Efficiency

Intermittent fasting could help protect the brain from age-related diseases like Alzheimer's

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 29, 2023

Dementia is a term used to describe a range of symptoms linked to the decline in brain function with age.

Key Points: 
  • Dementia is a term used to describe a range of symptoms linked to the decline in brain function with age.
  • The World Health Organization predicts that the number of people with the condition will triple by 2050.
  • In recent years, one of the most promising areas of research on age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, has been the accumulation of harmful proteins in the brain.
  • We therefore sought to find out if dietary interventions, particularly intermittent fasting, would counteract the accumulation of amyloid-ß in the brain and potentially safeguard against age-related brain cell death.
  • This process can therefore reduce the risk of amyloid-ß build-up and associated brain cell death.

How it works

    • Intermittent fasting is a dietary approach that involves regulating food intake by alternating periods of fasting and eating.
    • This dietary regimen comprises periods of restricted food consumption, followed by periods of normal eating.
    • There are different types of intermittent fasting.

What we did

    • Mice cells are frequently used as a model for human cells in scientific research.
    • We found that 24 to 48 hours of intermittent fasting by mice provided protection against cell death in specific regions of their brain.
    • Even in the presence of a high amyloid-ß protein load in brain cells, intermittent fasting maintained autophagy activity.
    • The findings of this study suggest that interventions such as intermittent fasting could potentially protect against the development of age-related diseases.

Nigeria's new national security bosses: 5 burning issues they need to focus on

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 29, 2023

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently appointed new military service chiefs alongside a new national security adviser and inspector general of police.

Key Points: 
  • Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently appointed new military service chiefs alongside a new national security adviser and inspector general of police.
  • They are expected to play a critical role in the national security architecture of the new administration.
  • This is because of the precarious state and trajectory of Nigeria’s national security over the years.
  • The proposals highlight the need to reform the workings of the security sector to make it more effective.


The reform is indispensable to revitalise the Nigerian security sector, which has lacked logistics, personnel and strategy.

Depoliticise the military and allied security institutions

    • There is a need to keep security institutions consciously and deliberately away from politics.
    • This can be achieved by making sure they remain under the control of the civilian authority without losing their ethos and vitality.

Demilitarise the security sector

    • Nigeria’s security sector has been so militarised that it works like a sort of praetorian circuit - a close guardian setup exclusive to the combatants.
    • The sector needs to be moderately demilitarised to encourage civilian participation and contributions.

Motivate rank and file


    Nigerian soldiers are arguably poorly equipped, motivated and paid. They are not well looked after, considering the risks and sacrifices that their duties entail. Most non-commissioned personnel in the Nigerian military, for instance, earn less than N100,000 (about US$130) a month. The average member of the South African National Defence Force earns R17,074 (about US$918) a month.

Enhance capacity for combat operations

    • Countering such threats does not merely require the might of arms.
    • There is also a need to build capacity for preemptive, proactive and rapid response to threats.

Optimise operational capabilities


    The operational effectiveness and efficiency of the security institutions largely depend on the quality and adequacy of their enabling resources. Optimal supplies and use of personnel, materials, logistics and funds are a necessity for the improved performance of the institutions.

Conclusion

    • The newly appointed Nigerian security service chiefs work in a climate of intense public expectation.
    • But enhancing the operational efficacy of the national security systems through deliberate structural reforms, no matter how incremental, is imperative.

Press release - EU defence: deal on joint procurement of defence products

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 29, 2023

The new regulation, informally agreed by the two EU legislators, will establish a short-term instrument to boost the European defence industry through common procurement (EDIRPA), until 31 December 2025.

Key Points: 
  • The new regulation, informally agreed by the two EU legislators, will establish a short-term instrument to boost the European defence industry through common procurement (EDIRPA), until 31 December 2025.
  • The tool should help member states fill their most urgent and critical defence needs, especially exacerbated by their transfers of defence products to Ukraine, in a voluntary and collaborative way.
  • At least three member states are needed to activate common procurement, which will cover defence products as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2009/81/EC.
  • During the talks, MEPs obtained that member states engaging in a joint procurement may also agree to purchase defence products together with Ukraine and Moldova.

Batteries in electric vehicles have more mileage in city driving rather than highway driving

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, June 28, 2023

A 2022 Ford F-150 requires 9.4 and 12.1 litres per 100 km for highway and city driving, respectively.

Key Points: 
  • A 2022 Ford F-150 requires 9.4 and 12.1 litres per 100 km for highway and city driving, respectively.
  • Traditional fuel-powered automobiles, powered by the internal combustion engines, give higher mileage on a highway compared to city roads.
  • Second, unlike highway driving, city driving involves more frequent acceleration and braking; every time a fuel-powered automobile accelerates, it consumes more energy than it would consume to maintain speed.
  • All these factors result in higher gas mileage on highway driving compared to city driving.

Power usage

    • And will that power requirement be higher (or lower) to drive in the city?
    • It could be expected that a BEV would require less power to drive on a highway compared to city.
    • When the BEV operates at high power, only a certain portion of the full energy capacity is available for driving.

Battery testing

    • We took a cylindrical battery cell like the ones used to make battery packs for BEVs and computed its energy at different discharge currents.
    • First, we fully charged the battery and then discharged it at a certain power until it was fully depleted.
    • When we computed the total energy discharged by the battery at each experiment, we found that the lower the current, the higher the discharge energy capacity.
    • The battery management system is very important, and in some BEVs, it may be programmed to prevent the driver from fully depleting the battery pack so that long-term health can be maintained.

Informed consumers

    • On average, the tested BEVs required lower power to drive 100 kilometres in city roads compared to highways, confirming our explanation.
    • Our findings suggest that those considering an electric vehicle would find it useful if power consumption guides included this information.

Nuclear fusion breakthrough: Decades of research are still needed before fusion can be used as clean energy

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, June 27, 2023

For the first time, more energy was released from a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it.

Key Points: 
  • For the first time, more energy was released from a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it.
  • While this achievement is indeed historic, it’s important to pause and reflect on the way ahead for fusion energy.

Defining system boundaries

    • In other words, the experiment used as much energy as the typical Canadian household does in two days.
    • Instead, we have to engineer a complex system that can control the nuclear fission chain reaction and convert the generated energy into more useful forms.
    • This is what nuclear power plants do — they harness the heat generated during nuclear fission reactions to make steam.
    • The huge energy potential of nuclear fuel is currently mitigated by the engineering challenges of converting that energy into a useful form.

From science to engineering

    • Regardless of the efficiency of a future fusion power plant, taking energy conversions from basic science to the real world will require overcoming a multitude of challenges.
    • Fission also had to move from science to engineering before the commercial industry could take off.
    • The science of fusion energy, as with nuclear fission, is rooted in efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

Lessons learned

    • What have we learned over the past 70 years since the onset of nuclear power?
    • First, we’ve learned about the potentially devastating risk of technology lock-in, which occurs when an industry becomes dependent on a specific product or system.
    • Today’s light-water fission reactors — reactors that use normal water as opposed to water enriched with a hydrogen isotope — are an example of this.
    • They were not chosen because they were the most desirable, but for other reasons.
    • Second, we’ve learned that size matters.

A call to action

    • Billions of dollars are needed to advance nuclear fission technology, and we have far more experience with fission than with fusion.
    • Our central message is a call to action: fusion engineers, researchers, industry and government must organize to investigate and mitigate the challenges that face fusion, including in the design of the first generation of power plants.
    • We are proud to be training the next generation of energy engineers to design new and better energy solutions.

Right-to-charge laws bring the promise of EVs to apartments, condos and rentals

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Grocery stores and shopping centers might have a few, but charging takes time and the spaces may be taken or inconvenient.

Key Points: 
  • Grocery stores and shopping centers might have a few, but charging takes time and the spaces may be taken or inconvenient.
  • Several states and cities, aiming to expand EV use, are now trying to lift that barrier to ownership with “right to charge” laws.
  • Colorado, Florida, New York and other states have passed similar laws in recent years.

Electric cars can benefit urban dwellers

    • Transitioning away from fossil-fueled vehicles to electric vehicles has benefits for the environment and the health of urban residents.
    • It reduces tailpipe emissions, which can cause respiratory problems and warm the climate; it mitigates noise; and it improves urban air quality and quality of life.
    • Nationwide, about 50% to 80% of all battery electric car charging sessions take place at home.
    • Installing chargers can involve numerous stakeholders who can impede the process – lot owners, tenants, homeowners associations, property managers, electric utilities and local governments.

Right-to-charge laws aims for ubiquitous home charging

    • Right-to-charge laws aim to streamline home charging access as new buildings go up.
    • Illinois’ new Electric Vehicle Charging Act requires that 100% of parking spaces at new homes and multiunit dwellings be ready for electric car charging, with a conduit and reserved capacity to easily install charging infrastructure.
    • California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Virginia also have right-to-charge laws designed to make residential community charging deployment easier, as do several U.S. cities including Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Sharing chargers can reduce the cost

    • There are several steps communities can take to increase access to chargers and reduce the cost to residents.
    • By sharing chargers, residential communities can reduce the costs associated with charger installation and use.
    • A larger charging hub with eight level 2 chargers in the same city avoids the delay but increases the cost of charging to 21 cents per kWh because of upfront cost of purchasing and installing the chargers.
    • To put that into context, the average electricity cost for Chicago residents is 16 cents per kWh.

920 million people could face conflict over the world's rivers by 2050: what our study found in Africa

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, June 25, 2023

Sudan and Egypt consider the US$4.6 billion dam a threat to vital water supplies.

Key Points: 
  • Sudan and Egypt consider the US$4.6 billion dam a threat to vital water supplies.
  • This is just one example of how conflicts can arise between states that share river basins.
  • Although cooperation historically prevails over conflict and large-scale violent international conflicts haven’t happened so far, tensions over water have long existed.
  • If nations improve water use, strengthen cooperation and do more to prevent or mitigate conflict, this number drops to 536 million.
  • Water treaties and strong river basin organisations increase the likelihood of long-term, stable cooperation between states.

Our research

    • It looked at hydroclimatic, governance and socio-economic risk factors.
    • Combining these factors provided an idea of the overall conflict risk per transboundary river basin.
    • A lack of cooperation between countries can lead to a loss of benefits that could arise from joint activities.

Our findings

    • In Africa, this number includes people living in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger.
    • In the high ambition scenario – which implies improved water use practices and rising institutional resilience – this number decreases to 536 million.
    • Under this scenario, 724 million people would be living in very high to high conflict-risk basins by 2050.

What it means

    • Seven of these dams would be in Ethiopia, and the other four would be in South Sudan.
    • The construction of these dams would be happening alongside rising water shortages, high water dependencies and limited economic resources to deal with water-related risks.
    • In these two basins, multiple issues, such as local conflict, low human development and limited water availability already collide today.
    • For example, when large hydropower dams are built, their operation must not hinder the climate adaptation goals of the wider region.

Replacing news editors with AI is a worry for misinformation, bias and accountability

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 23, 2023

The functions of editorial directors, page editors, proofreaders, secretaries, and photo editors will no longer exist as they do today”.

Key Points: 
  • The functions of editorial directors, page editors, proofreaders, secretaries, and photo editors will no longer exist as they do today”.
  • Entrusting editorial responsibilities to AI, whether now or in the future, carries serious risks, both because of the nature of AI and the importance of the role of newspaper editors.

The importance of editors

    • Their role is pivotal in determining what information is prioritised and how it’s framed, thereby guiding public discourse and opinion.
    • Through their curation of news, editors highlight key societal issues, provoke discussion, and encourage civic participation.

AI is highly unreliable

    • Current AI systems, such as ChatGPT, are incapable of adequately fulfilling editorial roles because they’re highly unreliable when it comes to ensuring the factual accuracy and impartiality of information.
    • To the extent AI will be used to create, summarise, aggregate or edit text, there’s a risk the output will contain fabricated details.

Inherent biases

    • AI systems also have inherent biases.
    • Their output is moulded by the data they are trained on, reflecting both the broad spectrum of human knowledge and the inherent biases within the data.
    • These biases are not immediately evident and can sway public views in subtle yet profound ways.

Lack of accountability

    • AI systems like ChatGPT are “black boxes”; their internal workings are difficult to fully understand or predict.
    • This can be a problem in a field where accountability and transparency are important.
    • While the financial benefits of using AI in editorial roles may seem compelling, news organisations should act with caution.

ECB publishes consolidated banking data for end-December 2022

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 23, 2023

These annual data provide information required to analyse the EU banking sector and are broader in scope than the standard quarterly releases.

Key Points: 
  • These annual data provide information required to analyse the EU banking sector and are broader in scope than the standard quarterly releases.
  • The data cover 314 banking groups and 2,375 stand-alone credit institutions operating in the EU (including foreign subsidiaries and branches), accounting for nearly 100% of the EU banking sector’s balance sheet.
  • In addition to data as at end-December 2022, the published figures also include a few revisions to past data.
  • Notes
    - These consolidated banking data are available in the ECB’s Statistical Data Warehouse.