Third World Academy Of Sciences Research Articles

Year-end academic review of 2021: Advances in the field of birth defect prevention and control in China as of 2021

Year-end academic review of 2021: Advances in the field of birth defect prevention and control in China as of 2021

George Fu Gao: the past and future of Ebola

Newly returned from the frontline of the battle against Ebola in West Africa, Dr George Fu Gao talked to NSR on this largest Ebola epidemic in history. As Deputy Director-General of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Dr Gao has been personally involved in the fight against acute infectious diseases both on the laboratory bench and in the field for many years. Recalling the sight of an Ebola-infected young man stumbling to his death on the street and observing the continuing climb of patient statistics, he anxiously calls for larger global help to affected countries. The help provided by the world community to West Africa was ‘too late and insufficient’, and in this age of globalization ‘no country can care only for herself alone’. In this interview, Dr Gao also reviews the history, progression, and prognosis of the Ebola epidemic, the cause of failure in the early prevention and containment of the disease, the role of government policies and public health systems, and global prospects and strategies for similar acute infectious diseases in the future.

Coinheritance of sickle cell anemia and α‐thalassemia delays disease onset and could improve survival in cameroonian's patients (Sub‐Saharan Africa)

Coinheritance of sickle cell anemia and α‐thalassemia delays disease onset and could improve survival in cameroonian's patients (Sub‐Saharan Africa)

Laudatio for Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Syed M. Qaim

Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Syed Muhammad Qaim was brought up in Pakistan. He obtained both his B.Sc. (1958) and M.Sc. (1961) from the Government College and Punjab University in Lahore, Pakistan. He received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Chemistry in 1964 from Liverpool University and D.Sc. in Applied Nuclear Science in 1977 from Birmingham University in England. He then received his Habilitation in Nuclear Chemistry in 1993 from Universitat zu Koln, Germany. Upon graduation with Ph.D., Dr. Qaim joined Birmingham University as a Research Associate (1964–66). He then served as a Senior Scientific Officer, Atomic Energy Centre in Lahore, Pakistan during 1966–68. He was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz, Germany (1968–70). Dr. Qaim then joined the Nuclear Research Centre, Julich, Germany in 1970. He spent the next 36 years at the Centre in various capacities such as a Scientist (1970–75), a Group Leader (1975–85), and a Division Leader (1985–2006) in the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry. He also served as an Acting Director (1995–96), and as the Vice-Director (1996–2006) of the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry. Additionally, since 1997 he has been a Professor of Nuclear Chemistry at Universitat zu Koln and is still teaching there. Since 2006, after his retirement, he is a Guest/Advisor at his old Institute of Nuclear Chemistry, Research Centre Julich. Furthermore, he holds a UNESCO-funded Research Professorship at the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in Trieste, Italy. Professor Qaim has very broad research interests in fundamental as well as applied aspects of nuclear chemistry, from Mossbauer spectroscopy, nuclear spectroscopy, nuclear reactions, and nuclear data to cyclotron-produced radionuclides. His fundamental work in Mossbauer spectroscopy dealt with Co incorporated in 32 different metal lattices via electrolytic deposition and high temperature diffusion. He was the first one to show that the linebroadening of the source in certain metals is caused by quadrupole splitting. The four pioneering papers published on this topic in the late sixties have become classic. His fundamental work in nuclear spectroscopy and nuclear reactions dealt with decay properties of nuclei. In the sixties Prof. Qaim discovered five new radionuclides, namely Nb, Mo, Mo, Xe and Pb, and characterized several others such as I, I, Cs, Np. In the seventies he concentrated on low-yield complex particle emission reactions, e.g. (n,t), (n,He), (n,Be) and (p,Be), which could only be studied via a combination of activation techniques with very precise radiochemical separations and low-level counting techniques as well as statistical model calculations based on the Hauser-Feshbach formalism. Prof. Qaim was awarded the Eotvos Lorand Medal of the Hungarian Physical Society in 1988 for his pioneering work in this field. In recent years, Prof. Qaim has become more interested in the fundamental aspects of the formation of isomeric Prepared by Professor Dr. A. Chatt (Halifax, Canada), Chairman of the Hevesy Medal Award Selection Panel 2008, President of the International Committee on Activation Analysis (ICAA). Narrated by Professor Dr. L. Wojnarovits (Budapest, Hungary), Co-Chairman of the 7th International Conference on Nuclear and Radiochemistry (NRC-7), Budapest, 2008. Hevesy Medal and Scroll presented by Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Tibor Braun (Budapest, Hungary), Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry.

Beijing 1987: China's coming-out party

Two decades ago, Deng Xiaoping welcomed nations to an international meeting in Beijing. Mohamed Hassan recalls how China's leaders set out their plans for the nation to rejoin the world's scientific elite. By 1987, China's rulers had identified science and technology as key to their plans to relaunch China as a global power. The Second General Conference of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), held in Beijing in September 1987, was to be the 'coming out party'. Mohamed Hassan looks back on Beijing 1987 — and on Beijing 2003, when TWAS returned to celebrate its twentieth anniversary, and China was well and truly out in the world.

Noah Zerbe. Agricultural Biotechnology Reconsidered: Western Narrative and African Alternatives. Trenton, N.J.: African World Press, 2005. x + 238 pp. Graphs. Bibliography. Index. $29.95. Paper.

Noah Zerbe. Biotechnology Reconsidered: Western Narratives and African Alternatives. Trenton, N.J.: African World Press, 2005. x + 238 pp. Graphs. Bibliography. Index. $29.95. Paper. Ostensibly, this is a book focusing on agricultural biotechnology in Zimbabwe. In many respects, however, it is two books in one. The author is supremely competent to write the one on the colonial and postcolonial injustices that Zimbabwe has suffered, but for the other part-on agricultural biotechnology-he is not. His chapter on Zimbabwe's colonial inheritance is an absolute gem, succinct and to the point. This inheritance down through and including the Lancaster House Agreement is replete with injustices to the indigenous African population, and Noah Zerbe does a magnificent job of identifying and analyzing them. Though opposed to agricultural biotechnology or biotechnology in general, he unexpectedly comes out in favor of an appropriate biotechnology. Zerbe seems not to know that there has been a graduate program in biotechnology at the University of Zimbabwe since 1991. Its graduates have gone on to prestigious molecular biology programs in South or around the world for their Ph.D.s, and many have returned to Zimbabwe where they are engaged in research. He could also have interviewed internationally known molecular biologists in Zimbabwe, including one who did a post-doc with James Watson quite literally at the dawn of biotechnology. To be sure, Zerbe is not alone in simply being unaware of African work on biotechnology. In 2002, when the NGOs raised such a fuss about the dangers of biotech food for famine relief in Africa, they totally ignored a U.N. Economic Commission for report, Harnessing Technology for Sustainable Development in Africa (August 2002), which was almost entirely about the potential for biotechnology in agriculture (green biotechnology) and in pharmaceuticals (red biotechnology). There is an African Journal of Biotechnology in which African scholars from around the continent publish. In July 2000, the Third World Academy of Sciences joined with the national academies of science in Brazil, Mexico, India, China, and the U.S., along with the Royal Society of the U.K., on the safety of transgenic food production. Early in 2006, another report was issued by this group in which other academies of science in and Asia joined in. Today there is NEPAD Science and Technology Forum and a Biotechnology Advisory Group for the African Union. Obviously, some of these organizations were not in existence when Zerbe turned his dissertation into a book, but enough were to make one wonder why their views on biotechnology were ignored then in favor of non-peer-reviewed activists' publications-and why they are still ignored. Since Zerbe is interested in practical uses for agricultural biotechnology, why did he ignore Agricultural Biotechnology: Meeting the Needs of the Poor? …

Science in the South

T he International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, turned 40 this October. It is an occasion for some reflection. The scientists who created ICTP, notably the Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan, were motivated by a goal that is simple to proclaim but difficult to fulfill: to advance the level and role of science in the Southern world by overcoming the debilitating isolation of scientists who work there. This goal is more important now than ever before. No country today can survive and prosper in isolation, and economic prosperity is tied to scientific development. The building of scientific capacity needed everywhere is thus in our collective interest and is a shared responsibility. Forty years on, however, we still live in a world in which a majority of scientists, scientific discoveries, publications, and patents come from developed countries. So, what has ICTP accomplished? ICTP has been involved, to different degrees, with the careers of some 100,000 visiting scientists. They have come from nearly every country in the world, about half from developing countries. According to physics professor Edmund Zingu of Mangosuthu Technikon in South Africa, “Nearly every Ph.D. in East Africa has had an association with ICTP.” The cadre of ICTP associates has established programs in their home countries, including Brazil, Benin, China, India, and Mexico. Some have turned to public service as ministers of science, members of parliaments, ambassadors, and in one case, the president of a republic. ICTP thus exemplifies that the best investment one can make is in human capital: the individual scientists. But ICTP is keenly aware that its efforts are small relative to the needs. These needs are tremendous even in countries that have made some strides (at least progress has been spotty). Regrettably, countries in Africa and the Middle East have either stood still in scientific progress or actually regressed. The challenges remain daunting. The critical question is how to proceed. We can draw one lesson: Among the diverse ways in which ICTP has attempted to fulfill its mission, the key ingredient for success has been the followthrough. Where we have been able to keep sustained contact with our associates, the success has been greater. Because ICTP is small, large-scale success requires similar commitment from more people and institutions. Greater exchange within the South between the more and less scientifically proficient countries is a case in point. ICTP has established such links by creating networks, cooperative programs, regional schools, and affiliate centers in the South. Recent efforts by Brazil, China, and India to provide fellowships to promising scientists under a program administered by ICTP's sister organization, the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), suggest that programs for South-South cooperation are finally taking off. The involvement of scientific institutions in the North is the next crucial element. Here the goal should not be the transfer of technology, but the creation of scientific capacity in each country for generating appropriate solutions for problems involving public health, energy sources, agriculture, ecology, the proper use of environmental resources, and basic education. Other international institutions in Trieste have been working for this goal in diligent partnership with ICTP. Lasting changes can occur if nations, not just individual scientists, choose to embrace science as an essential part of their national agenda. We must thus move beyond the scientist-to-scientist strategy and become more involved in changing institutions in the developing world. ICTP is increasingly engaging ministries of science and technology in policy discussions, encouraging governments to provide sustainable funding for science. At the same time, we are working in partnership with science institutions in the developing world. This October, ICTP signed an agreement with Brazil's National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) to fund four scientific workshops each year in Latin America. Building scientific capacity is different from instilling a sense of quality. Anchoring quality by providing a well of excellence from which to draw upon will continue to be ICTP's mission and responsibility. That's a full agenda for the next 40 years.

One problem at a time. Building research capacities in developing countries is necessary for economic success in the long term. But the numerous problems in doing so have to be solved for each country individually.

Building research capacities in developing countries is necessary for economic success in the long term. But the numerous problems in doing so have to be solved for each country individually

Materials Research Priorities

R. Chidambaram is the principal scientific advisor to the government of India and is past president of the Materials Research Society-India. He joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) in 1962, became its director in 1990, and is currently the Department of Atomic Energy Homi Bhabha Chair Professor. He served as chair of the Atomic Energy Commission and secretary to the government of India in the Department of Atomic Energy from February 1993 to November 2000. Chidambaram is a fellow of all of the major science academies in India and also of the Third World Academy of Sciences in Trieste, Italy. He chaired the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during 1994–1995. Until recently, he was vice president of the International Union of Crystallography. Chidambaram is currently chair of the council and the governing body of the Technology Information, Forecasting, and Assessment Council (TIFAC). He received his PhD and DSc degrees from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and holds honorary DSc degrees from several Indian universities.

The Relativistic Covariance of the Fermion Green Function and Minimal Quantization of Electrodynamics**The project supported in part by Institute of Theoretical Physics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Third World Academy of Sciences and Vietnam National Research Programme in National Sciences

This paper is devoted to the one-loop calculation of the fermion Green function in QED within the framework of the minimal quantization method, based on an explicit solution of the constraint equations and the gauge-invariance principle. The relativistic invariant expression for the fermion Green function with correct analytical properties is obtained.

UNESCO Chair of Biophysics and Molecular Neurobiology

UNESCO Chair of Biophysics and Molecular Neurobiology

Physiology teaching in the developing world: models for quality learning.

An important initiative to develop higher education and physiology teaching was launched when recommendations were deliberated at the concluding session of a four-day international workshop, Physiology Teaching in the Developing World: Models for Quality Learning, held April 5-8, 1999, at the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. The event was organized under the auspices of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS), Pakistan Physiological Society, and Aga Khan University. Among other major sponsors, the Islamic Development Bank, Islamic Educational Science and Cultural Organization. Third World Academy of Sciences, and Pakistan Science Foundation were prominent.

Academies call for ban on patenting agricultural life forms

A call for a ban on the patenting of all agricultural life forms was endorsed by The Council of the Third World Academy of Sciences.

Italy backs Third World science body ⃛

trieste The Italian government is to make a long-term financial commitment to the Third World Academy of Sciences, which is based in Trieste, Italy.

Muhammad Abdus Salam, K. B. E.. 29 January 1926–21 November 1996

Abdus Salam was one of the leading theoretical physicists of his generation, the first Muslim to win a Nobel Prize for science. He was Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College, founding Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, and founder and first President of the Third World Academy of Sciences. He was also a warm and generous man, who cared passionately about the inequities between the rich countries and the poor, and argued tirelessly for the importance of science to developing countries.

The role of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)

The Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a non-governmental organization founded in 1983 and officially launched by the former Secretary General of the United Nations in 1985. TWAS has united the most eminent scientists from the South. It currently has 350 members from 55 developing countries, including the 9 living Nobel Laureates of Third World origin. The main mission of TWAS is to promote scientific excellence for sustainable development in the South. In 1988, TWAS facilitated the establishment of the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO), a non-governmental alliance of over 133 scientific organizations, including 27 Ministries of Science and Technology and Higher Education, 42 Research Councils and 36 Academies from 70 Third World countries. TWNSO's mission is to assist in building political and scientific leadership for science- based economic development in the South and in promoting broad-based South-South and South-North partnerships in areas of science and technology critical to sustainable development. TWAS and TWNSO have established a number of programmes that can benefit scientists in developing countries conducting ground-based experiments for the utilization of global satellite data. These programmes include the awarding of research grants to promising space scientists to enable them to purchase equipment and spare parts needed for their experimental work, and the awarding of fellowships to space scientists in the South for research and training in other space research institutions in the South. In addition, TWNSO has recently launched a major South-South collaboration programme which will provide competitive research grants to joint research projects (including those related to the utilization of global satellite data) involving 2–3 competent institutions from different countries in the South.

First south-north human genome conference

Easi ly 75% of the human genome is in the possession of those inhabi tan t s of this globe who live in developing countries. I t seems evident t ha t these peoples and the nat ions to which they belong have a s take in the human genome project. The F i r s t S o u t h N o r t h Human Genome Conference discussed the appropr ia te role for one developing area, Lat in America. The conference was a useful exercise in examining the problems, opportunit ies , challenges, and solutions. The conference was sponsored pr imar i ly by UNESCO and the Brazi l ian Society of Biochemist ry and Molecular Biology. There were, however, a number of o ther sponsors, including the Human Genome Organisat ion (HUGO) and the Thi rd Wor ld Academy of Sciences (TWAS). The cha i rman of the local organizing commit tee was Professor S@rgio D. J. Pena of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. I t was held in Caxamb6, Brazil, May 12-15, 1992, and attended by about 200 par t ic ipants . F rom discussions in the pas t a t several in ternat ional conferences, such as the two at Valencia, Spain, organized by Professor S. Grisolia, it is clear tha t all the peoples of the world must have access to the informat ion and knowledge coming out of the H u m a n Genome Project and be given an oppor tuni ty to benefit from it. Fur thermore , all peoples of the world must be represented in discussions of the ethical and societal implicat ions of the new-found knowledge. All peoples of the world should have a chance to profit from the appl icat ion of this knowledge in medicine, in the forensic setting, and in the s tudy of nonhuman genomes, such as those of economic p lants and animals and of paras i tes and other infectious agents. The Caxambfi conference provided an oppor tuni ty to survey what is being done in the area of molecular genetics in Lat in America and what could and should be done. I t pointed up the problems and proposed tenta t ive solutions. The invited speakers included several working on various aspects of the human genome project in developed countries, others who are doing research in molecular biology under difficult condit ions in the developing world, and many representat ives from Lat in American countries. Human biological diversi ty was one focus of the conference. Developing countries must be involved, and can be usefully involved, in any studies of genetic diversi ty tha t are undertaken. Background

Science needs for setting environment policy listed

Some 250 scientists from nearly 70 countries gathered in Vienna, Austria, in late November to draw up recommendations focusing on the scientific knowledge needed to make rational environmental policy decisions in the coming decades. Their efforts resulted in ASCEND 21—an Agenda of Science for Environment & Development into the 21st century. ASCEND 21 aims to look beyond the state-of-the-art to help identify the scientific knowledge base needed for such policy decisions. A statement with recommendations that was issued at the close of the meeting is expected to form a key element of documentation for world leaders and their aides at the United Nations Conference on Environment & Development in Rio de Janeiro next June. The International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), in cooperation with the Third World Academy of Sciences in Trieste, Italy, was the prime mover behind the conference, which was hosted by the Austrian government. Mambillikalathil G. K. ...

Regional Seminar And Workshop On The International Islamic Calendar

The Pulau Penang Resolution On The InternationalIslamic CalendarPraise be to Allah (SWT), Lord of the worlds. Peace and benedictionbe on His Prophet Muhammad, his family, Companions and followers.Heading the Commandments of Allah (SWT) in the Qur’an is: “Verilyin the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of thenight and the day are signs for those who use their intellect; those who reflectupon God while standing, sitting and reclining and ponder on the creationof the heavens and the earth saying: ‘0 my Lord You have not created allthese in vain. Glory be to You, save us from the fire”’.From Shawwal 21-24, 1408/June 7-10, 1988, the Universiti Sains Malaysiahosted a Regional Seminar and Workshop on the International Islamic Calendarattended by 100 Muslim scientists, religious scholars ( UZumii’), communityleaders and government officials concerned with Islamic Affairs from 25different countries and international Islamic organizations. The seminar andworkshop was held with the cooperation of the International Institute of IslamicThought, the Islamic Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Departmentof Malaysia, the Council of Islamic Affairs of Penang, the Malaysian AirlinesSystem, the Islamic Council of Europe, the International Centre for TheoreticalPhysics, the Third World Academy of Sciences and the Islamic EconomicDevelopment Foundation of Malaysia.The Seminar was declared opened by Y.B. Datuk Dr. Mohammad YusufNoor, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, whose speech wasunanimously adopted as a conference document. The Seminar received countryreports from Thailand, Philippines, Fiji, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Australia,Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Maldives and Singapore. The country reportsdiscussed the calendrical practices in various countries in the region andproblems faced in determining important Islamic dates. Subregional discussionswere held regarding future planning in respect of the Islamic Lunar Calendar.Special workshops were held for Muslim scholars (‘Ulama') and communityleaders regarding the implementation of a scientific lunar calendar for theMuslims in the region and the problems and difficulties in the implementation ...

A Conversation with C. R. Rao

Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao was born on September 10, 1920, in Hadagali, Karnataka State, India. He received an M.A. in mathematics from Andhra University in 1940; an M.A. in statistics from Calcutta University in 1943; a Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 1948, with a thesis entitled problemWs of biological classification; and an Sc.D. from Cambridge in 1965 on the basis of his published work in statistics as a whole. He joined the Indian Statistical Institute as a statistician in 1944 and became a professor in 1949, the director of the Research and Training School in 1964, the secretary and director of the Institute in 1972, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Professor in 1976. In 1979 he was appointed a University Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Pittsburgh. He has been the President of the International Statistical Institute, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the International Biometric Society, and the Indian Econometric Society; and since 1964, an editor of Sankhyd. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) of the United Kingdom; a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science; an Honorary Member of the International Statistical Institute; an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society; an Honorary Life Member of the Biometric Society; a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and Indian Academy of Sciences; an Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge; and a Founder Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste. He has received honorary degrees from Andhra University, India, 1967; Leningrad University, U.S.S.R., 1970; Delhi University, India, 1973; Athens University, Greece, 1976; Osmania University, India, 1977; Ohio State University, U.S.A., 1979; Universidad Nacional de San Marcos, Peru, 1982; University of the Philippines, 1983; and University of Tampere, Finland, 1985. The following conversation took place in his office at the University of Pittsburgh one morning in November 1985.