Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
The number of overseas visitors in Hainan province has been increasing thanks to the convenient immigration policies of the Hainan Free Trade Port, local authorities said.
The entry and exit policies at the province are considered the most favorable in China, said Wang Haixing, director of the Haikou General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, at a news conference on Thursday.
In February, the National Immigration Administration implemented new policies to enhance visa-free entry opportunities for people from 59 countries who want to visit Hainan. In May, a 15-day visa-free entry policy took effect for foreign tour groups arriving in Hainan via cruise ships, and in July, visa-free entry for foreign tour groups entering the island province from Hong Kong or Macao was permitted for up to 144 hours.
As of Thursday, 1.514 million inbound and outbound personnel have been inspected this year, up 278.5 percent year-on-year, according to the station.
So far this year, 238,500 foreign tourists have entered Hainan visa-free, a 6.5-fold increase compared to last year, constituting over 80 percent of the total number of overseas visitors to the island.
Wang said that visa exemptions have become the primary method for foreigners who want to visit Hainan, and they have facilitated the hosting of major international events such as the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference and the China International Consumer Products Expo.
Luo Zhengyu, deputy director of the station, highlighted that the border inspection authorities have implemented a series of effective measures to ensure the smooth implementation of travel policies. For instance, the number of passenger inspection channels at all provincial airports has increased from 39 to 98, with the activation of 44 inbound and outbound express channels.
“This expansion has significantly reduced passenger waiting times and improved customs clearance efficiency,” he said.
Additionally, passengers from 59 nations who are eligible for visa-free entry in Hainan, as well as foreign tourist groups entering Hainan from Hong Kong or Macao visa-free for 144 hours, no longer have to fill out entry cards. Furthermore, passengers arriving by cruise ships are no longer required to provide fingerprint information.
“We will introduce innovative measures to enhance the travel experience for Chinese and foreign individuals, further creating a more convenient and streamlined border inspection atmosphere,” Luo said.
Two of Hainan’s major airports have launched 58 international passenger routes — 36 at Haikou’s airport and 22 at Sanya’s — connecting 31 cities in 18 countries and regions.
This week alone, two international routes have been launched, and a third will open this weekend, bringing the total number of international flights to and from the island to 61 by the end of this month, according to Hainan Airport Group.
On Tuesday, the route linking Taiyuan, Shanxi province, and Singapore via Sanya commenced operations. On Thursday, Haikou Meilan International Airport inaugurated its first route to the United States, offering service to Seattle, Washington. On Saturday morning, Boao International Airport will host the inaugural flight ceremony for the first international route from Qionghai to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“For many foreign visitors, a trip to Hainan without plans has become a reality,” said Mai Weiwen, CEO of Hainan Wenhua Tourism Group. “Thanks to the increasing number of international flights being launched in Hainan, local travel agencies are seizing opportunities to expand their market by venturing abroad to overseas tourist source markets.”
Russian expatriate Andreev Aleksei, a lecturer at Hainan University, is excited about the preferential visa-free policies.
“I plan to invite my family members to Hainan due to the ease of travel without the need for visa applications,” he said, also highlighting the convenience of direct flights from Moscow to Haikou and Sanya, as well as from other international cities to Hainan, making travel to the tropical island more accessible for foreign visitors.
Headline: Boosting support for children affected by domestic violence
Published: 27 September 2024
Released by: Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
Up to 1,800 children and young people experiencing domestic and family violence each year will now have access to specialised support services to help them recover and disrupt the cycle of abuse.
The Specialist Workers for Children and Young People (SWCYP) program provides a path to recovery for children and young people from 0 to 18 years of age, staying in refuges with their mothers after escaping domestic and family violence.
The $48.1 million SWCYP investment from the NSW Government provides funding to expand the program to 10 new services covering an additional 34 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across NSW, the majority of which are in regional and rural NSW.
Funding for 21 existing services will ensure delivery of the program in over 22 women’s refuges across 46 LGAs is extended to 30 June 2026, providing certainty for these services.
This enhancement means children and young people accompanying their mothers in over 32 refuges across regional and metro NSW will have access to support from more than 55 specialist workers.
The NSW Government is working hard to improve support for domestic and family violence victim-survivors and expand programs that reduce the rate of violence against women and children.
Domestic and family violence can have a devastating impact on children and young people, whether they have witnessed or directly suffered abuse.
The SWCYP program is a key part of the NSW Government’s $245.6 million domestic violence package. It recognises children and young people as victim-survivors in their own right and offers tailored support that is more holistic, trauma-informed, and preventative.
Specialist workers develop an individualised support plan for each child or young person to help break the pattern of violence and prevent intergenerational trauma.
An evaluation of the program by the University of NSW found the program delivered positive outcomes for participants by providing early intervention, preventing problems from escalating and disrupting the cycle of domestic and family violence.
The evaluation noted children and young people who had received support from a specialist worker reported positive outcomes relating to their physical health, education, social needs, mental health, emotional needs, safety, cultural needs, employment and family relationships.
The NSW Government is taking a whole of government approach to address domestic and family violence, including rolling out our first dedicated Primary Prevention Strategy, holding perpetrators to account, and strengthening protections for victim-survivors through bail reforms and proposed changes to ADVOs.
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison said:
“Supporting families through this holistic response is a critical step to preventing future cycles of violence.
“Extending and expanding this program recognises that children and young people are victim-survivors of domestic and family violence in their own right. So it’s vital that we provide them with this much-needed support, that is a different response to their mother, in the space where refuge is sought.
“This investment by our government is crucial and will provide life-changing help to children and young people as they recover from past trauma.
“Every child deserves to live free from violence and its destructive impact on their health and wellbeing.”
Domestic Violence Service Management CEO Stephanie Smith said:
“Specialist workers for children and young people allow for a long-term sustainable solution to ending domestic and family violence in Australia. By intervening early with children and young people we are able to disrupt the normalisation of domestic and family violence and allow a reframe of values about relationships and gender dynamics early.
“Our specialist workers are there specifically for the children who historically may have been left behind in the inevitable crisis caused by domestic and family violence. These workers allow the experience of children to be heard, acknowledged and addressed.
“Our services are person-centered which means we don’t have a one-size-fits-all way of doing things. We start with thorough assessments based on what the child and parent are telling us and we regularly review and adapt our way of working with children to ensure we see progress.”
Australia has a long history of domestic airlines collapsing, often affecting thousands of travellers, yet the industry provides little or no recompense.
Even the federal government’s recently released aviation discussion paper recognised the need for change by recommending important protections for passengers. These included making airlines honour refunds if flights were cancelled or significantly delayed.
The 2024 Aviation White Paper included the most consumer friendly proposals in 30 years. However, there was one significant omission in the 156-page report.
There was no mention of insolvency protection for airline passengers. To put it simply, if a domestic or international airline collapses there is little likelihood passengers who paid airfares will receive a refund.
In most cases, passengers affected by airline collapses receive little or no compensation. Fewer than 20% of Australian domestic passengers pay for domestic travel insurance compared to the 90% of Australians who buy insurance when they fly internationally.
A history of failed airlines
Since 1990 we have seen the rise and fall of multiple Australian airlines. This includes Compass Mark 1, Compass Mark 2, Ansett Airlines, Impulse Air and Aussie Air.
In May, Bonza collapsed after less than a year of operation. And more recently, services operated by REX (Regional Air Express) between capital cities stopped and its regional services are under pressure.
Virgin and Qantas immediately volunteered to honour the inter-city bookings of some REX ticket holders. However, nearly all affected Bonza passengers lost their money because no other airlines flew the same routes.
The risk of both domestic and international airline collapses affecting Australian travellers is real. Consumers are as entitled to be protected from that risk as they are from many other travel related risks.
The UK and European approach
The UK approach to insolvency insurance has worked well since 1973. The UK scheme is known as “ATOL” or Air Travel Operators Licence. It applies to package tour companies who sell air travel combined with land tours or accommodation
This user-pays, government-guaranteed insurance cover is compulsory for all British travellers who book a package tour. It costs only A$5 per person. It guarantees a full refund and return flights to the passenger’s point of origin if the tour operator goes out of business.
As part of a 2024 book I co-edited with Bruce Prideaux, I focused on the collapse of the famous British tour operator, Thomas Cook in 2019.
I also compared insolvency consumer protection in the UK with that of Australia and New Zealand.
The Thomas Cook experience
When Thomas Cook collapsed in the United Kingdom and Europe, 600,000 British and European Union passengers were fully refunded the cost of their tours and flown to their port of departure under their regions’ respective schemes. And the cost of their disrupted tours was refunded.
Funding built into the UK scheme covered full refunds to affected passengers at negligible cost to government which guaranteed the scheme.
By contrast, a far smaller collapse of two Australian based tour operators, Tempo Holidays and Bentours in September 2019 affected fewer than 1,000 passengers.
However not all the affected travellers were refunded due to the limitations of the insolvency scheme run by what was then the Australian Federation of Travel Agents.
Under this scheme travellers only receive insolvency protection if they pay by credit or debit card. There is a reliance on banks to refund if a tour operator becomes insolvent. If the passenger paid for their tour by cheque or cash, no refund applied.
What Australia needs
There are three key categories of business insolvency which affect travellers. The collapse of an airline, the collapse of a tour operator and the collapse of a travel agent.
If the Australian government is genuinely interested in protecting travel consumers at minimal cost to the taxpayer we should be using the UK and European schemes as a model.
A compulsory user-pays, government guaranteed insolvency protection scheme would cost the consumer very little and would be an ideal safety net for consumers in the event that their travel company goes bust.
David Beirman is affiliated in an honorary basis with DFAT’s Consular Consulting Group, a stakeholder group which advises DFAT on government travel advisories and broader issues of tourism safety and security.
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
NEW YORK, United States of America, September 26, 2024/APO Group/ —
Festival Coins (Nigeria), Salubata (Nigeria),HustleSasa (Kenya) and UBR VR (Egypt)Win Top Prizes, including Financial Support and Mentorship; Paystack Payments Ltd., Kuramo Capital Management and Nigerian University of Technology and Management Join Demo Day as NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s First Official Partners (www.NBA.com).
NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum today announced the four prize-winning startup businesses from “NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator” (http://apo-opa.co/3ZLmNoC), which NBA Africa launched in April 2024 to support the continent’s technology ecosystem and the next generation of African entrepreneurs. The four winning businesses – Festival Coins (Nigeria), Salubata (Nigeria), HustleSasa (Kenya) and UBR VR (Egypt) – will be awarded financial support and mentorship, including an opportunity to participate in workshops and development programs facilitated by NBA Africa or its partners.
The 10 finalists, shortlisted from more than 700 early-stage African startup businesses that applied to participate, pitched their products to a panel of international industry leaders at a Demo Day at the NBA headquarters in New York City yesterday. The judges included Accelerate Africa Co-Founder and CEO Iyinoluwa Aboyeji; NBA Assistant General Counsel, Technology, Software Licensing and Digital Platforms Franciscus Diaba; Managing Director, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Rwanda Crystal Rugege; Chegg Inc. Executive Chairman Dan Rosensweig; and Partner at Development Partners International Joanne Yoo. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also delivered opening remarks and met the 10 finalists.
Below are the four winning businesses:
Festival Coins (Nigeria), an event technology company that offers a customizable, no-code event registration and ticketing platform called Tix Africa for events in Nigeria and Ghana, won the first-place prize and $50,000.
Salubata (Nigeria), a company that creates modular shoes repurposed from plastic waste to reduce the global carbon footprint through its environmentally friendly products, won the second-place prize and $40,000.
HustleSasa (Kenya), which provides live event services that support payment processing, attendee check-in, merchandise sales, customer data management, influencer tracking, and more, won the third-place prize and $30,000.
UBR VR (Egypt), which delivers state-of-the-art, fully immersive, in-person virtual reality (VR) experiences across Egypt, won the fourth-place prize and $20,000.
The six other finalists each received a $10,000 prize.
“Congratulations to all of the incredibly talented entrepreneurs who participated in this year’s program, with special recognition to the 10 finalists and four distinguished winners,” said NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi. “These outstanding companies have demonstrated the creativity, drive and determination to shape the future of sport in Africa and will help the continent take its rightful place on the world stage. We look forward to following their successes for many years to come.”
“NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator” is open to early-stage startups in Africa that develop solutions in event management and ticketing, youth development, AI, and digital marketing.
A display with information about how sea-level rise in New Jersey is about twice the global average will be at coastal locations in Cape May Point State Park in Cape May County, Liberty State Park in Hudson County, Leonardo Marina and Twin Lights Historic Site in Monmouth County, and at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park and Island Beach State Park in Ocean County.
Information about how climate change is extending wildfire seasons will be displayed at locations in the Pine Barrens, at Brendan T. Byrne State Forest in Burlington County, the Forest Resource Education Center and Double Trouble State Park in Ocean County, and Belleplain State Forest in Cape May County.
The harmful algal blooms display will be at parks with water bodies that have been affected by blooms, namely the Round Valley and Spruce Run recreation areas in Hunterdon County, Hopatcong State Park in Morris County, Parvin State Park in Salem County and Swartswood State Park in Sussex County.
Displays with information about extended wildfire seasons and ghost forests, large expanses of dead and dying trees caused by rising sea levels, will be at Wharton State Forest in Atlantic/Burlington/Camden counties, and at Bass River State Forest in Burlington/Ocean counties. The ghost forest display will also be at Cheesequake State Park in Middlesex County. The DEP plans to expand the exhibits to other state parks and forests and to include additional climate change impacts.
In addition to the interactive exhibits, visitors may also take part in the MyCoast Photo Station Challenge through the end of October at six locations: two at Island Beach State Park and one each at Liberty State Park, Cheesequake State Park, Cape May Point State Park and the Margate City Fishing Pier. More information about the challenge may be found here. DEP launched climate change learning stations in four state parks a year ago at diverse locations along New Jersey’s coast, where shorelines are changing due to higher tides, more intense and frequent storms, and resulting erosion. Each station has a MyCoast photo station that encourages the public to document impacts to the shoreline over time. DEP is hosting the challenge in partnership with the Rutgers University Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve.
To view a video about the exhibits, visit https://youtu.be/wgYzKwOOBTw
For more information about New Jersey’s Parks, Forests & Historic Sites, visit njparksandforests.org
Like New Jersey’s State Parks, Forests & Historic Sites page on Facebook at facebook.com/newjerseystateparks
Follow the New Jersey State Park Service on Instagram @newjerseystateparks
MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from French to English –
Source: Switzerland – Canton Government of Geneva in French
Focus on two complementary medical-technical professions: operating room technician and medical device technologist.
Start of the day in the operating room. The operating room technician (OT) goes through the patient’s file being cared for by the care team. In this work, it is essential to be prepared for any eventuality, to think about the complications that may arise during a surgical procedure.
The TSO is one of the links in the treatment chain, guaranteeing hygiene, safety and good care. This is why checking the patient’s identity and identifying any allergies and medical history are the first essential steps before any procedure in the operating room. Then, she puts on her sterile pajamas and proceeds to surgical hand washing.
Unite around the patient
Continuation of the adventures in the operating room. The final preparations are finalized: the surfaces disinfected, the devices necessary for the intervention checked.
The operation can then begin. Silence takes over the operating room. The interdisciplinary team is focused, hypervigilant. “Like an orchestra conductor, the TSO coordinates each step precisely,” explains Luzia Stettler, a teacher at the École supérieure de la santé. “She anticipates the surgeon’s actions by presenting him with the instruments and, in particular, guarantees that the operations go smoothly. Given the complexity of the profession, it requires three years of higher education after a secondary II diploma.”
Now comes the reprocessing of medical devices, “an activity that occurs after their use on the patient,” explains Hervé Ney, sterilization expert at HUG and president of the Swiss Society for Hospital Sterilization. Coordination between TSOs and medical device technologists is therefore essential.”
During this time
A stone’s throw from the operating room, Djésika Anani is busy at Steriswiss, an outsourced sterilization company for clinics and medical centers. She is an apprentice medical device technologist (MDT) in her third and final year. A job that is also behind the scenes, straddling care and technology.
After the crucial step of hand washing, she puts on her personal protective equipment and joins the sterilization team. Sorting, washing, disinfecting, packaging and sterilizing the medical instruments used now hold no more secrets for the apprentice.
“After the TSO sends the used equipment for sterilization, there are several steps in three separate areas, from the dirtiest to the cleanest,” Djésika specifies. “In a rigorously followed order, we check the proper functionality and cleanliness of the medical devices after they have passed through the washer-disinfector. Then, we package them and sterilize the instrument sets that will be part of the surgeon’s instrument tray.”
Four hours have passed since the beginning of the day. Time for the new patient.
“All TSO ES students find a job before the final exams”
Three questions for Luzia Stettler, TSO teacher at the École supérieure de la santé.
Can a medical device technologist (CFC) continue in the “higher education” program as an operating room technician?
Yes, directly after validating their CFC. Currently, we have two students who have gone through this route. They are exempt from courses and exams concerning sterilization, which represents an entire module (out of the nine in the training plan).
What about employability?
100%! All TSO ES students find a job before the final exams, as the shortage of manpower in care, and particularly in the operating room, is significant.
Are there other opportunities to enter such a profession?
Of course! However, you don’t improvise as a TSO: providing patients with services with a high degree of quality and safety remains our leitmotif. Nursing graduates who wish to specialize in the operating room field can have their acquired experience recognized and valued, thus validating one year of TSO training, and therefore train in two years. Exemptions are also possible for people who have worked in the operating room for several years and do not have an officially recognized qualification.
Career focus dedicated to medical-technical care.
Operating room professionals, TSO students and TDM apprentices will share their experience on Wednesday, October 9 between 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), at 4, rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil, in Geneva. Zoom professions by registration (45 places).
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
Every senior Muscovite can fill their lives with bright events. This summer, participants in the Moscow Longevity project attended training sessions with famous athletes, met with actors and writers, went kayaking and SUP boarding, went Nordic walking, opened an exclusive route along Arbat, and participated in many other events.
In 2024, the project’s summer season lasted four months, thanks to September being one of the warmest in the history of the capital.
Training with celebrity guests and outdoor activities
One of the most striking events of the summer season was the “Longevity Exercises”. For 17 weeks, senior citizens participated in morning warm-ups at sites organized in all districts, including in iconic places of the capital – for example, on Sparrow Hills, near the Bolshoi Theater and at the Northern River Terminal. During this time, 87 training sessions were held, which were attended by more than 14 thousand people.
Once a week, the “Longevity Exercises” were held by invited guests, including Roman Kostomarov, Evgenia Medvedeva, Tatyana Totmianina, Ilya Averbukh, Alexey Nemov, Alexey Yagudin, Artur Dalaloyan, Irina Slutskaya, Nikita Nagorny, Daria Dontsova, Anna Semenovich, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Elena Vorobey, Yulia Mikhalkova.
Participants of the “Longevity Exercises” mastered qigong, attended dance training, classes with gymnastic ribbons, and even warm-ups with drums.
Throughout the summer, outdoor activities were held for senior citizens in more than 1,500 groups at 800 outdoor venues throughout the city – at the Moscow Zoo, the equestrian club, parks, the City Farm at VDNKh, and other places.
New water directions
In July, the Moscow Longevity project opened classes in SUP surfing and kayaking for the first time. About 1,500 senior Muscovites learned the history of these sports and learned how to operate watercraft.
The classes took place in the waters of the Moscow River at the Academy Rowing Club under the guidance of experienced coaches. Despite the fact that SUPs and kayaks are considered popular among young people, the groups in these areas already broke the record for the number of older participants in the first days.
In August, a new exclusive excursion route, “Not Old Arbat”, was opened for participants of “Moscow Longevity”. It was created especially for the project by writer and Moscow expert Alexander Vaskin and is dedicated to long-livers whose fate was connected with the most famous pedestrian street of the city.
The walk includes nine thematic points, each of them is connected with the biographies of famous long-livers: writers, actors, sculptors and composers. For example, the excursionists learned about the philosopher Alexey Losev, who continued to pass on knowledge to his students until his last days, and the writer Marietta Shaginyan, who never abandoned her favorite work.
The guides were the participants of Moscow Longevity themselves, who had completed training at the Silver University in the field of Excursion Guidance. 11 graduates mastered a new profession, were employed in the project and regularly conduct excursions for groups.
Fashion collections about family, city and future
This summer, the project held its fourth season of creative laboratories “Designers’ Workshop”, dedicated to the Year of the Family. The final show, held at the forum-festival “Territory of the Future. Moscow 2030” in Gostiny Dvor, was attended by more than 600 people, another 135 thousand watched the live broadcast of the show.
Participants of “Moscow Longevity” under the mentorship of five famous fashion designers – Leonid Alekseev, Igor Gulyaev, Denis Eremkin, Ksenia Novikova and Vadim Merlis – created five clothing collections. They were demonstrated on the podium by “silver” age models from the beauty and style school “Royal Posture”.
The Family Albums line is based on the 1970s style, with prints on clothes that bring to life photographs of the designers’ grandparents, fathers and mothers. The creators of the feminine and elegant Mom collection were inspired by touching memories. Each participant imagined her mother, images from her youth. The Bright Age, Urban Romance and We Are 2030 collections are dedicated to the future, the city and longevity. Bright textured fabrics and artificial intelligence capabilities were used in their creation.
New spaces for healthy living and socializing
The network of Moscow longevity centers continues to expand: 14 spaces opened this summer, now there are 134. Older city residents can do their favorite things in a circle of like-minded people, communicate and lead a healthy lifestyle. Since September 1, the centers have switched to a new, convenient work schedule.
Along with the expansion of the network of centers, new services are also appearing in them. Thus, since this summer, they have been providing consultations on obtaining electronic government services. In each center, city residents can find out how to apply for 71 government services, including obtaining a Muscovite social card, a spa voucher, or housing subsidies.
Bright events of the summer season
Muscovites of the “silver” age celebrated the middle of summer at the festival “Long-lasting Moscow”, which took place on Vorobyovy Gory and brought together more than three thousand guests.
The most popular outdoor classes of Moscow Longevity were held on one site – dancing, Nordic walking, drawing, as well as Longevity Exercises, educational lectures and much more.
One of the central events was a mass gathering of Nordic walking enthusiasts, in which even city residents over 90 years old took part. A choreography master class for guests was conducted by dancer Evgeny Papunaishvili, and in the open air one could compete in drawing caricatures of singer Anna Semenovich and writer Daria Dontsova.
The combined choir of the Moscow Longevity project performed at the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival on Red Square. A program of 13 songs was presented by 350 people. The choir was accompanied by the Central Military Orchestra of the Russian Ministry of Defense under the direction of Honored Artist of Russia Colonel Sergei Durygin.
In addition, this summer the group gave five master classes. Choirmasters held open vocal lessons, where they introduced guests to the techniques and methods of choral singing.
In July, the Sokolniki Park hosted the “Dance Stories of Moscow Longevity” festival. One of the main events was the “Purple Waltz” flash mob, which brought together 500 senior citizens. On this day, people of different ages took to the dance floor – from 55 to 90 years old, and the oldest was 90-year-old project participant Valentina Semenova. A competition was also held: 18 couples and 10 groups competed for the title of the best dancers of the project.
“Boulevard of Moscow Longevity”
One of the most striking expositions of the forum-festival “Territory of the Future. Moscow 2030” in Gostiny Dvor was “Boulevard of Moscow Longevity”. Guests immersed themselves in a multimedia space dedicated to a healthy lifestyle and learned how to maintain activity, stay young and happy for many years. During the days of the forum-festival, over 50 thousand people looked into the future, making a “Portrait of Longevity” with the help of neural networks. Guests also walked about seven thousand virtual kilometers on the excursion “Not Old Arbat”, almost 15 thousand visitors participated in a sociological survey, which helped to find out how different generations of Muscovites relate to longevity.
Ahead of the city residents there is an equally busy autumn-winter season. All Muscovites of the “silver” age – women from 55 years old and men from 60 years old – can join the “Moscow Longevity” project. You can sign up at any Moscow Longevity Center or the “My Documents” government services center, as well as online on the mos.ru portal.
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.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering –
A special issue of the newspaper “For Construction Personnel” was published, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Faculty of Economics and Management of St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering.
In the latest issue read:
Selection of profiles – according to the needs of the labor market
Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management Galina Tokunova talks about the rich history of training specialists in the field of construction economics at our university and why applicants’ interest in these professions is growing.
How to become successful in your profession, head a university and build a business
The pages of the newspaper present two paths to success for specialists from different eras: Yuri Panibratov, a professor-consultant who previously held the position of rector of SPbGASU, and Sergey Veselov, a 2009 graduate, PhD in Economics and founder of the Development Systems group of companies. Their experience shows that the main components of success are relevant at any time.
Department – industry: six areas of interaction
Educational process in partnership with the industry. We tell how the cooperation of the construction management department with industry companies helps in updating the curriculum, professional orientation and employment of students.
Scientific research in a foreign language
Why are scientific events in a foreign language a step into the future of a specialist? Find out from the head of the Department of Intercultural Communication Elena Selezneva and student Sofia Myagkaya.
Teaching stimulates self-development
Get a diploma and stay at the university! Associate Professor of SPbGASU Olga Bochkareva spoke about the advantages of teaching, the key to success in it, and how communication with students helps keep abreast of modern times.
FEU is a faculty of energetic and creative people
Students talk about the great opportunities at the faculty and at the university, and first-year students share their emotions about admission and impressions from the first month of study.
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.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Some nanoparticles take the form of sheets or fibres. But nanomaterials all have one thing in common – their structure contains components with dimensions in the nanometre scale – that’s more than 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Research shows that nanomaterials often perform better than the same materials made at a larger scale. They have huge potential, but currently their manufacture can result in harmful environmental effects due to the use or production of hazardous chemicals.
I’m one of many researchers studying how to create, manipulate and apply these materials sustainably to develop new technologies and improve existing ones. This offers advantages across many applications, including aerospace, solar panels and electronics.
Silica nanomaterial is already all around you, but you probably don’t even realise it. Silica (SiO₂), a compound that contains both silicon and oxygen, is commonly found in rocks. It is one of the most mass produced nanomaterials worldwide, with an expected market of US$5 trillion (£3.8 trillion) by 2025.
It’s used to make things you encounter every day, from improving the strength of concrete or the durability of rubber tyres, plus it enhances the cleaning properties and consistency of toothpaste. Silica nanomaterial could have exciting high-value applications, like medicines and wastewater treatment.
While silica products might be great, the way they are made is often not great for the environment, or even economically feasible. Manufacture is key to overall product sustainability, but it’s often invisible to consumers. As such, it’s an aspect that most people consider far less than, for example, whether something will be recycled.
Making silica often requires energy-intensive processes, or makes nasty waste products that are difficult to safely dispose of. Trying to reduce the environmental footprint for existing processes is not enough. Developing new production methods is paramount to ensuring that new technologies, such as more advanced solar panels, can both help society and have less impact on the environment than traditional manufacture.
I am part of the Green Nanomaterials Research Group at the University of Sheffield, where my colleagues and I are working hard to develop sustainable, scalable and economical routes to functional nanostructured materials. We address aspects from discovery to manufacturing, applications and commercialisation, considering the performance, scalability, environment and cost.
A greener approach to chemistry
We aim to make better nanomaterials for important applications, while considering the environmental impact at every stage of a nanomaterial’s life, from raw materials through to the use and disposal of product and any by-products. This approach is known as “green chemistry”, a concept developed in 1998 that has been used to develop strategies for greener routes to nanomaterials.
Some algae, including these diatoms, make silica naturally to build cell walls and are studied in the development of bio-inspired silica. Diana Will/Shutterstock
Silica nanomaterial suits this green chemistry approach because it is already made in nature by plants and sponges as structural support. What better teacher for green chemistry than to learn from nature itself? My research group created bio-inspired silica, a product that can be made at room temperature, and in the mild conditions under which silica is made in biology naturally.
Now, colleagues in my research group are scaling up bio-inspired silica production, exploring its use in different applications and making different nanomaterials. Meanwhile, I’m exploring how changing the conditions under which we make silica can improve the properties, like surface area, that make it function better.
There’s huge scope for green nanomaterials to advance essential technologies, and if green silica could be scaled up, the potential for substantial change drug delivery and renewables is vast.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jenny Woodley, Senior Lecturer in Modern American History, Nottingham Trent University
For decades, Black history in the UK has been siloed from the mainstream, as if incidental to the nation’s history. Black History Month in October is dedicated to celebrating Black heritage, but the rest of the year, it feels largely neglected and ignored. Public historian and broadcaster David Olusoga, is at the forefront of efforts to integrate Black history into our national story.
His latest book, Black History for Every Day of the Year, co-created with two of his siblings, Yinka and Kemi, is another contribution to that work. This attractive and substantial book has an entry for each calendar day detailing an event, person, place, or theme associated with black history.
There are biographies of artists, musicians, activists, politicians, filmmakers, writers, and scientists. We learn about legal cases, such as Brown v Board of Education, when racial segregation in US schools was ruled unconstitutional, and the Mansfield Judgment, a 1772 British ruling which decided the fate of enslaved African James Somerset, and was used by abolitionists in their campaign to end slavery.
We get to see important objects, like the Benin Bronzes, a collection of sculptures created by skilled artisans in the Kingdom of Benin – now part of Nigeria – which were looted by British forces in 1897. They were then given to institutions like the British Museum, where some are still on display.
The book narrates histories of violence and injustice, from centuries of enslavement and brutal colonial rule, to South Africa’s Sharpeville massacre when, in March 1960, 69 people protesting apartheid laws were killed by the police.
The tragedy of the 1981 New Cross fire in south London, where 14 young Black people were killed in a suspected arson attack on a house party, is recounted as is the racist murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence, also in south London in 1993.
It tells stories of resistance and resilience, such as the uprising of enslaved people in Jamaica in 1760, known as Tacky’s revolt, and the 1961 Freedom Rides, when Black and white students challenged racial segregation on American buses and were met with violence.
In Britain it examines the Bristol bus boycott of 1963, a four-month-long protest against the bus company’s refusal to hire Black or Asian drivers. Many of the events and names will be familiar to some readers but there is likely to be plenty that is new and novel.
It is not a book which invites intensive reading, but rather the joy is to dip in and out, finding connections between entries, dates and themes. The popularity of social media “On This Day” posts suggests many readers will enjoy connecting past with present.
At the end of the volume, as well as a glossary of terms, are 12 timelines which place some of the entries into a more cohesive – though potentially more limiting – narrative.
For example, they outline Black resistance to slavery, abolitionist movements, and histories of imperialism and colonialism. Both here and throughout the book readers are pointed to connections between the entries. The text is enhanced by beautiful illustrations at the beginning of each month, which explore objects, places and themes associated with the entries, and the timelines are likewise creatively illustrated.
Black History for Every Day is educational and informative, but it is written with a deft touch and its format, along with the illustrations and inclusion of photographs, mean it is also engaging and accessible.
The scope of the histories included is global and many are transnational, showing the connections between the struggles and stories of people of African descent across the world. However, the majority of entries are associated with British and US history. This is not surprising given the authors’ research interests and the likely market for the book.
While it is apparent that an attempt has been made to be geographically and chronologically diverse, around a third of the 366 entries deal with US history, suggesting that our understanding of Black history is still often dominated by its American iterations.
The book is not attempting to break new ground. The timeline of the US civil rights movement, for example, begins with the Supreme Court ruling to desegregate education in 1954 and includes the acts of nonviolent direct action which have dominated the widely accepted “master narrative” of the era.
However, the book does at least go slightly beyond the usual cut-off point to include the Black Panther Party’s breakfast program, which addressed poverty and hunger in the Black community between 1969 and 1980, and the murder of Black Panther deputy chairman Fred Hampton, who was killed in 1969 at the age of 21.
The entry for Martin Luther King Jr. claims he organised the Montgomery bus boycott, ignoring the contributions of black women who were the driving force behind the movement. This is somewhat modified by the entry for activist Rosa Parks, which acknowledges the work of the Women’s Political Council in Montgomery.
The book’s purpose is not to be comprehensive; it cannot be, given its breadth. Rather, each entry is intended to serve as an introduction. The authors explain they hope people will be inspired to find out more after reading it.
Taken together, the daily entries narrate centuries of discrimination, violence and injustice against people of African descent. But they also tell stories of Black resilience, innovation, talent and achievement. The Olusogas’ book is published in time for Black History month in the UK, but it makes the case for engaging with black history beyond a single month every year.
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Jenny Woodley has received funding from the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust.
In a surprise announcement, Keir Starmer told Labour party conference that his government would end homelessness for veterans. “Homes will be there for heroes,” the prime minister said.
Labour has promised to build 1.5 million new homes as part of its manifesto. In his speech, Starmer also said that care leavers and victims of domestic abuse will have a “guaranteed roof over their head”.
I’ve been involved in research about veteran homelessness for ten years. While Starmer’s promise is welcome, it will be hard to achieve. Government data reported that there were 2,110 homeless families with an armed forces veteran in England in 2022-23, a 14% increase from the previous year.
But that figure is likely to underestimate overall levels of housing insecurity among veterans. Many people who leave military service could be considered “hidden homeless”, particularly female veterans who are unlikely to engage with formal services and young service leavers who easily slip through the cracks of existing provision.
Those who have been lucky enough to find the right service at the right time may live in veteran-specific housing, including supported accommodation. Others may have found help through Operation Fortitude. This government-run referral scheme for veterans at risk of homelessness has housed over 400 people since it began in September 2023. But these services aren’t enough to ensure stable and secure housing for all veterans.
The scale of the housing crisis has widened the gap between military and civilian life. Service leavers now need to save more and for longer than they did in the past to have any hope of closing the gap between their entitlements in military accommodation and the cost and availability of civilian housing.
While in the military, service members’ accommodation is deeply subsidised. Today, a service family with two children could be entitled to a three-bedroom house, paying around £320 a month. For single personnel, it could be as little as £106 per month. In 2013 (the most recent available data), most personnel paid less than 12% of their salary for accommodation charges. The civilian population at the time paid between 20% and 40% for housing.
However, many service members do not consider what they might do once that support ends. The people most vulnerable to homelessness after military service are those who are discharged quickly, for example for medical or disciplinary reasons. They might be required to leave military accommodation within weeks (or sometimes hours), and haven’t had chance to plan for life after the military.
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Many of the veterans and service members my colleagues and I interviewed for our research spoke of the lack of planning and ability to save. One told us: “When you join at 18 and get a salary at the same time as all my mates’ student loans, you think you’re a multi-millionaire.”
Our research suggests that home ownership at the point of discharge is out of reach for many. Social housing is not an option for many veterans, who do not qualify if they are single or have available savings.
Social housing allocation rules require applicants to have a local connection to qualify. The government said it will bring in changes to fully exempt veterans, care leavers and domestic abuse survivors. Veterans are currently exempt from this for five years. But the exemption is irrelevant if there are no suitable properties available, and veterans are consequently likely to be in temporary accommodation.
Housing in the private rented sector is expensive to secure and costly to maintain. Many service leavers find themselves returning to the parental home, sometimes after many years of successful service.
Transitioning to civilian life
The move from military to civilian life is hard to navigate. While it is certainly true that many service leavers thrive in civilian life, others struggle to find the right support and resources. They may not have the financial literacy and planning to know how to navigate the housing system. One veteran described feelings of “abandonment” after leaving service:
I joined at 16. I did 15 years. I left at 31. The Royal Navy were my parents. … I didn’t know where to go or what to do.
Many service leavers are affected by trauma and PTSD, as well as other mental health or substance abuse problems. Like civilians suffering from these conditions, these interconnected issues can exacerbate housing insecurity. And long wait times for mental health services can reduce the chances of finding long-term housing as they struggle to maintain tenancies, pay bills on time and keep stable employment.
How then, can the government and military best help veterans at risk?
The first 12 months after leaving service are critical to help the transition to civilian life and ensure service leavers have accommodation. In that time, service leavers should be given an automatic referral to a time-limited housing support scheme if they have nowhere to go.
They could also be given the option to remain in military accommodation with support to give them time to transition. Another direct solution would be to give service leavers money for private rented sector or mortgage deposits.
These solutions can’t just start when people leave service. Better mental health support and improving financial literacy while still in service is critical.
And any solutions can’t be short-term. The homeless veterans I have met over the years were often discharged many years before they experienced homelessness. Evidence suggests that within five years post-discharge is a critical time for rough sleeping to be established. Support for those who left service some years ago also needs to be part of the offer.
Lisa O’Malley receives funding from Forces in Mind Trust.
Cosmic microwave background shows fluctuations in temperature.ESA/Planck Collaboration
Given how unfathomably large the universe is, it is perhaps understandable that we haven’t yet cracked all its secrets. But there are actually some pretty basic features, ones we used to think we could explain, that cosmologists are increasingly struggling to make sense of.
The standard model originated some 25 years ago and has successfully reproduced a whole plethora of observations. But some of the latest measurements of large-scale structure, a topic which I work on, indicate that the matter is less clustered (smoother) than it ought to be according to the standard model.
This result has cosmologists scratching their heads looking for explanations. Some solutions are relatively mundane, such as unknown systematic errors in the measurements. But there are more radical solutions. These include rethinking the nature of dark energy (the force causing the universe’s expansion to accelerate), invoking a new force of nature or even tweaking Einstein’s theory of gravity on the largest of scales.
At present, the data cannot easily distinguish between different competing ideas. But the measurements from forthcoming surveys are poised to take a giant leap forward in precision. We may be on the cusp of finally breaking the standard model of cosmology.
This is article is part of our series Cosmology in crisis? which uncovers the greatest problems facing cosmologists today – and discusses the implications of solving them.
The early universe
To understand the nature of the current tension and its possible solutions, it is important to understand how structure in the universe formed and subsequently evolved. Much of our understanding comes from measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The CMB is radiation that fills the universe and is a leftover relic from the first few hundred thousand years of cosmic evolution after the Big Bang (for comparison, the universe is estimated to be 13.7 billion years old).
Scientists discovered the CMB by accident in 1964 (garnering them a Nobel prize), but its existence and properties had been predicted years earlier.
In excellent agreement with some of the earliest theoretical work, the observed temperature of the CMB today is an incredibly chilly 3 Kelvin (-270°C). However, at very early times, it was sufficiently hot (millions of degrees) to enable the fusion of all of the light elements in the universe, including helium and lithium, into heavier ones.
The CMB’s spectrum (light broken down by wavelength) suggests it must have been in thermal equilibrium with matter in the past – meaning they had the same distribution of energies. Matter and radiation can only reach thermal equilibrium in very dense environments. So measurements of the CMB convincingly demonstrate that the universe was once an extremely hot and dense place, with all the matter and radiation packed into a very small space.
As the universe expanded, it quickly cooled. And as it did so, some of the free electrons that existed at the time were captured by protons, forming atoms of hydrogen. This “era of recombination” happened around 300,000 years after the Big Bang. After this point, the universe was suddenly less dense so the CMB radiation was “released” to travel without impediment, and it has not significantly interacted with matter since.
As the radiation is very old, when we make measurements of the CMB today, we are learning about the conditions of the early universe. But detailed mapping of the CMB tells us a great deal more than this.
A key insight from CMB maps obtained with the Planck telescope is that the universe was also exceptionally smooth at early times. There was only a 0.001% variation from place to place in the density and temperature of the matter and radiation in the universe. If there had been more extreme variation, that matter and radiation would have been much more clustered.
These variations, or “fluctuations”, are of fundamental importance to how structure subsequently evolved in the universe. Without these fluctuations, there would be no galaxies, no stars or planets – and no life. A very interesting question is, where did these fluctuations come from?
Our current understanding is that they are a result of quantum mechanics, the theory of the microcosmos of atoms and particles. Quantum mechanics shows that empty space has some background energy which allows sudden, local changes, such as particles popping in and out of existence. The quantum nature of matter and energy has been verified to remarkable accuracy in the laboratory.
These fluctuations are thought to have been blown up to large scales in a very rapid period of expansion in the early universe called “inflation”, although the detailed mechanism behind inflation is still not fully understood.
Over time, these fluctuations grew and the arrangement of matter and radiation in the universe became more clustered. Regions that were slightly denser had a stronger gravitational pull and so attracted even more matter, which increased the density, which strengthened the gravitational pull, and so on. Regions of slightly lower density lost out, becoming emptier with time – a cosmic case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
The fluctuations grew to such an extent over time that galaxies and stars started to form, with galaxies being distributed in and along the familiar filaments and nodes that make up a “cosmic web”.
The standard explanation
The rate at which fluctuations grow over time, and how they are clustered in space depends on several factors: the nature of gravity, the constituent components of matter and energy in the universe, and how these components interact (both with themselves and with each other).
These factors are encapsulated in the standard model of cosmology. The model is based on a solution to Einstein’s general theory of relativity (our best understanding of gravity) that assumes the universe is homogeneous and isotropic on large scales – meaning it looks the same in every direction to every observer.
It also assumes that the matter and energy in the universe is composed of normal matter (“baryons”), dark matter consisting of relatively heavy and slow-moving particles (“cold” dark matter) and a constant amount of dark energy (Einstein’s cosmological constant, denoted Lambda).
Since its origin approximately 25 years ago, the model has successfully explained a great many observations of the universe on large scales, including the [detailed properties of the CMB].
And until very recently, it also provided excellent fits to a variety of measurements of the clustering of large-scale structure at late times. In fact, some measurements of large-scale structure are still very well described by the standard model and this may be providing an important clue as to the origin of the current tension.
Remember that the CMB shows us the clustering of matter (the fluctuations) at early times. So we can use the standard model to evolve that forward in time and predict what it should, theoretically, look like today. If there is a fit between this prediction and observations, that is a very strong indication that the ingredients of the standard model are correct.
The ‘S8’ tension
What has changed recently is that our measurements of large-scale structure, particularly at very late times, have significantly improved in their precision. Various surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey and the Kilo Degree Survey have found evidence for inconsistencies between observations and the standard model.
In other words, there is a mismatch between the early time and late time fluctuations: the late-time fluctuations are not as large as expected. Cosmologists refer to this clash as the “S8 tension”, as S8 is a parameter that we use to characterise the clustering of matter in the late-time universe.
Depending on the particular data set, the chance of the tension being a statistical fluke may be as low as 0.3%. But from a statistical point of view, that is not enough to firmly rule out the standard model.
However, there are strong hints of the tension in a variety of independent observations. And attempts to explain it away due to systematic uncertainties in the measurements or modelling have simply not been successful to date.
For example, it had previously been suggested that perhaps energetic non-gravitational processes, such as winds and jets from supermassive black holes, could inject enough energy to alter the clustering of matter on large scales.
However, we have shown using state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamical simulations (called Flamingo) that such effects appear to be too small to explain the tension with the standard model of cosmology.
If the tension is indeed pointing us to a flaw in the standard model, this would imply that something in the basic ingredients of the model is not correct.
This would have huge consequences for fundamental physics. For example, the tension may be indicating that something is wrong about our understanding of gravity, or the nature of the unknown substance called dark matter or dark energy. In the case of dark matter, one possibility is that it interacts with itself via an unknown force (something beyond just gravity).
Alternatively, perhaps dark energy is not constant but evolves with time, as early results from the Dark Energy Survey Instrument (Desi) may indicate. Some scientists are even considering the possibility of a new (fifth) force of nature. This would be a force of similar strength to gravity that operates over very large scales and would act to slow the growth of structure.
But note that any modifications of the standard model would also need to account for the many observations of the universe that the model successfully explains. This is no simple task. And before we jump to grand conclusions, we must be sure that the tension is real and not simply a statistical fluctuation.
The good news is that forthcoming measurements of large-scale structure with Desi, the Rubin Observatory, Euclid, the Simons Observatory and other experiments will be able to confirm if the tension is real with much more precise measurements.
They will also be able to thoroughly test many of the alternatives to the standard model that have been proposed. It may be that within the next couple of years we will have ruled out the standard model of cosmology and profoundly changed our understanding of how the universe works. Or the model may be vindicated and more reliable than ever. It’s an exciting time to be a cosmologist.
Ian G. McCarthy receives funding from UKRI’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). He works for Liverpool John Moores University.
In 2018, the Australian philosopher Kate Manne coined the word “himpathy” to describe what she called “the inappropriate and disproportionate sympathy powerful men often enjoy in cases of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, homicide and other misogynistic behavior”.
What makes somebody more likely to feel himpathetic, either to somebody facing accusations in the public eye, or in their own workplace?
In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to a human behaviour expert whose research seeks to understand what makes some people more inclined to support perpetrators of sexual misconduct than the victims.
Samantha Dodson is an assistant professor of organisational behaviour and human resources at the University of Calgary in Canada. She first started researching the ways people react to accusations of sexual misconduct around the time of the #MeToo movement, as women came forward with accusations of sexual harassment in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein case.
Dodson and her colleagues wanted to understand why some people are predisposed to express sympathy towards male perpetrators of sexual misconduct, or himpathy. Over a series of five studies, both analysing public comments on X related to the #MeToo movement and through lab-based psychology experiments. Her team used moral foundations theory to build a profile of the kinds of people more likely to be himpathetic.
Moral foundations theory argues that there are innate moral concerns that everybody holds to different levels. These concerns include respect for authority, loyalty, staying pure, being fair and being caring toward other people.
Don’t rock the boat
What we found is that when people strongly value things like loyalty, respect for authority and purity, they’re more likely to feel sympathy toward the man accused of sexual misconduct and feel anger toward the women who made that allegation.
Dodson says people who hold these moral values very strongly are more likely to see allegations as a threat to the stability of a company, or institution. And, as a result, they’re also less likely to believe a victim.
It also leads to people being more likely to seek punishment for the women who made the accusations and less likely to seek punishment for the men who have been accused.
Overall, Dodson found the vast majority of people in their studies were “not himpathetic” and it’s just a small subset of people who react this way.
The challenge is if those people are in positions of authority, or … if you have one person that you work with who’s himpathetic and you’re a victim you might experience some iciness from them or ostracism.
Their work also looks at how managers can better deal with accusations of sexual harassment in the workplace as a result of their findings.
Listen to Samantha Dodson talk about her research and the recommendations from it on The Conversation Weekly podcast, which also features an introduction from Eleni Vlahiotis, business and economy editor at The Conversation in Canada.
A transcript of this episode is available on Apple Podcasts.
This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Katie Flood with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer.
Scientists will work with Medannex to help accelerate treatment for bone cancer
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is collaborating with Scottish biopharmaceutical company Medannex on a £313,000 project to develop a new treatment for a childhood bone cancer.
Thanks to funding from Innovate UK’s Cancer Therapeutics programme, Medannex will work with senior scientists at ARU’s School of Life Sciences and world-leading paediatric oncologists to prepare its first-in-class therapy MDX-124 for a clinical study focusing on paediatric osteosarcoma.
MDX-124 is the first clinic-ready agent to target annexin-A1, a protein known to drive numerous cancers and other diseases. In preclinical tests, MDX-124 has been shown to stop the growth and spread of certain cancers, as well as harnessing the immune system to attack tumours. MDX-124 is currently being evaluated in a first-in-human Phase 1b oncology study in adults (‘ATTAINMENT’).
Recent data mining of a paediatric genomics database and staining of tumour tissue has revealed that annexin-A1 is highly expressed in osteosarcoma, making MDX-124 a strong candidate to treat this form of cancer.
Osteosarcoma is a rare primary cancer of the bone characterised by a high degree of malignancy, strong invasiveness, rapid disease progression and a high mortality rate. Approximately 50% of cases are in children and young adults, representing about 2% of all paediatric cancers.
In the UK, around 65% of children with osteosarcoma survive for five years after diagnosis, however this drops to only 24% for those with metastatic disease. Therefore, there remains a significant unmet clinical need for novel therapies like MDX-124.
“We’re delighted to be collaborating with Medannex to explore this innovative approach to childhood cancer treatment and we look forward to generating key data in the coming months.”
The project’s Clinical Advisory Board is led by Professor Pamela Kearns, Chair of Clinical Paediatric Oncology at the University of Birmingham, who said:
“This grant award will allow Medannex to tackle the critical unmet need for new treatments in osteosarcoma. I look forward to helping guide the company’s development in this area and exploring the potential of MDX-124 to radically improve patient outcomes.”
Medannex CEO, Ian Abercrombie, said:
“We’re grateful to Innovate UK for this resounding endorsement of the potential of our first-in-class therapy to make a real difference to osteosarcoma patients and their families. Our team is excited to drive the project forward with the support of our scientific collaborators and specialist clinical advisors.”
Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, will fund £231,000 of the project costs, with the remainder financed by Medannex.
Editor’s Note: This is the inaugural post in a new series called UConn Firsts, celebrating noteworthy students, faculty, milestones, and moments from across the history of the University of Connecticut.
The UConn of today – with its 14 schools and colleges, more than 30,000 students, and degrees in more than 125 majors – was probably hard to imagine on that distant September morning when 11 students, all male, began the first day of classes at what was then known as Storrs Agricultural School. Within short order, women began attending class, the curriculum expanded, and the little school in Mansfield was well on its way to becoming one of the great public universities in the country, thereby answering the question posed in an editorial that September by the Hartford Courant: “What is the Storrs Farm School to be? Lots of people are curious to know. In general terms it will be what the genius of the people of Connecticut pleases to make it.”
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Space professionals from organisations across the UK will descend on Manchester in July 2025 for the UK Space Conference.
Sponsored by the UK Space Agency, the biennial event brings together organisations with an interest in space to meet, network, discover business opportunities and help shape the future of the space sector. The event will be held at Manchester Central on 16 to 17 July 2025.
Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said:
Following successful conferences in Newport and Belfast, and after opening new satellite offices across the UK this year, we are excited to host the UK Space Conference in Manchester, the world’s first industrial city.
We look forward to welcoming attendees from across the UK, forging new collaborations and championing the benefits of the space industry as a key provider of jobs, prosperity and innovation.
The UK space sector generates £18.9 billion and employs 52,000 people – and supports critical national Infrastructure, including energy grids and healthcare services.
Colin Baldwin, Executive Director of UKspace, official trade association of the UK space industry, said:
UKspace is delighted to be supporting the 2025 UK Space Conference. This biennial event, organised by and for the sector through our strong and connected ecosystem, brings us together to discuss key issues and opportunities including addressing skills challenges, supporting fit-for-purpose regulation, spreading sustainability standards and promoting private investment – all of which underpins the long-term health of the sector.
This first UK Space Conference under the new government will enable the sector to showcase how it plays a significant role in the delivery of the Government’s five missions – high growth, safer streets, clean energy, opportunity for all and a society that is fit for the future.
In the early 19th century, the rapid growth of Manchester’s cotton industry drove the town’s expansion, putting it at the heart of new, global networks of manufacturing and trade. The city is now the heart of the wider region’s thriving space sector, which comprises over 180 organisations and over 2,300 space professionals – collectively termed the North West Space Cluster.
Companies based in Manchester include graphene specialists Smart IR, who are using breakthrough technology to control infrared thermal radiation and Graphene Innovations Manchester, who have ambitions to develop human rated graphene space structures. MDA Space UK is expanding their workforce and operations in all their UK locations, including their site near Manchester Airport, where their growing team designs and delivers digital systems and payloads for telecoms satellites.
A night time view of Manchester from space. Image: NASA
The North West sector has been supported by investment from the UK Space Agency’s Local Growth initiative and STFC’s (Science and Technology Facilities Council) industrial cluster development, which is helping to drive its expansion, accelerate innovation and seize commercial opportunities.
STFC’s Alan Cross, Development Manager, North West Space Cluster, said:
From Jodrell Bank’s early breakthroughs to launch vehicle testing at Spadeadam in Cumbria, the North West has a proud legacy of driving space exploration and innovation. Today, as the UK reaches for new frontiers, the North West’s space sector is thriving.
Manchester’s satellite manufacturing and the University of Liverpool’s missions to the International Space Station are just two standout examples of this, and the UK Space Conference 2025 in Manchester will showcase this vibrancy and progress.
Dr Phil Carvil, Head of STFC’s North West Cluster Programmes said:
As we leverage space to tackle 21st-century challenges and prepare for humanity’s return to the Moon, the North West Space Cluster is excited to welcome the UK Space Conference 2025 to Manchester.
Our businesses and institutions across the region are leading the way in space innovation and collaboration, inspiring our next generations that they too can take part in shaping the future of space and benefiting society as a whole.
Renowned for being the birthplace of scientists James Joule and John Dalton, and sparking their discoveries in thermodynamics, meteorology and atomic theory, the region now boasts world class expertise in materials science and has unique capabilities in nuclear materials for deep space applications. A University of Manchester lab holds a world-leading range of equipment for simulation of and experimentation into material behaviours in the extreme conditions of space exploration.
The largest scientific instrument in Human history, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, is headquartered in Cheshire alongside the University of Manchester’s prestigious Jodrell Bank Observatory. With investment from both the UK and European space agencies, the National Nuclear Laboratory is also developing the next generation of deep space power systems in Cumbria.
Kevin Craven, CEO of ADS Group said:
The UK space sector is growing, unlocking significant opportunities for economic growth throughout the UK whilst delivering innovative solutions to domestic and global challenges.
I’m delighted to see the UK Space Agency take its biannual conference to Manchester and we look forward to the event as an integral part of the space sector calendar.
In 2023 the UK Space Conference was hosted at the ICC in Belfast and brought over 1,700 leaders together from national and international industry, government and academia to Northern Ireland for three days and generated a direct economic impact of £1.7 million through visitor spend alone. Local stakeholders in Northern Ireland reported that bringing the conference to Belfast provided Northern Ireland with a unique opportunity to promote its capabilities to an influential global space audience as well as to exchange ideas, plans and encourage development and success in the emerging space age.
This summer saw City of Wolverhampton Council join forces with social impact developer Capital&Centric and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to challenge competing teams of renowned architects to put forward their ideas to turn the 5 acre former Sainsbury’s site and historic St George’s Church into a new neighbourhood for the city.
The team made up of Mikhail Riches and Periscope practices has been crowned the winner.
Locals flocked to a Dragon’s Den style public consultation event at the University of Wolverhampton at The Halls in July, where each of the 4 teams (made up of 12 collaborating architect practices) pitched their ideas, with people able to give their opinions on their favourite. The competition was overseen by Angela Brady, a former RIBA President.
Angela Brady OBE said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for architects to be in competition together, working as a team with other architects to reinvent this disused part of Wolverhampton. All teams came up with vibrant ideas, which made it really hard to pick a winner.
“The Mikhail Riches and Periscope team had the edge with their vision, particularly with its retrofitting of the Sainsbury’s building in such an imaginative way. Also the 3 distinct zones they pitched could really create a great future for the area.
“This sort of collaboration between Council, developer, RIBA competitions office and architects I think allows a more joined up end result and is a model that other areas should follow.”
The winning submission proposed a vibrant and varied neighbourhood of sustainable new homes, as well as lush outdoors spaces; boulevards and green streets; shops, cafes and bars; and community spaces.
They proposed to retain and repurpose parts of the former Sainsbury’s building – in turn saving embodied carbon. The practices have also put the St George’s Church at the heart of the community, surrounding it with new public squares for pop up cultural events, intimate courtyards and social spaces for people to come together.
The winning design will form the basis of the evolving St George’s masterplan, with a pre planning application submission to follow later this year.
The announcement comes as part of Wolverhampton’s annual Business Week, that this year explores the power to boost economic growth through housing. St George’s also features as one of the major opportunities in the council’s Wolverhampton Investment Prospectus.
Councillor Chris Burden, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Development, Jobs and Skills, said: “St George’s is a fantastic opportunity to create a game changing neighbourhood of which the city can be proud. It’s a critical part of our citywide plan to unlock investment in considered development that delivers much needed homes and new opportunities for our communities.
“The architects teams all produced outstanding design proposals and we are relishing the opportunity to work with the winners, Mikhail Riches and Periscope, to further develop their ideas.
“It is fitting that this news comes during Wolverhampton’s Business Week, with its flagship event, the Business Breakfast, focusing on economic growth through housing, and we believe St George’s provides the opportunity to set a new design benchmark for brownfield regeneration in the city.”
Developers Capital&Centric are leading delivery of the St George’s site, drawing on their experience of repurposing historic spaces and building standout new neighbourhoods across the UK, all with an acute focus on social impact. With a competition winner now selected, their next step will be to draw up more detailed designs.
John Moffat, joint managing director at Capital&Centric, said: “From start to finish the St George’s architectural competition has been inspiring, from the variety of designs the architect teams put forward, to the people that came out to have their say on the options. The decision was a tough one, but the design by Mikhail Riches and Periscope is a deserved winner.
“St George’s is a standout opportunity to take a redundant city site and turn it into something special for the community – retaining some of the existing buildings whilst creating interesting and welcoming new spaces where people want to spend time. We’ll be spending the next few weeks looking over the winning design with the team of architects and the council to fine tune the plans, so it’s primed for us to submit a phenomenal pre-planning application submission.”
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that he has signed the following bills:
AB 1785 by Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco (D-Downey) – California Public Records Act.
AB 1864 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) – Pesticides: agricultural use near schoolsites: notification and reporting.
AB 1868 by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) – Property taxation: assessments: affordable housing.
AB 1874 by Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) – Crimes: disorderly conduct.
AB 1904 by Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) – Transit buses: yield right-of-way sign.
AB 1921 by Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) – Energy: renewable electrical generation facilities: definition.
AB 1979 by Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) – Doxing Victims Recourse Act.
AB 2005 by Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) – California State University: faculty and employee housing.
AB 2143 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) – Fairs.
AB 2251 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) – Graduation requirements: local requirements: exemptions.
AB 2257 by Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City) – Local government: property-related water and sewer fees and assessments: remedies.
AB 2300 by Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City) – Medical devices: Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP).
AB 2317 by Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen (D-Elk Grove) – Child day care facilities: anaphylactic policy.
AB 2340 by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) – Medi-Cal: EPSDT services: informational materials.
AB 2350 by Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) – Open meetings: school boards: emergencies: notifications by email.
AB 2353 by Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) – Property taxation: welfare exemption: delinquent payments: interest and penalties.
AB 2427 by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) – Electric vehicle charging stations: permitting: curbside charging.
AB 2455 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) – Whistleblower protection: state and local government procedures.
AB 2462 by Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier) – Public Utilities Commission: written reports: energy.
AB 2534 by Assemblymember Heath Flora (R-Modesto) – Certificated employees: disclosures: egregious misconduct.
AB 2552 by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) – Pesticides: anticoagulant rodenticides.
AB 2597 by Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) – Planning and zoning: revision of housing element: regional housing need allocation appeals: Southern California Association of Governments.
AB 2661 by Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria (D-Fresno) – Electricity: Westlands Water District.
AB 2698 by Assemblymember Tri Ta (R-Westminster) – Route 405: Little Saigon Freeway.
AB 2750 by Assemblymember James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) – Electricity: procurement: generation from biomass.
AB 2803 by Assemblymember Avelino Valencia (D-Anaheim) – Campaign expenditures: criminal convictions: fees and costs.
AB 2832 by Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) – Economic development: international trade and investment.
AB 2847 by Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) – Electrical and gas corporations: capital expenditures: request for authorization or recovery.
AB 2875 by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) – Wetlands: state policy.
AB 2897 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) – Property tax: welfare exemption: community land trusts.
AB 2922 by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) – Economic development: capital investment incentive programs.
AB 2968 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) – School safety and fire prevention: fire hazard severity zones: comprehensive school safety plans: communication and evacuation plans.
AB 3007 by Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) – California Environmental Quality Act: record of environmental documents: format.
AB 3024 by Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) – Civil rights.
AB 3198 by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) – Joint powers agreements: retail electric services.
AB 3251 by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) – Accountancy.
AB 3252 by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) – Shorthand court reporters: sunset: certification.
AB 3253 by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) – Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists: licensees: professional land surveyors: surveying practices: monuments and corner accessories.
AB 3254 by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) – Endowment care cemeteries: reporting.
AB 3255 by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) – Vocational nursing and psychiatric technicians: sunset: licensure.
SB 347 by Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) – Subdivision Map Act: exemption: hydrogen fueling stations and electric vehicle charging stations.
SB 632 by Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced) – Vehicles: off-highway recreation: Red Rock Canyon State Park.
SB 739 by Senator Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento) – Construction manager at-risk construction contracts: City of Elk Grove: zoo project.
SB 909 by Senator Thomas Umberg (D-Santa Ana) – Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program.
SB 941 by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) – California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: scoping plan: industrial sources of emissions.
SB 974 by Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) – Lithium Extraction Tax: fund distribution.
SB 1006 by Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego) – Electricity: transmission capacity: reconductoring and grid-enhancing technologies.
SB 1099 by Senator Janet Nguyen (R-Huntington Beach) – Newborn screening: genetic diseases: blood samples collected.
SB 1140 by Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced) – Enhanced infrastructure financing district.
SB 1142 by Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley/Burbank) – Electrical and gas corporations: restoration and termination of services.
SB 1146 by Senator Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) – Mortgages.
SB 1221 by Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) – Gas corporations: ceasing service: priority neighborhood decarbonization zones.
SB 1270 by Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) – Department of Food and Agriculture: farm products: licenses and complaints: fees.
SB 1313 by Senator Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento) – Vehicle equipment: driver monitoring defeat devices.
SB 1328 by Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) – Elections.
SB 1371 by Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) – Alcoholic beverage control: proof of age.
SB 1418 by Senator Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera) – Hydrogen-fueling stations: expedited review.
SB 1420 by Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced) – Hydrogen production facilities: certification and environmental review.
SB 1425 by Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) – Oil revenue: Oil Trust Fund.
The Governor also announced that he has vetoed the following bills:
AB 99 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) – Department of Transportation: state roads and highways: integrated pest management. A veto message can be found here.
AB 718 by Assemblymember Tri Ta (R-Westminster) – Veterans: mental health. A veto message can be found here.
AB 828 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) – Sustainable groundwater management: managed wetlands. A veto message can be found here.
AB 1975 by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) – Medi-Cal: medically supportive food and nutrition interventions. A veto message can be found here.
AB 2734 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) – Agriculture: Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995. A veto message can be found here.
AB 2757 by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) – Southeast California Economic Region. A veto message can be found here.
AB 2899 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) – General acute care hospitals: licensed nurse-to-patient ratios. A veto message can be found here.
AB 2903 by Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) – Homelessness. A veto message can be found here.
AB 3263 by Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier) – Electrical corporations: financing orders. A veto message can be found here.
SB 26 by Senator Thomas Umberg (D-Santa Ana) – Mental health professions: CARE Scholarship Program. A veto message can be found here.
SB 37 by Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced) – Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Act. A veto message can be found here.
SB 366 by Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced) – The California Water Plan: long-term supply targets. A veto message can be found here.
SB 954 by Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley/Burbank) – Sexual health. A veto message can be found here.
SB 1020 by Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) – Law enforcement agency regulations: shooting range targets. A veto message can be found here.
SB 1050 by Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) – California American Freedmen Affairs Agency: racially motivated eminent domain. A veto message can be found here.
SB 1058 by Senator Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento) – Peace officers: injury or illness: leaves of absence. A veto message can be found here.
SB 1337 by Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) – Elections: form of petitions. A veto message can be found here.
For full text of the bills, visit: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
Recent news
Sep 25, 2024
News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:Fidencio Guzman, of Imperial, has been appointed Warden at Centinela State Prison, where he has served as Acting Warden since 2023, was Chief Deputy Warden from 2021 to 2023 and was…
Sep 25, 2024
News SACRAMENTO – Moving to support the ongoing recovery from July wildfires in Kern, Butte and Tehama counties, Governor Gavin Newsom has requested a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to further assist recovery efforts in communities impacted by the Park and…
Sep 25, 2024
News What you need to know: New laws will give local communities more authority to protect their neighborhoods from oil and gas operations and drive faster plugging of old oil and gas wells. INGLEWOOD, CA – Governor Gavin Newsom today signed three bills into law…
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:
Fidencio Guzman, of Imperial, has been appointed Warden at Centinela State Prison, where he has served as Acting Warden since 2023, was Chief Deputy Warden from 2021 to 2023 and was Correctional Administrator from 2018 to 2021. Guzman held several positions at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison from 2009 to 2018, including Correctional Administrator, Captain, Correctional Counselor II Specialist and Lieutenant. He was a Sergeant at Centinela State Prison from 2006 to 2009. Guzman served as a First Lieutenant in the California Army National Guard from 2002 to 2009. He was a Correctional Counselor I at Calipatria State Prison from 2003 to 2004, where he was a Correctional Officer from 1999 to 2003 and 2004 to 2006. Guzman earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from California State University, San Diego. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $193,524. Guzman is a Republican.
Edward Borla, of Paso Robles, has been appointed Warden at the Correctional Training Facility, where he has served as Acting Warden since 2023. Borla was Correctional Administrator at Salinas Valley State Prison from 2015 to 2023. He was a Captain at the Correctional Training Facility from 2012 to 2015. Borla was a Correctional Lieutenant at Avenal State Prison from 2008 to 2012. He held multiple positions at California Men’s Colony from 1997 to 2008, including Correctional Sergeant, Correctional Lieutenant and Correctional Officer. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $193,524. Borla is a Republican.
Allison Ganter, of Davis, has been appointed In-Custody Death Review Director at the Board of State and Community Corrections, where she has been Deputy Director since 2014 and was Field Representative and Compliance Monitor from 2000 to 2014. Ganter was a Correctional Facility Specialist at the New York Commission of Correction from 1999 to 2000 and Assistant to the Chairman there from 1997 to 1999. She was a Staff Training Assistant and Legislative Aide in the New York State Assembly from 1995 to 1997. Ganter earned a Master of Arts degree in Criminal Justice and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University at Albany, State University of New York. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $186,876. Ganter is a Democrat.
Jennifer Branning, of Susanville, has been appointed to the Board of State and Community Corrections. Branning has been Chief Probation Officer of Lassen County since 2013. She was President of the Chief Probation Officers of California in 2023 and is a member of Lassen Crime Stoppers. Branning earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Studies from California State University, Dominguez Hills. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Branning is registered without party preference.
Karen Lai, of Berkeley, has been appointed to the Board of State and Community Corrections. Lai has been a Physician at Traditions Behavioral Health since 2019. She was a Resident and Fellow Physician at the University of California, Los Angeles from 2014 to 2019. Lai was a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco from 2010 to 2011. She was a Sal Romano Research Fellow at Rutgers University from 2007 to 2008. Lai was a Stanford Public Interest Network Fellow at MetroPlus Health Plan Inc. from 2006 to 2007. She is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Lai earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Duke University, a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford University. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Lai is a Democrat.
Recent news
Sep 25, 2024
News SACRAMENTO – Moving to support the ongoing recovery from July wildfires in Kern, Butte and Tehama counties, Governor Gavin Newsom has requested a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to further assist recovery efforts in communities impacted by the Park and…
Sep 25, 2024
News What you need to know: New laws will give local communities more authority to protect their neighborhoods from oil and gas operations and drive faster plugging of old oil and gas wells. INGLEWOOD, CA – Governor Gavin Newsom today signed three bills into law…
Sep 24, 2024
News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:Steve Juarez, of Truckee, has been appointed to the California State Teachers’ Retirement Board. Juarez served as a Deputy State Treasurer at the California State Treasurer’s Office…
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
LCSD to present “Glorious Voyage: Splendid Achievements of the People’s Republic of China in Its 75 Years” Exhibition Series to showcase developments and achievements of China (with photos) LCSD to present “Glorious Voyage: Splendid Achievements of the People’s Republic of China in Its 75 Years” Exhibition Series to showcase developments and achievements of China (with photos) ******************************************************************************************
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will present the “Glorious Voyage: Splendid Achievements of the People’s Republic of China in Its 75 Years” Exhibition Series, at the Hong Kong Museum of History (HKMH) and the Hong Kong Science Museum (HKScM) from tomorrow (September 27) to illustrate the important developments and achievements of China over the past 75 years from a variety of perspectives. Admission to the exhibitions is free. Addressing the opening ceremony of the exhibition today (September 26), the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, said that China is a force to be reckoned with in the areas such as economy, manufacturing, trade, technology, infrastructure, culture and sports. Today, China is the world’s second-largest economy, the largest industrial manufacturing country, the largest goods trading country and the largest foreign exchange reserve holding country. These are the results of the people’s forging ahead steadfastly and also the pride of all Chinese people. This exhibition series is one of the signature events organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, to promote the spirit of patriotism in the community. Its three exhibitions, namely “Leapfrog Development”, “Scientific Breakthroughs” and “Era of Intelligence”, showcase the country’s modernisation process from the perspectives of economy, education, technology, culture, sports and people’s livelihood. It aimed to enhance the understanding of the public, especially the younger generation, of the achievements of New China over the past 75 years, thereby enhancing their sense of national identity and sense of belonging. Other officiating guests at the opening ceremony included Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Mr Yin Zhonghua; Vice President and Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the China Association for Science and Technology, Mr Meng Qinghai; Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the HKSAR Mr Fang Jianming; the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Kevin Yeung; the Chairman of the Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group, Mr Li Dahong; the Convenor of the Working Group on Patriotic Education under the Constitution and Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee, Ms Starry Lee; the Chairperson of the History Sub-committee of the Museum Advisory Committee, Professor Joshua Mok; and the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Mr Vincent Liu. The “Leapfrog Development” exhibition, located in the Lobby, 1/F, HKMH, presents the developments and achievements of the economy, infrastructure, culture, sports and ecological conservation initiatives of China through text and images. It also displays medals won by athletes in the Olympic and Paralympic Games to showcase their spirit of perseverance and hard work. They include the first gold medal won by Hong Kong, China windsurfer Ms Lee Lai-shan at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics for the HKSAR, the gold medal won by So Wa-wai, representing Hong Kong, China in the men’s 100m races (T36) at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games, the gold medal won by Chinese diver Ms Guo Jingjing in the women’s three-metre springboard event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the silver medal won by Ms Siobhan Bernadette Haughey, representing Hong Kong, China in the women’s 100m freestyle events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. For details of the exhibition, please visit hk.history.museum/en/web/mh/exhibition/75A-Exhibition.html. The country’s scientific and technological endeavours have made remarkable progress over the past 75 years. The “Scientific Breakthroughs” exhibition at the 2/F Exhibition Hall, HKScM is divided into three parts, namely “The Lifeblood of the People’s Republic of China”, “Silent Thunder”, and “A Chip-driven Patriotic Heart”, based on three significant historical events: the 65th anniversary of the discovery of the Daqing Oil Field, the 60th anniversary of the successful detonation of China’s first atomic bomb, and the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the State Preeminent Science & Technology Award. The exhibition showcases China’s outstanding achievements in science and technology through graphics, videos, objects, and interactive exhibits, demonstrating the patriotic spirit and steadfast beliefs of Chinese scientists. Highlight exhibits include the Core Sample from Songliao Basin No.3 Stratigraphic Well (replica), which is important historical evidence for the discovery of the Daqing Oil Field; the immersive space “Big Bang in the East”, which explores significant historical events such as the launch of the Dongfeng-1 missile, atomic bomb detonation, hydrogen bomb detonation, and the launch of the Dongfanghong-1; and the model of the Zuchongzhi Superconducting Quantum Computer, developed independently by a Chinese research team, which is the only one in China and one of only two globally to achieve “quantum advantage”. The “Era of Intelligence” exhibition at the Special Exhibition Hall, G/F, HKScM introduces the transformative technology of artificial intelligence, which has experienced rapid developments in recent years. The application of artificial intelligence in daily life will also be demonstrated at the exhibition. The exhibition features a total of 22 exhibits, with about 70 per cent of them being interactive. These include the immersive zone “Gravitational Battlefield”, which is based on Mainland writer Liu Cixin’s science fiction novel “The Three-Body Problem” and integrates artificial intelligence and mixed reality technologies; a simulation of autonomous driving; and an artificial intelligence model named Master Guess, with which visitors can train and play paper-scissors-stone. Visitors can engage directly with multiple artificial intelligence models to understand how they function in various scenarios such as chess playing, music composition, painting and the implementation of mixed reality. For details of the “Scientific Breakthroughs” and “Era of Intelligence” exhibitions, please visit hk.science.museum/en/web/scm/exhibition/75A2024.html. The exhibition series is presented by the LCSD. The “Leapfrog Development” exhibition is organised by the Chinese Culture Promotion Office and the Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group, in collaboration with the HKMH, and supported by the Academy of Chinese Studies and the Hong Kong China Sports Alliance. The “Scientific Breakthroughs” exhibition is organised by the HKScM and the China Science and Technology Museum, in collaboration with the Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the China Association for Science and Technology and the Beijing – Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre. The “Era of Intelligence” exhibition is organised by the HKScM, in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, the Hong Kong Institution of Science and Innovation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and SenseTime. The exhibitions will run until February 5 next year. Apart from museums, a display titled “Trendsetting Travel in China”, which showcases the remarkable achievements of the motherland through a stunning array of media photographs and a relaxed curatorial approach, will be held at the covered walkway of Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park from September 28, providing members of the public an additional opportunity to learn more about the country’s achievements. The LCSD has long been promoting Chinese history and culture through organising an array of programmes and activities to enable the public to learn more about the broad and profound Chinese culture. For more information, please visit http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/ccpo/index.html.
Ends/Thursday, September 26, 2024Issued at HKT 18:55
Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung today attended a Government Career Fair at the Polytechnic University (PolyU) and called on those who aspire to serve the community to join the civil service.
The fair was the first to have taken place at PolyU. Thirty government bureaus and departments, covering over 50 civil service grades, took part.
Besides the general grades, professional grades and the disciplined services were included in the fair.
In view of the courses offered by PolyU, Mrs Yeung outlined that the Government has arranged for officers from relevant departments to introduce their grades to students.
She said the fair highlighted civil service job opportunities related to surveying and maritime studies and would give PolyU students who are studying these subjects a better understanding of the relevant grades.
The Government has strengthened its recruitment efforts in recent years. Mrs Yeung stressed that a number of grades have seen a noticeable increase in the number of applicants.
She highlighted that the number of candidates applying for Administrative Officer (AO), Executive Officer II (EOII) and other grades under the joint recruitment exercise in 2023-24 surged by nearly 40%, adding that this illustrated that job seekers view a career in the Government as attractive.
The Government has launched a joint recruitment exercise for the appointment of four civil service grades, namely AO, EOII, Assistant Trade Officer II and Transport Officer II. Students graduating in 2025 or 2026 may also apply this year.
Mrs Yeung reminded those interested in applying for four civil service graduate posts to submit their applications by 11.59pm on October 4.
Last month, a delegation led by Brendan Crabb, head of the Burnet Institute, a prestigious medical research body, met Anthony Albanese in the prime minister’s parliament house office.
Its members, who included Lidia Morawska from Queensland University of Technology, a world-leading expert on air quality and health, also blitzed ministers and staffers. They were pitching for the federal government to spearhead a comprehensive policy on clean indoor air and for the issue to be put on the national cabinet’s agenda.
They pointed out to Albanese that indoor air is an outlier in our otherwise comprehensive public health framework. Despite people spending the majority of their time inside, indoor air quality is mostly unregulated, in contrast to the standards that apply to, for example, food and water.
There are multiple health and economic reasons to be concerned about this air quality but a major one is to limit the transmission of airborne diseases, such as COVID.
For many of us, COVID has become just a bad memory, despite its lasting and mixed legacies. For instance, without the pandemic, fewer people would now be working from home. More small businesses would be flourishing in our CBDs. Arguably, fewer children would be trying to catch up from inadequate schooling.
While the media have largely lost interest in COVID, and people are now rather blase about it, the disease is still taking a toll.
In 2023 there were about 4,600 deaths attributed to COVID, and almost certainly more in reality, given Australia that year had 8,400 “excess deaths” (defined as actual deaths above expected deaths).
Up to July this year there were 2,503 COVID deaths.
In nursing homes, whilst survival rates from COVID are much improved with vaccination and antivirals, as of September 19, there were 117 active outbreaks with 59 new outbreaks in that past week. There had been 900 deaths for the year so far.
Long COVID has become a serious issue, with varying respiratory, cardiac, cognitive and immunological symptoms. It is estimated between 200,000 and 900,000 people in Australia currently have long COVID.
The Albanese government is presently awaiting the report it commissioned into how the COVID pandemic was handled.
The inquiry has looked at the performance of the Morrison government, but its terms of reference didn’t include the states. That limits its usefulness, but there were politics involved, given high profile state Labor governments.
Not that the state and territory leaders of that time are around anymore (apart from the ACT’s Andrew Barr). Those faces that became so familiar from their daily news conference have disappeared into the never-never: Victoria’s Dan Andrews, Western Australia’s Mark McGowan, New South Wales’ Gladys Berejiklian, Queensland’s Annastacia Palaszczuk.
COVID variously made or tarnished leaders’ reputations. McGowan, in particular, reached stratospheric heights of popularity. Andrews deeply divided people.
In general, however, COVID boosted support for leaders and increased public trust in them and in government. In times of uncertainty, the public looked to known institutions and to authority figures. Since then, trust has eroded again.
Experts came into their own during the pandemic but then found themselves in the middle of the political bickering. In retrospect, some of them were wrong.
In the broad, especially in terms of the death rate and the economy, Australia navigated the crisis well. But drill down, and the story is more complex, as documented by two leading economists, Steven Hamilton (based in Washington and connected to the Australian National University) and Richard Holden (from UNSW).
In their just-published book, Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism, their bottom-line conclusion is that Australia was very impressive in its (vastly expensive) economic response but it was a mixed picture on the health side.
While Australia was quick out of the blocks in closing the national border and bringing in other measures, it fell down dramatically on two fronts. The Morrison government failed to order a wide variety of vaccines and it failed to buy enough Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs).
The “vaccine procurement strategy was an unmitigated disaster,” Hamilton and Holden write. This was not just “the greatest failure of the pandemic – it was arguably the greatest single public policy failure in Australian history”.
“We put all our vaccine eggs in just two baskets”, both of which failed to differing degrees. This was “a terrible risk to take. Pandemics are times for insurance, not gambling,” they write.
“And while our tax and statistical authorities marshalled their forces to operate much faster and more nimbly to serve the desperate needs of a government facing a once-in-a-century crisis, our medical regulatory complex repeatedly ignored international evidence and experience, and our political leaders capitulated to their advice. And then the prime minister told us that when it came to getting Australians vaccinated:‘it’s not a race’”.
The failure to order every vaccine on the horizon meant when production or supply problems arose for those that were hoped for or on order, the rollout was delayed.
After this bungle, “stunningly, we turned around and repeated these same mistakes all over again” by not obtaining and distributing freely massive numbers of RATs. In this failure, “our federal government showed the same lack of foresight, the same penny-wise but pound-foolish mindset that it had displayed in the vaccine rollout”.
The authors blame Scott Morrison, then-health minister Greg Hunt, then-chief medical officer Brendan Murphy, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) for the health failures, which prolonged the lockdowns, cost lives and delayed reopening.
Urging better preparation for the next pandemic, Hamilton and Holden have a list of suggestions. They stress we need to ensure we have mRNA vaccine manufacturing capability (on which there is fairly good progress). We must get vaccine procurement “right from the start” regardless of cost. Huge quantities of RATs should be procured as soon as they become available, ready to be used immediately.
A complete overhaul of the medical-regulatory complex should be undertaken. As well, Australia should continue to invest in “economic infrastructure”. In the pandemic, the economic effort was facilitated by having a single touch payroll system. “The first obvious candidate for improvement is a real-time GST turnover reporting capability.”
Perhaps a comprehensive indoor clean air policy could be added to the infrastructure list.
The government’s review will have its own recommendations. Crabb and his colleagues hope they include attention to indoor air quality, following advice from the Chief Scientist and the National Science and Technology Council.
Members of the delegation say they received an attentive hearing from the PM.
Anna-Maria Arabia, chief executive of the Australian Academy of Science, and a member of the delegation, says Albanese “understood that improving indoor air quality is a cornerstone requirement to preparing for future pandemics and [he] was attuned to the practical implications of having good indoor air quality systems, including schools and workplaces being able to stay open and functional, reduce absenteeism and boost productivity”.
What’s needed beyond awareness, however, is timely policy action. Pandemics don’t give much notice of their arrival.
Michelle Grattan 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.
Headline: Huawei AI Storage Ranked No. 1 for Performance in 2024 MLPERF AI Benchmarks
[Shenzhen, China, September 26, 2024] MLCommons, the world-leading authority on AI benchmarks, have scored Huawei’s new OceanStor A800 AI Storage top worldwide in its prestigious annual performance test.
MLPERF benchmark suites provide a standardized testing platform to measure the performance of AI hardware, software, and services. The benchmark suites were jointly developed by Turing Award winner David Patterson, Google, Stanford University, Harvard University, and other top enterprises and academic institutions. MLPERF benchmarks are viewed as the world’s most authoritative and influential AI performance benchmarks.
This year’s MLPERF Storage performance tests evaluated 13 mainstream vendors. A distributed training test program simulated GPU compute processes and reproduced a model in which AI servers maximized access to the storage system. Such simulations measure the maximum number of GPUs supported by an AI storage system, which represents overall storage performance.
The MLPERF Storage benchmark for 3D U-Net workload aligns with industry trends for multi-modal models and demands the highest storage bandwidth. It provides a more comprehensive and accurate assessment of storage performance in large-scale AI clusters. The 3D U-Net workload entails the highest storage bandwidth per FLOPS, and requires data be read directly from storage nodes, not cached on hosts in advance. This reflects the actual storage performance and large AI model experiences.
Huawei OceanStor A800 ranked No. 1 in this AI storage performance test, successfully meeting the data throughput requirements of 255 GPUs using just a single storage system. The solution’s GPU utilization was above 90%, while its single controller enclosure achieved a bandwidth of 679 GB/s—ten times greater than that of conventional storage systems.
In addition, OceanStor A800 provides 100 TB/s–level bandwidth through scale-out expansion, reducing the read/write time of checkpoint data from ten minutes to just seconds. The time required for resumable training is under 15 minutes. This minimizes GPU wait times, improves end-to-end computing power utilization by over 30%, and comprehensively enhances the training efficiency of large AI models.
This was Huawei Data Storage’s first-ever participation in the MLPERF Storage v1.0 benchmark testing.
Huawei’s Data Storage team has said it is committed to innovation and that the new OceanStor A series AI storage has been specifically designed for hybrid workloads in AI scenarios. It uses an industry-leading architecture that provides brand-new hardware, excellent performance, EB-level scalability, and long-term memory capabilities for inference. Their aim has been to comprehensively accelerate the training and inference processes of large AI models.
Looking ahead, Huawei’s Data storage team plans to further advance in the realm of large AI models, continually pushing the boundaries of performance and keeping pace with the evolving data landscape to shape the future of data.
Headline: Huawei AI Storage Ranked No. 1 for Performance in 2024 MLPERF AI Benchmarks
Sep 26, 2024
[Shenzhen, China, September 26, 2024] MLCommons, the world-leading authority on AI benchmarks, have scored Huawei’s new OceanStor A800 AI Storage top worldwide in its prestigious annual performance test.
MLPERF benchmark suites provide a standardized testing platform to measure the performance of AI hardware, software, and services. The benchmark suites were jointly developed by Turing Award winner David Patterson, Google, Stanford University, Harvard University, and other top enterprises and academic institutions. MLPERF benchmarks are viewed as the world’s most authoritative and influential AI performance benchmarks.
This year’s MLPERF Storage performance tests evaluated 13 mainstream vendors. A distributed training test program simulated GPU compute processes and reproduced a model in which AI servers maximized access to the storage system. Such simulations measure the maximum number of GPUs supported by an AI storage system, which represents overall storage performance.
The MLPERF Storage benchmark for 3D U-Net workload aligns with industry trends for multi-modal models and demands the highest storage bandwidth. It provides a more comprehensive and accurate assessment of storage performance in large-scale AI clusters. The 3D U-Net workload entails the highest storage bandwidth per FLOPS, and requires data be read directly from storage nodes, not cached on hosts in advance. This reflects the actual storage performance and large AI model experiences.
Huawei OceanStor A800 ranked No. 1 in this AI storage performance test, successfully meeting the data throughput requirements of 255 GPUs using just a single storage system. The solution’s GPU utilization was above 90%, while its single controller enclosure achieved a bandwidth of 679 GB/s—ten times greater than that of conventional storage systems.
In addition, OceanStor A800 provides 100 TB/s–level bandwidth through scale-out expansion, reducing the read/write time of checkpoint data from ten minutes to just seconds. The time required for resumable training is under 15 minutes. This minimizes GPU wait times, improves end-to-end computing power utilization by over 30%, and comprehensively enhances the training efficiency of large AI models.
This was Huawei Data Storage’s first-ever participation in the MLPERF Storage v1.0 benchmark testing.
Huawei’s Data Storage team has said it is committed to innovation and that the new OceanStor A series AI storage has been specifically designed for hybrid workloads in AI scenarios. It uses an industry-leading architecture that provides brand-new hardware, excellent performance, EB-level scalability, and long-term memory capabilities for inference. Their aim has been to comprehensively accelerate the training and inference processes of large AI models.
Looking ahead, Huawei’s Data storage team plans to further advance in the realm of large AI models, continually pushing the boundaries of performance and keeping pace with the evolving data landscape to shape the future of data.
Traditionally, cancer management has primarily relied on surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. While these treatments have demonstrated significant efficacy in eradicating primary tumors, they are accompanied by systemic toxicities and high rates of relapse, which represent major limitations. The increasing prevalence of cancer and the shortcomings of conventional therapies have driven the demand for novel targeted therapies that can address these limitations while enhancing specificity and targeting capabilities against the disease. One such innovative approach involves targeting the CD47 surface checkpoint, which can inhibit cancer proliferation.
Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a promising strategy capable of overcoming the challenges associated with traditional cancer treatments. This novel therapy aims to harness the immune system’s ability to recognize, target, and destroy cancer cells. Preliminary and clinical studies have shown that CD47 proteins are overexpressed in various tumor types. A primary factor contributing to the hallmark characteristics of cancer is the inhibition of macrophage phagocytosis due to the blockade of the CD47/SIRPα interaction, which sends a “don’t eat me” signal to macrophages. Consequently, multiple antibodies targeting the CD47 checkpoint are currently in development to reduce cancer cell proliferation.
Moreover, CD47-targeted therapies aim to utilize various components of the immune system, acting at different stages of the immune response to enhance the body’s natural defense against target cells. In support of this hypothesis, numerous clinical studies are underway. For example, HX009 is a recombinant humanized anti-CD47/PD-1 bifunctional antibody under development and clinical investigation by Waterstone Hanxbio. An ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial is assessing HX009 as a novel treatment for patients advanced solid tumors.
The therapeutic landscape of immunotherapy now includes a range of agents, such as monoclonal antibodies, immune checkpoint inhibitors, vaccines, antibody-drug conjugates, and more, all aimed at improving outcomes for cancer patients through combination therapies. For example, the novel CD47 inhibitor evorpacept (ALX148) is currently being evaluated in several clinical trials as part of various combination regimens. Specifically, evorpacept is being tested in combination with Cetuximab and Pembrolizumab for the treatment of colorectal cancer, with Venetoclax and Azacitidine for acute myeloid leukemia, and with Rituximab and Lenalidomide for various types of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Furthermore, regulatory bodies have been supportive towards the growing class of CD47-targeting therapies, as suggested by the recent IND clearances and the awarding of drug designations. FDA granted the fast track designation to PT217, a bispecific antibody targeting CD47 and DLL3, in April 2024, while China’s NMPA also accepted Immuneonco’s clinical trial application to conduct pivotal phase 3 clinical studies for its CD47 inhibitor IMM-01, in combination with the PD-1 Inhibitor tislelizumab. All these factors indicate that the CD47 market is expanding rapidly and is expected to grow further due to the rising incidence of cancer, which is projected to increase in the coming years.
Additionally, the involvement of multiple pharmaceutical companies in the field of CD47-targeted immunotherapy has spurred growth in clinical research. Various organizations, hospitals, and centers, such as The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, are conducting clinical trials to address cancer-related ailments.
In summary, immunotherapy targeting the CD47 protein has emerged as a breakthrough therapy in cancer management, demonstrating promising responses in patients. Although no therapies have yet been approved for the commercial market, several CD47-targeted immunotherapies are anticipated to enter the market soon, driven by a surge in clinical trials and research in this area. Currently, the United States leads the CD47 immunotherapy sector; however, developing countries like China are increasingly engaging in numerous preclinical and clinical studies in this domain, fueled by technological advancements, a rising cancer patient population, and expanding collaborations.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Delia Ramirez – Illinois (3rd District)
Rep Ramirez pointed out the irony of advancing a bill that strengthens the position of the predatory for-profit bond industry one year after Illinois successfully eliminated cash bail
Washington, DC– Today,Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), the Vice Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, voted “NO” on the RepublicanH.R. 8205,Detaining the Disadvantaged Act. Ramirez’s decisions came after carefully analyzing that the legislation fails to address public safety or economic inequity, instead benefiting insurers and the corporate for-profit bail industry.
“Today marks one year and one week since Illinois eliminated cash bail. The passage of the Pretrial Fairness Act made Illinois the first state to end the practice of holding people in jail simply because they could not buy their freedom. A year later, the preliminary research on Illinois shows that the failure-to-appear rate has not increased, there is no documented increase in crime as a result of defendants being released without posting bond, and approximately $140 million that was posted in bond now remains in the community,”said Congresswoman Ramirez.“Today’s bill is a conservative attack on grassroots efforts to resist and disrupt the predatory for-profit cash bail industry and remove the influence of money on our criminal legal system. That’s why I voted NO on H.R. 8205. Until all states end the unjust practice of pretrial bond, we must protect and defend community bond funds.”
BACKGROUND:
According todata by the Center for American Progress, thefor-profit bail industryhas long profited from the criminal justice system’s targeting of low-income people, people of color, and now individuals seeking reproductive care. In Illinois,the law to end cash bail, the Pretrial Fairness Act, passed the General Assembly in January 2021 with Congresswoman Ramirez’s advocacy and vote. It was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker on Feb. 22. The bill was part of the SAFE-T Act, a broader criminal justice reform package. According toreportsof the data analyzed by the Center for Criminal Justice at Loyola University in Chicago, the state has not seen dramatic changes in the security and justice process.
MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from French to English –
Source: Universities – Science Po in French
The Middle East North Africa (MENA) program at Sciences Po centralizes initiatives related to the study and research of this region. A study day is organized September 26 on the occasion of the launch of the program on the theme of the wars in the Middle East and their repercussions on the societies of the region.
An interdisciplinary and transversal structure, the main mission of the MENA program is to promote, coordinate and energize the institution’s activities related to the Middle East and North Africa. By strengthening academic, scientific and cultural collaborations with partner universities, the program supports the work of students at all levels (bachelor, master, doctorate), while creating a unique space for dialogue between researchers, artists and civil society actors, thus promoting an enriched understanding of the region.
Meeting with the two co-directors of the program: Léa Albrieux, Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, Gulf and Pakistan mission manager at the International Affairs Department, and Bayram Balci, researcher at the Center for International Research (CERI).
Can you introduce your background and your interest in the Middle East North Africa region?
We both studied the Middle East and North Africa as part of our studies and spent many years there. Our interest also comes from the fact that this region, its conflicts, but also its culture – including its cuisine – are present in our daily lives in France and we would even say in Europe. Also, the desire to understand this region, whose conflicts have repercussions that go far beyond it, played a central role in the academic choice we made to dedicate ourselves to it. It is also an area that forms a link between several continents, which makes the collaborations to be considered with Sciences Po’s other regional programs, covering Africa and South Asia, all the more interesting.
What are the major contemporary challenges facing this region and how does this new programme intend to address them?
The main challenge is to find a path towards peace, stability and democracy that go hand in hand. Cradle of the three great religions, but also of several great cultures and civilizations, the region has been constantly confronted since its emergence from colonial domination with conflicts of varying intensity, security and political challenges that regularly call into question the gains made. Our program is intended to be modest; it does not claim to resolve the tensions that the region in question is experiencing. Helping to analyze and understand it, through research and teaching, would already be a first step.
Can you explain your vision and ambitions as co-directors of the program?
This structure brings together the different actors who study and work on the region within the departments, research centers, directorates, campuses and schools at Sciences Po. Its mission is to support and highlight all of the scientific, educational and partnership activities of the institution in relation to the MENA region. To this end, we plan to develop varied activities that combine teaching, research, partnerships, but also actions related to the arts and culture of this region.
What themes will be highlighted during the launch day on September 26?
Although the aim of our programme is not to comment on every event that is shaking up the region, the day of 26 September will be mainly devoted to the attack of 7 October 2023 and its effects on the societies of the Middle East. Indeed, the unprecedented attack by Hamas against Israel on 7 October 2023 plunged the Middle East into a new phase of war. While this renewed violence has profound effects on the regional balance, it also has major consequences on the societies of the region, in Israel and Palestine, but also in neighbouring countries. This conference will focus more specifically on this internal and local dimension of the ongoing conflict.
Sciences Po and the MENA region
Sciences Po maintains particularly strong links in this vast area stretching from North Africa to Iran. They are reflected in numerous student exchanges with our 35 partner institutions spread across 12 countries, but also in particularly dynamic research: with around twenty researchers and around twenty specialist doctoral and postdoctoral students, Sciences Po is positioned as one of the leading universities in Europe for studies on this region. The region is also present in academic programs, notably with the Mediterranean-Middle East minor of the Menton campus at the bachelor level.
While 16 nationalities from the MENA region are represented among our initial training students, our institution welcomes an average of 700 students from the region each year. In return, approximately 120 Sciences Po students go on exchange, and 120 on internships, to one of the countries in the region each year. Upon completion of their studies, 5% of young graduates working abroad work in the region.
Cover image caption: Doha, Qatar, March 2019. (credits: Jaanus Jagomägi / Unsplash)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –
Unmanned systems are a priority area for the development of science and technology in the country. Naturally, this area is actively developing at the Polytechnic University: these include our own developments in UAVs, unmanned boats, underwater robotics, and machine vision systems for ground-based UAVs. The university has the status of a federal provider of training in the field of unmanned aircraft systems — design, operation, and piloting of UAVs, including in the form of youth design bureaus. However, the subject matter is very broad and complex.
Rector of SPbPU Andrey Rudskoy noted during the signing of the agreement with partners on the creation of the UAV scientific and educational center: The tasks in this area can be called global, they cover many technologies and areas of research and training. These include communications, 3D printing, and new materials. Of course, this is impossible without modern digital modeling technologies, which we have full control over. Our university is ready to respond to the challenges of the time and will fully develop this area.
The agreement was signed with NPO Kaisant, ANO TsPV ZOV-AA, JSC TsNII Cyclone, and Engineering Systems LLC with the participation of the 56th UAV training center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
The partners agreed to organize and develop cooperation in the following areas:
creation of innovative software products for UAVs; development of circuit solutions for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their main components; development of radio jamming systems (EW); development of SIGINT systems (electronic intelligence); methodological support for the design, development and operation of unmanned aircraft systems, including legal support; conducting full-scale tests.
In order to improve the qualifications of the university staff and students, a test site for UAVs/EW/SAR will be used on the basis of two military ranges of the 56th UAV training center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. As part of the practice, students will be able to assemble real UAVs, as well as EW/SAR units. The first stage of such practice will be launched on the basis of the Institute of Secondary Vocational Education. In addition, the discussion was about the participation of partners in the military-patriotic education of youth. The basis for all this should be a scientific cluster for the development of technologies in the field of UAVs/EW/SAR.
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.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: United Kingdom – Prime Minister’s Office 10 Downing Street
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor at Westminster Abbey as Canon Rector of Westminster Abbey and Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons.
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor at Westminster Abbey as Canon Rector of Westminster Abbey and Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, in succession to The Venerable Tricia Hillas following her appointment as Bishop of Sodor and Man.
Background
Mark was educated at Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford Universities, initially in Veterinary Science. He trained for ministry at Westcott House Cambridge, served his title at the parish of Cirencester with Watermoor in the Diocese of Gloucester, and was ordained priest in 2001. In 2003 Mark was appointed Chaplain and Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford and in 2006 moved to become Chaplain and co-ordinator of spiritual care at Helen & Douglas House, a children’s hospice, in Oxford. In 2010 he was appointed as Chaplain at Lord Mayor Treloar’s School and College before moving into parish ministry as Priest in Charge of St Faith, Winchester, in 2012, alongside which he continued in chaplaincy work as Chaplain of the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester. In 2015 Mark was appointed Minor Canon and Chaplain at Westminster Abbey, becoming Sacrist in 2018. He was appointed to his current role as Precentor in 2020.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor at Westminster Abbey as Canon Rector of Westminster Abbey and Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons.
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor at Westminster Abbey as Canon Rector of Westminster Abbey and Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, in succession to The Venerable Tricia Hillas following her appointment as Bishop of Sodor and Man.
Background
Mark was educated at Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford Universities, initially in Veterinary Science. He trained for ministry at Westcott House Cambridge, served his title at the parish of Cirencester with Watermoor in the Diocese of Gloucester, and was ordained priest in 2001. In 2003 Mark was appointed Chaplain and Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford and in 2006 moved to become Chaplain and co-ordinator of spiritual care at Helen & Douglas House, a children’s hospice, in Oxford. In 2010 he was appointed as Chaplain at Lord Mayor Treloar’s School and College before moving into parish ministry as Priest in Charge of St Faith, Winchester, in 2012, alongside which he continued in chaplaincy work as Chaplain of the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester. In 2015 Mark was appointed Minor Canon and Chaplain at Westminster Abbey, becoming Sacrist in 2018. He was appointed to his current role as Precentor in 2020.
