Abstract
Less than a year after the global emergence of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, a novel vaccine platform based on mRNA technology was introduced to the market. Globally, around 13.38 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses of diverse platforms have been administered. To date, 72.3% of the total population has been injected at least once with a COVID-19 vaccine. As the immunity provided by these vaccines rapidly wanes, their ability to prevent hospitalization and severe disease in individuals with comorbidities has recently been questioned, and increasing evidence has shown that, as with many other vaccines, they do not produce sterilizing immunity, allowing people to suffer frequent re-infections. Additionally, recent investigations have found abnormally high levels of IgG4 in people who were administered two or more injections of the mRNA vaccines. HIV, Malaria, and Pertussis vaccines have also been reported to induce higher-than-normal IgG4 synthesis. Overall, there are three critical factors determining the class switch to IgG4 antibodies: excessive antigen concentration, repeated vaccination, and the type of vaccine used. It has been suggested that an increase in IgG4 levels could have a protecting role by preventing immune over-activation, similar to that occurring during successful allergen-specific immunotherapy by inhibiting IgE-induced effects. However, emerging evidence suggests that the reported increase in IgG4 levels detected after repeated vaccination with the mRNA vaccines may not be a protective mechanism; rather, it constitutes an immune tolerance mechanism to the spike protein that could promote unopposed SARS-CoV2 infection and replication by suppressing natural antiviral responses. Increased IgG4 synthesis due to repeated mRNA vaccination with high antigen concentrations may also cause autoimmune diseases, and promote cancer growth and autoimmune myocarditis in susceptible individuals.
URL: www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/11/5/991
Plants are promising candidates as bioreactors for the production of oral recombinant proteins in the biopharmaceutical industry. As an initial step toward provision of an oral vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), we have expressed a partial spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV in the cytosol of nuclear-transformed plants and in the chloroplasts of plastid-transformed plants. In the construction of both nuclear and plastid transformation vectors, a 2-kilobase nucleotide sequence encoding amino acids 1-658 of the SARS-CoV spike protein (S1) was modified with nucleotide changes, but not amino acid changes, to optimize codon usage for expression in plants. To investigate the subcellular localization of S1 during transient expression in tobacco leaves, a translational fusion consisting of S1 and the green fluorescent protein (GFP) was generated. Following agroinfiltration of tobacco leaves, analysis by laser confocal scanning microscopy revealed that the S1:GFP fusion protein was localized to the cytosol. In stable transgenic tobacco plants and lettuce plants generated by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, tobacco and lettuce leaves were observed to express the S1 at high levels from the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S promoter with Northern blot analysis. When the S1 was expressed in transplastomic tobacco, S1 messenger RNA and its corresponding protein were detected on Northern and Western blot analyses, respectively. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of producing S1 in nuclear- and chloroplast-transformed plants, indicating its potential in subsequent development of a plant-derived and safe oral recombinant subunit vaccine against the SARS-CoV in edible plants.
Li, H.-Y., Ramalingam, S., & Chye, M.-L.. (2006). Accumulation of Recombinant SARS-CoV Spike Protein in Plant Cytosol and Chloroplasts Indicate Potential for Development of Plant-Derived Oral Vaccines. Experimental Biology and Medicine
“Plants are promising candidates as bioreactors for the production of oral recombinant proteins in the biopharmaceutical industry. as an initial step toward provision of an oral vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (sars-cov), we have expressed a partial spike (s) protein of sars-cov in the cytosol of nuclear-transformed plants and in the chloroplasts of plastid-transformed plants. in the construction of both nuclear and plastid transformation vectors, a 2-kilobase nucleotide sequence encoding amino acids 1–658 of the sars-cov spike protein (s1) was modified with nucleotide changes, but not amino acid changes, to optimize codon usage for expression in plants. to investigate the subcellular localization of s1 during transient expression in tobacco leaves, a translational fusion consisting of s1 and the green fluorescent protein (gfp) was generated. following agroinfiltration of tobacco leaves, analysis by laser confocal scanning microscopy revealed that the s1:gfp fusion protein was localized to the cytosol. in stable transgenic tobacco plants and lettuce plants generated by agrobacterium-mediated transformation, tobacco and lettuce leaves were observed to express the s1 at high levels from the cauliflower mosaic virus 35s promoter with northern blot analysis. when the s1 was expressed in transplastomic tobacco, s1 messenger rna and its corresponding protein were detected on northern and western blot analyses, respectively. our results demonstrate the feasibility of producing s1 in nuclear- and chloroplast-transformed plants, indicating its potential in subsequent development of a plant-derived and safe oral recombinant subunit vaccine against the sars-cov in edible plants.”
Pogrebnyak, N., Golovkin, M., Andrianov, V., Spitsin, S., Smirnov, Y., Egolf, R., & Koprowski, H.. (2005). Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) S protein production in plants: Development of recombinant vaccine. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
“In view of a recent spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (sars), there is a high demand for production of a vaccine to prevent this disease. recent studies indicate that sars-coronavirus (cov) spike protein (s protein) and its truncated fragments are considered the best candidates for generation of the recombinant vaccine. toward the development of a safe, effective, and inexpensive vaccine candidate, we have expressed the n-terminal fragment of sars-cov s protein (s1) in tomato and low-nicotine tobacco plants. incorporation of the s1 fragment into plant genomes as well as its transcription was confirmed by pcr and rt-pcr analyses. high levels of expression of recombinant s1 protein were observed in several transgenic lines by western blot analysis using specific antibodies. plant-derived antigen was evaluated to induce the systemic and mucosal immune responses in mice. mice showed significantly increased levels of sars-cov-specific iga after oral ingestion of tomato fruits expressing s1 protein. sera of mice parenterally primed with tobacco-derived s1 protein revealed the presence of sars-cov-specific igg as detected by western blot and elisa analysis.”
Li, H.-Y., & Chye, M.-L.. (2009). Use of GFP to Investigate Expression of Plant-Derived Vaccines. In Methods in Molecular Biology
Fifth-generation warfare (5GW) is warfare that is conducted primarily through non-kinetic military action, such as social engineering, misinformation, cyberattacks, along with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and fully autonomous systems. Fifth generation warfare has been described by Daniel Abbot as a war of “information and perception”. There is no widely agreed upon definition of fifth-generation warfare, and it has been rejected by some scholars, including William S. Lind, who was one of the original theorists of fourth-generation warfare.
History
The term ‘fifth-generation warfare’ was first used in 2003 by Robert Steele. The following year, Lind criticised the concept, arguing that the fourth generation had yet to fully materialize.
In 2008, the term was used by Terry Terriff, who presented the 2003 ricin letters as a potential example, but stated that he was not entirely sure if it was a fifth-generation attack, claiming “we may not recognize it as it resolves around us. Or we might look at several alternative futures and see each as fifth generation.” Terriff argued that while fifth-generation warfare allows “super-empowered individuals” to make political statements through terrorism, they lack the political power to actually have their demands met.
Characteristics
Alex P. Schmid said that fifth-generation warfare is typified by its “omnipresent battlefield”, and the fact that people engaged in it do not necessarily use military force, instead employing a mixture of kinetic and non-kinetic force. In the 1999 book Unrestricted Warfare, by colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui of the People’s Liberation Army, they noted that in the years since the 1991 Gulf War, conventional military violence had decreased, which correlated to an increase in “political, economic, and technological violence”, which they argued could be more devastating than a conventional war.[8] On the contrary, Thomas P. M. Barnett believes that the effectiveness of fifth-generational warfare is exaggerated, as terrorism conducted by individuals, such as Timothy McVeigh or Ted Kaczynski, lacks the support of more organized movements. This was seconded by George Michael, who noted that in the United States, gang violence was responsible for far more deaths than lone wolf terrorist attacks.
L.C. Rees described the nature of fifth generation warfare as difficult to define in itself, alluding to the third law of science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke – “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Nadeem, M., Mustafa, G., & Kakar, A.. (2021). Fifth Generation Warfare and its Challenges to Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of International Affairs
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“This research paper aims to analyze fifth generation warfare and its challenges to pakistan. in modern era, wars are not declared or waged conventionally: instead it is instigated by clandestine agents using military, non-military, media, cyber tools, information operations, ngos, non-state actors, intelligence agencies, propaganda, economic tools, insurgency and terrorism. the adversaries have been waging fgw against pakistan for long. pakistan became nuclear power in 1998 and declaring conventional battle remains very hard for adversaries. hence, they are using tools of fifth generation warfare against pakistan to destabilize it internally and gain their nefarious designs. the enemies are behind conspiracies to destabilize pakistan internally and undermine its image in global community, sponsoring, financing and training terrorists to conduct covert operations within pakistan’s territory. in present era of hybrid warfare, pakistan is facing threats to its national unity due to negative role of some foreign countries. at present, media campaigns against pakistan are at full swing. the enemies have been spreading propaganda, misleading reports, and false news to damage national unity of pakistan. they are trying to influence international institutions, particularly fatf to portray pakistan as terrorist sponsoring state. pakistan is being subjected to fifth generation warfare massively. this research paper highlights challenges of fgw pakistan is presently facing”
Krishnan, A.. (2022). Fifth Generation Warfare, Hybrid Warfare, and Gray Zone Conflict: A Comparison. Journal of Strategic Security
“Strategists have noted substantial changes in warfare since the end of the cold war. they have proposed several concepts and theories to account for the fact that the practice of war has largely departed from a clausewitzian understanding of war and the centrality of physical violence in it. emerging modes of conflict are less focused on the instrumental use of force to achieve political objectives and are more centered on notions of perception management, narratives, asymmetry or irregular conflict, the adversarial uses of norms, and covert and ambiguous uses of force. this article aims to systematically compare three more recent theories of war or political conflict, namely fifth generation warfare (5gw), hybrid warfare (hw), and gray zone conflict. the article demonstrates that although they have the same intellectual roots, they are also different in terms of what they suggest about the nature of contemporary and near future conflict. each of them can enrich our understanding of contemporary warfare, which will be the key to mastering these new modes of conflict short of (theater conventional) war.”
QURESHI, W. A.. (2019). Fourth- and Fifth-Generation Warfare: Technology and Perceptions.. San Diego International Law Journal
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“The composition of warfare is changing. there is an increasing transformation in the traditional aspects of waging a war: conventional techniques of warfare are in decline and newer tactics and tools of warfare, such as information warfare, asymmetric warfare, media propaganda, and hybrid warfare, are filling the gap, blurring the lines between combatant and noncombatant, and between wartime and peacetime. the basic framework of modern warfare was elaborated by carl von clausewitz in his magnus opus on war. he defined modern warfare between states as ‘a duel on larger scale,’ and explained its purpose as ‘a continuation of politics by other means,’ with its core elements of ‘rationality of the state, probability in military command, and rage of the population.’ building on clausewitz’s work, william s. lind distinguished between four generations of warfare since the peace of westphalia in 1648, each generation having its own way of fighting war. this article intends to explore lind’s fourthgeneration warfare and daniel h. abbott’s fifth-generation warfare. it provides different interpretations of fourth-generation warfare (4gw) by several scholars. first, it explains that 4gw is asymmetric warfare fought by nonstate actors and by nonstate cultural groups, where asymmetric warfare and shadow wars are waged by nonstate actors and mercenaries for the political interests of aggressive states. then, it provides additional interpretations of 4gw, which is often understood as fighting on a moral level employing light infantry. by contrast, other scholars believe that 4gw is fought with the tools of information and technology using cyberspace. afterwards, this article explores how to fight 4gw and how it is being fought. the article also investigates abbott’s fifth-generation warfare, a war of perceptions, and explains how to fight 5gw and how it is being fought. furthermore, this article explains how technological progression is used as a tool of modern warfare. [abstract from author]”
Rehman, M. A.. (2022). Media and Fifth-generation Warfare: A Case Study of Indian Disinformation Campaign Against Balochistan. Journal of Mass Communication Department, Dept of …
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“In the post-truth era, media has emerged as a vital propaganda tool of fifth-generation warfare. balochistan being one of the most important geostrategic locations in the region …”
Patel, A.. (2019). Fifth-Generation Warfare and the Definitions of Peace. The Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare
“The intent of this paper is to argue that postmodern warfare and fifth-generation warfare impact traditional notions of peace and conflict and therefore, a transformative approach to the definition of peace is required. the main objectives of this paper are three-fold: the first is to contend that where traditional notions of peace include the absence of kinetic violence exclusively, fifth-generation warfare and postmodern warfare encompass several different forms of combat; the second objective is to argue that in fifth-generation warfare conflict is perceived as not only intrastate disagreements but conflict between cultural groups, taken across transnational borders. finally, considering the above arguments, this paper concludes by suggesting that peacebuilding requires a need for peacebuilders to adopt a new definition of conflict and peace. additionally, they need to concern themselves with changing the ‘belligerent and antagonistic attitudes that foster violent conflict at the grassroots level’ (bellamy et al, 2010).”
Jahangir, J., & Bashir, N.. (2022). Fifth Generation and Hybrid Warfare: Response Strategy of Pakistan. Academic Journal of Social Sciences (AJSS )
“The current study is designed to find out the nature and level of the fifth generation warfare in pakistan. pakistan is facing security challenges on account of terrorism and regional security. it is the time to understand the latest trends in the fifth generation warfare war and implications for pakistan. threats to pakistan’s stability by the hostile countries and their proxies by using 5gw and its ramification needed to be deeply analyzed. the objectives of this study are the conception of the term, comparison between different generations of warfare, mechanisms and techniques used in it and implications on the security of pakistan and response strategies. qualitative research design was implemented with data collection from secondary sources. the findings of the study show that the concept of 5gw is very difficult to comprehend and define, yet it has been grasped differently. the all generations of warfare are basically on two major areas i.e. targeting certain type of ideology and developing modern technology and warfare equipment’s. the study concluded that pakistan is currently facing higher level of fifth generation warfare from india mainly in four major domains i.e. conventional war, diplomatic challenges, misinformation and economic suppression. the findings of the current study are of prime importance for framing a constructive policy in order to counter the 5gw threats. by delineating key issues and challenges, this research presents some recommendation to improve the countering strategies regarding 5gw in the context of pakistan. ”
Shabbir, T., Farooqui, Y., Waheed, S., … S. U.-I., & 2020, undefined. (2020). ’Open Data’Technology and Fifth Generation Warfare (A Pakistan Perspective). Researchgate.Net
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“Warfare’s structure is evolving. the traditional facets of warfare are undergoing a transformation: conventional methods of warfare are dwindling, while newer strategies and technologies of warfare, such as intelligence warfare, asymmetric warfare, media propaganda, and hybrid warfare, are filling the void, blurring the distinctions between combatant and noncombatant, as well as between war and peacetime. carl von clausewitz established the fundamental structure of modern warfare in his magnum opus on battle. he described modern state warfare as ‘a duel on a larger scale’ and clarified its intent as ‘a continuation of politics through other means,’ with its core elements of ‘state rationality, military command chance, and populist anger.’ william s. lind, building on clausewitz’s thesis, characterized four centuries of warfare after the peace of westphalia in 1648, each with its own style of warfare. lind’s fourth-generation warfare and daniel h. abbott’s fifth-generation warfare are the subjects of this article. it discusses various scholars’ explanations of fourth-generation warfare (4gw). to begin, it defines 4gw as asymmetric warfare conducted by nonstate actors and nonstate culture groups, in which nonstate actors and mercenaries conduct asymmetric warfare and shadow wars in the strategic interests of aggressive states. the article then discusses alternative meanings of 4gw, which is often interpreted as combat on a moral basis with light infantry. by comparison, some researchers claim that 4gw is waged through knowledge and technological resources deployed across cyberspace. following that, this article discusses how to combat 4gw and how it is currently being waged. additionally, the article examines abbott’s fifth-generation warfare, a battle of expectations, and discusses how to combat 5gw and how it is now being waged. additionally, this article discusses how technical advancement is used as a weapon in modern warfare. lastly, this article explained how some of the tasks listed previously could be outsourced by the government of pakistan, introducing a new player in the ecosystem. there are lots of data points that could have a new perspective on the economy and massive public databases from towns, countries and government departments. the collection of data has been performed using qualitative and quantitative approaches. it is most likely that the using the principle of “access to open data could enable the government of pakistan to improve …”
Layton, P.. (2017). Fifth Generation Air Warfare Working Paper 43. Royal Australian Air Force Air Power Development Centre
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“There is now a great deal to the concept of fifth-generation air warfare. the term has come to encompass and combine several important ideas, in particular: network-centric thinking, the combat cloud operational construct, multi-domain battle and fusion warfare. fifth-generation air warfare is now a multifaceted concept with real underpinnings. this paper initially explores the ideas on which fifth-generation air warfare is based with the second chapter extending this to discuss some of the practical difficulties in actually implementing these enticing visions. chapter three looks at the application of fifth-generation air warfare to battle network and hybrid wars. together the two types of conflict illuminate some of the fundamental warfighting issues associated with fifth-generation air warfare. chapter four considers how china and russia approach fifth-generation air warfare. their particular strategic cultures and national requirements mean the two countries have adopted unique approaches to fifth-generation air warfare but in this there are insights potentially useful to others. the short conclusion then brings this complicated story together.”
Layton, P.. (2018). Fifth-Generation Air Warfare. Australian Defence Force Journal
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“El vencedor en las guerras de 5a generación será aquél que sea capaz de ejecutar con mayor rapidez el ciclo ooda (observación, orientación, decisión y acción) de john boyd. la clave residirá en el proceso de orientación, en construir más rápidamente que el adversario una imagen precisa del campo de batalla (conciencia situacional). las guerras de 5a generación se basarán en una red que gestione la información, la detección, los efectos y el mando o decisión; en una arquitectura ‘combat cloud’ que mejore la conciencia situacional a través de una ‘picture’ distribuida, en la que la pérdida de un sistema no afecte catastróficamente a la misión, facilitando enganches a mayor distancia y poniendo a disposición de todas las plataformas las capacidades ofrecidas por el resto; en un concepto multidominio, en el que la sinergia provenga del empleo de diferentes capacidades en o desde distintos dominios, cuyo efecto sea mayor que la suma de los efectos que cada una de ellas produciría por separado, y en la fusión de un gran volumen de información, que permita tomar decisiones con mayor rapidez que el adversario, dentro de una estructura de ‘mando centralizado, control distribuido y ejecución descentralizada’. donde los datos y la conectividad serán clave.”
Tahir, I. A., & Afridi, M. K.. (2019). Fifth Generations Warfare (5GW)-The New Dimensions of Enemies Launched Warfare and Security Concern of Pakistan. Global Regional Review
“The advent of internet, its confluence with communication and information technology (c&it) has given an exponential rise to generate waves of hyper information thus providing an opportunity to the enemies to launch transitional level of fifth generation warfare (5gw) from various platforms. the present internet dominated age coupled with mediasine qua non usage of deceitful information, baffled news and fabricated themes launched through hostile think tanks and hostile intelligence agencies through their spoofing agents under cover of media imposters, media memes and scintillating campaigns with covert commercial clientele. such slanderers aim to undermine state capacity and capability to act and react during odds/under tense situations. the enemy hired slanderers, their tittle tale imposters propagate the sugar coated lethal contents to the masses especially the youth has many varying dimension and blatant angles corroborated into 5gw”
Barnett, D. K.. (2010). The Fallacies of Fourth and Fifth Generation Warfare. Small Wars Journal
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“In evaluating current warfighting trends (and reconciliatory attempts to understand said trends), it appears the conceptual model of fourth-generation warfare (4gw) (and, by extension, fifth-generation warfare (5gw)) has achieved a level of dominant preeminence to the point of doctrinal establishment. granted, there are frequent (and cogent) counterarguments against inherent 4gw precepts, but said arguments appear to face an almost uphill battle as 4gw/5gw concepts have permeated through the irregular warfighting spectrum, becoming established as ” common knowledge. ” as these terms have become commonplace, frequently spoken with self-assured absolution, it is rather troubling that these concepts of future warfare, intended to reveal (as proponents argue) the myopic stasis of ” conventional ” understanding, have themselves become a closed and limited paradigm. thus, the inherent problem with 4gw/5gw (and the difficulty in countering these concepts) is the nature of their own conventionality. one of the single greatest misconceptions of the theory of 4gw is the overly-simplistic reconciliation of the history of warfare into four, distinctly delineated (and linearly evaluated) categories (or five, as 5gw has conceptually developed), the first culminating just two centuries ago. 1 such a view provides only the most superficial of treatments regarding the history of warfare, any deep examination of which reveals those elements of each ” generation ” appear/disappear/reappear on the world stage as circumstances dictate. of course, the tools have changed and it appears that proponents of 4gw/5gw theory placed too much weight on the value of said tools (i.e. the tools dictate the concepts). while it is true that tools can augment concepts, those basic attributes of any discipline, the most ” core ” of concepts, don’t change and arguably dictate the development and implementation of said tools. furthermore, a great deal of value is placed on the seeming modernity of 4gw’s underlying theory, to include its conceptualization. as hammes states: ” fourth generation warfare uses all available networks – political, economic, social, and military – to convince the enemy’s political decision makers that their strategic goals are either unachievable or too costly for the perceived benefit…the only medium that can change a person’s mind is information. therefore, information is the key element of any 4gw strategy. ” 2 however, any student of sun tzu can see these same ar…”
Layton Peter. (2018). Fifth-Generation Air Warfare. Australian Defence Force Journal
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“El vencedor en las guerras de 5a generación será aquél que sea capaz de ejecutar con mayor rapidez el ciclo ooda (observación, orientación, decisión y acción) de john boyd. la clave residirá en el proceso de orientación, en construir más rápidamente que el adversario una imagen precisa del campo de batalla (conciencia situacional). las guerras de 5a generación se basarán en una red que gestione la información, la detección, los efectos y el mando o decisión; en una arquitectura ‘combat cloud’ que mejore la conciencia situacional a través de una ‘picture’ distribuida, en la que la pérdida de un sistema no afecte catastróficamente a la misión, facilitando enganches a mayor distancia y poniendo a disposición de todas las plataformas las capacidades ofrecidas por el resto; en un concepto multidominio, en el que la sinergia provenga del empleo de diferentes capacidades en o desde distintos dominios, cuyo efecto sea mayor que la suma de los efectos que cada una de ellas produciría por separado, y en la fusión de un gran volumen de información, que permita tomar decisiones con mayor rapidez que el adversario, dentro de una estructura de ‘mando centralizado, control distribuido y ejecución descentralizada’. donde los datos y la conectividad serán clave.”
Vancouver, C.. (2018). Contemporary Conflict & The Fifth Generation of Warfare. The Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare
Turunen, A.. (2018). Alternative media ecosystem as a fifth-generation warfare supra-combination. In Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering
“The evolution in information technology has created new cognitive and social platforms where the amount of interhuman interaction is increasingly present. the development of methods of war constantly follows the trends of society, and therefore, the military interaction in the information, cognitive, and social domains such as in the social media should logically increase. this essay will compare the recent findings on information warfare to the theoretical basis of the nature of contemporary warfare. the framework of the essay will be fifth-generation warfare theory, network warfare theory, and kate starbird’s research on alternative news ecosystem. the argument of the essay is based on how the recent finding on the presence of alternative news ecosystem is compatible with the 5gw framework and hence opens the discussion for the security and military dimension of the alt-news phenomenon.”
Yun, M., & Kim, E.. (2022). Cyber Cognitive Warfare as an Emerging New War Domain and Its Strategies and Tactics. Korean Journal of Defense Analysis
“Cognitive warfare has become the crucial war domain that determines the outcome of modern wars. joseph nye pointed out, ‘in today’s war, it is not whose army wins, but whose story wins,’ emphasizing the importance of narratives to occupy human minds and hearts. this has been repeatedly observed in the ‘war on terror’ in afghanistan and iraq–syria and the russia–ukraine war in 2014 and 2022. the strategic importance of winning human cognition by the use of non-kinetic influence operation had been similarly emphasized in the propositions of fifth-generation warfare and gerasimov’s suggestions. by recognizing the importance of cognitive warfare, this paper attempts to address the concept of cognitive warfare and suggest strategic and tactical principles for its practical operation and use. the concept of cognitive warfare is still ambiguous, blurring together with related concepts such as psychological warfare, information warfare, cyberwar, active measures, and reflexive control. besides, the substantial conceptual differences between the u.s.–west and russia have added more confusion. thus, some clarification to distinguish the concept of cognitive warfare from other related terms seems necessary. meanwhile, neither has there been any concrete proposition of how cognitive warfare works strategically and tactically. the literature and earlier reports only introduced various specific effects and techniques of cognitive operations. nevertheless, how these effects and techniques are strategically– tactically integrated and jointly applied for a cohesive cognitive military operation is yet to be proposed. this paper responds to two such issues of cognitive warfare. in future warfare, the weight of cognitive warfare is anticipated to increase further. hopefully, this paper will be a stepping stone to rouse interest in cognitive warfare and the development of its strategies and tactics.”
Hammes, T. X.. (2007). Fourth Generation Warfare Evolves, Fifth Emerges. Military Review
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“While there is no generally agreed upon definition of 4gw, according to the definition i wrote in 2003, fourth generation warfare uses all available networks-political, economic, social, and military-to convince the enemy’s political decision makers that their strategic goals are either unachievable or too costly for the perceived benefit. while the west was convening conferences to make promises about aid at some future time, hezbollah representatives hit the streets with cash money and physical assistance. while the chinese and vietnamese insurgencies were hierarchies that reflected both the social organizations of those societies and the dominant business and military organizations of the time, recent insurgencies have been networked coalitions of the willing.n8 it is essential to remember that not only will smallpox cause an exceptional number of deaths, but it will also shut down world trade until the epidemic is controlled or burns itself out.”
CASIS. (2019). A Brief History of Social Movements in North America. The Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare
“The purpose of this analysis is to differentiate social movements. in this instance, we will be using the hippie/counterculture movements during the 1960s and 1970s in canada, and those that are occurring in the second decade of the twenty-first century. in particular, this analysis distinguishes right-wing extremist movements in 2016 from groups like the hippie movement and the black panther party movement. specific reference will be made to contrast the social movements of the twenty-first century that are non-political in nature but are identity-based, versus movements during the 60s and 70s that were political by design and intent. due to the non-political nature of twenty-first century violent transnational social movements, they might be characterized as fifth generation warfare, which we identify as identity-based social movements in violent conflict with other identity based social movements, this violence may be soft or hard. ‘soft violence damages the fabric of relationships between communities as entrenches or highlights the superiority of one group over another without kinetic impact. soft violence is harmful activities to others which stops short of physical violence’. (kelshall, 2019) hard violence is then recognized as when soft violence tactics result in physical violence. insurgencies are groups that challenge and/or resist the authority of the state. there are different levels of insurgencies; and on the extreme end, there is the resistance of systemic authority.”
Kelshall, C. M.. (2022). Fifth Generation Warfare? Violent Transnational Social Movements as Security Disruptors
Liles, S.. (2007). Cyber warfare compared to fourth and fifth generation warfare as applied to the Internet. In International Symposium on Technology and Society, Proceedings
Lee, S.-J., & Park, M.-H.. (2017). Fifth Generation Warfare (5GW) – Concept and Its Implication to Korea”s National Security –. Korean Journal of Military Affairs
Genetically engineered cells, nanoparticles and RF magnetic fields
Source: patents.google.com/patent/US10786570B2/en
In an embodiment of the invention, the cells to be targeted may be genetically engineered to express one or more genes encoding physiologically active proteins of interest, such as those proteins providing a therapeutic benefit. The cells are genetically engineered in such a way that expression of the protein(s) of interest is induced in the cell upon excitation of the nanoparticles which results in a localized temperature increase or an increase in nanoparticle motion. Alternatively, the cells to be targeted may be engineered to express a non-encoding nucleic acid molecule of interest such as an antisense or siRNA molecule. Additionally, the target cells maybe genetically engineered to express a temperature sensitive protein, such as a temperature sensitive ion channel, wherein an increase in temperature mediated by the excited nanoparticles results in a cellular response through activation of the ion channel.
In another embodiment of the invention, target cells may be engineered to intracellularly express a protein that is capable of acting as an activated nanoparticle upon exposure to a RF magnetic field. Such proteins include for example, the iron storage protein ferritin. Such proteins may be expressed in the cell as fusion proteins to target their location to a specific site within the cell, for example, in close proximity to a temperature sensitive channel.
With new technology, scientists are able to exert wireless control over brain cells of mice with just the push of a button. The first thing they did was make the mice hungry.
*** Friedman and his colleagues have demonstrated a radio-operated remote control for the appetite and glucose metabolism of mice—a sophisticated technique to wirelessly alter neurons in the animals’ brains. At the flick of a switch, they are able to make mice hungry—or suppress their appetite—while the mice go about their lives normally. It’s a tool they are using to unravel the neurological basis of eating, and it is likely to have applications for studies of other hard-wired behaviors.
Friedman, Marilyn M. Simpson Professor, has been working on the technique for several years with Sarah Stanley, a former postdoc in his lab who now is assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and collaborators at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Aware of the limitations of existing methods for triggering brain cells in living animals, the group set out to invent a new way. An ideal approach, they reasoned, would be as noninvasive and non-damaging as possible. And it should work quickly and repeatedly.
Although there are other ways to deliver signals to neurons, each has its limitations. In deep-brain stimulation, for example, scientists thread a wire through the brain to place an electrode next to the target cells. But the implant can damage nearby cells and tissues in ways that interfere with normal behavior. Optogenetics, which works similarly but uses fiber optics and a pulse of light rather than electricity, has the same issue. A third strategy—using drugs to activate genetically modified cells bred into mice—is less invasive, but drugs are slow to take effect and wear off.
The solution that Friedman’s group hit upon, referred to as radiogenetics or magnetogenetics, avoids these problems. With their method, published last year in Nature, biologists can turn neurons on or off in a live animal at will—quickly, repeatedly, and without implants—by engineering the cells to make them receptive to radio waves or a magnetic field.
“In effect, we created a perceptual illusion that the animal had a drop in blood sugar.”
“We’ve combined molecules already used in cells for other purposes in a manner that allows an invisible force to take control of an instinct as primal as hunger,” Friedman says.
The method links five very different biological tools, which can look whimsically convoluted, like a Rube Goldberg contraption on a molecular scale. It relies on a green fluorescent protein borrowed from jellyfish, a peculiar antibody derived from camels, squishy bags of iron particles, and the cellular equivalent of a door made from a membrane-piercing protein—all delivered and installed by a genetically engineered virus. The remote control for this contraption is a modified welding tool (though a store-bought magnet also works).
The researchers’ first challenge was to find something in a neuron that could serve as an antenna to detect the incoming radio signal or magnetic field. The logical choice was ferritin, a protein that stores iron in cells in balloon-like particles just a dozen nanometers wide. Iron is essential to cells but can also be toxic, so it is sequestered in ferritin particles until it is needed. Each ferritin particle carries within it thousands of grains of iron that wiggle around in response to a radio signal, and shift and align when immersed in a magnetic field. We all have these particles shimmying around inside our brain cells, but the motions normally have no effect on neurons.
***
Friedman’s team realized that they could use a genetically engineered virus to create doorways into a neuron’s outer membrane. If they could then somehow attach each door to a ferritin particle, they reasoned, they might be able to wiggle the ferritin enough to jostle the door open. “The ‘door’ we chose is called TRPV1,” says Stanley. “Once TRPV1 is activated, calcium and sodium ions would next flow into the cell and trigger the neuron to fire.” The bits borrowed from camels and jellyfish provided what the scientists needed to connect the door to the ferritin (see How to outfit a brain sidebar, right).
Once the team had the new control mechanism working, they put it to the test. For Friedman and Stanley, whose goal is to unravel the biological causes of overeating and obesity, the first application was obvious: Try to identify specific neurons involved in appetite. The group modified glucose-sensing neurons—cells that are believed to monitor blood sugar levels in the brain and keep them within normal range—to put them under wireless control. To accomplish this, they inserted the TRPV1 and ferritin genes into a virus and—using yet another genetic trick—injected them into the glucose-sensing neurons. They could then fiddle with the cells to see whether they are involved, as suspected, in coordinating feeding and the release of hormones, such as insulin and glucagon, that keep blood glucose levels in check.
How to outfit a brain for radio control
Once the virus had enough time to infect and transform the target neurons, the researchers switched on a radio transmitter tuned to 465 kHz, a little below the band used for AM radio.
The neurons responded. They began to fire, signaling a shortage of glucose even though the animal’s blood sugar levels were normal. And other parts of the body responded just as they would to a real drop in blood sugar: insulin levels fell, the liver started pumping out more glucose, and the animals started eating more. “In effect,” Friedman says, “we created a perceptual illusion that the animal had low blood glucose even though the levels were normal.”
Inspired by these results, the researchers wondered if magnetism, like radio waves, might trigger ferritin to open the cellular doors. It did: When the team put the mice cages close to an MRI machine, or waved a rare-earth magnet over the animals, their glucose-sensing neurons were triggered.
Stimulating appetite is one thing. Could they also suppress it? The group tweaked the TRPV1 gene so it would pass chloride, which acts to inhibit neurons. Now when they inserted the modified TRPV1 into the neurons, the rush of chloride made the neurons behave as if the blood was overloaded with glucose. Insulin production surged in the animals, and they ate less. “This seems to indicate clearly that the brain as well as the pancreas is involved in glucose regulation,” Friedman says.
Friedman and Stanley hope that biologists will be able to use the remote-control system to tackle a range of neural processes other than appetite. And beyond being a basic research tool, the method could potentially lead to novel therapies for brain disorders.
Researchers have developed a technique that allows them to speed up or slow down human heart cells growing in a dish on command – simply by shining a light on them and varying its intensity. The cells are grown on a material called graphene, which converts light into electricity.
Savchenko, A., Cherkas, V., Liu, C., Braun, G. B., Kleschevnikov, A., Miller, Y. I., & Molokanova, E.. (2018). Graphene biointerfaces for optical stimulation of cells. Science Advances
“This study presents a novel graphene-based optoelectronic platform for noninvasive optical stimulation of genetically intact cells”
Matt, A., Liang, H., Fishman, M., Gracheva, E., Wang, F., Zhang, X., … Zhou, C.. (2023). Graphene-enabled optical cardiac control in Drosophila melanogaster. In J. A. Izatt & J. G. Fujimoto (Eds.), Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine XXVII
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Study Type : Interventional (Clinical Trial)
Actual Enrollment : 54 participants
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Prevention
Official Title: Phase 1 Trial With Challenge to Assess the Safety and Biomarkers of Protection in Malaria-naïve Adults of Immunization Via Mosquito Bite With Radiation-Attenuated Plasmodium Falciparum Sporozoites (IMRAS)
Actual Study Start Date : January 24, 2014
Actual Primary Completion Date : December 20, 2016
Actual Study Completion Date : February 2017
***
This is a Phase 1 open-labeled study. In addition to safety and tolerability of Plasmodium falciparum Sporozoites (PfRAS), this study is a comprehensive, systems biology-based effort to identify and validate biomarkers of protection with PfRAS immunization, comparing sterility protected to nonprotected study subjects. The goal of the trial design is to achieve approximately 50% sterile protection in order to facilitate the identification of biomarkers and correlates of protection.
Following true-immunization or mock-immunization, study subjects and nonimmunized infectivity controls will receive a challenge via the bites of 5 An stephensi mosquitoes carrying infectious P falciparum sporozoites within a controlled clinical environment (controlled human malaria infection, CHMI) to determine the level of sterile protection.
Conclusion
“It bears repeating that fires have never caused the total collapse of a steel-framed high-rise before or since 9/11. Did we witness an unprecedented event three separate times on September 11, 2001? The NIST reports, which attempted to support that unlikely conclusion, fail to persuade a growing number of architects, engineers, and scientists. Instead, the evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that all three buildings were destroyed by controlled demolition. Given the far-reaching implications, it is morally imperative that this hypothesis be the subject of a truly scientific and impartial investigation by responsible authorities.”
Echevarria II, A. (2021). Herman Kahn and Escalation. In War’s Logic: Strategic Thought and the American Way of War (Cambridge Military Histories, pp. 93-110). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316135730.008
Summary
Chapter 5 analyzes the thinking of Herman Kahn, who dared to think the unthinkable. It describes his “America,” which again was that of the golden age of the middle class, but which also overlapped with the sense of malaise that plagued the 1970s. Like the limited war theorists, Kahn agreed military instincts needed to be curbed, and he attempted to counter uncertainty by arguing, largely in vain, that escalation itself was also a bargaining process with systematic waystations or steps embedded along its path. This chapter discusses his model of war’s nature, which, like those of Brodie, Osgood, and Schelling, priviledged war’s political dimension, though he gave policy more agency than did they.
Under Operation Paperclip, which began in May 1945, the scientists who had helped the Third Reich wage war continued their weapons engineering work for the US government, developing missiles, chemical and biological weapons, aerospace medicine (to enhance the performance of military pilots and astronauts) and many other armaments at a feverish and paranoid pace that marked the Cold War. The age of weapons of mass destruction had dawned, and with it came the treacherous concept of “brinkmanship” – the art of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping.
The atrocities that followed Hitler’s Final Solution were unfathomable to the rest of the world. Nazi technicians had decided to melt down the gold teeth in their prisoners’ fillings, but thought it easier to kill the victims first for easy access to the jaw.
Ice baths were filled with ice-cold water and a prisoner placed naked in them to find out how long an air force pilot could withstand ice-cold water in a crash. In the notes on this experiment, the Nazi doctors used the term “adult pig” in reference to a human test subject.
The doctors routinely subjected the prisoners to operations without anaesthesia. One man had part of his liver removed in this way, and a young woman had her shin bones removed.
In other experiments, limbs were severed and sewn back on at a different angle.
The US military intelligence knew all of this, yet carefully manoeuvred their Paperclip Doctors out of prosecution at Nuremberg and into America to begin work. This caused some outrage in the international media. Albert Einstein denounced Operation Paperclip in a letter to President Truman.
We hold these individuals to be potentially dangerour. Their former eminence as Nazi Party members and supporters raised the issue of their fitness to become American citizens and hold key positions in American industrial, scientific, and educational institutions.
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.”
~Thomas Paine, Common Sense
“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.”
~Thomas Paine, Common Sense
“Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.”
~Thomas Paine, Common Sense
