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Category: Universities

  • MIL-OSI Global: Solar panels’ shade helps boost Colorado grassland productivity in dry years

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Matthew Sturchio, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University; Faculty Afffiliate in Ecology, Colorado State University

    Solar panels on grasslands can generate electricity and useful forage or wildlife habitat. Matthew Sturchio, CC BY-ND

    Grasses growing in the shade of a solar array were only a little less productive than those growing nearby in open grassland during years of average and above-average rainfall – but in a dry year, the shaded plants grew much better than those growing in full sun. That’s the result of a four-year study we conducted in a semi-arid grassland of northern Colorado.

    When choosing a location for generating solar power, consistent sunlight and interconnection to the electric grid are key criteria. In Colorado the combination of new electrical transmission infrastructure, abundant sunlight and short vegetation that is easy to maintain have made grasslands a prime target for solar development.

    Grasslands, like those that dominate the eastern plains of Colorado, provide important habitat for wildlife and serve as a critical food source for livestock. Although these grasslands have long been productive despite their normally arid environment, a warmer climate has increased the potential for more frequent and severe drought. For instance, a recent global study found that previous research likely underestimated the threat of extreme drought in grasslands.

    Semi-arid grassland near Cheyenne, Wyo., with close-ups of flowers of some of the plants that grow there.
    Matthew Sturchio, CC BY-ND

    At Colorado State University, biology professor Alan Knapp and I started the ecovoltaics research group to study the effects of solar development in grasslands. Our primary goal is to ensure an ecologically informed solar energy future.

    Solar panels create microclimates

    Strings of solar panels redirect rain to the edge of panels. Because of this, small rain events can provide biologically relevant amounts of water instead of evaporating quickly.

    Simultaneously, solar panels shade plants growing beneath them. Some arrays, including the ones used in our study, move the panels to follow the path of the Sun across the sky.

    This results in a combination of sun and shade that is very different from the uninterrupted sunlight beating down on plants in a grassland without solar panels. In turn, patterns of plant stress and water loss also differ in grasses under solar arrays.

    A time-lapse video shows how a single-axis tracking solar array at Jack’s Solar Garden modifies patterns of sunlight availability.

    How grasses respond to a solar panel canopy

    To get a handle on how these different conditions affect grasses, we measured plant physiological response during the early stages of our study. More specifically, we tracked leaf carbon and water exchange throughout daylight hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., over 16 weeks in summer 2022 at Jack’s Solar Garden, a solar array over grassland in Longmont, Colorado.

    In general, plants that are adapted to full sun conditions, including most grasses, might not be expected to grow as well in partial shade. But we suspected that growth benefits from reduced water stress could outweigh potential reductions in growth from shading. We call this the “aridity mitigation potential” hypothesis.

    Sure enough, we found evidence of aridity mitigation across multiple years, with the most pronounced effect during the driest year.

    When water is scarce, increases in grassland productivity are more valuable because there isn’t as much around. Therefore, increasing grassland production in dry years could provide more available food for grazing animals and help offset some of the economic harm of drought in rangelands.

    Informing sustainable solar development in grasslands

    So far, our research has been limited to a grassland dominated by a cool season grass: smooth brome. Although it is a perennial commonly planted for hay, fields dominated by smooth brome lack the diversity of life found in native grasslands.

    Future work in native shortgrass prairies would provide new information about how solar panels affect plant water use, soils and grazing management in an ecosystem with 30% less precipitation than Jack’s Solar Garden. We’re beginning that work now at the shortgrass ecovoltaic research facility near Nunn, Colorado. This facility, which will be fully operational later in 2025, was constructed with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the wider SCAPES project.

    Testing the effects of solar panels over grasslands in a native ecosystem with even greater aridity will help us develop a clearer picture of ways solar energy can be developed in concert with grassland health.

    Matthew Sturchio works for Cornell University and serves as a Faculty Affiliate at Colorado State University. Funding for this work came from US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Sustainable Agricultural Systems project entitled “Sustainably Co-locating Agricultural and Photovoltaic Electricity Systems,” led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Grant Number: 2021-68012-35898, 2021–2025.

    – ref. Solar panels’ shade helps boost Colorado grassland productivity in dry years – https://theconversation.com/solar-panels-shade-helps-boost-colorado-grassland-productivity-in-dry-years-257082

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Reform’s threat to the mainstream parties is unique in UK political history

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martin Farr, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, Newcastle University

    Labour’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has declared that Keir Starmer’s government has driven “a knife into the heart of what I believed Labour stood for” and called for party members, unions and MPs to take back control.

    The text was McDonnell’s, but the pretext was Nigel Farage. Earlier in the week, the Reform leader moved his tanks on to Labour’s lawn by promising to reverse the government’s withdrawal of winter fuel payments to pensioners, and remove the two-child benefit limit, a week after Starmer had committed the most perilous of political allusions: evoking the language of Enoch Powell over immigration. Starmer has been singed (as was Tony Benn in 1970) by playing with Powell’s incendiarism. The disingenuousness of denials that so irregular a phrase as “an island of strangers” was not Starmer dog-whistling marked another low.

    At the centre of Labour’s dilemma is political mutability; how those most elemental, political categories “right” and “left” have blurred into indistinction. Reform UK were ostensibly of the former – nationalist, individualist, authoritarian – but now parade the sacraments of the latter: nationalisation, collectivism, welfarism.

    Betrayal narratives follow Labour leaders as night does day, but Sir Keir Starmer’s inconstancy and inability to offer mitigation by counter-narrative at least demonstrates his fidelity to his political hero Harold Wilson. His ministers in the 1960s and 1970s despaired at their electorally successful prime minister’s apparent lack of defining principle.

    Of the many issues Reform UK raises, the most intriguing is also the least answerable: individual agency. It will never be known whether Britain would still be in the EU had Farage not survived his 2010 plane crash, but it’s more probable than not. Similarly, had Farage withdrawn, as he promised, from British politics to more lucrative pursuits across the Atlantic, the existential threat to both the Labour government and the Conservative party would have gone with him.

    But Farage stayed – and Reform is now a threat of a different order to his previous vehicles. They were significant – UKIP with Brexit; the Brexit party providing Boris Johnson’s 2019 victory – without being serious. They lacked policies (or even policy processes), professionalism, personnel (UKIP was the only party to ban former members of the BNP because it was the only party to have need to).

    Reform is now at the tipping point – both financially and electorally – of seriousness. It runs councils. It has mayors. Its triumph in the Runcorn by-election demonstrated discipline, and the importance of a sound candidate.



    Read more:
    UK local elections delivered record-breaking fragmentation of the vote

    When parties split

    In their public personas, Farage and Starmer are antitheses; the one glib, the other grave; the one with too much personality, the other too little. But charismatic politicians who “make the weather” can also break the party: Farage most recently and repeatedly. But before him Joseph Chamberlain split the Liberals in 1886 and the Unionists in 1903 and David Lloyd George again split the Liberals in 1916. Oswald Mosley caused chaos for Labour in 1931 and David Owen left Labour in the 1980s to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which he also later split.

    In 1981, the SDP achieved (in alliance with the Liberals) a poll surge of the kind currently being enjoyed by Reform. And in the 1983 general election the SDP/Liberal Alliance won only 675,000 fewer votes than Labour. But thanks to the first-past-the-post electoral system, the Alliance won 186 fewer seats. Labour’s geographical concentration saved it; the Alliance came second all over the country.

    In 2024, first past the post delivered what its advocates love, and its critics hate: a clear, and unfair, outcome. Labour won two-thirds of the seats on one-third of the votes. It was the most disproportionate result in history.

    Britain’s new multi-party politics may deliver a multi-party parliament at the next election, but through an electoral system designed – insofar as it was designed – for two. With Reform set to breach the 30% threshold, safe seats will be fewer and farther between; marginal seats the norm.

    This would present a challenge for a Labour leader much more nimble than Starmer. His dilemma is devilish: ape Reform and yield urban voters to the Greens and Liberal Democrats; repudiate and see the rebuilt red wall razed. There are other places for progressives to go. Indeed, there may soon be another: a new party of the left. McDonnell – who already sits as an independent, having had the Labour whip withdrawn last year – may see it as a lifeboat.

    Kemi Badenoch – and Robert Jenrick, her most likely usurper – face a strikingly similar problem. Responding to Reform in kind will cede affluent voters to the Liberal Democrats. The Conservative party is the most electorally successful in history in part because it never had a challenger on the right. There’s now another place for conservatives to go. (Or, as it were, to remain.)

    This is the historically unique threat of Reform. In warning of Farage – the most consequential politician since Margaret Thatcher – as a serious threat, Starmer and Badenoch may in overstating augment him, but to not do so is to risk acquiescing. Catastrophising and complacency were evident in 2014, when UKIP came first in the European Parliament elections. Two years later, Britain voted for Brexit.

    Reform still has somewhat less than fully thought-out, never mind fully-funded, policies. Its talent pool is a puddle. It’s now in office and will have a record to defend. It’s dominated by one person, and one who repels as much as he inspires. It’s still unlikely that in five years’ time Farage will be in government, much less prime minister. But it is less unlikely than it was, and is likely to become less unlikely still.

    Martin Farr 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. Reform’s threat to the mainstream parties is unique in UK political history – https://theconversation.com/reforms-threat-to-the-mainstream-parties-is-unique-in-uk-political-history-257839

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Navicore Solutions sees a 12% increase in participation in financial literacy workshops, leading to lasting confidence in making informed financial decisions for participants

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MANALAPAN, N.J., May 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Navicore Solutions, a leading nonprofit credit counseling organization, has seen a 12% increase in participation in its financial literacy workshops, so far this year. The significant increase in workshop attendance reflects a growing awareness of the importance of financial literacy for both teens and adults.

    “People are increasingly recognizing that financial education is not just about managing money today, but about building a foundation for lifelong financial success,” said Kim Cole, Navicore’s Community Engagement Manager. As of 2025, 32 states now require some form of personal finance education for high school graduation, up from 25 states in 2017. Despite growing interest in financial education, significant knowledge gaps persist, particularly with adults in underserved communities.

    Recent research continues to validate the lasting impact of financial education. According to a comprehensive study by Montana State University, high school students who received personal finance education made significantly better financial decisions when entering college. Furthermore, there is an economic benefit of roughly $100,000 per student from completing a one-semester class in personal finance at the high school level, according to a 2024 report by consulting firm Tyton Partners and Next Gen.

    Much of the value in basic financial education comes from learning how to avoid revolving credit card balances and leveraging better credit scores to secure preferential borrowing rates for key expenses, such as insurance, auto loans and home mortgages.

    “These findings align with what we’re seeing in our adult and community-based education programs,” noted Cole. “Participants who complete our workshops demonstrate improved ability to compare financial products, understand the true cost of different types of debt, and make more informed borrowing decisions.”

    “The statistics underscore the critical need for the work we’re doing,” said Cole. “Our workshops specifically address these knowledge gaps by providing practical, hands-on experience with financial concepts like interest rates, debt management, and saving and budgeting.”

    “The data is clear – early financial education pays dividends throughout life,” Cole emphasized. “Our goal is to help provide access to the financial knowledge communities need to make sound financial decisions, avoid costly mistakes, and build long-term financial security.”

    Navicore Solutions’ achievements demonstrate the viability of adult-focused financial literacy programs as tools for breaking intergenerational poverty cycles. By combining hands-on education with accessible debt management solutions, the organization equips participants to transform their financial trajectories—one informed decision at a time. As consumer debt reaches record highs and economic uncertainty persists, Navicore’s model offers a replicable blueprint for building financially resilient communities.

    About Navicore Solutions

    Founded in 1991, Navicore Solutions is a national leader in the field of nonprofit financial counseling with a mission to strengthen the well-being of individuals and families through education, guidance, advocacy, and support.

    Navicore counselors provide a wide range of services including credit counseling to consumers in need; education programs through workshops, courses and written material; debt management plan to provide relief for applicable consumers; student loan counseling for those struggling with student loan debt; and housing counseling services in the areas of rental, pre-purchase, default and reverse mortgage. The agency is an advocate of financial education helping communities achieve and maintain financial stability.

    Contact:
    Lori Stratford
    Digital Marketing Manager
    Navicore Solutions
    lstratford@navicoresolution

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: CT AHEC Offers Clinical Nurse Preceptor Training Conference in Hartford

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Student nurses, new graduate nurses, and nurses transitioning to a new clinical area rely on clinical nurse preceptors to help them successfully move into their new roles. Clinical nurse preceptors help train and retain nurses by providing one-to-one oversight and guidance; however, they are in short supply and training and support for the ones already in this role is inconsistent and often lacking.

    To address this gap, the Connecticut Area Health Education Network (CT AHEC) based at UConn Health, through its affiliation with the New England Nursing Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academy (Academy), a $4 million Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) project, provided 30 Connecticut nurses with a free one-day conference on clinical nurse precepting skills on May 14.

    “The CT AHEC program is grateful for the opportunity to support nursing professionals as a means of addressing health disparities through workforce development. Effective collaboration with key stakeholders is critical for maximizing fiscal resources, expertise, and delivery of continuation for all healthcare disciplines,” said Petra Clark-Dufner, CT AHEC Director.

    The Academy’s objective is to develop and support preceptors and clinical faculty to strengthen and grow the nursing workforce at all levels across all settings. Nurse who precept in hospitals, community health, ambulatory care, public health, universities, and corrections were in attendance.  UConn Health nurse Deisy Velez, MSN, RN, CMSRN, WCC, participated and said: “On my table we had an LPN, a nurse from Yale whose role was very similar to mine, an in home/ visiting nurse and two APRNs. All from very diverse backgrounds; but sitting together ready to learn the skills to help our peers. The activities given were engaging and allowed us to process and practice the ideas and tools given to us.”

    63% of the participants found the content “extremely useful”, and 52% reported that their knowledge regarding roles, responsibilities, and core competencies of clinical nurse precepting increased a “great deal.” UConn Health labor and delivery nurse Diane Fallon, RN, C-HROB, C-EFM, commented that the conference “stocked my toolbox with evidence-based guidelines to use when I want to encompass the many roles of a nurse preceptor.”

    The conference presenters included seven nurses from Fairview Hospital (Berkshire, MA) and one nurse from the University of Connecticut. The Fairview Hospital nurses had participated in the Academy’s Teaching of Tomorrow program where they attended two weekend conferences focused on building and refining foundational skills for effective clinical teaching alongside other health professionals. They took their learnings and developed their own nurse-targeted training presentation. Participants earned 6.5 contact hours through the Connecticut Nurses Association.

    Minela Jasarevic, LPN, the vaccine coordinator at Charter Oak Health Center (Hartford), commented: “While hands-on experience is key, having a clear framework to follow when precepting is very helpful. A structure system ensures that important teaching steps aren’t missed and that feedback and assessment are consistent. Having tools to guide feedback, track trainee progress, and outline expectation can make the precepting experience smoother and more effective.”

    Instructors of the CT AHEC hosted one-day conference on clinical nurse precepting skills.

    This activity was jointly provided by The Berkshire Area Health Education Center (AHEC), The Connecticut Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Network, and The UMass Chan Medical School/Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing New England Nursing Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academy with funding by the Nurse Education, Practice, Quality, and Retention – Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academies program grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration administered by the UMass Chan Medical School/Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing in Worcester, MA in collaboration with partners across New England and support from the Connecticut Student Loan Repayment Program (CT SLRP), housed at the CT AHEC office at UConn Health.

    CT SLRP’s  support included current information on federal nurse loans, like the National Health Service Corps, Nurse Corps, as well as local/regional private resources available for refinancing and employer programs, such as CHESLA (Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority) and RISLA (Rhode Island Student Loan Authority).

    Krystal Nunziata, RN, from the Cornell Scotte Health Center (New Haven) summed up the value of her day of training by saying: “There is definitely a need to train nurse preceptors. Preceptor training can benefit all nurses by providing them with the tools and confidence to effectively mentor others. It can inspire those who may not have previously felt capable of taking on a leadership or mentorship role and also further develop the skills of those already precepting.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: From Paper Posters to Metaverses: What Surprises Telling Stories Fest 2025

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    Career and development became one of the main blocks of the program. Participants discussed how to build media in our time, when the fashion for podcasts is flourishing, how to promote regions with the help of creativity and why to publish paper art publications in the digital era.

    Together with the SKOLKOVO School of Management and experts in the field of art, design and media, we talked about new professions in metaverses – who are builders, scripters and world designers, and how to monetize digital content. We also discussed how to create creative work that wins competitions without losing individuality in the context of the rapid development of AI.

    From experts in gastronomic branding (National Association of Chefs, Channel One (Good Morning), MOSCOW CAKE SHOW, WORLDFOOD, CHEFS TEAM FEST, COFFEE TEA CACAO EXPO, Lapochka, ANO “North in the Heart”, MØS (Michelin), Björn, Taste of Moscow, Twins Science, Food Service Forum, Novikov School, SFU, International Enogastronomic Center, etc.) the guests learned how to turn a local product into a brand.

    Professionals in the field of management and communications (Alena Kremer, Antonina Priezzheva, Natalia Lebedeva, Roman Bedretdinov) explained why emotional intelligence is becoming a key skill in creative industries and how AI is changing advertising and startups.

    In conclusion, there will be a discussion on how an artist can find support outside the system: from grants to private patronage and residencies. Curators and art managers from GES-2, the Winzavod Foundation, the online platform TEO by Cosmoscow and HSE ART GALLERY shared their experiences.

    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 –

  • Global universities seek to lure US-bound students amid Trump crackdown

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Universities around the world are seeking to offer refuge for students impacted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on academic institutions, targeting top talent and a slice of the billions of dollars in academic revenue in the United States.

    Osaka University, one of the top ranked in Japan, is offering tuition fee waivers, research grants and help with travel arrangements for students and researchers at U.S. institutions who want to transfer.

    Japan’s Kyoto University and Tokyo University are also considering similar schemes, while Hong Kong has instructed its universities to attract top talent from the United States. China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University has appealed for students at Harvard, singled out in Trump’s crackdown, promising “streamlined” admissions and “comprehensive” support.

    Trump’s administration has enacted massive funding cuts for academic research, curbed visas for foreign students – especially those from China – and plans to hike taxes on elite schools.

    Trump alleges top U.S. universities are cradles of anti-American movements. In a dramatic escalation, his administration last week revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol foreign students, a move later blocked by a federal judge.

    Masaru Ishii, dean of the graduate school of medicine at Osaka University, described the impact on U.S. universities as “a loss for all of humanity”.

    Japan aims to ramp up its number of foreign students to 400,000 over the next decade, from around 337,000 currently.

    Jessica Turner, CEO of Quacquarelli Symonds, a London-based analytics firm that ranks universities globally, said other leading universities around the world were trying to attract students unsure of going to the United States.

    Germany, France and Ireland are emerging as particularly attractive alternatives in Europe, she said, while in the Asia-Pacific, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and mainland China are rising in profile.

    SWITCHING SCHOOLS

    Chinese students have been particularly targeted in Trump’s crackdown, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday pledging to “aggressively” crack down on their visas.

    More than 275,000 Chinese students are enrolled in hundreds of U.S. colleges, providing a major source of revenue for the schools and a crucial pipeline of talent for U.S. technology companies.

    International students – 54% of them from India and China – contributed more than $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

    Trump’s crackdown comes at a critical period in the international student application process, as many young people prepare to travel to the U.S. in August to find accommodation and settle in before term starts.

    Dai, 25, a Chinese student based in Chengdu, had planned to head to the U.S. to complete her master’s but is now seriously considering taking up an offer in Britain instead.

    “The various policies (by the U.S. government) were a slap in my face,” she said, requesting to be identified only by her surname for privacy reasons. “I’m thinking about my mental health and it’s possible that I indeed change schools.”

    Students from Britain and the European Union are also now more hesitant to apply to U.S. universities, said Tom Moon, deputy head of consultancy at Oxbridge Applications, which helps students in their university applications.

    He said many international students currently enrolled at U.S. universities were now contacting the consultancy to discuss transfer options to Canada, the UK and Europe.

    According to a survey the consultancy ran earlier this week, 54% of its clients said they were now “less likely” to enrol at an American university than they were at the start of the year.

    There has been an uptick in applications to British universities from prospective students in the U.S., said Universities UK, an organisation that promotes British institutions. It cautioned, however, that it was too early to say whether that translates into more students enrolling.

    REPUTATIONAL EFFECTS

    Ella Ricketts, an 18-year-old first year student at Harvard from Canada, said she receives a generous aid package paid for by the school’s donors and is concerned that she won’t be able to afford other options if forced to transfer.

    “Around the time I was applying to schools, the only university across the Atlantic I considered was Oxford… However, I realised that I would not be able to afford the international tuition and there was no sufficient scholarship or financial aid available,” she said.

    If Harvard’s ability to enrol foreign students is revoked, she would most likely apply to the University of Toronto, she said.

    Analytics firm QS said overall visits to its ‘Study in America’ online guide have declined by 17.6% in the last year — with interest from India alone down over 50%.

    “Measurable impacts on enrolment typically emerge within six to 18 months. Reputational effects, however, often linger far longer, particularly where visa uncertainty and shifting work rights play into perceptions of risk versus return,” said QS’ Turner.

    That reputational risk, and the ensuing brain drain, could be even more damaging for U.S. institutions than the immediate economic hit from students leaving.

    “If America turns these brilliant and talented students away, they will find other places to work and study,” said Caleb Thompson, a 20-year-old U.S. student at Harvard, who lives with eight international scholars.

    -Reuters

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Andrey Rudskoy elected Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and awarded the Dmitry Chernov Medal

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    Rector of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, head of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Andrei Rudskoy has been elected Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The results of the vote were announced today, on the final day of the general meeting of the Academy members.

    During the meeting, the rector of the Polytechnic was solemnly presented with the Dmitry Chernov gold medal. The award is named after the Russian metallurgist and inventor Dmitry Konstantinovich Chernov. Chernov was one of the leading experts in steelmaking of his time. He is the author of a classic course of lectures on steelmaking that has been republished many times. Several generations of Russian artillerymen went through the school under the guidance of this famous metallurgist. D.K. Chernov’s contribution to the theory and practice of metallurgy was highly praised by domestic and foreign scientists.

    It is a great honor for me to receive the D.K. Chernov Gold Medal. This award has been given since 1995 by the Department of Physical Chemistry and Technology of Inorganic Materials of the Russian Academy of Sciences for outstanding work in the field of physical and chemical analysis, chemistry and technology. Of course, for metallurgists, this is the highest level of recognition of the results of research and work. I am confident that the developments in the field of new technologies for thermoplastic processing of materials that were awarded the medal will contribute to ensuring technological leadership and security of our country. I serve Russia and Russian science! – said Andrey Ivanovich.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The Marfin Dynasty

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    The history of the Polytechnic University continues in the lives of those who have linked their lives with our university. Vasily Marfin, a 1989 graduate of the Physics and Mechanics Department, is a shining example of how a university can become not just a place to get an education, but a real destiny. Having succeeded in engineering and entrepreneurship, he has always been connected with his alma mater. Together with like-minded people, Vasily Borisovich founded a community of our university graduates and heads the Polybusiness association.

    Vasily and Elena Marfin raised five children, most of whom also connected their lives with the Polytechnic University. Their family has become a real dynasty., where everyone remains faithful to the traditions of their native university, making its history alive. In May, the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov presented the Marfins with an award for their contribution to the upbringing of children.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why auction of Buddha relics was called off and why it matters – an expert in Asian art explains

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stephen A Murphy, Pratapaditya Pal Senior Lecturer in Curating and Museology of Asian Art, SOAS, University of London

    The slick online catalogue entry for “Premium Lot 1, The Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha” on the Sotheby’s Hong Kong website was abruptly replaced on May 7 with a single line notification: “The auction has been postponed.”

    Shortly afterwards, the associated webpages went blank. The only evidence remaining on Sotheby’s Hong Kong website was an entry on the Piprahwa gems’ history and a short YouTube promotional clip for the sale (below).

    Sotheby’s had first announced its intention to auction the relics on February 6 2025. Discovered in northern India in 1898 and thought to date to the third century BC, it was estimated they would fetch up to HK$100m (£9.7m). The collection was consigned by Chris Peppé on behalf of his family, who had inherited the relics from his great grandfather, William Caxton Peppé – a 19th-century British colonial landowner who owned an estate in India.

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    Reaction was muted at first, but as a scholar who researches the early history and archaeology of Buddhism and issues surrounding loot and restitution, I was gravely concerned by this proposed sale. Fortunately, I was not alone, and thanks to detailed research of SOAS colleagues such as Conan Cheong, Ashley Thompson and Thai academic Pipad Krajaejun, as well as protests from Buddhist devotees worldwide, a groundswell of disapproval began to grow.

    A letter sent to Sotheby’s by the British Maha Bodhi Society, and shared with me, states:

    Millions around the world, whether Buddhist or not, have religious and ethical concerns and believe that the sale of sacred items is morally wrong and offensive … Members of the Buddhist sangha [monkhood], as well as lay followers from all traditions, are appalled that the gems offered in devotional acts by the Buddha’s own clan, have been separated from his corporeal remains and are now being sold to the highest bidder.

    This disapproval turned into a tidal wave on May 5, two days before the planned auction, with the intervention of the Indian government – which is now threatening legal action against both Sotheby’s and the Peppé family, demanding that the relics be repatriated to India.

    In terms of his rights and those of his relatives to sell the relics, Chris Peppé previously had told the Guardian newspaper: “Legally, the ownership is unchallenged.”

    Sotheby’s confirmed to me that it and the Indian government are “currently in discussions regarding the Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha, and are pleased to be working together to find the best possible outcome for all parties”.

    How we got here

    To understand how we reached this impasse, we must cast our eyes back to 19th-century British colonial India, then forward again to 2018-2023 and a number of high-profile exhibitions at some of the world’s most prestigious museums.

    In 1898, the family’s great grandfather, William Caxton Peppé, excavated a Buddhist reliquary monument (known as a stupa) on his estate in Piprahwa, northern India. He uncovered what is now considered by scholars to be the most significant cache of Buddhist relics found in India.

    The discovery included five reliquary urns containing gems, ash and bone fragments. An inscription on one suggested the remains could be those of the historical Buddha, who is thought to have been cremated around 200 years prior to their burial.

    The Indian Treasure Trove Act of 1878 allowed Peppé to keep a portion referred to as “duplicates” (an art-history term used to justify the dividing up of similar material from a hoard or archaeological site that is very much frowned upon today). The British authorities gifted the bones and ash to King Chulalongkorn of Siam, who enshrined them in Bangkok and distributed portions to other Buddhist nations.

    The majority of the 1,800 gems, meanwhile, had been deposited in the Indian Museum in Kolkata. It is a longstanding issue, however, that the bulk of this collection remains locked away in the museum safe, off limits to Buddhists, the wider public and scholars alike. Perhaps the publicity surrounding the Peppé portion of the reliquary contents might prompt that museum to review this policy after 120 years.

    About ten years ago, armed with his inherited share of the relics, Chris Peppé began reaching out to museums worldwide, proposing to loan them. This, he recently stated, was to make them accessible to Buddhist devotees and the general public alike. Five museums took him up on the offer and, starting in 2018, duly curated high-profile exhibitions around them or incorporated them into larger shows.

    Chief among these was the 2023 blockbuster Tree And Serpent: Early Buddhist Art of India at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, where Peppé took part in the exhibition symposium, delivering a lecture on the relics.

    Objects with a history of celebrated exhibitions tend to reach higher prices at auction. Whether the Peppé family intentionally built up the Piprahwa exhibition history with the aim of eventually auctioning the relics is unclear. I contacted Chris Peppé directly and posed this question to him, but he declined to comment.

    Tellingly, the Sotheby’s website included a scholarly article from 2023 in Orientations Magazine by John Guy, curator of the Tree and Serpent exhibition. But it was dated to February 2025, which perhaps inadvertently made it appear to have been written as an endorsement of the sale. In fact, the paper had been published to coincide with the exhibition. I contacted Guy about this, and he responded by saying:

    I regard the linking of my publication to the Sotheby’s sale as highly inappropriate and this was done without my knowledge or consent. The Met’s lawyers demanded that it be removed immediately, which was done, along with a written apology from Sotheby’s.

    When I spoke to Nancy Wong at Sotheby’s, she confirmed this, saying: “We apologised and immediately removed the relevant reference from our website.”

    Given the events of the past few weeks, the Peppé family now find themselves in a bind. With the Indian government engaged, and it may not be long before Sotheby’s drops them and the relics altogether. Despite their cultured facades and high-society veneers, auction houses are businesses, designed to make a profit – and any potential buyers may have been thoroughly scared off by recent events.

    It is hard, however, for me to have much sympathy for the family who could have prevented this whole affair by donating the relics to a Buddhist community or museum in the first place.

    Stephen A Murphy is a Senior Lecturer at SOAS, University of London. Prior to this he was a senior curator at the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, from July 2014-October 2020 where an exhibition displaying the The Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha took place in November 2022-March 2023.

    – ref. Why auction of Buddha relics was called off and why it matters – an expert in Asian art explains – https://theconversation.com/why-auction-of-buddha-relics-was-called-off-and-why-it-matters-an-expert-in-asian-art-explains-256379

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Birth control increases stroke risk – here’s what women need to know

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Laura Elin Pigott, Senior Lecturer in Neurosciences and Neurorehabilitation, Course Leader in the College of Health and Life Sciences, London South Bank University

    Cryptogenic strokes have no obvious cause, but is increasingly being linked to subtle, hidden risk factors – such as oestrogen. Krakenimages.com/ Shutterstock

    For millions of women, combined hormonal contraceptives are a part of their daily life – providing a convenient and effective option for preventing pregnancy and managing their menstrual cycle.

    But new findings are sounding the alarm on a serious, and often overlooked, risk: stroke.

    According to recent findings presented at the European Stroke Organisation Conference, combined oral hormonal contraceptives (which contains both oestrogen and progestogen) may significantly increase the chance of women experiencing a cryptogenic stroke. This is a sudden and serious type of stroke that occurs with no obvious cause.

    Surprisingly, in younger adults – particularly women – cryptogenic strokes make up approximately 40% of all strokes. This suggests there may be sex-specific factors which contribute to this risk – such as hormonal contraception use. These recently-presented findings lend themselves to this theory.

    At this year’s conference, researchers presented findings from the Secreto study. This is an international investigation that has been conducted into the causes of unexplained strokes in young people aged 18 to 49. The study enrolled 608 patients with cryptogenic ischaemic stroke from 13 different European countries.

    One of their most striking discoveries was that women who used combined oral contraceptives were three times more likely to experience a cryptogenic stroke compared to non-users. These results stood, even after researchers adjusted for other factors which may have contributed to stroke risk (such as obesity and history of migraines).

    It’s well-documented that hormonal contraceptives, which contain both oestrogen and progestin, come with a small, increased risk of experiencing serious health events, including stroke – particularly ischaemic stroke, which occurs when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked.

    But a study published earlier this year, which tracked over two million women, found that combined hormonal contraceptives – including the pill, intrauterine devices (IUD), patches and vaginal rings, which all contain both synthetic oestrogen and progestogen – were linked to higher risks of both stroke and heart attack. The vaginal ring increased stroke risk by 2.4 times and 3.8 times for heart attack. The contraceptive patch was found to increase stroke risk by nearly 3.5 times.

    Interestingly, they also looked at a progestin-only contraceptive (the IUD) and found there was no increased risk for either heart attacks or strokes.

    Both of these recent findings suggest oestrogen may be the main driver of stroke risk. While absolute risk is still low – meaning fewer than 40 in every 100,000 women using a combined hormonal contraceptive will experience a stroke – the population-level impact is significant considering the number of women worldwide that use a combined hormonal contraceptive.

    Oestrogen and stroke risk

    Combined hormonal contraceptives contain synthetic versions of the sex hormones oestrogen (usually ethinylestradiol) and a progestin (the synthetic version of progestogen).

    Natural oestrogen in the body plays a role in promoting blood clotting, which is important for helping wounds heal and prevents excessive bleeding.

    The oestrogen in contraceptives is more potent than natural oestrogen.
    Image Point Fr/ Shutterstock

    But the synthetic oestrogen in contraceptives is more potent and delivered in higher, steady doses. It stimulates the liver to produce extra clotting proteins and reduces natural anticoagulants — tipping the balance toward easier clot formation. This effect, while helpful in stopping bleeding, can raise the risk of abnormal blood clots that can lead to conditions such as stroke. This risk may be even greater for people who smoke, experience migraines or have a genetic tendency to clot.

    If a clot forms in an artery that supplies the brain or breaks off and travels through the bloodstream to the brain, this can block blood flow – causing what’s known as an ischaemic stroke. This is the most common type of stroke. Clots can also form in deep veins (such as those in the legs or around your organs).

    In addition to clotting, oestrogen may also slightly raise blood pressure and affect how blood vessels behave over time, which can further increase stroke risk.

    The effects of oestrogen on clotting may partly explain why the recent conference findings showed a link between combined contraceptive use and cryptogenic stroke risk. Cryptogenic stroke has no obvious cause, but is increasingly being linked to subtle, hidden risk factors – such as hormone-driven clotting.

    Understanding risk

    These numbers can sound alarming at first, but it’s important to keep them in perspective. The absolute risk – meaning the actual number of people affected – is still low.

    For instance, researchers estimate that there may be one additional stroke per year for every 4,700 women using the combined pill.

    That sounds rare, and for most users, it is. But when you consider that millions of women use these contraceptives globally, even a small increase in risk can translate into a significant number of strokes at the population level. Which is relative to what is seen with the high number of cryptogenic strokes in young women.

    Despite the risks associated with combined hormonal contraceptives, many women continue to use them – either because they aren’t fully informed of the risks or because the alternatives are either less effective, less accessible or come with their own burdens.

    Part of the reason this trade-off has become so normalised is the persistent under-funding and under-prioritisation of women’s health research. Historically, medical research has focused disproportionately on men – with women either excluded from studies or treated as an afterthought.

    This has led to a limited understanding of how hormonal contraceptives affect female physiology beyond fertility control. As a result, the side-effects remain poorly understood, under-communicated and under-addressed.

    Women have a right to make informed decisions about their health and body. This starts with having access to accurate information about the real risks and benefits of every contraceptive option. It means understanding, for example, that while combined hormonal contraceptives do carry a small risk of blood clots and stroke, pregnancy and the weeks following childbirth come with an even higher risk of those same complications. This context is vital for making truly informed choices.

    No method of contraception is perfect. But when women are given the full picture, they can choose the method that best suits them. We also need more research that reflects the diversity and complexity of women’s bodies – not just to improve safety, but to expand options and empower decisions.

    Laura Elin Pigott 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. Birth control increases stroke risk – here’s what women need to know – https://theconversation.com/birth-control-increases-stroke-risk-heres-what-women-need-to-know-257516

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump sees himself as more like a king than president. Here’s why

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in US politics and international security, University of Portsmouth

    The American Revolution was a result of the tyranny experienced by colonists under the British monarchy. Many Americans had fled from Europe where they had been persecuted under the rule of powerful monarchs. The government produced by the revolution was designed to ensure no such tyranny could be reproduced in the newly formed United States.

    The framers of the constitution created a checks-and-balances system of government to ensure that no single branch of the federal government (executive, judicial or legislative) could dominate the others. Each branch has powers to curtail or empower the others.

    However, some Americans are concerned about a return of absolute rule due to the steps taken by Donald Trump’s second administration. This has sparked around 100 “no kings” protests all over the US, organised to coincide with Trump’s birthday on June 15.

    Increasing presidential power

    The second Trump administration has made a determined effort to strengthen presidential power and reduce oversight of the executive branch (the presidency). Achieving this could mean the president acting in an arbitrary manner similar to absolute monarchs of the past, free of congressional or judicial interference.

    Trump’s “big beautiful bill”, which has been passed in the House of Representatives and now must go to the Senate, contains certain provisions that strengthen the role of the president and undermine the checks-and-balances system.

    Previous presidents, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt during the New Deal era of the 1930s, had many of their executive orders cancelled by Supreme Court rulings. Over the last five months, the judiciary has ruled on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive actions, putting at least 180 on hold.

    As a consequence, the president has continually questioned the validity of the courts to act. At last week’s West Point graduation ceremony, Trump claimed that last November’s election result “gives us the right to do what we wanna do to make our country great again”.

    As Robert Reich, the former US secretary of labor, wrote recently, this “big beautiful bill” will remove the courts’ ability to hold executive officials in contempt and undermine any efforts to stop the administration. Supreme Court rulings could be ignored by the executive branch, and Congress would be unable to enforce its subpoenas and laws. “Trump will have crowned himself king,” Reich concluded.

    Just like the judicial branch, the legislative branch (Congress) also has the ability to check the executive branch. Congress can override the presidential veto if both the House and Senate pass legislation with a two-thirds majority. And the executive branch (the president) cannot fund any initiatives without the budget being approved by Congress first.

    But Trump and his supporters have minimised the impact that Congress can have on this particular bill by including all of the provisions within a budget reconciliation bill. This is a special legislative procedure that is designed to pass bills through Congress quickly.

    Bills usually require 60 votes to bypass a filibuster – a tactic used by senators to delay voting on the bill by refusing to end the debate and speaking for exceptionally long times without a break.

    But because this is a budget reconciliation, it only requires a majority – 51 votes – to pass the Senate. And because the Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, Trump is confident the bill will pass without any Democratic interference.

    The House narrowly passed the bill, despite some opposition from Republicans. And some Republican senators have also expressed concerns. But this is the latest move to centralise greater power within the presidency.

    Trump makes the commencement speech at the West Point military academy.

    Trump v the courts

    Trump’s apparent belief that he is above the law has, in part, been supported by last year’s Supreme Court ruling which stated that former presidents had immunity from prosecution for official presidential acts. The Trump v United States decision decided such acts included command of the military, control of the executive branch, and execution of laws.

    However, this week’s federal court ruling on the legality of Trump’s economic tariffs represents a setback to the administration’s efforts to strengthen presidential power. The Court of International Trade ruled that the White House’s use of emergency powers did not grant it the authority to impose tariffs on every country, and that the constitution states such power resides within Congress.

    The Trump administration immediately said it would be appealing the decision. “It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency,” Kush Desai, the White House deputy press secretary, said on the ruling, and that Trump would use “every lever of executive power” to “restore American greatness”.

    All of which has led Trump to quote another authoritarian leader, Napoleon, on social media. His post – “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law” – was a clear rebuke to those who have tried to limit executive authority while he has been in office, and echoes that of former president Richard Nixon who, in an interview with David Frost about the Watergate scandal, argued that the constitution allowed the president to break the law.

    This is an extension of the notion that Article II of the constitution has granted the president the authority to act without checks and balances when dealing with the executive branch. It is a theory much touted within Project 2025, believed to be the blueprint for the Trump presidency.

    There are other historical comparisons that could be made of Trump’s authoritarian actions, such as the rule of Charles I of England (1625-49), who believed he could govern without consulting parliament except when he needed to raise taxes to conduct overseas campaigns. Ultimately, this led to a period of civil wars and the execution of the king for treason.

    While none of these consequences are likely to be replicated, it is clear the US is currently in a constitutional crisis. The Supreme Court has a number of rulings to make on the judicial challenges to Trump’s executive authority. These will have generational consequences – but it is unclear in which way the court, where conservative judges have a 6-3 majority, will lean.

    While Trump may not be seeking a crown for his head, he is certainly arguing that he has the right to control the executive branch in the way he sees fit, without any interference from Congress or the judiciary. This is not the separation of powers as prescribed by the framers of the US constitution, but more like the absolutism of medieval monarchs.

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

    – ref. Trump sees himself as more like a king than president. Here’s why – https://theconversation.com/trump-sees-himself-as-more-like-a-king-than-president-heres-why-257700

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Male infertility: how lab-produced sperm could transform fertility treatment in the future

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eoghan Cunnane, Associate Professor in Biomedical Materials Engineering, University of Limerick

    George Rudy/Shutterstock

    Imagine a future where a diagnosis of untreatable male infertility is no longer the end of the road – because science has found a way to produce human sperm from lab-engineered testicular tissue.

    This might sound like science fiction, but I’m leading a team of researchers at the University of Limerick (UL) to work on making the production of human sperm from lab-engineered testicular tissue a reality. If successful, this could redefine fertility treatment and bring hope to the millions of people around the world affected by male infertility.

    Why now? Because male reproductive health is in decline – and the numbers are too stark to ignore.

    Over the past seven decades, sperm counts have decreased dramatically while conditions like testicular cancer, hormone imbalances and genital malformations – which can all have an effect on sperm counts – are on the rise.

    The precise causes of declining male reproductive health are still being debated. While genetics may play a role, no single genetic factor has been shown to affect male fertility at a population level. Instead, much of the focus has turned to the environment, particularly endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

    These chemicals, which can interfere with hormone function, are found in common items such as plastics, pesticides, cosmetics and even painkillers. There is growing evidence that exposure to these substances in the womb can increase the risk of testicular cancer, reduce sperm quality, and lead to male infertility later in life.

    For some men, fertility issues are treatable – lifestyle changes, hormone therapy, or surgery to correct blockages in the reproductive tract can help. But for a large proportion, there is no identifiable cause.

    This type of unexplained infertility, known as idiopathic infertility, currently leaves patients with only one option: surgical sperm retrieval (SSR).

    SSR involves surgically opening the testicles to search for viable sperm for use in assisted reproductive technologies like IVF. However, success is far from guaranteed. In some cases, the chance of finding even a single usable sperm cell is as low as 40%.

    In addition to its physical and emotional toll, SSR places the burden of fertility treatment on the female partner’s reproductive system, meaning women’s bodies are often the target of fertility medications and procedures. It does little to address the underlying health risks associated with male infertility, including higher rates of illness and early mortality.

    And if SSR fails, the only option left is to use donor sperm – a difficult and emotional decision for many people.

    Root of the problem

    To address male infertility, scientists need to get to the root of the problem and develop solutions that restore natural fertility.

    So, given the ethical and biological limits on experimenting directly with humans, researchers have turned to preclinical models to study the human testes. These include ex vivo tissue (human or animal tissue studied outside the body), in vitro cell cultures (human testicular cells grown on lab plates), and animal models (typically rodents or primates).

    However, human sperm production is vastly different – and much less efficient – than in other mammals, making animal models unreliable. To move forward, researchers need preclinical models that closely mimic human testes and their ability to produce sperm.

    This remains one of the biggest scientific hurdles in the field. While researchers have successfully produced sperm in the lab from mouse testicular tissue, the same has never been achieved in humans.

    Our research is attempting to overcome this challenge by combining biology with mechanical engineering and materials science. We started by analysing human testicular tissue samples from a range of donors, building a detailed understanding of how the tissue functions.

    This data was fed into the design of model systems that replicate human testicular tissue – not just biologically, but mechanically and structurally. The ultimate goal is to create a model that can not only mimic testicular function but produce viable human sperm.

    Lab-produced sperm could revolutionise fertility care. It might one day offer a solution to men who have undergone failed SSR procedures, childhood cancer survivors whose fertility was damaged by chemotherapy or radiation, and male patients with severe, unexplained infertility who currently have no treatment options.

    This isn’t just a scientific experiment. It’s about restoring hope to those for whom existing medical approaches have run out of answers.

    Eoghan Cunnane receives funding from the European Research Council, Research Ireland, and the UL Foundation.

    – ref. Male infertility: how lab-produced sperm could transform fertility treatment in the future – https://theconversation.com/male-infertility-how-lab-produced-sperm-could-transform-fertility-treatment-in-the-future-255376

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why police released the ethnicity of Liverpool parade crash suspect

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By John McGarry, Senior Lecturer in Law, Leeds Beckett University

    Within hours of a driver ramming into a crowd at Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade, injuring 65 people, Merseyside Police shared in a press release that they had arrested a suspect. Unusually, the announcement included the race and nationality of the person arrested – a 53-year-old white British man.

    This was a stark contrast to the previous summer, when speculation about the ethnicity of a 17-year-old arrested for the murder of three young girls in Southport led to public disorder and riots around the country.

    The question of what police and the public can say about an ongoing legal case and when is governed by contempt of court laws, which cover a wide range of behaviour in the UK. They prevent conduct which may disrupt legal proceedings, such as shouting out in court or otherwise causing a disturbance. They also prohibit publications which create “a substantial risk” that legal proceedings “will be seriously impeded or prejudiced”, and ensure that court orders are followed.

    A recent House of Commons report suggested that the laws of contempt are not fit for the social media age. The report came after the public disorder which followed the murders of three girls by Axel Rudakubana in Southport in July 2024.

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    It is widely accepted that in the Southport case, misinformation spread via social media – specifically, that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker called Ali-Al-Shakati – helped to fuel the disorder. Merseyside Police’s decision to quickly publish the ethnicity of the man arrested in Liverpool suggests they were acting to prevent a repeat of the August 2024 riots.

    The police were restricted in the information they could release after Southport. Separate from the contempt laws, the Children and Young Persons Act prohibits the publication of material that may identify a person under 18 involved in youth court proceedings, and a judge may order anonymity in other criminal proceedings.

    The laws of contempt also prohibited the release of information which might have prejudiced any future trial. For example, that Rudakubana had previous criminal convictions and had been referred three times to Prevent, the anti-terrorism scheme.

    Police responded to riots around the country in August 2024 after misinformation spread about the suspect arrested for the murder of three girls in Southport.
    Ian Hamlett/Shutterstock

    The police did try to combat false information about the case in the days following the Southport attack, but it was too late. They shared that the suspect had been born in Cardiff and that the name circulating on social media was incorrect. However, they could have released more information more quickly, even under the current contempt laws, including details such as Rudakubana’s ethnicity.

    The Law Commission, an independent statutory body charged with reviewing the law of England and Wales and suggesting reforms, has said it is an “open question” whether the publication of more information could have prevented or mitigated the disorder after Southport.

    But the events after Southport are probably why Liverpool was handled differently. Merseyside Police broke from their previous approach of not releasing ethnicity details (except in cases of missing persons or people on the run). Earlier in May, the police inspectorate published a report on the Southport response, saying police forces “need to better appreciate how fast-moving events will require them to counter false narratives online”.

    However, simply releasing the race of the man arrested in Liverpool hasn’t fully filled the information void. A man’s photo was circulated on social media, wrongly identifying him as the person arrested.

    It also risks setting a precedent for future cases. If police release a suspect’s ethnicity, some people will make assumptions about whether their ethnicity is linked to a motive for an attack, and may spread misinformation that may prejudice a trial or cause disorder. But if they don’t release the ethnicity, some people may still make assumptions about why police have kept it secret. In either case, misinformation is likely to spread.

    Fit for the social media age?

    Both of these cases raise concerns about whether current laws are fit for purpose, in an age when information spreads quickly – regardless of whether it is true – on social media.

    Regardless of what the police make public, the real challenge is that anyone with a smartphone can instantly comment on any event, and may not know they are putting themselves at risk of committing a contempt of court offence.

    In 2019, actress Tina Malone received a suspended sentence of eight months for breaching a court order prohibiting the release of information about the murderers of James Bulger. She shared a social media post which claimed to provide the new identity and a picture of Jon Venables. Malone told the court that she was unaware that she was doing anything wrong.

    Newspapers have often been the subject of contempt of court cases. But in theory, anyone who shares a post by a publication later found to be in contempt could be implicated too.

    Committing contempt can carry a sentence of up to two years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine. Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, was recently released from prison, where he had been serving a sentence for repeatedly breaching a court order.



    Read more:
    Sarah Everard: social media and the very real danger of contempt of court

    The attorney general has launched campaigns to educate the public on the risks, but whether they’ve had any effect is questionable. Even politicians, including those in government, have made social media posts which come very close to being in contempt of court.

    The Law Commission recently described the contempt laws as “disorganised and, at times, incoherent”. It launched a consultation in July 2024 on proposals to reform the law.

    The laws of contempt, which have developed piecemeal over centuries, are not well known or understood. But they are an important part of the legal system, and they attempt to strike a balance between freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial, and to ensure that both victims and defendants receive justice. In the current climate, they need to be made much clearer.

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

    – ref. Why police released the ethnicity of Liverpool parade crash suspect – https://theconversation.com/why-police-released-the-ethnicity-of-liverpool-parade-crash-suspect-255462

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The biggest barrier to AI adoption in the business world isn’t tech – it’s user confidence

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Greg Edwards, Adjunct Lecturer, Missouri University of Science and Technology

    Believe in your own decision-making. Feodora Chiosea/Getty Images Plus

    The Little Engine That Could wasn’t the most powerful train, but she believed in herself. The story goes that, as she set off to climb a steep mountain, she repeated: “I think I can, I think I can.”

    That simple phrase from a children’s story still holds a lesson for today’s business world – especially when it comes to artificial intelligence.

    AI is no longer a distant promise out of science fiction. It’s here and already beginning to transform industries. But despite the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on developing AI models and platforms, adoption remains slow for many employees, with a recent Pew Research Center survey finding that 63% of U.S. workers use AI minimally or not at all in their jobs.

    The reason? It can often come down to what researchers call technological self-efficacy, or, put simply, a person’s belief in their ability to use technology effectively.

    In my research on this topic, I found that many people who avoid using new technology aren’t truly against it – instead, they just don’t feel equipped to use it in their specific jobs. So rather than risk getting it wrong, they choose to keep their distance.

    And that’s where many organizations derail. They focus on building the engine, but don’t fully fuel the confidence that workers need to get it moving.

    What self-efficacy has to do with AI

    Albert Bandura, the psychologist who developed the theory of self-efficacy, noted that skill alone doesn’t determine people’s behavior. What matters more is a person’s belief in their ability to use that skill effectively.

    In my study of teachers in 1:1 technology environments – classrooms where each student is equipped with a digital device like a laptop or tablet – this was clear. I found that even teachers with access to powerful digital tools don’t always feel confident using them. And when they lack confidence, they may avoid the technology or use it in limited, superficial ways.

    The same holds true in today’s AI-equipped workplace. Leaders may be quick to roll out new tools and want fast results. But employees may hesitate, wondering how it applies to their roles, whether they’ll use it correctly, or if they’ll appear less competent – or even unethical – for relying on it.

    Beneath that hesitation may also be the all-too-familiar fear of one day being replaced by technology.

    Going back to train analogies, think of John Henry, the 19th-century folk hero. As the story goes, Henry was a railroad worker who was famous for his strength. When a steam-powered machine threatened to replace him, he raced it – and won. But the victory came at a cost: He collapsed and died shortly afterward.

    Henry’s story is a lesson in how resisting new technology through sheer willpower can be self-defeating. Rather than leaving some employees feeling like they have to outmuscle or outperform AI, organizations should invest in helping them understand how to work with it – so they don’t feel like they need to work against it.

    Relevant and role-specific training

    Many organizations do offer training related to using AI. But these programs are often too broad, covering topics like how to log into different programs, what the interfaces look like, or what AI “generally” can do.

    In 2025, with the number of AI tools at our disposal, ranging from conversational chatbots and content creation platforms to advanced data analytics and workflow automation programs, that’s not enough.

    In my study, participants consistently said they benefited most from training that was “district-specific,” meaning tailored to the devices, software and situations they faced daily with their specific subject areas and grade levels.

    Translation for the corporate world? Training needs to be job-specific and user-centered – not one-size-fits-all.

    The generational divide

    It’s not exactly shocking: Younger workers tend to feel more confident using technology than older ones. Gen Z and millennials are digital natives – they’ve grown up with digital technologies as part of their daily lives.

    Gen X and boomers, on the other hand, often had to adapt to using digital technologies mid-career. As a result, they may feel less capable and be more likely to dismiss AI and its possibilities. And if their few forays into AI are frustrating or lead to mistakes, that first impression is likely to stick.

    When generative AI tools were first launched commercially, they were more likely to hallucinate and confidently spit out incorrect information. Remember when Google demoed its Bard AI tool in 2023 and its factual error led to its parent company losing US$100 billion in market value? Or when an attorney made headlines for citing fabricated cases courtesy of ChatGPT?

    Moments like those likely reinforced skepticism – especially among workers already unsure about AI’s reliability. But the technology has already come a long way in a relatively short period of time.

    The solution to getting those who may be slower to embrace AI isn’t to push them harder, but to coach them and consider their backgrounds.

    What effective AI training looks like

    Bandura identified four key sources that shape a person’s belief in their ability to succeed:

    1. Mastery experiences, or personal success

    2. Vicarious experiences, or seeing others in similar positions succeed

    3. Verbal persuasion, or positive feedback

    4. Physiological and emotional states, or someone’s mood, energy, anxiety and so forth.

    In my research on educators, I saw how these concepts made a difference, and the same approach can apply to AI in the corporate world – or in virtually any environment in which a person needs to build self-efficacy.

    In the workplace, this could be accomplished with cohort-based trainings that include feedback loops – regular communication between leaders and employees about growth, improvement and more – along with content that can be customized to employees’ needs and roles. Organizations can also experiment with engaging formats like PricewaterhouseCoopers’ prompting parties, which provide low-stakes opportunities for employees to build confidence and try new AI programs.

    In “Pokemon Go!,” it’s possible to level up by stacking lots of small, low-stakes wins and gaining experience points along the way. Workplaces could approach AI training the same way, giving employees frequent, simple opportunities tied to their actual work to steadily build confidence and skill.

    The curriculum doesn’t have to be revolutionary. It just needs to follow these principles and not fall victim to death by PowerPoint, or end up being generic training that isn’t applicable to specific roles in the workplace.

    As organizations continue to invest heavily in developing and accessing AI technologies, it’s also essential that they invest in the people who will use them. AI might change what the workforce looks like, but there’s still going to be a workforce. And when people are well trained, AI can make both them and the outfits they work for significantly more effective.

    Greg Edwards 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 biggest barrier to AI adoption in the business world isn’t tech – it’s user confidence – https://theconversation.com/the-biggest-barrier-to-ai-adoption-in-the-business-world-isnt-tech-its-user-confidence-257308

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Solar arrays help boost Colorado grassland productivity in dry years

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Matthew Sturchio, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University; Faculty Afffiliate in Ecology, Colorado State University

    Solar panels on grasslands can generate electricity and useful forage or wildlife habitat. Matthew Sturchio, CC BY-ND

    Grasses growing in the shade of a solar array were only a little less productive than those growing nearby in open grassland during years of average and above-average rainfall – but in a dry year, the shaded plants grew much better than those growing in full sun. That’s the result of a four-year study we conducted in a semi-arid grassland of northern Colorado.

    When choosing a location for generating solar power, consistent sunlight and interconnection to the electric grid are key criteria. In Colorado the combination of new electrical transmission infrastructure, abundant sunlight and short vegetation that is easy to maintain have made grasslands a prime target for solar development.

    Grasslands, like those that dominate the eastern plains of Colorado, provide important habitat for wildlife and serve as a critical food source for livestock. Although these grasslands have long been productive despite their normally arid environment, a warmer climate has increased the potential for more frequent and severe drought. For instance, a recent global study found that previous research likely underestimated the threat of extreme drought in grasslands.

    Semi-arid grassland near the Colorado-Wyoming border.
    Matthew Sturchio, CC BY-ND
    Semi-arid grassland near Cheyenne, Wyo., with close-ups of flowers of some of the plants that grow there.
    Matthew Sturchio, CC BY-ND

    At Colorado State University, biology professor Alan Knapp and I started the ecovoltaics research group to study the effects of solar development in grasslands. Our primary goal is to ensure an ecologically informed solar energy future.

    Solar panels create microclimates

    Strings of solar panels redirect rain to the edge of panels. Because of this, small rain events can provide biologically relevant amounts of water instead of evaporating quickly.

    Simultaneously, solar panels shade plants growing beneath them. Some arrays, including the ones used in our study, move the panels to follow the path of the Sun across the sky.

    This results in a combination of sun and shade that is very different from the uninterrupted sunlight beating down on plants in a grassland without solar panels. In turn, patterns of plant stress and water loss also differ in grasses under solar arrays.

    A time-lapse video shows how a single-axis tracking solar array at Jack’s Solar Garden modifies patterns of sunlight availability.

    How grasses respond to a solar panel canopy

    To get a handle on how these different conditions affect grasses, we measured plant physiological response during the early stages of our study. More specifically, we tracked leaf carbon and water exchange throughout daylight hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., over 16 weeks in summer 2022 at Jack’s Solar Garden, a solar array over grassland in Longmont, Colorado.

    In general, plants that are adapted to full sun conditions, including most grasses, might not be expected to grow as well in partial shade. But we suspected that growth benefits from reduced water stress could outweigh potential reductions in growth from shading. We call this the “aridity mitigation potential” hypothesis.

    Sure enough, we found evidence of aridity mitigation across multiple years, with the most pronounced effect during the driest year.

    When water is scarce, increases in grassland productivity are more valuable because there isn’t as much around. Therefore, increasing grassland production in dry years could provide more available food for grazing animals and help offset some of the economic harm of drought in rangelands.

    Informing sustainable solar development in grasslands

    So far, our research has been limited to a grassland dominated by a cool season grass: smooth brome. Although it is a perennial commonly planted for hay, fields dominated by smooth brome lack the diversity of life found in native grasslands.

    Future work in native shortgrass prairies would provide new information about how solar panels affect plant water use, soils and grazing management in an ecosystem with 30% less precipitation than Jack’s Solar Garden. We’re beginning that work now at the shortgrass ecovoltaic research facility near Nunn, Colorado. This facility, which will be fully operational later in 2025, was constructed with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the wider SCAPES project.

    Testing the effects of solar panels over grasslands in a native ecosystem with even greater aridity will help us develop a clearer picture of ways solar energy can be developed in concert with grassland health.

    Matthew Sturchio works for Cornell University and serves as a Faculty Affiliate at Colorado State University. Funding for this work came from US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Sustainable Agricultural Systems project entitled “Sustainably Co-locating Agricultural and Photovoltaic Electricity Systems,” led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Grant Number: 2021-68012-35898, 2021–2025.

    – ref. Solar arrays help boost Colorado grassland productivity in dry years – https://theconversation.com/solar-arrays-help-boost-colorado-grassland-productivity-in-dry-years-257082

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Hurricane season is here, but FEMA’s policy change could leave low-income areas less protected

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ivis García, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University

    Hurricane Harvey inundated the Cottage Grove neighborhood of Houston in 2018. Scott Olson/Getty Images

    When powerful storms hit your city, which neighborhoods are most likely to flood? In many cities, they’re typically low-income areas. They may have poor drainage, or they lack protections such as seawalls.

    New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, where hundreds of people died when Hurricane Katrina broke a levee in 2005, and Houston’s Kashmere Gardens, flooded by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, are just two among many examples.

    With those disasters in mind, the Federal Emergency Management Agency made a big change to its Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guide in 2023. The agency began encouraging cities, towns and counties to address equity in their hazard mitigation plans, which outline how they will reduce disaster risk.

    Local governments have an incentive to follow those federal guidelines: Those that want to receive FEMA hazard mitigation assistance – money which can be used to repair aging infrastructure like roads, bridges and flood barriers – or funding from other programs such as dam rehabilitation have to develop local mitigation plans and update them every five years.

    Hurricane Irma flooded Immokalee, Fla., in 2017. The community, home to many farmworkers, had infrastructure problems before the storm, and recovery was slow.
    AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

    The new guidance required cities to both consider social vulnerability among neighborhoods in their disaster mitigation planning and involve socially vulnerable communities in those discussions in ways they hadn’t before.

    However, as the U.S. heads into what forecasters predict will be an active 2025 hurricane season, that guidance has changed again. The Trump administration’s new FEMA Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guide 2025 talks about public involvement in planning but strips any mention of equity, income or social vulnerability. It mentions using “projections for the future” to plan but removes references to climate change.

    Who is most at risk in hurricanes, and why

    Hurricanes and other storms that cause flooding don’t affect everyone in the same way.

    A legacy of redlining and discrimination in many U.S. cities left poor and minority families living in often risky areas. These neighborhoods also tend to have poorer infrastructure.

    In the past, local mitigation plans just focused on fixing roads or protecting property in general from storm damage, without recognizing that socially vulnerable groups, such as low-income or elderly populations, were more likely to be hardest hit and take much longer to recover.

    Low-income neighborhoods in Puerto Rico have been slow to recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria.
    Ivis Garcia

    The FEMA 2023 guidance encouraged communities to consider both the highest risks and which neighborhoods would be least able to respond in a disaster and address their needs.

    The equity requirement was designed to ensure that local plans didn’t just protect those with the most wealth or political influence but considered who needs the help most. That might mean providing information in multiple languages in emergency alerts or investing in flood prevention in neighborhoods with aging infrastructure like roads, bridges and flood barriers.

    How New York City’s 2024 plan helped

    New York City’s 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan, for example, included a thorough social vulnerability assessment to identify neighborhoods with high percentages of people who were living in poverty or were older, disabled or weren’t fluent in English.

    Knowing where disaster risk and social vulnerability overlapped allowed the city to boost investments in flood protection, emergency communication and cooling centers during summer heat in neighborhoods such as the South Bronx and East Harlem. These neighborhoods historically faced some of the greatest risks from disasters but saw little investment.

    The NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice mapped the risk of storm surge flooding in the 2020s (purple) and 2080s (dark blue), and neighborhoods that fall under the city’s ‘disadvantaged communities’ criteria. A 1% risk means a 1% of chance of flooding in any given year, also referred to as a 100-year flood risk.
    NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice

    Further, New York’s plan calls for expanding outreach and early warning systems in multiple languages and enhancing infrastructure in areas with high concentrations of Spanish speakers. These kinds of changes help ensure that vulnerable residents are more likely to be better protected when disaster strikes.

    Why is FEMA dropping that emphasis now?

    FEMA’s reasoning for the guidance change in 2025: make it quicker and easier to get plans approved and unlock federal funding for projects like flood barriers, storm shelters and buyouts in areas at high risk of damage.

    It’s a pragmatic move, but one that raises big questions about whether residents who are least able to help themselves will be overlooked again when the next disaster strikes.

    And FEMA isn’t alone — other agencies, like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery program, have made similar changes to their own disaster planning rules. Community Development Block Grant funds for disaster recovery are flexible and can be used for things like rebuilding homes and businesses, restoring infrastructure and helping local economies recover.

    What this means for low-income areas

    Some experts worry that the changes might mean low-income and other at-risk communities will be ignored again when cities develop their next five-year mitigation plans. Research from the Government Accountability Office shows that when something is required by law, it gets done. When it’s just a suggestion, it’s easy to skip, especially in places with fewer resources or less political will to help.

    But the short-lived rules may have already helped in one important way: They made cities and states pay attention to social vulnerability, climate change and the needs of all their residents.

    Many local leaders have learned the value of using data to understand where socially vulnerable residents face high disaster risks. And they have a model now for involving communities in decision-making. Even if those steps are no longer required, the hope is that these good habits will stick.

    Where and how communities invest in disaster protection affects who stays safe and who faces higher risks from flooding, hurricanes and other disasters. When government policy shifts, it’s not just about paperwork – it’s about real people.

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

    – ref. Hurricane season is here, but FEMA’s policy change could leave low-income areas less protected – https://theconversation.com/hurricane-season-is-here-but-femas-policy-change-could-leave-low-income-areas-less-protected-256985

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Millions of US children have parents with substance use disorder, and the consequences are staggering − new research

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ty Schepis, Professor of Psychology, Texas State University

    Alcohol is the most common substance misused by parents. igorr1/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    About 1 in 4 U.S. children – nearly 19 million – have at least one parent with substance use disorder. This includes parents who misuse alcohol, marijuana, prescription opioids or illegal drugs. Our estimate reflects an increase of over 2 million children since 2020 and an increase of 10 million from an earlier estimate using data from 2009 to 2014.

    Those are the key findings from a new study my colleagues and I published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

    To arrive at this estimate, our team used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2023, the most recently released year of data. Nearly 57,000 people ages 12 and up responded.

    Why it matters

    As a researcher who studies substance use in adolescents and young adults, I know these children are at considerable risk for the disorder, and other mental health issues, such as behavioral problems and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

    Substance use disorder is a psychiatric condition marked by frequent and heavy substance use. The disorder is characterized by numerous symptoms, including behaviors such as driving while intoxicated and fights with family and friends over substance use.

    This disorder also affects a parent’s ability to be an attentive and loving caregiver. Children of these parents are more likely to be exposed to violence, initiate substance use at a younger age, be less prepared for school and enter the child welfare system. They are also more likely to have mental health problems both as children and as adults, and they have a much higher chance of developing a substance use disorder in adulthood.

    Despite the new study’s findings, mental health programs for children at risk could be cut.

    Of the 19 million children, our study found about 3.5 million live with a parent who has multiple substance use disorders. More than 6 million have a parent with both a substance use disorder and significant symptoms of depression, anxiety or both. Alcohol is by far the most common substance used, with 12.5 million children affected.

    Our 19 million estimate is significantly larger than an earlier estimate based on older data. That study, which reviewed data from 2009 to 2014, indicated that 8.7 million U.S. children – or roughly 1 in 8 – lived with a parent, or parents, with substance use disorder. That’s a difference of about 10 million children.

    This happened primarily because between the time of the two studies – from 2014 to 2023 – the criteria for diagnosing someone with substance use disorder became broader and more inclusive. That change alone accounted for more than an 80% jump in the estimate of children affected by parental substance use disorder. There was also a further increase of 2 million in the number of affected children since 2020, which reflects the rising number of parents with a substance use disorder.

    What’s next

    There is a critical need to better identify parents with substance use disorder and the children who are affected by it. In my experience, many pediatric clinicians screen children for substance use, but they are much less likely to screen accompanying parents. So the first step is to make such screenings common and expected for both children and their adult caregivers.

    But that is not the case now. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an expert panel that recommends screening and prevention best practices for clinicians, does not yet recommend such a screening for children, although that could help direct those in need to treatment and prevent the worst outcomes from substance use disorder.

    Additional intervention, which requires funding, is needed from federal, state and local government. This may seem fanciful in an age of scrutinized government budgets. But the alternative is a bill that comes due later: millions of adults exposed to this disorder at an early age, only to struggle decades later with their own substance use and mental health problems.

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

    Ty Schepis receives funding from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Any views expressed are those of Dr. Schepis and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIH/NIDA, the FDA, or SAMHSA. These funders had no role in any articles, and there was no editorial direction or censorship from the funders.

    – ref. Millions of US children have parents with substance use disorder, and the consequences are staggering − new research – https://theconversation.com/millions-of-us-children-have-parents-with-substance-use-disorder-and-the-consequences-are-staggering-new-research-256979

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Detroit’s population grew in 2023, 2024 − a strategy to welcome immigrants helps explain the turnaround from decades of population decline

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Paul N. McDaniel, Associate Professor of Geography, Kennesaw State University

    The Mexican-American community in southwest Detroit held a rally in March 2025, asking ICE to leave the immigrant community alone. Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    Detroit’s population grew in 2024 for the second year in a row. This is a remarkable comeback after decades of population decline in the Motor City.

    What explains the turnaround? One factor may be Detroit’s efforts to attract and settle immigrants.

    These efforts continue despite a dramatic national shift in tone toward new arrivals. This includes executive orders from the second Trump administration targeting immigrant communities, international students and their universities, and cities in which immigrants live.

    We study urban geography and immigrant integration. Despite these federal policy shifts, our own research and that of others has found that local leaders in cities across the U.S. are actively working to bring immigrants in and help them become part of local communities, generally for economic reasons.

    Our recent publications on immigrant integration and immigrant community engagement show how and why cities adapt to changes in their population and economies.

    Detroit and other former immigrant gateway metro areas such as Buffalo, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and St. Louis, Missouri experienced significant immigration in the early 20th century. These population booms were followed by a period of decline in immigration numbers.

    Now these cities are using branding strategies to construct inclusive identities designed to attract and retain immigrants. It may be surprising to think of a city branding itself, but local governments often work with private nonprofits to shape and manage their city’s image. They try to build a unique and desirable identity for the city, differentiate it from competitors, and attract new businesses, residents and tourists this way.

    Here are three reasons why Detroit and other cities want to welcome immigrants:

    1. Encouraging economic growth and attracting talent

    Immigration has a positive impact on the economy, research shows.

    Local leaders in Detroit recognize that in a global economy, a thriving industrial sector and robust labor market are linked to the contributions of immigrant communities. They also understand that the growth of these communities brings positive economic ripple effects.

    Immigrants are more likely than the general population to own their own businesses. Organizations such as Global Detroit encourage entrepreneurship through programs such as the Global Talent Retention Initiative, Global Talent Accelerator and Global Entrepreneur in Residence and provide resources for small businesses.

    Immigrants also fill labor needs, from high-tech fields such as engineering and research to manual labor sectors such as construction and food service.

    The City of Detroit Office of Immigrant Affairs promotes economic development and immigrant integration through education, English as a second language programs, economic empowerment and community resources.

    These efforts are paying off by attracting immigrants to the city.

    This economic impact extends to tourism as well. The region’s marketing campaigns embracing diversity shape how visitors perceive the region. The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau spotlights the unique experiences the city’s diverse neighborhoods offer to tourists.

    2. Enhancing community and regional resilience

    Regional resilience describes a region’s ability to withstand and adapt to challenges such as economic shocks and natural disasters. Cities like Detroit that are still trying to bounce back from deindustrialization know from experience how critical this is.

    Immigration contributes to regional resilience, research shows. In addition to supporting local economies and strengthening the labor force, the arrival of immigrants in Detroit has helped offset native-born population decline, stabilizing the overall population and bolstering local tax bases.

    According to our analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro area grew by 1.2%, from a total population of 4,291,843 in 2010 to 4,342,304 in 2023.

    According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the Detroit metro area’s native-born population decreased by 58,693 people during that 13-year period, while the foreign-born population increased by 109,154. The top five countries of origin for immigrants in the metro area are India, Iraq, Mexico, Yemen and Lebanon.

    From 2023 to 2024, the metro area’s population gained 40,347 immigrants and lost 11,626 native born residents – resulting in a population gain of 28,721.

    Efforts to welcome immigrants in Detroit and its surrounding communities contributed to this trend of immigrant population growth offsetting overall population decline.

    3. Promoting social cohesion and enhanced civic engagement

    Successful place brands are rooted in inclusion and a strong civil society. Detroit’s rich tapestry of cultures in areas such as Dearborn and Hamtramck creates a vibrant regional identity.

    Organizations such as Global Detroit’s Welcoming Michigan actively support local grassroots efforts to build mutual respect and ensure that immigrants are able to participate fully in the social, civic and economic fabric of their hometowns.

    Examples include Global Detroit’s Social Cohesion Initiative, Common Bond and Opportunity Neighborhoods. These initiatives help bring neighborhood residents of various backgrounds together to share their cultures, support each other’s small businesses and socialize. Such programs strengthen the region’s democratic foundations and enhance its appeal as a welcoming and inclusive place to live.

    Forging a way forward

    Detroit has found that welcoming immigrants and integrating them into the life of the city is one way to navigate the economic, political and cultural challenges it faces.

    And it is not alone in embracing this strategy. Other cities practicing similar strategies include Baltimore; Boise, Idaho; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas; Dayton, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans; Pittsburgh; Roanoke, Virginia; and Salt Lake City.

    Although not all cities choose to pursue such strategies, in those that do, local leaders signal a region ready for a globalized future.

    Paul N. McDaniel previously received funding from the National Geographic Society, served on the Content Advisory Board for the Welcoming Standard and on the Steering Committee for Welcoming America’s One Region Initiative, and is a member of the American Association of Geographers.

    Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez was co-PI on funding received from the National Geographic Society and served on the national pilot program with Welcoming America One Region Initiative’s Steering Committee and Program Evaluation Team.

    – ref. Detroit’s population grew in 2023, 2024 − a strategy to welcome immigrants helps explain the turnaround from decades of population decline – https://theconversation.com/detroits-population-grew-in-2023-2024-a-strategy-to-welcome-immigrants-helps-explain-the-turnaround-from-decades-of-population-decline-255557

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: If it looks like a dire wolf, is it a dire wolf? How to define a species is a scientific and philosophical question

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Elay Shech, Professor of Philosophy, Auburn University

    How do you recreate a species whose genome is largely unknown? sunxsand/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    Biotech company Colossal Biosciences made headlines in April 2025 after claiming it had “successfully restored … the dire wolf to its rightful place in the ecosystem.” Three wolf pups – Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi – were born through this de-extinction project.

    But behind the scenes lies a more complicated reality.

    What Colossal actually did was edit a small number of gray wolf genes, aiming to create physical traits that resemble those of the extinct dire wolf. The edited embryos were implanted into surrogate domestic dogs.

    Many scientists and reporters expressed skepticism about the claim that this amounts to restoring the dire wolf. Experts pointed out that tweaking a handful of genes does not replicate the full biological reality of a long-extinct species. Most of the dire wolf’s genetic makeup remains unknown and unreplicated.

    Is resembling a dire wolf enough for something to be a dire wolf?
    James St. John/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    This gap between appearance and biological identity raises a deeper question: What exactly is a species, and how do you decide whether something belongs to one species rather than another?

    Biologists call the answer a species concept – a theory about what a species is and how researchers sort organisms into different groups. As a philosopher of science who studies what defines a species, I can say this: Whether de-extinction projects succeed depends on which species concept you think is right – and the truth is, even scientists don’t agree.

    How scientists define a species

    When scientists talk about biodiversity – the variety of life-forms found in nature – species are the basic building blocks. A species is supposed to reflect a real division between distinct groups of organisms in the natural world, not just a convenient label.

    In classifying living things into species, scientists are trying to “carve nature at its joints” to reflect real patterns shaped by evolution. Even so, deciding what counts as a species turns out to be surprisingly difficult and highly controversial. Scientists have proposed dozens of distinct species concepts – some scholars have counted over 32 ways to define a species – and each draws the lines a little differently. These definitions don’t always agree on whether an organism is part of one species rather than another.

    Two of the most influential species concepts highlight the challenge. The biological species concept defines a species as a group of organisms that can naturally breed with each other and produce fertile offspring. Under this view, African forest elephants and African savanna elephants were once classified as the same species because they could mate and have young together, even though they lived in different habitats and looked different.

    Another approach, the phylogenetic species concept, emphasizes ancestry instead of breeding. A species, in this view, is a group that shares a unique evolutionary history, forming its own distinct branch on the tree of life. By this standard, researchers found that forest and savanna elephants had been genetically evolving separately for millions of years, long enough to be considered different species even if they could still interbreed.

    African savanna elephants, left, and African forest elephants are considered two distinct species.
    Charles J. Sharp, Thomas Breuer/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Understanding these different species concepts is crucial for evaluating claims about de-extinction. If Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi could naturally mate with historical dire wolves and produce fertile offspring, then they would be considered true dire wolves under the biological species concept.

    But for definitions of species that emphasize evolutionary history, such as the phylogenetic species concept, the lab-created wolves would not qualify as real dire wolves – even if they were indistinguishable from the originals – because they did not descend from historical dire wolves.

    Despite differences on how best to define species, there is a surprising degree of consensus among scientists and philosophers on one big idea: What makes something part of a species is not an internal feature, such as a specific set of genes, but a relationship to something else – to its environment, to other organisms, or to a shared evolutionary history.

    By this way of thinking – what is often called relationalism – there is no special “lemon gene” that makes a lemon and no hidden genetic marker that automatically makes an animal a dire wolf. Commonly shared across all these theories is the notion that belonging to a particular species depends on connections and context, not on anything inside the organism itself.

    But what if that consensus is wrong?

    On warblers and mitochondria

    At first glance, the standard ways of defining a species seem to work well. But every now and then, nature throws a curveball – and even the most trusted definitions don’t quite fit.

    Take the case of the blue-winged and golden-winged warblers. These two songbirds look and sound different. They wear different plumage, sing different songs and prefer different habitats. Birders and organizations such as the American Ornithological Society have always classified them as separate species.

    Yet under two of the most common scientific definitions of species, the biological and phylogenetic species concepts, blue-winged and golden-winged warblers are considered the same species. These birds regularly mate and produce young together. They’ve been swapping genes for thousands of years. And when scientists looked at their nuclear DNA – the genetic material tucked inside the nucleus of each cell – they found the two birds are 99.97% identical. This finding suggests that even careful, widely accepted species definitions can miss something important.

    The golden-winged warbler, left, and blue-winged warbler are considered two distinct species, but according to many species concepts they would count as the same.
    Wildreturn, Ken Janes/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    So what if, instead, the key to being part of a species lies deep inside the organism, in the way its basic systems of life fit together?

    Recent work in biology and philosophy suggests another way of thinking about species that focuses on a hidden but vital system inside cells: the partnership between two sets of genetic material. I and my colleague Kyle B. Heine explore this idea by drawing on research in mitonuclear ecology – the study of how different parts of an organism’s genetic material adapt and work together to produce energy.

    Virtually every cell contains two kinds of DNA. One set, stored in the nucleus, acts like an instruction manual that guides most of the cell’s activities. The other, found in structures called mitochondria – the cell’s energy centers – contains its own much smaller set of instructions geared toward supporting its unique role in keeping the cell running.

    Producing energy depends on precise teamwork between nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA, like two musicians playing in perfect harmony. Over millions of years, the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of each species have evolved together to form a unique, finely tuned system.

    This insight has led to a new way of thinking about species, called the mitonuclear compatibility species concept. According to this idea, an organism belongs to a species if its two sets of genes – those in the nucleus and those in the mitochondria – are optimized to work together to generate life-sustaining energy. If the cellular partnership between these two genetic systems is mismatched, the organism may struggle to produce the energy it needs to survive, grow and reproduce.

    By this standard, different species aren’t just defined by how they look or behave, but by whether their nuclear and mitochondrial genes form a uniquely coadapted team. For example, even though blue-winged and golden-winged warblers are nearly identical in their nuclear DNA, they differ by about 3% in their mitochondrial DNA – a clue that their energy systems are distinct. And that’s exactly what the mitonuclear compatibility species concept predicts: They really are two separate species.

    Nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA evolve together for cells – and species – to thrive.
    National Human Genome Research Institute

    Rethinking the meaning of de-extinction

    Bringing back a species like the dire wolf isn’t just a matter of getting the fur right or tweaking a few visible traits. According to my preferred species concept, even if a recreated animal looks the part, it won’t truly be a dire wolf unless its inner genetic systems – the ones that power its cells – are finely tuned to work together, just as they were in the original species.

    That’s a tall order. And without restoring the full inner machinery of the original species, any lab-grown look-alike would fall short.

    Understanding how scientists define species – and how those definitions shape the possibilities of de-extinction – offers more than just a lesson in biological bookkeeping. It shows that classification is not just about names or lineages, but about recognizing the deep biological patterns that sustain life, offering a deeper appreciation of what it really means to bring back the past.

    Reviving an extinct species isn’t like assembling a model from spare parts. It means recreating a living, breathing system – one whose parts must work in concert, not just look the part.

    And that’s why philosophy and science both matter here: To understand what we’re bringing back, we must first understand what was truly lost.

    Elay Shech 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. If it looks like a dire wolf, is it a dire wolf? How to define a species is a scientific and philosophical question – https://theconversation.com/if-it-looks-like-a-dire-wolf-is-it-a-dire-wolf-how-to-define-a-species-is-a-scientific-and-philosophical-question-255375

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Prime numbers, the building blocks of mathematics, have fascinated for centuries − now technology is revolutionizing the search for them

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jeremiah Bartz, Associate Professor of Mathematics, University of North Dakota

    Prime numbers are numbers that are not products of smaller whole numbers. Jeremiah Bartz

    A shard of smooth bone etched with irregular marks dating back 20,000 years puzzled archaeologists until they noticed something unique – the etchings, lines like tally marks, may have represented prime numbers. Similarly, a clay tablet from 1800 B.C.E. inscribed with Babylonian numbers describes a number system built on prime numbers.

    As the Ishango bone, the Plimpton 322 tablet and other artifacts throughout history display, prime numbers have fascinated and captivated people throughout history. Today, prime numbers and their properties are studied in number theory, a branch of mathematics and active area of research today.

    A history of prime numbers

    Some scientists guess that the markings on the Ishango bone represent prime numbers.
    Joeykentin/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Informally, a positive counting number larger than one is prime if that number of dots can be arranged only into a rectangular array with one column or one row. For example, 11 is a prime number since 11 dots form only rectangular arrays of sizes 1 by 11 and 11 by 1. Conversely, 12 is not prime since you can use 12 dots to make an array of 3 by 4 dots, with multiple rows and multiple columns. Math textbooks define a prime number as a whole number greater than one whose only positive divisors are only 1 and itself.

    Math historian Peter S. Rudman suggests that Greek mathematicians were likely the first to understand the concept of prime numbers, around 500 B.C.E.

    Around 300 B.C.E., the Greek mathematician and logician Euler proved that there are infinitely many prime numbers. Euler began by assuming that there is a finite number of primes. Then he came up with a prime that was not on the original list to create a contradiction. Since a fundamental principle of mathematics is being logically consistent with no contradictions, Euler then concluded that his original assumption must be false. So, there are infinitely many primes.

    The argument established the existence of infinitely many primes, however it was not particularly constructive. Euler had no efficient method to list all the primes in an ascending list.

    Prime numbers, when expressed as that number of dots, can be arranged only in a single row or column, rather than a square or rectangle.
    David Eppstein/Wikimedia Commons

    In the middle ages, Arab mathematicians advanced the Greeks’ theory of prime numbers, referred to as hasam numbers during this time. The Persian mathematician Kamal al-Din al-Farisi formulated the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, which states that any positive integer larger than one can be expressed uniquely as a product of primes.

    From this view, prime numbers are the basic building blocks for constructing any positive whole number using multiplication – akin to atoms combining to make molecules in chemistry.

    Prime numbers can be sorted into different types. In 1202, Leonardo Fibonacci introduced in his book “Liber Abaci: Book of Calculation” prime numbers of the form (2p – 1) where p is also prime.

    Today, primes in this form are called Mersenne primes after the French monk Marin Mersenne. Many of the largest known primes follow this format.

    Several early mathematicians believed that a number of the form (2p – 1) is prime whenever p is prime. But in 1536, mathematician Hudalricus Regius noticed that 11 is prime but not (211 – 1), which equals 2047. The number 2047 can be expressed as 11 times 89, disproving the conjecture.

    While not always true, number theorists realized that the (2p – 1) shortcut often produces primes and gives a systematic way to search for large primes.

    The search for large primes

    The number (2p – 1) is much larger relative to the value of p and provides opportunities to identify large primes.

    When the number (2p – 1) becomes sufficiently large, it is much harder to check whether (2p – 1) is prime – that is, if (2p – 1) dots can be arranged only into a rectangular array with one column or one row.

    Fortunately, Édouard Lucas developed a prime number test in 1878, later proved by Derrick Henry Lehmer in 1930. Their work resulted in an efficient algorithm for evaluating potential Mersenne primes. Using this algorithm with hand computations on paper, Lucas showed in 1876 that the 39-digit number (2127 – 1) equals 170,141,183,460,469,231,731,687,303,715,884,105,727, and that value is prime.

    Also known as M127, this number remains the largest prime verified by hand computations. It held the record for largest known prime for 75 years.

    Researchers began using computers in the 1950s, and the pace of discovering new large primes increased. In 1952, Raphael M. Robinson identified five new Mersenne primes using a Standard Western Automatic Computer to carry out the Lucas-Lehmer prime number tests.

    As computers improved, the list of Mersenne primes grew, especially with the Cray supercomputer’s arrival in 1964. Although there are infinitely many primes, researchers are unsure how many fit the type (2p – 1) and are Mersenne primes.

    By the early 1980s, researchers had accumulated enough data to confidently believe that infinitely many Mersenne primes exist. They could even guess how often these prime numbers appear, on average. Mathematicians have not found proof so far, but new data continues to support these guesses.

    George Woltman, a computer scientist, founded the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, or GIMPS, in 1996. Through this collaborative program, anyone can download freely available software from the GIMPS website to search for Mersenne prime numbers on their personal computers. The website contains specific instructions on how to participate.

    GIMPS has now identified 18 Mersenne primes, primarily on personal computers using Intel chips. The program averages a new discovery about every one to two years.

    The largest known prime

    Luke Durant, a retired programmer, discovered the current record for the largest known prime, (2136,279,841 – 1), in October 2024.

    Referred to as M136279841, this 41,024,320-digit number was the 52nd Mersenne prime identified and was found by running GIMPS on a publicly available cloud-based computing network.

    This network used Nvidia chips and ran across 17 countries and 24 data centers. These advanced chips provide faster computing by handling thousands of calculations simultaneously. The result is shorter run times for algorithms such as prime number testing.

    New and increasingly powerful computer chips have allowed prime-number hunters to find increasingly larger primes.
    Fritzchens Fritz/Flickr

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a civil liberty group that offers cash prizes for identifying large primes. It awarded prizes in 2000 and 2009 for the first verified 1 million-digit and 10 million-digit prime numbers.

    Large prime number enthusiasts’ next two challenges are to identify the first 100 million-digit and 1 billion-digit primes. EFF prizes of US$150,000 and $250,000, respectively, await the first successful individual or group.

    Eight of the 10 largest known prime numbers are Mersenne primes, so GIMPS and cloud computing are poised to play a prominent role in the search for record-breaking large prime numbers.

    Large prime numbers have a vital role in many encryption methods in cybersecurity, so every internet user stands to benefit from the search for large prime numbers. These searches help keep digital communications and sensitive information safe.

    Jeremiah Bartz owns shares in Nvidia.

    – ref. Prime numbers, the building blocks of mathematics, have fascinated for centuries − now technology is revolutionizing the search for them – https://theconversation.com/prime-numbers-the-building-blocks-of-mathematics-have-fascinated-for-centuries-now-technology-is-revolutionizing-the-search-for-them-249223

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The Supreme Court’s gender ruling has implications for the workplace. Here’s what employees can expect

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Lord, Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Employment Law, University of Salford

    studiocho/Shutterstock

    In April 2025, the UK’s Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers, offering long-awaited clarification on how “sex” should be interpreted under the Equality Act 2010. The court ruled that, for the purposes of this legislation, “woman” refers to biological sex, not gender identity.

    The decision sparked intense debate across political, legal, and social spheres. But beyond the controversy, one crucial question remains: what does this mean for employers and employees?

    For managers, the implications are significant. Legal obligations must now be understood within a clarified framework that distinguishes between biological sex and gender reassignment.

    Employers face legal risks such as unlimited compensation at an employment tribunal. There’s also the potential fallout in terms of their reputation, as well as internal tensions as staff navigate issues of identity, belief and inclusion.

    The Supreme Court case centred on whether Scottish legislation could expand the definition of “woman” to include transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC). The court ruled it could not, reaffirming that the Equality Act defines “woman” and “man” by reference to biological sex. While the Act separately protects people with the characteristic of gender reassignment, the two are not interchangeable in law.

    This ruling has wide-reaching implications for how single-sex services – such as women-only refuges, sports or changing facilities – can be structured. Under Schedule 3 of the Equality Act, providers may offer single-sex services where it is a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. The judgement affirms that such services must now be assessed strictly through the lens of biological sex.

    For employers, this means they are required to navigate a more tightly defined legal landscape. The Equality Act 2010 recognises both sex and gender reassignment as protected characteristics. While single-sex spaces are lawful in limited, justifiable contexts, the legal bar for exclusion remains high.

    In practical terms, employers must ensure that provision of single-sex facilities – such as toilets, showers and changing rooms – complies with the Act.

    Any such policies must be rooted in demonstrable need, such as privacy, dignity or safety concerns, and must not cause undue harm to trans employees. Providing gender-neutral or private alternatives is increasingly seen as good practice to minimise legal and reputational risk.

    There is a real risk of legal claims on either side. Cisgender women may bring claims where their rights to single-sex spaces are perceived to be undermined. Meanwhile, trans individuals may claim indirect discrimination if reasonable adjustments such as updating internal systems (email or ID badges, for example) or offering a uniform to reflect the employee’s identity are not made.

    Employers must ensure that decisions on workplace design or service provision are evidence-based, proportionate and reviewed regularly.

    What employers should be offering

    Navigating this complex issue demands more than legal compliance. At its core, this is about people – and creating a respectful and inclusive workplace culture that values all employees.

    Employers should review and reinforce workplace values through:

    • clear dignity and respect policies that ensure staff are aware of lawful protections for both sex-based and gender identity rights

    • voluntary and inclusive communication practices, such as the optional use of pronouns in email signatures or profiles

    • training for managers and staff on both the legal framework and the lived realities of trans and gender-critical perspectives

    • robust mechanisms for resolving disputes that treat all complaints sensitively and without bias.

    Such steps will not only mitigate legal risk, they can also foster trust, morale and retention in a diverse workforce.

    Employee handbooks and HR policies should be checked and updated if necessary so that all staff know what they are entitled to.
    Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Shutterstock

    Employers must review whether their facilities and HR policies comply with the clarified legal interpretation.

    In terms of facilities, where single-sex provisions exist, employers should ensure that they serve a clear and proportionate aim. This might be a female-only changing room in a fitness centre or healthcare setting where staff or service users are required to undress. Or it could be a women-only toilet or shower facility in a refuge for survivors of domestic abuse.

    At the same time, gender-neutral or private alternatives should be considered to meet the needs of trans and non-binary employees.

    And when it comes to HR and equality policies, employee handbooks, inclusion strategies and grievance procedures should be updated in line with the ruling. Employers should carry out impact assessments to determine whether any group is indirectly disadvantaged. They should then clearly document any steps for mitigation.

    One of the most sensitive implications of the ruling is how employers manage conflicting beliefs. Some employees may have gender-critical views, while others consider gender identity as central to inclusion.

    Following the decision in the Forstater v CGD Europe case, these views – if expressed respectfully – are protected under the Equality Act’s provisions on religion or belief. Employers must walk a careful line: upholding lawful freedom of belief while enforcing respectful conduct.

    Best practice includes things like promoting freedom of expression without tolerating harassment or abuse, avoiding compelled speech (for example, forced pronoun use) while encouraging inclusive language, and offering mediation where tensions arise between staff.

    The key is balance. It should be possible to protect all employees’ rights while ensuring that no one feels unsafe or undermined. Some gender-critical employees may feel legally vindicated in expressing sex-based views. Others, particularly trans and non-binary staff, may feel their identities are being questioned or their inclusion diminished.

    Workplace dignity policies must ensure that everyone is treated respectfully and fairly. As such, employers must carefully manage interpersonal dynamics and provide clear channels for raising concerns.

    The Supreme Court ruling does not strip rights – it clarifies the legal terrain. For employers, the priority should be legal clarity, respectful inclusion and thoughtful leadership. This is not a time for reactive or ideological responses. Rather, it calls for policies that are lawful, proportionate and based on the principles of fairness and dignity.

    By updating facilities, reviewing policies, training staff and managing conflict with integrity, employers can ensure that their workplaces uphold the law while building a culture of trust and mutual respect. The law has spoken, and now it’s time for employers to lead.

    Jonathan Lord 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. The Supreme Court’s gender ruling has implications for the workplace. Here’s what employees can expect – https://theconversation.com/the-supreme-courts-gender-ruling-has-implications-for-the-workplace-heres-what-employees-can-expect-257677

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Additional recruitment for the inclusive higher education program is now open

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    Due to numerous requests from students, additional enrollment has been opened for the free additional professional education program “Organizational, managerial and organizational and methodological foundations of inclusive higher education”, conducted by the State University of Management.

    The training will help participants develop and deepen the professional competencies necessary for successful teaching and management activities in the field of inclusive higher education.

    The program is designed for:

    Management personnel of higher education institutions. Research and teaching staff. Educational and support personnel of educational institutions.

    Both persons with higher education and those studying in higher education programs are admitted to training. A certificate of advanced training is issued to students only after receiving the relevant educational document.

    The program is designed for 72 academic hours, includes studying modules and completing a final assignment, and will be conducted in a correspondence format using distance learning technologies.

    Registration is open until June 10, 2025. Training will run from June 16 to June 30, 2025.

    Questions regarding documents can be sent to the email address: ea_vlasova@guu.ru.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Confirmation of Three Cabinet Members

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Kathy Hochul today announced the confirmation of three members of her cabinet.

    “New Yorkers deserve smart, experienced professionals at every level of government, and these leaders have distinguished themselves as public servants,” Governor Hochul said. “Our Administration is laser focused on making New York safer and more affordable, and these three commissioners will play pivotal roles in our work to improve the lives of all New Yorkers. “

    The following Commissioners were confirmed by the Senate:

    • Willow Baer, Office For People With Developmental Disabilities
    • Amanda Lefton, Department of Environmental Conservation
    • Denise Miranda, Division of Human Rights

    About Commissioner Willow Baer

    Willow Baer was confirmed by the New York State Senate on May 21 to serve as Commissioner of the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities. Commissioner Baer has been serving as Acting Commissioner since July 2024.

    Commissioner Baer is honored to lead OPWDD. Previously, she served as OPWDD’s Executive Deputy Commissioner and oversaw the agency’s operational management, including planning, fiscal planning and oversight, and policy development. She was also responsible for oversight of agency staff in a broad range of capacities, including direct care support, clinical and medical staff in residential and non-residential settings, maintenance and operations.

    Commissioner Baer has served twice as Assistant Counsel to Governor Hochul, overseeing legal priorities and legislation across the fields of Human Services and Mental Hygiene. Additionally, she previously served as General Counsel to OPWDD, General Counsel and Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Children & Family Services, and as Counsel to the NYS Justice Center.

    Commissioner Baer was named one of PoliticsNY and amNY’sMetro 2024 Power Players in Health Care and was presented with the 2025 Distinguished Public Service Award by the New York Alliance for Inclusion and Innovation.

    Commissioner Baer has spent her entire career working to protect and advocate for underrepresented populations. She will continue the agency’s work to ensure that New York is a state that is inclusive, supportive, and one that those with developmental disabilities live with meaningful choice and are proud to call home.

    About Commissioner Amanda Lefton

    Amanda Lefton was confirmed by the New York State Senate on May 28 to serve as Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Commissioner Lefton has been serving as Acting Commissioner since February 2025.

    Commissioner Lefton’s diverse career spans the public and private sectors, including previously serving as the Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) within the Department of the Interior. Under her leadership, BOEM developed and implemented an ambitious federal offshore wind program creating a new industry of family supporting jobs and generational opportunity. Her collaborative approach brought together various stakeholders to responsibly manage the nation’s critical offshore energy and mineral resources.

    Prior to her role as BOEM Director, Lefton served as the First Assistant Secretary for Energy and Environment for New York, where she led the State’s environmental and climate initiatives overseeing a portfolio of executive agencies including the DEC. She has also worked for The Nature Conservancy in New York as the Deputy Policy Director and climate mitigation lead, the Rochester Regional Joint Board of Workers United and the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate. Lefton comes to the DEC from RWE, one of the world’s leading players in the offshore wind sector, where she was the Vice President of Offshore Development, U.S. East.

    Originally from Queens, Commissioner Lefton grew up on Long Island and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University at Albany. She now resides in the Capital Region with her wife and stepchildren.

    About Commissioner Denise Miranda

    Denise Miranda was confirmed by the New York State Senate on May 29 to serve as Commissioner of the Division of Human Rights. Commissioner Miranda has been serving as Acting Commissioner since March 2024.

    Under Commissioner Miranda’s leadership, the Division has launched ambitious efforts to overhaul the agency’s discrimination complaint intake and case management processes while also implementing vital organizational changes and operational improvements. These essential upgrades will result in a bolder, more powerful, and more efficient Division that is prepared to protect the rights of all New Yorkers at a time when that mission has never been more critical.

    Since Commissioner Miranda’s appointment, the Division has increased staffing levels agencywide by more than 50 percent, expanded education and outreach initiatives, and launched new units essential to advancing the agency’s work. These initiatives have been supported by Governor Hochul’s historic investments. The Governor has more than doubled the Division’s funding during her time in office, including an $11 million increase in the FY26 Enacted Budget.

    Prior to this, Commissioner Miranda served as the Executive Director of the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs for seven years. She oversaw the agency’s operations, which included investigations into abuse and neglect, criminal prosecutions, and administrative disciplinary proceedings. Under her leadership, the Justice Center managed the care of over one million individuals, with a workforce of more than 425 employees and a $41 million operating budget.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: NANO Nuclear Files Six New Patent Applications Related to its Proprietary ZEUS™ Microreactor

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NANO continues work to expand its intellectual property portfolio

    New York, N.Y., May 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) (“NANO Nuclear” or “the Company”), a leading advanced nuclear energy and technology company, today announced that it has filed six new utility patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) related to its ZEUS™ microreactor.

    ZEUS™ is being designed as a solid‑core battery reactor with a fully sealed core that uses a highly conductive moderator matrix to dissipate fission heat. As designed, there is no fluid inside the core, which lowers the risk typically associated in‑core coolant accident scenarios.

    Figure 1 – Rendering of NANO Nuclear Energy’s ZEUS™ Advanced Portable Nuclear Microreactor

    The ZEUS™ design calls for all reactor and support systems to fit within a standard shipping container, creating the potential for exceptional transportability to sites lacking conventional energy infrastructure. The unit is also designed to deliver thermal energy directly for heat applications or convert it to electricity, making it adaptable for a wide range of needs, including district heating, power generation and non‑electric uses such as hydrogen production.

    “These patent applications for ZEUS reaffirm our commitment to strengthening NANO Nuclear’s intellectual property portfolio,” said Prof. Massimiliano Fratoni, Senior Director and Head of Reactor Design of NANO Nuclear. “The applications are directed towards safeguarding ZEUS’s key processes and components, which would not only benefit our own program but also contribute to progress across the entire advanced nuclear reactor industry.”

    “We’re pleased to file these new patent applications, which reflect the hard and excellent work of our engineering and technical teams to advance our goal of bringing next‑generation microreactors, like ZEUS™, from development to commercialization,” said James Walker, Chief Executive Officer of NANO Nuclear.”

    About NANO Nuclear Energy, Inc.

    NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) is an advanced technology-driven nuclear energy company seeking to become a commercially focused, diversified, and vertically integrated company across five business lines: (i) cutting edge portable and other microreactor technologies, (ii) nuclear fuel fabrication, (iii) nuclear fuel transportation, (iv) nuclear applications for space and (v) nuclear industry consulting services. NANO Nuclear believes it is the first portable nuclear microreactor company to be listed publicly in the U.S.

    Led by a world-class nuclear engineering team, NANO Nuclear’s reactor products in development include patented KRONOS MMR™ Energy System, a stationary high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that is in construction permit pre-application engagement U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in collaboration with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.), “ZEUS”, a solid core battery reactor, and “ODIN”, a low-pressure coolant reactor, and the space focused, portable LOKI MMR™, each representing advanced developments in clean energy solutions that are portable, on-demand capable, advanced nuclear microreactors.

    Advanced Fuel Transportation Inc. (AFT), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is led by former executives from the largest transportation company in the world aiming to build a North American transportation company that will provide commercial quantities of HALEU fuel to small modular reactors, microreactor companies, national laboratories, military, and DOE programs. Through NANO Nuclear, AFT is the exclusive licensee of a patented high-capacity HALEU fuel transportation basket developed by three major U.S. national nuclear laboratories and funded by the Department of Energy. Assuming development and commercialization, AFT is expected to form part of the only vertically integrated nuclear fuel business of its kind in North America.

    HALEU Energy Fuel Inc. (HEF), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is focusing on the future development of a domestic source for a High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) fuel fabrication pipeline for NANO Nuclear’s own microreactors as well as the broader advanced nuclear reactor industry.

    NANO Nuclear Space Inc. (NNS), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is exploring the potential commercial applications of NANO Nuclear’s developing micronuclear reactor technology in space. NNS is focusing on applications such as the LOKI MMR™ system and other power systems for extraterrestrial projects and human sustaining environments, and potentially propulsion technology for long haul space missions. NNS’ initial focus will be on cis-lunar applications, referring to uses in the space region extending from Earth to the area surrounding the Moon’s surface.

    For more corporate information please visit: https://NanoNuclearEnergy.com/

    For further NANO Nuclear information, please contact:

    Email: IR@NANONuclearEnergy.com
    Business Tel: (212) 634-9206

    PLEASE FOLLOW OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES HERE:

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    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

    This news release and statements of NANO Nuclear’s management in connection with this news release contain or may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this context, forward-looking statements mean statements related to future events, which may impact our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “potential”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “would” or “may” and other words of similar meaning. In this press release, forward-looking statements related to the anticipated benefits of the patent applications described herein. These and other forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this news release and represent management’s current views and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, events or results and involve significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control. For NANO Nuclear, particular risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the following: (i) risks related to our U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) or related state or non-U.S. nuclear fuel licensing submissions, (ii) risks related the development of new or advanced technology and the acquisition of complimentary technology or businesses, including difficulties with design and testing, cost overruns, regulatory delays, integration issues and the development of competitive technology, (iii) our ability to obtain contracts and funding to be able to continue operations, (iv) risks related to uncertainty regarding our ability to technologically develop, gain registered intellectual property protection for, and commercially deploy a competitive advanced nuclear reactor or other technology in the timelines we anticipate, if ever, (v) risks related to the impact of U.S. and non-U.S. government regulation, policies and licensing requirements, including by the DOE and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including those associated with the recently enacted ADVANCE Act, and (vi) similar risks and uncertainties associated with the operating an early stage business a highly regulated and rapidly evolving industry. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this news release. These factors may not constitute all factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in any forward-looking statement, and NANO Nuclear therefore encourages investors to review other factors that may affect future results in its filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov and at https://ir.nanonuclearenergy.com/financial-information/sec-filings. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a predictor of actual results. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this news release, except as required by law.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Hurricane season is here, but FEMA’s policy change could leave low-income areas less protected

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ivis García, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University

    Hurricane Harvey inundated the Cottage Grove neighborhood of Houston in 2018. Scott Olson/Getty Images

    When powerful storms hit your city, which neighborhoods are most likely to flood? In many cities, they’re typically low-income areas. They may have poor drainage, or they lack protections such as seawalls.

    New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, where hundreds of people died when Hurricane Katrina broke a levee in 2005, and Houston’s Kashmere Gardens, flooded by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, are just two among many examples.

    With those disasters in mind, the Federal Emergency Management Agency made a big change to its Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guide in 2023. The agency began encouraging cities, towns and counties to address equity in their hazard mitigation plans, which outline how they will reduce disaster risk.

    Local governments have an incentive to follow those federal guidelines: Those that want to receive FEMA hazard mitigation assistance – money which can be used to repair aging infrastructure like roads, bridges and flood barriers – or funding from other programs such as dam rehabilitation have to develop local mitigation plans and update them every five years.

    Hurricane Irma flooded Immokalee, Fla., in 2017. The community, home to many farmworkers, had infrastructure problems before the storm, and recovery was slow.
    AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

    The new guidance required cities to both consider social vulnerability among neighborhoods in their disaster mitigation planning and involve socially vulnerable communities in those discussions in ways they hadn’t before.

    However, as the U.S. heads into what forecasters predict will be an active 2025 hurricane season, that guidance has changed again. The Trump administration’s new FEMA Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guide 2025 talks about public involvement in planning but strips any mention of equity, income or social vulnerability. It mentions using “projections for the future” to plan but removes references to climate change.

    Who is most at risk in hurricanes, and why

    Hurricanes and other storms that cause flooding don’t affect everyone in the same way.

    A legacy of redlining and discrimination in many U.S. cities left poor and minority families living in often risky areas. These neighborhoods also tend to have poorer infrastructure.

    In the past, local mitigation plans just focused on fixing roads or protecting property in general from storm damage, without recognizing that socially vulnerable groups, such as low-income or elderly populations, were more likely to be hardest hit and take much longer to recover.

    Low-income neighborhoods in Puerto Rico have been slow to recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria.
    Ivis Garcia

    The FEMA 2023 guidance encouraged communities to consider both the highest risks and which neighborhoods would be least able to respond in a disaster and address their needs.

    The equity requirement was designed to ensure that local plans didn’t just protect those with the most wealth or political influence but considered who needs the help most. That might mean providing information in multiple languages in emergency alerts or investing in flood prevention in neighborhoods with aging infrastructure like roads, bridges and flood barriers.

    How New York City’s 2024 plan helped

    New York City’s 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan, for example, included a thorough social vulnerability assessment to identify neighborhoods with high percentages of people who were living in poverty or were older, disabled or weren’t fluent in English.

    Knowing where disaster risk and social vulnerability overlapped allowed the city to boost investments in flood protection, emergency communication and cooling centers during summer heat in neighborhoods such as the South Bronx and East Harlem. These neighborhoods historically faced some of the greatest risks from disasters but saw little investment.

    The NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice mapped the risk of storm surge flooding in the 2020s (purple) and 2080s (dark blue), and neighborhoods that fall under the city’s ‘disadvantaged communities’ criteria. A 1% risk means a 1% of chance of flooding in any given year, also referred to as a 100-year flood risk.
    NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice

    Further, New York’s plan calls for expanding outreach and early warning systems in multiple languages and enhancing infrastructure in areas with high concentrations of Spanish speakers. These kinds of changes help ensure that vulnerable residents are more likely to be better protected when disaster strikes.

    Why is FEMA dropping that emphasis now?

    FEMA’s reasoning for the guidance change in 2025: make it quicker and easier to get plans approved and unlock federal funding for projects like flood barriers, storm shelters and buyouts in areas at high risk of damage.

    It’s a pragmatic move, but one that raises big questions about whether residents who are least able to help themselves will be overlooked again when the next disaster strikes.

    And FEMA isn’t alone — other agencies, like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery program, have made similar changes to their own disaster planning rules. Community Development Block Grant funds for disaster recovery are flexible and can be used for things like rebuilding homes and businesses, restoring infrastructure and helping local economies recover.

    What this means for low-income areas

    Some experts worry that the changes might mean low-income and other at-risk communities will be ignored again when cities develop their next five-year mitigation plans. Research from the Government Accountability Office shows that when something is required by law, it gets done. When it’s just a suggestion, it’s easy to skip, especially in places with fewer resources or less political will to help.

    But the short-lived rules may have already helped in one important way: They made cities and states pay attention to social vulnerability, climate change and the needs of all their residents.

    Many local leaders have learned the value of using data to understand where socially vulnerable residents face high disaster risks. And they have a model now for involving communities in decision-making. Even if those steps are no longer required, the hope is that these good habits will stick.

    Where and how communities invest in disaster protection affects who stays safe and who faces higher risks from flooding, hurricanes and other disasters. When government policy shifts, it’s not just about paperwork – it’s about real people.

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

    – ref. Hurricane season is here, but FEMA’s policy change could leave low-income areas less protected – https://theconversation.com/hurricane-season-is-here-but-femas-policy-change-could-leave-low-income-areas-less-protected-256985

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Detroit’s population grew in 2023, 2024 − a strategy to welcome immigrants helps explain the turnaround from decades of population decline

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul N. McDaniel, Associate Professor of Geography, Kennesaw State University

    The Mexican-American community in southwest Detroit held a rally in March 2025, asking ICE to leave the immigrant community alone. Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    Detroit’s population grew in 2024 for the second year in a row. This is a remarkable comeback after decades of population decline in the Motor City.

    What explains the turnaround? One factor may be Detroit’s efforts to attract and settle immigrants.

    These efforts continue despite a dramatic national shift in tone toward new arrivals. This includes executive orders from the second Trump administration targeting immigrant communities, international students and their universities, and cities in which immigrants live.

    We study urban geography and immigrant integration. Despite these federal policy shifts, our own research and that of others has found that local leaders in cities across the U.S. are actively working to bring immigrants in and help them become part of local communities, generally for economic reasons.

    Our recent publications on immigrant integration and immigrant community engagement show how and why cities adapt to changes in their population and economies.

    Detroit and other former immigrant gateway metro areas such as Buffalo, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and St. Louis, Missouri experienced significant immigration in the early 20th century. These population booms were followed by a period of decline in immigration numbers.

    Now these cities are using branding strategies to construct inclusive identities designed to attract and retain immigrants. It may be surprising to think of a city branding itself, but local governments often work with private nonprofits to shape and manage their city’s image. They try to build a unique and desirable identity for the city, differentiate it from competitors, and attract new businesses, residents and tourists this way.

    Here are three reasons why Detroit and other cities want to welcome immigrants:

    1. Encouraging economic growth and attracting talent

    Immigration has a positive impact on the economy, research shows.

    Local leaders in Detroit recognize that in a global economy, a thriving industrial sector and robust labor market are linked to the contributions of immigrant communities. They also understand that the growth of these communities brings positive economic ripple effects.

    Immigrants are more likely than the general population to own their own businesses. Organizations such as Global Detroit encourage entrepreneurship through programs such as the Global Talent Retention Initiative, Global Talent Accelerator and Global Entrepreneur in Residence and provide resources for small businesses.

    Immigrants also fill labor needs, from high-tech fields such as engineering and research to manual labor sectors such as construction and food service.

    The City of Detroit Office of Immigrant Affairs promotes economic development and immigrant integration through education, English as a second language programs, economic empowerment and community resources.

    These efforts are paying off by attracting immigrants to the city.

    This economic impact extends to tourism as well. The region’s marketing campaigns embracing diversity shape how visitors perceive the region. The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau spotlights the unique experiences the city’s diverse neighborhoods offer to tourists.

    2. Enhancing community and regional resilience

    Regional resilience describes a region’s ability to withstand and adapt to challenges such as economic shocks and natural disasters. Cities like Detroit that are still trying to bounce back from deindustrialization know from experience how critical this is.

    Immigration contributes to regional resilience, research shows. In addition to supporting local economies and strengthening the labor force, the arrival of immigrants in Detroit has helped offset native-born population decline, stabilizing the overall population and bolstering local tax bases.

    According to our analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro area grew by 1.2%, from a total population of 4,291,843 in 2010 to 4,342,304 in 2023.

    According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the Detroit metro area’s native-born population decreased by 58,693 people during that 13-year period, while the foreign-born population increased by 109,154. The top five countries of origin for immigrants in the metro area are India, Iraq, Mexico, Yemen and Lebanon.

    From 2023 to 2024, the metro area’s population gained 40,347 immigrants and lost 11,626 native born residents – resulting in a population gain of 28,721.

    Efforts to welcome immigrants in Detroit and its surrounding communities contributed to this trend of immigrant population growth offsetting overall population decline.

    3. Promoting social cohesion and enhanced civic engagement

    Successful place brands are rooted in inclusion and a strong civil society. Detroit’s rich tapestry of cultures in areas such as Dearborn and Hamtramck creates a vibrant regional identity.

    Organizations such as Global Detroit’s Welcoming Michigan actively support local grassroots efforts to build mutual respect and ensure that immigrants are able to participate fully in the social, civic and economic fabric of their hometowns.

    Examples include Global Detroit’s Social Cohesion Initiative, Common Bond and Opportunity Neighborhoods. These initiatives help bring neighborhood residents of various backgrounds together to share their cultures, support each other’s small businesses and socialize. Such programs strengthen the region’s democratic foundations and enhance its appeal as a welcoming and inclusive place to live.

    Forging a way forward

    Detroit has found that welcoming immigrants and integrating them into the life of the city is one way to navigate the economic, political and cultural challenges it faces.

    And it is not alone in embracing this strategy. Other cities practicing similar strategies include Baltimore; Boise, Idaho; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas; Dayton, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans; Pittsburgh; Roanoke, Virginia; and Salt Lake City.

    Although not all cities choose to pursue such strategies, in those that do, local leaders signal a region ready for a globalized future.

    Paul N. McDaniel previously received funding from the National Geographic Society, served on the Content Advisory Board for the Welcoming Standard and on the Steering Committee for Welcoming America’s One Region Initiative, and is a member of the American Association of Geographers.

    Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez was co-PI on funding received from the National Geographic Society and served on the national pilot program with Welcoming America One Region Initiative’s Steering Committee and Program Evaluation Team.

    – ref. Detroit’s population grew in 2023, 2024 − a strategy to welcome immigrants helps explain the turnaround from decades of population decline – https://theconversation.com/detroits-population-grew-in-2023-2024-a-strategy-to-welcome-immigrants-helps-explain-the-turnaround-from-decades-of-population-decline-255557

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: An important step towards technological leadership: key scientific and technological projects approved

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    In March of this year, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, following the presentation of the University Development Program at the Council of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation entered the leading group of universities participating in the Priority 2030 program.

    The Priority 2030 program to support higher education institutions was relaunched this year with an emphasis on achieving technological leadership in Russia by combining the efforts of the state, business, and universities in implementing joint projects. The key performance indicator for participants is the integrated technological leadership index (ITL). ITL is calculated based on the volume of extra-budgetary R&D and scientific and technical services, commercialization of the results of intellectual activity and work.

    In order to achieve technological leadership, in accordance with the approved Strategy and Program for the University Development until 2030 with a perspective until 2036, SPbPU will concentrate its efforts on three key scientific and technological areas (KSTD), as well as on the transformation of engineering education.

    During the two months of the program’s implementation, a great deal of organizational work was done to launch key scientific and technological projects, the Office of Technological Leadership was organized, headed by Oleg Rozhdestvensky, and the SPbPU Technological Leadership Council was created and began its work under the chairmanship of the Rector of SPbPU, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Andrey Ivanovich Rudskoy.

    For each of the key scientific and technological areas, chief designers (director heads) have been approved:

    KNTN-1 “System Digital Engineering” – development of technologies and products superior to foreign analogues, based on digital twin technology andCML-Bench® Digital Platform. Chief Designer, Head of the Department — Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation, Head of the SPbPU PISh “Digital Engineering” Aleksey Borovkov; KNTN-2 “New Materials, Technologies, Production” — creation of science-intensive industries for the repair and manufacture of products for various purposes. Chief Designer, Head of the Department — Director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport Anatoly Popovich; KNTN-3 “Artificial Intelligence for Solving Cross-Industry Problems” — development of digital platform solutions for analyzing multimodal data. Chief Designer, Head of the Department — Vice-Rector for Research Yuri Fomin; Transformation of Engineering Education — maximizing SPbPU’s contribution to the formation of world-class Russian engineering education and the spatial development of the country. Head of the Department — Vice-Rector for Educational Activities Lyudmila Pankova.

    In mid-May, the Technology Leadership Council approved projects within key scientific and technological areas.

    Projects of KNTN-1 “System digital engineering”:

    The creation of industry technologies of systemic digital engineering based on the CML-Bench® digital platform, the head-A. A. Sebelev, write “Digital Engineering”;
    Systemic digital engineering and the development of unmanned aviation systems, components and materials, the head – M. Yu. Korchkov, write “digital engineering”;
    Systemic digital engineering of products and the development of digital doubles in the field of energy engineering, the leader – N. N. Minin, write “Digital Engineering”;
    Improving the quality and reliability of the construction of foundations on perennial frozen soils based on computer modeling of the stability of a drilling pile, the head – A. A. Alkhimenko, write “digital engineering”;
    Development of a comprehensive technology for obtaining composite structures by overprinting for the manufacture of aviation technology products, the head – I. A. Kobykhno, write digital engineering;
    Development of advanced methods for the design of equipment of atomic and thermonuclear reactors, leaders-V. S. Modestov, V. A. Rozhansky, Physics and Mechanical Institute;
    High -speed modem for small spacecraft, head – S.V. Zavyalov, Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications;
    The use of systemic digital engineering tools in the development of advanced medical devices, the head – M. A. Zhmailo, writes “digital engineering”;
    Development of new generation burners for pyrolysis furnaces, leader – Yu. V. Aristovich, writing “digital engineering”;
    Development of mathematical models of compressor equipment and software based on them for digital design, optimization, development of products on virtual and physical stands, forecasting the operating modes and possible malfunctions during operation, the head – A. A. Drozdov, and the Institute of Energy.

    Projects of KNTN-2 “New materials, technologies, production”:

    Scientific and technological foundations for the creation of science-intensive production, repair and manufacture of parts for power engineering for civil and special purposes. Stage 2025, leader — P. A. Novikov, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport; Development of scientific and technological foundations of additive production and repair of parts from compact materials, leader — O. V. Panchenko, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport; Development of technology for forming SHAR-LINZA glass, leader — A. V. Semencha, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport; Development of scientific foundations for the creation of composite materials based on foam aluminum, leader — S. V. Ganin, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport; Study of the possibility of increasing the productivity of an in-pipe robotic diagnostic complex when monitoring long sections of a gas pipeline, leader — O. A. Shmakov, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport.

    Projects of KNTN-3 “Artificial intelligence for solving cross-industry problems”:

    Automation of Seismic Data Processing Using Artificial Neural Networks, Head — I. A. Zhdanov, Scientific Department; Digital Platform for Transport Systems Data Analysis Using Hybrid Artificial Intelligence, Head — M. V. Bolsunovskaya, Digital Engineering PISh; Multi-agent Decision Support Systems in Industry and Construction, Head — A. M. Gintsyak, Digital Engineering PISh; Flexible Life Cycle Management System for Power Plant Equipment Using Predictive Analytics Tools, Head — I. D. Anikina, Institute of Power Engineering; Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Retrosynthetic Analysis of Big Data on Structure-Biological Activity Relationships, Head — A. S. Timin, Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnology.

    All approved projects correspond to the priority areas of scientific and technological development of the country, are based on existing personnel and scientific and technological reserves, are aimed at developing the most important science-intensive technologies, and have undergone a rigorous external expert assessment.

    In addition, all selected projects are built in the logic of the qualified partnership model, where the university acts as a qualified performer and its development within the model, as well as interaction with a qualified customer (industrial partner) is carried out within the framework of the RUN-CNANGE-DISRUPT methodology. RUN is an ongoing activity, CNANGE – DISRUPT mean “targeted changes” and “breakthrough”, which are achieved with the help of a scientific and technological reserve formed on a systemic basis, the introduction of digital and technological platforms, and a focus on frontier engineering tasks.

    Over the past few years, we have managed to build sustainable cooperation with dozens of industrial partners, with whom we develop advanced technologies and launch joint educational programs. Based on this experience and the results of our teams, we have formed three key scientific and technological areas that allow us to follow the Polytechnic mission – “creation of knowledge and implementation of developments to ensure technological leadership of Russia.” Concentration of efforts and resources on three scientific and technological areas and building all processes in this logic is the basis of our transformation in the scientific and technological sphere, – commented the head of the SPbPU Office of Technological Leadership Oleg Rozhdestvensky.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: SPbGASU specialists awarded the St. Petersburg Government Prize for their contribution to the development of education

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Evgeny Rybnov, Alexander Solodkiy and Stanislav Evtyukov (fourth, third and second from the right) at the awards ceremony

    On May 29, in the assembly hall of Smolny, the Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Dmitrievich Beglov, ceremoniously presented the St. Petersburg Government Prizes for achievements in the field of higher and secondary vocational education.

    In the nomination “Scientific achievements that contribute to improving the quality of training specialists and highly qualified personnel”, the laureates were the rector of SPbGASU Evgeny Ivanovich Rybnov, the head of the department of transport systems and road and bridge construction Stanislav Sergeevich Evtyukov and professor of the department of transport systems and road and bridge construction Alexander Ivanovich Solodkiy. They were awarded the high award for the study “Scientific support for the formation of competencies of highly qualified personnel in the field of intelligent transport systems”.

    One of the most important tasks of the Russian transport system is to ensure maximum efficiency of the transport and road complex by more fully satisfying the needs of the economy and citizens for safe and efficient transport services. This task can be achieved through two mutually complementary areas of activity: the development of transport infrastructure and the introduction of technologies for organizational management of the transport system using modern information, telecommunications and telematic technologies – intelligent transport systems (ITS).

    The paper evaluates the effectiveness of Russian practice in implementing ITS. An algorithm has been developed for creating cooperative ITS, in which, based on high-speed wireless communication, interaction between vehicles, with the infrastructure and with all participants in the passenger transportation processes is carried out.

    The obtained results have been implemented in the system of training and retraining highly qualified personnel, are used in the development of state requirements for the qualifications of experts and specialists in the field of ITS, as well as teachers of the three-level system of training drivers/operators of vehicles, and have been tested at scientific and practical conferences of various levels.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Chair appointed to independent Fatal Accident Inquiry review

    Source: Scottish Government

    Action to improve investigations into deaths in prison custody.

    Retired Sheriff Principal Ian Abercrombie has been appointed to chair an independent review of the system of Fatal Accident Inquiries (FAI) into deaths in prison custody.

    The review will aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of investigations into deaths in prison and ensure those affected are treated in a trauma-informed way.

    The review which was commissioned by Justice Secretary Angela Constance, in consultation with the Lord Advocate, will also identify barriers that families face in engaging with the FAI process and address the time it takes for them to be completed.

    An advisory group, recommended by the Chair and appointed by the Justice Secretary, will support Sheriff Principal Abercrombie. Its membership is expected to be agreed and announced within weeks.

    The Justice Secretary said:

    “A review of the FAI system was a key action from the Government’s consideration of the FAI inquiry determinations into the tragic deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay.

    “Families have been let down and their experience of the system has added to their grief. Their voices will be heard and listened to during this independent review.

    “The remit of the review will consider issues surrounding FAIs held into deaths in prison custody.

    “Maintaining the pace of reform is essential, which is why I have asked to receive the report by the end of this year.”

    Sheriff Principal Abercrombie said:

    “I am pleased to be leading this review. I understand that concerns have been raised about how the FAI system currently operates in relation to deaths in prison custody.

    “As an independent chair, ably assisted by my Advisory Group, I am looking forward to hearing from all those with experience or knowledge of the system.”

    Background

    Sheriff Principal Abercrombie graduated with an LLB Hons from the University of Edinburgh in 1978 and joined the Faculty of Advocates in 1981. He has served as a Curator of the Advocates Library and was a member of the disciplinary committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, and of a Scottish Law Commission advisory group.

    He is a former member of the Scottish Civil Justice Council. He became a QC in 1993 and was appointed a sheriff in 2009. He became Sheriff Principal of South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway in 2014. He retired from this role in 2020.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. Doses First Patient with CER-1236 in Phase 1 Clinical Trial for Acute Myeloid Leukemia and is Advancing Through Protocol-Defined Evaluations

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CERO Chief Medical Officer to discuss trial protocol in poster at the American Society for Clinical Oncology Conference

    The first patient has been dosed and is advancing through protocol-defined evaluations

    SOUTH SAN FRANSCISCO, Calif., May 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc., (Nasdaq: CERO) (“CERo” or the “Company”) an innovative cellular immunotherapy company seeking to advance the next generation of engineered T cell therapeutics that employ phagocytic mechanisms, announces it has dosed the first patient in its Phase 1 clinical trial of CER-1236.  The patient was dosed at the lead trial site in a study focused on patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).  Now more than seven days post-infusion, monitoring continues for key safety, tolerability, and efficacy endpoints.  The study will be featured in a poster being presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology being held in Chicago May 30-June 3, 2025. 

    Abhishek Maiti, M.D., assistant professor of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the lead investigator of the trial. He worked with Cero team on publishing the novel preclinical data in Clinical Cancer Research.

    The first-in-human, multi-center, open label, Phase 1/1b study is designed to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of CER-1236 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia that is either relapsed/refractory, or in remission with measurable residual disease, or newly diagnosed patients with TP53 mutated MDS/AML or AML. The two-part study has begun with dose escalation to determine the highest tolerated dose and recommended dose for Phase 2, followed by an expansion phase to evaluate safety and efficacy.  Primary outcome measures include incidence of adverse events (AEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs), incidence of dose limited toxicities and estimation of overall response rate (ORR), complete response (CR), composite complete response (cCR), and measurable residual disease (MRD).  Secondary outcome measures include pharmacokinetics (PK).

    Robert Sikorski, M.D. Ph.D., CERo Therapeutics’ Chief Medical Officer remarked, “The completion of first-in-human dosing represents a clinical development milestone for CER-1236, a novel autologous CAR-T therapeutic candidate targeting TIM 4L.  Protocol-specified evaluations of safety, pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic, and efficacy endpoints are in progress.  We look forward to communicating results as data matures.”

    A peer-reviewed manuscript with robust preclinical data was published earlier in Clinical Cancer Research. The Company is presenting a poster that outlines the Phase 1/1b study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2025 Annual Meeting in Chicago May 30-June 3, 2025 at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center. The abstract for the poster, titled, “First in human study of autologous chimeric engulfment receptor T-cell CER-1236 targeting TIM-4-L in acute myeloid leukemia (CertainT-1)” can be found here.  The poster session, at which Dr. Sikorski will be present, is being held June 1st, and is titled, “Hematologic Malignancies – Leukemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes and Allotransplant.”

    CERo CEO Chris Ehrlich concluded, “We are grateful for the participation of our first patient and to the many people who have worked tirelessly to reach this milestone, including our CERO team, our consultants and study sites.  We look forward to discussing additional outcomes, which we continue to believe will validate the scientific work performed to date with CER-1236.”

    About CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc.

    CERo is an innovative immunotherapy company advancing the development of next generation engineered T cell therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Its proprietary approach to T cell engineering, which enables it to integrate certain desirable characteristics of both innate and adaptive immunity into a single therapeutic construct, is designed to engage the body’s full immune repertoire to achieve optimized cancer therapy. This novel cellular immunotherapy platform is expected to redirect patient-derived T cells to eliminate tumors by building in engulfment pathways that employ phagocytic mechanisms to destroy cancer cells, creating what CERo refers to as Chimeric Engulfment Receptor T cells (“CER-T”). CERo believes the differentiated activity of CER-T cells will afford them greater therapeutic application than currently approved chimeric antigen receptor (“CAR-T”) cell therapy, as the use of CER-T may potentially span both hematological malignancies and solid tumors. CERo has commenced clinical trials for its lead product candidate CER-1236 for hematological malignancies.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This communication contains statements that are forward-looking and as such are not historical facts. This includes, without limitation, statements regarding the financial position, business strategy and the plans and objectives of management for future operations of CERo. These statements constitute projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements, and are not guarantees of performance. Such statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. When used in this communication, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “strive,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. When CERo discusses its strategies or plans, it is making projections, forecasts or forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on the beliefs of, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to, CERo’s management.

    Actual results could differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements in this communication. Certain risks that could cause actual results to differ are set forth in CERo’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and the documents incorporated by reference therein. The risks described in CERo’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are not exhaustive. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all such risk factors, nor can CERo assess the impact of all such risk factors on its business, or the extent to which any factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. You should not put undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. All forward-looking statements made by CERo or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. CERo undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

    Contact:
    Chris Ehrlich
    Chief Executive Officer
    chris@cero.bio

    Investors:
    CORE IR

    investors@cero.bio

    The MIL Network –