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US–China Strategic Competition: The Quest for Global Technological Leadership

7 November 2019

The current dispute between the US and China goes far beyond trade tariffs and tit-for-tat reprisals: the underlying driver is a race for global technological supremacy. This paper examines the risks of greater strategic competition as well as potential solutions for mitigating the impacts of the US–China economic confrontation.

Marianne Schneider-Petsinger

Senior Research Fellow, US and the Americas Programme

Dr Jue Wang

Associate Fellow, Asia-Pacific Programme (based in Holland)

Dr Yu Jie

Senior Research Fellow on China, Asia-Pacific Programme

James Crabtree

Associate Fellow, Asia-Pacific Programme

Video: Marianne Schneider-Petsinger and Dr Yu Jie discuss key themes from the research paper

Summary

  • The underlying driver of the ongoing US–China trade war is a race for global technological dominance. President Trump has raised a number of issues regarding trade with China – including the US’s trade deficit with China and the naming of China as a currency manipulator. But at the heart of the ongoing tariff escalation are China’s policies and practices regarding forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft and non-market distortions.
  • As China’s international influence has expanded it has always been unlikely that Beijing would continue to accept existing global standards and institutions established and widely practised by developed countries based on ‘the Washington Consensus’.
  • China’s desire to be an alternative champion of technology standard-setting remains unfulfilled. Its ample innovation talent is a solid foundation in its quest for global technology supremacy but tightening controls over personal freedoms could undermine it and deter potential global partners.
  • It is unclear if Chinese government interventions will achieve the technological self-sufficiency Beijing has long desired. China’s approach to macroeconomic management diverges significantly from that of the US and other real market economies, particularly in its policy towards nurturing innovation.
  • Chinese actors are engaged in the globalization of technological innovation through exports and imports of high-tech goods and services; cross-border investments in technology companies and research and development (R&D) activities; cross-border R&D collaboration; and international techno-scientific research collaboration.
  • While the Chinese state pushes domestic companies and research institutes to engage in the globalization of technological innovation, its interventions in the high-tech sector have caused uneasiness in the West.
  • The current US response to its competition with China for technological supremacy, which leans towards decoupling, is unlikely to prove successful. The US has better chances of success if it focuses on America’s own competitiveness, works on common approaches to technology policy with like-minded partners around the globe and strengthens the international trading system.
  • A technically sound screening mechanism of foreign investment can prevent normal cross-border collaboration in technological innovation from being misused by geopolitical rival superpowers.




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The Morass of Central American Migration: Dynamics, Dilemmas and Policy Alternatives

Invitation Only Research Event

22 November 2019 - 8:15am to 9:30am

Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE

Event participants

Anita Isaacs, Professor of Political Science, Haverford College; Co-Director, Migration Encounters Project
Juan Ricardo Ortega, Principal Advisor for Central America, Inter-American Development Bank
Chair: Amy Pope, Associate Fellow, Chatham House; US Deputy Homeland Security Adviser for the Obama Administration (2015-17)

2019 has seen a record number of people migrating from Central America’s Northern Triangle – an area that covers El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Estimates from June 2019 have placed the number of migrants at nearly double of what they were in 2018 with the increase in numbers stemming from a lack of economic opportunity combined with a rise in crime and insecurity in the region. The impacts of migration can already be felt within the affected states as the exodus has played a significant role in weakening labour markets and contributing to a ‘brain drain’ in the region. It has also played an increasingly active role in the upcoming US presidential election with some calling for more security on the border to curb immigration while others argue that a more effective strategy is needed to address the sources of migration. 

What are the core causes of Central American migration and how have the US, Central American and now also Mexican governments facilitated and deterred migration from the region? Can institutions be strengthened to alleviate the causes of migration? And what possible policy alternatives and solutions are there that could alleviate the pressures individuals and communities feel to migrate?   

Anita Isaacs, professor of Political Science at Haverford College and co-director of the Migration Encounters Project, and Juan Ricard Ortega, principal advisor for Central America at the Inter-American Development Bank, will join us for a discussion on the core drivers of migration within and across Central America.

Attendance at this event is by invitation only. 

Event attributes

Chatham House Rule

Department/project

US and Americas Programme




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US 2020: America’s National Security Strategy and Middle East Policy

Invitation Only Research Event

10 February 2020 - 10:30am to 11:30am

Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE

Event participants

Dr Kori Schake, Resident Scholar and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute 
Chair: Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, Director, US and Americas Programme

In the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election, then-candidate Donald Trump made a series of campaign promises concerning US foreign policy towards the Middle East. Since assuming office, President Trump has withdrawn the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, withdrawn troops from Syria, relocated the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and orchestrated the strike against ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Against a backdrop of Trump's inclination towards withdrawing from the region, countries across the Middle East are being rocked by protests, Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile has threatened to undermine cohesion within NATO and the much hoped for ceasefire in Libya between UN-backed government leader, Fayez al-Sarraj, and opposition leader, Khalifa Haftar, failed to materialize.

In light of the upcoming US elections in November 2020, the future of US national security policy promises to be a prominent issue for the next administration. In this vein, the US and Americas Programme at Chatham House plans a yearlong focus on the pivotal US 2020 elections.

At this event, Dr Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute will discuss the future of US foreign policy towards the Middle East. How have domestic and party politics in the US – and the unfolding presidential campaign – shaped recent policy decisions by the Trump administration? Should we expect policy objectives in the Middle East to remain consistent or shift under a second Trump term? And what direction could US foreign policy towards the region take under a Democratic administration?

Attendance at this event is by invitation only. 

Event attributes

Chatham House Rule

Department/project

US and Americas Programme




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Civil society perspectives on sexual violence in conflict: patriarchy and war strategy in Colombia

4 March 2020 , Volume 96, Number 2

Anne-Kathrin Kreft

In international policy circles, conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) is commonly viewed as a weapon of war, a framing that researchers have criticized as overly simplistic. Feminist scholars in particular caution that the ‘weapon of war’ framing decontextualizes sexual violence in conflict from the structural factors of gender inequality that underpin its perpetration. In light of these tensions, how do politically relevant local actors perceive the nature and the origins of conflict-related sexual violence? Civil society organizations often actively confront conflict-related sexual violence on the ground. A better understanding of how their perceptions of this violence align or clash with the globally dominant ‘weapon of war’ narratives therefore has important policy implications. Interviews with representatives of Colombian women's organizations and victims' associations reveal that these civil society activists predominantly view conflict-related sexual violence as the result of patriarchal structures. The mobilized women perceive sexual violence as a very gendered violence that exists on a continuum extending through peace, the everyday and war, and which the presence of arms exacerbates. Strategic sexual violence, too, is understood to ultimately have its basis in patriarchal structures. The findings expose a disconnect between the globally dominant ‘weapon of war’ understanding that is decontextualized from structural factors and a local approach to CRSV that establishes clear linkages to societal gender inequality.




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Coronavirus in Latin America and Mexico: Infection Rates, Immigration and Policy Responses

Invitation Only Research Event

25 March 2020 - 4:00pm to 5:00pm

Event participants

Jude Webber, Mexico and Central America Correspondent, Financial Times
Michael Stott, Latin America Editor, Financial Times
Chair: Dr Christopher Sabatini, Senior Research Fellow for Latin America, US and the Americas Programme, Chatham House

This event is part of the Inaugural Virtual Roundtable Series on the US, Americas and the State of the World and will take place virtually only.  Participants should not come to Chatham House for these events

US and Americas Programme




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Webinar: COVID-19 and the Impact on Latin American Migration

Research Event

14 May 2020 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Add to Calendar

Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, Associate Fellow, US and the Americas Programme, Chatham House; Mexican Ambassador to the US, 2007 - 13
Professor Anita Isaacs, Benjamin R. Collins Professor of Social Sciences, Haverford College
Chair: Dr Christopher Sabatini, Senior Research Fellow for Latin America, US and the Americas Programme, Chatham House

The US government recently announced restrictions on immigration, stating the new measures were necessary due to COVID-19 and the effect the pandemic has had on the US economy. But what is the role of immigrants in the essential official and unofficial services in the COVID-19 stay-at-home era? How is COVID-19 affecting immigration from Central America and Mexico? 

Separately, there have also been instances of outbreaks among detainees in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers and claims that immigrants who are returning to Guatemala are spreading the virus. How have US immigration policies affected infection rates in Central America and Mexico and among its citizens?

Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the US from 2007 - 13, and Anita Isaacs, Benjamin R. Collins Professor of Social Sciences, Haverford College, will join us to discuss the impact COVID-19 is having on migrants.

Chatham House would like to thank BTG Pactual, Cairn Energy plc, Diageo plc, Equinor, Fresnillo Management Services, HSBC Holdings plc and Wintershall Dea for their generous support of the Latin America Initiative.

This event is scheduled to take place from 15:00 – 16:00 BST.

US and Americas Programme




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Webinar: COVID-19 and the Impact on Latin American Migration

Research Event

14 May 2020 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Add to Calendar

Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, Associate Fellow, US and the Americas Programme, Chatham House; Mexican Ambassador to the US, 2007 - 13
Professor Anita Isaacs, Benjamin R. Collins Professor of Social Sciences, Haverford College
Chair: Dr Christopher Sabatini, Senior Research Fellow for Latin America, US and the Americas Programme, Chatham House

The US government recently announced restrictions on immigration, stating the new measures were necessary due to COVID-19 and the effect the pandemic has had on the US economy. But what is the role of immigrants in the essential official and unofficial services in the COVID-19 stay-at-home era? How is COVID-19 affecting immigration from Central America and Mexico? 

Separately, there have also been instances of outbreaks among detainees in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers and claims that immigrants who are returning to Guatemala are spreading the virus. How have US immigration policies affected infection rates in Central America and Mexico and among its citizens?

Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the US from 2007 - 13, and Anita Isaacs, Benjamin R. Collins Professor of Social Sciences, Haverford College, will join us to discuss the impact COVID-19 is having on migrants.

Chatham House would like to thank BTG Pactual, Cairn Energy plc, Diageo plc, Equinor, Fresnillo Management Services, HSBC Holdings plc and Wintershall Dea for their generous support of the Latin America Initiative.

This event is scheduled to take place from 15:00 – 16:00 BST.

US and Americas Programme




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Renewable Energy: Generating Money

1 November 2007 , Number 7

City types are waking up to wind, waves and the sun and their potential to make energy – and money. This is just as new energy policies for Europe emerge with twenty percent targets for renewable energy and greenhouse gas cuts. Add to the mix climate change negotiations which will be back in Bali in December.

Kirsty Hamilton

Associate Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme

GettyImages-977104176.jpg

Solar panels lined up




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Victory and Memory: WW2 Narratives in Modern Day Russia and Ukraine

Invitation Only Research Event

11 May 2020 - 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Add to Calendar
Nina Tumarkin, Kathryn Wasserman Davis Professor of Slavic Studies; Professor of History; Director, Russian Area Studies Program, Wellesley College
Georgiy Kasianov, Head, Department of Contemporary History and Politics, Institute of History of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Chair: Robert Brinkley, Chairman, Steering Committee, Ukraine Forum, Chatham House
In 2020 the world commemorates the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. The Russian government has organized a wide range of activities to mark the USSR’s victory, aiming to raise the already prominent role of the USSR to a new level. Moscow also uses its narrative about the war as a propaganda tool. Ukraine, which suffered disproportionally huge human losses and material destruction during WWII, is departing from its Soviet legacy by focusing commemorative efforts on honouring the victims of WWII rather than on glorifying victory. 
 
This event will analyze the evolution of the WWII narratives in Russia and Ukraine in recent years. The panellists will discuss the role of those narratives in shaping national discourses and their implications for the countries' respective futures.
 
This event will be held on the record.

Anna Morgan

Administrator, Ukraine Forum
+44 (0)20 7389 3274

Department/project




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Rethinking youth bulge theory in policy and scholarship: incorporating critical gender analysis

7 May 2020 , Volume 96, Number 3

Lesley Pruitt

For decades ‘youth bulge’ theory has dominated understandings of youth in mainstream International Relations. Youth bulge theory has also become part of some public media analyses, mainstream political rhetoric, and even officially enshrined in the foreign policy of some states. Through the ‘youth bulge’ lens, youth—especially males—have been presented as current or future perpetrators of violence. However, this article argues that the youth bulge thesis postulated in mainstream IR is based on flawed theoretical assumptions. In particular, supporters of youth bulge theory fail to engage with existing research by feminist IR scholars and thus take on a biological essentialist approach. This has led to theoretical and practical misunderstandings of the roles youth play in relation to conflict, peace and security. These partial and biased understandings have also resulted in less effective policy-making. In critically reflecting on the ‘youth bulge’ thesis, this article argues that applying gender analysis is crucial to understanding the involvement of young people in general—and young men in particular—in conflict. Doing so will contribute to advancing more accurate analysis in scholarship and policy-making.




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Corporations and Environmental Sustainability: Profit vs Planet?




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Somaliland's Regional Priorities and Strategic Partnerships




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Islam, Immigration and Identity in Europe




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Cyber Security Series: Securing Elections and Reclaiming Democratic Processes




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Women in the Armed Forces: Improving Integration




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Indo-UK Collaboration: Opportunities and Challenges




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Frosty Neighbours? Unpacking Narratives of Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations




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Restraining Great Powers: Soft Balancing Strategies Reconsidered




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Migration and Health: Barriers and Means to Achieving Universal Health Coverage




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UK–EU Defence and Security Cooperation after Brexit




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Operation Decisive Storm: Analysing Four Years of Conflict in Yemen




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What Brexit Satisfies the Democratic Will of the People?




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Child Soldiers: Rethinking Reintegration




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The 2019 Arab Youth Survey: Pragmatism, Frustration and Optimism




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How Democratic Is the EU?




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Schapiro Lecture: The Would-Be Federation Next Door – What Next for Britain?




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Chatham House Primer: Democratic Socialism




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An Improved Boosting to Amplify Signal with Isobaric Labeling (iBASIL) Strategy for Precise Quantitative Single-cell Proteomics [Research]

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics has great potential for overcoming the limitations of antibody-based immunoassays for antibody-independent, comprehensive, and quantitative proteomic analysis of single cells. Indeed, recent advances in nanoscale sample preparation have enabled effective processing of single cells. In particular, the concept of using boosting/carrier channels in isobaric labeling to increase the sensitivity in MS detection has also been increasingly used for quantitative proteomic analysis of small-sized samples including single cells. However, the full potential of such boosting/carrier approaches has not been significantly explored, nor has the resulting quantitation quality been carefully evaluated. Herein, we have further evaluated and optimized our recent boosting to amplify signal with isobaric labeling (BASIL) approach, originally developed for quantifying phosphorylation in small number of cells, for highly effective analysis of proteins in single cells. This improved BASIL (iBASIL) approach enables reliable quantitative single-cell proteomics analysis with greater proteome coverage by carefully controlling the boosting-to-sample ratio (e.g. in general <100x) and optimizing MS automatic gain control (AGC) and ion injection time settings in MS/MS analysis (e.g. 5E5 and 300 ms, respectively, which is significantly higher than that used in typical bulk analysis). By coupling with a nanodroplet-based single cell preparation (nanoPOTS) platform, iBASIL enabled identification of ~2500 proteins and precise quantification of ~1500 proteins in the analysis of 104 FACS-isolated single cells, with the resulting protein profiles robustly clustering the cells from three different acute myeloid leukemia cell lines. This study highlights the importance of carefully evaluating and optimizing the boosting ratios and MS data acquisition conditions for achieving robust, comprehensive proteomic analysis of single cells.




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The Indo-Pacific: Geostrategic Perspectives to 2024 - Workshop 3

Invitation Only Research Event

17 October 2019 - 9:30am to 2:00pm

Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, 27 rue de la Procession, 75740 Paris Cedex 15, France

This closed-door roundtable explores possible strategic shifts in the Indo-Pacific between now and 2024. Focusing on trade security, climate change disruptions and security cooperation, it aims to enhance the understanding of the regional goals of, and strategic relationships between, the key countries active in the region.

The workshop is part of a larger project funded by the Strategic Policy Division of the Australian Department of Defence. The project includes workshops in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, India and the Pacific Islands (Tonga).

Attendance at this event is by invitation only.

Anna Aberg

Research Analyst, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme
020 7314 3629




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The Indo-Pacific: Geostrategic Outlook to 2024 - Workshop 4

Invitation Only Research Event

26 November 2019 - 9:30am to 12:00pm

Gateway House, Stevens Street, Colaba

This closed-door roundtable explores possible strategic shifts in the Indo-Pacific between now and 2024.

Focusing on trade security, climate change disruptions and security cooperation, it aims to enhance the understanding of the regional goals of, and strategic relationships between, the key countries active in the region.

The workshop is part of a larger project funded by the Strategic Policy Division of the Australian Department of Defence.

The project includes workshops in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, India and the Pacific Islands (Tonga).

Anna Aberg

Research Analyst, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme
020 7314 3629




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Maintaining Connections: How Might the UK Remain Engaged in the EU's Climate and Energy Strategies?

Invitation Only Research Event

3 March 2020 - 10:30am to 12:00pm

Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE

As the UK leaves the EU and the formal negotiations on the future relationship begins, this workshop will discuss any immediate changes and review the short and medium term impacts of Brexit on the energy sector. 

The workshop will look to cover:

  • The implications for UK business and system operations of the UK leaving the Internal Energy Market.
  • Current and future investment trends in the UK energy system.
  • The trade of electricity and gas over inter-connectors.
  • The need for the development of a new EU-UK operational framework mechanism.
  • The UK's EU withdrawal agreement and the operation of the Single Electricity Market (SEM) across Ireland. 
  • Options for the UK outside of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the impact on carbon prices.

This workshop is part of a programme funded by the UK Energy Research Centre on Brexit and the UK’s Net Zero Energy Policy being run by the University of Warwick and Chatham House.

Attendance at this event is by invitation only.

Event attributes

Chatham House Rule

Chloé Prendleloup




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The Indo-Pacific: Geostrategic Outlook From Now to 2024 - Workshop 5

Invitation Only Research Event

18 February 2020 - 12:00pm to 4:30pm

Langafonua Centre

This roundtable explores possible strategic shifts in the Indo-Pacific between now and 2024. Focusing on trade security, climate change disruptions and security cooperation, it aims to enhance the understanding of the regional goals of, and strategic relationships between, the key countries active in the region.

The workshop is part of a larger project funded by the Strategic Policy Division of the Australian Department of Defence. The project includes workshops in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, India and the Pacific Islands (Tonga).
 

Anna Aberg

Research Analyst, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme
020 7314 3629




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Episode 18: The Movie Marathon Episode

  • Safety Not Guaranteed
  • Holy Motors
  • The Imposter
  • What We Watched: Bernie, Take This Waltz, Nightmare Before XMas, This Is 40, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, End of Watch, The Campaign & Paranorman (kinda).
Email us at thefilmclubpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 773-245-3476.




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The Hurdles to Developing a COVID-19 Vaccine: Why International Cooperation is Needed

23 April 2020

Professor David Salisbury CB

Associate Fellow, Global Health Programme

Dr Champa Patel

Director, Asia-Pacific Programme
While the world pins its hopes on vaccines to prevent COVID-19, there are scientific, regulatory and market hurdles to overcome. Furthermore, with geopolitical tensions and nationalistic approaches, there is a high risk that the most vulnerable will not get the life-saving interventions they need.

2020-04-23-Covid-Vaccine.jpg

A biologist works on the virus inactivation process in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on 24 March 2020. The Brazilian Ministry of Health convened The Technological Vaccine Center to conduct research on COVID-19 in order to diagnose, test and develop a vaccine. Photo: Getty Images.

On 10 January 2020, Chinese scientists released the sequence of the COVID-19 genome on the internet. This provided the starting gun for scientists around the world to start developing vaccines or therapies. With at least 80 different vaccines in development, many governments are pinning their hopes on a quick solution. However, there are many hurdles to overcome. 

Vaccine development

Firstly, vaccine development is normally a very long process to ensure vaccines are safe and effective before they are used. 

Safety is not a given: a recent dengue vaccine caused heightened disease in vaccinated children when they later were exposed to dengue, while Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccine caused the same problem. Nor is effectiveness a given. Candidate vaccines that use novel techniques where minute fragments of the viruses’ genetic code are either injected directly into humans or incorporated into a vaccine (as is being pursued, or could be pursued for COVID-19) have higher risks of failure simply because they haven’t worked before. For some vaccines, we know what levels of immunity post-vaccination are likely to be protective. This is not the case for coronavirus. 

Clinical trials will have to be done for efficacy. This is not optional – regulators will need to know extensive testing has taken place before licencing any vaccine. Even if animal tests are done in parallel with early human tests, the remainder of the process is still lengthy. 

There is also great interest in the use of passive immunization, whereby antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (collected from people who have recovered from infection or laboratory-created) are given to people who are currently ill. Antivirals may prove to be a quicker route than vaccine development, as the testing requirements would be shorter, manufacturing may be easier and only ill people would need to be treated, as opposed to all at-risk individuals being vaccinated.

Vaccine manufacturing

Developers, especially small biotechs, will have to make partnerships with large vaccine manufacturers in order to bring products to market. One notorious bottleneck in vaccine development is getting from proof-of-principle to commercial development: about 95 per cent of vaccines fail at this step. Another bottleneck is at the end of production. The final stages of vaccine production involve detailed testing to ensure that the vaccine meets the necessary criteria and there are always constraints on access to the technologies necessary to finalize the product. Only large vaccine manufacturers have these capacities. There is a graveyard of failed vaccine candidates that have not managed to pass through this development and manufacturing process.

Another consideration is adverse or unintended consequences. Highly specialized scientists may have to defer their work on other new vaccines to work on COVID-19 products and production of existing products may have to be set aside, raising the possibility of shortages of other essential vaccines. 

Cost is another challenge. Vaccines for industrialized markets can be very lucrative for pharmaceutical companies, but many countries have price caps on vaccines. Important lessons have been learned from the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic when industrialized countries took all the vaccines first. Supplies were made available to lower-income countries at a lower price but this was much later in the evolution of the pandemic. For the recent Ebola outbreaks, vaccines were made available at low or no cost. 

Geopolitics may also play a role. Should countries that manufacture a vaccine share it widely with other countries or prioritize their own populations first? It has been reported that President Trump attempted to purchase CureVac, a German company with a candidate vaccine.  There are certainly precedents for countries prioritizing their own populations. With H1N1 flu in 2009, the Australian Government required a vaccine company to meet the needs of the Australian population first. 

Vaccine distribution

Global leadership and a coordinated and coherent response will be needed to ensure that any vaccine is distributed equitably. There have been recent calls for a G20 on health, but existing global bodies such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and GAVI are working on vaccines and worldwide access to them. Any new bodies should seek to boost funding for these entities so they can ensure products reach the most disadvantaged. 

While countries that cannot afford vaccines may be priced out of markets, access for poor, vulnerable or marginalized peoples, whether in developed or developing countries, is of concern. Developing countries are at particular risk from the impacts of COVID-19. People living in conflict-affected and fragile states – whether they are refugees or asylum seekers, internally displaced or stateless, or in detention facilities – are at especially high risk of devastating impacts. 

Mature economies will also face challenges. Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccine will be challenging where inequalities and unequal access to essential services have been compromised within some political systems. 

The need for global leadership 

There is an urgent need for international coordination on COVID-19 vaccines. While the WHO provides technical support and UNICEF acts as a procurement agency, responding to coronavirus needs clarity of global leadership that arches over national interests and is capable of mobilizing resources at a time when economies are facing painful recessions. We see vaccines as a salvation but remain ill-equipped to accelerate their development.

While everyone hopes for rapid availability of safe, effective and affordable vaccines that will be produced in sufficient quantities to meet everyone’s needs, realistically, we face huge hurdles. 




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Nanodomains can persist at physiologic temperature in plasma membrane vesicles and be modulated by altering cell lipids [Research Articles]

The formation and properties of liquid-ordered (Lo) lipid domains (rafts) in the plasma membrane are still poorly understood. This limits our ability to manipulate ordered lipid domain-dependent biological functions. Giant plasma membrane vesicles (GPMVs) undergo large-scale phase separations into coexisting Lo and liquid-disordered lipid domains. However, large-scale phase separation in GPMVs detected by light microscopy is observed only at low temperatures. Comparing Förster resonance energy transfer-detected versus light microscopy-detected domain formation, we found that nanodomains, domains of nanometer size, persist at temperatures up to 20°C higher than large-scale phases, up to physiologic temperature. The persistence of nanodomains at higher temperatures is consistent with previously reported theoretical calculations. To investigate the sensitivity of nanodomains to lipid composition, GPMVs were prepared from mammalian cells in which sterol, phospholipid, or sphingolipid composition in the plasma membrane outer leaflet had been altered by cyclodextrin-catalyzed lipid exchange. Lipid substitutions that stabilize or destabilize ordered domain formation in artificial lipid vesicles had a similar effect on the thermal stability of nanodomains and large-scale phase separation in GPMVs, with nanodomains persisting at higher temperatures than large-scale phases for a wide range of lipid compositions. This indicates that it is likely that plasma membrane nanodomains can form under physiologic conditions more readily than large-scale phase separation. We also conclude that membrane lipid substitutions carried out in intact cells are able to modulate the propensity of plasma membranes to form ordered domains. This implies lipid substitutions can be used to alter biological processes dependent upon ordered domains.




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Lipid rafts and neurodegeneration: structural and functional roles in physiologic aging and neurodegenerative diseases [Thematic Reviews]

Lipid rafts are small, dynamic membrane areas characterized by the clustering of selected membrane lipids as the result of the spontaneous separation of glycolipids, sphingolipids, and cholesterol in a liquid-ordered phase. The exact dynamics underlying phase separation of membrane lipids in the complex biological membranes are still not fully understood. Nevertheless, alterations in the membrane lipid composition affect the lateral organization of molecules belonging to lipid rafts. Neural lipid rafts are found in brain cells, including neurons, astrocytes, and microglia, and are characterized by a high enrichment of specific lipids depending on the cell type. These lipid rafts seem to organize and determine the function of multiprotein complexes involved in several aspects of signal transduction, thus regulating the homeostasis of the brain. The progressive decline of brain performance along with physiological aging is at least in part associated with alterations in the composition and structure of neural lipid rafts. In addition, neurodegenerative conditions, such as lysosomal storage disorders, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Alzheimer’s diseases, are frequently characterized by dysregulated lipid metabolism, which in turn affects the structure of lipid rafts. Several events underlying the pathogenesis of these diseases appear to depend on the altered composition of lipid rafts. Thus, the structure and function of lipid rafts play a central role in the pathogenesis of many common neurodegenerative diseases.






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On the existence of an operator group generated by the one-dimensional Dirac system

A. M. Savchuk and I. V. Sadovnichaya
Trans. Moscow Math. Soc. 80 (2020), 235-250.
Abstract, references and article information




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Spectral Properties of Differential Operators with Oscillating Coefficients

N. F. Valeev, Ya. T. Sultanaev and É. A. Nazirova
Trans. Moscow Math. Soc. 80 (2020), 153-167.
Abstract, references and article information




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Ordinary differential operators and the integral representation of sums of certain power series

K. A. Mirzoev and T. A. Safonova
Trans. Moscow Math. Soc. 80 (2020), 133-151.
Abstract, references and article information




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Finite-dimensional approximations to the Poincaré–Steklov operator for general elliptic boundary value problems in domains with cylindrical and periodic exits to infinity

S. A. Nazarov
Trans. Moscow Math. Soc. 80 (2020), 1-51.
Abstract, references and article information





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Visão embaçada e distorcida nem sempre é miopia: fique atento aos sinais do ceratocone

Aos primeiros sinais de visão embaçada, as hipóteses mais frequentes sempre são miopia, astigmatismo, hipermetropia. Mas esses sintomas podem indicar outra doença ocular chamada ceratocone - uma deformidade progressiva da córnea, que assume o formato...

The post Visão embaçada e distorcida nem sempre é miopia: fique atento aos sinais do ceratocone appeared first on Saúde Próspera.



  • Dicas de Saúde

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Candidíase – Conheça as causas, sintomas e tratamentos

O que é Candidíase? Candidíase, é uma infecção sistêmica causada pelo fungos da Candida albicans. A Candida albicans é um tipo de fungo (levedura) que vive em harmonia no organismo,…

The post Candidíase – Conheça as causas, sintomas e tratamentos appeared first on Saúde Próspera.



  • Dicas de Saúde

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What happens to a fund that is listed pursuant to a product specific rule filing once the fund is eligible to operate under Rule 6c-11 and elects to list on Nasdaq under Rule 5704?

Publication Date: Apr 10 2020 The SEC will withdraw the existing approval order and the fund will become subject to the requirements of Rule 6c-11 and Nasdaq Rule 5704....




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Do all the funds operating under an existing exemptive order have to transition to operating under Rule 6c-11 and Nasdaq Rule 5704 at the same time?

Publication Date: Apr 10 2020 Yes. According to the SEC, once an ETF becomes eligible to operate under Rule 6c-11 and elects to list on Nasdaq under Nasdaq Rule 5704, the existing order related to that fund (and all other funds under that exemptive order) will be rescinded. Once a fund is listed under Nasdaq Rule 5704, it will not be able to relist under Nasdaq Rule 5705(b) (Index Fund Shares) or Nasdaq Rule 5735 (Managed Fund Shares) unless a new exemptive relief order is obtained from the SEC....




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US–China Strategic Competition: The Quest for Global Technological Leadership

7 November 2019

The current dispute between the US and China goes far beyond trade tariffs and tit-for-tat reprisals: the underlying driver is a race for global technological supremacy. This paper examines the risks of greater strategic competition as well as potential solutions for mitigating the impacts of the US–China economic confrontation.

Marianne Schneider-Petsinger

Senior Research Fellow, US and the Americas Programme

Dr Jue Wang

Associate Fellow, Asia-Pacific Programme (based in Holland)

Dr Yu Jie

Senior Research Fellow on China, Asia-Pacific Programme

James Crabtree

Associate Fellow, Asia-Pacific Programme

Video: Marianne Schneider-Petsinger and Dr Yu Jie discuss key themes from the research paper

Summary

  • The underlying driver of the ongoing US–China trade war is a race for global technological dominance. President Trump has raised a number of issues regarding trade with China – including the US’s trade deficit with China and the naming of China as a currency manipulator. But at the heart of the ongoing tariff escalation are China’s policies and practices regarding forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft and non-market distortions.
  • As China’s international influence has expanded it has always been unlikely that Beijing would continue to accept existing global standards and institutions established and widely practised by developed countries based on ‘the Washington Consensus’.
  • China’s desire to be an alternative champion of technology standard-setting remains unfulfilled. Its ample innovation talent is a solid foundation in its quest for global technology supremacy but tightening controls over personal freedoms could undermine it and deter potential global partners.
  • It is unclear if Chinese government interventions will achieve the technological self-sufficiency Beijing has long desired. China’s approach to macroeconomic management diverges significantly from that of the US and other real market economies, particularly in its policy towards nurturing innovation.
  • Chinese actors are engaged in the globalization of technological innovation through exports and imports of high-tech goods and services; cross-border investments in technology companies and research and development (R&D) activities; cross-border R&D collaboration; and international techno-scientific research collaboration.
  • While the Chinese state pushes domestic companies and research institutes to engage in the globalization of technological innovation, its interventions in the high-tech sector have caused uneasiness in the West.
  • The current US response to its competition with China for technological supremacy, which leans towards decoupling, is unlikely to prove successful. The US has better chances of success if it focuses on America’s own competitiveness, works on common approaches to technology policy with like-minded partners around the globe and strengthens the international trading system.
  • A technically sound screening mechanism of foreign investment can prevent normal cross-border collaboration in technological innovation from being misused by geopolitical rival superpowers.




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The recalibration of Chinese assertiveness: China's responses to the Indo-Pacific challenge

8 January 2020 , Volume 96, Number 1

Feng Liu

In response to the changing geopolitical landscape in Asia, both China and the United States attempt to alter the regional order in their own favour, both in the economic and security realms. This article shows how diverging views on future arrangements are leading to strategic shifts and increasing tension between these two Great Powers. As part of its quest for Great-Power status, China has been actively pushing its regional initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), as well as adopting assertive security policies towards its neighbours. In contrast, in order to counter China's growing influence America's regional strategy is undergoing a subtle shift from ‘rebalancing to Asia’ to focusing on the ‘Indo-Pacific’ region. However, amid an intensifying trade war and other challenges facing the region, China has chosen to moderate its proactive foreign policy-orientation in the past few years. In particular, China has made attempts to downplay its domestic rhetoric, rebuild strategic relationship with India and Japan, and to reassure ASEAN states in the South China Sea. In response to the Indo-Pacific strategy, it would be more effective for China to articulate a more inclusive regional vision and promote an institutional framework that also accommodates a US presence in the region.




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Non-traditional security cooperation between China and south-east Asia: implications for Indo-Pacific geopolitics

8 January 2020 , Volume 96, Number 1

Xue Gong

The ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP) strategy, actively promoted by the United States with support from its allies and partners, is a significant geopolitical response to China's growing power and expanding influence in Asia and beyond. Beijing has adopted various new strategies to cope with the challenges related to FOIP. One of these strategies is to secure a robust relationship with south-east Asia in order to make these regional states either neutral to or less supportive of the Indo-Pacific vision. In addition to economic statecraft and soft power, Beijing believes that it can also tap into the domain of non-traditional security (NTS) to strengthen relations with this region to position itself better in the intensifying regional geopolitical competition. The article addresses the following question: what is the impact of China's NTS cooperation with south-east Asia on Beijing's geopolitical rivalry with other major powers in the Indo-Pacific region? The article argues that China's NTS cooperation with south-east Asian countries may help China maintain its geopolitical standing in the region, but it is unlikely to lead to any dramatic increase of China's strategic influence in the region. This essentially means that Beijing may be able to prevent ASEAN or most ASEAN member states from lending substantive and strong support to the Indo-Pacific construct, but it will not be able to stop ASEAN states from supporting some elements of the FOIP.