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Category: Universities

  • MIL-Evening Report: Humans generate 62 million tonnes of e-waste each year. Here’s what happens when it’s recycled

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhbir Sandhu, Associate Professor in Sustainability, University of South Australia

    Huguette Roe/Shutterstock

    In 2022, humans generated roughly 62 million tonnes of electronic waste – or e-waste. That’s enough to fill more than 1.5 million garbage trucks. And by 2030, that figure is expected to rise to 82 million tonnes.

    Australia is a huge contributor to this problem. Every year each Australian, on average, generates 20kg of e-waste, compared with the global average of 7kg per person.

    Less than one quarter of the world’s e-waste – which includes desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones, televisions, kitchen appliances, batteries and solar panels – is recycled. That means most of it ends up in landfill, which can result in major accidents. For example, earlier this month, a rubbish truck in Melbourne caught fire after a laptop battery that had been thrown in the garbage bin exploded.

    So what can be done to increase the amount of e-waste that’s recycled? And what actually happens during the e-waste recycling process?

    From breakdown to planned obsolescence

    The growing problem of e-waste is fuelled by both perceived and planned obsolescence.

    Perceived obsolescence happens when we discard functioning products in favour of newer models. For example, we buy the latest iPhone even though our current phone works fine.

    Planned obsolescence is when manufacturers “build in” a use-by date. One way they do this is by not offering software updates, which then renders an existing product incompatible with other, newer devices or presents cybersecurity risks.

    Of course, sometimes existing electronic products simply stop working, which forces us to buy a replacement.

    A multi-step process

    In Australia, the process of recycling e-waste starts with consumers delivering their e-waste to a designated collection centre.

    Some manufacturers offer trade-in programs where people can drop off their old phones and laptops at retail shops and get a small discount on a new product. Some councils also run services for periodic collection and offer drop-off centres for e-waste.

    The collection is followed by sorting and inspection of the discarded items.

    At this stage, the discarded electronic items are sorted based on the type of devices. Some devices can be refurbished and reused if they are still functional.

    Those that cannot be refurbished are dismantled.

    This involves separating the various components, such as circuit boards, batteries and wiring. Hazardous materials such as mercury and lead are removed, before recyclable and valuable materials are recovered. These include plastic and glass, as well as precious metals like gold and silver from the circuit boards.

    After purifying and refining, the recycled materials can be used in new electronics or put to other uses.

    According to the national waste report there are 535 facilities in Australia that accept e-waste. But only 20 facilities reprocess these for further recycling.

    This means much of Australia’s e-waste is exported to China, India and other Asian countries to be recycled.

    Less than one quarter of the world’s e-waste is recycled.
    SibFilm/Shutterstock

    Significant challenges

    There are significant challenges when it comes to recycling e-waste.

    Some are associated with consumer behaviour. For example, unlike kerbside recycling services for paper, glass and cardboard, recycling e-waste generally involves consumers making a special trip to a designated drop-off location. Accessing these locations involves extra effort and can be an inconvenience which deters people from recycling their e-waste.

    Also, compared to container deposit schemes, where people get paid to recycle their glass bottles and cans, there are generally no monetary incentives available for recycling e-waste.

    Concerns about data security also prevent some people from recycling their e-waste. People are often reluctant to recycle their computer, phones and other electronic items as they are worried their data could be stolen during the recycling process, even after they have deleted the files.

    The other set of challenges with recycling e-waste comes from the economic incentives for recycling. Recycling e-waste is complex and costly. The costs involved in recycling can often be higher than the price of raw materials. Hazardous wastes must also be disposed safely, which adds extra costs to the process.

    All of this makes it less attractive for businesses to recycle e-waste.

    The way forward

    Australia’s new circular economy framework is expected to provide a way forward for businesses to address some of these challenges.

    The framework seeks to double the rate at which Australia recovers, recycles and reuses materials by 2035, partly by providing direction and designing policies for businesses that encourage recycling.

    It’s also important for local governments to make it easier for people to recycle their e-waste.

    While it may not be cost effective for councils to have kerbside recycling for e- waste, they could place e-waste collection centres in local areas.

    Councils can also explore offering consumers incentives for e-waste recycling. These incentives can be monetary. But even non-monetary incentives, such as letting people know how their recycled e-waste contributes to addressing the bigger problem, can be a motivation.

    And finally, as consumers, it would help to remember that the best way to contribute to decreasing e-waste is to repair and reuse our existing products.

    Sukhbir Sandhu has received funding from Australian Research Council, European Union, and Green Industries SA.

    – ref. Humans generate 62 million tonnes of e-waste each year. Here’s what happens when it’s recycled – https://theconversation.com/humans-generate-62-million-tonnes-of-e-waste-each-year-heres-what-happens-when-its-recycled-249842

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Carnivorous dinosaurs thrived in Australia 120 million years ago, new fossils show

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jake Kotevski, PhD Candidate, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University and PhD Candidate, Museums Victoria Research Institute

    The shinbone of a megaraptorid. Nadir Kinani/Museums Victoria

    Between 122 and 108 million years ago, the Australian landmass was much farther south than today. Victoria was positioned within the Antarctic Circle, separated from Tasmania by a vast rift valley rather than open sea.

    This was the Early Cretaceous, and lush forests filled with dinosaurs dominated the landscape. We still find traces of these animals in Victoria’s fossil record.

    Most of the dinosaur fossils found in Victoria belong to small plant-eaters called ornithopods. But there are also a few theropod fossils — a diverse group that includes all known carnivorous dinosaurs, as well as modern birds.

    More than 250 theropod bones have been found in the Victorian Cretaceous. In the palaeontology collections of Museums Victoria, we have now identified five theropod fossils of particular importance. Our work on these bones has been published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

    Artist’s interpretation of the Cretaceous Bass Coast, 121.4 million years ago. From left to right: carcharodontosaur, unenlagiine and megaraptorid.
    Jonathan Metzger for Museums Victoria

    Shinbones and tail bones

    Research over the past decade has revealed striking similarities between Australian and South American dinosaurs. These include megaraptorids with claws shaped like scythes, and small, fleet-footed elasmarian ornithopods. There were also armoured parankylosaurians and colossal sauropods with long necks and small heads.

    These parallels may seem surprising at first, but both continents retained a connection to Antarctica throughout much of the Cretaceous Period.

    Our newly described fossils show that a bunch of different carnivorous dinosaurs seen in South America also thrived in the Cretaceous of southeastern Australia.

    Two shinbones provide the first evidence of carcharodontosaurs (“shark-toothed lizards”) in Australia. A third shinbone provides strong evidence for the presence of unenlagiines, a southern group of dromaeosaurs (“running lizards”).

    A fourth shinbone and two tail vertebrae with their chevrons, which are from a megaraptorid, represent one of Australia’s largest-known carnivorous dinosaurs.

    A first for Australia

    Carcharodontosaurs were apex predators in South America and Africa for much of the mid-Cretaceous. This group of theropods had large skulls, massive teeth and small arms. They were some of the largest predators to ever walk the Earth.

    Despite their success in South America and Africa, carcharodontosaur fossils had never been found in Australia – until now. With the two shinbones, we now have the first evidence of the group on this continent.

    Curiously, these Australian carcharodontosaurs are much smaller than their African and South American cousins, and the bones we have most closely resemble a carcharodontosaur from Thailand.

    One of the Victorian carcharodontosaur shinbones was found on the Otway Coast. The other was found on the Bass Coast, in rocks nearly 10 million years older. This demonstrates these predators were successful in this area for at least 10 million years. It’s a notable find.

    The large-bodied carcharodontosaurs of Africa and South America were seemingly specialised for hunting long-necked sauropods. However, this food source was likely not available to the Victorian polar carcharodontosaurs: sauropod fossils have never been found in Victoria.

    A cliff face at Twin Reefs Bunurong Coastal Reserve, the area where some of the dinosaur fossils were found.
    John Broomfield/Museums Victoria

    The Australian ‘raptors’

    Unenlagiines were lightly built (and likely feathered) predatory dinosaurs, related to Velociraptor of Jurassic Park fame.

    Most unenlagiine fossil remains have been found in South America. Historically, Australia had limited evidence for their presence, as well.

    Our description of a new unenlagiine shinbone from Victoria provides robust evidence for their success in polar Australia during the Early Cretaceous.

    The snouts of unenlagiines were relatively longer, and their arms relatively shorter than those of their dromaeosaur cousins from the Northern Hemisphere. This implies they had a rather different diet. The Victorian unenlagiine presumably ate fish or small land-dwelling animals. One possibility is the small mammals for which the Victorian Cretaceous is perhaps most famous – more than 50 mammal jaws have been found to date, and some are from ancient relatives of platypus and echidna.

    Theropod shin bones from the Bass Coast. From left to right: unenlagiine, carcharodontosaur and megaraptorid.
    Nadir Kinani/Museums Victoria

    The apex predators of Victoria

    Large predatory dinosaurs – on the scale of Tyrannosaurus – are notably absent from the Australian fossil record. Instead, Australian dinosaur populations seem to have been dominated by medium-sized carnivores called megaraptorids.

    Megaraptorid fossils are only known from South America and Australia. The most complete skeletons are from South America, including a relatively large one – roughly nine metres long. Australia’s only reasonably complete megaraptorid is Australovenator wintonensis from Winton, central Queensland.

    The shinbone and tail vertebrae we describe provide evidence for a large megaraptorid in southeast Australia. Despite being almost 30 million years older than the roughly five- to six-metre-long Australovenator, the Bass Coast megaraptorid was at least 5% larger: approaching the size of its South American relatives.

    The large, muscular arms and fingers tipped with fearsome scythe-like claws were presumably the primary weapons of megaraptorids. In contrast to almost every other group of medium-sized carnivorous dinosaurs, megaraptorids had elongated snouts with small teeth.

    The abundance of ornithopods in Victoria presumably made this region more suited to smaller prey specialists like megaraptorids, rather than sauropod-stalking carcharodontosaurs.

    Back row: two megaraptor fossils. Front row: the shinbone of a unenlagiine; two shinbones of carcharodontosaurs; the shinbone of a megaraptor.
    Nadir Kinani/Museums Victoria

    More discoveries yet to come

    We have much to learn about Australia’s Cretaceous dinosaurs. Our study shows how even five isolated and incomplete bones can improve our understanding of our continent’s fossil heritage.

    Carcharodontosaurs might have been the apex predators in South America, but megaraptorids ruled the roost in the land down under.

    The fantastic dinosaur fossil record of Victoria has grown over nearly 40 years thanks to the efforts of Dinosaur Dreaming, an ongoing volunteer palaeontology project, and citizen scientists like Melissa Lowery. Thanks to their efforts, our window into Victoria’s ancient past continues to become ever clearer.

    Jake Kotevski receives funding from an Australian Government Research Training Stipend and Monash University – Museums Victoria scholarship.

    Stephen Poropat received funding from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust to observe fossil specimens relevant to this paper.

    – ref. Carnivorous dinosaurs thrived in Australia 120 million years ago, new fossils show – https://theconversation.com/carnivorous-dinosaurs-thrived-in-australia-120-million-years-ago-new-fossils-show-242290

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Deputy ferries commissioner appointed to BC Ferry Commission

    Carol Bellinger has been appointed deputy ferries commissioner of the BC Ferry Commission.

    The commission sets price caps on the maximum allowable annual increase in fares and approves major capital expenditures for BC Ferries.

    Bellringer has been appointed for a six-year term, effective Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, following a competitive and public application process. She is a full-time governance professional who chairs the University of Victoria Foundation board and sits on boards and audit committees of organizations in the energy, transportation and public sectors.  

    Bellringer is retired from a career in auditing, having worked as the president and CEO of the Canadian Audit and Accountability foundation. Her previous experience includes serving the legislature as the auditor general for the provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba.

    The BC Ferry Commission is a quasi-judicial regulatory agency operating under the Coastal Ferry Act, and is independent of the provincial government and BC Ferry Services Inc.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Screening of “American Coup: Wilmington 1898” Explores History of Massacre and Insurrection

    Source: US State of North Carolina

    Headline: Screening of “American Coup: Wilmington 1898” Explores History of Massacre and Insurrection

    Screening of “American Coup: Wilmington 1898” Explores History of Massacre and Insurrection
    jejohnson6

    ELIZABETH CITY

    The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Museum of the Albemarle, and Elizabeth City State University, in partnership with PBS North Carolina and Working Films invite teachers and community members to a free screening of American Coup: Wilmington 1898. The film shares the little-known story of a deadly race massacre and carefully orchestrated insurrection in North Carolina’s largest city, Wilmington, in 1898. The screening is part of a statewide effort to better equip educators to share the story of the massacre, its place in US history, and its lasting impact. The screening will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 5 p.m. in the Gaither Auditorium of the Museum of the Albemarle.

    American Coup: Wilmington 1898 documents this story, which was the only successful coup d’état in the history of the US. Stoking fears of “Negro Rule,” self-described white supremacists used intimidation and violence to destroy Black political and economic power and overthrow Wilmington’s democratically-elected, multi-racial government. Black residents were murdered and thousands were banished. The story of what happened in Wilmington was suppressed for decades until descendants and scholars began to investigate. Today, many of those descendants — Black and white — seek the truth about this intentionally buried history.

    “American Coup: Wilmington 1898 is a cautionary tale about a breakdown of a cornerstone of our democracy: fair and free elections,” says Rachel Raney, PBS North Carolina’s Director of National Productions and co-executive producer of the film. “When we started researching these events in Wilmington, we quickly discovered that many North Carolinians are not aware of this important history, in part because it was intentionally buried. The more we learned, the more it became clear that all Americans need to know what happened.”

    The screening will include North Carolina 2024 Teacher of the Year, Kim Jones, who will speak to available resources for educators to incorporate 1898 into lesson plans. These resources include a curriculum for incorporating the film into the classroom, as well as a virtual “Community of Practice” for continued support and conversations for teachers. This will be a place where teachers can go with questions as they undertake the curriculum.

    A panel discussion and audience Q&A will follow the screening and will include three historians with Elizabeth City State University: Dr. Glen Bowman, Dr. Latif Tarik, and Dr. Tomiko Ballentyne. They will be joined by LeRae Umfleet, a historian and author featured in the film.

    The American Coup: Wilmington 1898 screening and discussion will run from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Teachers and community members are invited to join us at 5 p.m. for refreshments before the event starts. More event details can be found here and more details about the documentary and educational resources can be found here.

    For high-resolution images and additional media assets, visit this link.

    About PBS North Carolina

    As North Carolina’s statewide PBS network serving the country’s third largest public media market, PBS North Carolina educates, informs, entertains and inspires its audience on air, online and in person. Through its unique partnership of public investment and private support, the network includes in-person engagement, digital-first social and online content delivery and four over-the-air channels: PBS NC, the North Carolina Channel, Rootle 24/7 PBS KIDS channel and the Explorer Channel. Its transformational events and content spark curiosity and wonder for all North Carolinians. Additionally, PBS North Carolina serves as the backbone for North Carolina’s state emergency services. To learn more about PBS North Carolina, visit pbsnc.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

    About Working Films

    Founded in 1999, Working Films is a national nonprofit organization based in North Carolina that leverages the power of documentary films to advance social justice and environmental protection. For more information, visit www.workingfilms.org.

    About the Museum of the Albemarle

    The Museum of the Albemarle is located at 501 S. Water Street, Elizabeth City, NC. (252) 335-1453. www.museumofthealbemarle.com. Find us on Facebook! Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed Sundays and State Holidays. Serving Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, and Washington Counties, the museum is the northeast regional history museum of the North Carolina Division of State History Museums within the N.C.

    Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural, and economic future. Information is available 24/7 at www.dncr.nc.gov.   

    About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

    The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) manages, promotes, and enhances the things that people love about North Carolina – its diverse arts and culture, rich history, and spectacular natural areas. Through its programs, the department enhances education, stimulates economic development, improves public health, expands accessibility, and strengthens community resiliency.

    The department manages over 100 locations across the state, including 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, five science museums, four aquariums, 35 state parks, four recreation areas, dozens of state trails and natural areas, the N.C. Zoo, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, the American Indian Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Office of State Archaeology, the Highway Historical Markers program, the N.C. Land and Water Fund, and the Natural Heritage Program. For more information, please visit www.dncr.nc.gov.

    Feb 13, 2025

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Minister’s statement on treaty commissioner appointment

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Christine Boyle, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, has released the following statement on a newly appointed commissioner to the BC Treaty Commission:

    “I wish to congratulate George Abbott on being appointed by the Government of British Columbia to a two-year term at the BC Treaty Commission as the commissioner.

    “In recent years, First Nations, Canada and B.C. have been focused on creating innovative agreements that are strong but flexible, and better suited to addressing the needs of individual Nations.

    “Abbott is a seasoned diplomat who has significant experience of working with First Nations, local governments, labour and business, and has a track record of engaging shoulder to shoulder with First Nations on agreements that advance reconciliation and self-determination to build a stronger province.

    “First elected in 1996, Abbott served with distinction as a member of the legislative assembly for 17 years, including 12 years as a cabinet minister. Over his many years of public service, Abbott led portfolios in Indigenous relations, sustainable resource management, health and education.

    “Throughout his time in elected office, Abbott had many notable achievements, including introducing the historic Haida Gwaii Reconciliation Act in 2010 and working with First Nations leaders to officially name the large area of coastal waters off the southern coast as the Salish Sea. During his role as minister of Aboriginal relations and reconciliation (now the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation), Abbott regularly engaged in the work of the Treaty Commission as the Province’s principal in the tripartite treaty negotiations process.

    “He served as chair for the Institute for Health System Transformation and Sustainability until December 2024. He is the current board chair at Technical Safety BC. He completed his doctorate in political science at the University of Victoria in April 2019.

    “I’d also like to acknowledge and thank Angela Wesley, who is serving her third term as the provincially appointed commissioner, for her important contributions to advancing reconciliation through treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements.

    “Since her initial appointment in December 2018, she has brought her wealth of knowledge and experience to the role of commissioner. Thanks to her years of service to the Treaty Commission, she has helped shape many significant moments in treaty negotiations in B.C., including the initialling of three treaties last summer with K’ómoks, Kitselas and Kitsumkalum First Nations.

    “The success of the treaty negotiations process is possible because of the hard work and dedication of individuals like Angela Wesley, George Abbott and all the other treaty commissioners.

    “I look forward to continuing the work of my predecessors, by working in partnership with the Treaty Commission and alongside my colleagues in the federal government and the First Nations Summit, to support progress in negotiations of modern treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements.”

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Canadian flight attendants are pushing for fair ground pay amid union negotiations

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Kenneth Haggett, Master’s Student, Women and Gender Studies, Saint Mary’s University

    Canadian flight attendants and their union, CUPE’s airline division, have faced chronic workplace issues for the past four decades. Notably, their union has been pushing the federal government and airlines for equitable pay since 2022.

    A key development came in June 2024 when Conservative MP Lianne Rood proposed Bill C-409 to the House of Commons, which would compensate attendants for training and ground time, which includes tasks like aircraft preparation, boarding, deplaning and safety demonstrations.

    However, the Conservative Party of Canada did not consult with CUPE’s airline division in tabling Bill C-409, and CUPE has expressed their uncertainty regarding the Conservative Party’s support.

    In October 2024, NDP MP Bonita Zarrillo tabled Bill C-415, which goes further by requiring attendants to be paid for all hours worked at their full rate of pay. CUPE and the NDP Party have collaborated to push for this bill.

    The issue of unpaid ground time first gained media attention in May 2022 but has been a long-standing concern among flight attendants.

    Industry labour issues

    Flight attendants in Canada work approximately 35 uncompensated hours per month, according to CUPE Airline Division President Wesley Lesosky.

    Attendants are only paid while the aircraft is in the air, meaning ground tasks and delays are unpaid. Flight attendants may work a 10- to 12-hour shift, but only be paid for six to eight hours.

    In the past, attendants were compensated well enough to cover ground duties, but stagnant wages and the current cost-of-living crisis in Canada have left attendants poorly compensated.

    Though the union primarily focuses on organizational inequities resulting in unpaid ground time, flight delays are a major cause of such extended, unpaid hours by prolonging attendants’ duty time.

    While some negotiations have been reported between airlines and the union, such as Air Transat and Air Canada, few deals have been made, leaving flight attendants uncompensated for ground duties.

    Unions mobilize against unpaid ground time

    To call public attention to the issue, the union staged demonstrations in April 2023 and May 2024.

    While the union has sought to avoid taking strike measures — likely due to non-strike provisions in collective agreements — it could legally take job action after March 31 if negotiations fail. Union members could then vote to strike.

    CUPE’s airline division began to renegotiate union agreements with Air Canada in mid-December, ahead of the March 2025 contract expiration. The union’s primary focus is to make better bargains with employers surrounding unpaid ground time. Ideally, new agreements would compensate flight attendants for all hours worked, not simply time spent in the air.

    A Feb. 3 update from the union reveals that, while negotiations are steadily progressing, the process remains lengthy and complex. To strengthen its position, the union has commissioned legal and research professionals to aid in the negotiation of benefits, pensions, wage increases and scheduling changes, among others.

    As sociologists focusing on labour relations, we conducted a literature review on historical trends within the Canadian airline industry, digging deeper into structural issues leading to unpaid ground time.

    Our research has found that the neoliberal shifts of the 1980s are a major determinant of attendants’ deteriorating working conditions. Over time, rising corporate austerity has placed attendants’ wages on the back burner.

    Structural roots of unpaid ground time

    The issue of unpaid ground time is not an isolated issue in the airline industry, but a byproduct of broader economic and labour trends.

    Our findings highlight how neoliberal economic policies — particularly the wave of deregulation and privatization in the 1980s — have strengthened corporate power while weakening unions’ bargaining capacity.

    Founded in 1948, Canada’s first flight attendant union, the Canadian Air Line Flight Attendants’ Association (CALFAA), focused on addressing attendants’ health, safety and wage concerns.

    But with the neoliberal push to deregulate and privatize the industry, CALFAA’s challenges were amplified. In response, CALFAA voted to merge with CUPE — Canada’s leading union — to extend their influence, becoming CUPE’s airline division.

    Yet the growing emphasis on corporate profit continues to erode union power to secure and maintain fair pay and equitable workplace standards. Bargaining processes have become increasingly difficult, with arbitrators often favouring corporate interests.

    State-imposed anti-strike provisions from previous years have curtailed unions’ ability to strike against unfair conditions. Successful airline lobbying has also threatened workplace safety, as indicated in a 2015 case of pilot duty time.

    As airlines continue to compete in a “race to the bottom” to minimize expenses and maximize profit, flight attendants continue to face unpaid labour issues. Federally supported through bailouts and bankruptcy protections, airlines have been pandered to at the expense of airline workers.

    A lack of state and corporate response to the issue at hand indicates the prioritization of austerity over Canadian flight attendants’ financial well-being. Without meaningful policy changes, key issues like unpaid ground time will remain chronically neglected.

    Looking ahead

    Though unpaid ground time is presented as the major issue within the workplace, the extensive, unpaid labour required of flight attendants can lead to poorer mental health, chronic fatigue and other health concerns that pose risks due to their impact on attendants’ ability to perform safety duties.

    With contract negotiations underway, CUPE’s airline division has an opportunity to push for better working conditions and pay structures that reflect all hours worked.

    Canadian airlines must address the issue of unpaid labour and, ultimately, implement more equitable workplace standards for flight attendants.

    Whether airlines and the federal government will indeed act on these demands remains to be seen. Yet the growing pressure from unions and political figures suggests the fight for fair pay is far from over.

    Lauren Cormier, an undergraduate student in sociology at Trent University, co-authored this article.

    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. Canadian flight attendants are pushing for fair ground pay amid union negotiations – https://theconversation.com/canadian-flight-attendants-are-pushing-for-fair-ground-pay-amid-union-negotiations-238959

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Censorship, abortion and the ‘threat within’: what a free speech expert thinks of J.D. Vance’s remarks to Europe

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eric Heinze, Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London

    Donald Trump is famous for his attacks on journalists and the media. He has banned critical reporters from official events, threatened them with lawsuits, and branded mainstream outlets the “enemy of the people”. Since last year, the US has dropped ten notches on the World Press Freedom Index. Now in 55th place, the country trails far behind many European and other democracies.

    It is ironic, then, that vice president J.D. Vance dashed to the Munich Security Conference last week to scold Europeans for their supposed failings on free speech and democracy.

    Speaking to European leaders, Vance fretted: “The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor.” Rather, it is “the threat from within”. This rehashing of tropes about “the enemy within” forms part of a Trumpist vocabulary borrowed from the most sinister 20th century autocracies.

    One of Vance’s key claims for the decline of free speech in Europe left many UK observers dumbfounded. He rebuked the Scottish government for sending out letters in October 2024 cautioning citizens that, in his words, “even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law”.

    Vance was referring to Scotland’s Safe Access Zones Act, which prohibits protesters from gathering within 200 metres of clinics that perform abortions. Yet his accusation teaches volumes about Trumpism. To call it distorted would be diplomatic: it is a bold-faced lie. The Scottish government has confirmed that letters sent to residents near safe access zones did not instruct people to stop praying in the privacy of their homes.

    However, the letters did advise against conduct such as displaying anti-abortion posters or banners, or protesting on their property in ways that might be seen or heard within proximity of the clinics, or might encourage such activity in those areas.

    The Scottish law echoes similar laws in other democracies, including several US states. Yes, the right to protest is essential to democratic societies, but these societies have always accepted that protesters must not harass or threaten citizens going about their everyday business, let alone when seeking essential services such as medical appointments.

    Admittedly, “buffer zones” around abortion clinics cannot and need not extend so far as to impede protesters’ freedoms of expression, so a debate about the precise reach of the Scottish law can and should take place. However, as observed in England and Wales, zones have not generally been drawn with excessively broad perimeters.

    Clearly, Vance’s eyes were more fixed on his own future presidential bid, playing more to religious fundamentalists back home than to anyone who might seriously care about free expression. His 18-minute speech invoked God three times, and “prayer” nine times, while saying nothing about the main issue for which delegates had gathered: Russia’s unprovoked onslaught on Ukraine.

    Curiously, Vance whispered not a word of criticism about UK government crackdowns on the kinds of protests that, in the US, Trump most fears, such as protests against specific government policies and practices.

    I should not have to point out that anti-abortionists in Scotland remain entirely free to proclaim their opinions, in public and in print, alongside countless other types of political expression. Such expression has long been recognised as protected under UK law, and enshrined in the Human Rights Act.

    The only impact of Scotland’s new law is to prevent residents living within 200 metres of such clinics from displaying placards or holding events that would target women visiting such facilities. Admittedly, someone “only standing and praying” nearby a clinic may present a borderline case – but well within bounds that can be assessed through our democratic processes, the very processes that Trump loyalists increasingly disdain.

    We can debate the rights and wrongs of the Scottish law, but any suggestion that it seriously abridges free speech – when compared to the kinds of incursions Trump himself wages – would be farcical.

    Admittedly, while Scotland rightly protects its medical facilities, some people will ask whether a law can legitimately reach so far as to regulate the opinions that people wish to display in their windows and gardens. In recent years, many UK homes have flown Ukrainian or Palestinian flags from their homes, which some neighbours may find inappropriate. Yet British law protects their rights to do so.

    Clearly then, we can have meaningful debates about how far free expression in the home extends, but nothing in what Trump officials have said or done on their home turf suggests that this is their real concern.

    Free speech in retreat?

    As it happens, Vance was not totally wrong when he mused: “In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.” For years, Hungarians have faced relentless attacks on free speech under Viktor Orbán – the autocrat whom Trump followers, including Vance himself, have so often praised.

    On several occasions in The Conversation and elsewhere, I have advocated free speech and I have every intention to continue doing so. I am also willing to concede that, despite Trump’s compulsive attacks on free speech, his supporters have raised some valid concerns about the stifling of opinion on the left.

    Abortion exemplifies the type of issue that sparks widespread ethical controversies. Any democracy must ensure that speakers on all sides have safe means of expressing their views in the public arena. Everyone in today’s democracies could use a few lessons in free speech – and the Trump team tops the list.

    Eric Heinze has received past funding from the European Union.

    – ref. Censorship, abortion and the ‘threat within’: what a free speech expert thinks of J.D. Vance’s remarks to Europe – https://theconversation.com/censorship-abortion-and-the-threat-within-what-a-free-speech-expert-thinks-of-j-d-vances-remarks-to-europe-250188

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trust in politics is in long-term decline around the world – new research

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Viktor Valgarðsson, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Southampton

    Pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol building to protest against the result of the 2020 presidential election. 72westy / Shutterstock

    Citizens’ trust in their political institutions has been falling around the world. This may not come as a shock to many.

    British politics has been in chaos since the Brexit referendum in 2016. Rioters stormed the US Capitol in protest against the result of the 2020 presidential election. And the US president, Donald Trump, is continuing to attack the supposed “deep-state” controlling American politics. None of these things scream public trust in government.

    But declining political trust is not self-evident. It’s possible that we may be too focused on a couple of countries that dominate our attention, and a lot has been going on in recent years that could explain the situation that we find ourselves in.

    Many researchers have also pointed out that people have never been particularly fond of politics. They suggest that we’ve simply been seeing “trendless fluctuations” in trust – ebbs and flows where we happen to notice declines more than rises or stability.

    In a recently published study, my co-authors and I took on this debate. We analysed more data on political trust than previous studies, from over 5 million respondents to 3,377 surveys conducted in 143 countries between 1958 and 2019.

    Our models suggest that, at least since 1990, trust in parliament and government has indeed been declining by an average of about 8.4 and 7.3 percentage points respectively in democratic countries across the world.

    The same does not apply to trust in non-representative “implementing institutions”, such as the civil service, justice system or police. In fact, we find that trust in the police has increased by about 12.5 percentage points across democracies on average over the same period.

    Thus, declining trust in government appears to be rooted in how politics is practised, which is seemingly less inspiring to citizens today, rather than in a growing distaste for social institutions in general.

    Global trends in trust in six types of institutions in democratic countries between 1990 and 2019.
    Valgarðsson et al. (2025) / British Journal of Political Science, CC BY-NC-ND

    Of course, this global picture masks a more nuanced story. Political trust has been rising in a few smaller countries: Denmark, Ecuador, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. These nations may chart a path forward for the rest of the democratic world.

    Conversely, trust in the legal system has been declining in many countries in eastern Europe and Latin America. The same appears to be the case more recently in the US, suggesting that implementing institutions are not immune to the political trust crisis.

    Our findings do not answer why citizens of democracies are gradually losing faith in their democratic institutions, or what the consequences could be. They also do not suggest how trust in politics can be rebuilt. But what we do know is concerning.

    For instance, our data tells us that political trust was declining dramatically in Hungary right up until 2010, when Viktor Orbán was re-elected as prime minister (his first term ended in 2002). When in office, Orbán started dismantling the country’s constitutional and liberal democratic order.

    Trust in parliament, the legal system and the police in western Europe and North America.
    Valgarðsson et al. (2025) / British Journal of Political Science, CC BY-NC-ND

    We also know that the US has seen one of the more dramatic declines of political trust in recent times, and that political distrust was a powerful predictor of voting for Trump at least in the 2016 Republican primaries.

    In a survey conducted that year by American National Election Studies, about 24% of Trump’s primary voters said they would “never” trust the federal government to do what is right. This compared with about 9% of voters for rival Republican candidate John Kasich, and 8% and 4% of voters for Democrat candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton respectively.

    We do not yet have data for the 2024 US presidential election. But it does not take a political scientist to know that Trump leaned even more heavily on people’s distrust in government in his campaign. Since becoming president, he has stepped up his efforts to dismantle America’s constitutional and liberal democratic order.

    Declining political trust is not the only cause of these developments. We are also seeing illiberal candidates and parties doing increasingly well in countries where we didn’t see the same trust declines in our data. The rising popularity of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands or the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in Germany are both good examples.

    Some of this may be driven partly by more recent trust declines, like in the Netherlands where trust in parliament has dropped substantially since 2020. Or it could be driven by a polarisation of trust between a more trusting majority and a deeply distrusting minority. But much of it is also probably driven by other factors, such as economic distress, attitudes towards immigration and the “culture wars” of our day.

    It stands to reason that voters who deeply distrust the political establishment would tend to be attracted to populist leaders who rail against that establishment.

    These voters probably still support democracy as an ideal. Support for democratic principles has, in fact, remained high globally – although there are worrying signs among younger generations in US and UK. But these voters appear to be more willing to vote for politicians who will attack the institutions needed to make it work.

    Sceptical mistrust of government

    This brings us to one crucial question: are citizens right to distrust government? After all, political institutions haven’t been working all that well for a large portion of citizens – except maybe in areas like Scandinavia, where we have seen rising trust in recent times.

    A degree of sceptical mistrust of government is certainly vital for a healthy democracy. We are reminded of this by some of the more sobering points in our data.

    China has the highest rates of reported trust in the world, while Hungary and Russia have both seen rising trust levels as their governments have become less democratic and seized control of the media environment. Clearly, trust is not unequivocally good from a democratic perspective.

    Our challenge is to find the right balance: a climate of sceptical trust, where we hold our governments to account and engage critically with our institutions without throwing them away in favour of autocratic populists.

    To save the foundations of liberal democracy, we may need to rediscover its appeal to the ordinary citizen. If it’s something about the way politics is practised that citizens distrust, perhaps those politics need to change.

    Viktor Valgarðsson 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. Trust in politics is in long-term decline around the world – new research – https://theconversation.com/trust-in-politics-is-in-long-term-decline-around-the-world-new-research-250078

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How refugee entrepreneurs are supplying sustainable energy to the camps they live in

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen, Research Advisor on Humanitarian Energy, University of Oxford

    Refugees are providing energy within camps home to millions of displaced people around the world, my research has found.

    There are now more than 120 million forcibly displaced people globally. Although United Nations humanitarian agencies provide firewood and small electric lanterns, these are often not enough for most families.

    To make up the shortfall, entrepreneurial refugees in the camps I visited have become energy suppliers by establishing shops, phone charging stations, even cinemas.

    While visiting camps administered by the UN Refugee Agency in Rwanda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and other countries across Africa, I was struck by the hum of electricity and the smell of cooking in the camps’ markets. Energy was everywhere.

    A mobile phone and electronics market shop at the Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya.
    Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen, CC BY-NC-ND

    In all the camps I visited, people were selling clothes, cooking bowls and toys, as well as lighting and electrical appliances. These shops all used energy – computers totted up bills and printed receipts, radios played music, and people everywhere were using mobile phones and the internet. Fans and motors were working hard to keep things cool and the power on. Refugees buy these products at local markets – which are often run by refugees themselves.

    After conducting over 170 interviews with refugees and humanitarian practitioners, it became clear refugees buy their own energy to run many of these cafes and shops: buying their own diesel, generators, or electricity technologies including solar panels and batteries.

    Formal refugee energy access provided by humanitarian agencies or national governments is projected to be very low: Chatham House statistics suggest 94% of forcibly displaced people living in camps have no meaningful access to power, and 81% lack anything other than the most basic fuels for cooking.

    Renewable connections

    Local energy businesses operating around the camps in Rwanda and Kenya, such as BBOX or MESH Power, provide solar solutions such as selling solar panels and solar home systems from which refugees can have lighting, charge their phones and plug in electrical appliances. These renewable systems help to lower the costs – but sometimes the companies are not able to expand their businesses within refugee camps due to UN restrictions.

    As one of the refugees I spoke to in Rwanda explained: “You can see two types of solar business really. Those using energy that is easy to get to – off-the-shelf products and services – to keep the lights on in the night, or offer cool drinks or a fan. And those businesses where really energy is the business … where people can use solar home systems or other technologies.”

    Sadly, this picture is not uniform across the world. For example, buying diesel in refugee camps or purchasing kerosene for lanterns can be very expensive. Spending by displaced people on simple cooking fuels and technologies, as well as basic lighting, is estimated to be around US$200 (£160) per year per family, for less than four hours of energy a day.

    Buying from external energy suppliers often comes at great cost to refugee families as energy in refugee camps can be incredibly expensive. Estimates suggest that refugee households in Kenya and Burkina Faso spend between 15% and 30% of their income on energy – a figure that in the UK would mean a household was in a situation of extreme fuel poverty.

    In total, refugee households around the world spend at least US$2.1 billion (£1.68 billion) on energy each year.

    Refugee-led businesses

    In the face of such challenges, refugee energy entrepreneurs are expanding the range of energy services and products available to refugee communities in terms of sustainability: providing new solar solutions and electricity connections from solar-powered energy sources. For members of the refugee community who use this service, this can reduce the cost of energy.

    These refugee-led enterprises often start after refugees have saved or borrowed money from friends and family to start their energy businesses – for example, by buying a solar panel and battery and charging customers to use the electricity it generates. Sometimes referred to as micro-enterprises or energy entrepreneurs, they go beyond being passive users of electricity and become active participants in the energy economies of refugee camps.

    Examples of such businesses include Kakuma Ventures, based in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, which provides wifi and solar energy access to more than 1,500 people in the camps.

    A grid pylon next to refugee homes at Kigeme refugee camp, Rwanda.
    Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen, CC BY-NC-ND

    Another example is Patapia, based in camps in Uganda, which helps refugee women launch and grow businesses powered by clean energy. Successful refugee-led energy businesses are highlighted by the work of climate change charity Ashden through its Humanitarian Energy Award, and its support for local businesses leading the way on sustainable energy in humanitarian settings.

    Indeed, many new global initiatives and humanitarian programmes are starting to take seriously the role of refugee-led organisations and businesses. Take the work of Last Mile Climate, which is dedicated to helping grassroots initiatives, refugee-led businesses, charities, humanitarian agencies and government organisations tackle climate-related challenges.

    Refugees are also writing on this issue in the media, highlighting how important the issue of inclusivity is in delivering the sustainable energy transition in humanitarian contexts.

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

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

    Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen received funding from the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF)

    – ref. How refugee entrepreneurs are supplying sustainable energy to the camps they live in – https://theconversation.com/how-refugee-entrepreneurs-are-supplying-sustainable-energy-to-the-camps-they-live-in-242862

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Expanding seaweed farms pose a risk to vital marine life

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Benjamin L.H. Jones, Chief Conservation Officer, Project Seagrass & Research Affiliate, Swansea University

    Seaweeds are commonly grown from long lines of rope. This string of _Eucheuma_ seaweed in Indonesia is positioned above a seagrass meadow. Benjamin Jones/Project Seagrass, CC BY

    Seaweed farming is a rapidly expanding global industry. As a food resource, it has high nutritional value and doesn’t need fertilisers to grow. Seaweed provides valuable habitats for marine life, takes up carbon and absorbs nutrients, plus it helps protect our coastlines from erosion.

    Usually, seaweeds grow on hard, rocky surfaces. Yet, to farm seaweed, potential areas need to be easily accessible and relatively sheltered. This is where seaweed can grow with limited risk of being dislodged by waves. Seaweed farms in Asia, in countries like China and Indonesia, are responsible for more than 95% of global seaweed production. Seaweed farms, particularly those in Southeast Asia, are commonly in the very same environments where seagrass meadows thrive. Competition for resources ensues.

    Evidence shows that tropical seaweed farms, when placed in or on top of tropical seagrass meadows leads to a decline in the growth and productivity of seagrass. There is also evidence that seaweeds outcompete seagrasses in cooler waters, especially when nutrients in the water are very high.

    Despite negative interactions, such as shading, between seaweed and seagrass, some scientists now advocate for a global expansion of seaweed farming in areas where seagrass grows. This call, comes at a time when seagrass global initiatives are trying to stem seagrass loss.

    Efforts are underway to expand these habitats to their once extensive range to help fight climate change and biodiversity loss. Seagrass meadows are a crucial store of carbon, providing habitats for a wide array of animals.

    Why farm seaweed on top of seagrass?

    The reason that some scientists are advocating for farming seaweed in seagrass is that their research claims that the presence of seagrass reduces disease causing bacterial pathogens by 75%. A major win for a relatively low tech industry where seaweed disease outbreaks hinder production. These scientists are not the only ones advocating for seaweed production at scale.

    Global conservation charities, like World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy, as well as the Earthshot prize launched by Prince William all support seaweed cultivation programmes in areas likely to contain abundant seagrass.

    However, together with other scientists, we have argued in an academic response in the journal PNAS that their claim is premature. We are concerned that, without appropriate management, these seaweed programmes threaten marine biodiversity and the benefits that humans get from the ocean.

    Despite historic and globally widespread seaweed cultivation, effects on seagrass have mostly been ignored. Where studies exist, effects have been negative for seagrass, its ability to capture carbon, and the diverse animals that call it home.

    Entanglement of migratory animals, such as turtles and dugong with seaweed also needs wider consideration. This is especially the case given new legal frameworks to protect their habitat, and there is ongoing concern for these species being killed by seaweed farmers. The equity of coastal fishing grounds also comes into question, as communities that use seagrass for fishing are most likely to lose access.

    Conservation charities advocate for tropical seaweed farms for good reason. This is to improve community resilience in the face of degrading coral reefs and overfishing.

    While projects mostly have the best intentions, they often don’t consider cascading unintended consequences, nor the equity of the whole community. In reality, seaweed farm placement is effectively akin to ocean grabbing (the act of dispossession or appropriation of marine resources or spaces) with farmers winning on a “first come, first serve” basis, despite not owning the seabed.

    Sustainable standards

    If seaweed farming is to be expanded, standards for sustainability must be upheld and strengthened. In 2017, a sustainable seaweed standard was launched by the Aquaculture and Marine Stewardship Councils.

    But few tropical seaweed farms meet the criteria outlined in this standard due to known consequences that affect seagrass (rightly defined in the standard as vulnerable marine habitats) and likely negative effects on endangered species, like dugong, that frequent seagrass habitats.

    Seaweed cultivation strategies have mixed evidence for long-term success. In Tanzania, many farmers have abandoned the industry due to low monetary rewards compared to the investments they put in, and some evidence suggests that the activity reduces income and health, particularly for women. Where seaweed cultivation has been implemented to reduce fishing pressure, it has instead increased (and often just displaced) fishing activity.

    Given the rapidly increasing threats faced by tropical marine habitats despite the role they play in climate resilience, understanding trade-offs prior to large scale expansion of seaweed farming is a priority. To reduce further any negative effects, international programmes and research advocating for large-scale seaweed farms need to align more readily with the seaweed standard.

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

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

    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. Expanding seaweed farms pose a risk to vital marine life – https://theconversation.com/expanding-seaweed-farms-pose-a-risk-to-vital-marine-life-248329

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ne Zha 2: the record-breaking Chinese animated film showcases China’s ambition on the global stage

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ming Gao, Research Scholar of East Asia Studies in History Division, Lund University

    Ne Zha is a legendary child warrior from Chinese mythology, often depicted as a rebellious deity who defies fate to carve out his own destiny. Born as a demon, feared for his supernatural powers and doomed to live only three years, he struggles to overcome his destiny and forge his own path.

    A new Chinese film about the warrior has broken several box office records, including becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time (beating Pixar’s Inside Out 2).

    Ne Zha 2 is a Chinese animated fantasy adventure film. That it is breaking so many records might seem surprising. It’s a sequel to a film that didn’t do as well, it’s not American and it’s not in English. But its record-breaking run seems to show no signs of slowing down. After debuting during the Chinese Lunar New Year, its success has seen it premiere abroad in regions such as wider Asia, North America and Australia.

    For years, Hollywood has dominated China’s box offices, but the release of Ne Zha 2 marks a significant milestone in China’s cinematic and cultural expansion. Its unprecedented box office performance seems to signal a shifting dynamic in the global film industry.

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    It showcases China’s ambition and ability to produce world-class content that competes with western animation giants, like Disney and Pixar. It also plays a role in enhancing cultural confidence and soft power projection, which President Xi Jinping has emphasised for years.

    Capturing a feeling

    The story of Ne Zha, and its many adaptations, have long captivated Chinese people of all ages – including me. I fondly recall watching the 1979 version on a black-and-white TV with my family when I was little. The story originates from the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644) novel Fengshen Yanyi (Investiture of the Gods) and over the centuries, it has been reinterpreted in various cultural forms of religion and literature.

    The original plotline of Ne Zha revolves around his rebellion against feudal patriarchal authority. This struggle is set against a backdrop of familial conflicts and even attempted patricide. In contrast, today’s reinterpretation recasts this mythological unruly child as a dutiful deity who fights for his clan’s interests by forging alliances, confronting rival factions and challenging the existing order.

    Ne Zha 2 trailer.

    As a commercial film, it has astutely tapped into the emotional needs of contemporary Chinese audiences in a society facing various challenges, such as economic downturn and rising unemployment. Themes of familial love and supportive parenting have struck a deep chord with Chinese audiences, offering both cultural and sentimental reassurance in uncertain times.

    Another clear resonance with domestic audiences lies in the themes of Chinese technological success and cultural excellence. This has cultivated a strong sense of cultural identity and national pride among Chinese people.

    In China, no words currently seem to better capture the feelings after watching the movie than “pride” and a sense of patriotism – both for the film’s visually striking animation techniques and for its depiction of China’s rich cultural traditions. However, the film needs to be understood within the broader contexts of China’s domestic landscape and its evolving position on the global stage.

    ‘Cultural confidence’

    Beyond entertainment, Ne Zha 2’s success fits within President Xi Jinping’s ideas on “cultural confidence,” which can be succinctly defined as a nation’s firm belief in the strength and vitality of its own culture. Since the film’s record-breaking performance, state media and various state-owned outlets have been actively echoing this narrative.

    People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, equates Ne Zha to China’s cultural confidence as a means to expand soft power and navigate uncharted territory. This emphasis on cultural confidence, however, is not merely state-driven.

    Ne Zha.
    Enlight Pictures

    The film’s director, Jiao Zi, has expressed his confidence in China’s traditional culture, stating: “China’s stories don’t need to deliberately cater to the west.” Instead, he believes that traditional Chinese culture is a vast treasure trove of inspiration, which is interesting to all.

    Indeed, Ne Zha is not an isolated success in drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese culture. Last year’s Black Myth: Wukong, a record-breaking gaming blockbuster, gained global attention at the 2024 Game Awards (the Oscars of the video games industry). Like Ne Zha, it’s based on another legendary 16th-century Chinese novel Xiyouji (Journey to the West). China’s official news agency, Xinhua, characterised the enduring popularity of these ancient tales as “part of a broader cultural renaissance”.

    Ne Zha’s success is emerging as a key example of China’s growing cultural identity, aligning with the cultural confidence discourse. A foreign ministry spokesperson has described Ne Zha as “a new bridge for exchanges” and “a fresh window for the world to see China”.

    Whether Ne Zha 2 achieves lasting international success remains to be seen. But one thing is clear – Chinese animation is no longer just for domestic audiences. The film’s popularity reflects China’s broader ambitions to expand its soft power alongside its growing economic and strategic influence.

    Ming Gao receives funding from the Swedish Research Council. This research was produced with support from the Swedish Research Council grant “Moved Apart” (nr. 2022-01864). Ming Gao is a member of Lund University Profile Area: Human Rights.

    – ref. Ne Zha 2: the record-breaking Chinese animated film showcases China’s ambition on the global stage – https://theconversation.com/ne-zha-2-the-record-breaking-chinese-animated-film-showcases-chinas-ambition-on-the-global-stage-249899

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Bilingual children with special educational needs may be missing out on support in England

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Johny Daniel, Assistant Professor, School of Education, Durham University

    Rido/Shutterstock

    English isn’t the first language of over 20% of pupils in schools in England, and this proportion is rising. The children in this group who also have special educational needs or disabilities may be falling through the cracks, missing out on support that would help them succeed.

    My recent research analysed data from 2.5 million English primary school pupils. The findings show that bilingual learners with special educational needs especially struggle with reading. They trail behind both their peers without special educational needs, and other children with special educational needs who speak English as their first language.

    When a pupil has a special educational need such as specific learning difficulties or autism, their language hurdles can make it harder to see the real cause of their challenges. Sometimes, a child’s limited English masks a disability. Other times, disabilities may be confused with language problems. This confusion can delay the help they need.

    Reading is particularly a problem because strong vocabulary and language-processing skills are needed, and the extra task of learning English can slow them down in this area. Maths may rely less on advanced English, so the gap is often smaller in that subject.

    Research suggests that if bilingual pupils with special educational needs get strong support in the early years, they can catch up significantly.

    The right support

    One useful method is data-based decision-making. This means teachers and special needs coordinators regularly track progress in reading, writing or maths. For example, teachers might assess oral reading fluency or brief writing samples to measure progress. By spotting which pupils are falling behind, they can provide small-group tutoring, phonics help or targeted vocabulary lessons.

    Pupils also benefit from clear, structured lessons that focus on reading and writing. They may also need extra time to practise and may learn better if the same vocabulary is taught in different ways, such as through games or acting.

    In addition, research shows that when teachers use examples or stories that reflect different languages and cultures, pupils stay more engaged. This “culturally responsive” teaching boosts children’s language skills.

    Relating lessons to a child’s experiences can help keep them engaged.
    Ground Picture/Shutterstock

    For example, a case study on culturally responsive teaching for bilingual learners with disabilities has shown that connecting lessons to students’ own cultural and linguistic backgrounds can boost both their language skills and their reading comprehension.

    The teacher in the study combined explicit instruction – such as teaching vocabulary or grammar – with discussions in small groups that drew on experiences from the students’ own lives. Her pupils saw significant improvements in literacy that underscores how culturally responsive methods can help bilingual children succeed.

    Room for improvement

    Another way to improve the situation for these children would be better assessments of whether they need additional support.

    My research with colleagues has found that most bilingual pupils in England are not assessed for dyslexia in their first language, which can mask their true skills and needs. If schools allow pupils to be tested in their home language, or at least use bilingual materials, they can get a clearer picture of each pupil’s progress.

    Funding for specialised training is also needed. Schools need resources to hire or develop experts who understand both language learning and disabilities. Educational psychologists, for instance, or English-as-a-second-language teachers with expertise in special educational needs, can provide this much needed support.

    Ofsted inspectors should also check how schools use regular progress monitoring data to adjust teaching for bilingual pupils with special educational needs. If data use becomes a core part of good practice, more schools may be inspired to invest in it.

    The evidence shows many bilingual learners with special educational needs can catch up, or even surpass their peers, if they receive the right support early on. Yet too often, these children are seen only as “language learners,” with their disabilities overlooked, or they are treated as having a disability, while their language needs get ignored.

    We already know strategies that work. By using detailed progress tracking, culturally responsive teaching, and targeted language instruction, schools can close the gap and make sure bilingual pupils with special educational needs and disabilities do not fall behind.

    Johny Daniel 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. Bilingual children with special educational needs may be missing out on support in England – https://theconversation.com/bilingual-children-with-special-educational-needs-may-be-missing-out-on-support-in-england-246822

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How satellites revolutionised climate change science

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Will de Freitas, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition

    aappp / shutterstock

    Until relatively recently, humans were limited by the horizon. Climate scientists of the early 20th century could gather data from the world around them and perhaps what they were able to see from a hot air balloon or plane. But the really big picture – the global snapshot – remained out of sight.

    This roundup of The Conversation’s climate coverage comes from our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed.

    The first satellite of any kind was the USSR’s Sputnik 1, launched in 1957. But it wasn’t until the 1960s that satellites designed specifically to observe the Earth and its climate made it into orbit and gave us the first overview of weather patterns. By the 1970s Nasa’s Landsat satellites were able to monitor things like tree cover.

    Jonathan Bamber, a climate scientist at the University of Bristol, says this “revolutionised our ability to carry out a comprehensive and timely health check on the planetary systems we rely on for our survival”. Data that once required months or even years of fieldwork was suddenly available in the time it took a satellite to orbit the planet.

    These days, this data can be remarkably precise and detailed. Bamber says: “We can measure changes in sea level down to a single millimetre, changes in how much water is stored in underground rocks, the temperature of the land and ocean and the spread of atmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gases, all from space.”

    Here’s a map of sea level rise, from Bamber’s article highlighting five satellite images that show how fast our planet is changing:

    The sea is rising quickly – but not evenly.
    ESA/CLS/LEGOS, CC BY-SA

    “This image,” writes Bamber, “shows mean sea level trends over 13 years in which the global average rise was about 3.2mm a year. But the rate was three or four times faster in some places, like the south western Pacific to the east of Indonesia and New Zealand, where there are numerous small islands and atolls that are already very vulnerable to sea level rise.”



    Read more:
    Five satellite images that show how fast our planet is changing

    In recent years, scientists have used AI to sift through and analyse satellite data. Bamber’s latest research, published in January this year, illustrates this nicely.

    A team of scientists, lead by Tian Li also of the University of Bristol, gathered millions of satellite images of glaciers in Svalbard, a remote and icy archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. In their write up, they note that human researchers once painstakingly looked through this sort of data.

    “This process”, they write, “is highly labour-intensive, inefficient and particularly unreproducible as different people can spot different things even in the same satellite image. Given the number of satellite images available nowadays, we may not have the human resources to map every region for every year.”

    Their solution was to use AI to “quickly identify glacier patterns across large areas”. The satellite-AI combo meant they could examine Svalbard’s retreating glaciers – surely among the least accessible places on the planet – in “unprecedented scale and scope”.

    They found that 91% of the many glaciers that flow into the sea around the archipelago have been “shrinking significantly”. They note that the same types of glacier can be found across the Arctic, and “what happens to glaciers in Svalbard is likely to be repeated elsewhere”.



    Read more:
    We built an AI model that analysed millions of images of retreating glaciers – what it found is alarming

    Many of those glaciers can be found in Greenland, home of the northern hemisphere’s largest ice sheet. In research published earlier this month, Tom Chudley of Durham University used satellite images to assess crevasses (cracks in the glaciers) in Greenland.

    A large glacier in west Greenland flows into the sea. That iceberg filled fjord is several miles wide.
    Copernicus Sentinel / lavizzara / shutterstock

    Chudley also combined satellite images with computerised analysis. His work made use of “ArcticDEM”, three dimensional maps of the polar regions based on high resolution satellite images.

    “By applying image-processing techniques to over 8,000 maps, we could estimate how much water, snow or air would be needed to “fill” each crevasse across the ice sheet. This enabled us to calculate their depth and volume, and examine how they evolved.“

    His conclusion was very blunt: the Greenland ice sheet is falling apart.



    Read more:
    The Greenland ice sheet is falling apart – new study

    Health watchdogs

    Many of you will be well aware that satellites are being used to monitor the health of the planet. What’s less well known is the role they can play in monitoring human health.

    Dhritiraj Sengupta, a satellite scientist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, says satellites have become Earth’s new health and nature watchdog. His article details how satellites can map mosquito breeding sites to combat malaria, for instance, or can identify air pollution hotspots in cities.

    In his own research, he’s used satellite-derived chlorophyll data to assess the risk of cholera. Chlorophyll is the green pigment in plants that helps them use sunlight to make their food and grow.

    “Many bacteria like Vibrio cholerae which causes cholera, thrive in stagnant water,” Sengupta writes. “My team worked with the European Space Agency to show that its presence can be modelled using the concentration of chlorophyll found on the surface of bodies of water.”



    Read more:
    How satellites have become Earth’s new health and nature watchdogs

    So far, so good. Satellites have undeniably been useful for climate scientists. But in the longer-term, the satellites themselves may have an unforeseen effect on the climate.

    Last year, SpaceX announced it would “deorbit” 100 of its Starlink satellites to burn up in the atmosphere. Fionagh Thomson is a space expert, also at Durham University. She says that “atmospheric scientists are increasingly concerned that this sort of apparent fly-tipping by the space sector will cause further climate change down on Earth.”

    Particles from the satellites themselves won’t have a huge effect compared to the “440 tonnes of meteoroids that enter the atmosphere daily, along with volcanic ash and human-made pollution from industrial processes on Earth.”

    But one team “recently, and unexpectedly, found potential ozone-depleting metals from spacecraft in the stratosphere, the atmospheric layer where the ozone layer is formed.” The worry is that satellite debris may help form certain types of clouds that lead to ozone loss and may add to the greenhouse effect.

    She notes that this is all uncertain and needs more research. “But,” she writes, “we’ve also learnt that if we wait until indisputable evidence is available, it may be too late, as with the loss of ozone. It’s a constant dilemma.”

    Something for SpaceX scientists to look into, perhaps, once they’ve finished rescuing stranded astronauts from the International Space Station.



    Read more:
    Satellites are burning up in the upper atmosphere – and we still don’t know what impact this will have on the Earth’s climate

    – ref. How satellites revolutionised climate change science – https://theconversation.com/how-satellites-revolutionised-climate-change-science-250312

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to the sinkhole in Surrey

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Scientists comment on the sinkhole that has appeared in Surrey. 

    Dr Collins, Deputy Dean, College of Engineering, Design & Physical Sciences and Reader in Geology & Geotechnical Engineering, Brunel University of London, said:

    “The term ‘sinkhole’ is often reserved for naturally formed features, though the fundamental processes and end results are similar. In this case, the cause of the visible holes appears to be the washout of soil from beneath the road as a result of a burst water mains. This burst would have pumped a large volume of water into the soil in a short period of time, overcoming its strength and turning it to a slurry which was then washed away. It isn’t clear where the soil went yet, but it is likely to have gone into the sewers, which may cause problems elsewhere.

    “One of the contributing factors is the local geology, which is sand, and the former land use which is a sand quarry that was located immediately to the west of the sinkhole. Sand can be strong when compacted as the particles are packed together, but weak when it becomes wet, and particularly if there is a lot of water under pressure.

    “The area near the sinkhole has been developed over the last few decades and some of the properties look quite new. Normally, the ground would have been investigated before any construction. This might have involved shallow trial pits or boreholes. The local geology would possibly have been seen as fairly stable and low risk, and the buildings are not large so the amount of investigation could have been limited. Geotechnical engineers looking at the site would have been primarily concerned with soil strength and drainage and, perhaps quite reasonably, are unlikely to have considered the ‘lateral blast’ effect of a burst high pressure water main.

    “What is currently unclear is why the mains pipe ruptured. One possibility is soil movement that caused the pipe to deform. Interestingly, an ‘Entrance to Subterranean Sand Pit’ is marked very close to the position of the sinkhole on the 1868-9 Ordnance Survey map and, while this has been infilled, its may have left a legacy of deeper, weaker soil. There are some clay-rich layers in the local sands that could heave and shrink over time. An alternative is that there was a structural failure in the pipe or a nearby sewer.

    “The pipe rupture does highlight the challenge that comes with having buried infrastructure as they are often buried at depths in excess of a metre. The depth is to reduce the impact of deep freeze during a very cold winter and the place the pipe below the soil most exposed to seasonal changes in moisture content. Unfortunately, this makes them hard to monitor and repairs can be difficult, including the replacement of soil in the excavated hole once the repair is complete.

    “Hopefully, in this case, the extent of the damage is limited to the areas that have already collapsed and the foundations of the adjacent properties have not been affected. Repairing the collapse hole might not be straightforward as the ground is currently saturated and will need to drain. There will need to be ground investigations to see if the hole extends further under the road and buildings. Ultimately, it may be filled with processed sand that would need to be artificially compacted or with concrete.”

    Declared interests

    No reply to our request for DOIs was received.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Media Advisory: Baltimore City District Court Re-Entry Project celebrates 11th graduation

    Source: US State of Maryland

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    February 19, 2025

    Government Relations and Public Affairs
    187 Harry S. Truman Parkway
    Annapolis, Maryland 21401

    Media Advisory:
    Baltimore City District Court Re-Entry Project celebrates 11th graduation 
    Retired Baltimore Ravens running back Obafemi Ayanbadejo to serve as the keynote speaker

    On Friday, February 21, 2025, 16 graduates of the Baltimore City District Court Re-Entry Project (DCREP) will be recognized for their successful completion of the program. Baltimore City District Court Judge Nicole Pastore presides and founded DCREP in 2016 as a court-focused, criminal recidivism initiative offering defendants an opportunity to participate in full-time job training and job placement programs as a condition of their probation or in lieu of incarceration. To date, approximately 250 participants have completed the program. The DCREP graduates will be joined by family, friends, judges, and prosecutors who celebrate their achievement.

    In addition, retired Baltimore Ravens running back and 2000 Super Bowl XXXV Champion Obafemi Ayanbadejo will serve as the keynote speaker. Ayanbadejo played for the National Football League (NFL) and United Football League (UFL) on multiple teams, including the Baltimore Ravens (1999–2002), Miami Dolphins (2003), Arizona Cardinals (2004–2007), Chicago Bears (2007), and the UFL’s California Redwoods (2009). He played college football at San Diego State and later earned Master of Business Administration from the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University.

    WHAT: Baltimore City District Court Re-Entry Project’s 11th graduation ceremony
    WHEN: Friday, February 21, 2025, 11 a.m.
    WHERE: District Court in Baltimore City
    Eastside District Court Building, Courtroom 7
    1400 E. North Avenue
    Baltimore, MD 21213
    WHO: District Court of Maryland Chief Judge John P. Morrissey
    Baltimore City District Court Administrative Judge Geoffrey G. Hengerer
    Baltimore City District Court Judge Nicole Pastore, presiding
    Baltimore Ravens player Obafemi Ayanbadejo, keynote speaker
    Baltimore City District Court Re-Entry Project graduates

    NOTE: Please contact the Maryland Judiciary, Government Relations and Public Affairs, by email at [email protected] or 410-260-1488, if you plan to attend or have questions about the event. Cameras will not be allowed in the courtroom during the graduation ceremony; however, members of the media may conduct on-camera interviews in the hallway outside of the courtroom. Judge Pastore will be available for interviews before or after the ceremony. All persons being photographed should be asked for their consent. Program participants can also be interviewed before or after the ceremony.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: FinTech Grad Student Nick Savignano Earns Competitive International Business Fellowship

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Graduate student Nick Savignano ’25 has always been the type of person to roll up his sleeves and help others, whether spearheading a new project at work or clearing debris after Hurricane Katrina.

    When Savignano, a graduate student in the FinTech program, heard about a program that connects postgraduate business students with small- and medium-sized enterprises in the developing world, he was immediately interested.

    He recently learned that he was accepted as a Fellow in the prestigious DHL GoTrade GBSN Fellowship Program and is waiting to learn what industry and country he will be paired with during the eight-month program, which begins in March. The Fellowship program, which is remote, will also give him the chance to engage with global experts, participate in workshops, and develop new skills and mentorship.

    “Figuring out how to address problems and challenges and coming up with unique solutions is all very exciting for me. I’m going to give it my heart and soul,’’ he said. Savignano said he is looking forward to collaborating with people from another part of the world and the opportunity to work with another fellow.

    Students from 45 Countries Competed for 61 Fellowships

    The Fellowship program is highly competitive, said Natalie Timinskas, Coordinator of Students Programs at the Global Business School Network (GBSN). This year, the organization received almost 300 applications from master’s and Ph.D. candidates from 45 countries and 88 universities. Only 61 were accepted into the cohort.

    “The caliber of candidates was exceptional, with applicants showcasing impressive passion and dedication to advancing management and entrepreneurship in emerging and developing markets,’’ she said.

    The network cannot disclose the specific enterprises, as they are still finalizing agreements, but they are working with businesses from various industries, she said. Last year’s cohort worked on projects across diverse sectors, such as food and beverage, jewelry, textiles, e-commerce, crafts, and leather goods.

    Creating, Improving and Shaking Things Up

    Savignano earned his bachelor’s degree at Loyola University in 2018, with a finance major. He spent the next five years working in the mortgage industry in Maryland.

    He chose to apply to the UConn FinTech program, at that time only the second in the nation, because he loved everything about finance, and was intrigued by new ways of receiving and processing payments. During his time at UConn, he has also worked with the entrepreneurship programs here to investigate an idea he has for creating his own company.

    Savignano said he enjoys creating, improving processes, and shaking things up.

    “The Fellowship will be an exciting resume builder and also a very unique story to share,’’ he said. “I think it will also be one of those ‘contagious’ things that many people will become interested in doing.’’

    As he looks at his career growth, Savignano said he wants to be in a position to make strategic decisions.

    “I came to UConn to learn that aspect of business, and I think I’ve been successful,’’ he said. “I’m happy to represent UConn through this and to spread the UConn name because this university has done so much for me.’’

    John Wilson, Academic Director of FinTech program, said Savignano has been a standout student.

    “We encourage all students to map their own academic journey. Nicholas has taken that encouragement to heart and taken advantage of every opportunity,’’ Wilson said. “This, along with his drive and dedication, makes him a solid selection for the Fellowship program and we are confident that he will represent UConn well.’’

    Savignano said he feels fortunate that the FinTech program created an opportunity for him to attend ITC insurance innovation conference in Las Vegas last year, where he met industry veterans, tried brand-new products, learned about challenges of the insurance industry, and engaged with top executives.’’

    Network Offers Host of Opportunities for Ambitious Students

    Arminda Kamphausen, Director of Global & Sustainability Initiatives, said the School’s recent decision to become a member of the GBSN has provided both students and faculty with international opportunities that enrich educational experiences and research resources.

    “This chance for Nick to use what he is learning in the FinTech program to work on an international team to support a small or medium enterprise is just one of many such opportunities,’’ she said.

    “GBSN also gives our students opportunities to compete in an annual case competition, organizes thematic faculty working groups, such as Business and Human Rights, and offers monthly virtual events for sharing of member institution best practices,’’ Kamphausen said. “It also convenes an annual conference for substantive discussions on how business schools can continue to provide responsible training to their students and positive impact in the world.’’

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: WISER Awarded Eight UConn Projects to Advance Weather Innovation and Energy Resilience

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded UConn and its partners several new projects to advance weather- and climate-based solutions for the energy industry.

    On Feb. 6-7, the NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) for Weather Innovation and Smart Energy and Resilience (WISER) hosted its Industry Advisory Board meeting. During the gathering, the NSF announced funding for 10 new projects, with UConn is involved in eight of them.

    UConn Tech Park Executive Director Emmanouil Anagnostou speaks at a recent meeting with the WISER Industry Advisory Board. (contributed photo)

    Established in 2023, WISER NSF IUCRC is a two-site center shared by the University at Albany and UConn. The Center combines cutting-edge technologies with the benefits of industry partnerships to address the evolving challenges posed by extreme weather and climate change.

    “By fostering collaboration between academia and industry, WISER is poised to become a leading resource for solutions that enhance resilience and sustainability in the energy sector, says Emmanouil Anagnostou, the primary investigator for UConn’s WISER site.

    During the meeting, the 10-member Advisory Board announced the awarded projects following a highly competitive selection process. The Board was enthusiastic about WISER’s proposals, continuing a legacy of successful and impactful projects that have resulted from the collaboration between the UConn and Albany.

    The projects will expand WISER’s research portfolio in weather and power outage prediction, energy demand, grid resilience, and risk management. “I am excited by the number of highly competitive proposals submitted by UConn faculty and look forward to growing UConn’s research and technology innovation on energy resilience and security,” Says Anagnostou.

    This year WISER’s Industry Advisory Board consists of ten members: Avangrid, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp, Con Edison, Eversource Energy, Hydro‑Québec, National Grid, New York Power Authority, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, New York State Foundation for Science, Technology, and Innovation, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

    The following are the eight WISER projects in which UConn will take part:

    • Wind power resources for Northeast US under a changing climate (PI: M. Astitha, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
    • Extreme heat metrics for more accurate energy demand prediction (PI: G. Wang, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
    • Integrating interdisciplinary resilience indices for power outages and restorations (PI: W. Zhang, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
    • Predicting extreme weather–induced power outages with spatially aware hybrid graph neural networks (PI: D. Song, School of Computing)
    • A mapping tool for addressing socioeconomic and demographic disparities in power outage impacts (PI: A. Bagtzoglou, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
    • Quantifying grid resiliency using GFM with HELICS co-simulation for enhancing outage management during the extreme weather events (PI: S.Y. Park, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering)
    • Weather-power-grid testbed experiments for risk contingency management during hazards: cascading failures, fragility curves, and grid and weather monitoring needs (PI: M. Peña, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
    • Snowstorm changes and their impact on power outages over the Northeast (co-PI: D. Cerrai, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering)

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to study from Microsoft Azure Quantum on measuring topological qubits

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    A study published in Nature looks at Microsoft Azure Quantum on measuring topological qubits. 

    Professor George Booth, Professor of Theoretical Physics at King’s College London, said:

    What is the significance of this work?

    “Companies have typically measured their progress in terms of qubits, or quantum units of information that they compute and by this measurement Microsoft have lagged behind others. However, they have instead focused on the long-game by working on a system which is inherently more resilient to noise and interference – using so called ‘topological’ qubits. This noise resilience could pay off in the long term, as processing quantum information (rather than the classical bits that traditional computers work with) is inherently fragile.

    These topological qubits protect the information they carry by using the properties of a new type of “emergent particle, a Majorana fermion, which means that it is harder for this information to be lost as it is processed. However, this added layer of complexity when constructing these qubits when compared to competing architectures.

    “This work demonstrates progress on measuring these topological qubits, which is an essential operation to realise the potential of these devices. They stop short of unambiguously demonstrating that they can measure a full topological qubit but get closer to a viable topological qubit.

    What does it mean for progress in quantum computing?

    “There is no doubt that having competition between scientific platforms for quantum computing compounds the probability that (at least) one will emerge as a viable platform. This is a step in the direction of a very different platform that could compete with the more mature technologies pioneered by the likes of Google. There is still a significant way to go from here in demonstrating that the technology can be scaled up, but Microsoft is bullish about their roadmap for the future. 

    “Ultimately, the importance of this work will probably only be able to be judged in hindsight, if and when the technology reaches maturity compared to other platforms. However, it is certainly an impressive technical achievement, demonstrating control over these emergent particles at the most fundamental levels.

    Is this good quality research?  Are the conclusions backed up by solid data? How does this work fit with the existing evidence?

    “It is a highly technical paper, and works hard to present the scientific facts without hyperbole. They are cautious, likely since Microsoft have been burnt before by their claims of developing topological qubits in a paper which had to be later retracted after scientific flaws were pointed out. In this work, they are much more tempered about their conclusions that they are actually measuring a topological qubit, but present the evidence that it is at least highly likely.”

    Have the authors accounted for confounders?  Are there important limitations to be aware of?

    “The work is clearly seen by all as a step on a long road and not an ending point. Within the paper, it even takes care not to overstate the implications of the work, or even the certainty by which they have measured a topological state. 

    “I think that for many in the field there is still some healthy scepticism of the timescales for the roadmaps of some of these tech companies towards a quantum computer that is routinely solving practical problems, but this paper demonstrates that fundamental hurdles are being overcome. Whether a claim of ‘years’ is accurate will remain to be seen.

    What are the implications in the real world?  Is there any overspeculation? 

    “The end goal of this line of research is a ‘universal’ quantum computer. This would be able to simulate certain problems much faster than classical supercomputers would ever be able to. 

    “Of these problems where a speedup can be demonstrated, certain ones are causing the most interest and are likely driving the investment. Namely, these are breaking encryption protocols, chemical simulations to design new drugs and materials, and solving certain ‘difficult’ optimisation problems, like a logistical supply chain issue. 

    “These are not problems that most people have to tackle on a day-to-day basis, so they will likely always be specialist machines for these jobs and not something that most people would have or need access to. However, there is significant commercial interest in these activities, and therefore a significant payoff to the company who can develop the viable technology first.”

    Prof Paul Stevenson, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Surrey, said:

    “Microsoft have pioneered the idea of so-called “topological qubits” as the basic building blocks of future quantum computers, but so far have failed to demonstrate working devices while competitors have been building basic quantum computers for a few years now using other qubit technology.  What Microsoft are counting on is that their devices, once realised, will be naturally much more robust by design than the somewhat temperamental competing technologies.  Their latest result shows that they have managed to build roughly one half of one qubit.  Now the challenge is to build that up first into a single qubit, then an array of qubits, at which point they will be very serious competitors in the field.  The new papers are a significant step, but as with much promising work in quantum computing, the next steps are difficult and until the next steps have been achieved, it is too soon to be anything more than cautiously optimistic.”

    ‘Interferometric Single-Shot Parity Measurement in InAs-Al Hybrid Devices’ by Morteza Aghaee et al. was published in Nature at 16:00 UK time on Wednesday 19 February 2025. 

    Declared interests

    Professor George Booth:

    • Research funding from US DoD (neither for defense or quantum computing activities)
    • Funding from the UKRI (on a grant related to quantum computing software)
    • He is on the scientific board of a drug design company leveraging the use of emerging quantum computers

    Prof Paul Stevenson: I am funded for my research by direct UK government research council grants, and grants from AWE, part of MOD.  I am a member of UK Government research council funding and advisory panels and a UK delegate to the NuPECC European Nuclear Physics committee

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to study looking at aspartame artificial sweetener and insulin levels and blood vessel inflammation in mice

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    A study published in Cell Metabolism looks at the artificial sweetener aspartame, insulin levels and blood inflammation in mice. 

    Prof Naveed Sattar, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine/Honorary Consultant, University of Glasgow, said:

    “This seems like worrying findings but of course, before it can taken seriously, the findings have to be replicated in man.  There is no good evidence from trials that exogenous insulin increases cardiovascular risks in people with prior cardiovascular disease AND in people with type 1, by improving glucose levels, exogenous insulin lowers many risks.  Whether excess pancreatic insulin occurs with aspartame in amounts regularly consumed occurs and then accelerates vascular risks in man is also not proven.  For now, I remain happy to take sweeteners and related diet beverages instead of sugar filled drinks as the former limits excess calorie intake.”

    Prof James Leiper, Director of Research, British Heart Foundation, said:

    “This study has revealed much more about the known potential risks of artificial sweeteners.  In these mice, a diet that included an artificially high level of aspartame did exacerbate the size and number of fatty plaques in their arteries.  The effect of these plaques was not measured here, but they are known to greatly increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

    “While it is important to note that these findings have not yet been seen in humans, the results highlight the importance of further research to determine whether these additions to our food, and their effect on insulin levels, are contributing to an increased risk of cardiovascular events.

    “These sweeteners are now found in many foods and drinks, and people are probably consuming more than they realise.  But this research is not a green light to have more sugar instead.  We all need to reduce our intake of the processed foods and beverages that contain high levels of fat, sugars, sweeteners and salt.  This is the best way of ensuring a healthy diet and a lowered risk of heart and circulatory disease.”

    Prof Oliver Jones, Professor of Chemistry, RMIT University in Melbourne, said:

    “I have several concerns about this study.

    “The authors claim that the consumption of Aspartame by adults and children “often exceeds those levels recommended by the FDA” – this is extremely unlikely in my view.  The FDA-acceptable daily intake of Aspartame is 50 mg per kg of body weight per day.  I weigh 80 kg, so this means this means the FDA-based safe dose for me is 4000 mg (or 4 grams) of Aspartame per day, every day, for life.  Given a diet drink contains about 200 mg of Aspartame, I would have to drink the equivalent of 20 cans of diet soda a day to get this dose.  A child of 40 kg would have to drink 10 cans a day, every day.  Even then, the 50 mg/kg dose has a safety factor of 100 built-in.

    “The study design also has some issues.  The main one is that the authors used a particular type of lab mouse called an ApoE mouse, which is bred to be prone to heart disease.  They also fed it a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet, which itself increases the risk of heart disease.  They also don’t seem to have measured how much of the Aspartame water the mice drank, or the Aspartame level in the blood, so it is unknown what the mice actually received.

    “To my mind, the authors’ admission that feeding mice that are already genetically susceptible to heart disease with a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet that is known to cause heart disease “diminishes clinical relevance” is somewhat of an understatement.

    “Contrary to the paper’s claims, it is quite well-established that Aspartame doesn’t stimulate glucose or insulin levels in humans [1, 2].

    “Aspartame is essentially just two common amino acids (aspartic acid and phenylalanine) joined together.  In the gut, it is broken down to aspartic acid and phenylalanine.  There is no reason to think amino acids from Aspartame would be worse than those from any other source.

    “The authors would appear to think little work has been done on safety testing in Aspartame; this is just not true.  All food ingredients are rigorously tested and safety assessed before they are approved for use.  Aspartame is one of the most researched ingredients in the world.  It is just that a lot of the data is in safety assessments for regulatory approval, not the academic literature.

    “Finally, even if Aspartame did cause some increase in cardiovascular risk (which this study does not prove), then that risk would likely be very small compared to things like high fat/high sugar diets and lack of exercise, etc.

    “In short, I don’t think this study itself gives us more reason to worry about diet drinks or aspartame.”

    References

    1 Santos, N. C., de Araujo, L. M., De Luca Canto, G., Guerra, E. N. S., Coelho, M. S., Borin, M. de F. (2017). Metabolic effects of aspartame in adulthood: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 58(12), 2068-2081. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2017.1304358

    2 Stern S.B., Bleicher S.J., Flores A., Gombos G., Recitas D., Shu J. Administration of aspartame in non-insulin-dependent diabetics. (1976) Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health,. 2(2):429-39. https:// 10.1080/15287397609529444

    ‘Sweetener aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation’ by Weijie Wu et al. was published in Cell Metabolism at 16:00 UK time on Wednesday 19 February 2025. 

    DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.01.006

    Declared interests

    Prof Naveed Sattar: “Takes occasional diet drinks.

    Has consulted for several companies that make diabetes medicines but also contributed to several lifestyle trials.

    “For Novo Nordisk: have consulted for company in advisory boards but not on any of their weight loss drug trial committees; am on steering committee for ZEUS trial but this is not a weight loss trial product but anti-inflammatory.  Do not have any shares either for any product in health etc.

    “N.S. declares consulting fees and/or speaker honoraria from Abbott Laboratories, Afimmune, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sanofi; and grant support paid to his university from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Roche Diagnostics.”

    Prof James Leiper: “No conflicts of interest to declare.”

    Prof Oliver Jones: “I have no conflicts of interest to declare.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to study of glacier melt this century

    Source: United Kingdom – Science Media Centre

    A study published in Nature estimates global glacier melting from 2000 to 2023. 

    Prof Andrew Shepherd, Head of Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Northumbria University, said:

    “This is really important as it’s an authoritative assessment from the community working on this topic. It confirms that the pace of glacier melting is accelerating over time. Glacier melting has two main impacts; it causes sea level rise and it disrupts the water supply in rivers that are fed by meltwater. Around 2 billion people depend on meltwater from glaciers and so their retreat is a big problem for society – it’s not just that we are losing them from our landscape, they are an important part of our daily lives.

    “Even small amounts of sea level rise matter because it leads to more frequent coastal flooding. Every centimetre of sea level rise exposes another 2 million people to annual flooding somewhere on our planet.

    “Community assessments like GLAMBIE are vital as they give people confidence to make use of their findings. That includes other climate scientists, governments, and industry, plus of course anyone who is concerned about the impacts of global warming. Around 2 billion people depend on meltwater from glaciers and so their retreat is a big problem for society – it’s not just that we are losing them from our landscape, they are an important part of our daily lives.”

    Prof Martin Siegert, Professor of Geosciences and Deputy VC at the University of Exeter, said:

    “Two centimetres might not sound a lot, but this is the contribution from small glaciers – not the whole of the ice on the planet, and not from Greenland and Antarctica. Sea level has risen by 20cm since 1850; 50% from the sea being warmer and expanding, 50% (10cm) due to glacier melt. However, ice sheets are now losing mass at increasing rates (6x more than 30 years ago), and when they change, we stop talking centimetres and start talking metres. For example, the last ice age was 20,000 years ago, and between then and 10,000 years ago as we warmed out of the ice age, sea level rose by 130m, due primarily to collapse of ice sheets.

    “This research is concerning to us, because it predicts further glacier loss, which can be considered like a ‘canary in the coal mine’ for ice sheet reaction to global warming and far more sea level rise this century and beyond. The IPCC indicates 0.5-1m this century – but that is with a 66% certainty – hence 1/3 chance it could be higher under ‘strong’ warming, which unfortunately is the pathway we are on presently.”

    ‘Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023’ by The GlaMBIE Team was published in Nature at 16:15 UK time on Wednesday 19th February. 

    Declared interests

    Prof Andrew Shepherd: No conflicts to declare

    Prof Martin Siegert: No COI

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: The Inaugural World Congress on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    On Jan. 30 to Feb. 2 for the first time, The World Congress on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities convened in St. Lucia.

    The Honorable Philip J. Pierre, Prime Minister of St. Lucia, opening the scientific sessions.

    The event was hosted by the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities and the Connecticut Imhotep NMA Society. The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering at UConn was also a sponsor of the event. The World Congress was the brainchild of Dr. Cato T. Laurencin at UConn who also served as chair of the meeting. Additional sponsors of the event included the National Medical Association, the St. Lucia Medical and Dental Association, the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute, and the government of St. Lucia. The scientific sessions were opened by The Honorable Philip J. Pierre, Prime Minister of St. Lucia.

    “This event was a huge milestone and brought the world’s experts on racial and ethnic disparities together,” shared UConn’s University Professor Dr. Cato T. Laurencin, CEO of The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering at UConn School of Medicine.

    “UConn had a great presence at the first-ever World Congress,” applauds Laurencin.

    Invited speakers from UConn School of Medicine included Dr. Biree Andemariam, professor of medicine, who directs the highly successful New England Sickle Cell Institute and Connecticut Bleeding Disorders Center at UConn Health. She spoke about the need for breaking down more barriers for sickle cell disease patients worldwide and shared the success of the innovative Institute she founded in 2009 which has grown to care for the majority of adult at sickle cell patients in Connecticut.

    Dr. Cato T. Laurencin

    “The Congress gave me a unique opportunity to learn from the greatest cross-disciplinary minds whose work dissects the pervasive influence of racialized societal frameworks on global health outcomes,” shared Andemariam, the American Red Cross Endowed Chair at UConn School of Medicine.

    Helen Wu, Ph.D. from UConn’s medical school was also an invited speaker. She is associate professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Public Health Sciences and is part of The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering at UConn. She shared her work helping create healthier communities via successful initiatives like UConn’s JUMP (Just Us Moving Program) which is a sustainable community engagement approach to lifestyle changes. The program of The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering educates the community on the importance of increased physical activity.

    “At the first World Congress on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities we were like a big family gathering. People who are in health disparities research and practice are passionate about what we do,” shared Wu. “The Congress fostered new alliances between practitioners and researchers in the field of health disparities research and policy reform.”

    Dr. Cato T. Laurencin leading a panel discussion at the World Congress.

    Other invited speakers with a UConn connection included UConn Health Board of Directors member Dr. Kenneth Alleyne, an orthopaedic surgeon with Eastern Orthopedics who spoke about the benefits of community health workers empowering communities; Raja Staggers-Hakim, Ph.D., assistant professor in UConn’s Department of Sociology discussed racism trauma health theory; and Dierdre Cooper Owens, Ph.D., associate professor of History and Africana Studies at UConn shared the history of the Black birthing crisis.

    The proceedings of the meeting will be published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.

    Learn more about the inaugural World Congress on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: 6 in 10 young South Africans have no jobs. Why some still reject offers of work

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Hannah J. Dawson, Senior Lecturer, Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Johannesburg

    South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. The official rate is 32%, rising to 42% when discouraged job seekers are included. Among young people aged 15 to 24, unemployment reaches a staggering 60%. While much attention has focused on youth exclusion from the labour market and their survival strategies, far less is said about their experiences in precarious jobs, or why some choose to leave low-wage employment.

    Across South Africa, young people are encouraged by the government, NGOs and society to accept unpaid internships, precarious apprenticeships and low-wage jobs on the assumption that these opportunities will lead to better employment. Those who quit or refuse low wage jobs are sometimes derided by employers as “lazy” or “choosy”.

    In 2015 and 2016 I conducted in-depth interviews and a survey with 100 young people (aged 18-35) in the settlement of Zandspruit, near Johannesburg, for my PhD (unpublished). What they told me was that the wage work available to them did not offer a pathway to a dignified life.

    Read more: South Africa’s youth are a generation lost under democracy – study

    Their stories challenge society to rethink the relationship between work, dignity and citizenship. Addressing youth unemployment requires more than increasing job numbers. It demands improving job quality and recognising the aspirations of those without work.

    My journal article, based on the PhD research, challenges the assumption that wage employment automatically leads to economic and social inclusion.

    Work around Zandspruit

    Established in the early 1990s as a small informal settlement, Zandspruit now houses over 50,000 residents within a two kilometre radius. Its unplanned expansion reflects its strategic location near new economic hubs, shaped by the shift from an industrial to a service-based economy.

    Most low-end service jobs in surrounding suburbs, malls and industrial hubs offer neither financial security nor routes to what the men in my study saw as respectable adulthood.

    I asked the men about their movement in and out of wage work, job experiences and work trajectories. Most had only held low-wage service jobs, which they ranked hierarchically: manual labour at the bottom, followed by hospitality and cleaning, with security and retail slightly better. Over half (57%) had never stayed in a job for more than a year. Many lasted only weeks or months.

    Short-term contracts were the leading cause of job loss (35%), followed by voluntary quitting (18%) — often due to low wages — and retrenchment (15%). While temporary contracts and retrenchments explain half of all job losses, voluntary quitting is a striking trend in a country with such high unemployment.

    To understand these departures, I interviewed 37 young people, mainly young men, who had left wage work in 2015-2016. They cited exploitative conditions, workplace racism, and financial and social pressures as key reasons. Their decisions reflect not just dissatisfaction with low wages but a deeper aspiration for dignity, social recognition and economic progress. Work, they insisted, should offer more than basic survival.

    Why young men refuse low-wage work

    All the young men I interviewed had cycled through low-paying jobs as security guards, cashiers, golf caddies, petrol attendants and call centre agents. Over half had quit because of dissatisfaction or exploitation.

    Unemployed builders, tilers, and plumbers seeking jobs on the side of the road in Johannesburg, South Africa. Guillem Sartorio / AFP via Getty Images.

    The most common reason for quitting was exploitative labour conditions. They spoke of employers bypassing minimum benefits, withholding pay and making unfair deductions. Contracts were rarely made permanent. More than just poor wages or bad working conditions, these jobs offered little prospect of social mobility. Some felt that no matter how hard they worked, they would never earn enough to improve their lives or achieve what they saw as key markers of respected manhood, like marriage, establishing a home and supporting a family.

    Eric, who had moved on from low-end jobs to run a small IT business from home, put it simply:

    When you look for a job, you don’t look for one that will drain you. You need a job that will build you so you have a future tomorrow.

    His words reflect a common view: young men do not judge jobs solely by their ability to provide a means of survival, but by whether they offer a path to stability, dignity and a better future.

    Workplace racism and mistreatment were also factors. Many young men recounted being undermined, insulted or unfairly treated by their superiors. The workplace became a direct encounter with South Africa’s racialised inequalities, where almost all low-wage workers are black and most employers and business owners are white.

    Thatho, who quit a retail job after six months, described his frustration:

    That guy [boss] is yelling at me for five days. On the sixth day I realised it’s too much. I can’t do this. I’m trying my best … It’s better if I left the company cause it’s painful when you work hard and someone says you’re not doing anything.

    Being disrespected in the workplace takes a psychological and emotional toll. For some, quitting was a way to reclaim respect and a degree of autonomy.

    Young men faced financial and social pressures, shaped by the male breadwinner ideal, to improve their own lives and support their families. This responsibility often motivated young men to take up or keep jobs, but it also led some to leave. Some quit in search of better-paying jobs. Others quit to escape the social demands tied to earning a wage.

    One young man, who struggled to send his son to a good crèche, keep his girlfriend happy and support his unemployed siblings, explained:

    Even though I’m working, I’m always left with nothing […] sometimes I feel like I’m drowning.

    The inability of low-wage jobs to meet both personal and social expectations drove some to make a living in the informal economy.

    Rethinking work and citizenship

    Wage labour, often idealised as a path to inclusion and citizenship, falls short for many South Africans. By rejecting such jobs, these young men challenge the notion that “any job is better than no job” and assert their right to economic participation on fair and dignified terms.

    – 6 in 10 young South Africans have no jobs. Why some still reject offers of work
    – https://theconversation.com/6-in-10-young-south-africans-have-no-jobs-why-some-still-reject-offers-of-work-249052

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Is Nigeria in danger of a coup? What the country should do to avoid one – political analyst

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Abdul-Wasi Babatunde Moshood, Senior Lecturer Department of Political Science, Lagos State University

    African countries have had nine successful military coups since 2020. In west and central Africa, there have been at least 10 coup attempts in the same period. Those of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Guinea were successful. A number of social, economic and political factors have been identified as responsible for the truncation of democracy in those countries.

    In this interview, The Conversation Africa asks political scientist Abdul-Wasi Babatunde Moshood, who has recently published research on preventing military coups in Nigeria, about what drives coups, whether those factors are present in Nigeria and what steps Nigeria could take to protect its democracy.

    What are the drivers of recent coups in Africa?

    One major reason is leaders who have used the idea of democracy to advance their own economic gains. The result is corruption, which has deepened the gap between the rich and the poor.

    While liberal democracy widens opportunity in developed countries, the reverse is the case in Nigeria, due largely to corruption and lack of effective leadership.

    Also, democracy in parts of Africa, including Nigeria, has not been able to advance development and make a positive impact on the people. To ringfence democracy from military intervention, it must advance development for the people.

    Another factor is the strategic importance of Africa, which has historically attracted foreign powers. With the partitioning of Africa in Berlin in 1884, European powers created spheres of influence which have continued to haunt many African countries.

    These strategic interests have continued to infiltrate politics and cause instability on the continent.

    In my recent work, I argued that foreign influence and strategic importance make coups more likely to occur in African countries including Nigeria.

    Just like coups in the post-independence era, some recent coups in west Africa have the fingerprints of foreign powers. For instance, Russia is implicated in the 2020 and 2021 coups in Mali and the Burkina Faso coup.

    The UK, the US, China and France are all interested in Africa. Since the expulsion of France from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the former colonial power has been seeking another regional haven in Nigeria. This has raised suspicion in some quarters.

    Also, colonialism left a legacy of division between a country’s people and their army. Recruitment dislocated the previous warriors and empowered new ones. The military under colonialism was perceived by civilians as protecting the interests of the colonial ruling elite.

    In the post-colonial period, the military is perceived as protecting the interests of the African ruling elite. This arrangement goes on until the military, having been exposed to politics, decides to seize power for itself. Oftentimes, citizens give legitimacy to this kind of coup because they have always seen the political elite as self serving. Military coups in Sudan and Mali are examples of this.

    Are these factors present in Nigeria today?

    The sociopolitical and economic conditions that led to coups in other countries in west Africa are present in Nigeria.

    Nigeria is still largely divided along lines of clans and religion. Insecurity is at high levels across the country. The removal of the petrol subsidy has caused economic problems.

    Commodity prices have skyrocketed. Food inflation reached 40.75% in 2024 – its highest level in 25 years.

    The colonial legacy in Nigeria is still evident in the north versus south divide that plagues the country’s politics. Bad leaders exploit the division for their own selfish gain by using marginalisation rhetoric.

    Nigeria is still strongly tied to the apron strings of the western powers. This explains why Nigeria’s presidential aspirants prefer to go to Chatham House, London to speak rather than talk to the people they intend to lead.

    Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu’s relationship with France is raising eyebrows in the country. The president recently signed new deals with France in the areas of renewable energy, transportation, agriculture and critical infrastructure. There are concerns because this is coming soon after nearly all former French allies in west Africa have broken ties with the European country.

    These factors often lead to increasing disaffection, which in turn can ignite a military takeover, as happened in Niger, Guinea and Gabon.

    How can a military comeback be prevented in Nigeria?

    Effective leadership would help reduce colonial legacies, improve democracy and mitigate foreign influence. This would foster confidence among dissimilar ethnic communities as policies towards inclusiveness and development of the country were implemented.

    Military professionalism would further specialise the military and give them focus. There should be less involvement of the military in politics.

    In peace time, the military can also be kept engaged as a service provider in agriculture, health and social work as done, for instance, in the US.

    Regional organisations like the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union should be proactive in condemning any derailment in democratic practices and values by political actors. They should not only react by imposing sanctions after a military takeover.

    Nigeria needs to think about developing a homegrown democracy as advocated by the late Claude Ake, the Nigerian political scientist.

    The process and method of democratisation should be affordable to all to participate. Democratic leaders must be scrutinised and their level of wealth ascertained before and after leaving office.

    Democratic institutions must be strengthened to prevent corrupt people from taking over offices. Democratic leaders in Nigeria and other African countries must seek indigenous solutions to their challenges.

    – Is Nigeria in danger of a coup? What the country should do to avoid one – political analyst
    – https://theconversation.com/is-nigeria-in-danger-of-a-coup-what-the-country-should-do-to-avoid-one-political-analyst-248281

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Deportation fears create ripple effects for immigrants and their communities

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kristina Fullerton Rico, Research Fellow, Center for Racial Justice, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detain a person on Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

    The Trump administration’s plan to deport millions of immigrants living in the country without permission is falling far short of its initial goals in its first few weeks.

    But there has been an increase in immigration raids in multiple cities, including Los Angeles and Miami, since Trump took office.

    After Trump’s inauguration, rumors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents roaming the streets or showing up at churches and schools have spread on social media and messaging apps, sending waves of panic in immigrant communities from coast to coast.

    When I share my research on the effects of U.S. immigration policies, I find that most people intuitively understand how being deported can upend someone’s life.

    In fact, research shows that deportation, and the risk of deportation, impacts more than just the person who is deported.

    Deporting immigrants often separates individuals from their families, exiles them to countries that don’t feel like home, and leaves them poor, with few job prospects.

    Immigrants who are deported also face social stigmas that lead to further isolation and mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety and risk of suicide.

    An undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who plans to leave the country in February 2025 is seen at home with his son in Dover, Ohio, in January.
    Rebecca Kiger for The Washington Post via Getty Images

    A family matter

    Immigrants in the country without permission tend to belong to mixed-immigration-status families, meaning that at least one family member has legal permission to be in the country or has citizenship.

    In some cases, mixed-status families feel pressure to leave the U.S. together if one family member is deported.

    Researchers call this phenomenon “de facto deportation.” It frequently affects young, U.S.-born children whose parents are deported.

    Legal scholars argue that deporting the parents of these young U.S. citizens violates these children’s citizenship rights. Though these children are citizens, their parents’ deportations push them out of the country and away from the lives they would have had in the U.S.

    In other cases, families separate when a mother, father or other adult guardian is deported. This is especially true for immigrants who are deported to dangerous places. Families are also likely to separate if a family member requires specialized medical care for a disability or chronic illness.

    But it is not just actual deportations that cause harm.

    The fear of deportation

    Even when immigrants do not face an immediate risk of deportation, the way they live their lives is shaped by the threat of removal.

    In hostile political climates, including the current moment in the U.S., immigrants feel the risk of deportation acutely.

    Some researchers call the fear of deportation “deportability.” This feeling has a chilling effect, discouraging immigrants from the everyday activities they would otherwise do.

    So far, immigrants’ fear is likely disproportionate to the risk of deportation. But the threat looms so large that immigrants and their families have upended their lives.

    Business owners, teachers and religious leaders across the country have noticed immigrants’ glaring absence in neighborhoods that are usually bustling and now feel deserted.

    In some cases, immigrants are keeping their children home from school. Others avoid going to doctor’s appointments or delay going to the hospital.

    Hostility toward immigrants also has a chilling effect on cultural expression.

    Research shows that Latino immigrants who fear deportation or anti-immigrant prejudice feel coerced to assimilate. They avoid speaking Spanish or their Indigenous language, like Quechua or Náhuatl, in public, and may even hesitate to teach it to their own children.

    Similarly, it can feel dangerous to play music or partake in cultural traditions.

    Spillover effects

    Research has also found that the threat of deportation makes immigrants hesitant to report dangerous conditions at work. Since immigrants are overrepresented in dangerous industries, like construction and meatpacking, this can lead to a higher risk of being injured or even dying on the job.

    Because local law enforcement agencies increasingly cooperate with federal immigration authorities, immigrants may also avoid going to the police – even when they are victims of violent crimes.

    Even in cities where local law enforcement agencies refuse to work closely with ICE, the perception that they might be creates fear in immigrant communities and leads people to underutilize public programs and services.

    People who have permission to be in the country are also afraid

    The fear of immigration enforcement can also extend to a person who speaks a foreign language, is a person of color, or otherwise seems like they might be in the country without permission.

    Perhaps the most striking example of this consists of recent reports that Native American citizens living in Southwest states like Arizona have been increasingly questioned by ICE. In response, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has advised people to carry proof of their U.S. citizenship.

    Nonwhite U.S. citizens’ fears of being deported are not unprecedented.

    In the 1950s, many U.S. citizens of Mexican ancestry were deported under President Dwight Eisenhower’s mass deportation operation. Trump credits Eisenhower’s program, officially called “Operation Wetback,” after the racist slur, for inspiring his current mass deportation plans.

    More than half a century later, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that between 2015 and 2020, ICE likely arrested 674 U.S. citizens, detaining 121 and deporting 70 of them.

    The entrance to a church in Chicago had a sign on its door on Feb. 10, 2025, informing ICE officials that they were not allowed to enter the building without a court order.
    Luzia Geier/picture alliance via Getty Images

    A sense of despair

    Not surprisingly, anti-immigrant policies and threats can elicit feelings of hopelessness among immigrants. The fear of deportation can lead to significant mental health problems for immigrants and their loved ones, ranging from conditions like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder to a loss of trust in others and social isolation.

    Children experience fear and confusion about the future of their lives and that of their families.

    Hopelessness can lead to immigrants leaving the country on their own accord. This can happen because immigrants see no future for themselves in the U.S.

    Similarly, immigrants who are detained by government authorities may agree to voluntary departure orders rather than fighting to remain in the country.

    Some consequences of the fear of deportation and anti-immigrant hostility are easy to see, like when children miss school.

    Others – delaying doctor’s appointments, going hungry instead of going to the food bank, tolerating abuse instead of seeking help – are harder to observe, and their negative effects may not be evident for years.

    Kristina Fullerton Rico’s research has received funding from the Russell Sage Foundation and Sociologists for Women in Society.

    – ref. Deportation fears create ripple effects for immigrants and their communities – https://theconversation.com/deportation-fears-create-ripple-effects-for-immigrants-and-their-communities-248817

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Is Nigeria in danger of a coup? What the country should do to avoid one – political analyst

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Abdul-Wasi Babatunde Moshood, Senior Lecturer Department of Political Science, Lagos State University

    African countries have had nine successful military coups since 2020. In west and central Africa, there have been at least 10 coup attempts in the same period. Those of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Guinea were successful. A number of social, economic and political factors have been identified as responsible for the truncation of democracy in those countries.

    In this interview, The Conversation Africa asks political scientist Abdul-Wasi Babatunde Moshood, who has recently published research on preventing military coups in Nigeria, about what drives coups, whether those factors are present in Nigeria and what steps Nigeria could take to protect its democracy.

    What are the drivers of recent coups in Africa?

    One major reason is leaders who have used the idea of democracy to advance their own economic gains. The result is corruption, which has deepened the gap between the rich and the poor.

    While liberal democracy widens opportunity in developed countries, the reverse is the case in Nigeria, due largely to corruption and lack of effective leadership.

    Also, democracy in parts of Africa, including Nigeria, has not been able to advance development and make a positive impact on the people. To ringfence democracy from military intervention, it must advance development for the people.

    Another factor is the strategic importance of Africa, which has historically attracted foreign powers. With the partitioning of Africa in Berlin in 1884, European powers created spheres of influence which have continued to haunt many African countries.

    These strategic interests have continued to infiltrate politics and cause instability on the continent.

    In my recent work, I argued that foreign influence and strategic importance make coups more likely to occur in African countries including Nigeria.

    Just like coups in the post-independence era, some recent coups in west Africa have the fingerprints of foreign powers. For instance, Russia is implicated in the 2020 and 2021 coups in Mali and the Burkina Faso coup.

    The UK, the US, China and France are all interested in Africa. Since the expulsion of France from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the former colonial power has been seeking another regional haven in Nigeria. This has raised suspicion in some quarters.

    Also, colonialism left a legacy of division between a country’s people and their army. Recruitment dislocated the previous warriors and empowered new ones. The military under colonialism was perceived by civilians as protecting the interests of the colonial ruling elite.

    In the post-colonial period, the military is perceived as protecting the interests of the African ruling elite. This arrangement goes on until the military, having been exposed to politics, decides to seize power for itself. Oftentimes, citizens give legitimacy to this kind of coup because they have always seen the political elite as self serving. Military coups in Sudan and Mali are examples of this.

    Are these factors present in Nigeria today?

    The sociopolitical and economic conditions that led to coups in other countries in west Africa are present in Nigeria.

    Nigeria is still largely divided along lines of clans and religion. Insecurity is at high levels across the country. The removal of the petrol subsidy has caused economic problems.

    Commodity prices have skyrocketed. Food inflation reached 40.75% in 2024 – its highest level in 25 years.

    The colonial legacy in Nigeria is still evident in the north versus south divide that plagues the country’s politics. Bad leaders exploit the division for their own selfish gain by using marginalisation rhetoric.

    Nigeria is still strongly tied to the apron strings of the western powers. This explains why Nigeria’s presidential aspirants prefer to go to Chatham House, London to speak rather than talk to the people they intend to lead.

    Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu’s relationship with France is raising eyebrows in the country. The president recently signed new deals with France in the areas of renewable energy, transportation, agriculture and critical infrastructure. There are concerns because this is coming soon after nearly all former French allies in west Africa have broken ties with the European country.

    These factors often lead to increasing disaffection, which in turn can ignite a military takeover, as happened in Niger, Guinea and Gabon.

    How can a military comeback be prevented in Nigeria?

    Effective leadership would help reduce colonial legacies, improve democracy and mitigate foreign influence. This would foster confidence among dissimilar ethnic communities as policies towards inclusiveness and development of the country were implemented.

    Military professionalism would further specialise the military and give them focus. There should be less involvement of the military in politics.

    In peace time, the military can also be kept engaged as a service provider in agriculture, health and social work as done, for instance, in the US.

    Regional organisations like the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union should be proactive in condemning any derailment in democratic practices and values by political actors. They should not only react by imposing sanctions after a military takeover.

    Nigeria needs to think about developing a homegrown democracy as advocated by the late Claude Ake, the Nigerian political scientist.

    The process and method of democratisation should be affordable to all to participate. Democratic leaders must be scrutinised and their level of wealth ascertained before and after leaving office.

    Democratic institutions must be strengthened to prevent corrupt people from taking over offices. Democratic leaders in Nigeria and other African countries must seek indigenous solutions to their challenges.

    Abdul-Wasi Babatunde Moshood receives funding from TETFUND Institution Based Research IBR, He is a Member of Academic Staff Union of University, Network for Democracy and Development NDD, among others. He is currently the Acting Head of Department of Political Science, Lagos State University.

    – ref. Is Nigeria in danger of a coup? What the country should do to avoid one – political analyst – https://theconversation.com/is-nigeria-in-danger-of-a-coup-what-the-country-should-do-to-avoid-one-political-analyst-248281

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: 6 in 10 young South Africans have no jobs. Why some still reject offers of work

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Hannah J. Dawson, Senior Lecturer, Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Johannesburg

    South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. The official rate is 32%, rising to 42% when discouraged job seekers are included. Among young people aged 15 to 24, unemployment reaches a staggering 60%. While much attention has focused on youth exclusion from the labour market and their survival strategies, far less is said about their experiences in precarious jobs, or why some choose to leave low-wage employment.

    Across South Africa, young people are encouraged by the government, NGOs and society to accept unpaid internships, precarious apprenticeships and low-wage jobs on the assumption that these opportunities will lead to better employment. Those who quit or refuse low wage jobs are sometimes derided by employers as “lazy” or “choosy”.

    In 2015 and 2016 I conducted in-depth interviews and a survey with 100 young people (aged 18-35) in the settlement of Zandspruit, near Johannesburg, for my PhD (unpublished). What they told me was that the wage work available to them did not offer a pathway to a dignified life.



    Read more:
    South Africa’s youth are a generation lost under democracy – study

    Their stories challenge society to rethink the relationship between work, dignity and citizenship. Addressing youth unemployment requires more than increasing job numbers. It demands improving job quality and recognising the aspirations of those without work.

    My journal article, based on the PhD research, challenges the assumption that wage employment automatically leads to economic and social inclusion.

    Work around Zandspruit

    Established in the early 1990s as a small informal settlement, Zandspruit now houses over 50,000 residents within a two kilometre radius. Its unplanned expansion reflects its strategic location near new economic hubs, shaped by the shift from an industrial to a service-based economy.

    Most low-end service jobs in surrounding suburbs, malls and industrial hubs offer neither financial security nor routes to what the men in my study saw as respectable adulthood.

    I asked the men about their movement in and out of wage work, job experiences and work trajectories. Most had only held low-wage service jobs, which they ranked hierarchically: manual labour at the bottom, followed by hospitality and cleaning, with security and retail slightly better. Over half (57%) had never stayed in a job for more than a year. Many lasted only weeks or months.

    Short-term contracts were the leading cause of job loss (35%), followed by voluntary quitting (18%) — often due to low wages — and retrenchment (15%). While temporary contracts and retrenchments explain half of all job losses, voluntary quitting is a striking trend in a country with such high unemployment.

    To understand these departures, I interviewed 37 young people, mainly young men, who had left wage work in 2015-2016. They cited exploitative conditions, workplace racism, and financial and social pressures as key reasons. Their decisions reflect not just dissatisfaction with low wages but a deeper aspiration for dignity, social recognition and economic progress. Work, they insisted, should offer more than basic survival.

    Why young men refuse low-wage work

    All the young men I interviewed had cycled through low-paying jobs as security guards, cashiers, golf caddies, petrol attendants and call centre agents. Over half had quit because of dissatisfaction or exploitation.

    The most common reason for quitting was exploitative labour conditions. They spoke of employers bypassing minimum benefits, withholding pay and making unfair deductions. Contracts were rarely made permanent. More than just poor wages or bad working conditions, these jobs offered little prospect of social mobility. Some felt that no matter how hard they worked, they would never earn enough to improve their lives or achieve what they saw as key markers of respected manhood, like marriage, establishing a home and supporting a family.

    Eric, who had moved on from low-end jobs to run a small IT business from home, put it simply:

    When you look for a job, you don’t look for one that will drain you. You need a job that will build you so you have a future tomorrow.

    His words reflect a common view: young men do not judge jobs solely by their ability to provide a means of survival, but by whether they offer a path to stability, dignity and a better future.

    Workplace racism and mistreatment were also factors. Many young men recounted being undermined, insulted or unfairly treated by their superiors. The workplace became a direct encounter with South Africa’s racialised inequalities, where almost all low-wage workers are black and most employers and business owners are white.

    Thatho, who quit a retail job after six months, described his frustration:

    That guy [boss] is yelling at me for five days. On the sixth day I realised it’s too much. I can’t do this. I’m trying my best … It’s better if I left the company cause it’s painful when you work hard and someone says you’re not doing anything.

    Being disrespected in the workplace takes a psychological and emotional toll. For some, quitting was a way to reclaim respect and a degree of autonomy.

    Young men faced financial and social pressures, shaped by the male breadwinner ideal, to improve their own lives and support their families. This responsibility often motivated young men to take up or keep jobs, but it also led some to leave. Some quit in search of better-paying jobs. Others quit to escape the social demands tied to earning a wage.

    One young man, who struggled to send his son to a good crèche, keep his girlfriend happy and support his unemployed siblings, explained:

    Even though I’m working, I’m always left with nothing […] sometimes I feel like I’m drowning.

    The inability of low-wage jobs to meet both personal and social expectations drove some to make a living in the informal economy.

    Rethinking work and citizenship

    Wage labour, often idealised as a path to inclusion and citizenship, falls short for many South Africans. By rejecting such jobs, these young men challenge the notion that “any job is better than no job” and assert their right to economic participation on fair and dignified terms.

    Hannah J. Dawson received funding from the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the National Research Foundation.

    – ref. 6 in 10 young South Africans have no jobs. Why some still reject offers of work – https://theconversation.com/6-in-10-young-south-africans-have-no-jobs-why-some-still-reject-offers-of-work-249052

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump threatens to disrupt the world’s critical minerals supply – but there are reasons to be positive

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jorge Valverde, PhD Fellow, Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), United Nations University

    Nickel laterite in an open pit mine. Nickel is one of the critical minerals

    There’s a chance Donald Trump’s second term as US president could have a long-term negative impact on the demand for and supply of what are known as critical minerals. These include copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and the “rare earth elements”, such as lanthanum and yttrium.

    They are vital for the green energy transition, being used in electric car batteries, solar panels and wind turbines. Trump’s decision to pull out of the UN’s Paris agreement to control global warming has led to some pessimistic perspectives on this policy’s impacts.

    If Trump’s move towards oil and gas is interpreted by the markets as permanent, the price incentive for new mining projects for critical minerals will fall, along with long-term supply. This could potentially threaten the green energy transition.

    However, there are reasons to doubt this pessimistic scenario. Contrary to this, we believe that the new US administration policy is just a temporary shock without a significant change to the world’s energy transition trajectory. Therefore, critical mineral markets will remain buoyant in the medium and long term. This position is based on three main arguments.

    1. The US holds a competitive position in critical mineral markets

    There’s a generalised perception that the US depends on importing critical minerals from other countries, such as China. This is true for a handful, but, overall, America is one of the most competitive countries in producing the minerals needed for green technology.

    Indeed, the US has a revealed comparative advantage in exporting a wide variety of minerals and, among them, the most critical ones.

    Supplies of germanium are tightly controlled by China.
    RHJPhtotos

    Therefore, it will be in the US’s interests to keep the lucrative critical mineral markets dynamic. Even if the US reduces its sustainability ambitions, slowing its demand for new clean technologies, it is likely to do it carefully, so as not to harm its own industries.

    Indeed, we expect the US to increase its interest in developing processing industries to recover some minerals from electronic waste or intermediate stages in some manufacturing processes. These include germanium and gallium, which are tightly controlled by China (their biggest producer) but which are vital for computer chips and renewable energy technology, as well as night-vision goggles.

    2. The US produces and uses only a small share of clean technologies

    China and Europe drive these markets. The US does not drive either the demand or the supply for new clean technologies. On the demand side, the US only represents 10% of world electric car sales, while China and Europe account for 66% and 20% of the market respectively.

    China represents over 43% of installed solar energy capacity.
    Wang An Qi Shutterstock

    Similarly, for the world installed solar energy capacity, China represents over 43% of the market, Europe 20%, and the US only 10%. On the supply side, the US produces around 15% of the world’s electric cars, while China represents more than 50% of the market.

    For other clean technologies, statistics are similar with a remarkable leadership of China in the production of solar panels and wind turbines.

    So the policies followed by China and Europe are likely to have a much larger impact on the energy transition than the US’s. In the likely event that these countries continue pushing forward the green transition, the cost of slowing its technological catch up for the US will be too high.

    Moreover, oil producer countries of the Middle East are heavily betting for new clean technologies, which could offset the lower appetite for green assets from the US. So regardless of what Trump’s administration will decide on this matter, its influence on the market for clean technologies will be limited.

    3. New tariffs could further increase some minerals’ criticality

    Import tariffs imposed by Trump’s first administration to promote local production damaged US exports of those industries using imported intermediate, or partly finished, goods. In other words, international trade along global value chains has modified the textbook dynamics of protectionism, and exports are hindered – and not fostered – by import protection.

    President Trump has said he plans to impose 25% new tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico. This could increase the criticality of some minerals for the US. For example, nickel and aluminium could become even more critical to the US economy because Canada supplies almost 40% of the nickel employed by US industry, and 70% of the aluminium.

    As a consequence, new tariffs could indeed increase the criticality of some minerals. Indeed, this was probably in some way behind the decisions to postpone the tariff increases and to only impose them on selected products.

    The energy policies of the new American administration will have ripple effects. But these are likely to be temporary and the market in critical minerals is unlikely to be affected long term. The global transition to clean energy seems safe, for now.

    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. Trump threatens to disrupt the world’s critical minerals supply – but there are reasons to be positive – https://theconversation.com/trump-threatens-to-disrupt-the-worlds-critical-minerals-supply-but-there-are-reasons-to-be-positive-249058

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: On the Polytechnic’s birthday, the exhibition “Laboratory and Museum of Mineralogy and Geology” opened

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    On February 19, the Polytechnic University turned 126 years old, and on the university’s birthday, the Polytechnicians received a wonderful gift: a new exhibition of the SPbPU History Museum, “The Laboratory and Museum of Mineralogy and Geology,” opened in the Chemical Building.

    In 1902, one of the first four departments of the Polytechnic Institute was metallurgy. And each department at that time had its own museum. The laboratory and museum of mineralogy were located on the first floor of the Chemical Pavilion. The total area of the premises was 639 m². The laboratory was equipped with modern devices and instruments, there was a special library, which contained reference books and publications on metallurgy and metallography.

    The museum showcases included a systematic collection of minerals arranged according to the Dana system; a collection of physical properties of minerals consisting of 200 samples; 400 samples of rocks; a collection of general features of rocks consisting of 150 samples; a collection of dynamic geology consisting of 200 samples; a collection of historical geology consisting of 750 samples; and 150 samples of ore-forming minerals.

    Today, on the initiative of the rector of SPbPU Andrey Rudskoy, the director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport Anatoly Popovich and with the financial support of VTB Bank, the historical exhibition has been restored almost in full and supplemented with new exhibits.

    “In honor of the Polytechnic University’s birthday, we had to give a gift to all of us – and we did, we restored the Mineralogy Museum,” Andrey Rudskoy said at the grand opening ceremony. “Here we will see the beauty and harmony of the world created by God, the study of which helped us, students of the metallurgical faculty, to become professionals and achieve a lot in life.”

    “It is a great honor to be involved in such an event,” added Yuri Levchenko, Senior Vice President of VTB Bank and Polytechnic graduate. “I once took exams in this auditorium, so the restoration of the museum is my personal history, as is the history of the entire Chemical Building and the entire Polytechnic Institute.”

    After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the director of the SPbPU History Museum, Valery Klimov, conducted the first tour of the new exhibition.

    “We restored historical display cases and minerals collected from all over the world – from Brazil, North America, Australia, New Zealand. And I put this quartz found in the Urals separately,” said Valery Yuryevich. “The museum also has modern technologies, for example, on this screen you can read more about the minerals and leaf through a very interesting reprint of the 1914 book “Metallurgical Department”, which describes in detail everything that happened in our beloved chemical house.”

    In addition to the reprint, the exhibition also features the original paper inventory book of the chemical house metallurgical laboratory, in which records were kept from 1902 to 1937; they are well preserved. The museum premises are also decorated with the original portrait of Dmitry Mendeleyev, painted by the artist Drozdov in 1914, and portraits of famous polytechnic metallurgists, founders of scientific and pedagogical schools in the field of metal science and metallurgy.

    The museum contains many interesting exhibits, including a world map made from minerals, a historic sink for washing test tubes, and a variety of laboratory equipment and instruments. For example, a glass research chamber; a direct current voltmeter and a Hartmann pointer galvanometer pyrometer N. S. Kurnakov, created in 1904 at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute according to the design of the head of the Department of General Chemistry from 1902 to 1930 Nikolai Kurnakov. This is the only copy in the world.

    Another gift for the 126th anniversary of the Polytechnic University was the opening of an auditorium named after Academician I. V. Gorynin, a graduate of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, in the Chemical Building. The auditorium was opened by the rector of SPbPU, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Andrey Rudskoy and the scientific director of the I. V. Gorynin Central Research Institute of Structural Materials “Prometheus” of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexey Oryshchenko.

    “For me, Igor Vasilyevich Gorynin was a summit that was scary to approach, but he treated me, his student, like a father, and this obliged me to do a lot,” Andrei Ivanovich shared. “We remember, love and respect Igor Vasilyevich, he always was, is and will be a great polytechnician, a great metallurgist.”

    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: Is Donald Trump on a constitutional collision course over NATO?

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Aaron Ettinger, Associate Professor, International Relations, Carleton University

    Over the past few weeks, United States President Donald Trump has let loose a flurry of executive orders aiming to impose the MAGA agenda unilaterally.

    The legal challenges and judicial stays that have followed speak to the degree to which the limits of presidential authority are at risk in America. These limits include the making and breaking of international treaties.

    In the crosshairs is NATO, the very existence of which is threatened by Trump more than anything else.



    Read more:
    Allies or enemies? Trump’s threats against Canada and Greenland put NATO in a tough spot

    But can he sign an executive order and unilaterally denounce the North Atlantic Treaty — which forms the legal basis of NATO — or any international treaty, for that matter? The answer is uncertain, but perhaps not for long.

    Vice President J.D. Vance has stated on social media that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” suggesting that Trump won’t be checked or balanced by the judiciary or other branches of government. This sets up a high stakes battle over the limits of “legitimate” presidential authority.

    Any unilateral termination of the North Atlantic Treaty would likely end up in the U.S. Supreme Court. This question therefore is about more than just NATO. It’s about the power of the presidency to override Congress, ignore courts, terminate treaties and reshape the international order.

    How to quit an alliance

    To leave NATO, all a member needs to do is say so. Article 13 of the North Atlantic Treaty lays out simple instructions: give notice of denunciation to the U.S. government, which will then tell the other members. Basically, Trump can inform himself and likely post something to social media and the one-year countdown clock begins.

    But can Trump unilaterally withdraw from NATO in a way that’s constitutional? This is where things get ambiguous.

    The more appropriate question is: “Can the U.S. president unilaterally terminate an act of Congress?”

    The U.S. Constitution requires that international treaties have the “advice and consent” of “two-thirds of senators present” to become law. America’s adoption of the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 followed this process. But on treaty termination, the constitution is silent.

    This is remarkable because the U.S. has been terminating treaties since 1798. Naturally, the authority over treaty termination has been debated for just as long.

    The arguments boil down to this: if treaties are regarded as analogous to domestic law, then Trump needs the consent of two-thirds of the Senate to terminate the North Atlantic Treaty.

    If the domestic analogy is rejected or treaties are regarded as falling under the vested powers of the presidency — or as giving the president wiggle room to suspend elements of the agreement — then Trump can do what he wants.

    The Supreme Court’s stance

    Does the Supreme Court have anything to say? No, and deliberately so.

    In 1979, the court dismissed a suit brought by Sen. Barry Goldwater against President Jimmy Carter after Carter terminated a 25-year-old mutual defence treaty with Taiwan. The court dismissed the case as a non-justiciable political question.

    A similar outcome occurred in 2002 when President George W. Bush unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia. Members of Congress filed suit, but the case was dismissed by a federal court on the same grounds.

    What we have now is a practice of treaty termination that is governed by the norms of shared power over foreign policy between Congress and the presidency, exactly the kind of guardrails that Trump loves to ignore.

    So it seems that Trump could have a path to denouncing the North Atlantic Treaty. But there’s a twist.

    The Marco Rubio twist

    At the end of 2023, Congress passed the Defense Department budget that included a provision meant to forestall any unilateral withdrawal from NATO.

    Buried deep in the 974-page National Defense Authorization Act is a provision that prohibits the president from “suspending, terminating, denouncing, or withdrawing” from NATO “except with the advice and consent of 2/3 of the Senate.” That clause, spearheaded by then-senator and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is critical because of a court decision that’s nearly as old as NATO itself.

    In 1952, in the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer case, the Supreme Court clarified the parameters on executive power. It argued presidential authority on any matter is “is at its lowest ebb” when working against congressional authority.

    The Rubio clause may be the exact constitutional authority that stops Trump in his tracks. But stay tuned: this is all subject to change.

    What’s next?

    In 2025, the conditions for unilateral withdrawal seem to align perfectly for Trump: constitutional ambiguity, antiquated norms of polite governance and deferential courts.

    It might seem that Trump could denounce the North Atlantic Treaty with a few thumbstrokes, but that obscure provision in the Pentagon budget changes things. Any unilateral denunciation of NATO by Trump would set him on a collision course with Congress, and the matter would rocket toward the Supreme Court.

    So far, though, Trump hasn’t raised the spectre of termination. Instead, he has been more interested in increasing the NATO defence spending target to five per cent of GDP, up from two per cent, a requirement that would be difficult for many members to meet.

    It’s possible that including that language in the next NATO summit declaration would be enough for Trump. He’d look tough without the constitutional fight at home. Supporters of NATO, the durability of U.S. treaties and the separation of powers in America can only hope that will be enough.

    Aaron Ettinger 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. Is Donald Trump on a constitutional collision course over NATO? – https://theconversation.com/is-donald-trump-on-a-constitutional-collision-course-over-nato-248363

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The dangers of ‘Jekyll and Hyde leadership’: Why making amends after workplace abuse can hurt more than it helps

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By John Sumanth, James Farr Fellow & Associate Professor of Management, Wake Forest University

    Not the picture of leadership. LMPC via Getty Images

    A glance at the day’s headlines reveals a universal truth: Leadership matters.

    Whether uplifting and ethical or toxic and abusive, leaders profoundly shape our lives. And this is especially true on the job. Research consistently shows that leadership influences employees’ attitudes, behaviors and emotions, driving key organizational outcomes such as creativity, employee engagement, well-being and financial performance.

    Unfortunately, research also shows that supervisors abuse their employees far too often and then try to manage impressions to compensate for their bad behavior. But what happens when a leader tries to “make up” for past abuse by suddenly acting ethically? And do employees have to experience the abuse firsthand for it to hurt them?

    As professors who study management – and who’ve heard horror stories of employees working under mercurial bosses – we wanted to find answers. So we conducted a study, which was recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

    Our research includes multiple samples of full-time employees in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. To begin, we surveyed 222 employees and 66 supervisors to gather insights into workplace leadership and work experiences. We focused on two contrasting leadership behaviors: ethical leadership and abusive supervision. We also conducted experiments with 400 people, presenting them with stories about managers who alternately display both ethical leadership and abusive supervision and asking them how they would respond.

    Across these studies, we found that employees who experience such oscillating leadership often end up worse off – in terms of their emotional well-being and job performance – than if they were consistently being abused. By going back and forth between abusive and ethical behaviors, leaders create greater confusion, leaving their employees emotionally exhausted.

    Instead of providing relief, acts of ethical leadership ironically serve to amplify the damage done by prior abusive behavior.

    Jekyll and Hyde leadership in practice

    As an example, consider Steve Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple for more than a decade until his death in 2011. While Jobs was an icon to many people, he reportedly swung between toxic and positive leadership behavior while dealing with subordinates.

    For example, when Jobs’ exacting standards weren’t met, he would reportedly storm into meetings and profanely berate the team responsible for not living up to his lofty expectations. Yet, despite these outbursts, he was also described as a leader who believed in his employees’ potential, expressing unwavering confidence in their abilities and empowering them to exceed their own expectations.

    This kind of unpredictable leadership can leave workers emotionally exhausted, wondering: “Which version of my boss will show up today? Will this kindness last, or is it just a setup for another blow?” Unsurprisingly, this isn’t good for productivity.

    Employees value stability and predictability in their leaders. A supervisor who bounces between harsh criticism and warm praise creates an emotional roller coaster for the team. When employees see a supervisor as unpredictable, they experience more stress and emotional exhaustion, which hurts their job performance and willingness to share ideas.

    Interestingly, we found that workers don’t even need to be directly targeted by an abusive supervisor to be affected; employees whose immediate supervisors get the Jekyll-and-Hyde treatment from their higher-ups suffer similar consequences.

    These negative reactions occur, in part, because employees begin to doubt that their immediate supervisors are able to effectively influence higher-level leaders. In other words, the psychological toll of Jekyll-and-Hyde leaders isn’t limited to direct encounters but can also be experienced vicariously.

    How companies can banish Mr. Hyde

    The good news is that organizations can break this cycle – and workers are likely to be less stressed and more productive when they do. Here are three steps every organization can take:

    • Train leaders to manage stress without lashing out. High-pressure environments are prevalent these days, but abusive leader behavior doesn’t have to be. Providing leaders with tools like emotional intelligence training and conflict resolution skills can help leaders navigate both personal and professional challenges more constructively.

    • Address the abusive behavior directly. When abusive actions occur, ignoring them or asking the leader to “be nicer next time” isn’t enough. Structured interventions – like one-on-one coaching, counseling or formal sanctions – are essential for generating real change. Employees need to see that the organization is living up to its stated values and ideals.

    • Foster a culture of trust and accountability. Tools like 360-degree feedback reports – which involve feedback from supervisors, peers and subordinates – can help leaders gain deeper insight into their behaviors. These can be used not just for development, but also for heightened accountability. Creating a climate of psychological safety – in which employees can report concerns without fear of retaliation – is key to rebuilding trust. So is ensuring clear, consistent responses to reports of abusive supervision.

    Great leaders understand the power of trust and setting an example. Employees want leaders they can rely on, not ones who keep them guessing. So leaders should be wary about employing ethical leadership as a quick fix for past mistakes. Rather, it’s about showing up consistently, authentically, and with integrity every single day.

    For leaders at all levels, the takeaway is simple: Consistency fosters success. Organizations that prioritize stable, ethical leadership create workplaces where employees feel valued, supported and empowered to do their best work.

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

    – ref. The dangers of ‘Jekyll and Hyde leadership’:
    Why making amends after workplace abuse can hurt more than it helps – https://theconversation.com/the-dangers-of-jekyll-and-hyde-leadership-why-making-amends-after-workplace-abuse-can-hurt-more-than-it-helps-244622

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –