans people hang up before their call is taken. Particularly in the evening and at night, many people hang up before they get through to the front of the queue.

In the Budget Bill for 2025, the Government intends to propose an additional SEK 7 million per year to the help lines in 2025–2027. The proposal is based on an agreement between the Government and the Sweden Democrats. NCK also runs the ‘Right to choose’ (Rätt att välja) help line, a pilot project help line for people who have questions about, or who are being subjected to, honour-based violence and oppression.

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Shaheen Leads Roundtable on Youth Substance Misuse Prevention in Claremont, Visits Hypertherm to Discuss Workforce Development, Continues “Invest in NH Tour” With Visit to Schaefer Center for Health Sciences at Colby-Sawyer College Nursing School

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen

(Claremont, NH) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) led a roundtable in Claremont on substance misuse prevention with Youth CAN leadership and community members. She then visited Hypertherm in Lebanon to discuss workforce challenges, housing and child care. Later, Shaheen continued her “Invest in NH Tour” with a visit to the Schaefer Center for Health Sciences at the Colby-Sawyer College Nursing School, which she secured funding to build. Photos from today’s events can be found here.

In Claremont, Shaheen led a roundtable with the Youth CAN coalition leadership team and community partners to discuss the organization’s work to prevent youth substance misuse in the Claremont and Newport area. Youth CAN is part of the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Program which provides grants to local community coalitions to address the youth substance use disorder crisis.

“It is crucial that we reach children as early as possible to educate them about the dangers of substance misuse, and one of our most effective tools to do that is the Drug-Free Communities Program, said Senator Shaheen. “I’ve strongly advocated for the program and was happy to meet with Claremont and Newport’s coalition and discuss their critical work to prevent substance misuse.”

Shaheen has spearheaded crucial legislation and funding to stem the opioid epidemic, including to support the DFC Program. Shaheen recently introduced the Keeping Drugs Out of Schools Act to establish a new grant program that allows DFC coalitions to partner with schools to provide resources educating students about the dangers of drug use.

Shaheen then visited Hypertherm, an employee-owned manufacturer of cutting products and software, to tour its facility and discuss the company’s in-house technical training program for workforce development, as well as engagement with Vital Communities’ Corporate Council to address regional housing and child care challenges. Vital Communities’ Corporate Council collaborates with Upper Valley employers to help solve the challenges they’re facing.

“Many Granite State businesses, like Hypertherm in Lebanon, face complex barriers to recruiting and retaining a workforce,” said Senator Shaheen. “I was pleased to visit Hypertherm to learn more about the manufacturer’s innovative approach to workforce development and their collaboration with Vital Communities as well as discuss how Congress can continue help New Hampshire businesses address housing and child care challenges.”

Senator Shaheen has long supported programs that support workforce development and increase opportunities and growth for New Hampshire businesses, including by tackling New Hampshire’s housing affordability crisis and the child care crisis. Recently, Shaheen joined Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su at A Place to Grow to host a roundtable discussion at the facility to discuss the first U.S. Department of Labor approved apprenticeship program for early childhood education operations managers and a new report emphasizing the importance of care workers.

Later, as part of her “Invest in NH Tour”, Shaheen visited the Schaefer Center for Health Sciences at Colby-Sawyer College to discuss its new nursing and health sciences facility, which is funded in part by Congressionally Directed Spending. Shaheen secured $1.5 million in the Fiscal Year 2022 government funding legislation to construct the new building and to help address critical health care workforce needs by training the next generation of nurses.

“As health care workforce shortages continue to impact our state, I was glad to visit and tour the Schaefer Center for Health Sciences at Colby-Sawyer College where they’re training the next generation of nurses,” said Senator Shaheen. “I secured funding to help construct the building and was glad to learn more about how the program is working to fill desperately needed nursing positions in the Granite State.”

Senator Shaheen has spearheaded numerous efforts in the Senate in support of New Hampshire’s health care workforce. During negotiations surrounding the American Rescue Plan Act, Shaheen helped steer efforts to increase funding for the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) to ensure hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers on the frontlines had the support they needed to keep their doors open and continue to care for patients. As a senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Shaheen secured $17,419,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending in the FY 2024 government funding legislation to support health care and education needs in the Granite State.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Monica Pasillas Appointed IAM Grand Lodge Auditor

Source: US GOIAM Union

IAM General Secretary-Treasurer Dora Cervantes has appointed longtime IAM activist Monica Pasillas as a Grand Lodge Auditor, effective Oct. 1, 2024.

Pasillas, a 13-year IAM member, initiated into IAM Chicago Local 2339O in 2011 as an ExpressJet flight attendant. She later transferred to Newark Local 2339N. She had taken on leadership roles in both locals including conductor sentinel, recording secretary, grievance representative and secretary-treasurer. In these capacities, she effectively advocated for the needs of members, played an integral role in ensuring their rights were upheld, participated in organizing and strike campaigns, and served on the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) Event Review Committee.

“Monica is as well-rounded an IAM activist as we have in our organization,” said IAM General Secretary-Treasurer Dora Cervantes. “She has a tireless commitment to serving our membership, and will be a huge help in ensuring the safe stewardship of our membership’s resources.”

Pasillas, a fluent Spanish speaker with proficiency in French, expanded her leadership skills with her involvement in the Spanish Leadership at the IAM’s Winpsinger Center, where she helped promote education and support for Spanish-speaking members.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Monica into her role as a Grand Lodge Auditor,” said Paul Kendall, IAM Assistant Secretary to the General Secretary-Treasurer. “Our Grand Lodge Auditing Team continues to adapt to the needs of our membership and assist every local across North America.”

In 2018, Pasillas transitioned to the National IAM Benefit Trust Fund (BTF) as an education representative, gaining valuable insights into the health and welfare needs of the participants. The following year, she joined the General Secretary-Treasurer’s Office as an administrative staff secretary, where she has held key roles in the Central Files Department, Pension Department, and currently, the Auditing Department.

“Monica brings a unique skill set and experience level to her new role as a Grand Lodge Auditor,” said Bryan Pinette, IAM Special Assistant to the General Secretary-Treasurer. “Our members will continue to be well-served by her determination to defend and protect our organization and the causes we care about.”

Pasillas holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and sciences with a concentration in commercial French studies and supporting coursework in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a first-generation Mexican American growing up in Chicago’s northwest suburbs, Pasillas developed a strong sense of community and resilience. With a focus on empowering others by providing them with the resources and tools they need to thrive in their roles, she will continue to champion the voices of those like her, ensuring a bright future for all.

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MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: The ancient Irish get far too much credit for Halloween

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Lisa Bitel, Dean’s Professor of Religion & Professor of History, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

The Celtic festival of Samhain celebrates a time of year when the division between Earth and the otherworld collapses, allowing spirits to pass through. Matt Cardy/Getty Images

This time of year, I often run across articles proclaiming Halloween a modern form of the pagan Irish holiday of Samhain – pronounced SAW-en. But as a historian of Ireland and its medieval literature, I can tell you: Samhain is Irish. Halloween isn’t.

The Irish often get credit – or blame – for the bonfires, pranksters, witches, jack-o’-lanterns and beggars who wander from house to house, threatening tricks and soliciting treats.

The first professional 19th-century folklorists were the ones who created a through line from Samhain to Halloween. Oxford University’s John Rhys and James Frazer of the University of Cambridge were keen to find the origins of their national cultures.

They observed lingering customs in rural areas of Britain and Ireland and searched medieval texts for evidence that these practices and beliefs had ancient pagan roots. They mixed stories of magic and paganism with harvest festivals and whispers of human sacrifice, and you can still find echoes of their outdated theories on websites.

But the Halloween we celebrate today has more to do with the English, a ninth-century pope and America’s obsession with consumerism.

A changing of the seasons

For two millennia, Samhain, the night of Oct. 31, has marked the turn from summer to winter on the Irish calendar. It was one of four seasonal signposts in agricultural and pastoral societies.

After Samhain, people brought the animals inside as refuge from the long, cold nights of winter. Imbolc, which is on Feb. 1, marked the beginning of the lambing season, followed by spring planting. Beltaine signaled the start of mating season for humans and beasts alike on May 1, and Lughnasadh kicked off the harvest on Aug. 1.

But whatever the ancient Irish did on Oct. 31 is lost to scholars because there’s almost no evidence of their pagan traditions except legends written by churchmen around 800 A.D., about 400 years after the Irish started turning Christian. Although they wrote about the adventures of their ancestors, churchmen could only imagine the pagan ways that had disappeared.

A neopagan celebration of Samhain in October 2021.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

An otherworld more utopian than terrifying

These stories about the pagan past told of Irish kings holding annual weeklong feasts, markets and games at Samhain. The day ended early in northwestern Europe, before 5 p.m., and winter nights were long. After sundown, people went inside to eat, drink and listen to storytellers.

The stories did not link Samhain with death and horror. But they did treat Samhain as a night of magic, when the otherworld – what, in Irish, was known as the “sí” – opened its portals to mortals. One tale, “The Adventure of Nera,” warned that if you went out on Samhain Eve, you might meet dead men or warriors from the sí, or you might unknowingly wander into the otherworld.

When Nera went out on a dare, he met a thirsty corpse in search of drink and unwittingly followed warriors through a portal into the otherworld. But instead of ghosts and terror, Nera found love. He ended up marrying a “ban sídh” – pronounced “BAN-shee” – an otherworldly woman. But here’s the medieval twist to the tale: He lived happily ever after in this otherworld with his family and farm.

The Irish otherworld was no hell, either. In medieval tales, it is a sunny place in perpetual spring. Everyone who lives there is beautiful, powerful, immortal and blond. They have good teeth. The rivers flow with mead and wine, and food appears on command. No sexual act is a sin. The houses sparkle with gems and precious metals. Even the horses are perfect.

Clampdown on pagan customs

The link between Oct. 31, ghosts and devils was really the pope’s fault.

In 834, Pope Gregory IV decreed Nov. 1 the day for celebrating all Christian saints. In English, the feast day became All Hallows Day. The night before – Oct. 31 – became known as All Hallows Eve.

Some modern interpretations insist that Pope Gregory created All Hallows Day to quell pagan celebrations of Samhain. But Gregory knew nothing of ancient Irish seasonal holidays. In reality, he probably did it because everyone celebrated All Saints on different days and, like other Popes, Gregory sought to consolidate and control the liturgical calendar.

In the later Middle Ages, All Hallows Eve emerged as a popular celebration of the saints. People went to church and prayed to the saints for favors and blessings. Afterward, they went home to feast. Then, on Nov. 2, they celebrated All Souls’ Day by praying for the souls of their lost loved ones, hoping that prayers would help their dead relatives out of purgatory and into heaven.

But in the 16th century, the Protestant rulers of Britain and Ireland quashed saints’ feast days, because praying to saints seemed idolatrous. Protestant ministers did their best to eliminate popular customs of the early November holidays, such as candle-lit processions and harvest bonfires.

In the minds of ministers, these customs smacked of heathenism.

A mishmash of traditions

Our Halloween of costumed beggars and leering jack-o’-lanterns descends from this mess of traditions, storytelling and antiquarianism.

Like our ancestors, we constantly remake our most important holidays to suit current culture.

Jack-o’-lanterns are neither ancient nor Irish. One of the earliest references is an 18th-century account of an eponymous Jack, who tricked the devil one too many times and was condemned to wander the world forever.

Supposedly, Jack, or whatever the hero was called, carved a turnip and stuck a candle in it as his lantern. But the custom of carving turnips in early November probably originated in England with celebrations of All Saints’ Day and another holiday, Guy Fawkes Day on Nov. 5, with its bonfires and fireworks, and it spread from there.

Guy Fawkes Day, an annual celebration in Great Britain, features fireworks and bonfires and is observed on Nov. 5.
Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images

As for ancient bonfires, the Irish and Britons built them to celebrate Beltaine, but not Samhain – at least, not according to the medieval tales.

In 19th-century Ireland, All Hallows Eve was a time for communal suppers, games like bobbing for apples and celebrating the magic of courtship. For instance, girls tried to peel apples in one long peel; then they examined the peels to see what letters they resembled – the initials of their future husbands’ names. Boys crept out of the gathering, despite warnings, to make mischief, taking off farm gates or stealing cabbages and hurling them at the neighbors’ doors.

Halloween with an American sheen

Across the Atlantic, these customs first appeared in the mid-19th century, when the Irish, English and many other immigrant groups brought their holidays to the U.S.

In medieval Scotland, “guisers” were people who dressed in disguise and begged for “soul cakes” on All Souls Day. These guisers probably became the costumed children who threatened – and sometimes perpetrated – mischief unless given treats. Meanwhile, carved turnips became jack-o’-lanterns, since pumpkins were plentiful in North America – and easier to carve.

Like Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter, Halloween eventually became a feast of consumerism. Companies mass-produced costumes, paper decorations and packaged candy. People in Britain and Ireland blamed the Americans for the spread of modern Halloween and its customs. British schools even tried to quash the holiday in the 1990s because of its disorderly and demonic connotations.

The only real remnant of Samhain in Halloween is the date. Nowadays, no one expects to stumble into a romance in the sí. Only those drawn to the ancient Celtic past sense the numinous opening of the otherworld at Samhain.

But who’s to say which reality prevails when the portals swing open in the dark of Oct. 31?

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

– ref. The ancient Irish get far too much credit for Halloween – https://theconversation.com/the-ancient-irish-get-far-too-much-credit-for-halloween-239801

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: SPbGASU took part in a conference on fire-safe construction

Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering –

The International Scientific and Practical Conference “Fire-Safe Construction” was held at the St. Petersburg University of the State Fire Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia at the Technopark of Science and High Technologies. The event was held as part of the forum “Security Service in Russia: Experience, Problems, Prospects” and brought together leading industry experts, representatives of government agencies, scientific institutions and specialized organizations to discuss current issues in the field of fire-safe construction.

The conference brought together representatives of specialized organizations, the scientific community, and the public sector. Employees of government bodies, including representatives of the Construction Committee of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, delivered welcoming remarks, emphasizing the importance of complying with fire safety standards to protect citizens and infrastructure.

The delegation of SPbGASU included Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Andrey Nikulin, who delivered a welcoming speech at the opening of the session, Head of the Department of Construction Organization Roman Motylev, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering for Research, Associate Professor of the Department of Architectural and Civil Engineering Structures Olga Pastukh, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering for Career Guidance, Associate Professor of the Department of Technosphere Safety Alexander Glukhanov and representatives of the Department of Metal and Wooden Structures: Professor, Doctor of Technical Sciences Alexander Chernykh and Associate Professor Stefania Mironova, who took an active part in the scientific discussion. Colleagues shared their experience and research in the field of fire safety both in labor protection in construction and during construction, testing of various construction materials for the construction of buildings and structures, focusing on personnel training and the implementation of advanced safety standards.

As part of the section “Changes in legislation and new fire safety requirements”, Andrey Nikulin and Alexander Glukhanov presented a report “Training of personnel in the field of fire safety in construction. Problems and prospects”. In his speech, the dean emphasized that improving the quality of training specialists and strengthening the culture of fire safety is possible only with the active participation of mature, socially responsible businesses in the educational process. He noted that such interaction contributes to the development of high standards of fire safety at construction and operational sites, and also lays down important professional skills for future specialists.

The conference became a platform for presenting the latest approaches to technical regulation, innovative materials and technologies aimed at preventing fires in the construction industry. Thus, the participants discussed expert analysis of existing standards, presented developments of materials with reduced flammability and new methods of automated fire extinguishing systems. One of the reports was devoted to the use of nanotechnology to create environmentally friendly, fire-resistant materials, as well as computer modeling methods for assessing the effectiveness of fire prevention measures.

The conference concluded with a resolution containing recommendations for improving safety in the construction industry and calling for an update of fire safety standards. Participants noted the importance of government support, as well as the interest of business and educational institutions in the further development of a fire safety culture.

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 –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Climate change is making it harder for people to get the care they need

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Maria S. Floro, Professor Emerita of Economics, American University

The world is witnessing the consequences of climate change: long-lasting changes in temperature and rainfall, and more intense and frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves, hurricanes, typhoons, flooding and drought. All make it harder for families and communities to meet their care needs.

Climate change affects care systems in various ways. First, sudden illnesses and unexpected disabilities heighten the need for care. Second, it reduces access to important inputs for care such as water, food and safe shelter. Third, it can damage physical and social care infrastructures.

It can also lead to breakdowns of traditional units of caregiving such as households and communities. And it creates new situations of need with the increase in displaced person settlements and refugee camps.

Climate change creates sudden spikes in the demand for care, and serious challenges to meeting the growing need for care. All this has immediate and long lasting effects on human well-being.

The size of the current unmet care needs throughout the world is substantial. In childcare alone, about 23% of children worldwide – nearly 350 million – need childcare but do not have it. Families in low- and lower-middle-income countries are the most in need.

Similarly, as the world’s population ages rapidly, only a small proportion of the elderly who need assistance are able to use formal care (in an institution or paid homecare). Most are cared for by family members or other unpaid caregivers. Much of this unpaid care and formal care work is provided by women and girls.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world struggle to get healthcare. Expansion of access to essential health services has slowed compared to pre-2015 . And healthcare costs still create financial hardship.

Without comprehensive public and global support for care provision and the integration of care in the climate agenda, unmet care needs will only grow and inequalities will widen.

Impact

Climate change interacts with human health in complex ways. Its impact is highly uneven across populations. It depends on geographical region, income, education, gender roles, social norms, level of development, and the institutional capacity and accessibility of health systems.

In 2018-22, Africa experienced the biggest increase in the heat-related mortality rate since 2000-05. This is not surprising as the continent has more frequent health-threatening temperatures than ever before and a growing population of people older than 65.

Africa is also the region most affected by droughts in 2013-22, with 64% of its land area affected by at least one month of extreme drought per year on average. It was followed by Oceania (55% of its land area) and South and Central America (53%).

Scientific evidence also points to increases in health inequalities caused by climate change. The health effects of climate change are not uniformly felt by different population groups.

Exposure, severity of impact, and ability of individuals to recover depend on a variety of factors. Physiological characteristics, income, education, type of occupation, location, social norms and health systems are some of them.

For example, older people and young children face the greatest health risks from high temperatures.

There is also evidence of the disproportionate effect of climate change on the health of people living in poverty and those who belong to disadvantaged groups.

Women of lower social and economic status and with less education are more vulnerable to heat stress compared to women in wealthier households and with higher education or social status. They are exposed to pollution in the absence of clean cooking fuel, and to extreme heat as they walk to gather water and fuel, or do other work outdoors.

Bad sanitation in poor urban areas increases the incidence of water-borne diseases after heavy rains and floods.

Lack of access to healthcare services and the means to pay for medicines make it difficult for women and men in low-income households to recover from illness, heat strokes, and air pollution-related ailments.

Mental health problems are being attributed to climate change as well. Studies show that the loss of family or kin member, home, livelihood and a safe environment can bring about direct emotional impacts.

These adverse impacts increase the demand for caregiving and the care workload. Climate-induced health problems force family and community caregivers, particularly women, to spend more time looking after the sick and disabled, particularly frail elderly people and children.

Effect on food and water

Climate change threatens the availability of food, clean water and safe shelter. It erodes households’ and communities’ care capacity and hence societies’ ability to thrive.

Fluctuations in food supply and rising food prices as a result of environmental disasters, along with the inadequacy of government policies, underscore the mounting challenge of meeting food needs.

The threat of chronic shortage of safe drinking water has also risen. Water scarcity is an area where structural inequalities and gender disparities are laid bare.

Care for the sick and disabled, the young and the elderly is compromised when water is scarce.

Effects on providing care

Extreme weather events disrupt physical care infrastructures. It may be hard to reach hospitals, clinics, daycare centres, nursery schools and nursing homes. Some facilities may be damaged and have to close.

Another type of care system that can break down is family networks and support provided by friends and neighbours. These informal care sharing arrangements are illustrated in a study of the three large informal settlements in Nairobi.

About half (50.5%) of the sampled households reported having had a sick member in the two weeks before the survey. The majority relied on close friends and family members living nearby for care and support.

Studies have shown that climate change eventually leads to livelihood loss and resource scarcity, which can weaken social cohesion and local safety nets in affected communities.

Heightened risks and uncertainty and imminent changes in socio-economic and political conditions can also compel individuals or entire households to migrate. Migration is caused by a host of factors, but it has increasingly been a climate-related response.

The World Bank’s Groundswell Report released in 2018, for example, projected that climate change could force 216 million people to move within their countries by 2050 to avoid the slow-onset impacts of climate change.

A possible consequence of migration is the withdrawal of care support provided by the migrating extended kin, neighbours or friends, increasing the caregiving load of people left behind.

In the case of forced displacements, the traditional social networks existing in communities are disrupted entirely.

What’s needed

There are compelling reasons to believe that meeting care needs can also help mitigate the effects of climate change. And actions to meet carbon-zero goals, prevent biodiversity loss and regenerate ecosystems can reduce the care work burden that falls heavily on families, communities and women.

Any effort to tackle these grave problems should be comprehensive in scope and must be based on principles of equality, universality, and responsibility shared by all.

This article is part of a series of articles initiated through a project led by the Southern Centre for Inequality studies, in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre and a group of feminist economists and climate scientists across the world.

– Climate change is making it harder for people to get the care they need
– https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-making-it-harder-for-people-to-get-the-care-they-need-240557

MIL OSI Africa –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, Professor of International and Diplomacy Studies, Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa

The last two summits of Brics countries have raised questions about the coalition’s identity and purpose. This began to come into focus at the summit hosted by South Africa in 2023, and more acutely at the recent 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia.

At both events the alliance undertook to expand its membership. In 2023, the first five Brics members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – invited Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join. All bar Saudi Arabia have now done so. The 2024 summit pledged to admit 13 more, perhaps as associates or “partner countries”.

On paper, the nine-member Brics+ strikes a powerful pose. It has a combined population of about 3.5 billion, or 45% of the world’s people. Combined, its economies are worth more than US$28.5 trillion – about 28% of the global economy. With Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as members, Brics+ produces about 44% of the world’s crude oil.

Based on my research and policy advice to African foreign policy decision-makers, I would argue that there are three possible interpretations of the purpose of Brics+.
- A club of self-interested members – a kind of global south cooperative. What I’d label as a self-help organisation.
- A reforming bloc with a more ambitious goal of improving the workings of the current global order.
- A disrupter, preparing to replace the western-dominated liberal world order.
Analysing the commitments that were made at the meeting in Russia, I would argue that Brics+ sees itself more as a self-interested reformer. It represents the thinking among global south leaders about the nature of global order, and the possibilities of shaping a new order. This, as the world moves away from the financially dominant, yet declining western order (in terms of moral influence) led by the US. The move is to a multipolar order in which the east plays a leading role.

Read more: Russia’s Brics summit shows determination for a new world order – but internal rifts will buy the west some time

However, the ability of Brics+ to exploit such possibilities is constrained by its make-up and internal inconsistencies. These include a contested identity, incongruous values and lack of resources to convert political commitments into actionable plans.

Summit outcomes

The trend towards closer trade and financial cooperation and coordination stands out as a major achievement of the Kazan summit. Other achievements pertain to global governance and counter-terrorism.

When it comes to trade and finance, the final communiqué said the following had been agreed:
- adoption of local currencies in trade and financial transactions. The Kazan Declaration notes the benefits of faster, low cost, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive cross-border payment instruments. The guiding principle would be minimal trade barriers and non-discriminatory access.
- establishment of a cross-border payment system. The declaration encourages correspondent banking networks within Brics, and enabling settlements in local currencies in line with the Brics Cross-Border Payments Initiative. This is voluntary and nonbinding and is to be discussed further.
- creation of an enhanced roles for the New Development Bank, such as promoting infrastructure and sustainable development.
- a proposed Brics Grain Exchange, to improve food security through enhanced trade in agricultural commodities.
All nine Brics+ countries committed themselves to the principles of the UN Charter – peace and security, human rights, the rule of law, and development – primarily as a response to the western unilateral sanctions.

Read more: South Africa walks a tightrope of international alliances – it needs Russia, China and the west

The summit emphasised that dialogue and diplomacy should prevail over conflict in, among other places, the Middle East, Sudan, Haiti and Afghanistan.

Faultlines and tensions

Despite the positive tone of the Kazan declaration, there are serious structural fault lines and tensions inherent in the architecture and behaviour of Brics+. These might limit its ambitions to be a meaningful change agent.

The members don’t even agree on the definition of Brics+. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa calls it a platform. Others talk of a group (Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi) or a family (Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jianan).

So what could it be?

Brics+ is state-driven – with civil society on the margins. It reminds one of the African Union, which pays lip service to citizens’ engagement in decision-making.

One possibility is that it will evolve into an intergovernmental organisation with a constitution that sets up its agencies, functions and purposes. Examples include the World Health Organization, the African Development Bank and the UN general assembly.

But it would need to cohere around shared values. What would they be?

Critics point out that Brics+ consists of democracies (South Africa, Brazil, India), a theocracy (Iran), monarchies (UAE, Saudi Arabia) and authoritarian dictatorships (China, Russia). For South Africa this creates a domestic headache. At the Kazan summit, its president declared Russia a friend and ally. At home, its coalition partner in the government of national unity, the Democratic Alliance, declared Ukraine as a friend and ally.

Read more: When two elephants fight: how the global south uses non-alignment to avoid great power rivalries

There are also marked differences over issues such as the reform of the United Nations. For example, at the recent UN Summit of the Future the consensus was for reform of the UN security council. But will China and Russia, as permanent security council members, agree to more seats, with veto rights, on the council?

As for violent conflict, humanitarian crises, corruption and crime, there is little from the Kazan summit that suggests agreement around action.

Unity of purpose

What about shared interests? A number of Brics+ members and the partner countries maintain close trade ties with the west, which regards Russia and Iran as enemies and China as a global threat.

Some, such as India and South Africa, use the foreign policy notions of strategic ambiguity or active non-alignment to mask the reality of trading with east, west, north and south.

The harsh truth of international relations is there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. The Brics+ alliance will most likely cohere as a global south co-operative, with an innovative self-help agenda, but be reluctant to overturn the current global order from which it desires to benefit more equitably.

Trade-offs and compromises might be necessary to ensure “unity of purpose”. It’s not clear that this loose alliance is close to being able to achieve that.

– Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity
– https://theconversation.com/brics-could-shape-a-new-world-order-but-it-lacks-shared-values-and-a-unified-identity-242308

MIL OSI Africa –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By David Jackman, Departmental Lecturer in Development Studies, University of Oxford

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the world’s longest reigning female political leader, fled Bangladesh on 5 August 2024 for the safety of India. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of protesters descended on Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka. The crowds ransacked her official residence, occupied the nation’s parliament and burnt down her family home.

Hasina, who had ruled the country for more than 20 years in total, had been widely accused of turning autocratic and clamping down severely on any opposition to her rule.

For many, the Bangladesh revolution offers hope in the context of growing global authoritarianism. It illustrates the power of the youth to confront entrenched leaders, and the fragility of authoritarianism. It also highlights a striking feature of contemporary global politics: how central capital cities are to the political life of nations.

In our new book, Controlling the Capital: Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World, a diverse range of scholars argue that capital cities are crucial political sites. They’re where governing elites seek to assert and maintain political control, and they are also stages for political contestation.

The book is focused on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two fastest-urbanising regions of the world.

Authors explore the strategies and tactics used by ruling elites to politically dominate their capital cities in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The authors also consider how urban populations have engaged with these efforts. People may resist authority, but they can also cooperate with it in ways that benefit themselves – which sometimes reinforces or supports authoritarian control.

This is increasingly important in the context of two contemporary trends. First, authoritarianism is growing globally. Just 10 years ago under half of the world’s population lived under authoritarian rule; now the figure is at 71%. The second trend is the ongoing rapid urbanisation of the world’s population, with the majority of us globally now living in urban areas.

Urban unrest

Over the past year we’ve seen how capital cities are spaces for contestation.

Some pro-democracy movements draw from their own histories of struggle and the paths that have been carved by those before them. The template of Bangladesh’s 2024 revolution is ingrained in politics from the ways in which liberation was fought and how later struggles against authoritarian rule were won. The capital city has also been crucial, and students at Dhaka University were key mobilisers in such movements.

In other contexts, the link between political resistance and urban areas is a relatively new and surprising route to political change. One example is “the struggle” seen in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo and the unseating of the Rajapaksa family, who were perceived as increasingly authoritarian rulers of the country. The Colombo chapter in this volume highlights how such protests emerged in a context where urban unrest had rarely threatened those in power before.

Even where anti-authoritarian protests have proved futile time and again, urban populations rarely remain quiet.

In Kampala, Uganda, demonstrations prior to the 2021 elections resulted in a horrifying government crackdown. Inspired by events in neighbouring Kenya, protesters took to the streets once more in July 2024 to demonstrate against corruption.

Read more: Kenya’s protests happened in every major urban centre – why these spaces are explosive

The protests that erupted in Nairobi from late June 2024 against tax rises engulfed the capital city. They continued for some time, fuelled by the brutal police response. Similarly, Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS protests against police brutality created a powerful movement in cities such as Abuja and Lagos which shook government, and resonated across much of the continent.

In an age of social media, learning and mimicry across national borders is increasingly common. One of the defining images of Kenya’s 2024 urban uprising was of a group of men with their arms raised and crossed at the wrists – a gesture of anti-authoritarian protest that gained particular resonance several years back during neighbouring Ethiopia’s own uprising.

As urban protest seems set to continue and spread – often taking intentionally similar forms – techniques of urban authoritarian control are more varied and complex.

Strategies to dominate and control city populations can be dramatic and repressive – such as the brute force of police violence – and they can also be subtle, deeply ingrained, and sometimes difficult to discern.

Authoritarian tactics

Our book argues that authoritarian leaders are increasingly aware of the power of the urban masses. As a result, they are using a range of subtle, and not-so-subtle, tactics to entrench their domination in capital cities.

We broadly described two types of interventions that elites use.

The first are policies and favours that actively build support among urban groups. These can range from inclusion in political parties to investments in social provisions or infrastructure to win support. The book’s chapter on Addis Ababa shows how the latter were particularly striking under the previous governing regime in Ethiopia.

The second are repressive interventions that aim to crush opposition. These are also diverse, and include violent crackdowns, but also surveillance and intimidation.

In practice, the two types of interventions often overlap. The line also blurs through various forms of manipulation. For instance, misinformation or the delivery of goods in exchange for performances of political loyalty, underpinned by implicit threats of coercion.

We also highlight the significance of urban geography.

Ruling elites often seek to divide city populations (for example inner-city dwellers versus the peripheries). This is evident in our book’s chapter on Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksas tried to consolidate power by appealing to the new middle class suburbanites through “beautification” projects. But these displaced and excluded the inner-city poor.

Chapters on Harare and Kampala also show how particular peripheral areas have become central to efforts to build an urban support base by Zanu-PF and the National Resistance Movement. This often plays out through the informal parcelling out of land to supporters.

Contesting autocratic rule

Concerns about authoritarian politics are at an all-time high.

The above Google Ngram highlights the perilous rise in the use of the term “autocratization” in published work over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the contestation of autocratic rule will continue to erupt in cities, especially in rapidly urbanising parts of the world. In this context, the need to understand how autocracy and urbanisation collide could hardly be more important.

If pro-democracy forces are to have any hope of prevailing against efforts by authoritarian ruling elites to entrench their position, there is a crucial need to better understand their urban strategies and tactics.

– Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control
– https://theconversation.com/autocrats-and-cities-how-capitals-have-become-a-battleground-for-protest-and-control-240377

MIL OSI Africa –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: NASA Helps Find Thawing Permafrost Adds to Near-Term Global Warming

Source: NASA

Earth’s far northern reaches have locked carbon underground for millennia. New research paints a picture of a landscape in change.
A new study, co-authored by NASA scientists, details where and how greenhouse gases are escaping from the Earth’s vast northern permafrost region as the Arctic warms. The frozen soils encircling the Arctic from Alaska to Canada to Siberia store twice as much carbon as currently resides in the atmosphere — hundreds of billions of tons — and most of it has been buried for centuries.
An international team, led by researchers at Stockholm University, found that from 2000 to 2020, carbon dioxide uptake by the land was largely offset by emissions from it. Overall, they concluded that the region has been a net contributor to global warming in recent decades in large part because of another greenhouse gas, methane, that is shorter-lived but traps significantly more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide.

The findings reveal a landscape in flux, said Abhishek Chatterjee, a co-author and scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We know that the permafrost region has captured and stored carbon for tens of thousands of years,” he said. “But what we are finding now is that climate-driven changes are tipping the balance toward permafrost being a net source of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Carbon Stockpile
Permafrost is ground that has been permanently frozen for anywhere from two years to hundreds of thousands of years. A core of it reveals thick layers of icy soils enriched with dead plant and animal matter that can be dated using radiocarbon and other techniques. When permafrost thaws and decomposes, microbes feed on this organic carbon, releasing some of it as greenhouse gases.
Unlocking a fraction of the carbon stored in permafrost could further fuel climate change. Temperatures in the Arctic are already warming two to four times faster than the global average, and scientists are learning how thawing permafrost is shifting the region from being a net sink for greenhouse gases to becoming a net source of warming.
They’ve tracked emissions using ground-based instruments, aircraft, and satellites. One such campaign, NASA’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE), is focused on Alaska and western Canada. Yet locating and measuring emissions across the far northern fringes of Earth remains challenging. One obstacle is the vast scale and diversity of the environment, composed of evergreen forests, sprawling tundra, and waterways.

Cracks in the Sink
The new study was undertaken as part of the Global Carbon Project’s RECCAP-2 effort, which brings together different science teams, tools, and datasets to assess regional carbon balances every few years. The authors followed the trail of three greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — across 7 million square miles (18 million square kilometers) of permafrost terrain from 2000 to 2020.
Researchers found the region, especially the forests, took up a fraction more carbon dioxide than it released. This uptake was largely offset by carbon dioxide emitted from lakes and rivers, as well as from fires that burned both forest and tundra.
They also found that the region’s lakes and wetlands were strong sources of methane during those two decades. Their waterlogged soils are low in oxygen while containing large volumes of dead vegetation and animal matter — ripe conditions for hungry microbes. Compared to carbon dioxide, methane can drive significant climate warming in short timescales before breaking down relatively quickly. Methane’s lifespan in the atmosphere is about 10 years, whereas carbon dioxide can last hundreds of years.
The findings suggest the net change in greenhouse gases helped warm the planet over the 20-year period. But over a 100-year period, emissions and absorptions would mostly cancel each other out. In other words, the region teeters from carbon source to weak sink. The authors noted that events such as extreme wildfires and heat waves are major sources of uncertainty when projecting into the future.
Bottom Up, Top Down
The scientists used two main strategies to tally greenhouse gas emissions from the region. “Bottom-up” methods estimate emissions from ground- and air-based measurements and ecosystem models. Top-down methods use atmospheric measurements taken directly from satellite sensors, including those on NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) and JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite.
Regarding near-term, 20-year, global warming potential, both scientific approaches aligned on the big picture but differed in magnitude: The bottom-up calculations indicated significantly more warming.
“This study is one of the first where we are able to integrate different methods and datasets to put together this very comprehensive greenhouse gas budget into one report,” Chatterjee said. “It reveals a very complex picture.”
News Media Contacts
Jane J. Lee / Andrew WangJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov
Written by Sally Younger
2024-147

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Sigonella Team in the Spotlight – Preventative Medicine

Source: United States Navy (Medical)

NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, Sicily (Oct. 22, 2024) – The safety of personnel and their families is a top priority for Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella, and Preventative Medicine (PrevMed) at Naval Medical Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Sigonella plays a major role in ensuring that safety.

“I believe our [PrevMed Sailors] here in Sigonella deserve to be the Team in the Spotlight; a vast majority of their work occurs behind the scenes without any face-to-face interaction with those they serve,” said Lt. Cmdr. Robert Miller, prior PrevMed department head, NMRTC Sigonella.

PrevMed tests the installation’s water supply, inspects food facilities, conducts habitability assessments, tracks medical concerns and more.

“[PrevMed] is the first line of defense against health and safety issues for facilities supporting the active duty population, but also our most vulnerable populations at the Child Development Center, youth programs and DODEA (Department of Defense Education Activity Sigonella),” said Miller.

The team includes Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Travis Tackett, Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Shaye Kavanagh, Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Hannah Richard, and Hospitalman Noah McDougle. Each day they determine their workload, delegate jobs and perform needed inspections.

“I love doing inspections,” said McDougle. “I like that every day is something different.”

The team’s proudest moment was assisting in a flu shot exercise when Military Health Systems Genesis, an online program for medical record storage, was released at U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella.

“Even with a new system, we were able to get everything running smoothly,” said Kavanaugh. “We were able to get everyone vaccinated while also navigating a brand-new medical system. Having everyone’s help during this evolution made it possible.”

Despite their vital importance to the health and wellness of Navy personnel and families, PrevMed is a severely undermanned community. Without the small team at Sigonella, meeting the 100% safety goal for all facilities would be very challenging, even if assigned safety managers follow the Navy’s strictest protocols.

“We make sure food facilities are keeping good sanitary practices,” said Kavanaugh. “We make sure service members are living in habitable conditions, and when things aren’t being met, we do everything we can to make sure that something [is] done about it.”

Kavanaugh also has some advice for future members of the team, “Fall back on your team members when you must. It’s okay not to know everything right away, and nobody will ever fault you for not having the answers. Everyone is here to help.”

U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella ensures maximum readiness by providing high-quality, safe patient and family-centered care to maximize force health protection for all beneficiaries, to included NATO and transient DoD forces in the U.S. Fifth Fleet and U.S. Sixth Fleet areas of operation.

NAS Sigonella’s strategic location enables U.S., allied, and partner nation forces to deploy and respond as required, ensuring security and stability in Europe, Africa and Central Command. For more news and information from NAS Sigonella, visit https://cnreurafcent.cnic.navy.mil/Installations/NAS-Sigonella/ or https://www.facebook.com/nassigonella/.

MIL Security OSI –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Climate change is making it harder for people to get the care they need

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Maria S. Floro, Professor Emerita of Economics, American University

The world is witnessing the consequences of climate change: long-lasting changes in temperature and rainfall, and more intense and frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves, hurricanes, typhoons, flooding and drought. All make it harder for families and communities to meet their care needs.

Climate change affects care systems in various ways. First, sudden illnesses and unexpected disabilities heighten the need for care. Second, it reduces access to important inputs for care such as water, food and safe shelter. Third, it can damage physical and social care infrastructures.

It can also lead to breakdowns of traditional units of caregiving such as households and communities. And it creates new situations of need with the increase in displaced person settlements and refugee camps.

Climate change creates sudden spikes in the demand for care, and serious challenges to meeting the growing need for care. All this has immediate and long lasting effects on human well-being.

The size of the current unmet care needs throughout the world is substantial. In childcare alone, about 23% of children worldwide – nearly 350 million – need childcare but do not have it. Families in low- and lower-middle-income countries are the most in need.

Similarly, as the world’s population ages rapidly, only a small proportion of the elderly who need assistance are able to use formal care (in an institution or paid homecare). Most are cared for by family members or other unpaid caregivers. Much of this unpaid care and formal care work is provided by women and girls.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world struggle to get healthcare. Expansion of access to essential health services has slowed compared to pre-2015 . And healthcare costs still create financial hardship.

Without comprehensive public and global support for care provision and the integration of care in the climate agenda, unmet care needs will only grow and inequalities will widen.

Impact

Climate change interacts with human health in complex ways. Its impact is highly uneven across populations. It depends on geographical region, income, education, gender roles, social norms, level of development, and the institutional capacity and accessibility of health systems.

In 2018-22, Africa experienced the biggest increase in the
heat-related mortality rate since 2000-05. This is not surprising as the continent has more frequent health-threatening temperatures than ever before and a growing population of people older than 65.

Africa is also the region most affected by droughts in 2013-22, with 64% of its land area affected by at least one month of extreme drought per year on average. It was followed by Oceania (55% of its land area) and South and Central America (53%).

Scientific evidence also points to increases in health inequalities caused by climate change. The health effects of climate change are not uniformly felt by different population groups.

Exposure, severity of impact, and ability of individuals to recover depend on a variety of factors. Physiological characteristics, income, education, type of occupation, location, social norms and health systems are some of them.

For example, older people and young children face the greatest health risks from high temperatures.

There is also evidence of the disproportionate effect of climate change on the health of people living in poverty and those who belong to disadvantaged groups.

Women of lower social and economic status and with less education are more vulnerable to heat stress compared to women in wealthier households and with higher education or social status. They are exposed to pollution in the absence of clean cooking fuel, and to extreme heat as they walk to gather water and fuel, or do other work outdoors.

Bad sanitation in poor urban areas increases the incidence of water-borne diseases after heavy rains and floods.

Lack of access to healthcare services and the means to pay for medicines make it difficult for women and men in low-income households to recover from illness, heat strokes, and air pollution-related ailments.

Mental health problems are being attributed to climate change as well. Studies show that the loss of family or kin member, home, livelihood and a safe environment can bring about direct emotional impacts.

These adverse impacts increase the demand for caregiving and the care workload. Climate-induced health problems force family and community caregivers, particularly women, to spend more time looking after the sick and disabled, particularly frail elderly people and children.

Effect on food and water

Climate change threatens the availability of food, clean water and safe shelter. It erodes households’ and communities’ care capacity and hence societies’ ability to thrive.

Fluctuations in food supply and rising food prices as a result of environmental disasters, along with the inadequacy of government policies, underscore the mounting challenge of meeting food needs.

The threat of chronic shortage of safe drinking water has also risen. Water scarcity is an area where structural inequalities and gender disparities are laid bare.

Care for the sick and disabled, the young and the elderly is compromised when water is scarce.

Effects on providing care

Extreme weather events disrupt physical care infrastructures. It may be hard to reach hospitals, clinics, daycare centres, nursery schools and nursing homes. Some facilities may be damaged and have to close.

Another type of care system that can break down is family networks and support provided by friends and neighbours. These informal care sharing arrangements are illustrated in a study of the three large informal settlements in Nairobi.

About half (50.5%) of the sampled households reported having had a sick member in the two weeks before the survey. The majority relied on close friends and family members living nearby for care and support.

Studies have shown that climate change eventually leads to livelihood loss and resource scarcity, which can weaken social cohesion and local safety nets in affected communities.

Heightened risks and uncertainty and imminent changes in socio-economic and political conditions can also compel individuals or entire households to migrate. Migration is caused by a host of factors, but it has increasingly been a climate-related response.

The World Bank’s Groundswell Report released in 2018, for example, projected that climate change could force 216 million people to move within their countries by 2050 to avoid the slow-onset impacts of climate change.

A possible consequence of migration is the withdrawal of care support provided by the migrating extended kin, neighbours or friends, increasing the caregiving load of people left behind.

In the case of forced displacements, the traditional social networks existing in communities are disrupted entirely.

What’s needed

There are compelling reasons to believe that meeting care needs can also help mitigate the effects of climate change. And actions to meet carbon-zero goals, prevent biodiversity loss and regenerate ecosystems can reduce the care work burden that falls heavily on families, communities and women.

Any effort to tackle these grave problems should be comprehensive in scope and must be based on principles of equality, universality, and responsibility shared by all.

This article is part of a series of articles initiated through a project led by the Southern Centre for Inequality studies, in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre and a group of feminist economists and climate scientists across the world.

Maria S. Floro 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. Climate change is making it harder for people to get the care they need – https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-making-it-harder-for-people-to-get-the-care-they-need-240557

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, Professor of International and Diplomacy Studies, Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa

The last two summits of Brics countries have raised questions about the coalition’s identity and purpose. This began to come into focus at the summit hosted by South Africa in 2023, and more acutely at the recent 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia.

At both events the alliance undertook to expand its membership. In 2023, the first five Brics members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – invited Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join. All bar Saudi Arabia have now done so. The 2024 summit pledged to admit 13 more, perhaps as associates or “partner countries”.

On paper, the nine-member Brics+ strikes a powerful pose. It has a combined population of about 3.5 billion, or 45% of the world’s people. Combined, its economies are worth more than US$28.5 trillion – about 28% of the global economy. With Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as members, Brics+ produces about 44% of the world’s crude oil.

Based on my research and policy advice to African foreign policy decision-makers, I would argue that there are three possible interpretations of the purpose of Brics+.
- A club of self-interested members – a kind of global south cooperative. What I’d label as a self-help organisation.
- A reforming bloc with a more ambitious goal of improving the workings of the current global order.
- A disrupter, preparing to replace the western-dominated liberal world order.
Analysing the commitments that were made at the meeting in Russia, I would argue that Brics+ sees itself more as a self-interested reformer. It represents the thinking among global south leaders about the nature of global order, and the possibilities of shaping a new order. This, as the world moves away from the financially dominant, yet declining western order (in terms of moral influence) led by the US. The move is to a multipolar order in which the east plays a leading role.

Read more:
Russia’s Brics summit shows determination for a new world order – but internal rifts will buy the west some time

However, the ability of Brics+ to exploit such possibilities is constrained by its make-up and internal inconsistencies. These include a contested identity, incongruous values and lack of resources to convert political commitments into actionable plans.

Summit outcomes

The trend towards closer trade and financial cooperation and coordination stands out as a major achievement of the Kazan summit. Other achievements pertain to global governance and counter-terrorism.

When it comes to trade and finance, the final communiqué said the following had been agreed:
- adoption of local currencies in trade and financial transactions. The Kazan Declaration notes the benefits of faster, low cost, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive cross-border payment instruments. The guiding principle would be minimal trade barriers and non-discriminatory access.
- establishment of a cross-border payment system. The declaration encourages correspondent banking networks within Brics, and enabling settlements in local currencies in line with the Brics Cross-Border Payments Initiative. This is voluntary and nonbinding and is to be discussed further.
- creation of an enhanced roles for the New Development Bank, such as promoting infrastructure and sustainable development.
- a proposed Brics Grain Exchange, to improve food security through enhanced trade in agricultural commodities.
All nine Brics+ countries committed themselves to the principles of the UN Charter – peace and security, human rights, the rule of law, and development – primarily as a response to the western unilateral sanctions.

Read more:
South Africa walks a tightrope of international alliances – it needs Russia, China and the west

The summit emphasised that dialogue and diplomacy should prevail over conflict in, among other places, the Middle East, Sudan, Haiti and Afghanistan.

Faultlines and tensions

Despite the positive tone of the Kazan declaration, there are serious structural fault lines and tensions inherent in the architecture and behaviour of Brics+. These might limit its ambitions to be a meaningful change agent.

The members don’t even agree on the definition of Brics+. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa calls it a platform. Others talk of a group (Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi) or a family (Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jianan).

So what could it be?

Brics+ is state-driven – with civil society on the margins. It reminds one of the African Union, which pays lip service to citizens’ engagement in decision-making.

One possibility is that it will evolve into an intergovernmental organisation with a constitution that sets up its agencies, functions and purposes. Examples include the World Health Organization, the African Development Bank and the UN general assembly.

But it would need to cohere around shared values. What would they be?

Critics point out that Brics+ consists of democracies (South Africa, Brazil, India), a theocracy (Iran), monarchies (UAE, Saudi Arabia) and authoritarian dictatorships (China, Russia). For South Africa this creates a domestic headache. At the Kazan summit, its president declared Russia a friend and ally. At home, its coalition partner in the government of national unity, the Democratic Alliance, declared Ukraine as a friend and ally.

Read more:
When two elephants fight: how the global south uses non-alignment to avoid great power rivalries

There are also marked differences over issues such as the reform of the United Nations. For example, at the recent UN Summit of the Future the consensus was for reform of the UN security council. But will China and Russia, as permanent security council members, agree to more seats, with veto rights, on the council?

As for violent conflict, humanitarian crises, corruption and crime, there is little from the Kazan summit that suggests agreement around action.

Unity of purpose

What about shared interests? A number of Brics+ members and the partner countries maintain close trade ties with the west, which regards Russia and Iran as enemies and China as a global threat.

Some, such as India and South Africa, use the foreign policy notions of strategic ambiguity or active non-alignment to mask the reality of trading with east, west, north and south.

The harsh truth of international relations is there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. The Brics+ alliance will most likely cohere as a global south co-operative, with an innovative self-help agenda, but be reluctant to overturn the current global order from which it desires to benefit more equitably.

Trade-offs and compromises might be necessary to ensure “unity of purpose”. It’s not clear that this loose alliance is close to being able to achieve that.

Anthoni van Nieuwkerk 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. Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity – https://theconversation.com/brics-could-shape-a-new-world-order-but-it-lacks-shared-values-and-a-unified-identity-242308
MIL OSI – Global Reports –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By David Jackman, Departmental Lecturer in Development Studies, University of Oxford

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the world’s longest reigning female political leader, fled Bangladesh on 5 August 2024 for the safety of India. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of protesters descended on Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka. The crowds ransacked her official residence, occupied the nation’s parliament and burnt down her family home.

Hasina, who had ruled the country for more than 20 years in total, had been widely accused of turning autocratic and clamping down severely on any opposition to her rule.

For many, the Bangladesh revolution offers hope in the context of growing global authoritarianism. It illustrates the power of the youth to confront entrenched leaders, and the fragility of authoritarianism. It also highlights a striking feature of contemporary global politics: how central capital cities are to the political life of nations.

In our new book, Controlling the Capital: Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World, a diverse range of scholars argue that capital cities are crucial political sites. They’re where governing elites seek to assert and maintain political control, and they are also stages for political contestation.

The book is focused on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two fastest-urbanising regions of the world.

Authors explore the strategies and tactics used by ruling elites to politically dominate their capital cities in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The authors also consider how urban populations have engaged with these efforts. People may resist authority, but they can also cooperate with it in ways that benefit themselves – which sometimes reinforces or supports authoritarian control.

This is increasingly important in the context of two contemporary trends. First, authoritarianism is growing globally. Just 10 years ago under half of the world’s population lived under authoritarian rule; now the figure is at 71%. The second trend is the ongoing rapid urbanisation of the world’s population, with the majority of us globally now living in urban areas.

Urban unrest

Over the past year we’ve seen how capital cities are spaces for contestation.

Some pro-democracy movements draw from their own histories of struggle and the paths that have been carved by those before them. The template of Bangladesh’s 2024 revolution is ingrained in politics from the ways in which liberation was fought and how later struggles against authoritarian rule were won. The capital city has also been crucial, and students at Dhaka University were key mobilisers in such movements.

In other contexts, the link between political resistance and urban areas is a relatively new and surprising route to political change. One example is “the struggle” seen in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo and the unseating of the Rajapaksa family, who were perceived as increasingly authoritarian rulers of the country. The Colombo chapter in this volume highlights how such protests emerged in a context where urban unrest had rarely threatened those in power before.

Even where anti-authoritarian protests have proved futile time and again, urban populations rarely remain quiet.

In Kampala, Uganda, demonstrations prior to the 2021 elections resulted in a horrifying government crackdown. Inspired by events in neighbouring Kenya, protesters took to the streets once more in July 2024 to demonstrate against corruption.

Read more:
Kenya’s protests happened in every major urban centre – why these spaces are explosive

The protests that erupted in Nairobi from late June 2024 against tax rises engulfed the capital city. They continued for some time, fuelled by the brutal police response. Similarly, Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS protests against police brutality created a powerful movement in cities such as Abuja and Lagos which shook government, and resonated across much of the continent.

In an age of social media, learning and mimicry across national borders is increasingly common. One of the defining images of Kenya’s 2024 urban uprising was of a group of men with their arms raised and crossed at the wrists – a gesture of anti-authoritarian protest that gained particular resonance several years back during neighbouring Ethiopia’s own uprising.

As urban protest seems set to continue and spread – often taking intentionally similar forms – techniques of urban authoritarian control are more varied and complex.

Strategies to dominate and control city populations can be dramatic and repressive – such as the brute force of police violence – and they can also be subtle, deeply ingrained, and sometimes difficult to discern.

Authoritarian tactics

Our book argues that authoritarian leaders are increasingly aware of the power of the urban masses. As a result, they are using a range of subtle, and not-so-subtle, tactics to entrench their domination in capital cities.

We broadly described two types of interventions that elites use.

The first are policies and favours that actively build support among urban groups. These can range from inclusion in political parties to investments in social provisions or infrastructure to win support. The book’s chapter on Addis Ababa shows how the latter were particularly striking under the previous governing regime in Ethiopia.

The second are repressive interventions that aim to crush opposition. These are also diverse, and include violent crackdowns, but also surveillance and intimidation.

In practice, the two types of interventions often overlap. The line also blurs through various forms of manipulation. For instance, misinformation or the delivery of goods in exchange for performances of political loyalty, underpinned by implicit threats of coercion.

We also highlight the significance of urban geography.

Ruling elites often seek to divide city populations (for example inner-city dwellers versus the peripheries). This is evident in our book’s chapter on Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksas tried to consolidate power by appealing to the new middle class suburbanites through “beautification” projects. But these displaced and excluded the inner-city poor.

Chapters on Harare and Kampala also show how particular peripheral areas have become central to efforts to build an urban support base by Zanu-PF and the National Resistance Movement. This often plays out through the informal parcelling out of land to supporters.

Contesting autocratic rule

Concerns about authoritarian politics are at an all-time high.

The above Google Ngram highlights the perilous rise in the use of the term “autocratization” in published work over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the contestation of autocratic rule will continue to erupt in cities, especially in rapidly urbanising parts of the world. In this context, the need to understand how autocracy and urbanisation collide could hardly be more important.

If pro-democracy forces are to have any hope of prevailing against efforts by authoritarian ruling elites to entrench their position, there is a crucial need to better understand their urban strategies and tactics.

David Jackman received funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

Tom Goodfellow is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which funded part of the research on which this book is based.

– ref. Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control – https://theconversation.com/autocrats-and-cities-how-capitals-have-become-a-battleground-for-protest-and-control-240377

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Rep. Garcia Hosts Veterans Town Hall in Antelope Valley

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Garcia (CA-25)

LANCASTER, CA – Representative Mike Garcia (CA-27) held a Veterans Town Hall at the Antelope Valley Community Resource Center, where he connected with veterans, advocates, and local leaders to address urgent issues affecting veterans in CA-27. Joined by Jon Clark, Staff Director for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Garcia provided crucial updates on recent legislative wins, new resources, and his office’s ongoing commitment to supporting local veterans.

“Our veterans deserve more than just promises—they deserve results,” said Rep. Garcia. “These men and women put it all on the line for our country. Now, it’s our job to ensure they get the care and respect they’ve earned.”

A primary focus of the town hall was the recent passage of H.R.9468, the Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act, which Rep. Garcia introduced and got signed into law. This critical legislation closes a $2.883 billion gap in VA funding, securing uninterrupted benefits for over seven million veterans. The bill also mandates strong oversight, requiring the VA to provide regular reports on budget corrections and spending transparency, along with a comprehensive investigation into the causes of the recent budget shortfall.

Rep. Garcia also shared plans for the new VA clinic in the Antelope Valley, set to open in 2025. This 20,000-square-foot facility will bring essential healthcare services closer to home for local veterans, including primary care, mental health, women’s health, and other specialized services. “The new clinic is a major win for veterans in the Antelope Valley,” Rep. Garcia said. “They won’t have to drive for hours to get the care they deserve. This clinic is built around the idea that veterans should receive top-notch care right here in their community.”

Additionally, Rep. Garcia highlighted his office’s record of service to veterans in CA-27, noting that they’ve successfully closed over 600 veteran cases, helping with everything from securing benefits to navigating federal agencies.

To reinforce his commitment, Rep. Garcia outlined several pieces of pro-VA legislation he’s supported:

●      Fully Funded VA Through Appropriations – Ensuring no cuts to the benefits veterans have earned.

●      Major Richard Star Act – Providing full retirement pay and disability benefits to veterans with a disability rating of at least 50%, regardless of years of service.

●      VA Same Day Scheduling Act – Requiring the VA to provide appointment times on the initial call, ending scheduling delays.

●      Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act – Expanding funding for home care options, enabling veterans to stay at home rather than in nursing facilities.

●      Veterans Education is Timeless Act – Removing expiration dates on GI Bill benefits so veterans can access education at any time.

●      Love Lives On Act – Ending penalties that cause surviving spouses to lose benefits if they remarry.

●      ACES Act – Addressing cancer risks for veterans who served in aviation roles, directing the VA to study ways to protect these service members.

The event underscored Rep. Garcia’s dedication to cutting through the red tape and ensuring that veterans get the timely, high-quality care they deserve. “Enough is enough. Our veterans shouldn’t have to fight for what they’re owed. We’re pushing for real accountability and resources to deliver the care they’ve earned,” Rep. Garcia said.

Learn more about Rep. Garcia’s ongoing work to support veterans here.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: “Entrepreneurs need meta-competencies that help them adapt to new conditions”

Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

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

Photo: TASS

Entrepreneurs lack the knowledge to run a successful business, and they are willing to pay for their education. It is important that they have access to verified content. At the same time, only those programs that adapt content to new challenges while maintaining high educational standards, as is the case at HSE, can be in demand.

A press conference was held at TASS, where the results of the PRIM sociological study (“Entrepreneurs of Russia: Research Monitoring”) for the first nine months of 2024 were presented.

This study is regularly conducted by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development together with Sber and the Public Opinion Foundation. The quarterly survey involves 600 active entrepreneurs, 600 self-employed individuals and 2,200 other respondents. The emphasis is on the entrepreneur’s personality – their moods and expectations, problems and needs. This time, the experts focused on business education.

According to Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Tatyana Ilyushnikova, the business education market in Russia is growing and is expected to exceed 100 billion rubles by the end of the year. Almost 80% of the entrepreneurs surveyed note that they lack the knowledge to run a business, and 40% of those surveyed have undergone training in the last three years or are currently undergoing it. This is not about classical education in the generally accepted sense, but about short training formats.

They are offered, in particular, within the framework of the flagship project “My Business”, created under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and successfully competing with market platforms. “It is important for entrepreneurs to receive information from verified sources, which is a guarantee of its quality,” emphasized Tatyana Ilyushnikova.

The study showed that entrepreneurs prefer flexible training formats — webinars with the possibility of feedback, text materials that can be studied at a convenient pace, video lectures. “Although educational tracks are provided free of charge in the state support system, 75% of entrepreneurs are ready to pay more than 20 thousand rubles a month for the necessary knowledge,” the deputy minister said.

Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank Anatoly Popov added that young entrepreneurs are more actively seeking knowledge than their experienced colleagues. In-person training is also in demand, as it expands the opportunities for networking. The survey showed that 71% of those who completed the training noted improvements in their business.

Alexander Lind, CEO of the educational platform Lerna.ru, emphasized that small businesses are focused on quickly learning specific skills, while large businesses invest in long-term educational programs in fundamental areas.

Natalia Ababiy, Managing Partner of the online platform Distant Global, said that meetings with real entrepreneurs who talk about their experiences are of particular interest.

Roman Levkovich, Director of Public Relations at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, emphasized the importance of the brand of providers of training programs for entrepreneurs, be it the My Business project or leading universities. He also confirmed the growing need for business education using the example of the National Research University Higher School of Economics: “One of the leaders in business education in Russia — Higher School of Business “We see double-digit growth every year, and over the last year the number of MBA students has grown by 50%.”

According to Roman Levkovich, entrepreneurs need not only solid knowledge, but also meta-competences that help them adapt to new conditions. They also need to master modern digital technologies. “Only those programs that adapt content to new challenges while maintaining high educational standards can be in demand,” says the HSE Public Relations Director.

One of these challenges is the introduction of AI and other digital tools: HSE has continuing education programs that teach entrepreneurs how to use them. Another challenge is the changing geopolitical situation associated with the turn to the East, and the university is implementing programs that help build successful businesses with China and other Eastern countries. A number of continuing education programs are being created together with businesses, including a joint intensive course “Scaler» for top managers of small technology companies.

According to Roman Levkovich, HSE is seriously investing in the development of DPO. Created marketplace — a catalog of DPO programs, where you can not only choose a program, but also pay for it, and after training receive a certificate (which, however, does not exclude the possibility of a personal visit to the university for a consultation on choosing a program). From November 14 to 16, the HSE will host the 1st Moscow DPO Forum “Challenges of digitalization and new university solutions“.

The HSE Public Relations Director noted that it is the university that determines the professions and business areas that will be in demand in the future. He also described the university as an environment of like-minded people, where leaders of the entrepreneurial community can communicate with their peers — not just exchange experiences, but also adopt competencies from colleagues with whom they study. “When you come to an advanced university, you can be sure that you will be taught advanced skills that will be in demand in the near and distant future,” concluded Roman Levkovich.

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 –

January 25, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Jackman, Departmental Lecturer in Development Studies, University of Oxford

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the world’s longest reigning female political leader, fled Bangladesh on 5 August 2024 for the safety of India. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of protesters descended on Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka. The crowds ransacked her official residence, occupied the nation’s parliament and burnt down her family home.

Hasina, who had ruled the country for more than 20 years in total, had been widely accused of turning autocratic and clamping down severely on any opposition to her rule.

For many, the Bangladesh revolution offers hope in the context of growing global authoritarianism. It illustrates the power of the youth to confront entrenched leaders, and the fragility of authoritarianism. It also highlights a striking feature of contemporary global politics: how central capital cities are to the political life of nations.

In our new book, Controlling the Capital: Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World, a diverse range of scholars argue that capital cities are crucial political sites. They’re where governing elites seek to assert and maintain political control, and they are also stages for political contestation.

The book is focused on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two fastest-urbanising regions of the world.

Authors explore the strategies and tactics used by ruling elites to politically dominate their capital cities in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The authors also consider how urban populations have engaged with these efforts. People may resist authority, but they can also cooperate with it in ways that benefit themselves – which sometimes reinforces or supports authoritarian control.

This is increasingly important in the context of two contemporary trends. First, authoritarianism is growing globally. Just 10 years ago under half of the world’s population lived under authoritarian rule; now the figure is at 71%. The second trend is the ongoing rapid urbanisation of the world’s population, with the majority of us globally now living in urban areas.

Urban unrest

Over the past year we’ve seen how capital cities are spaces for contestation.

Some pro-democracy movements draw from their own histories of struggle and the paths that have been carved by those before them. The template of Bangladesh’s 2024 revolution is ingrained in politics from the ways in which liberation was fought and how later struggles against authoritarian rule were won. The capital city has also been crucial, and students at Dhaka University were key mobilisers in such movements.

In other contexts, the link between political resistance and urban areas is a relatively new and surprising route to political change. One example is “the struggle” seen in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo and the unseating of the Rajapaksa family, who were perceived as increasingly authoritarian rulers of the country. The Colombo chapter in this volume highlights how such protests emerged in a context where urban unrest had rarely threatened those in power before.

Even where anti-authoritarian protests have proved futile time and again, urban populations rarely remain quiet.

In Kampala, Uganda, demonstrations prior to the 2021 elections resulted in a horrifying government crackdown. Inspired by events in neighbouring Kenya, protesters took to the streets once more in July 2024 to demonstrate against corruption.

Read more:
Kenya’s protests happened in every major urban centre – why these spaces are explosive

The protests that erupted in Nairobi from late June 2024 against tax rises engulfed the capital city. They continued for some time, fuelled by the brutal police response. Similarly, Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS protests against police brutality created a powerful movement in cities such as Abuja and Lagos which shook government, and resonated across much of the continent.

In an age of social media, learning and mimicry across national borders is increasingly common. One of the defining images of Kenya’s 2024 urban uprising was of a group of men with their arms raised and crossed at the wrists – a gesture of anti-authoritarian protest that gained particular resonance several years back during neighbouring Ethiopia’s own uprising.

As urban protest seems set to continue and spread – often taking intentionally similar forms – techniques of urban authoritarian control are more varied and complex.

Strategies to dominate and control city populations can be dramatic and repressive – such as the brute force of police violence – and they can also be subtle, deeply ingrained, and sometimes difficult to discern.

Authoritarian tactics

Our book argues that authoritarian leaders are increasingly aware of the power of the urban masses. As a result, they are using a range of subtle, and not-so-subtle, tactics to entrench their domination in capital cities.

We broadly described two types of interventions that elites use.

The first are policies and favours that actively build support among urban groups. These can range from inclusion in political parties to investments in social provisions or infrastructure to win support. The book’s chapter on Addis Ababa shows how the latter were particularly striking under the previous governing regime in Ethiopia.

The second are repressive interventions that aim to crush opposition. These are also diverse, and include violent crackdowns, but also surveillance and intimidation.

In practice, the two types of interventions often overlap. The line also blurs through various forms of manipulation. For instance, misinformation or the delivery of goods in exchange for performances of political loyalty, underpinned by implicit threats of coercion.

We also highlight the significance of urban geography.

Ruling elites often seek to divide city populations (for example inner-city dwellers versus the peripheries). This is evident in our book’s chapter on Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksas tried to consolidate power by appealing to the new middle class suburbanites through “beautification” projects. But these displaced and excluded the inner-city poor.

Chapters on Harare and Kampala also show how particular peripheral areas have become central to efforts to build an urban support base by Zanu-PF and the National Resistance Movement. This often plays out through the informal parcelling out of land to supporters.

Contesting autocratic rule

Concerns about authoritarian politics are at an all-time high.

The above Google Ngram highlights the perilous rise in the use of the term “autocratization” in published work over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the contestation of autocratic rule will continue to erupt in cities, especially in rapidly urbanising parts of the world. In this context, the need to understand how autocracy and urbanisation collide could hardly be more important.

If pro-democracy forces are to have any hope of prevailing against efforts by authoritarian ruling elites to entrench their position, there is a crucial need to better understand their urban strategies and tactics.

David Jackman received funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

Tom Goodfellow is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which funded part of the research on which this book is based.

– ref. Autocrats and cities: how capitals have become a battleground for protest and control – https://theconversation.com/autocrats-and-cities-how-capitals-have-become-a-battleground-for-protest-and-control-240377

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Amid the West’s wavering aid to Ukraine, North Korea backs Russia in a mutually beneficial move

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser University

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently accused North Korea of plans to send 10,000 soldiers to fight for Russia in Ukraine. South Korean intelligence later gave credence to Zelenskyy’s assertion, as the country’s legislators noted that North Korea has already dispatched 3,000 soldiers to Russia.

North Korea lending a helping hand to Russia is nothing new. The country has already provided Russia with significant munitions to supplement its depleted reserves. North Korean soldiers, in fact, are likely already fighting in the conflict.

North Korea’s alleged decision to send additional soldiers to fight demonstrates the inadequacy of the West’s actions. Wavering western commitment to Ukraine has not only made the situation in Ukraine worse, it’s compromised global security too.

Read more:
Kim Jong-un sends North Korean troops to fight in Ukraine – here’s what this means for the war

Immediate benefits for Russia

Each side in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is seeking any and all assistance from its allies. In Russia’s case, western efforts to make Russian President Vladimir Putin a pariah caused him to turn to another pariah in the international order: North Korea.

Russian-North Korean diplomatic relations are longstanding. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin initially favoured relations with South Korea over its northern counterpart. But since Putin assumed power in 2000, Russia has strengthened its ties with North Korea, albeit with a few notable exceptions.

Russia has always been the dominant partner in the relationship. North Korea, however, has leveraged Russia’s diplomatic isolation for its own benefit. This explains why it’s providing soldiers to Russia on a scale that helps address the most immediate Russian concern: lessening the burden on its population.

Russia has employed mass mobilization in the conflict, but it has sought to push this burden onto the ethnic minorities and rural population of the country.

The protracted nature of the conflict, however, means that it’s increasingly difficult for Russia to disproportionately mobilize these elements. The more Putin’s government relies on ethnic Russians from the larger cities of the country, the more it puts his position under strain. Ten thousand North Korean soldiers will help alleviate this issue in the short term.

Read more:
Russians flee the draft as the reality of the war in Ukraine hits home

Benefits for North Korea

Despite North Korea’s diplomatic connections with Russia, it remains one of the world’s most isolated countries.

North Korea’s closest relationship is with China, which is both a blessing and a curse — a blessing because China, for its own reasons, frequently provides diplomatic cover for North Korean actions; a curse because it puts North Korea at risk of becoming dependent on China, even though their objectives do not often align.

North Korea’s deepening alliance with Russia is reminiscent of its strategy during the Cold War, when it maintained strong relations with both the Soviet Union and China to prevent itself from being subsumed by either.

North Korea will also receive substantive benefits from its alliance with Russia. An endemic problem for North Korea is food shortages. During the 1990s, as many as three million people died from starvation.

There is evidence North Korea faced famine conditions as recently as 2023. Russia’s delivery of almost 500 goats to North Korea in what’s been dubbed a “goats for guns” exchange addresses a pressing need for North Koreans.

North Korean participation in the Russia-Ukraine war also gives the country opportunities to access Russian military training. While western analysts have criticized Russia’s military performance in terms of training and doctrine, it still represents a substantial upgrade for North Korea. Furthermore, there is no substitute for the live experience North Korean soldiers will amass on the battlefield.

Read more:
3 ways Russia has shown military ‘incompetence’ during its invasion of Ukraine

Perhaps more worrisome is potential Russian aid for North Korea’s missile program. As one of the world’s nuclear powers, North Korea has lagged in its ability to deploy nuclear weapons, with its ballistic missile tests frequently ending in malfunctions, disasters or both.

While Russian missile technology has its own limitations, it is still significantly beyond North Korea’s current capabilities.

Given the pressure that North Korea has been able to exert with its missile tests alone in recent years, any improvement in its capabilities has the potential to destabilize the Asia-Pacific region.

Global consequences for western inaction

Russia’s need for North Korean support will undoubtedly improve North Korea’s military technology, as well as provide its army with valuable military experience.

North Korea has in the past — and will likely in the future — stoke instability in the Asia-Pacific region. The gains North Korea has made from its partnership with Russia will only increase its ability to pose a threat in the region.

It should not be a shocking development that North Korea provided Russia with soldiers. Instead, what should be controversial is how the West’s wavering support of Ukraine and delays in providing meaningful aid have resulted in a protracted conflict that gave Russia the time to muster resources, like North Korean soldiers, for the conflict.

Western states, in so doing, not only put Ukraine in a disadvantageous position, but weakened their own security as well.

James Horncastle 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. Amid the West’s wavering aid to Ukraine, North Korea backs Russia in a mutually beneficial move – https://theconversation.com/amid-the-wests-wavering-aid-to-ukraine-north-korea-backs-russia-in-a-mutually-beneficial-move-241970

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: How NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Could Decipher the Moon’s Icy Secrets

Source: NASA

There’s water on the Moon, but scientists only have a general idea of where it is and what form it is in. A trailblazing NASA mission will get some answers.
When NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer begins orbiting the Moon next year, it will help resolve an enduring mystery: Where is the Moon’s water? Scientists have seen signs suggesting it exists even where temperatures soar on the lunar surface, and there’s good reason to believe it can be found as surface ice in permanently shadowed craters, places that have not seen direct sunlight for billions of years. But, so far, there have been few definitive answers, and a full understanding of the nature of the Moon’s water cycle remains stubbornly out of reach.
This is where Lunar Trailblazer comes in. Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and led by Caltech in Pasadena, California, the small satellite will map the Moon’s surface water in unprecedented detail to determine the water’s abundance, location, form, and how it changes over time.
“Making high-resolution measurements of the type and amount of lunar water will help us understand the lunar water cycle, and it will provide clues to other questions, like how and when did Earth get its water,” said Bethany Ehlmann, principal investigator for Lunar Trailblazer at Caltech. “But understanding the inventory of lunar water is also important if we are to establish a sustained human and robotic presence on the Moon and beyond.”
Future explorers could process lunar ice to create breathable oxygen or even fuel. And they could also conduct science. Using information from Lunar Trailblazer, future human or robotic scientific investigations could sample the ice for later study to determine where the water came from. For example, the presence of ammonia in ice samples may indicate the water came from comets; sulfur, on the other hand, could show that it was vented to the surface from the lunar interior when the Moon was young and volcanically active.

“In the future, scientists could analyze the ice in the interiors of permanently shadowed craters to learn more about the origins of water on the Moon,” said Rachel Klima, Lunar Trailblazer deputy principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “Like an ice core from a glacier on Earth can reveal the ancient history of our planet’s atmospheric composition, this pristine lunar ice could provide clues as to where that water came from and how and when it got there.”
Understanding whether water molecules move freely across the surface of the Moon or are locked inside rock is also scientifically important. Water molecules could move from frosty “cold traps” to other locations throughout the lunar day. Frost heated by the Sun sublimates (turning from solid ice to a gas without going through a liquid phase), allowing the molecules to move as a gas to other cold locations, where they could form new frost as the Sun moves overhead. Knowing how water moves on the Moon could also lead to new insights into the water cycles on other airless bodies, such as asteroids
Two Instruments, One Mission
Two science instruments aboard the spacecraft will help unlock these secrets: the High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) infrared spectrometer and the Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) infrared multispectral imager.
Developed by JPL, HVM3 will detect and map the spectral fingerprints, or wavelengths of reflected sunlight, of minerals and the different forms of water on the lunar surface. The spectrometer can use faint reflected light from the walls of craters to see the floor of even permanently shadowed craters.
The LTM instrument, which was built by the University of Oxford and funded by the UK Space Agency, will map the minerals and thermal properties of the same lunar landscape. Together they will create a picture of the abundance, location, and form of water while also tracking how its distribution changes over time.
“The LTM instrument precisely maps the surface temperature of the Moon while the HVM3 instrument looks for the spectral signature of water molecules,” said Neil Bowles, instrument scientist for LTM at the University of Oxford. “Both instruments will allow us to understand how surface temperature affects water, improving our knowledge of the presence and distribution of these molecules on the Moon.”
Weighing only 440 pounds (200 kilograms) and measuring 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed, Lunar Trailblazer will orbit the Moon about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the surface. The mission was selected by NASA’s SIMPLEx (Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration) program in 2019 and will hitch a ride on the same launch as the Intuitive Machines-2 delivery to the Moon through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. Lunar Trailblazer passed a critical operational readiness review in early October at Caltech after completing environmental testing in August at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, where it was assembled.
The orbiter and its science instruments are now being put through flight system software tests that simulate key aspects of launch, maneuvers, and the science mission while in orbit around the Moon. At the same time, the operations team led by IPAC at Caltech is conducting tests to simulate commanding, communication with NASA’s Deep Space Network, and navigation.
More About Lunar Trailblazer
Lunar Trailblazer is managed by JPL, and its science investigation and mission operations are led by Caltech with the mission operations center at IPAC. Managed for NASA by Caltech, JPL also provides system engineering, mission assurance, the HVM3 instrument, as well as mission design and navigation. Lockheed Martin Space provides the spacecraft, integrates the flight system, and supports operations under contract with Caltech.
SIMPLEx mission investigations are managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of the Discovery Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The program conducts space science investigations in the Planetary Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
For more information about Lunar Trailblazer, visit:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/lunar-trailblazer
News Media Contacts
Karen Fox / Molly WasserNASA Headquarters, Washington202-358-1600karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
Ian J. O’NeillJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-354-2649ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov
Gordon SquiresIPAC, Pasadena, Calif.626-395-3121squires@ipac.caltech.edu
2024-148

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: On Students’ Day, Dmitry Chernyshenko and Mikhail Degtyarev spoke about the development of youth sports

Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev congratulated students on the holiday and summed up the development of student sports in the country. In 2024, the number of students regularly involved in physical education and sports exceeded 3.8 million people. At the all-Russian level, 140 official sports events were held among students in 65 sports.

“Student sports are the most important element of our country’s youth policy. As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted, Students’ Day is a holiday not only for students, but for the entire country. In 2024, we managed to significantly strengthen the infrastructure of student sports: the number of sports clubs doubled and reached 2.5 thousand, and student sports leagues cover all key areas of physical training. Thanks to this, the number of students regularly involved in physical education and sports exceeded 3.8 million people – 67% of the number of full-time students,” Dmitry Chernyshenko emphasized.

During the week of Student Day, events are held across the country as part of the All-Russian Student Festival “Sports Student Night”. Thousands of young people participate in the competitions: competitions are held on skating rinks, stadiums, swimming pools and sports halls. In addition to the competitions, competitions are held among sports communities and fan groups.

“In 2025, students will be able to attend such large-scale sporting events as the All-Russian Winter Festival of Mass Sports in Krasnoyarsk, the XXVII All-Russian Festival of Physical Education University Students with International Participation in Volgograd, the XV All-Russian Festival of Student Sports in Ulyanovsk, the All-Russian Forum of Student Sports Clubs and others,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

The development of student sports is one of the instructions of the President of Russia, recalled in turn the Minister of Sports Mikhail Degtyarev.

“The head of state set the task of maintaining a high level of sports events and involving young people in physical activity. In 2024, 140 official sports events among students in 65 sports were held at the all-Russian level. We continue to strengthen the traditions of student sports and create new opportunities for self-realization of young athletes,” he emphasized.

The head of the department noted that student sports play an important role in the education system.

“Universities and colleges not only provide academic knowledge, but by involving millions of students in regular training, they form sports habits in young people, which then help many in life,” he said. “In addition, we actively support scientific and educational initiatives in the field of sports: in 2024, nine scientific conferences were held on this topic, and the XI All-Russian Forum “Current Issues in the Development of Student Sports” generally defined the development strategy for this area until 2030.”

In addition, Russian students are actively involved in the volunteer movement. In particular, more than 60 students from the Kuban University of Physical Education, Sports and Tourism, subordinate to the Ministry of Sports, are currently working on the beaches of Anapa: cleaning sand contaminated with fuel oil, taking part in cleaning birds from fuel oil and building a shelter for injured animals, the Minister of Sports said.

The Russian Student Sports Union plays a key role in the development of student sports. In 2024, it was headed by Sergey Kryukov, who was supported by the Russian Ministry of Sports. Among other things, its special task will be the development of the voluntary sports society “Burevestnik”, which should find new life in modern student sports.

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 –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Recruitment of board members to the International Fund for Ireland
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland invites expressions of interest for appointment to the Board of the International Fund for Ireland.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified people for appointment to the Board of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) for an initial period of three years commencing on 1 March 2025.

The IFI was established as an independent international organisation by the Irish and UK Governments in 1986 to promote economic and social advance and peace and to encourage contact, dialogue and reconciliation among communities throughout Ireland. The IFI is active in Northern Ireland and the six border counties of Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Monaghan, Cavan and Louth.

Under Article 6 of the Agreement between the UK and Irish Governments establishing the IFI, Board Members are to be appointed jointly by both Governments. The Board comprises six members and a Chair. The two Governments agree on the nomination of the Chair and each Government nominates three Board Members, with all requiring approval of both Governments. The two Governments work to ensure that Board membership is cross-border and is as reasonably diverse as possible.

The Board has responsibility for ensuring the proper functioning, governance and strategic development of the IFI, as well as approving the number of, and the level of funding for, projects and programmes supported by the IFI.

Board Members will serve on a part-time basis and receive remuneration of £11,000 per year. Expenses associated with attendance at meetings of the Board and its sub committees will be covered.

Board Members normally serve for a term of three years, and are eligible for renewal once, subject to the agreement of both Governments.

Essential experience/attributes

A record of providing successful strategic vision, leadership and direction at a senior level, to include the ability to think, plan and act strategically develop strategies and experience of successful change management.

Be able to demonstrate strong judgement skills including the ability to analyse complex issues to help inform sound decisions.

Possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to achieve consensus, develop and maintain building positive strategic relationships with stakeholders and to work successfully as part of a team.

Possess a robust understanding of corporate governance, financial and risk management arrangements and demonstrated experience in one or more of these areas.

A sound understanding of the peace and reconciliation challenges facing communities across Northern Ireland/southern border counties of Ireland.

Ability to demonstrate a high level of professional and personal integrity, propriety and probity.

Desirable experience

Previous experience of having served as a Board Member/Chairperson.

Previous experience of/familiarity with the Civil Society Organisations/voluntary sector

Expressions of interest (no longer than 2,000 words) should be accompanied by a Curriculum Vitae and cover letter outlining how candidates fulfil the experience and attributes set out above.

Further information on the work of the IFI is available – www.internationalfundforireland.com

Applications

Persons interested in being considered for appointment as a Board Member should submit an application by email by 29/11/2024 to Info.ifi@finance-ni.gov.uk

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Published 29 October 2024
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Casey Announces $6.8 Million for Penn State Rail Research to Improve Railway Safety and Reliability

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Pennsylvania Bob Casey

Federal funding will support research to improve railroads’ safety, efficiency, reliability

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey announced that Penn State University is receiving $6,877,761 in new, competitive grant funding to research and develop technologies that improve railroads in rural areas. This federal funding comes from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program and will establish a rail research center to develop ways to improve railroad safety, efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. Technologies developed through this research initiative will improve railroads across the Commonwealth.

“Ensuring Pennsylvania’s railroads are safe, efficient, and reliable is critical to keeping our Commonwealth fully connected and running full steam ahead,” said Senator Casey. “This funding will support critical research efforts to modernize our railroads and continue delivering transportation service across the Commonwealth.”

The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program is a federal grant program that provides funding for projects that improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of intercity passenger and freight rail.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Holbrooks primary on their way to becoming gold superheroes

Source: City of Coventry

Pupils at Holbrooks Primary have taken up the vaccine superhero challenge from Coventry City Council and have achieved silver status and on their way to achieving gold.

A group of students were presented with an award and prizes by Councillor Kamran Caan, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Cllr George Duggins, Leader of the Council, for recognising the steps they have taken to learn about immunisation and designing a bug character as part of the programme.

The Vaccine Superhero programme, run by Coventry City Council’s Public Health and School-Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS), is currently working with twenty-six primary and SEND schools with two schools attaining Silver awards and Holbrooks working towards Gold.

Cllr Kamran Caan, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Sport and Communities at the Council said:

“I’d like to congratulate Holbrooks Primary for their hard work and commitment in achieving silver status in this important Vaccine Superhero programme.

“I am delighted to see that here in Coventry, our schools, communities, public health and NHS teams have been working hard together to address the concerning rise in of vaccine preventable illnesses, such as measles.

“It’s not too late for other schools to sign up for the scheme. For more information, search vaccine superhero on the Council website.”

Nicki Kelsall, Deputy Headteacher at Holbrooks Primary School, added:

“At Holbrook Primary School, we recognise the importance of childhood immunisations to ensure that children have the best possible protection against dangerous diseases.  By educating the children in a fun and exciting way we hope to increase the uptake of immunisations in our community and ensure that the children are fully protected to have a healthy start in life.”

Attendees were provided with an overview of the programme’s progress to date, celebrated the achievements of participating schools, and welcomed new schools to the programme.

Since the launch of the programme, pupils have delved into the world of microbes, learning about their roles, appearance, functions, and how to prevent illness.

Schools have been highly engaged, participating in various creative activities with Hill Farm Primary School recently earning a Silver award through an experiment by investigating mold growth on bread and its relation to the role of microbes in vaccines. Holbrooks Primary School is on track for the first Gold award, having started their journey before the summer break.

For more information or to register for the programme visit Coventry.gov.uk/VaccineSuperhero

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: How Copilots are helping drive innovation to achieve business results that matter

Source: Microsoft

Headline: How Copilots are helping drive innovation to achieve business results that matter

The pace of AI innovation today continues to be extraordinary, and at Microsoft we are focused on helping organizations embrace it. By providing our customers with the most advanced AI technology across every product we build — combined with our unparalleled partner ecosystem and co-innovation approach — we are helping them make real progress in ways that matter. I am proud to share over 100 customer stories from this quarter alone showing how we are helping customers accelerate AI Transformation — no matter where they are on their journey.

Recently during the Microsoft AI Tour, I spoke with customers who shared ways they are adopting Copilots to empower human achievement, democratize intelligence and realize significant business value. I also discussed the concept of an AI-first business process and the differentiation you can drive when bringing together the power of Copilots and human ambition with the autonomous capabilities of an agent. I was inspired by the outcomes our customers have achieved through pragmatic innovation and the progress they are making to evolve the future of industry. I am pleased to share ten stories from the past quarter that illustrate how Copilots have yielded results for our customers, while highlighting AI Transformation experiences in their own words.

Accenture and Avanade have a long history of helping customers implement cutting-edge solutions, with internal testing a key factor in their ability to deliver customizable Microsoft solutions with deep expertise. Putting Microsoft 365 Copilot into the hands of employees helped them realize ways to increase productivity, with 52% of employees seeing a positive impact on the quality of their work, 31% reporting less cognitive fatigue and 84% finding Copilot’s suggestions fair, respectful and non-biased. Accenture also piloted GitHub Copilot to help build better solutions faster with developers spending less time debugging, resulting in 95% of developers reporting they enjoyed coding more.

“Using our extensive Microsoft technology expertise and practical learnings from our own experience implementing Microsoft 365 Copilot, our solutions empower clients to fully tap into Microsoft AI capabilities.”

Veit Siegenheim, Global Future of Work Lead at Avanade

Nigerian multinational financial services group Access Holdings Plc. serves more than 56 million customers across 18 countries. As the business grew and transitioned from a small bank to a major holding company, it adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to address challenges in data management, meeting productivity and software development. With the integration of Copilot into daily tools, the company significantly enhanced efficiency and engagement across the business. Writing code now takes two hours instead of eight, chatbots can be launched in 10 days instead of three months and presentations can be prepared in 45 minutes instead of six hours. Copilot has also driven a 25% increase in staff engagement during meetings.

“To inspire everyone in the organization to take advantage of AI, we knew we had to integrate AI into the tools people use every day. Microsoft 365 Copilot made the most sense and was a natural fit for us.”

Lanre Bamisebi, Executive Director IT and Digitalization at Access Holdings, Plc.

To improve resident services and reinvent customer engagement, the City of Burlington, Ontario, embraced AI and low-code tools to develop new online services that transform and automate internal processes. In just eight weeks, the city utilized Copilot Studio to develop and launch a custom copilot designed to help residents quickly find answers to frequently asked questions. The city also developed a portal that streamlines building permit reviews and enables customers to track the status of their own applications. As a result, the average time it takes to process a permit approval decreased from 15 weeks to 5-7 weeks, allowing more time for city employees to evaluate complex submissions.

“Our staff and citizens do not have to worry about mundane tasks as much anymore. Now they’re able to have rich, collaborative conversations about how to creatively solve problems, making for a much more fulfilling and rewarding work and customer experience.”

Chad MacDonald, Executive Director and Chief Information Officer at the City of Burlington

Finastra empowers financial institutions with leading software for lending, payments, treasury, capital markets and universal banking. To transform its marketing processes, the company used Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate tasks, enhance content creation, improve analytics and personalize customer interactions. Since integrating Copilot, the team reduced time-to-market for campaigns from three months to less than one. Copilot also significantly reduced the time marketers spend generating and gathering insights from each campaign, with employees citing a 20%-50% time savings across tasks like full-funnel analysis, supply management analysis and budget management.

“Copilot makes you more effective because you get better insights, and it makes you more efficient because you can produce results faster. It also makes work more meaningful and fun because your team can focus on what matters — strategy, creativity and everything that sets you apart from the competition.”

Joerg Klueckmann, Head of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Finastra

GoTo Group provides technology infrastructure and solutions across Indonesia. It is bending the curve on innovation by significantly enhancing productivity and code quality across its engineering teams by adopting GitHub Copilot. With real-time code suggestions, chat assistance and the ability to break down complex coding concepts, the company has saved over seven hours per week and achieved a 30% code acceptance rate within the first month. With 1,000 engineers already using GitHub Copilot, the tool allows them to innovate faster, reduce errors and focus more time on complex tasks to deliver greater value to their users.

“GitHub Copilot has significantly reduced syntax errors and provided helpful autocomplete features, eliminating repetitive tasks and making coding more efficient. This has allowed me to focus on the more complex elements in building great software.”

Nayana Hodi, Engineering Manager at GoTo Group

South Africa’s Milpark Education faced operational challenges when shifting to online learning due to legacy systems slowing down student interactions and support. Through close collaboration with Enterprisecloud, Milpark migrated its back-office infrastructure to Azure within three months, replacing its legacy student admissions system with an extensible, integrated digital platform powered by technologies such as Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio. In just four months, the educational institution improved efficiency and accuracy of student support, decreasing the average resolution time by 50% and escalations by more than 30%.

“Using Copilot, agents are now able to use generative AI to rapidly get up to speed on case details and respond to students using standardized templates that help them provide more personalized and professional responses. The results speak for themselves.”

Shaun Dale, Managing Director at Enterprisecloud

For over two decades, Teladoc Health has been offering a broad spectrum of services to patients using virtual care services — from primary care to chronic condition management. After the rapid growth of telehealth adoption post-pandemic, operational efficiency was instrumental in managing internal processes and external client interactions. By deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot and using Copilot in Power Automate, the company has reshaped business processes to help employees realize greater time savings while enhancing the client experience. The Copilots and agents helped employees save five hours per week and thousands of enterprise hours annually by eliminating mundane daily processes and fostering better cross-department communications, while also helping new employees get set up to run their workflows 20% faster.

“Copilot is changing the way we work. It’s not just about saving time; it’s about enhancing the quality of our work, allowing us to focus on what truly matters: delivering exceptional care to our members.”

Heather Underhill, SVP Client Experience & Operations at Teladoc Health

International energy company Uniper adopted a single-cloud strategy with Azure as its foundation to drive rapid AI innovation. To help its employees focus on using core competencies, the company implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce time spent on manual and repetitive tasks, and help workers focus on more pressing work, such as developing enhanced solutions to speed up the energy transition. Its in-house auditors have already increased productivity by 80% by using Copilot to create plans and checklists. Uniper is also using Copilot for Security to help identify risks twice as fast and take appropriate action sooner.

“As an operator of critical infrastructure, we have to contend with a growing number of reports of phishing and attacks by hackers. AI can help us implement a sensible way of managing the sheer number of threats.”

Damian Bunyan, CIO at Uniper

British telecommunications company Vodafone has transformed its workplace productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot, already seeing strong ROI from its adoption. In early trials, Copilot saved employees an average of three hours per week by using the tool to draft emails, summarize meetings and search for information. Copilot is also enriching the employee experience, with 90% of users reporting they are eager to continue using Copilot and 60% citing improved work quality. For Vodafone’s legal and compliance team, Copilot has significantly accelerated the processes of drafting new contracts, reducing the time required to complete this work by one hour. As a result of these efficiency gains, Vodafone is rolling out Copilot to 68,000 employees.

“Our AI journey is focusing on three areas: operational efficiency inside the organization; rewiring the business to provide an enhanced customer experience; and unlocking growth opportunities through new products and services that we can create around generative AI. Copilot will help drive all three.”

Scott Petty, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone

Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a global leader in roll-on/roll-off shipping and vehicle logistics, is empowering better decision-making while fostering a culture of innovation and inclusion with AI tools. After participating in an early access program, the company broadly adopted Microsoft Copilot 365 to help streamline processes, enhance data management and improve communication across its 28 countries. To help strengthen Copilot immersion and realize value faster, they introduced a seven-week Microsoft Viva campaign to teach, communicate and measure Copilot adoption. The campaign resulted in 80% of employees using Copilot, with some teams realizing time savings of at least 30 minutes per day. The company also uses Copilot Dashboard to manage usage and gather user feedback, helping demonstrate ROI and measure results outside of time savings alone.

“Copilot changes the way we think and work while keeping us curious and open to embracing opportunities. I think that is the sort of benefit that is not so measurable, but important. So, my time management and structured approach to my everyday work life has been enhanced with Copilot and Viva.”

Martin Hvatum, Senior Global Cash Manager at Wallenius Wilhelmsen

I believe that no other company has a better foundation to facilitate your AI Transformation than Microsoft. As we look ahead to Microsoft Ignite, I am excited by the latest innovation we will announce as a company, and the customer and partner experiences we will share. We remain committed to driving innovation that creates value in ways that matter most to our customers, and believe we are at our best when we serve others. There has never been a better opportunity for us to accomplish our mission of empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more than now, and I look forward to the ways we will partner together to help you achieve more with AI.

AI Customer Stories from FY25 Q1

Accelleron: Accelleron turbocharges IT support solutions and resolution times with Power Platform

Agnostic Intelligence: Agnostic Intelligence transforms risk management with Azure OpenAI Service, achieving up to 80% time savings

Alaska Airlines: How Alaska Airlines uses technology to ensure its passengers have a seamless journey from ticket purchase to baggage pickup

Allgeier: Allgeier empowers organizations to own and expand data operations

ANZ Group: ANZ launches first-of-its-kind AI Immersion Centre in partnership with Microsoft

Asahi Europe & International: Asahi Europe & International charts new paths in employee productivity with Microsoft Copilot

Auburn University: Auburn University empowers thousands of students, faculty and staff to explore new ways of using AI with Microsoft Copilot

Avanade: Avanade equips 10,000 employees with Microsoft Fabric skills to help customers become AI-driven and future-ready

Azerbaijan Airlines: Azerbaijan Airlines expands data access to increase efficiency by 70% with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Aztec Group: Aztec Group uses Copilot for Microsoft 365 to enhance the client experience whilst powering efficiencies

Bader Sultan: Bader Sultan uses Microsoft Copilot to boost productivity and serve clients faster

BaptistCare: BaptistCare supports aging Australians and tackles workforce shortages through Microsoft 365 Copilot

Barbeque Mania!: Barbecue Mania! centralizes your data with Microsoft Azure and saves $3.5 million over 5 years

Bank of Montreal: Bank of Montreal reduces costs by 30% with Azure

BlackRock: How BlackRock’s ‘flight crew’ helped Copilot for Microsoft 365 take off

Capita: Capita uses GitHub Copilot to free developers and deliver faster for customers

Cassidy: Cassidy and Azure OpenAI Service: Making AI simple for all

Cdiscount: Cdiscount, Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot join forces for e-commerce

Celebal: Celebal drives custom business transformations with Microsoft Fabric

Chalhoub Group: Chalhoub Group’s People Analytics team speeds reporting with Microsoft Fabric

ClearBank: ClearBank processes 20 million payments a month — up from 8,000 — with platform built on Azure

Cloud Services: Faster with Fabric: Cloud Services breaks new ground with Microsoft

Coles Supermarkets: Coles Supermarkets embraces AI, cloud applications in 500-plus stores with Azure Stack HCI

Commercial Bank of Dubai: Commercial Bank of Dubai: innovating a future proof banking platform with Microsoft Azure

CPFL: CPFL expands its data repository by 1500% with Mega Lake project on Microsoft Azure

Cummins: Cummins uses Microsoft Purview to automate information governance more efficiently in the age of AI

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA): DEWA pioneers the use of Azure AI Services in delivering utility services

Digi Rogaland: Digi Rogaland prioritizes student safety with Bouvet and Microsoft Fabric

Eastman: Eastman catalyzes cybersecurity defenses with Copilot for Security

E.ON: A modern workspace in transition: E.ON relies on generative AI to manage data floods with Copilot for Microsoft 365

EPAM Systems: Efficiency inside and out: EPAM streamlines communications for teams and clients with Copilot for Microsoft 365

EY: EY redefines sustainability performance management with Microsoft

Fast Shop: Fast Shop consolidated its data platform on Microsoft Azure and is now ready for the era of AI

FIDO Tech: AI tool uses sound to pinpoint leaky pipes, saving precious drinking water

Florida Crystals Corporation: Telecom expenses for Florida Crystals dropped 78% with Teams Phone and Teams Rooms

Four Agency: Four Agency innovates with Microsoft 365 Copilot to deliver better work faster

Fractal: Fractal builds innovative retail and consumer goods solutions with Microsoft’s AI offerings including Azure OpenAI Service

GE Aerospace: GE Aerospace launches company-wide generative AI platform for employees

Georgia Tech Institute for Data Engineering and Science: Georgia Tech is accelerating the future of electric vehicles using Azure OpenAI Service

Hitachi Solutions: Hitachi Solutions transforms internal operations with Microsoft Fabric

IBM Consulting: How IBM Consulting drives AI-powered innovation with Fabric expertise

iLink Digital: Transforming user-driven analytics with Microsoft Fabric

Insight Enterprises: Insight Enterprises achieves 93% Microsoft Copilot use rate, streamlining business operations to pave the way for customer success

Intesa Sanpaolo: Intesa Sanpaolo accrues big cybersecurity dividends with Microsoft Sentinel, Copilot for Security

ITOCHU Corporation: ITOCHU uses Microsoft Fabric and Azure AI Studio to evolve its data analytics dashboard into a service delivering instant recommendations

IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU): IU revolutionizes learning for its students with the AI study buddy Syntea and Azure OpenAI Service

John Cockerill: John Cockerill engages pro developers to build enterprise-wide apps with Power Platform

Kaya Limited: Kaya Limited elevates customer experience and operational efficiency with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power BI

LexisNexis: LexisNexis elevates legal work with AI using Copilot for Microsoft 365

Lionbridge: Lionbridge disrupts localization industry using Azure OpenAI Service and reduces turnaround times by up to 30%

Lotte Hotels & Resorts: Hotelier becomes a citizen developer, building a smart work culture based on Power Platform and hyper-automated work environment

Lumen Technologies: Microsoft and Lumen Technologies partner to power the future of AI and enable digital transformation to benefit hundreds of millions of customers

LS ELECTRIC: LS ELECTRIC uses data to optimize power consumption with Sight Machine and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing

MAIRE: MAIRE, transforming the energy sector and an entire company culture with Microsoft 365 Copilot

Mandelbulb Technologies: Early-adopter Mandelbulb Technologies finds success with Fabric

McKnight Foundation: McKnight Foundation accelerates its mission and supports community partners with Microsoft 365 Copilot

MISO: MISO undergoes a digital transformation with Microsoft Industry Solutions Delivery

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI): Recognizing the essence of AI and building the future with clients: MHI’s DI to create proprietary architecture using Azure OpenAI Service

Molslinjen: Molslinjen develops an AI-powered dynamic pricing strategy with Azure Databricks

National Australia Bank: National Australia Bank invests in an efficient, cloud-managed future with Windows 11 Enterprise

Nagel-Group: Works agreements and contracts: Nagel-Group uses Azure OpenAI Service to help employees find information

NC Fusion: Elevating experiences with AI, from productivity to personalization

National Football League Players Association: The National Football League Players Association and Xoriant use Azure AI Services to provide protection to players across 32 teams

Northwestern Medicine: Northwestern Medicine deploys DAX Copilot embedded in Epic within its enterprise to improve patient and physician experiences

Oncoclínicas: Oncoclínicas creates web portal and mobile app to store clinical and medical procedures with Azure Cognitive Services

PA Consulting: PA Consulting saves hours a week with Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Copilot for Sales

Parexel: Parexel speeds operational insights by 70% using Microsoft Azure, accelerating data product delivery and reducing manual work

Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC): From weeks to days, hours to seconds: PIC automates work processes to save time with Microsoft 365 Copilot

PKSHA Technology: PKSHA leans on Copilot for Microsoft 365 as part of their team

Planted: Planted combines economic growth and environmental sustainability — with Microsoft Azure OpenAI

Profisee: Profisee eliminates data siloes within Microsoft Fabric

Programa De Atención Domiciliaria: The Home Care Program in Panama helped more than 17,000 people with the power of Microsoft Power Automate

PwC: PwC scales GenAI for enterprise with Microsoft Azure AI

QNET: QNET increases security response efficiency 60 percent with Microsoft Security Solutions

RTI International: Research nonprofit RTI International improves the human condition with Microsoft 365 Copilot

Rijksmuseum: Rijksmuseum transforms how art lovers engage with the museum, with Dynamics 365

Sandvik Coromant: Sandvik Coromant hones sales experience with Microsoft Copilot for Sales

Share.Market: Share.Market redefines the investment experience with Microsoft Azure

Simpson Associates: Simpson Associates spurs justice for at-risk communities with Azure AI

Softchoice: Softchoice harnesses Microsoft Copilot and reduces content creation time by up to 70%, accelerating customer AI journeys with its experience

Sonata Software: Sonata Software goes from early adopter to market leader with Fabric

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS): SWISS targets 30% cost savings, increased passenger satisfaction with Azure

SymphonyAI: SymphonyAI is solving real problems across industries with Azure AI

Syndigo: Syndigo accelerates digital commerce for its customers by more than 40% with Azure

TAL: TAL and Microsoft join forces on strategic technology deal

Tecnológico de Monterrey: Tecnológico de Monterrey university pioneers ambitious AI-powered learning ecosystem

Telstra: Telstra and Microsoft expand strategic partnership to power Australia’s AI future

The University of Sydney: The University of Sydney utilizes the power of Azure OpenAI to allow professors to create their own AI assistants

Torfaen County Borough: Torfaen County Borough Council streamlines organizational support for Social Care using Copilot for Microsoft 365

Trace3: Trace3 expands the realm of clients’ possibilities with Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Copilot

Unilever: Unilever is reinventing the fundamentals of research and development with Azure Quantum Elements

University of Wisconsin: Microsoft collaborates with Mass General Brigham and University of Wisconsin–Madison to further advance AI foundation models for medical imaging

Via: Marketplace, online support, and remote work: Via embraces the digital world supported by Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Azure

Virgin Atlantic: How Virgin Atlantic is flying higher with Copilot

Virgin Money: Redi, set, go: Virgin Money delivers exceptional customer experiences with Microsoft Copilot Studio

Visier: Visier achieves performance improvements of up to five times using Azure OpenAI Service

World2Meet (W2M): World2Meet, the travel company providing a better customer experience and operations with a new virtual assistant powered by Microsoft Azure

Xavier College: Xavier College begins a process of modernizing its student information systems on Dynamics 365 and AI, unlocking powerful insights

ZEISS: More time for research: ZEISS supports businesses and researchers with ZEISS arivis Cloud based on Microsoft Azure

ZF Friedrichshafen AG (ZF Group): ZF Group builds manufacturing efficiency with over 25,000 apps on Power Platform

Tags: Azure, Azure AI Services, Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Databricks, Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Quantum Elements, Azure Stack HCI, Copilot, Copilot for Sales, Copilot for Security, Copilot Studio, Dax Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft AI Tour, Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Power Platform, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva, Power Automate, Power BI

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025