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Category: Universities

  • MIL-OSI Global: Power vacuum in west Africa’s Sahel: 3 ways China could fill the gap as west exits

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi, Faculty member, Department of Political Science, Lagos State University

    With France fast losing its influence in west Africa’s Sahel region and an unpredictable US president in power, will China fill the vacuum?

    The Sahel region covers 10 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.

    French troops have been expelled from three of these – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – after military coups. Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast have also expelled French troops. The troops were there because of the security threat from extremist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.

    Niger also ended an agreement to keep about 1,000 US troops involved in a counter-terrorism mission. Niger’s military government described the US as having a “condescending attitude”.

    While it has been rightly argued that the presence of the western powers did not resolve the security challenges of the region, their withdrawal creates a vacuum.

    I am a political science and international relations researcher who has been studying China-Africa relations for over a decade.

    I argue that Beijing could take advantage of the vacuum in the Sahel in at least three ways: expansion of investments in critical minerals; resolution of the Ecowas crisis (when Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali exited the regional bloc); and increased arms sales.

    This is especially so as China is not new to the Sahel region of west Africa. For instance, China is constructing a US$32 million headquarters for Ecowas in Abuja, Nigeria.

    Three ways China could benefit

    First, China could expand its influence – and the next four years hold enormous opportunities in this regard.

    US president Donald Trump’s likely transactional and unpredictable approach to international relations may force African countries to look to China. For instance, they may need China to help fill the void created by the US decision to dismantle USAID and freeze international development aid.

    Nigeria joined Brics as a partner country a few days before the inauguration of Trump. Brics is a group of emerging economies determined to act as a counterweight to the west and to whittle down the influence of global institutions. It was established in 2006 and initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. This decision by the largest economy in the Sahel is an expression of its commitment to China – with potential implications for other Sahelian countries.

    The vacuum offers Beijing the opportunity to strengthen its investment and position as a top beneficiary of the critical minerals, such as gold, copper, lithium and uranium, in the Sahel region.

    In 2024, west African gold production was estimated to be 11.83 million ounces. Ghana, Burkina Faso, the Republic of Guinea and Mali were the major contributors.

    Second, China is in a unique position to push for a resolution of the Ecowas crisis.

    Following military coups, the Ecowas regional economic bloc sanctioned Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Ecowas even threatened Niger with a military invasion. The three countries then decided to leave Ecowas to form the Alliance of Sahel States.

    As a neutral actor whose non-interference policy accommodates both civil and military regimes, Beijing is in a position to bring Ecowas and the Alliance of Sahel States into negotiation before the final departure date of 29 July 2025.

    If it succeeds, China would look more like a peaceful power, an image that is contested by others.

    Building on its soft power projects like the Confucius Institutes and scholarships, China would look like the “saviour” of Ecowas integration.

    This is what it did in the case of the Tazara railway project, where China supported Tanzania and Zambia to build a railway line together. It supported the African countries when the US and Europe had failed, were reluctant or were not interested.

    Third is Chinese arms sales.

    Chinese arms are already in the Sahel. In 2019, Nigeria signed a US$152 million contract with the China North Industries Corporation Limited (Norinco) to provide some of the weapons needed to fight the Boko Haram terror group. Since then, Chinese drones and other equipment have become a feature in Nigeria’s counter-terrorism response.

    The Chinese arms market could receive a major boost beyond Nigeria with the withdrawal of western countries from the Sahel. Western countries are likely to be reluctant to sell arms to the countries that have evicted their military.

    Sanctions on Russia have also increased the likelihood of Chinese arms in the Sahel.

    For example, a few months after France and the US left the region, some reports suggested that Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region were using Chinese weapons. Norinco – China’s top arms manufacturer and seventh largest arms supplier in the world – has opened sales offices in Nigeria and Senegal.

    In June 2024, Burkina Faso received 100 tanks from China. Three months after, Mali signed an agreement with Norinco to bolster its fight against terrorism.

    Bumpy road ahead

    China’s non-interference can accommodate both civil and military governments in the Sahel. This is an advantage for Beijing in some ways. But it could also have unexpected impacts.

    There are competing local interests in the Sahel and Beijing’s deepening involvement could be (mis)interpreted as supporting one over the other.

    This could make Chinese interests a target in the violence.

    It is also unclear if China is capable or willing to fill the vacuum created by the evicted western powers. But it looks as though China can benefit from the situation in the Sahel in the short term.

    Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi has previously received research funding or travel support from organisations like the KU Leuven, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Social Science Research Council (SSRC), Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Lagos State University, Chatham House (i.e. Robert Bosch Stiftung), Centre for Population and Environmental Development (CPED), Think Tank Initiative, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Coimbra Group Scholarship Programme, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TetFund), Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF), American Council of Learned Societies’ African Humanities Program (ACLS-AHP), Merian Institute of Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA), Development Studies Association (DSA) UK, Collective for the Renewal of Africa (CORA), Ford Foundation, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS). However, I must clearly and strongly state that none of these funders have at any time sought to influence or influenced my writings or public engagement. Thus, this article is one of my many expressions of my academic freedom.

    – ref. Power vacuum in west Africa’s Sahel: 3 ways China could fill the gap as west exits – https://theconversation.com/power-vacuum-in-west-africas-sahel-3-ways-china-could-fill-the-gap-as-west-exits-248353

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Central African Republic: listening to people’s stories about foreign forces could help bring peace

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tim Glawion, Senior research fellow at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institut, Freiburg, Germany, University of Freiburg

    Since it became independent in 1960, the Central African Republic has grappled with poverty, instability and governance challenges.

    A decade into former president François Bozizé’s corrupt rule, a rebellion broke out and toppled the president in 2013. What followed was a devastatingly violent civil war with thousands of people killed and a fifth of the populace displaced.

    To halt violence against civilians, numerous international actors intervened, including the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union and France. From 2014 onward they put thousands of boots on the ground and pushed rebels from most towns, while protecting and supporting the interim administration.

    But by 2016 all actors had retreated, save the United Nations (UN). The mission – Minusca – was not able to contain a resurgence in rebellion, and the newly elected president Faustin-Archange Touadéra turned to Russian paramilitaries to stabilise his rule in 2017.

    These paramilitaries started out only as “trainers” but took on more prominent and direct combat roles as the years passed, making the country a geopolitical playing field. The Russian paramilitaries and national army again pushed the rebels out of most towns and into the countryside.

    I have studied the Central African Republic’s politics for over a decade, conducting research in towns across the country. I wanted to find out why some areas were more affected by violence than others and how people locally lived together. I believed that in such local stories we might find missing links as to why all the actors involved failed to provide the protection from violence and provision of services that people desired.

    To study people’s expectations of peacekeepers, I used a method I call the “qualitative” survey. This type of survey asks open questions, for example “what do you expect of international actors?”. This leaves space for people to say things that researchers might not have expected. It also included more typical closed questions like “how safe do you feel, on a scale from 1 to 5?”.

    With a team of Central African researchers, I conducted these surveys in four places in 2019 and in two places in 2023 and 2024. At this stage respondents had experienced foreign peacekeeping missions and Russian paramilitary presence.

    We found that peacekeeping missions were losing popular support because they were not fulfilling the expectations of people in the Central African Republic.

    People wanted peacekeepers to confront armed actors. When peacekeepers failed to do so, they criticised them, even requested them to leave.

    Russian paramilitaries offered the forceful response that autocratic regimes and many locals wanted. However, they provided a too simplistic answer to people’s demands, based only on the present. People also had future expectations: they wanted armed actors to be kicked out so that people might be treated fairly and witness the return of a caring state in the near future.

    Thus, while peacekeepers frustrated initial expectations and Russian paramilitaries might fulfil them, the Central African state and their Russian paramilitary allies were not building the future people expected.

    Expectations

    The overall results of the survey showed that people had the most confidence in local institutions, while harbouring high expectations for the state (when it returns), and being broadly disappointed by international peacekeepers.

    The results varied strongly according to local experiences with the state and international actors. Most intriguingly, respondents did not necessarily feel safest in those localities that had the fewest violent incidents. I call this the “security paradox” and it has much to do with unmet expectations for which we need to dig into individual responses.

    Take the example of a middle-aged woman in the Central African Republic’s north-eastern and long rebel-held town of Ndélé, who made two points in early 2019. First, the United Nations peacekeeping mission, Minusca, was inactive in the face of aggression. Second, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were doing a good job:

    Partner organisations such as Minusca who reside among our population do not seem to be there to ensure our protection, as we hear on the radio. A person may well be raped, and they do not even react to rescue the person in danger, even if they know about it. On the other hand, the NGOs are doing a very good job, and it is thanks to them that Ndélé is doing well today.

    However, my own analysis showed that, objectively speaking, both peacekeepers and aid organisations were doing a mediocre job. Under the peacekeepers’ watch few violent incidents occurred and the aid organisations were only covering a fraction of local needs, much less than in other studied localities.

    The difference in perception, I argue, stems from the fact that local people have certain expectations for security and different expectations for service provision in the Central African Republic.

    Security in the Central African Republic is marked by an abundance of armed groups threatening people’s livelihoods. Dozens are currently active, of which a handful have been roaming for more than a decade, controlling trade routes and resources, as well as wielding local political power.

    Services like schooling, health and electricity are almost entirely absent in many areas outside the capital; not even the state provides them.

    Thus, in the security sector, people expect confrontation of armed actors by either the UN peacekeeping mission or the Russian paramilitary, whereas in services they want NGOs to substitute for government failings. Or in the words of an Ndélé trader:

    The international actors can help us during these absences of state authority.

    However, Minusca was not ready to forcefully oppose armed actors as they pursued an approach based on negotiating peace agreements and pursuing voluntary integration or disarmament. What my study shows is that doing too little in the eyes of the population can quickly turn the rumour mill, as this woman in Ndélé suggested:

    As for Minusca, we do not see its work in favour of our well-being, and we even want it to leave since we have seen that it is the cause of our current division and suffering.

    But would confrontation have brought more popular support to Minusca? Well, it did to another actor that stepped in, as a national staffer of an aid organisation stated in early 2022 in Bambari:

    Minusca patrols do not have the confidence of the population. Because in front of Minusca forces, the rebels kill the population. For seven years, Minusca was unable to secure the town. Within minutes, the Central African Armed Forces and their Russian allies managed to dislodge them from the town of Bambari, which is now secure.

    Reality

    I did not judge whether people’s expectations of interventions were realistic.

    Given the state’s history in the Central African Republic, it was surprising how many people wanted a state and army to return.

    However, people were hoping for a “benevolent” state return. This has not happened.

    And as for the Russian “allies”, as they are called in the Central African Republic: their confrontational approach has caused heavy collateral damage and has failed to stabilise former rebel areas. Rebellion is again on the rise.

    My study shows how important it is to analyse expectations in-depth, and to take them as a starting point of intervention policy. Not understanding people’s expectations is what caught peacekeepers by surprise when people started demonstrating in front of their bases and even calling for their withdrawal.

    While there might be good reasons not to pursue a forceful approach against rebels, interveners must be aware that they thereby deceive public expectations and should thus proactively listen to and engage the population about their demands.

    The dilemma is that fulfilling people’s initial expectations does not automatically lead to the future they desire. So there must be difficult and open discussions about what is and what is not feasible in peacekeeping.

    – Central African Republic: listening to people’s stories about foreign forces could help bring peace
    – https://theconversation.com/central-african-republic-listening-to-peoples-stories-about-foreign-forces-could-help-bring-peace-247834

    MIL OSI Africa –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Power vacuum in west Africa’s Sahel: 3 ways China could fill the gap as west exits

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi, Faculty member, Department of Political Science, Lagos State University

    With France fast losing its influence in west Africa’s Sahel region and an unpredictable US president in power, will China fill the vacuum?

    The Sahel region covers 10 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.

    French troops have been expelled from three of these – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – after military coups. Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast have also expelled French troops. The troops were there because of the security threat from extremist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.

    Niger also ended an agreement to keep about 1,000 US troops involved in a counter-terrorism mission. Niger’s military government described the US as having a “condescending attitude”.

    While it has been rightly argued that the presence of the western powers did not resolve the security challenges of the region, their withdrawal creates a vacuum.

    I am a political science and international relations researcher who has been studying China-Africa relations for over a decade.

    I argue that Beijing could take advantage of the vacuum in the Sahel in at least three ways: expansion of investments in critical minerals; resolution of the Ecowas crisis (when Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali exited the regional bloc); and increased arms sales.

    This is especially so as China is not new to the Sahel region of west Africa. For instance, China is constructing a US$32 million headquarters for Ecowas in Abuja, Nigeria.

    Three ways China could benefit

    First, China could expand its influence – and the next four years hold enormous opportunities in this regard.

    US president Donald Trump’s likely transactional and unpredictable approach to international relations may force African countries to look to China. For instance, they may need China to help fill the void created by the US decision to dismantle USAID and freeze international development aid.

    Nigeria joined Brics as a partner country a few days before the inauguration of Trump. Brics is a group of emerging economies determined to act as a counterweight to the west and to whittle down the influence of global institutions. It was established in 2006 and initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. This decision by the largest economy in the Sahel is an expression of its commitment to China – with potential implications for other Sahelian countries.

    The vacuum offers Beijing the opportunity to strengthen its investment and position as a top beneficiary of the critical minerals, such as gold, copper, lithium and uranium, in the Sahel region.

    In 2024, west African gold production was estimated to be 11.83 million ounces. Ghana, Burkina Faso, the Republic of Guinea and Mali were the major contributors.

    Second, China is in a unique position to push for a resolution of the Ecowas crisis.

    Following military coups, the Ecowas regional economic bloc sanctioned Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Ecowas even threatened Niger with a military invasion. The three countries then decided to leave Ecowas to form the Alliance of Sahel States.

    As a neutral actor whose non-interference policy accommodates both civil and military regimes, Beijing is in a position to bring Ecowas and the Alliance of Sahel States into negotiation before the final departure date of 29 July 2025.

    If it succeeds, China would look more like a peaceful power, an image that is contested by others.

    Building on its soft power projects like the Confucius Institutes and scholarships, China would look like the “saviour” of Ecowas integration.

    This is what it did in the case of the Tazara railway project, where China supported Tanzania and Zambia to build a railway line together. It supported the African countries when the US and Europe had failed, were reluctant or were not interested.

    Third is Chinese arms sales.

    Chinese arms are already in the Sahel. In 2019, Nigeria signed a US$152 million contract with the China North Industries Corporation Limited (Norinco) to provide some of the weapons needed to fight the Boko Haram terror group. Since then, Chinese drones and other equipment have become a feature in Nigeria’s counter-terrorism response.

    The Chinese arms market could receive a major boost beyond Nigeria with the withdrawal of western countries from the Sahel. Western countries are likely to be reluctant to sell arms to the countries that have evicted their military.

    Sanctions on Russia have also increased the likelihood of Chinese arms in the Sahel.

    For example, a few months after France and the US left the region, some reports suggested that Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region were using Chinese weapons. Norinco – China’s top arms manufacturer and seventh largest arms supplier in the world – has opened sales offices in Nigeria and Senegal.

    In June 2024, Burkina Faso received 100 tanks from China. Three months after, Mali signed an agreement with Norinco to bolster its fight against terrorism.

    Bumpy road ahead

    China’s non-interference can accommodate both civil and military governments in the Sahel. This is an advantage for Beijing in some ways. But it could also have unexpected impacts.

    There are competing local interests in the Sahel and Beijing’s deepening involvement could be (mis)interpreted as supporting one over the other.

    This could make Chinese interests a target in the violence.

    It is also unclear if China is capable or willing to fill the vacuum created by the evicted western powers. But it looks as though China can benefit from the situation in the Sahel in the short term.

    – Power vacuum in west Africa’s Sahel: 3 ways China could fill the gap as west exits
    – https://theconversation.com/power-vacuum-in-west-africas-sahel-3-ways-china-could-fill-the-gap-as-west-exits-248353

    MIL OSI Africa –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: A boycott campaign fuels tension between Black shoppers and Black-owned brands – evoking the long struggle for ‘consumer citizenship’

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Timeka N. Tounsel, Associate Professor of Black Studies in Communication, University of Washington

    Some Black consumers may be breaking up with Target this February.

    It all started late last month, when the retailer announced that it was ending its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The move drew widespread rebuke from social justice organizers, including New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant. Although Target said one set of its racial-equity initiatives had already been scheduled to conclude, the timing was notable: The move came just days after the White House called for a federal DEI ban, and as several other companies took similar actions.

    Beyond renaming its “supplier diversity” team – now called “supplier engagement” – and ending “diversity-focused surveys,” Target hasn’t said what the change will mean for the many Black entrepreneurs who sell everything from coffee to sunscreen on its shelves. The webpage for the retailer’s Black Beyond Measure initiative, which highlights dozens of Black-founded brands and connects business owners to a program designed to “democratize access to retail education,” remains active.

    But Target’s critics, including Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, view the move as a surrender to the new presidential administration’s attack on equity programs. In a news conference outside Target’s Minnesota headquarters on Jan. 30, 2025, Armstrong called for a nationwide boycott of the store to begin on the first day of Black History Month.

    While many social media users posted in support of the boycott, some Black founders whose brands are stocked by Target – and there are dozens of them – have been more conflicted. Tabitha Brown, whose products can be found in various aisles, from books to cooking appliances, asked customers to reconsider boycotting Target. Withholding their dollars, Brown insisted, will hurt Black businesses far more than the corporations that sell their products.

    This request for restraint garnered a mixed response on social media. Some Black consumers accused Black business owners of selling out the very racial community that contributed to their success.

    So, why would a Black business owner ask consumers to patronize a retailer that signaled it doesn’t care about Black customers? And how did something as mundane as where people buy toilet paper and shampoo become a litmus test for racial consciousness in the first place?

    Black consumers and the fight for dignity

    The marketplace has long been a battleground where Black Americans have sought to assert their citizenship. Most of the nation’s biggest household brands didn’t begin to take African American consumers seriously until after World War II. Before that shift, advertisements and product packaging were more likely to feature degrading Black caricatures to appeal to white shoppers, than to address Black consumers directly.

    This segregated commercial landscape reinforced the belief among some community members that Black people would not be taken seriously as citizens until they were taken seriously as consumers. They would need to vote with their dollars, patronizing only those brands and retailers that respected them.

    In my research on marketing campaigns aimed at Black women, I’ve examined how the struggle for consumer citizenship complicated the dynamic between Black entrepreneurs and consumers. On the one hand, businesses have long leveraged Black ownership as a unique selling proposition in and of itself, urging shoppers to view Black brand loyalty as a path to collective racial progress.

    Unlike their larger competitors, Black entrepreneurs relied on their racial community to stay afloat. Patronizing African American businesses could therefore be framed as a racial duty. Conversely, as African American advertising pioneers made clear, recognition from big brands was a political victory of sorts because it signaled that Black dollars were just as valuable as anyone else’s.

    A short documentary from The Advertising Club of New York featuring iconic ads from African American marketer Tom Burrell.

    Competing for Black dollars

    Corporate attention to Black consumers ebbs and flows in a cycle that is especially noticeable in the beauty and personal care industry. In seasons of limited competition for African American customers, entrepreneurs typically thrive, even while they struggle to meet the capital demands of a growing brand. Their success, however, beckons larger corporations, which then seek to capitalize on consumer niches they previously ignored.

    Two common approaches that mass market brands pursue to compete for Black dollars include acquiring smaller, established Black brands and developing their own niche products. Large corporations deployed both strategies during a period of intense expansion into the beauty market of the 1980s.

    Black owners tried to stave off their competition by creating a special emblem that alerted shoppers to their authenticity. Then, as now, social justice organizations, such as Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH, also initiated boycotts and urged Black consumers not to choose “lipstick over liberation.”

    Nevertheless, many Black entrepreneurs sold their brands, and by 1986 nearly half of the Black hair care market was no longer Black-owned.

    A linked fate

    Parsing winners and losers within the world of Black enterprise is as difficult now as it was in earlier periods. African American business owners often possess a cultural consciousness that distinguishes their brands, even when they can’t match the resources of larger competitors. And as they figure out how to survive an uneven playing field, Black entrepreneurs sometimes face accusations of betraying their racial community.

    In a market governed by the law of supply and demand, Black consumers benefit from increased competition. Yet, racial loyalty sometimes asks that they eschew these benefits for the sake of keeping Black dollars in Black hands.

    Four years ago, when Target launched its Black Beyond Measure funding initiative, it seemed that the retailer had struck a rare balance in supporting Black brands and their customers. In addition to curating a collection of products to lure shoppers, Target used the campaign as an opportunity to position entrepreneurs to flourish well beyond Black History Month.

    Now, as Black consumers and business owners weigh varying responses to the retailer’s decision to reverse their commitment to DEI values, one question endures: Do Black dollars matter?

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

    – ref. A boycott campaign fuels tension between Black shoppers and Black-owned brands – evoking the long struggle for ‘consumer citizenship’ – https://theconversation.com/a-boycott-campaign-fuels-tension-between-black-shoppers-and-black-owned-brands-evoking-the-long-struggle-for-consumer-citizenship-248978

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why the price of your favorite chocolate will continue to rise

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Narcisa Pricope, Professor of Geography and Land Systems Science and Associate Vice President for Research, Mississippi State University

    Chocolate prices spiked amid very dry conditions in Africa. Chuck Fishman/Getty Images

    Valentine’s Day often conjures images of chocolates and romance. But the crop behind this indulgence faces an existential threat.

    Regions like northeastern Brazil, one of the world’s notable cocoa-producing areas, are grappling with increasing aridity – a slow, yet unrelenting drying of the land. Cocoa is made from the beans of the cacao tree, which thrives in humid climates. The crop is struggling in these drying regions, and so are the farmers who grow it.

    This is not just Brazil’s story. Across West Africa, where 70% of the world’s cacao is grown, and in the Americas and Southeast Asia, shifting moisture levels threaten the delicate balance required for production. These regions, home to vibrant ecosystems and global breadbaskets that feed the world, are on the frontlines of aridity’s slow but relentless advance.

    A farmer in Colombia holds a cacao pod, which holds the key ingredients for chocolate.
    ©2017CIAT/NeilPalmer, CC BY-NC-SA

    Over the past 30 years, more than three-quarters of the Earth’s landmass has become drier. A recent report I helped coordinate for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification found that drylands now cover 41% of global land, an area that expanded by nearly 1.7 million square miles (4.3 million square kilometers) over those three decades — about half the size of Australia.

    This creeping dryness is not just a climate phenomenon. It’s a long-term transformation that may be irreversible and that carries devastating consequences for ecosystems, agriculture and livelihoods worldwide.

    What causes aridity?

    Aridity, while often thought of as purely a climate phenomenon, is the result of a complex interplay among human-driven factors. These include greenhouse gas emissions, land use practices and the degradation of critical natural resources, such as soil and biodiversity.

    These interconnected forces have been accelerating the transformation of once-productive landscapes into increasingly arid regions, with consequences that ripple across ecosystems and economies.

    Greenhouse gas emissions: A global catalyst

    Human-induced climate change is the primary driver of rising aridity.

    Greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, increase global temperatures. Rising temperatures, in turn, cause moisture to evaporate at a faster rate. This heightened evaporation reduces soil and plant moisture, exacerbating water scarcity – even in regions with moderate rainfall.

    Aridity began accelerating globally in the 1950s, and the world has seen a pronounced shift over the past three decades.

    This process is particularly stark in regions already prone to dryness, such as Africa’s Sahel region and the Mediterranean. In these areas, reduced precipitation – combined with increased evaporation – creates a feedback loop: Drier soils absorb less heat, leaving the atmosphere warmer and intensifying arid conditions.

    The number of people living in dryland regions has been rising in each region in recent years. Years 1971-2020. Scales vary.
    UNCCD

    Unsustainable land use practices: A hidden accelerator

    Aridity is also affected by how people use and manage land.

    Unsustainable agricultural practices, overgrazing and deforestation strip soils of their protective vegetation cover, leaving them vulnerable to erosion. Industrial farming techniques often prioritize short-term yields over long-term sustainability, depleting nutrients and organic matter essential for healthy soils.

    For example, in cocoa-producing regions like northeastern Brazil, deforestation to make room for agriculture disrupts local water cycles and exposes soils to degradation. Without vegetation to anchor it, topsoil – critical for plant growth – washes away during rainfall or is blown away by winds, taking with it vital nutrients.

    These changes create a vicious cycle: Degraded soils also hold less water and lead to more runoff, reducing the land’s ability to recover.

    Aridity can affect the ability to grow many crops. Large parts of the country of Chad, shown here, have drying lands.
    United Nations Chad, CC BY-NC-SA

    The soil-biodiversity connection

    Soil, often overlooked in discussions of climate resilience, plays a critical role in mitigating aridity.

    Healthy soils act as reservoirs, storing water and nutrients that plants depend on. They also support biodiversity below and above ground. A single teaspoon of soil contains billions of microorganisms that help cycle nutrients and maintain ecological balance.

    However, as soils degrade under aridity and mismanagement, this biodiversity diminishes. Microbial communities, essential for nutrient cycling and plant health, decline. When soils become compacted and lose organic matter, the land’s ability to retain water diminishes, making it even more susceptible to drying out.

    In short, the loss of soil health creates cascading effects that undermine ecosystems, agricultural productivity and food security.

    Global hot spots: Looming food security crises

    Cocoa is just one crop affected by the encroachment of rising aridity.

    Other key agricultural zones, including the breadbaskets of the world, are also at risk. In the Mediterranean, Africa’s Sahel and parts of the U.S. West, aridity already undermines farming and biodiversity.

    By 2100, up to 5 billion people could live in drylands – nearly double the current population in these areas, due to both population growth and expansion of drylands as the planet warms. This puts immense pressure on food systems. It can also accelerate migration as declining agricultural productivity, water scarcity and worsening living conditions force rural populations to move in search of opportunities.

    A map shows average aridity for 1981-2010. Computer simulations estimate that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities caused a 1.2% larger increase in the four types of dry regions combined for the periods between 1850 and 1981–2010 than simulations with only solar and volcanic effects considered.
    UNCCD

    Aridity’s ripple effects also extend far beyond agriculture. Ecosystems, already strained by deforestation and pollution, are stressed as water resources dwindle. Wildlife migrates or dies, and plant species adapted to moister conditions can’t survive. The Sahel’s delicate grasslands, for instance, are rapidly giving way to desert shrubs.

    On a global scale, economic losses linked to aridification are staggering. In Africa, rising aridity contributed to a 12% drop in gross domestic product from 1990 to 2015. Sandstorms and dust storms, wildfires and water scarcity further burden governments, exacerbating poverty and health crises in the most affected regions.

    The path forward

    Aridity is not inevitable, nor are its effects completely irreversible. But coordinated global efforts are essential to curb its progression.

    Countries can work together to restore degraded lands by protecting and restoring ecosystems, improving soil health and encouraging sustainable farming methods.

    Communities can manage water more efficiently through rainwater harvesting and advanced irrigation systems that optimize water use. Governments can reduce the drivers of climate change by investing in renewable energy.

    Continued international collaboration, including working with businesses, can help share technologies to make these actions more effective and available worldwide.

    So, as you savor chocolate this Valentine’s Day, remember the fragile ecosystems behind it. The price of cocoa in early 2025 was near its all-time high, due in part to dry conditions in Africa. Without urgent action to address aridity, this scenario may become more common, and cocoa – and the sweet concoctions derived from it – may well become a rare luxury.

    Collective action against aridity isn’t just about saving chocolate – it’s about preserving the planet’s capacity to sustain life.

    Narcisa Pricope is a member of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Science-Policy Interface, which works to translate scientific findings and assessments into policy-relevant recommendations, including collaboration with different scientific panels and bodies.

    – ref. Why the price of your favorite chocolate will continue to rise – https://theconversation.com/why-the-price-of-your-favorite-chocolate-will-continue-to-rise-246227

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: 5 premium online research tools all Philly students can use for free

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joyce Valenza, Associate Teaching Professor of Library and Information Science, Rutgers University

    The School District of Philadelphia has 250 district and alternative schools – but only a few have libraries with certified librarians. Lisa5201/E+ Collection via Getty Images

    Years ago, as a high school librarian in suburban Philadelphia, I hosted a group of honors students from a high school just across the nearby city border. With the support of their alumni association, the city students planned to build a library at their school.

    While our 30,000-volume physical collection impressed them, it was our virtual library, websites designed to support student projects, and subscription-based digital collections and databases that evoked the most profound reaction.

    When I asked the students what they were researching, in unison, they responded “Hamlet criticism.” When I showed them results from an e-book database from the POWER Library web portal, I heard gasps.

    One young man pulled a dog-eared book out from his backpack. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Do you mean that we’ve been passing this single book around when all of those e-books are available to us free?”

    His parting words haunted me: “We will never be able to compete with those students when we go to college.”

    As a library and information science professor, and a librarian for 40 years, I have researched information equity disparities among high school students and witnessed them firsthand.

    Consider, for example, this startling figure: The School District of Philadelphia has just four certified librarians for its nearly 118,000 students across 250 schools. The district confirmed this number in an email to The Conversation U.S.

    Many of the nearby suburban districts that border Philadelphia, such as Lower Merion, Abington, Upper Darby, Haverford Township and Springfield Township, where I worked, have at least one librarian per school.

    Philadelphia’s school district is making efforts to address the librarian shortage. In late 2024, it hired a director of library science, Jean Darnell, who plans to add more libraries and librarians to district schools. But she cautions that it will require financial resources to do so.

    Information privilege

    The gap discovered by the students I hosted that day wasn’t just about one book versus many. It was about not having the same high-quality, paywalled tools for research, and the guidance of trained librarians to help them navigate the research process.

    Information science researchers refer to this gap as information privilege.

    Inspired by education activist and researcher Peggy McIntosh’s 1989 essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Duke University librarian Hannah Rozear designed a graphic to illustrate what information privilege looks like for high school and college students.

    Duke University librarian Hannah Rozear offers examples of what information privilege looks like for high school and college students.
    Hannah Rozear, CC BY-NC-SA

    As part of my work on an information equity initiative for the International Society for Technology in Education, I enhanced the diagram. I wanted to expand the notion of equity of information access and equity of information experiences in K-12 education.

    The author expanded the Information Privilege backpack concept to apply to K-12 students.
    Joyce Valenza, CC BY-NC-SA

    In addition to simply having access to a variety of high-quality resources, students with information privilege learn to critically and ethically use information to create and share meaningful research projects with the knowledge they build.

    That student’s realization of what he didn’t know he didn’t have sparked my development of a three-year research project with colleagues across six New Jersey colleges. Our team of academic librarians, library and information science educators, and high school librarians followed students who had certified high school librarians into their first college year.

    We found dramatic differences in college preparedness based on high school library experiences.

    The students who had certified high school librarians consistently reported feeling fully prepared for college-level research. They were confident in navigating academic databases. They arrived at college able to identify information needs, understand information genres, search effectively, and craft thoughtful arguments from their research. They were also better able to meet the standards for information literacy at the college level.

    Students who had librarians in high school felt better prepared for college-level research, the author’s study found.
    Visual Vic/Moment Collection via Getty Images

    Access to POWER library

    Due in part to the lack of school librarians, many Philadelphia parents and students haven’t yet been introduced to the freely available resources of the POWER Library.

    Sponsored by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries and the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the POWER Library portal offers audio books and e-books, movies, reference materials, magazines, journals, newspapers and other digital resources for users of all ages.

    Annual subscriptions to these resources would cost US$56,515 for schools and $73,366 for public libraries.

    In Pennsylvania, if your school has a library, the librarian will have ensured that students can easily log in to the POWER Library during school hours.

    Pennsylvania students in schools without a library or a librarian can independently access the POWER library at any hour of the day using the barcode on their public library card, or by signing up for a POWER Library eCard.

    The POWER Library page highlights Power Teens and Power Kids resources.

    Here are five of my favorite tools from the collection that support students’ academic research:

    1. EBSCO eBooks – This collection of more than 16,000 e-books includes nonfiction, textbooks, specialized subject area encyclopedias, literary criticism, and college prep and other study guides.

    2. AP Newsroom – With more than 3,000 media items added daily, AP Newsroom allows students to visually explore 185 years of world history and breaking news through on-the-scene, high-quality photography, sound, video and graphics. Topics cover major events as well as sports, culture and entertainment. Students will find primary source content to track developing stories and support research and analysis of historic events. Over 20 million royalty-free stock images are included.

    3. Gale eBooks – Gale, a well-respected publisher, offers students a complete library reference section available from anywhere. The high-quality encyclopedias and multivolume reference sets span literature, American and global history, social issues, science, biography, business and much more.

    4. Gale OneFile: High School Edition – This research portal connects students to magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books and engaging multimedia that cover the wide range of subjects they might encounter in a high school curriculum. It also prepares them for the academic databases they’ll encounter at college. Gale In Context: Elementary, meanwhile, offers a similar range of kid-friendly content for younger researchers.

    5. SIRS Discoverer – For upper-elementary and middle schoolers, SIRS Discoverer engages students’ curiosity and critical thinking in such areas as animals, countries, states and biographies. Don’t miss the “Issues” section, which covers topical issues like global warming, artificial intelligence and cellphones in schools with contextual information, vocabulary and organized viewpoints.

    Libraries offer democratic access to critical information by providing free entry to digital resources that would otherwise be too costly for most people. This is true whether you’re a student or not.

    In addition to the POWER Library, anyone who lives, works, pays taxes or attends school in Philadelphia can use the extensive digital resources offered by the Free Library of Philadelphia.

    Residents outside Pennsylvania can use this map to identify similar resources in their state, or they can explore the databases provided by public libraries around the country.

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

    – ref. 5 premium online research tools all Philly students can use for free – https://theconversation.com/5-premium-online-research-tools-all-philly-students-can-use-for-free-237930

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Teen girls are facing an increased risk of suicide − and stress related to sexual identity might be contributing to it

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joseph Cimpian, Professor of Economics and Education Policy, New York University

    In 2021, about 48% of LGBQ females considered suicide, compared with roughly 20% of heterosexual females, data shows. bymuratdeniz/iStock/Getty Images Plus

    The alarming national rise in suicidal thoughts and behaviors among teenage girls has made headlines recently. Experts point to social media, cyberbullying and COVID-19 as potential new sources of stress for teenagers.

    However, a well-known source of stress that now affects more teenagers compared with a decade ago has been overlooked in explanations for this increase – stress related to sexual identity.

    As scholars focused on education policy, we conducted research showing that the increase in suicidal thoughts and behaviors corresponds with a dramatic rise in the number of female high school students who identify as LGBQ – lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning.

    A double bind for LGBQ teens

    While some LGBQ youth are growing up in supportive environments, our findings suggest that an increasing number may be experiencing a double bind – a communication dilemma in which a person receives two or more mutually conflicting messages.

    Many LGBQ youth may believe it’s safe to “come out” due to greater access to information and the increased visibility of LGBQ people in U.S. society. But coming out earlier in life could expose them to discrimination and social stress in their schools, families and communities.

    This stress related to sexual orientation can contribute to a greater prevalence of mental health concerns, including suicide.

    We analyzed national data from over 44,000 U.S. high school students who took the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021. We did this to understand these parallel national trends of rising suicide risk and rising LGBQ identification among teens.

    Between 2015 and 2021, the percentage of high school girls identifying as LGBQ jumped from 15% to 34%. During this same period, all females who reported they thought about suicide increased from 23% to 29%. Creating a plan to commit suicide rose from 19% to 23%.

    But looking at the data more closely reveals something crucial: Girls who identified as LGBQ consistently reported much higher rates of thinking about, planning and attempting suicide.

    In 2021, about 48% of LGBQ females considered suicide, compared with roughly 20% of heterosexual females. When we accounted for this difference statistically, we found the overall rise in female suicidal thoughts and behaviors were explained by more students identifying as LGBQ.

    Meanwhile, the percentage of male students identifying as LGBQ increased only slightly, from 6% in 2015 to 9% in 2021, with similar smaller changes in suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

    Why more students may be identifying as LGBQ

    The increase in LGBQ identification among more female students in the past decade likely indicates greater access to information and social acceptance. It may also reflect the greater visibility of LGBQ people, including in popular media and leadership roles, which may help young people better understand and label their own identity.

    Today’s teenagers, regardless of sexual orientation, have more language and representation to help them make sense of their experiences than previous generations did. Some teens have supportive parents and attend schools that are supportive of their sexual orientation.

    While more young people feel able to openly identify as LGBQ, many still face substantial challenges that can affect their mental health.
    kieferpix/iStock/Getty Images Plus

    However, identifying as LGBQ may still come with significant challenges for many youth.

    Research has consistently shown that LGBQ youth face unique stressors. They include discrimination, rejection by family members and friends and bullying and harassment.

    Studies incorporating several generations of LGBQ people over the past 50 years find that, despite more societal acceptance, LGBTQ+ people born in the 1990s reported stressors at least as high as older generations born in the 1950s-80s. And younger generations reported the highest rate of suicide attempts.

    Our findings highlight a critical point. The rising rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among all teenage girls cannot be understood in isolation from their social context and identities. While more young people feel able to openly identify as LGBQ, many still face substantial challenges that can affect their mental health.

    We believe this understanding has important implications for how we address the crisis. Simply implementing general suicide prevention programs may not be enough. Experts may need to craft targeted support that addresses the specific challenges and pressures faced by LGBQ youth.

    The need for supportive school environments

    Schools play a crucial role in supporting student well-being.

    However, states such as Indiana, Florida and Iowa have recently restricted resources and support for LGBQ and trans students.

    Since 2021, legislators in at least 24 states have attempted to pass similar laws.

    Other states, such as Montana, Tennessee and Arizona, don’t outright ban this curriculum. But they severely restrict how educators can discuss sexual orientation and gender identity by adding additional burdens on educators, including parental notification requirements.

    The Trump Administration, meanwhile, has started to roll back earlier federal efforts to protect LGBQ and trans students and recently deleted the Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.

    Our research suggests this approach could be dangerous.

    If we want to address rising suicidal thoughts and behaviors among teenage girls, we need to understand and support LGBQ youth better.

    Rather than reducing support, schools, parents and youth advocates could maintain and expand their resources to support LGBQ youth. This includes efforts to create safe and affirming school environments, and training staff and teachers to support LGBQ students effectively.

    Joseph Cimpian receives funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation.

    Dr. McQuillan has been hired by the ACLU to provide expert testimony in court cases. Dr. McQuillan has also received funding from the Spencer Foundation, Institute of Education Sciences, and the Wisconsin Partnership Project.

    – ref. Teen girls are facing an increased risk of suicide − and stress related to sexual identity might be contributing to it – https://theconversation.com/teen-girls-are-facing-an-increased-risk-of-suicide-and-stress-related-to-sexual-identity-might-be-contributing-to-it-247671

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: If FEMA didn’t exist, could states handle the disaster response alone?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ming Xie, Assistant Professor of Emergency Management and Public Health, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

    Hurricane Ian caused widespread damage in Florida in 2022, estimated at over $112 billion. This scene was once a shopping center. Giorgio Veira/AFP via Getty Images

    Imagine a world in which a hurricane devastates the Gulf Coast, and the U.S. has no federal agency prepared to quickly send supplies, financial aid and temporary housing assistance.

    Could the states manage this catastrophic event on their own?

    Normally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, is prepared to marshal supplies within hours of a disaster and begin distributing financial aid to residents who need help.

    However, with President Donald Trump questioning FEMA’s future and suggesting states take over recovery instead, and climate change causing more frequent and severe disasters, it’s worth asking how prepared states are to face these growing challenges without help.

    What FEMA does

    FEMA was created in 1979 with the job of coordinating national responses to disasters, but the federal government has played important roles in disaster relief since the 1800s.

    During a disaster, FEMA’s assistance can begin only after a state requests an emergency declaration and the U.S. president approves it. The request has to show that the disaster is so severe that the state can’t handle the response on its own.

    FEMA’s role is to support state and local governments by coordinating federal agencies and providing financial aid and recovery assistance that states would otherwise struggle to supply on their own. FEMA doesn’t “take over,” as a misinformation campaign launched during Hurricane Helene claimed. Instead, it pools federal resources to allow states to recover faster from expensive disasters.

    During a disaster, FEMA:

    • Coordinates federal resources. For example, during Hurricane Ian in 2022, FEMA coordinated with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Defense and search-and-rescue teams to conduct rescue operations, organized utility crews to begin restoring power and also delivered water and millions of meals.

    • Provides financial assistance. FEMA distributes billions of dollars in disaster relief funds to help individuals, businesses and local governments recover. As of Feb. 3, 2025, FEMA aid from 2024 storms included US$1.04 billion related to Hurricane Milton, $416.1 million for Hurricane Helene and $112.6 million for Hurricane Debby.

    • Provides logistical support. FEMA coordinates with state and local governments, nonprofits such as the American Red Cross and federal agencies to supply cots, blankets and hygiene supplies for emergency shelters. It also works with state and local partners to distribute critical supplies such as food, water and medical aid.

    The agency also manages the National Flood Insurance Program, offers disaster preparedness training and helps states develop response plans to improve their overall responses systems.

    What FEMA aid looks like in a disaster

    When wildfires swept through Maui, Hawaii, in August 2023, FEMA provided emergency grants to cover immediate needs such as food, clothing and essential supplies for survivors.

    The agency arranged hotel rooms, rental assistance and financial aid for residents who lost homes or belongings. Its Direct Housing Program has spent $295 million to lease homes for more than 1,200 households. This comprehensive support helped thousands of people begin rebuilding their lives after losing almost everything.

    FEMA also helped fund construction of a temporary school to ensure that students whose schools burned could continue their classes. Hawaii, with its relatively small population and limited emergency funds, would have struggled to mount a comparable response on its own.

    Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, center, and then-FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell speak to reporters in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 12, 2023, while assessing the wildfire damage there.
    AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

    Larger states often need help, too. When a 2021 winter storm overwhelmed Texas’ power grid and water infrastructure, FEMA coordinated the delivery of essential supplies, including water, fuel, generators and blankets, following the disaster declaration on Feb. 19, 2021. Within days, it awarded more than $2.8 million in grants to help people with temporary housing and home repairs.

    Which states would suffer most without FEMA?

    Without FEMA or other federal support, states would have to manage the disaster response and recovery on their own.

    States prone to frequent disasters, such as Louisiana and Florida, would face expensive recurring challenges that would likely exacerbate recovery delays and reduce their overall resilience.

    Smaller, more rural and less wealthy states that lack the financial resources and logistical capabilities to respond effectively would be disproportionately affected.

    “States don’t have that capability built to handle a disaster every single year,” Lynn Budd, director of the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, told Stateline in an interview. Access to FEMA avoids the need for expensive disaster response infrastructure in each state.

    States might be able to arrange regional cooperation. But state-led responses and regional models have limitations. The National Guard could assist with supply distribution, but it isn’t designed to provide fast financial aid, housing or long-term recovery options, and the supplies and the recovery effort still come at a cost.

    Members of the National Guard and a FEMA search-and-rescue team work together in the disaster response after Hurricane Florence pounded Wilmington, N.C., in September 2018.
    Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

    Wealthier states might be better equipped to manage on their own, but poorer states would likely struggle. States with less funding and infrastructure would be left relying on nonprofits and community-based efforts. But these organizations are not capable of providing the scope of services FEMA can.

    Any federal funding would also be slow if Congress had to approve aid after each disaster, rather than having FEMA already prepared to respond. States would be at the mercy of congressional infighting.

    In the absence of a federal response and coordinating role, recovery would be uneven, with wealthier areas recovering faster and poorer areas likely seeing more prolonged hardships.

    What does this mean?

    Coordinating disaster response is complex, the paperwork for federal assistance can be frustrating, and the agency does draw criticism. However, it also fills an important role.

    As the frequency of natural disasters continues to rise due to climate change, ask yourself: How prepared is your state for a disaster, and could it get by without federal aid?

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

    – ref. If FEMA didn’t exist, could states handle the disaster response alone? – https://theconversation.com/if-fema-didnt-exist-could-states-handle-the-disaster-response-alone-248758

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Gut-wrenching love: What a fresh look at the ‘Good Samaritan’ story says for ethics today

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Meghan Sullivan, Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

    A mural outside St. Jude Thaddeus Church in Silao, Mexico, quotes the Good Samaritan story: ‘Go and do likewise.’ Enrique López-Tamayo Biosca/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

    The Bible story of the Good Samaritan is more than a mainstay of Sunday school courses. “Good samaritan” is the catch-all way to describe a do-gooder – someone who stops to change the tire of a stranded motorist, helps a lost child find their parents in a store and gives money to disaster relief programs.

    But as an ethicist, I’d argue that the parable’s moral vision is much more radical than merely advising people to help out when they can. The parable raises profound philosophical questions about what it means to love another person, and our sometimes astonishing capacity to feel connected to others.

    Love thy neighbor

    The parable of the Good Samaritan occurs in the Gospel of Luke, in a part of the Bible where Jesus is attracting followers and preparing them to spread his movement.

    During one of these sessions, a religious scholar asks him to explain the fundamental commandment in Jewish ethics: “You will love God with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your strength. And you will love your neighbor as yourself.” In response, Jesus tells the now-iconic story:

    One time a man was traveling down the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The Bible describes absolutely nothing else about this man, but the tradition assumes he is Jewish. The man was attacked and beaten within an inch of his life. As he lay in a ditch, a temple priest and a temple functionary both noticed him but hurried past.

    Then a member of another tribe, a Samaritan, saw him. The Samaritan was immediately moved and rushed over, hoisted the man onto his donkey, took him to a nearby inn and stayed up with him all night, nursing him back to life. The next morning he paid the innkeeper two denarii – Roman silver coins, about two days’ salary – and offered to pay the tab for anything else the man might require as he recuperated.

    ‘The Good Samaritan’ by Aimé Morot (1880), now in the Petit Palais museum in Paris.
    Marc Baronnet/Wikimedia Commons

    Jesus turns the question back to the scholar: Who loved their neighbor? The scholar concedes the point – the Samaritan who had mercy.

    “Go and do likewise,” Jesus replies.

    What exactly did the Samaritan do that reveals the core of the love ethic? Jesus says specifically that the Samaritan’s “guts churned” when he saw the man in need: the Greek word used in the text is “splagchnizomai.”

    The term occurs in other places in the Gospels, as well, evoking a very physical kind of emotional response. This “gut-wrenching love” is spontaneous and visceral.

    Mortal and immortal

    Ancient philosophers spent plenty of time trying to understand the ways humans love, often using highly intellectual frames. “The Symposium,” a dialogue by Plato, depicts Socrates drunkenly debating the essence of erotic love with his friends. Aristotle beautifully theorizes about friendship, “philia,” in his teachings about ethics. He introduces the idea that when we truly love a friend, we think of them as our “second self” – the lives of your closest friends become entangled within your own.

    Many of the early Christian philosophers debated the nature of “agape,” the Greek word the New Testament uses to describe the selfless, unconditional love that characterizes the very nature of God. Saint Augustine introduced the concept of “amoris ordo,” the order of loves: that morality compels someone to first love the highest good, which is God, and then organize the rest of their loves to serve this highest love.

    These concepts present love as an intellectual attitude that is often reserved for a select group, such as God, or one’s family, or one’s countrymen. And Christian notions of “agape” specifically put love just out of reach, only possible for a divine being, though humans should aspire to it and can experience its effects.

    Splagchnizomai is different – such a physical emotion is only possible for creatures like us, with bodies. And as the parable of the Good Samaritan shows, it is an emotion that can be triggered by anyone, at any time, if we are – like the Samaritan – ready to be so moved.

    A relief in St. Paul’s Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is one of countless artworks that reference the Good Samaritan.
    Hantsheroes/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Love and modern moral thinking

    Much like their ancient counterparts, philosophers of the past century have struggled to explain how love can be one of the most morally significant elements of our lives, while also being so extraordinarily partial, biased and seemingly arbitrary.

    To resolve the tension, many treat love not as a source of insight but as a messy feature of human psychology – an impediment that ethical reasoning must navigate around.

    Indeed, the most prominent recent movements in applied ethics are wholly oriented around rational efficiency. The Effective Altruism movement argues that people should use evidence to transform themselves into the most efficient do-gooders they can possibly be. Proponents discourage college graduates looking to make a difference from pursuing public service and recommend high-paying jobs instead, arguing that they can have a bigger impact giving away wealth than directly caring for others. Emotions are viewed with suspicion, as sources of potential bias – not sources of moral wisdom.

    In the book “Against Empathy,” psychologist Paul Bloom warns that such emotions “do poorly in a world where there are many people in need and where the effects of one’s actions are diffuse, often delayed, and difficult to compute.”

    Compare that to the parable of the Good Samaritan, which portrays ethics as an emotional, deeply personal and almost absurdly inefficient matter. Those two denarii were a weighty sum – they could have been used to beef up security on the road and prevent other robberies, rather than save a single man. Nor did the Samaritan off-load the injured man onto a local healer. He cared for him directly, the way someone might sit with a gravely ill family member.

    Neighbors and fences

    In Jesus’ time, as in our own, there was significant debate about how to understand the commandments to love one’s neighbor. One school of thought considered a “neighbor” to be a member of your community: The Book of Leviticus says not to hold grudges against fellow countrymen. Another school held that you were obligated to love even strangers who are only temporarily traveling in your land. Leviticus also declares that “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself.”

    In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus seems to come down on the side of the broadest possible application of the love ethic. And by emphasizing a particular type of love – the gut-wrenching kind – Jesus seems to indicate that the way of progress in ethics is through emotions, rather than around them.

    My current work focuses on the upshots of reading this parable as a philosophical guide to ethics in our own time. For instance, if the love ethic is right, preparing students to make progress on complex social issues requires more than cost-benefit analysis. It also requires helping them to recognize and cultivate emotions, especially loving compassion.

    There are clear parallels between the original parable of the good Samaritan and pressing political issues today, especially migration – and also, I believe, polarization. His story calls closer attention to humans’ innate capacity to love beyond the limits of familiar relationships or “tribes” – and just how much is lost when we do not.

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

    – ref. Gut-wrenching love: What a fresh look at the ‘Good Samaritan’ story says for ethics today – https://theconversation.com/gut-wrenching-love-what-a-fresh-look-at-the-good-samaritan-story-says-for-ethics-today-247988

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Russia’s shrinking world: The war in Ukraine and Moscow’s global reach

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ronald H. Linden, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh

    Russia President Vladimir Putin sent a guarded message of congratulations to Donald Trump on inauguration day, but then held a long direct call with his “dear friend,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

    From Putin’s perspective, this makes sense. Russia gets billions of dollars from energy sales to China and technology from Beijing, but from Washington, until recently, mostly sanctions and suspicion.

    Moscow is hoping for a more positive relationship with the current White House occupant, who has made his desire for a “deal” to end the Ukraine war well known.

    But talk of exit scenarios from this 3-year-old conflict should not mask the fact that since the invasion began, Putin has overseen one of the worst periods in Russian foreign policy since the end of the Cold War.

    Transatlantic unity

    The war in Ukraine has foreclosed on options and blunted Russian action around the world.

    Unlike the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the 2022 invasion produced an unprecedented level of transatlantic unity, including the expansion of NATO and sanctions on Russian trade and finance. In the past year, both the U.S. and the European Union expanded their sanction packages.

    And for the first time, the EU banned the re-export of Russian liquefied natural gas and ended support for a Russian LNG project in the Arctic.

    EU-Russian trade, including European imports of energy, has dropped to a fraction of what it was before the war.

    The two Nordstrom pipelines, designed to bring Russian gas to Germany without transiting East Europe, lie crippled and unused. Revenues from energy sales are roughly one-half of what they were two years ago.

    At the same time, the West has sent billions in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, enabling a level of resilience for which Russia was unprepared. Meanwhile, global companies and technical experts and intellectuals have fled Russia in droves.

    While Russia has evaded some restrictions with its “shadow fleet” – an aging group of tankers sailing under various administrative and technical evasions – the country’s main savior is now China. Trade between China and Russia has grown by nearly two-thirds since the end of 2021, and the U.S. cites Beijing as the main source of Russia’s “dual use” and other technologies needed to pursue its war.

    Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has moved from an energy-for-manufactured-goods trade relationship with the West to one of vassalage with China, as one Russia analyst termed it.

    Hosting an October meeting of the BRICS countries – now counting 11 members, including the five original members: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South America – is unlikely to compensate for geopolitical losses elsewhere.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and China President Xi Jinping toast their friendship in March 2023.
    Pavel Byrkin/AFP via Getty Images

    Problems at home …

    The Russian economy is deeply distorted by increased military spending, which represents 40% of the budget and 25% of all spending. The government now needs the equivalent of US$20 billion annually in order to pay for new recruits.

    Russian leaders must find a way to keep at least some of the population satisfied, but persistent inflation and reserve currency shortages flowing directly from the war have made this task more difficult.

    On the battlefield, the war itself has killed or wounded more than 600,000 Russian soldiers. Operations during 2024 were particularly deadly, producing more than 1,500 Russian casualties a day.

    The leader who expected Kyiv’s capitulation in days now finds Russian territory around Kursk occupied, its naval forces in the Black Sea destroyed and withdrawn, and its own generals assassinated in Moscow.

    But probably the greatest humiliation is that this putative great power with a population of 144 million must resort to importing North Korean troops to help liberate its own land.

    … and in its backyard

    Moscow’s dedication to the war has affected its ability to influence events elsewhere, even in its own neighborhood.

    In the Caucasus, for example, Russia had long sided with Armenia in its running battle with Azerbaijan over boundaries and population after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

    Moscow has brokered ceasefires at various points. But intermittent attacks and territorial gains for Azerbaijan continued despite the presence of some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers sent to protect the remaining Armenian population in parts of the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

    In September 2023, Azerbaijan’s forces abruptly took control of the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 100,000 Armenians fled in the largest ethnic cleansing episode since the end of the Balkan Wars. The peacekeepers did not intervene and later withdrew. The Russian military, absorbed in the bloody campaigns in Ukraine, could not back up or reinforce them.

    The Azeris’ diplomatic and economic position has gained in recent years, aided by demand for its gas as a substitute for Russia’s and support from NATO member Turkey.

    Feeling betrayed by Russia, the Armenian government has for the first time extended feelers toward the West — which is happy to entertain such overtures.

    Losing influence and friends

    Russia’s loss in the Caucasus has been dwarfed by the damage to its military position and influence in the Middle East. Russia supported the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad against the uprisings of the Arab Spring in 2011 and saved it with direct military intervention beginning in 2015.

    Yet in December 2024, Assad was unexpectedly swept away by a mélange of rebel groups. The refuge extended to Assad by Moscow was the most it could provide with the war in Ukraine having drained Russia’s capacity to do more.

    Russia’s possible withdrawal from the Syrian naval base at Tartus and the airbase at Khmeimim would remove assets that allowed it to cooperate with Iran, its key strategic partner in the region.

    More recently, Russia’s reliability as an ally and reputation as an armory has been damaged by Israeli attacks not only on Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed forces in Lebanon and Syria, but on Iran itself.

    Russia’s position in Africa would also be damaged by the loss of the Syrian bases, which are key launch points for extending Russian power, and by Moscow’s evident inability to make a difference on the ground across the Sahel region in north-central Africa.

    Dirty tricks, diminishing returns

    Stalemate in Ukraine and Russian strategic losses in Syria and elsewhere have prompted Moscow to rely increasingly on a variety of other means to try to gain influence.

    Disinformation, election meddling and varied threats are not new and are part of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. But recent efforts in East Europe have not been very productive. Massive Russian funding and propaganda in Romania, for example, helped produce a narrow victory for an anti-NATO presidential candidate in December 2024, but the Romanian government moved quickly to expose these actions and the election was annulled.

    Nearby Moldova has long been subject to Russian propaganda and threats, especially during recent presidential elections and a referendum on stipulating a “European course” in the constitution. The tiny country moved to reduce its dependency on Russian gas but remains territorially fragmented by the breakaway region of Transnistria that, until recently, provided most of the country’s electricity.

    Despite these factors, the results were not what Moscow wanted. In both votes, a European direction was favored by the electorate. When the Transnistrian legislature in February 2024 appealed to Moscow for protection, none was forthcoming.

    When Moldova thumbs its nose at you, it’s fair to say your power ranking has fallen.

    Wounded but still dangerous

    Not all recent developments have been negative for Moscow. State control of the economy has allowed for rapid rebuilding of a depleted military and support for its technology industry in the short term. With Chinese help and evasion of sanctions, sufficient machinery and energy allow the war in Ukraine to continue.

    And the inauguration of Donald Trump is likely to favor Putin, despite some mixed signals. The U.S. president has threatened tariffs and more sanctions but also disbanded a Biden-era task force aimed a punishing Russian oligarchs who help Russia evade sanctions. In the White House now is someone who has openly admired Putin, expressed skepticism over U.S. support for Ukraine and rushed to bully America’s closest allies in Latin America, Canada and Europe.

    Most importantly, Trump’s eagerness to make good on his pledge to end the war may provide the Russian leader with a deal he can call a “victory.”

    The shrinking of Russia’s world has not necessarily made Russia less dangerous; it could be quite the opposite. Some Kremlin watchers argue that a more economically isolated Russia is less vulnerable to American economic pressure. A retreating Russia and an embattled Putin could also opt for even more reckless threats and actions – for example, on nuclear weapons – especially if reversing course in Ukraine would jeopardize his position. It is, after all, Putin’s war.

    All observers would be wise to note that the famous dictum “Russia is never as strong as she looks … nor as weak as she looks” has been ominously rephrased by Putin himself: “Russia was never so strong as it wants to be and never so weak as it is thought to be.”

    Ronald H. Linden has in the past received funding from Fulbright, DAAD, German Marshall Fund, National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, Woodrow Wilson Center, US Institute of Peace.

    – ref. Russia’s shrinking world: The war in Ukraine and Moscow’s global reach – https://theconversation.com/russias-shrinking-world-the-war-in-ukraine-and-moscows-global-reach-247754

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Are animals smart? From dolphin language to toolmaking crows, lots of species have obvious intelligence

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Leticia Fanucchi, Clinical Assistant Professor of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Oklahoma State University

    Dolphins communicate using a sophisticated combination of clicks and whistles. Stephen Frink/The Image Bank via Getty Images

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

    Are animals smart? – Deron

    It’s a fascinating question that intrigues millions of pet owners, animal lovers, veterinarians and scientists all over the world: Just how smart are animals?

    Scientists once believed a brain with billions of neurons was a requirement for intelligence. After all, that’s why you’re able to think – neurons are the nerve cells in the brain that connect and transmit messages to each other.

    For the record, the human brain has about 86 billion neurons. For comparison, dogs and cats have less than one billion.

    Yet the more that scientists like me study animal emotion and cognition – the ability to learn through experiences and thinking – the more we find that humans are not very special at all. Many nonhuman species can do these things too.

    Right now, there’s no agreement on how to decide whether a particular animal species is intelligent. But most scientists who study animal cognition have observed that many animals are able to solve problems, use tools, recall important information about their environment and recognize themselves in the mirror.

    Measuring an animal’s intelligence is harder than you might think.

    Toolmaking bears and crows

    Memory is a marker of intelligence. Of all animals, humans possess the most accurate and sophisticated memory. But elephants can recognize as many as 30 traveling companions at a time. They also learn to migrate away from drought-prone areas, based on memories of earlier droughts.

    That kind of recall – known as episodic memory – is the ability to remember an event, including when and where it occurred. Until recently, scientists thought only humans had it. But now researchers have learned that some birds, cats, rats, monkeys and dolphins have it too.

    Crows are among the smartest of animals.
    Santiago Urquijo/Moment via Getty Images

    Animals may not remember every experience – neither do people – but they do recall things critical to their survival. For example, birds know where they stored food. Monkeys know the presence of a predator.

    Scientists once thought tool use was an exclusively human ability, but that’s not so. Chimpanzees use sticks to catch termites and stones to crack nuts open. Crows can even manufacture tools. By bending a wire, they can make a hook to retrieve a food reward that’s otherwise out of reach.

    Researchers presented eight captive brown bears with this food challenge: Three objects – a large log, a small log and a box – were placed in an outdoor enclosure. A food reward was suspended above them. Six of the eight bears were able to move the logs and box into positions that enabled them to fetch the reward. Essentially, they used the three objects as tools.

    Chimps use gestures and facial expressions to communicate.

    Dolphin, chimpanzee communication

    Language is another measure of intelligence. People, of course, have enormously sophisticated communication skills. But dolphins have complex dialects in the form of crackles, squeaks and whistles. Many researchers say the noises are a language. Chimpanzees and gorillas have used sign language to express emotions and ask for things from people.

    Self-awareness – the ability to recognize yourself as an individual – signals intelligence. Babies don’t recognize themselves in the mirror until they are about a year and a half old. Up until then, they probably think the mirror image they see is another baby.

    Many other species, including dolphins, ravens and elephants, recognize themselves in the mirror. Researchers put a red dye mark on chimpanzees under anesthesia; once awake, the chimps saw their reflection in a mirror. Instead of touching the red mark on their reflection in the glass, they touched the red mark on themselves, indicating self-recognition.

    Just because animals can’t do certain things, it doesn’t mean they’re unintelligent. After all, humans can’t fly like a bird or swim like a fish. Nor is there a need for us to have the incredible sense of smell a dog has. We’d be sniffing hundreds of different smells from miles away – the scents from perfumes and pollution, gardens and garbage. From an evolutionary standpoint, that wouldn’t help us much. Plus, we’d get sick of it very quickly.

    But all animals, including humans, have developed a wide range of capabilities so they can succeed in the environment they live in. Put simply, we’re all using our brains. Now that’s intelligent.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

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

    – ref. Are animals smart? From dolphin language to toolmaking crows, lots of species have obvious intelligence – https://theconversation.com/are-animals-smart-from-dolphin-language-to-toolmaking-crows-lots-of-species-have-obvious-intelligence-230378

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Here’s how researchers are helping AIs get their facts straight

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Lu Wang, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan

    AI chatbots need help learning to give accurate answers. CreativaImages/iStock via Getty Images

    AI has made it easier than ever to find information: Ask ChatGPT almost anything, and the system swiftly delivers an answer. But the large language models that power popular tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude were not designed to be accurate or factual. They regularly “hallucinate” and offer up falsehoods as if they were hard facts.

    Yet people are relying more and more on AI to answer their questions. Half of all people in the U.S. between the ages of 14 and 22 now use AI to get information, according to a 2024 Harvard study. An analysis by The Washington Post found that more than 17% of prompts on ChatGPT are requests for information.

    One way researchers are attempting to improve the information AI systems give is to have the systems indicate how confident they are in the accuracy of their answers. I’m a computer scientist who studies natural language processing and machine learning. My lab at the University of Michigan has developed a new way of deriving confidence scores that improves the accuracy of AI chatbot answers. But confidence scores can only do so much.

    Popular and problematic

    Leading technology companies are increasingly integrating AI into search engines. Google now offers AI Overviews that appear as text summaries above the usual list of links in any search result. Other upstart search engines, such as Perplexity, are challenging traditional search engines with their own AI-generated summaries.

    The convenience of these summaries has made these tools very popular. Why scour the contents of multiple websites when AI can provide the most pertinent information in a few seconds?

    AI tools seem to offer a smoother, more expedient avenue to getting information. But they can also lead people astray or even expose them to harmful falsehoods. My lab has found that even the most accurate AI models hallucinate in 25% of claims. This hallucination rate is concerning because other research suggests AI can influence what people think.

    It bears emphasizing: AI chatbots are designed to sound good, not give accurate information.

    Language models hallucinate because they learn and operate on statistical patterns drawn from a massive amount of text data, much of which comes from the internet. This means that they are not necessarily grounded in real-world facts. They also lack other human competencies, like common sense and the ability to distinguish between serious expressions and sarcastic ones.

    All this was on display last spring, when a user asked Google’s AI Overviews tool to suggest a way to keep cheese from sliding off a pizza. The tool promptly recommended mixing the cheese with glue. It then came to light that someone had once posted this obviously tongue-in-cheek recommendation on Reddit. Like most large language models, Google’s model had likely been trained with information scraped from myriad internet sources, including Reddit. It then mistakenly interpreted this user’s joke as a genuine suggestion.

    While most users wouldn’t take the glue recommendation seriously, some hallucinated information can cause real harm. AI search engines and chatbots have repeatedly been caught citing debunked, racist pseudoscience as fact. Last year, Perplexity AI stated that a police officer in California was guilty of a crime that he did not commit.

    Showing confidence

    Building AI systems that prioritize veracity is challenging, but not impossible. One way AI developers are approaching this problem is to design models that communicate their confidence in their answers. This typically comes in the form of a confidence score – a number indicating how likely it is that a model is providing accurate information. But estimating a model’s confidence in the content it provides is also a complicated task.

    How confidence scores work in machine learning.

    One common approach to making this estimate involves asking the model to repeatedly respond to a given query. If the model is reliable, it should generate similar answers to the same query. If it can’t answer consistently, the AI is likely lacking the information it needs to answer accurately. Over time, the results of these tests become the AI’s confidence scores for specific subject areas.

    Other approaches evaluate AI accuracy by directly prompting and training models to state how confident they are in their answers. But this offers no real accountability. Allowing an AI to evaluate its own confidence leaves room for the system to give itself a passing grade and continue to offer false or harmful information.

    My lab has designed algorithms that assign confidence scores by breaking down a large language model’s responses into individual claims that can be automatically cross-referenced with Wikipedia. We assess the semantic equivalence between the AI model’s output and the referenced Wikipedia entries for the assertions. Our approach allows the AI to quickly evaluate the accuracy of all its statements. Of course, relying on Wikipedia articles, which are usually but not always accurate, also has its limitations.

    Publishing confidence scores along with a model’s answers could help people to think more critically about the veracity of information that these tools provide. A language model can also be trained to withhold information if it earns a confidence score that falls below a set threshold. My lab has also shown that confidence scores can be used to help AI models generate more accurate answers.

    Limits of confidence

    There’s still a long way to go to ensure truly accurate AI. Most of these approaches assume that the information needed to correctly evaluate an AI’s accuracy can be found on Wikipedia and other online databases.

    But when accurate information is just not that easy to come by, confidence estimates can be misleading. To account for cases like these, Google has developed special mechanisms for evaluating AI-generated statements. My lab has similarly compiled a benchmarking dataset of prompts that commonly cause hallucinations.

    But all these approaches verify basic facts – there are no automated methods for evaluating other facets of long-form content, such as cause-and-effect relationships or an AI’s ability to reason over text consisting of more than one sentence.

    Developing tools that improve these elements of AI are key steps toward making the technology a source of trustworthy information – and avoid the harms that misinformation can cause.

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

    – ref. Here’s how researchers are helping AIs get their facts straight – https://theconversation.com/heres-how-researchers-are-helping-ais-get-their-facts-straight-245463

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Chernyshenko: The creation of a network of advanced schools is a strategic step into the future of our country

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    Dmitry Chernyshenko at a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations

    February 10, 2025

    Dmitry Chernyshenko at a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations

    February 10, 2025

    Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov at a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations

    February 10, 2025

    Meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government on the creation of advanced general education organizations

    February 10, 2025

    Meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government on the creation of advanced general education organizations

    February 10, 2025

    Previous news Next news

    Dmitry Chernyshenko at a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations

    A meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government for the creation of advanced general education organizations was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.

    Maxim Oreshkin recalled that President Vladimir Putin in his Address to the Federal Assembly instructed that no less than 12 advanced schools be created by 2030.

    “The creation of such schools is planned in each federal district under the national project “Youth and Children”. They will help prepare a personnel reserve for knowledge-intensive and high-tech sectors of the economy. This is not just a matter of building 12 more schools, it should be a strategic step into the future of our country. At a meeting of the Coordination Council under the Government of Russia, a decision was made to approve the presented concept of advanced general education organizations. It is important that within its framework, not only the scientific, educational and infrastructural component will be worked out, but also issues of educational work, teacher training and assessment of student success,” noted Dmitry Chernyshenko.

    The implementation of such a large-scale project requires synchronization of efforts of all participants in the process: the state, society, educational institutions and business. The Ministry of Education, together with regions, universities and social partners, is already preparing mechanisms for these changes.

    Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov announced that the first three flagship schools will open in the Novgorod, Ryazan and Pskov regions.

    “The project to create flagship schools is not easy, but it is very important for our country. These will be schools for talented children in all federal districts. We plan to open the first three educational organizations on September 1, 2027. Graduates will develop domestic science and economics, and we set the goal of 100% employment of students in leading companies. These institutions will become methodological centers for schools in all federal districts and will disseminate the best pedagogical practices,” said Sergey Kravtsov.

    Children will study in flagship schools from grades 7 to 11 and undergo annual knowledge assessment, and teachers will undergo qualification testing. Teachers will be provided with decent salaries. The creation of a network of schools involves mutual exchange between students and teachers from different regions.

    First Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Alexander Lomakin presented information on the progress of construction of advanced general education institutions in the Novgorod, Pskov and Ryazan regions. In addition, advanced schools are planned to be created in the Belgorod, Nizhny Novgorod regions and other regions.

    The acting governor of the Novgorod region, Alexander Dronov, the governor of the Pskov region, Mikhail Vedernikov, and the governor of the Ryazan region, Pavel Malkov, also spoke in detail about the creation of schools.

    The head of the educational foundation “Talent and Success” Elena Shmeleva noted the experience of “Sirius” in developing the federal territory around the educational center “Sirius”.

    The meeting was also attended by Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, Rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics Nikita Anisimov, governors of the Belgorod, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Murmansk regions, Krasnodar Krai, heads of the Republic of Crimea and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, representatives of the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Digital Development, and Rosobrnadzor.

    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 –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Parker Announces Retirement of EMEA President Joachim Guhe, Appoints Thomas Ottawa as Successor

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CLEVELAND, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH), the global leader in motion and control technologies, today announced that Joachim Guhe, President – Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Group, will retire after 32 years of dedicated service. Mr. Guhe will step down from his current role on June 30, 2025, but continue with the company until August 31, 2025, to ensure a successful leadership transition.

    The company has appointed Thomas Ottawa, currently Vice President of Operations – Motion Systems Group Europe, to succeed Mr. Guhe as President – Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Group, effective July 1, 2025.

    “In the more than three decades he spent with us, Joachim progressed from an entry level role to head of the critically important EMEA region, and then led EMEA through improvements that drove operational excellence and led to significant growth and margin expansion,” said Andy Ross, President and Chief Operating Officer. “In addition to his many contributions over the years, we thank Joachim for a career that exemplifies Parker leadership and wish him the very best in retirement.” 

    Mr. Guhe joined Parker in 1993 as a Product Cost Accountant in Bielefeld, Germany. He progressed through increasingly senior roles across Parker’s Fluid Connectors, Engineered Materials and Filtration Groups, including as division General Manager and Vice President of Operations. In his current role as EMEA President, he has been responsible for leading Parker’s sales companies and commercial operations in the region, as well as its HR, Finance, IT, Marketing and Supply Chain functions. 

    Commenting on Mr. Ottawa’s new role as President for the EMEA Region, Mr. Ross said, “Thomas will take on this important leadership role with nearly 30 years of Parker experience, a deep knowledge of our global operations and a proven record of success.” He added, “We are highly confident the EMEA region will continue to thrive under his guidance and are fortunate to have such a strong leader to drive our performance to even greater levels.”

    Mr. Ottawa joined Parker in 1995 as a Graduate Trainee with the Fluid Connectors Group Europe, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, including as division General Manager. He became General Manager of the Prädifa Technology Division in 2015. Mr. Ottawa was promoted to his current role as Vice President of Operations – Motion Systems Group EMEA in 2019 and has been instrumental in improving the group’s financial performance and driving profitable growth in the region. In his new role as EMEA President, he will oversee nearly 14,000 team members across 22 countries. He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bochum in Germany.

    About Parker Hannifin
    Parker Hannifin is a Fortune 250 global leader in motion and control technologies. For more than a century the company has been enabling engineering breakthroughs that lead to a better tomorrow. Learn more at www.parker.com or @parkerhannifin.

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    The MIL Network –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: The iconic Austin 7 is back

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    By Tom Stacey, Anglia Ruskin University

    In perhaps one of the greatest brand comeback stories in automotive since the Fiat 500 in 2007, British car company Austin announced the return of the Austin Arrow.

    Its name is an unashamed reference to one of the most memorable Austin 7 models – first introduced in the 1920s the Arrow was the original “everyman sportscar”, before the muscle cars (think of the Dodge Challenger) of the US became popular in the 1960s. Now reimagined as an electric Vehicle (EV), the Arrow is designed and made in the UK and aims to be to 2020s consumers what the original was 90 years ago.

    A number of cars are synonymous with the British car industry. In fact, as a small nation, Britain punches above its weight when it comes to classic automobile brands – The Mini, the Range Rover, London black cabs, James Bond’s Aston Martins, and even the London red bus. However, if one car can be credited for creating the dawn of the motor vehicle in the UK, it would be the diminutive Austin 7.

    The car was created in the 1920s at the time when Austin was struggling. New laws were pushing manufacturers to produce smaller, less powerful cars. But Austin’s board of directors didn’t support a cheap, small car with low profit margins. Austin was known for its larger, luxury products.

    However, Sir Herbert Austin and his 18-year-old apprentice Stanley Edge decided to secretly create a small car. Thank god they didn’t heed the board, because they ended up creating the greatest democratising automotive product Britain had ever seen (until they repeated it with the Austin Mini).

    The reason why products such as the Austin 7 come to define their period is rarely due to their technical prowess or exhilarating performance – it’s because they bring to the masses a technology that is both useful and traditionally seen as out of reach.

    The Austin 7 was a bit like the iPhone. There were smartphones that came before it, like the Sony Ericsson p800. However, these were considered expensive and out of reach for the average consumer. The Iphone did the same thing but at a cheaper price and so came to be the definitive smartphone.

    With the Austin 7, Herbert Austin’s team applied the key lessons from Ford’s Model T – creating a simple, modestly powered car with just enough features for mass appeal while incorporating clever design elements that earned the respect of car enthusiasts.

    When the Austin 7 was unveiled in July 1922, it was priced at just £165, when an Austin 20 was between £600 and £700. At a time when the average British worker earned around £5 per week, the only real affordable car had been Ford’s basic and utilitarian Model T at around £250.

    The 7’s ingenious design was the key to its success. With a shared base frame for the car, it could be a four-seater family car, a stylish coupe, or even a racing car.

    This cheap, tiny car not only was a legend in its own right and familiar around the world, but it influenced other legends too.

    Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars, based his first Lotus 1 on the Austin 7. What is less known is that German car manufacturer BMW built Austin 7s under licence in the 1920s and 30s but called them “Dixis”. Nissan did the same in Japan in the pre-war period. Such licensing deals helped set up both manufacturers’ future success as the powerhouses they are today.

    Austin 7s were produced all over Europe, Asia and even in Australia. The 7 was also produced in the US as the “American Bantam” and its design contributed to the “Willy’s Jeep”, one of the US’s most famous vehicles.

    Ultimately, the beginning of the second world war marked the end of Austin 7 production as the Austin factory at Longbridge, near Birmingham, needed to be repurposed to produce munitions. When the war ended, tastes for vehicles had changed and factories started to produce more modern designs, and not those from the 1920s, marking the end of a British automotive icon in 1939.

    Now it’s back, thanks to the engineer John Stubbs who bought the Austin brand after noticing the brand and trademarks were available. The rights to these had been owned by the Nanjing Automobile Group, which bought MG Rover when it collapsed in 2005. However, Nanjing had let these lapse and Stubbs bought them for £170 in 2015.

    The new Essex-based Austin Motor Company aims to recreate this classic brand, tugging at the heartstrings of those looking nostalgically at Britain’s automotive heyday. The announcement featured images of fun, cheap (£31,000) and light cars driving around the B-roads of Britain, or perhaps being taken to a racetrack for an amateur competition, harking back to earlier days. However, this car is thoroughly modern, featuring an electric motor.

    The new Austin Arrow is not meant to be the usable “everyman” car the original 7 was. For starters, to be compliant with quadricycle (a micro car with less than 6kW of power and an unladen mass no more than 425 kg) legislation it is limited to 60mph as a top speed and the range will be a maximum of 100 miles on one charge.

    However, as that fun, racy, open-top car that it’s predecessors were, it very much captures the spirit of the original Austin 7 Arrow.

    Tom Stacey, Deputy Head of the School of Economics, Finance and Law, Anglia Ruskin University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    The opinions expressed in VIEWPOINT articles are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARU.

    If you wish to republish this article, please follow these guidelines: https://theconversation.com/uk/republishing-guidelines

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ARU studies the health benefits of herring eggs

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is partnering with Norwegian biotechnology company Arctic Bioscience to carry out the largest research project to date exploring how nutrients derived from fish eggs can support a healthy and active lifestyle across all ages.

    Omega-3 fatty acids are essential nutrients that can play an important role in maintaining overall health. However, the general population typically consumes few foods that are rich in omega-3, such as oily fish.

    The new three-year project, called Active Romega, is investigating the benefits of omega-3 phospholipid fish oil and proteins derived from herring roe, which are the eggs of the fish. Unlike other omega-3 supplements, herring roe omega-3 contains a higher concentration of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and specialised pro-resolving mediators (SPMs).

    DHA and SPMs have been shown to have potent anti-inflammatory effects and are also believed to benefit muscle function, metabolism, and cognitive function, which are all key to supporting a healthy lifestyle. 

    The Active Romega project comprises two distinct research strands led by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) PhD students Dani Dalmay and Jorge Pinto. These are exploring the effects of herring roe omega-3 on exercise metabolism and recovery, specifically focusing on active females, and how herring roe omega-3 can support the healthy ageing process in older adults.

    The overall project is being led by Dr Sanjoy Deb, Associate Professor in Exercise and Nutritional Science at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU).

    “The use of fish oils has shown promise across various health parameters, with emerging research indicating particular benefits for women and in supporting healthy ageing.

    “This new partnership with Arctic Bioscience allows us to undertake robust research to explore the public health benefits of herring-derived omega-3, alongside exercise. This will be the first time this specific type of omega-3 has been tested to investigate its benefits in these areas.

    “One of the reasons herring roe omega-3 is unique is its higher concentration of DHA [docosahexaenoic acid] compared to EPA [eicosapentaenoic acid] – most fish oils have more EPA than DHA – and the oil is naturally rich in the metabolites of DHA and EPA, namely specialised pro-resolving mediators such as resolvins, protectins and maresins. Herring roe omega-3 also has a phospholipid chemical structure, rather than a more typical triglyceride structure.

    “Some studies suggest better absorption and improved health outcomes from marine-based phospholipids, although research is still in its infancy. Our Active Romega project should contribute significantly to this area of research.”

    Dr Sanjoy Deb 

    “Arctic Bioscience is honoured to be a part of this project with Anglia Ruskin. We have been working with herring roe phospholipids and proteins for many years now, both in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical field, and see many potential health benefits for their use in sports nutrition.”

    Hogne Hallaråker, founder and Chief Science Officer of Arctic Bioscience 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: How rural English women used scrapbooks to commemorate the death of Winston Churchill

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Cherish Watton-Colbrook, Archives Assistant, University of Cambridge

    Sixty years ago, on January 24, Britons gathered around their radios to listen to the sombre BBC announcement that Sir Winston Churchill had died at the age of 90. Others learned about the news at church, as they listened to prayers for the life of the former prime minister, admired by many for leading Britain through the second world war. Later that day, radio and television schedules were suspended to make way for the flood of tributes.

    Around this time in villages around England and Wales, Women’s Institute (WI) members were just beginning a year-long scrapbooking project in honour of the WI’s golden jubilee year in 1965. A branch-based voluntary organisation,
    founded in 1915, the WI was set up to bring country women together.

    This scrapbook project was one way in which the organisation sought to foster a sense of community in rural areas. Members were invited to chronicle everything that happened in their village during that year. Although not every entry featured a tribute to Churchill, several WI members decided to mark the former leader’s death.

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    Today, many of these scrapbooks survive in county record offices, while others remain cherished volumes kept by WIs in their branch archives. Some branches, along with local history societies, have digitised their scrapbooks and shared them online.

    Scrapbooks are perhaps not what immediately spring to mind when we think about the 1960s. Traditionally, they conjure up images of brightly coloured printed clippings or pressed flowers, saved by Victorian women and children. But this is just one page in scrapbooking’s rich history.

    In the 20th century, the rise of popular newspapers, magazines, domestic photography and television provided an array of material that could be transformed into personal archives. Scrapbooking proved a popular way for people to document what they found meaningful in their lives. Family, work, activism, stars of film, music and sport, royalty and even the weather were just some of the many topics covered.

    In 1965, WI members in Woodford, the constituency Churchill represented for 40 years until 1964, decided to conclude their community scrapbook with a tribute to their former MP.

    On a page of black sugar paper, members pasted a programme from a local memorial church service. Women also included a commemorative stamp, together with a photograph of floral tributes left at a bronze statue of Churchill on the village green, flanked by servicemen. Even though Churchill died at the beginning of the year, it was evidently the last thing Woodford Green’s WI members wanted their readers to encounter in their scrapbook.

    Local and national newspapers published a plethora of obituaries and articles on Churchill’s life, providing scrapbookers, such as WI members in Stoke Ferry in Norfolk, with a wealth of visual material for their community volumes.

    Local WI members crafted a photographic record of Churchill’s life, from childhood through to retirement, arranging the images in chronological order, mirroring the conventions associated with family photograph albums. They combined a series of press photographs and newspaper headlines with a handwritten note elaborating on what they felt was significant about Churchill’s death. WI women even went as far as to connect Churchill with their scrapbooking activities:

    As we compile this Jubilee Scrap Book, we stop to wonder what life would have been like in this village in 1965 but for that great statesman and leader, Sir Winston Churchill. Would this book be the happy record of a free and thriving community?

    On the following pages, they contrasted photographs from the funeral procession, with a shot of a bunch of pink tulips, given by a serviceman. In juxtaposing these images, they switched between ceremonial and more intimate forms of commemoration.

    WI scrapbookers clearly felt strongly about recording the death of Churchill in their community volumes. The scrapbook genre allowed these women, at a significant moment in time, to shape the historical record in a way they found to be meaningful, with an eye to the future generations they expected to read their creations.

    ‘Cold lunches were the order of the day’

    As relayed in many of these WI scrapbooks, Churchill was the first prime minister in the 20th century who was afforded a state funeral. It was broadcast around the world in a transmission of unparalleled significance – second only to the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

    One woman in Whitchurch, Herefordshire, wrote a series of diary entries under the pseudonym of Ann Whitchurch for her WI’s competition entry. After an earlier entry (exploring the merits of new brightly coloured long johns) Whitchurch reflected on January 30:

    Everyone seems to feel his loss as something that really matters. Whatever anyone’s politics are, he stood for England, especially for people of my generation who remember his great speeches during the War. It’s rather like the end of a chapter.

    Whitchurch chose the more intimate format of the diary entry, as opposed to national newspaper coverage, to offer a personal tribute to Churchill. By declaring herself the spokeswoman for her generation, Whitchurch conveyed how she understood Churchill’s death as a moment of rupture and transition.

    Over 100 miles away in the Cotswolds, a farmer’s wife in Chedworth shared what the day looked like from her rural farm:

    Cold lunches were the order of the day, everyone was watching the funeral procession of Sir Winston Churchill – an unforgettable memory. Even the menfolk dashed in and out between essential jobs.

    This WI member used her passage to show how the villagers’ commitment to watching the funeral upended their everyday routines at home and at work.

    Sixty years on, browsing the pages of these community scrapbooks reveals more than just a reaction to Churchill’s death by a specific group of rural women. They provide a fascinating glimpse of how national mourning unfolded in English villages and the different ways in which country women documented this moment on behalf of their communities.

    Cherish Watton-Colbrook works as an Archives Assistant for Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge.

    – ref. How rural English women used scrapbooks to commemorate the death of Winston Churchill – https://theconversation.com/how-rural-english-women-used-scrapbooks-to-commemorate-the-death-of-winston-churchill-248689

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: The EU was built for another age – here’s how it must adapt to survive

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Francesco Grillo, Academic Fellow, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University

    Shutterstock/gopixa

    To European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Europe is like a Volkswagen Beetle – an iconic car produced by a once-mighty German manufacturer which has been struggling to adapt to a new world.

    “Europe must shift gears,” she urged in a speech to business executives gathered in Davos, Switzerland at the beginning of the year. Yet, her call to arms failed to raise more than an eyebrow. After all, she has repeated the same call many times since she was elected six years ago. So far, there has been little result.

    The US president, Donald Trump, may now even be tempted to finish off the EU (the most developed of the world’s multilateral organisations) by dividing its members over the single market for trade. This arrangement is the cornerstone upon which the union was built, but can it withstand Trump’s attempts to play European nations off against each other in order to get the best deal for himself?

    The problem is that Trump is simply bringing to its most extreme consequences the weakness of a system that was built for stable times which are long gone. We urgently need a new idea, and it cannot be for a “United States of Europe”. That is a dream from the past that could not be more at odds with Europe’s current political climate.

    Mini unions

    Europe is unable to chart a path forward because it needs unanimity among its member states in order to make any major decision. Votes are not even weighted to reflect the different sizes of each of the club’s members.

    This is a weakness that would gradually cause the deterioration of any international organisation. But in the case of the EU, the crisis is more serious because member states have surrendered part of their decision power. As a result, if the EU cannot move quickly, even member states turn out to be paralysed.

    Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, has often been singled out as the bad guy especially – this has happened every time the EU has tried to approve sanctions against Russia or aid to Ukraine. But examples of free riding abound even among the founding parties.

    For decades, France has resisted any attempt to reorganise the common agricultural policy that sends a third of the EU’s budget to farmers, many of them French. Italy has halted the ratification of the reform of the European stability mechanism that should protect states from financial instability, out of the assumption among part of the Italian electorate that this may compromise further sovereignty.

    Elsewhere, Germany’s constitutional court has derailed the reform of the EU electoral law that divides the election of the European parliament into a dysfunctional system of 27 national contests, because of the resistance of the German political system to any electoral law which is not proportional.

    We need to find a way to change all this. And the solution cannot be the rather abstract idea of a union that proceeds at different speeds, where the older members are supposed to be part of an inner circle. Nor is it feasible to expect the abolition of unanimous voting for the simple reason that to forgo unanimity, you need a unanimous vote.

    Instead, the EU should become the coordinator of multiple unions, each formed by the member states themselves around specific policies. A union might form around defence, for example, among member states which are ready for such a partnership, such as Poland, the Baltics and Finland.

    Another might bring together countries that wish to collaborate on large projects such as a pan-European high-speed train, or a fully integrated energy market that may allow Italy, France and Spain to save billions of euros and decarbonise more quickly.

    This is not entirely new. Arrangements like the euro and the free circulation of people (the Schengen area) follow this principle. Only a subset of EU nations are part of these projects, and offers have even been extended to join beyond the EU’s borders. Monaco is in the euro, for example, while Norway is in Schengen, despite neither being an EU member state.

    The problem with these unions is that they are incomplete. The complement to the monetary union is a recently reformed “stability pact” that leaves so many loopholes that 11 out of its 20 members do not comply. And even within Schengen, there are still no proper common borders. The result is continuous reciprocal accusations of exporting each other’s illegal migrants.

    The solution here is to fully share the levers within a certain policy area on terms which are more flexible and voluntary for the union’s members.

    The possibility of calm divorce

    Resilience is achieved through adaptability. Therefore, these new arrangements must make divorce between union members possible from the outset – and establish the terms of such a rupture in advance.

    And in the event of an extreme case, the other parties should also be able to ask one of the members to leave their union (so as to avoid being systematically held to ransom by a free rider). The current union treaty does contain a provision (article 50) that enables a member to leave, as the UK did – but if Brexit showed anything, it was that this mechanism has limited use at preventing a divorce from descending into chaos.

    People should always be part of these decisions, of course. When states decide to surrender some of their sovereignty to a larger organisation such as the EU, it changes the nature of the pact between the citizens of a country and the people who make decisions on their behalf. This evident truth has been ignored for decades as the EU has gradually been built from the top down.

    The European Union currently resembles the marriages we once had in Europe (until well into the 20th century), before it was acknowledged that they are a civil (not necessarily religious) contract that can be dissolved through divorce – not some divine construct that can never be undone.

    The marriage between EU countries is blighted by cheating and empty rhetoric. This is an issue we can no longer avoid if Europe wants to do more than just “shift gears”. The EU was the most successful political project of the 20th century. If it wants to continue to be so in the 21st, it has to learn to be flexible. Only those who can adapt survive.

    Francesco Grillo is Director of the think tank Vision. Vision is convenor of three global conferences on the future of the EU, climate change and AI .

    – ref. The EU was built for another age – here’s how it must adapt to survive – https://theconversation.com/the-eu-was-built-for-another-age-heres-how-it-must-adapt-to-survive-248811

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that causes lifelong suffering – here’s what you need to know

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Cristina Pina, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences, Brunel University of London

    3D illustration of sickle cell red blood cells Meletios Verras/Shutterstock

    Right now, approximately 20 billion red blood cells are busy travelling through your blood vessels. They are delivering oxygen to all the different tissues in your body and removing carbon dioxide to be breathed out of your lungs.

    Red blood cells are discs curved inwards on both sides, without a cell nucleus. They are full of haemoglobin, a protein responsible for gas exchanges. At the core of a haemoglobin molecule is an iron carrying component called haem, which can be loaded with oxygen.

    The shape of the red blood cell is useful to flexibly navigate blood vessels of all sizes, deforming as needed. It also provides a large surface for gas exchange. Haemoglobin collects oxygen in the lungs, where there is plenty of it, and releases it across the body, where there is much less.

    But not if you suffer from sickle cell disease, which affects nearly eight million people worldwide, most in sub-Saharan Africa.

    In the UK, approximately 17,500 people have sickle cell disease and 300 babies are born with the condition each year. It is a genetic disorder caused by inherited mutations in a person’s DNA that affect the properties of haemoglobin.

    Haemoglobin is made up of four proteins organised around the iron-carrying haem group. These proteins are called globins, and each haemoglobin molecule has two alpha and two beta-globins.

    Sickle cell disease changes adult beta-globin. Instead of two alpha and two healthy beta chains, sickle cell disease patients have two alpha and two mutant beta chains. The resulting haemoglobin is called HbS.

    HbS has different characteristics to normal adult haemoglobin, causing severe symptoms. HbS is structurally unstable. Upon high temperatures, dehydration, acidity, such as happens during infections, it clumps inside the red blood cells. The clumps make red blood cells rigid and change their shape from flexible doughnuts into inflexible sickles – hence the name of the disease.

    Rigid sickle cells cannot travel through narrow blood vessels, which clogs them, forming clots that stop blood circulation in different places. The clots change oxygen and acidity locally, causing more sickling.

    Accumulation of clots causes some of the most severe symptoms of sickle cell disease, including strokes, kidney failure, blindness, prolonged and painful erections (called priapism) and loss of circulation in the lungs – the excruciating acute chest syndrome.

    Repeated clotting scars and destroys the spleen, increasing the risk of recurrent infections, often by streptococcal bacteria which can cause severe pneumonia and sepsis.

    Sickle red blood cells also break easily, a phenomenon called haemolysis. The body tries to produce more red blood cells, but cannot correct the underlying defect. Patients experience symptoms similar to other forms of anaemia, including pallor, breathlessness upon exertion, fatigue. Haemolysis leads to inflammation and damages blood vessels, further aggravating sickling symptoms.

    Lifelong suffering

    Symptoms and complications of sickle cell disease start in the first year of life and progress in severity. The disease reduces the quality and duration of life of patients – in the UK, those with sickle cell disease have a life expectancy of 67.

    Worldwide, life expectancy is below 50 and many children with sickle cell disease in sub-Saharan Africa die before the age of five. Sickle cell disease patients are dependent on transfusions of healthy red blood cells – over time this causes complications of its own.

    Until recently, the only cure for sickle cell disease was stem cell transplantation – also known as bone marrow transplantation – from a healthy donor with a compatible immune system which will not be rejected by, or attack, the patient. Often, this is a sibling or a parent, but, in up to 75% of cases, a compatible relative cannot be found.

    Stem cell transplantation replaces the cells in the blood factory of the patient, which produce HbS, with blood-making cells without the genetic defect, which produce normal adult haemoglobin. Transplanted blood stem cells maintain healthy haemoglobin production for life.

    In the absence of transplantation, sickle cell disease patients receive regular transfusions, which deliver healthy red blood cells. But, unlike stem cells, red blood cells are short-lived.

    Patients also receive a drug called hydroxycarbamide, which is used to treat cancer patients and can be toxic, but alleviates symptoms. Hydroxycarbamide acts by turning on a gene that leads to the production of foetal haemoglobin, which is not affected by the sickle cell disease mutation.

    In 2024, two forms of gene therapy were approved for sickle cell disease treatment by the US Food and Drug Administration. Both involve collecting stem cells from the patient, modifying them genetically, and transplanting them back into the patient so the body makes blood with corrected cells for the rest of the patient’s life.

    The first of the gene therapies, commercially called Casgevy, works by removing and inactivating a gene that is normally responsible for producing beta-globin. This replaces HbS in the red blood cells with the unaffected foetal haemoglobin.



    Read more:
    Nobel Prize for chemistry honors exquisitely precise gene-editing technique, CRISPR – a gene engineer explains how it works

    The second gene therapy, called Lyfgenia (Lovotibeglogene autotemcel), works differently. It introduces an additional gene in the stem cells which makes it less likely for HbS to form aggregates and cause sickling, reducing the more severe symptoms of the disease.

    The development and testing of gene and cell therapies for sickle cell disease is still an ongoing effort of many scientists and companies. That there are now two approved therapies for sickle cell disease highlights the importance of supporting investigation and development of breakthrough technologies based on detailed understanding of biological mechanisms of disease.

    These investigations are key to treating patients with genetic diseases, which often do not have any other available treatments.

    Cristina Pina receives funding from Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group via the Little Princess Trust and the National Centre for the Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animals in Research. She receives honoraria for consulting services to the Medicines Discover Institute at the University of Cardiff via an MRC research grant to Simon Ward.

    Victor Hernandez-Hernandez receives funding from GOSHCC Charity, Newlife Charity, Welcome Trust, Fight for Sight, EU FP7. He is co-founder, shareholder and employee of Axovia Therapeutics Ltd.

    – ref. Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that causes lifelong suffering – here’s what you need to know – https://theconversation.com/sickle-cell-disease-is-a-genetic-disorder-that-causes-lifelong-suffering-heres-what-you-need-to-know-243827

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the war in Ukraine has made flying worse for the climate

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Viktoriia Ivannikova, Assistant Professor in Aviation Management, Dublin City University

    UladzimirZuyeu/Shutterstock

    Some long-haul flights connecting Europe and Asia are emitting 40% more CO₂ since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, my new study shows. The spike is largely due to airspace closures above conflict zones which are forcing airlines to seek alternative routes, significantly increasing flight times. Longer flights consume more fuel and increase the operating costs for airlines, quite apart from their contribution to climate change.

    The research I led with colleagues highlights how conflicts contribute to climate change in unexpected ways. Understanding this is crucial for tackling aviation’s environmental footprint.

    The war in Ukraine closed the country’s airspace and limited access to the airspace of the Russian Federation and Belarus. This amounts to the biggest closure of airspace since the cold war, spanning 18 million km².

    Airlines that previously flew in Russian or Ukrainian airspace on routes between Europe and Asia, North America and Asia, and North America and the Middle East now take significant detours. For example, Finnair’s flight AY73 from Helsinki to Tokyo now covers an additional 3,131 kilometres, extending flight times by up to 3.5 hours. North American flights to Asia have been rerouted over the Arctic and Central Asia.

    Safety concerns and geopolitical sanctions have forced airlines to carefully navigate around restricted zones.

    The situation is further complicated by restrictions in other conflict regions – including the Middle East, where the airspaces of Syria, Yemen and Iraq are also considered no-fly zones for many airlines. The global aviation map has been redrawn, forcing airlines to adapt quickly to a new and challenging reality.

    Several international flights now skirt war zones.
    Viktoriia Ivannikova

    This has been accompanied by significant costs, both financially and to the climate. We analysed 14 long-haul routes between Europe and Asia that were affected by airspace restrictions and operated by three European airlines: Finnair, LOT Polish and Lufthansa.

    The findings are striking: rerouted flights burn an additional 23 to 28.5 tonnes of fuel per journey, releasing an extra 72 to 90 metric tonnes of CO₂. That’s equivalent to the annual emissions of several cars for a single flight.

    Airlines have also reported significant operating cost increases due to the extra flight hours, including higher fuel consumption, air navigation charges and crew salary increases. Our analysis showed that on certain routes between Europe and Asia, costs have risen by between 19% and 39%, while emissions have increased by between 18% and 40%, depending on the airline.

    On routes from Warsaw to Beijing, Warsaw to Tokyo and Warsaw to Seoul, LOT Polish Airlines has reported an increase of 23% in average aircraft operating costs following flight restrictions. CO₂ emissions on these routes have increased by 24% and ticket prices have also risen.

    Finnair, which historically relied on Russian airspace for efficient Europe-Asia connections, appears to be the most affected carrier. Following flight restrictions, aircraft operating costs on the routes from Helsinki to Shanghai, Helsinki to Tokyo and Helsinki to Seoul have risen by 39%, while average CO₂ emissions on these routes have increased by 40%.

    Our findings shed new light on the massive carbon footprint of war, which is often overlooked in climate policy. Using a forecasting model with specialised software, we found that continued avoidance of the airspaces of Russia and Ukraine could increase all aviation-related CO₂ emissions globally by up to 29% in 2025, compared with 2022.

    Aviation already accounts for 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions, and this figure is expected to grow as air travel expands.

    Aeroplanes seed heat-trapping clouds that amplify their climate impact.
    Peter Gudella/Shutterstock

    Our findings demonstrate that the need to decarbonise transport cannot be separated from broader geopolitical issues. As wars and conflicts reshape airspace availability, they also worsen aviation’s carbon footprint. It’s not just the airline industry that bears these costs – we all do, in the form of rising temperatures and a changing climate.

    What action needs to be taken?

    While the challenges are significant, there are solutions.

    Upgrading airline fleets with more fuel-efficient aircraft, such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, can help to reduce CO₂ emissions by roughly 20%–25% compared with older aircraft models, such as the Boeing 777-200ER or Airbus A330-200.

    Optimising flight paths using advanced air traffic management systems could help too. These systems, allow aircraft to choose the shortest and most efficient paths and can reduce unnecessary detours.

    International agreements to manage airspace collectively during times of conflict can keep essential flight corridors open and ensure airlines avoid inefficient rerouting.

    Airlines are investing in sustainable aviation fuels, which emits less than traditional kerosene – but insufficient supplies, high costs and other challenges make this an expensive and partial solution. With no viable low-carbon alternatives for aircraft, reducing air travel should be the priority.

    As researchers, we see our findings as a call to action. By understanding the environmental consequences of conflict, we can work towards a more sustainable future for aviation and the planet.

    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.

    Viktoriia Ivannikova 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. How the war in Ukraine has made flying worse for the climate – https://theconversation.com/how-the-war-in-ukraine-has-made-flying-worse-for-the-climate-249039

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: AI is transforming the search for new materials that can help create the technologies of the future

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Domenico Vicinanza, Associate Professor of Intelligent Systems and Data Science, Anglia Ruskin University

    Battery technology is one area that can benefit from the development of novel materials. IM Imagery / Shutterstock

    From the bronze age to the Industrial Revolution and beyond, the discovery and development of new materials has been a driving force in human history. These novel materials have helped advance technology and shape civilisations.

    Today, we are at the beginning of a new era, where artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be in the perfect position to transform the search for useful materials. This looks set to completely change the approach to their investigation, creation and testing.

    In ancient times, human civilisations experimented with natural resources to create tools and artifacts. The bronze age, in the mid-4th millennium BC, was a significant milestone. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, led to the development of stronger tools and weapons, as well as advancements in agriculture and construction.

    Bronze is often referred to as the first “new material” created by humans. We took different elements and created something new, with better properties that either ingredient and unique qualities. The invention of glass in ancient Mesopotamia around 3,500BC was another groundbreaking moment.

    A superconductor (the dark material) makes a magnetic cube levitate. The field of the magnet induces currents in the superconductor that generate an equal and opposite field, balancing out the gravitational force on the cube.
    Oak Ridge National Laboratory

    Fast forward to the 20th century and the discovery of plastic polymers, ceramics and superconductors opened new frontiers in technology. Ceramics, known for their durability and heat resistance, became a staple in industries from aerospace to electronics.

    Superconductors, materials that can conduct electricity with zero electrical resistance, are already used in maglevs (magnetic levitation trains), particle accelerators and medical devices.

    AI enters the fray

    Searching for new materials that could help drive the development of the next groundbreaking technologies has previously been a long and expensive process. This has been due to the complexity of many materials at the atomic and molecular levels. Traditional methods are essentially based on trial and error and need specialised equipment and resources.

    The inherent uncertainty and risk in material discovery further complicates and lengthens the process. However, advancements in AI, including in a subset of AI called machine learning, are beginning to transform the whole landscape, enabling more efficient and targeted approaches. In machine learning, mathematical rules called algorithms learn from data to improve at tasks without human intervention.

    The main shift is a new methodology based on “generative” AI systems, which can create new content. AI systems can now directly produce novel materials when provided with desired properties and constraints.

    Earlier this month, a team at Microsoft published a paper in Nature that introduced a pair of AI tools for the design of inorganic materials (those not based around the element carbon).

    AI tools can generate thousands of potential materials within a short space of time.
    Yurchanka Siarhei / Shutterstock

    These tools play complementary roles in materials discovery. They are called MatterGen and MatterSim. The first one creates new candidate materials, and the second filters and validates them – to ensure they could be made in the real world.

    The specific desired properties that can be incorporated through MatterGen include a specific symmetry, or mechanical, electronic and magnetic properties.

    Unlike traditional methods that mostly rely on intuition (along with extensive and tedious experimentation), MatterGen can generate thousands of potential materials with specific desired properties in a fraction of the time.

    This AI-led approach accelerates the initial stages of material design. It allows researchers to explore a broader range of possibilities and focus on the most promising candidates.

    MatterSim applies rigorous computer analysis to predict the stability and viability of these proposed materials. This predictive capability helps filter out theoretical possibilities from physically feasible ones. This ensures that only stable materials move forward in the discovery process.

    New tools in the box

    At this point, we might wonder, what does a new material, identified through this process, look like? MatterSim is mostly focusing on crystals, or more appropriately unique crystalline structures with a specific arrangement of atoms.

    These structures are tailored to meet precise property constraints, making them suitable for various applications. These include high energy batteries, flexible electronics, displays, solar panels or advanced medical implants.

    Flexible electronics are another area where materials discovery could drive advances.
    Peter Sobolev

    Microsoft’s powerful duo, however, is not alone in its quest. Google DeepMind’s Graph Networks for Materials Exploration (Gnome) is another tool promising to dramatically speed up the discovery process. Gnome uses a form of AI that’s inspired by the human brain called deep learning. It predicts the stability of new materials, significantly shortening the exploration and discovery phase.

    In a paper published in 2023, researchers from Google DeepMind demonstrated that their AI model could identify 2.2 million new stable materials. Some 736 of these have already been experimentally realised. This is a tenfold increase over previous methods. These materials, many of which were previously unknown to human chemists, have potential applications in clean energy, electronics, and more.

    Even if both Google’s Gnome and Microsoft’s MatterGen are AI-based, they differ in their approaches and, in some ways, provide complementary methodologies. Gnome predicts the stability of new materials by creating variations on existing structures, and it focuses on identifying stable crystalline materials.

    MatterGen, on the other hand, employs a generative AI model to directly engineer novel materials based on specific design requirements. It creates material structures by changing elements, positions and periodic lattices (a repeating structure in three dimensions).

    The implications of AI-driven material discovery are vast. They could potentially lead to innovations in fields such as energy storage and environmental sustainability. One of the most promising applications is, for example, the development of new batteries.

    As the world makes the transition to renewable energy sources, the demand for efficient, long lasting batteries has grown and will continue to do so. AI tools can help researchers design and identify new materials able to support higher energy densities, faster charging times and longer lifespans.

    Beyond energy storage, new materials can be used to design new medical devices, implants and even drug delivery systems. This could improve patient outcomes and advance medical treatments.

    In aerospace, lightweight, durable materials could enhance the performance and safety of aircraft and spacecraft. Meanwhile, new materials for water purification, carbon capture, and waste management could address pressing environmental challenges.

    Domenico Vicinanza 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. AI is transforming the search for new materials that can help create the technologies of the future – https://theconversation.com/ai-is-transforming-the-search-for-new-materials-that-can-help-create-the-technologies-of-the-future-249392

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Groundbreaking Formal Verification Further Enhances the Quality of CHERIoT-Ibex

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — lowRISC C.I.C., the open silicon ecosystem organisation, today announced the addition of formal verification to the toolbox of open source design verification (DV) techniques used to ensure the commercial level quality of the Microsoft-created CHERIoT-Ibex core, the processor at the heart of the UKRI-funded Sonata™ platform.

    CHERIoT-Ibex pipeline with specification installed using a pipeline follower

    Prof. Tom Melham and Louis-Emile Ploix of the University of Oxford, and Alasdair Armstrong of the University of Cambridge, have created an extensive formal verification framework to establish observational equivalence, using unbounded proofs, between the hardware and the RISC-V International Sail specification of instruction behaviour. This greatly strengthens confidence in the design’s conformance to the specification. The verification uses the Cadence Jasper™ tool, along with new Sail support to automatically build a SystemVerilog reference model from the specification. They describe their work in a pre-print paper published on arXiv, and have collaborated with Microsoft to upstream this into the open source CHERIoT-Ibex repository.

    CHERIoT-Ibex is Microsoft’s open-source extension of lowRISC’s Ibex®, a 32-bit RISC-V processor. CHERIoT provides fine-grained memory protection for embedded systems, which deterministically mitigates over two thirds of memory vulnerabilities and enables efficient compartmentalization. Of course, it is critical that the hardware correctly implements the CHERIoT extension to ensure that the security guarantees it offers are valid. “Correct” implementation is defined in a standardised way for RISC-V using Sail. This is a domain-specific language which describes, in a formal but readable fashion, exactly what each processor instruction does.

    This new formal verification framework and proof developed by the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and lowRISC takes the formal specification for CHERIoT — written in Sail — and checks that for any stream of instructions the CHERIoT-Ibex implementation performs the same memory operations. This equivalence checking is decomposed into multiple steps to help the tool converge, by first proving simple properties, then using those to prove more and more complex ones. It is important to note that the proofs developed as part of this work are different from the more common bounded proofs, where only a limited amount of system evolution is explored for counter-examples. By contrast, unbounded proofs hold true for all possible executions. While no single verification technique should be relied on in isolation, a formal proof (in combination with a traditional functional verification flow) significantly increases confidence in the design.

    Besides the work on CHERIoT-Ibex, lowRISC has also published an adaptation of this proof for regular Ibex (which of course also has extensive conventional DV), the main microprocessor core used in the OpenTitan® root of trust.

    “We’re thrilled to see the achievement of this milestone, demonstrating that well managed open-source silicon designs can not just match the DV quality of commercial IP, in some cases they’re beginning to lead the field,” said Dr. Gavin Ferris, CEO of lowRISC. “The successful formal verification of CHERIoT-Ibex exemplifies our Silicon Commons approach, bringing the best of industry, academia and the open source community together through collaborative engineering — and moving the game forward for everyone. Now, not only can companies bring products to market cheaper and faster by leveraging open-source silicon designs, they can do so with the strongest possible assurance that specification fidelity has been maintained. We’re proud to have worked with Microsoft, the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Cadence to help make this fantastic result possible.”

    “The CHERIoT-Ibex project has been an ideal challenge for our formal verification research at Oxford, which aims at both scientific innovation and strong real-world impact,” Professor Tom Melham and lead verification engineer Louis-Emile Ploix said. “We are delighted that our work has significantly helped to increase confidence in the commercial-grade quality of Microsoft’s CHERIoT-Ibex core, driven by the development of a new Sail to Verilog compiler by our colleagues at the University of Cambridge, and demonstrated new methodology for RISC-V formal verification. Our hope is that other RISC-V verification projects can substantially benefit from our experience, through our publications and open source formal verification code.”

    “We are excited to see this formal verification milestone, building on the Sail formal specifications of RISC-V, CHERI RISC-V, and CHERIoT developed by multiple partners over recent years,” said Professor Peter Sewell at the University of Cambridge. “This links formal specifications of the instruction set, previously used for architecture design, hardware testing, software development, and formal reasoning about software, all the way down to the detailed hardware design. The work shows that full formal verification is viable for such designs with reasonable effort.”

    “Finding and fixing bugs early in the design cycle is crucial to address the fast growing complexity of chip design. Formal verification is a key technology that allows teams to boost the functional verification productivity, reduce costs, improve quality, and ensure more reliable designs in less time,” Ziyad Hanna, Corporate Vice President of Cadence Design Systems, said. “We’re delighted that Cadence Jasper Formal Verification Platform has been instrumental in supporting this effort, contributing to the future of secure computing.”

    lowRISC would like to thank all the supporters of the Sunburst project, with special thanks to Microsoft for contributing the core CHERI implementation within the CHERIoT-Ibex processor and making it open source. “Microsoft is thrilled to upstream an extensive formal verification framework and proof to the open-source CHERIoT-Ibex repository. The CHERIoT-Ibex core augments lowRISC’s Ibex with the CHERIoT ISA extension,” said Tony Chen, Partner Security Architect at Microsoft. “The formal verification pioneered by Oxford University has instilled an unmatched level of confidence in the CHERIoT-Ibex core.”

    CHERIoT-Ibex is the processor core of Sonata which puts CHERI technology into the hands of embedded-system engineers. Sonata is part of the Sunburst project, which is funded by DSbD and UKRI (Grant Number 107540). The early, foundational work at Oxford on the formal verification of CHERIoT-Ibex was funded by DSbD and UKRI as part of the SCorCH project (EPSRC Grant Number EP/V000225/1).

    About lowRISC®
    Founded in 2014 at the University of Cambridge Department of Computer Science and Technology, lowRISC is a not-for-profit company/CIC that provides a neutral home for collaborative engineering to develop and maintain commercial-quality open source silicon designs and tools for the long term. The lowRISC not-for-profit structure combined with full-stack engineering capabilities in-house enables the hosting and management of high-quality projects like OpenTitan and Sunburst via the Silicon Commons® approach.

    Media Contact
    lowRISC@w2comm.com

    An infographic accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/432a234b-dca0-44be-9118-91ca2b8996c4

    The MIL Network –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ACMD appoints new members

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Four more experts have been appointed members to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

    Following the announcement of 10 leading experts joining the ACMD’s Advisory Council in January, 4 more appointments have been made today.

    • Professor Karen Ersche
    • Professor Sunjeev Kamboj
    • Doctor Lorna Nisbet
    • Jon Privett

    The 4 will be joining the ACMD which provides advice and makes recommendations to the government on the harms caused by drugs.

    Professor Ersche is Professor of Addiction Neuroscience at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, whilst Professor Kamboj is Professor of Translational Clinical Psychology at the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at University College London.

    Doctor Nisbet is Senior Lecturer (teaching and research) at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, at the School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee.

    Jon Privett will bring his extensive knowledge as an expert witness in drug trafficking with the Metropolitan Police to the ACMD.

    The appointments have been made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

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    Published 10 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Irradiator Removal Saves Millions of Dollars While Making Campuses Safer

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    In a milestone move intended to increase campus safety and lower operational costs, safety officials at UConn Storrs and UConn Health recently coordinated the removal of four cesium-sourced irradiators used for research and medical purposes.

    The disposal operation – a costly, highly-choreographed effort at each site that involved cranes, giant disposal casks, flatbed trucks, and campus and state police escorts – was made possible through the Cesium Irradiator Replacement Project (CIRP), a voluntary initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) offering financial incentives to medical and research institutions willing to replace cesium-137 irradiators with new x-ray-based devices. Run by DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Radiological Security (ORS), the program covers 100% of the cost of disposing cesium-137 based irradiators and reimburses up to 50% of the purchase price of new equipment.

    Kevin Higgins, the radiation safety officer at UConn Health, estimates it would have cost roughly $580,000 each – a total of $1.74 million – had UCH attempted to dispose its three irradiators on its own. Another $450,000 to $500,000 in savings was realized, he says, thanks to CIRP covering half the cost of two new X-ray irradiators that replaced the two cesium-based devices used by researchers and the blood bank at UCH. A third cesium irradiator no longer in use, was removed but not replaced.

    At Storrs CIRP helped offset roughly $882,000 in costs associated with the removal and replacement of its single cesium-sourced irradiator, a 1969-era model housed in the Pharmacy Biology Building and used for genetics and cell research, says Amy Courchesne, the radiation safety officer at UConn Storrs. The program also reimbursed the cost of add-ons for the new X-ray irradiator, which included specialized accessories, and $16,000 for modifications to the room it occupies, and a service contract.

    “If we decided not to go with CIRP, the University would have had to cover those costs,” she says.

    The primary goal of CIRP is to reduce the security risks associated with the institutional use of cesium-137 and cobalt-60 sourced irradiators. The irradiators are safely shielded to protect users from exposure but contain highly radioactive isotopes with a long half-life that could pose a significant health risk if dismantled from their protective shielding or released into the environment.

    While radioactive source irradiators have benefits, such as scientific research and the irradiation of blood, they would pose a grave risk to communities should they be lost or stolen. In the wrong hands, even a small amount of high-activity radioactive material could be used in an act of radiological terrorism.

    Contributed photo.

    UConn is among the hundreds of academic, medical, and other institutions to participate in CIRP since its inception in 2014. In course of 10 years, the program has facilitated the replacement of 67% of the radio-isotopic irradiators in the United States, according to Evan Thompson, a foreign affairs specialist with NNSA.

    As of Sept. 5, 2024, some 235 cesium-137-sourced blood irradiators have been replaced through the program and 82% of self-shielded cesium-137-based blood irradiators in the U.S. have been replaced, removed, or are slated for removal by contract or pledge.

    Replacing the irradiators at both sites required a great deal of planning, teamwork, and coordination. At UCH, the new research irradiator was installed prior to the cesium irradiator being removed. For the blood bank, an entirely new location for blood irradiation was constructed.

    On removal day, UConn, state, and local police were onsite to secure the site and manage traffic flow. The irradiators were then disassembled to access the shielded containers housing the radioactive sources. The containers, which weigh several thousand pounds, were then moved under police escort to a loading dock, lifted from there to a loading dock and placed on the ground. A crane then hoisted them up and into a specially designed shipping cask securely fastened to the flatbed tractor-trailer. As a last step, the cask was pressure tested to ensure proper assembly and escorted offsite by state and local police.

    The advantages of participating in the program go well beyond the cost savings associated with removal and replacement, notes Courchesne. The bureaucratic and regulatory aspects of operating the cesium-sourced irradiators were significant.

    “Due to security, FBI background checks were required for unescorted access,” she says. “After 9/11, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission put additional security orders into effect, including 24/7 monitoring, fail-safe monitoring with backup power, contingency planning and more.”

    The stricter rules prohibited the university from publicly disclosing that it owned a cesium-sourced irradiator, which limited use of the device to researchers within the university. Individuals interested in using the irradiator for research had to contact Courchesne and take an exam to ensure they had the capability to safely use it, then be escorted by radiation safety personnel when they used it.

    Under CIRP, the cradle-to-grave custodianship of the cesium-sourced devices shifts from the owning institution to the federal government, freeing UConn and UCH from that responsibility and any associated costs.

    At Storrs, the removal was facilitated by UConn’s Office of Vice President for Research (OVPR). Jeremy Blasbaugh, director of UConn’s Center of Open Research Resources (COR²E), will oversee the installation and the new X-ray irradiator at that site and its future use by researchers.

    “As the radiation safety officer, I’m excited that researchers will be able to use the replacement X-ray irradiator,” says Courchesne. “We can share about it and promote collaboration. We don’t have the liability and regulatory restrictions around the device anymore.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: Trump’s USAID freeze ‘undermines relationships in Pacific’, says editor

    RNZ Pacific

    Marshall Islands Journal editor Giff Johnson says US President Donald Trump’s decision on aid “is an opening for anybody else who wants to fill the gap” in the Pacific.

    Trump froze all USAID for 90 days on his first day in office and is now looking to significantly reduce the size of the multi-billion dollar agency.

    The Pacific is the world’s most aid dependent region, and Terence Wood from the Australian National University Development Policy Centre told RNZ Pacific this move would hit hard.

    “The US is the Pacific’s largest aid donor and what is happening there is completely unprecedented . . .  there’s also a cruel irony that Elon Musk is the world’s wealthiest man and right now he seems to be calling the shots with decisions that are literally going to be life or death for the world’s poorest people . . .  it’s hard to wrap one’s head around,” he said.

    Marshall Islands Journal owner and editor Giff Johnson on the USAID crisis. Video: RNZ Pacific

    Wood was concerned about how the dismantling of USAID would impact the Pacific.

    “It’s not a good time to be in the world’s most aid dependent region . . .  indeed Sāmoa PM Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has already expressed concern about what might happen to funding for organisations like the World Health Organisation . . .  so everyone is watching this with considerable alarm”.

    ‘It’s hard to believe that Trump has changed his sense’
     Editor Johnson said said in an interview with RNZ Pacific last week that Trump’s shutdown of USAID was at odds with the increased engagement in the Pacific.

    He said the move did not line up with the President’s rhetoric on China, and the fact the new US compact agreements were instigated by his administration the last time he was in power.

    “So it’s hard to believe that Trump has changed his sense and I mean, he’s putting tariffs in on China, right? . . .  So that’s still very much in play,” Johnson said.

    “It’s just like amazing to me that that they’re willing to undermine relationships in the Pacific that they claim to be a very important region for them.

    “And you know, this is, I mean, certainly it’s an opening for anybody else who wants to fill the gap, I suppose, until Washington decides what it is doing.”

    USAID shutdown bug thing for Pacific
    Meanwhile, in the Cook Islands, the vice-chairperson of the Pacific energy regulators Alliance said Trump’s shutdown of USAID was a big deal for the region.

    Dean Yarrall said his organisation was planning a multi-day training course on best practices in electricity regulation, funded by the US, which had now been called off.

    He said the cancelling of the training course caught his organisation off guard.

    “We’re seeing a lot of competition between parties, the Chinese are looking to increase the influence Australia as well and the US through USAID are big supporters of the Pacific so seeing USA sort of drop away, I think that will be a big thing,” Yarrall said.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Churchill Resources Confirms Ni-Co Potential of Large Tonnage Seahorse Lake Intrusive at Florence Lake

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Churchill Resources Inc. (“Churchill” or the “Company”) (TSXV: CRI) is pleased to provide an update on its 2024 fieldwork results at the Florence Lake nickel project located in Labrador. Highlights include:

    Seahorse Lake Intrusive

    • CRI 2024 sampling confirms Ni-Co potential and ~7.5km strike length to the variably exposed Seahorse Intrusion with consistent historical surface grab samples grading 0.2-0.4% nickel and Company 2024 results confirm historical and new exposures with grades or 0.2-0.32% Ni and 100-756ppm Cobalt. The high cobalt value is much improved over the best historical result of 361ppm Co.
    • 13 of 27 CRI samples at Seahorse returned high-interest aluminum undepleted komatiite geochemical signatures, suggesting more primitive, potentially Ni-enriched units may also be present in the volcanic assemblage. This is a very encouraging early sign for Seahorse.
    • The lone short historical drillhole, TSH96-04, into the eastern margin of the intrusive, also returned nickel values in the 0.2-0.3% range with 0.01%Co from selected short samples between 30-100m downhole. The entire core is available for sampling to the end of hole at 102m.

    Baikie Belt

    • The northern licenses’ Baikie Sub-belt high-grade targets have been sampled with prioritization based on prospective komatiite geochemistry/VTEM conductors/high nickel-in-soil sampling highlighting numerous areas for detailed follow-up.

    Paul Sobie, CEO, commented:

    “Our 2024 fieldwork has confirmed that the Seahorse Lake Ultramafic Intrusive spans some 7.5km x 1km as suggested by its magnetic signature, and found it to outcrop over several impressively large areas. Historical grab sampling by Falconbridge returned pervasive surface nickel assays in the 0.2 to 0.4%Ni range, consistent with similar ultramafic intrusions being evaluated in Ontario, Quebec, BC, and Alaska.  

    Our 2024 sampling confirmed Seahorse’s Ni-Co potential per Table 1 and Figure 1, including a grab sample grading 756ppm Co (0.076%). We plan to cut long channel samples through these large outcrop exposures during fieldwork in 2025 to define nickel content over significant strike lengths and widths, as an important part of our first full “boots on the ground” season based out of the Florence Lake camp.

    On our northern licenses covering the high-grade target Baikie Sub-belt ~5km northwest of Seahorse, we’ve now sampled most of the 43 priority targets identified from VTEM survey and follow-up soil sampling, allowing for prioritization for detailed prospecting, geology and geophysical surveys this summer.

    Florence Lake lies ~70km west of the deep-water port of Postville, an all-weather road proposed along the Labrador coast would pass within 15km, and nearby waterfalls offer hydro-electric power potential, all greatly enhancing project economics.”

    Figure 1 – Seahorse Lake Total Magnetic Intensity with 2024 and Falconbridge Surface Sampling

    Figure 2 – Outcropping serpentinized peridotite southern Seahorse Lake Intrusion (note helicopter in distance for scale)

    Figure 3 – Outcropping serpentinized peridotite central Seahorse Lake Intrusion

    Table 1 – 2024 Lithogeochemical Sample Selected Analytical Results

    Baikie Belt High-Grade Targets

    The Baikie-Sub-belt volcanic package is highly encouraging for nickel discoveries throughout the volcanic stratigraphy, rather than just the Baikie Showing horizon, the primary target of Falconbridge, where a small deposit was delineated. CRI is continuing to sample the ultramafic lavas in the area of priority targets, following the recognition of numerous Al2O3-undepleted ultramafic volcanic areas (i.e., more primitive lavas, associated with nickel mineralization), as stacked targets located throughout the upper Eastern Volcanic areas of the greenstone belt, and importantly also within the more basal Western Volcanics. Kambalda-style nickel sulphide deposits occur primarily in the basal portions of ultramafic volcanic sequences.

    Figure 4 following shows the location of 2024 lithogeochemical samples detailed in Table 1, as well as the location of all other CRI surface samples collected since 2021. As well Dr. Derek Wilton has sampled numerous historical drill holes, and NL Government Geological Survey geologists have sampled the rest of the historical drillholes, which data will be available in the near-term to further our compilations of geochemical data and follow-up plans. CRI is in close contact with the Geological Survey team, who are actively assessing the Baikie and Seahorse Lake areas through mapping, lithogeochemistry and age-dating of surface and core samples and who completed their first field season in the Florence Lake area in 2024. The Geological Survey is planning to be active again this summer on our property and the collaboration will be extremely helpful to Churchill.

    2024 soil sampling was modest in sample numbers and targeted to assess VTEM conductors lower in the stratigraphy in the Western Volcanics per Figure 5. Moderate nickel anomalies were generated in several areas for follow-up this summer.

    The technical and scientific information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Derek H.C Wilton, P.Geo., FGC, who is a “qualified person” as defined under National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). Mr. Wilton is an honourary research professor of Economic Geology at Memorial University and is independent of the Company for the purposes of NI 43-101.

    The lithogeochemical samples reported here were whole rock pieces, collected from outcrop and historical drill core by Dr. Wilton during fieldwork in September/October 2024. These samples were sealed in labelled plastic bags in the field. All sample bags were photographed and transported to Thunder Bay, ON, by secure courier. The samples were analysed by ALS Geochemistry Ltd. in Thunder Bay using ME-ICP06 whole rock and ME-MS61L analytical protocols. Samples with over limit Ni contents were re-assayed using OG-46 Aqua-Regia overlimit method. Quality control results, including the laboratory’s own control samples, were evaluated immediately.1

    The soil samples were placed in labelled, sealed kraft paper bags and delivered to Eastern Analytical of Springdale, NL, an ISO/IEC 17025 certified facility. The samples were analysed using ICP 34 (inductively coupled plasma) analytical protocols. Samples with over limit Ni contents were re-assayed using Eastern’s Ore Grade Assay (multi acid digestion) overlimit method. Quality control results, including the laboratory’s control samples, were evaluated immediately.

    Figure 4 – CRI Lithogeochemical Samples 2021-2024 in Baikie Sub-belt

    Figure 5 – CRI Soil Samples 2022-2024 in Baikie Sub-belt on detailed CRI magnetics

    About Churchill Resources Inc.

    Churchill Resources Inc. is a Canadian exploration company focused on high grade, magmatic nickel sulphides in Canada, principally at its prospective Taylor Brook and Florence Lake properties in Newfoundland & Labrador. The Churchill management team, board and its advisors have decades of combined management experience in mineral exploration and in the establishment of successful publicly listed mining companies, both in Canada and around the world. Churchill’s Taylor Brook and Florence Lake projects have the potential to benefit from the province’s large and diversified minerals industry, which includes world class nickel mines and processing facilities, and a well-developed mineral exploration sector with locally based drilling and geological expertise.

    Further Information

    For further information regarding Churchill, please contact:

    Churchill Resources Inc.
    Paul Sobie, Chief Executive Officer
    Tel.   +1 416.365.0930 (o)
        +1 647.988.0930 (m)
    Email   psobie@churchillresources.com
         
    Alec Rowlands, Corporate Consultant
    Tel.   +1 416.721.4732 (m)
    Email   arowlands@churchillresources.com
         

    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information

    This news release contains “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans”, “proposed”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”, “estimates”, “believes” or “intends” or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results “may” or “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the Company’s objectives, goals and exploration activities conducted and proposed to be conducted at the Company’s properties; future growth potential of the Company, including whether any proposed exploration programs at any of the Company’s properties will be successful; exploration results; and future exploration plans and costs and financing availability.

    These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: the expected benefits to the Company relating to the exploration conducted and proposed to be conducted at the Company’s properties; failure to identify any mineral resources or significant mineralization; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, including to fund any exploration programs on the Company’s properties; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; fluctuations in spot and forward prices of gold, silver, base metals or certain other commodities; fluctuations in currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar to United States dollar exchange rate); change in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations pressures, cave-ins and flooding); inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining and mineral exploration; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability of increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); the unlikelihood that properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; actual results of current and future exploration; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated; soil sampling results being preliminary in nature and are not conclusive evidence of the likelihood of a mineral deposit; title to properties; and those factors described in the most recently filed management’s discussion and analysis of the Company. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information, or the material factors or assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information, will prove to be accurate. The Company does not undertake to release publicly any revisions for updating any voluntary forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law.

    Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

    1 The Company reminds investors that surface rock samples are select samples and may not be representative of all mineralization on the Florence Lake property.

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: 

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a4a7348e-6b56-4bb1-8fed-cb6009e554be

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/63543e74-a8d5-455e-a5b4-539e2bc771fd

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1640a47f-264a-4f11-962f-d3cb179b030c

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/584d7791-09ee-45bc-ab69-c6a7e7332132

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d275b392-66dd-4a1a-937a-2488d04f4555

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4ad8cf7b-9b04-44ed-871c-34ec8a2d094b

    The MIL Network –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: HSE Launches Advanced Training Course on AI in Education

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    Faculty of Computer Science HSE University is launching a professional development course on artificial intelligence in education. Program is intended for teachers, lecturers, and methodologists planning to integrate AI technologies into the educational process, as well as for management teams of educational institutions interested in improving educational processes through the implementation of AI.

    Teachers from the Faculty of Computer Science at the National Research University Higher School of Economics will show how to make artificial intelligence an assistant to a teacher so that it works for the benefit of the educational process. For example, students will be able to use neural networks to develop tests and educational materials, and analyze academic performance.

    The program consists of four blocks. The first is devoted to the effectiveness of AI in educational practice and the ethical issues of its use. The second block will examine AI services in detail: Yandex GPT, GigaChat, Perplexity and others. Teachers will tell how to use them to create programs of academic disciplines, articles, presentations, tests and assignments, and conduct data analysis. Block 3 contains information on how AI is currently used in education, business and media. The last block is a bonus. It is intended for those who want to delve deeper into the structure of large language models and learn about the practice of their application. Upon completion of the training in the Artificial Intelligence in Education program, students will be able to confidently create their own projects for integrating AI into the educational process based on the studied cases and examples.

    The integration of artificial intelligence tools into the educational process is not just a fashionable trend, but a necessity in today’s rapidly changing world, the expert believes Center for Continuous Education of the Faculty of Computer Science of the National Research University Higher School of Economics and the course creator Daria Kasyanenko, who spoke about the course and the importance of using AI tools in education.

    “AI opens up huge opportunities for personalizing learning, automating routine tasks, and increasing the efficiency of the educational process as a whole. Our course is designed to help teachers master these innovative technologies and implement them in their teaching practice,” she emphasized.

    The Higher School of Economics already has successful experience in this area. Last year, as part of the strategic academic leadership program “Priority 2030” More than 50% of HSE full-time employees have completed the course “Artificial Intelligence in Education and Research”.

    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 –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: NHRC, India in collaboration with the Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur organised a National conference on combating human trafficking in the digital era

    Source: Government of India (2)

    NHRC, India in collaboration with the Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur organised a National conference on combating human trafficking in the digital era

    In his inaugural address, NHRC, India Chairperson, Justice Shri V Ramasubramanian emphasised the need for building awareness among people about the pitfalls while engaging with digital spaces to ensure their safety

    Highlighted strengthening of the regulatory and institutional frameworks as well as technological solutions to check effectively the misuse of digital space

    Among various suggestions, the conference stressed on amending the ITP Act to provide clearer distinctions between child and adult trafficking with specific provisions to include cyber trafficking within its scope

    Formal linkage between the ITPA and the IT Act also stressed filling existing legal gaps and addressing trafficking in the digital realm

    Posted On: 10 FEB 2025 1:13PM by PIB Delhi

    Justice Shri V Ramasubramanian, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India inaugurated a day-long National Conference on ‘Combating human trafficking in the digital era’ organised on 7th Februray, 2025 by the Commission in collaboration with the Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. With digital technologies increasingly being exploited for human trafficking, this conference examined the role of the internet, social media, cryptocurrency, and various online tools in facilitating trafficking crimes and the role of technology, law enforcement agencies, and the community in preventing them.

     

    Addressing virtually, the experts, law enforcement officials, academicians, and activists gathered to deliberate upon the growing menace of cyber-enabled trafficking, Justice Ramasubramanian highlighted various forms of digital trafficking such as sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, organ trafficking, and forced marriage. He also highlighted “Active Recruitment,” known as Hook Fishing, and “Passive Recruitment,” known as Net Fishing using digital technology to lure in gullible people.

     

    The NHRC, India Chairperson emphasised the need for building awareness among people about the pitfalls while engaging with digital spaces to ensure their safety besides strengthening the regulatory and institutional frameworks as well as technological solutions to check effectively the misuse of digital space.

    The conference was divided into two thematic sessions. The first session focused on the role of the Internet in facilitating human trafficking and migrant smuggling: A legal, administrative, and regulatory perspective’. It was chaired by Smt Bhamathi Balasubramanian, IAS (Retd.), co-chaired by Dr Sanjeev Shukla, Inspector General of Police, Bilaspur. Other resource persons included Dr K.V.K. Santhy, Professor of Law, NALSAR Hyderabad; Shri Kirtan Rathore, Additional SP, Raipur; and Smt Pratibha Tiwari, Additional SP, Mahasamund.

    The session provided a comprehensive discussion on the various factors contributing to human trafficking, with a strong emphasis on its gendered dimensions and the growing role of digital anonymity in facilitating such crimes. A significant portion of the discussion focused on the issue of migrant smuggling in different parts of India, particularly examining recruitment strategies, coordination networks, and the smuggling of victims.

    Experts highlighted trafficking cases from Chhattisgarh, shedding light on the persistent problem of non-reporting and the critical role played by Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) in addressing these challenges. The session also explored the regulatory mechanisms in place to combat trafficking, emphasizing the need for capacity building and the development of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) tailored to the digital era. Additionally, the speakers underscored the role of the internet, artificial intelligence, and digital forensics in tracking and preventing trafficking cases, particularly those involving social media and missing children.

    The second session was focused on the theme “Preventive Strategies against Human Trafficking: Role of Technology, Law Enforcement Agencies, Victim Support, and Community Engagement.” It was chaired by Dr Manish Mishra, Joint Director, Chhattisgarh Human Rights Commission, and co-chaired by Dr Purushotam Chandrakar, Member, Child Welfare Committee (Raipur). The panellists also included Ms Pallabi Ghosh, Founder & Director, Impact and Dialogue Foundation (Kolkata); Ms Chetna Desai; Shri Ritesh Kumar, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF, Chhattisgarh; and Prof. (Dr) Vishnu Konoorayar, Professor of Law, HNLU.

     

    Shri Joginder Singh, Registrar (Law), NHRC, India in his concluding remarks said that combating human trafficking is a global effort requiring collaboration between governments, NGOs, technology companies, and individuals.

    The conference brought forward several key suggestions to address the growing challenge of human trafficking some of which are as follows:

    • Amend The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA) to provide clearer distinctions between child and adult trafficking, with specific provisions to include cyber trafficking within its scope;
    • Formal linkage is needed between the ITPA and the IT Act to fill existing legal gaps and address trafficking in the digital realm;

    • Increase awareness regarding self-reporting portals such as the Centralized Complaint and Prevention of Women and Children (CCPWC), which could serve as an effective tool for public participation in reporting trafficking cases;

    • Equip and train Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) to combat trafficking in the digital era;
    • Authentic data on human trafficking needs to be systematically collected across different categories to better inform policies and interventions;

    • There is a need for community engagement as a critical component in combating trafficking in all its forms by encouraging local communities to take an active role in preventing and reporting such crimes.

     

    ****

    NSK

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: How geology and climate control vegetation composition and distribution in the Yellowstone Geoecosystem

    Source: US Geological Survey

    Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week’s contribution is from Cathy Whitlock, Regents Professor with the Department of Earth Science and the Paleoecology Lab at Montana State University.

    In Yellowstone, geology and ecology go hand in hand.  In fact, the geology of Yellowstone can be mapped by its vegetation!  For example, the glacial clays in the Lamar and Hayden valleys are rich in nutrients, like calcium and magnesium, and have high water-holding capacity; these qualities favor growth of grassland and sagebrush steppe.  These landscapes are called the “Serengeti of North America”— lush grasslands that support large populations of bison and elk, not to mention coyotes, wolves, and grizzlies. Thinner soils with intermediate fertility form on the eastern side of Yellowstone National Park in the Absaroka volcanic province, where andesitic compositions are common.  They support forests of Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, and whitebark and lodgepole pine, like those found in much of the northern Rockies.  In contrast, the plateaus of central Yellowstone National Park, created from explosive and lava-flow eruptions with rhyolite compositions, are overlain by thin, infertile soils.  Their lack of critical nutrients and low water-holding capacity limit most conifers, with the notable exception of lodgepole pine.  Lodgepole’s seeds are released when the cones are heated, enabling rapid establishment after fire and further ensuring the conifer’s dominance in central Yellowstone. 

    Modern vegetation on different geological substrates in Yellowstone.  Left: steppe/grassland on glacial clay found in places like Lamar and Hayden Valleys.  Center: Mixed conifer forest in the Absaroka andesite volcanic field in the eastern part of Yellowstone National Park.  Right: Lodgepole pine forest on Central Plateau rhyolite (hydrothermal grassland is present in the geyser basin in the middle of the photo). Figure by Cathy Whitlock, Montana State University.

    Yellowstone didn’t always look like it does today, though.  The vegetation has varied over time along with climate.  One way to investigate the vegetation and climate conditions of the past is to collect and analyze sediment cores from lakes in the area.  Sediment layers in lakes preserve millions of pollen grains that can be used to study changes in vegetation and climate through time.

    Comparing pollen records from three lakes in different geological substrates highlights the influence of geology and climate on long-term vegetation development.  Radiocarbon dating of sediment cores indicates that these lakes formed 14,000–15,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.  A pollen record from Slough Creek Pond, near the confluence of Slough Creek and the Lamar River in the northeast part of Yellowstone National Park, describes the history of the fertile grassland regions.  Following ice recession, when the climate was cool and wet, the clay-rich areas were covered by shrub tundra.  As temperatures rose, Engelmann spruce moved into northern Yellowstone to form a subalpine parkland.  As more trees arrived with further warming, a parkland of spruce, fir, and whitebark pine developed.  After 11,000 years ago, during the early-Holocene warm period, Slough Creek supported a forest dominated by lodgepole pine and juniper.  The present Douglas-fir parkland was established about 7,000 years ago, when the climate of northern Yellowstone became drier and fire activity increased.

    A pollen record from Cub Creek Pond in the Absaroka region shows that the initial vegetation was similar to that of Slough Creek Pond.  Following an early period of shrub tundra, a subalpine parkland of Engelmann spruce formed about 12,500 years ago and became more diverse about 11,700 years ago.  On andesitic substrates, the early-Holocene warm period supported abundant lodgepole pine, some Douglas-fir, and aspen. In the last 5,000 years, this region became cooler and wetter, and present-day mixed forest of spruce, fir, and pine developed. 

    Compare these histories with that of the rhyolitic Central Plateau.  A record from Cygnet Lake shows that shrub tundra or steppe was present before 11,000 years ago.  While other parts of the park were colonized by spruce, fir, and whitebark pine, the infertile soils limited their establishment in the Central Plateau.  It wasn’t until lodgepole pine arrived 11,000 years ago that rhyolite regions became forested, and despite shifts in climate and fire activity, central Yellowstone has been covered by lodgepole pine forest ever since. 

    Vegetation history based on pollen records from three small lakes on different geological substrates in Yellowstone National Park.   Blue is open vegetation, light green is parkland, dark green is forest.  Top plot is from Slough Creek Pond, in a present grassland area dominated by glacial and lake sediment in the northeast part of Yellowstone National Park.  Middle plot is from Cub Creek Pond in the Absaroka volcanics on the east side of Yellowstone National Park.  Bottom plot is from Cygnet Lake in the Central Plateau rhyolites in the center of Yellowstone National Park.  Figure by Cathy Whitlock, Montana State University.

    So, what do we learn from this?  First is that Yellowstone is a geoecosystem in which the geologic template as well as changes in climate and fire shape vegetation development.  Imagine how this geo-connection played out through time.  If Yellowstone did not overlie a hotspot, we would not have had caldera and post-caldera rhyolitic eruptions.  No rhyolite, no lodgepole pine forest.  If the hotspot hadn’t created what Ken Pierce and Lisa Morgan call the “Yellowstone crescent of high terrain,” (which is essentially an area of the Rockies that has been uplifted by the hotspot’s interaction with the North American plate) we wouldn’t have had the high elevations necessary for ice to form during glacial periods.  No hotspot, no glaciers, no clay-rich soils, no fertile steppe.  In short, Yellowstone would have looked like the rest of the northern Rockies.  But to our good fortune, all of these events did transpire and created the Yellowstone geoecosystem that we see today.  Geology matters! 

    Additional reading:

    Despain, DG. 1990. Yellowstone vegetation; consequences of environment and history in a natural setting. Roberts Rine- hart, New York, New York, USA. 

    Iglesias, V, Whitlock, C, Krause, TR, Baker, RG. 2018.  Past vegetation dynamics in the Yellowstone region highlight the vulnerability of mountain systems to climate change. Journal of Biogeography 45: 1768-1780.

    Pierce, KL, Morgan LA. 1992. The track of the Yellowstone hot spot: Volcanism, faulting and uplift. Geological Society Memoir 179, Chapter 1.

    Whitlock, C. 1993. Postglacial vegetation and climate of Grand Teton and southern Yellowstone National Parks.  Ecological Monographs 63: 173-198.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    February 11, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Polytechnic University and UK KER-Holding: six-year cooperation

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    In the research laboratory “Laser and Additive Technologies” of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering of Materials and Transport of SPbPU, acceptance tests of the laser powder cladding complex were carried out. Specialists of the company “UK KER-Holding” assessed the configuration and capabilities of the manufactured installation.

    Polytechnic University and the management company “Complex Energy Development-Holding” began to cooperate in 2019, when the organization was choosing reliable partners for the repair of gas turbine engines. Over six years, specialists from the Research Laboratory “LiAT” of IMMiT have completed more than 20 projects. Now two projects are being implemented at once: the commissioning of the complex and the repair of the second-stage working blades of the GTE.

    In addition, the Polytechnic University conducted acceptance tests of the laser powder cladding complex. The customer was represented by the chief metallurgist of UK KER-Holding Yuri Dvoeglazov, investment director Zufar Idrisov and chief designer Nikolai Tsyganov.

    Successful completion of acceptance tests under the contract for the supply of the unit is another starting point in cooperation with the company. Our specialists developed technical documentation and manufactured the complex. We demonstrated the surfacing process in real conditions to the receiving party, – said Mikhail Kuznetsov, head of the Research Laboratory “LiAT” of IMMiT.

    Laser powder cladding and direct laser deposition are modern technologies that allow creating materials and products with high precision and quality. They are used in various industries, such as medicine, aviation, space exploration, energy, mechanical engineering and others.

    We can confidently talk about the fruitful work carried out over six years of cooperation. In the Polytech-KER-Holding team, specialists have completed many projects and solved a large number of “starred” problems. Direct evidence of this is the serial repair of working and nozzle blades of gas turbine engines and the creation of a laser powder cladding complex with technology transfer, – shared Yuri Dvoeglazov.

    It is gratifying that the interaction between the Polytechnic University and UK KER-Holding is actively developing. The employees of the Research Laboratory LiAT make a worthy contribution to strengthening the ties. Long-term cooperation in the field of repair of nozzle units using the laser powder cladding method is of great importance for the development of the energy industry, – noted the Director of IMMiT Anatoly Popovich.

    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 –

    February 11, 2025
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