Surveillance of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants by nanopore technology-based genome sequencing

Objective:To surveill emerging variants by nanopore technology-based genome sequencing in different COVID-19 waves in Sri Lanka and to examine the association with the sample characteristics,and vaccination status.Methods:The study analyzed 207 RNA positive swab samples received to sequence laboratory during different waves.The N gene cut-off threshold of less than 30 was considered as the major inclusion criteria.Viral RNA was extracted,and elutes were subjected to nanopore sequencing.All the sequencing data were uploaded in the publicly accessible database,GISAID.Results:The Omicron,Delta and Alpha variants accounted for 58%,22%and 4%of the variants throughout the period.Less than 1%were Kappa variant and 16%of the study samples remained unassigned.Omicron variant was circulated among all age groups and in all the provinces.Ct value and variants assigned percentage was 100%in Ct values of 10-15 while only 45%assigned Ct value over 25.Conclusions:The present study examined the emergence,prevalence,and distribution of SARS-CoV-2 variants locally and has shown that nanopore technology-based genome sequencing enables whole genome sequencing in a low resource setting country.

Can health technology assessments assist the global campaign against poverty?

Although a key tenant of the Sustainable Development Goals is to achieve universal health coverage,the global drug gap persists-cver a third of the global population lack access to essential medicines.Without access to affordable drugs,people have worse health outcomes,higher medical expenses,and productivity loss,pushing them into poverty.Health technology assessments(HTAs)offer an opportunity to decrease the global drug gap and increase access to essential medicines by overcoming barriers to medicine access.These barriers include drug procurement,drug affordability for payers and patients,a patienfs ability to obtain essential medicines,and health system capacity.Using HTAs can therefore close the global drug gap by increasing access to affordable essential medicines.In turn,people have better health outcomes,spend less money on medical care,and can have better productivity.Ultimately,use of HTAs can lift the population out of poverty and force fewer people into poverty by creating better health outcomes at affordable prices.

“China Shock”or China Dividend?-China GVC Participation’s Effects on Trading Partners’Technological Progress

This paper explores the effects of China’s global value chain(GVC)participation on technological progress in trading-partner countries based on estimated data on value-added trade between China and 52 trading partners.We find that,first,although China’s exports lowered the total factor productivity(TFP)of its trading partners(competitive effect),its imports greatly increased trading partners’TFP(effect of scale).This implies that China’s GVC participation is beneficial to its trading partners’technological progress in the form of a considerable technology dividend effect.Second,China’s export dividend effect compensates for the negative effect of Chinese competition on trading partners’technological progress;the innovation effects attributable to China’s imports reinforce the positive effects of scale on technological progress.When innovation is factored in,the China dividend thus becomes further reinforced.Third,China’s merchandise imports have a diminishing positive effect on technological progress in trading partners as geographical distance increases,but trade in services transcends geographical boundaries,and the positive technological progress effect of China’s service imports do not diminish as distance increases.We find that the“China dividend”from China’s GVC participation is a significant contributor to technological progress in partner nations,and China’s imports are conducive to innovation and technological progress in developed countries in the long run.

Global and International Security Under Spatial Grasp Paradigm

Global and international security cannot be provided from a single point or a set of separate points whatever powerful these might be(even with quantum supercomputers!).It should rather be deeply embedded and integrated with bodies of real systems wherever in physical,virtual,or combined spaces they may exist.So global security capabilities should not only be distributed,but rather be really spatial,self-organized,and dynamic,also exhibiting overall integrity,awareness,and consciousness features.The paper describes applicability of the patented and revealed in 10 books Spatial Grasp Model and Technology(SGT)and its basic Spatial Grasp Language(SGL)which conceptually and functionally match security problems of large distributed and heterogeneous systems.It investigates very practical security solutions for finding and tracing distribution of forbidden items,world roaming criminals,recovery from natural and human-made disasters,tracing and elimination of moving dangerous objects in terrestrial and celestial spaces,as well as analysis and restoration of damaged transport networks.It advises how different security infrastructures can be organized and managed,and how to cooperate and integrate within global security systems with higher awareness and consciousness levels over them.The provided security-oriented version of SGL can be quickly implemented and integrated with existing distributed management and security systems.

Unveiling Global Human Trafficking Trends: A Comprehensive Analysis

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of global human trafficking trends over a twenty-year period, leveraging a robust dataset from the Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC). The study unfolds in a systematic manner, beginning with a detailed data collection phase, where ethical and legal standards for data usage and privacy are strictly observed. Following collection, the data undergoes a rigorous preprocessing stage, involving cleaning, integration, transformation, and normalization to ensure accuracy and consistency for analysis. The analytical phase employs time-series analysis to delineate historical trends and utilizes predictive modeling to forecast future trajectories of human trafficking using the advanced analytical capabilities of Power BI. A comparative analysis across regions—Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe—is conducted to identify and visualize the distribution of human trafficking, dissecting the data by victim demographics, types of exploitation, and duration of victimization. The findings of this study not only offer a descriptive and predictive outlook on trafficking patterns but also provide insights into the regional nuances that influence these trends. The article underscores the prevalence and persistence of human trafficking, identifies factors contributing to its evolution, and discusses the implications for policy and law enforcement. By integrating a methodological approach with quantitative analysis, this research contributes to the strategic planning and resource allocation for combating human trafficking. It highlights the necessity for continued research and international cooperation to effectively address and mitigate this global issue. The implications of this research are significant, offering actionable insights for policymakers, law enforcement, and advocates in the ongoing battle against human trafficking.

Global climate governance in the new era:Potential of business actors and technological innovation

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC)has established a climate governance mechanism with intergovernmental negotiations among sovereign states as the core.After nearly 30 years,progress in combating climate change has remained very modest compared with the numerous challenges raised.The global climate governance has entered a new era,such that incorporating other factors into the governance process is timely.Therefore,the study emphasizes technological innovation and business actors in climate governance after the Paris Agreement.Technological innovation can provide effective solutions for combating climate change and has been a crucial driving force in climate governance's evolution.Business actors are significant because they are actual implementers of technological innovation and can apply different types of power and influence on climate governance processes at various levels.In summary,business actors,as well as technological innovation in line with governments and the UNFCCC governance frameworks,create a new potential for climate governance in the new era.

Evolution of Technology Content in China's Exports and International Comparison

Under the global value chain, a country extensively employs foreign intermediate inputs in manufacturing its export products, which may not employ entirely local technology. Science-based measurement of technology content in and structure of exports should be conducted using production process data. Using world input-output tables(WIOTs) of 1995-2011, this paper developed a new method for measuring the export technology content of China and other major countries. Our research findings suggest that, since 1995, there has been some technology upgrade of Chinese exports. China's overall and sector-specific technology contents, and domestic technology contents and indexes all increased and demonstrated a weak convergence towards the average level of developed countries. Judging by the relative rankings of sector-specific technology levels, China is almost locked at the lowest level in the world, and cannot challenge the technological superiority of developed countries like the U.S. and Japan.

THE APPLICATION OF SATELLITE POSITIONING TECHNOLOGY AND ITS INDUSTRIALIZATION IN CHINA

Satellite positioning technology has been widely used in all kinds of military and civil land, marine, space and aeronautical target positioning tasks, naviga tion activities and accurate surveying measurements since 90 s in the last cen tury due to its advantage in providing all-weather, real-time, three dimensional and high precision positioning information, as well as speed and accurate timing information. By now, it has already formed a new hi-tech industry basically.This paper briefly reviews the development of the global satellite positioning and navigation technologies including the basic information of China's "Plough navigation system", introduces the history of satellite positioning technology and its major application fields as well as the status quo of this being industri alized trade in China, gives an account of the writers' vision for the application and prospect of the satellite positioning technologies in China, and approaches the tactics and stresses of the satellite positioning technology's application and its industrialization future in China.

Technology and Society in the Digital Era

The article discusses the emergence of some major catches throughout the present digital era. It reviews the discrepancy between the technology rate of advancement and human-beings’ ability to follow, comprehend, and adjust to it. This is, in essence, the articles’ subject matter. Several issues are analyzed about their relationships with the technological advancement. Among them are: basic knowledge and trivia, high education, human-touch decreasing, communication and media, freedom and responsibility, culture, bureaucracy, and population inquiry methods. At the last section, the social-capitalism idea is presented and proposed to be the political-economic platform of contemporary era. The proposed manifesto, which rests on collaboration, balanced activity, and common interest, refers to the following points: a. Firm’s goals should contain three elements1;b. competition is just one of other motivation factors;c. government involvement in economy is a real must;d. local and global considerations should be balanced;and e. social services The digital era/age represents a remarkable period of many technological achievements. Technical accomplishments achieved during the past 50 years, well surpassed almost all the advancements invented from the early days of history, some 5,000 years back. This achievement just demonstrates the smartness and talent, ingenuity, and wisdom of the members of Western civilization. However, it is a sad fact that since the early days of civilization, a permanent race took place between technological advancement and people or society development. This unfortunate race took place from those early days when science, philosophy, and arts were created and executed by gifted individuals that were only few and scarce until today. It is a known fact that only a small number of scholars were able to write and read the scripts of the early Egyptians or the wit of the ancient Greeks. The rest of those people, the majority, remained illiterate and ignorant. Similarly, the printing technology that was invented in the 15th century and enabled books and printed matter to be more popular and available did not terminate illiteracy. Nevertheless, 500 years had to pass until, due to public schooling, education prevailed and illiteracy was defeated. Usually, throughout history, one can see that technology advances faster and more rapidly than the ability of human beings or societies to accept, practice, and maximize their use of it. This permanent gap between two of the leading trends in manhood grows even faster during the as a security-net must be maintained. It is assumed that such a balanced policy will enable a continual course of creative prosperity combined with stable fair and happier life for all.

International Telecommunication Union Standardization for Trust Provisioning in Information, Communication and Technology Infrastructure toward Achieving United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals

The advancement of the fourth industrial revolution has shaped the integration and interaction of different information, communication and technologies (ICTs) in the merging cyber, physical, and social infrastructures. The impact of ICT has accelerated the progress of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and influenced the evolution of smart, sustainable, stable society development. Making the trustworthy information and communication technologies infrastructure widely available will promote the community innovation needed to stimulate domestic economics, provide decent work, and reduce inequalities. This article attempts to outline a big picture about the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s trust provisioning framework, including its motivation, current status, and application for achieving the UN SDGs by 2030. This article first describes the purpose of the UN SDGs and the evolution of the industrial revolution, then demonstrates the challenges of global risks affecting the fourth industrial revolution and the need for trustworthy ICT infrastructures. Subsequently, the article evaluates the ITU trust provisioning framework and assesses its applications in the future knowledge society, trust provisioning ecosystem, and cyber, physical, and social infrastructure toward achieving UN SDGs. Use cases are also presented in this article to show the effectiveness of the ITU trust provisioning framework on achieving UN SDGs.

Globalization and National Scientific and Technological Security

Now, the world has entered an era of accelerated globalization, which has brought the question of national scientific

Providing Global Awareness in Distributed Dynamic Systems

The paper investigates applicability of the developed high-level model and technology for solution of diverse problems in large distributed dynamic systems which can provide sufficient awareness of their structures,organization,and functionalities.After the review of meanings of awareness and existing approaches for its expression and support,the paper shows application of the Spatial Grasp Model and Technology(SGT)and its basic Spatial Grasp Language(SGL)for very practical awareness solutions in large distributed dynamic systems,with obtaining any knowledge from any point inside or outside the system.The self-evolving,self-replicating,and self-recovering scenario code in SGL can effectively supervise distributed systems under any circumstances including rapidly changing number of their elements.Examples are provided in SGL for distributed networked systems showing how in any node any information about other nodes and links,including the whole system,can be obtained by using network requesting patterns based on recursive scenarios combining forward and backward network matching and coverage.The returned results may be automatically organized in networked patterns too.The presented exemplary solutions are parallel and fully distributed,without the need of using vulnerable centralized resources,also very compact.This can be explained by fundamentally different philosophy and ideology of SGT which is not based on traditional partitioned systems representation and multiple agent communications.On the contrary,SGT and its basic language supervise and control distributed systems by holistic self-spreading recursive code in wavelike,virus-like,and even“soul-like”mode.

Adoption of Improved Rice Varieties in the Global South:A Review

Improved rice varieties(IRVs)play a significant role in establishing food security and improving livelihood in the Global South since its introduction in the 1960s.However,the adoption of new IRVs has remained relatively low.This low adoption poses a challenge to rice-producing and consuming countries as they are increasingly threatened by production shortages,malnutrition,and poor rice quality.Many empirical studies have attempted to identify the determinants influencing the adoption of IRVs by distinguishing the characteristics between adopters and non-adopters.This review showed a consensus on the important determinants influencing the adoption of IRVs in the Global South.Findings synthesized from 99 studies suggested that variables(farm size,education,information access and farm location)examined extensively are not necessarily the most important determinants of adoption when undertaking a weighted analysis.Terrain,source of seed and technology-related attributes(perceived yield,maturity,ease of use,marketability and technical efficiency)are more important determinants of adoption,with determinants changing according to adoption type(probability or intensity of adoption),variety type and region.The recommendations for future adoption studies include:incorporating more technology-specific variables,increasing research for overlooked regions and variety types,shifting away from predominant static analysis by capturing the dynamics of the adoption process,and considering the potential biases in analyses.This review will facilitate the development of targeted interventions and policies that promote IRV adoption in the Global South.

Distributed Control Technology for Air and Missile Defence Operations

This paper relates to accepted presentation at international conference Air and Missile Defence Technology,November 16-17,2022,London UK(day two),reflecting contents of the presentation slides.It describes applications of the patented and internationally tested Spatial Grasp Technology(SGT)and its Spatial Grasp Language(SGL)for Integrated Air and Missile Defense(IAMD).Based on holistic space navigation and processing by recursive mobile code self-spreading in distributed words,SGT differs radically from traditional management of large systems as consisting of parts exchanging messages.The dynamic network of SGL interpreters can be arbitrarily large and cover terrestrial and celestial environments as powerful spatial engines.The paper contains an example of tracking and destruction of multiple cruise missiles by self-evolving spatial intelligence in SGL using networks of radar stations.It also briefs the growing multiple satellite constellation in Low Earth Orbits(LEO)for potential IAMD applications.Starting from Strategic Defense Initiative(SDI)of the past and then briefing the latest project of Space Development Agency,the paper shows SGL solutions for discovery,tracking,and destroying ballistic missiles and hypersonic gliders with the use of collectively behaving constellations of LEO satellites.It also shows how to organize higher levels of supervision of groups of mobile chasers fighting multiple targets(both potentially as missiles or drones),by providing their global awareness even consciousness in SGL which can drastically improve their performance.The latest version of SGT can be implemented on any platforms and put into operation in a short time,similarly to its previous versions in different countries.

The Validity of the Thermohydrogravidynamic Theory Concerning the Predicted Dates of the Maximal Temporal Intensifications of the Global Seismotectonic Processes of the Earth during the Range 2020 - 2023 AD

We present (on the 13th International Conference on Geology and Geophysics) the convincing evidence that the strongest earthquakes (according to the U.S. Geological Survey) of the Earth (during the range 2020 - 2023 AD) occurred near the predicted (calculated in advance based on the global prediction thermohydrogravidynamic principles determining the maximal temporal intensifications of the global seismotectonic, volcanic, climatic and magnetic processes of the Earth) dates 2020.016666667 AD (Simonenko, 2020), 2021.1 AD (Simonenko, 2019, 2020), 2022.18333333 AD (Simonenko, 2021), 2023.26666666 AD (Simonenko, 2022) and 2020.55 AD, 2021.65 AD (Simonenko, 2019, 2021), 2022.716666666 AD (Simonenko, 2022), respectively, corresponding to the local maximal and to the local minimal, respectively, combined planetary and solar integral energy gravitational influences on the internal rigid core of the Earth. We present the short-term thermohydrogravidynamic technology (based on the generalized differential formulation of the first law of thermodynamics and the first global prediction thermohydrogravidynamic principle) for evaluation of the maximal magnitude of the strongest (during the March, 2023 AD) earthquake of the Earth occurred on March 16, 2023 AD (according to the U.S. Geological Survey). .

铀资源勘查技术国际科技前沿动态

铀资源勘查技术兼具核科技与地质勘查技术的双重属性,是支撑铀矿勘查不断取得突破的根本动力。全面了解、掌握国外铀资源勘查技术的前沿动态,不仅对发展具中国特色的先进铀资源勘查技术体系具有重要意义,而且对国内铀资源勘查生产亦具有重要借鉴意义。基于大量资料文献的调研、研判及综合分析,概略介绍了铀资源无人机探测、铀资源高精度多维探测、基于大数据的铀资源勘查与预测评价、高效低成本探测等4个技术方向当前国际上的主要研究内容、前沿或热点、重要进展或标志性成果,并结合新时期我国天然铀高质量发展的需求,提出了相关技术国际前沿动态对我国铀资源勘查技术发展的启示。