Monday, April 27, 2020

Exploring the link between education and climate change

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

What are the most effective ways to achieve desired sustainable development outcomes across all aspects of wellbeing, and how might the pursuit of some of these goals affect progress toward others? A new study by an international team of researchers aims to address these questions to help understand possible synergies and tradeoffs among these goals.

The importance of pursuing sustainable development poses a challenge to scientists in terms of determining the most effective ways to achieve desired outcomes across health, education, poverty, energy, the environment, and many other aspects of wellbeing, as well as how the pursuit of some of these goals might affect the achievement of others. A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability brings together several different connections between particularly education and climate change and evaluates them together.

"We examined how changes in educational attainment simultaneously affect population growth, economic growth, greenhouse gas emissions, and vulnerability to climate change impacts. Previous studies have looked at the role of education in vulnerability to climate change impacts and its relationship to population increase, and also separately to economic growth. Our study however brings these multiple effects together in a single analysis," explains Shonali Pachauri, a study coauthor and Acting IIASA Transitions to New Technologies Program Director.

The team wanted to address two main questions through their research: Firstly, they wanted to determine the net effect of increased educational attainment on the emissions that drive climate change, as there is reason to believe that it could lead either to higher or to lower emissions. Second, they asked how much less vulnerable people in less developed countries might be if educational attainment is improved.

The findings indicate that increasing the level of educational attainment in a population leads to a large improvement in vulnerability - in other words, populations are significantly less vulnerable to climate change if efforts are made to improve their level of education. Conversely, populations are quite a bit more vulnerable if educational improvements slow substantially.

According to the researchers, one of the more surprising results of the study is that increasing educational attainment tends to lead to a small increase in emissions that drive climate change. Many other studies have found that slower population growth leads to lower emissions. In this case however, the authors found that if increased educational attainment is taken into account, the reductions in emissions from a smaller population can be more than offset by the boost to economic growth that education also provides.

A second unexpected finding was the size of the positive effect of education on vulnerability. If optimistic increases in educational attainment can be achieved in developing countries in the future, the reduction in vulnerability, as measured by the Human Development Index, can be quite large.

The authors point out that the study's results are preliminary, especially because education can affect people and society in many ways that matter to climate change, and they only examined a few of them. Improved education may, for instance, speed up the development of new technologies to lower greenhouse gas emissions, or it may change consumption patterns or political behavior. These possible effects were not included in the analysis.

The study's results will help to inform discussions around policies aimed at fostering sustainable development and improve human wellbeing, while also preserving the environment. Not all policies will off course achieve these multiple aims equally well.

"The world is complicated, so we shouldn't expect policy solutions to be simple. Improving education has overwhelmingly positive consequences for people and society in many different ways, and we find that is true for reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts as well. At the same time, we shouldn't expect it to also reduce the emissions driving climate change. We will still need other approaches to accomplish that goal. Reducing emissions requires shifting the global energy system to be largely free of fossil fuels. Improved education may even help with that task in ways that we did not examine as part of our study," concludes study lead author Brian O'Neill, a researcher at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and Pardee Center for International Futures at the University of Denver.

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Reference

O'Neill B, Jiang L, KC S, Fuchs R, Pachauri S, Laidlaw E, Zhang T, Zhou W, & Ren X (2020). The effect of education on determinants of climate change risks. Nature Sustainability DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-0512-y

Contacts:

Researcher contacts

Shonali Pachauri
Acting Transitions to New Technologies Program Director
Senior researcher - Energy Program
Tel: +43 2236 807 475
pachauri@iiasa.ac.at

Samir K.C.
Project Leader
World Population Program
Tel: +43 2236 807 424
kc@iiasa.ac.at

Press Officer

Ansa Heyl
IIASA Press Office
Tel: +43 2236 807 574
Mob: +43 676 83 807 574
heyl@iiasa.ac.at

About IIASA:

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. http://www.iiasa.ac.at

USA
Medicare coverage varies for transgender hormone therapies

MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC./GENETIC ENGINEERING NEWS

FACILITATES AND SUPPORTS THE WORK OF RESEARCHERS, CLINICIANS, ACADEMICS, AND POLICYMAKERS TO ADDRESS BARRIERS TO CARE AND ADVANCE EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH, WELL-BEING, AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES OF ALL LGBT... view more
CREDIT: MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC., PUBLISHERSNew Rochelle, NY, April 13, 2020--A new study has shown substantial variability in access to guideline-recommended hormone therapies for older transgender individuals insured through Medicare. The variability in Medicare coverage and out-of-pocket costs for feminizing and masculinizing therapies are detailed in an article published in LGBT Health<.i>, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Click here to read the full-text article free on the LGBT Health<.i> website through May 12, 2020.

The article entitled "Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Coverage of Hormone Therapies Used by Transgender Individuals" was coauthored by Michael Solotke, Yale University (New Haven, CT) and colleagues from San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (CA), University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System (West Haven, CT), Yale School of Medicine, Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), Yale School of Public Health, and Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Medicare coverage and out-of-pocket costs can vary widely depending on the medication regimen. Access to care and to certain medications may be limited to those with adequate means. The study showed that in 2018, the proportion of Medicare plans offering unrestricted coverage ranged from 5%-75% for masculinizing therapies and from 13%-100% for feminizing therapies. Out-of-pocket costs ranged from $180-$2,176 for masculinizing therapies and from $72-$3,792 for feminizing therapies in that same year.

"It is unfortunate when drug costs stand in the way of optimal treatment," says LGBT Health Editor-in-Chief William Byne, MD, PhD, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY. "To minimize this problem, prescribers should be prepared to direct low income and inadequately insured patients to assistance programs, when available, to defray costs, particularly for the gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists for which generic preparations are not yet available."

About the Journal

LGBT Health published 8 times a year online with open access options and in print, facilitates and supports the work of researchers, clinicians, academics, and policymakers to address barriers to care and advance efforts to improve the health, well-being, and clinical outcomes of all LGBT and other sexual and gender minority persons. Led by Editor-in-Chief William Byne, MD, PhD, Columbia University, New York, NY, the Journal spans a broad array of disciplines and publishes original research, review articles, clinical reports, case studies, and legal and policy perspectives. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the LGBT Health website

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Transgender Health, AIDS Patient Care and STDs, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, Journal of Women's Health, and Population Health Management. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's more than 90 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

Mindful yoga reduces testosterone by 29% in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Anxiety and depression levels also significantly improved, according to The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association

AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION

CHICAGO--April 14, 2020--Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) should consider adopting a mindful yoga practice to help ease symptoms and improve androgen levels. Researchers found a one-hour mindful yoga class, done three times a week, reduced testosterone levels by 29% over a three-month period.

Other androgen levels, like DHEA, were also reduced, and depression and anxiety levels improved by 55% and 21%, respectively, according to the study in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.

"There are effective pharmacologic options for managing PCOS. However, they come with the potential for some significant side effects," says Diana Speelman, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and lead author on this study.

"Mindful yoga appears to be a promising option for treating PCOS in a way that can improve several aspects of the disorder."

PCOS is a common hormonal disorder that affects reproductive, metabolic and psychological health. It is estimated PCOS affects between 5 and 15% of reproductive-age women, and it is the most common cause of anovulatory infertility.

Women with PCOS may experience irregular menstrual cycles, hirsutism, acne, male-pattern hair loss, subfertility and higher incidence of miscarriage. Reducing androgen levels, including testosterone and DHEA, is key to managing these symptoms. Weight loss, where appropriate, can also help in the management of symptoms.

Researchers recruited women with PCOS aged 22-43 and randomly assigned them into a group, either with no intervention or one in which they would participate in mindful yoga practice for three months. The latter group was given a course in practicing mindfulness one week before beginning the 3-month mindful yoga practice.

Mindful yoga sessions were an hour long and took place three times a week, over three months. The benefits of improved androgen levels, as well as reduced depression and anxiety, occurred in the absence of weight loss.

Some participants also reported fewer acne breakouts and improved menstrual regularity, following the mindful yoga intervention.

"Yoga has so many benefits," says Speelman. "One of its best qualities is that it is accessible to such a wide array of ages and fitness levels."

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About The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association

The JAOA's mission is to serve as an international forum for the dissemination of scientific literature that incorporates an integrative, comprehensive, patient-centered approach to clinical care and improving health. To that end, the JAOA is designed to support and amplify the scholarly voice of osteopathic medicine, publishing research that is meaningful to osteopathic physicians in whatever field they practice. The Journal is indexed by the National Library of Medicine, the Web of Science, and ReadCube. In the Web of Science, the JAOA is part of the Core Collection in the Emerging Sources Citation Index, which allows JAOA content to reach a much wider audience than previously possible. For more information, visit http://www.jaoa.org.

Students often do not question online information

CORA study examines students' ability to critically assess information from the Internet and from social media

JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITAET MAIN Z

The Internet and social media are among the most frequently used sources of information today. Students, too, often prefer online information rather than traditional teaching materials provided by universities. According to a study conducted by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and Goethe University Frankfurt, students struggle to critically assess information from the Internet and are often influenced by unreliable sources. In this study, students from various disciplines such as medicine and economics took part in an online test, the Critical Online Reasoning Assessment (CORA). "Unfortunately, it is becoming evident that a large proportion of students are tempted to use irrelevant and unreliable information from the Internet when solving the CORA tasks," reported Professor Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia from JGU. The study was carried out as part of the Rhine-Main Universities (RMU) alliance.

Critical evaluation of online information and online sources are particularly important today

Learning using the Internet offers many opportunities, but it also entails risks. It has become evident that not only "fake news" but also "fake science" with scientifically incorrect information is being spread on the Internet. This problem becomes particularly apparent in the context of controversially discussed social issues such as the current corona crisis, but it actually goes much deeper. "Having a critical attitude alone is not enough. Instead, Internet users need skills that enable them to distinguish reliable from incorrect and manipulative information. It is therefore particularly important for students to question and critically examine online information so they can build their own knowledge and expertise on reliable information," stated Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia.

To investigate how students deal with online information, Professor Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia and her team have developed a new test based on the Civic Online Reasoning (COR) assessment developed by Stanford University. During the assessment, the test takers are presented with short tasks. They are asked to freely browse the Internet, focusing on relevant and reliable information that will help them to solve the tasks within the relatively short time frame of ten minutes, and to justify their solutions using arguments from the online information they used.

CORA testing requires complex and extensive analysis

The analysis of the results is based on the participants' responses to the tasks. In addition, their web search activity while solving the tasks is recorded to examine their strengths and weaknesses in dealing with online information in more detail. "We can see which websites the students accessed during their research and which information they used. Analyzing the entire process requires complex analyses and is very time-consuming," said Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia. The assessments have so far been carried out in two German federal states. To date, 160 students from different disciplines have been assessed; the majority of the participants studied medicine or economics and were in their first or second semester.

Critical online reasoning skills should be specifically promoted in higher education

The results are striking: almost all test participants had difficulties solving the tasks. On a scale of 0 to 2 points per task, the students scored only 0.75 points on average, with the results ranging from 0.50 to 1.38 points. "The majority of the students did not use any scientific sources at all," said Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, pointing out that no domain-specific knowledge was required to solve the CORA tasks. "We are always testing new groups of students, and the assessment has also been continued as a longitudinal study. Since we first started conducting these assessments two years ago, the results are always similar: the students tend to achieve low scores". However, students in higher semesters perform slightly better than students in their first year of study. Critical online reasoning skills could therefore be promoted during the course of studies. In the United States, a significant increase in these kinds of skills was observed only a few weeks after implementing newly developed training approaches.

The study shows that most students do not succeed in correctly evaluating online sources in the given time and in using relevant information from reliable sources on the Internet to solve the tasks. "As we know from other studies, students are certainly able to adequately judge the reliability of well-known media portals and Internet sources. We could build on this fact and foster the skills required to critically evaluate new sources and online information and to use the Internet in a reflected manner to generate warranted knowledge," concluded Professor Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia.

In research on this topic, skills related to critically dealing with online information and digital sources are regarded as an essential prerequisite for learning in the 21st century. However, there are still very few training approaches and assessments available for students to foster these skills, especially online. "The RMU study is still in the early stages of development. We have only just developed the first test of this kind in Germany," Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia pointed out. "We are currently in the process of developing teaching/learning materials and training courses and of testing their effectiveness. The analysis of the processing will be particularly useful when it comes to offering students targeted support in the future.

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The Rhine-Main Universities (RMU)

As outstanding research universities in the Rhine-Main area, Goethe University Frankfurt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and Technische Universität Darmstadt have joined together to form the strategic Rhine-Main Universities alliance. The universities have worked in close cooperation with each other for more than ten years, signing a framework agreement to form a strategic alliance in 2015.

The Rhine-Main Universities are situated in close vicinity to one another in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region and offer a wide range of disciplines from medicine and the natural sciences to the humanities and social science through to engineering. With more than 100,000 students and 1,460 professors, the Rhine-Main Universities collaborate closely in research, learning and teaching, the promotion of young researchers, and the transfer and exchange with business and society.

Arduous farm labor in the past means longer working hours today

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS USA

A new study in The Economic Journal finds that societies with a history of farming crops heavily reliant on labor effort prefer harder work and longer hours.

Researchers used data from the European Social Survey, conducted every two years, from 2002 to 2014. The survey records individual-level information on a number of background characteristics, social attitudes, and human values. Researchers focused predominantly on three measures of work effort: the total number of hours respondents report normally working per week in their main jobs, their desired weekly work hours, and the difference between actual and contracted weekly work hours.

The study shows that differences in measures of work effort across European regions can be explained by variation in those regions' suitability for labor intensive crops. Researchers measured varying labor intensity in the production of different crops, in conditions of traditional agriculture. Using information from studies of the US Department of Agriculture and a Prussian agricultural census, researchers estimated the marginal returns to labor in the production of different crops, finding high labor returns for potatoes, and low returns for cereal crops like oats, barley and wheat. European regions with a higher suitability for crops reliant on labor effort, consistently scored higher in terms of hours worked.

Researchers additionally studied how preferences for hard work come to persist in a society over time. They found that significant aspects of work ethic are transmitted from parents to children, leading to more prominent results in native-born respondents of native-born parents. They also found that the work ethic is stronger in societies that have been reliant on agriculture for longer. High work ethic is correlated with lower preferences for redistribution, suggesting a feedback between culture and institutions that perpetuates cultural preferences.

Ultimately researchers concluded that labor effort with high marginal returns in agricultural production provides an incentive for investment in a preference for work. Other things equal, societies that cultivate crops more dependent on labor effort work more hours. Preferences for longer working hours, and more effort put in during those hours, can then persist through cultural transmission and institutional feedback mechanisms, even after societies have transitioned away from agriculture.

"The laborious nature of rice cultivation has been theorized to have an impact on the work ethic of those societies that have historically depended on it", says author Vasiliki Fouka. "This research shows systematically that this is true for a variety of crops, across the regions of Europe. In areas where hard work paid off, our ancestors engraved a work ethic in our culture that survives until today."

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The paper "Agricultural Returns to Labour and the Origins of Work ethics" by Vasiliki Fouka and Alain Schläpfer is available at: https://academic.oup.com/ej/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ej/ueaa029/5819417

Study estimates revenue produced by top college football players

Researchers find big differences between top players and others

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio

The most elite players in college football increase revenue for their school football programs by an average of $650,000 a year, a first-of-its-kind study suggests.

This is the money brought in by the highest-rated recruits coming out of high school - those given five stars by Rivals, a recruiting news service, according to researchers at The Ohio State University.

Four-star recruits generated about $350,000 a year and three-star recruits increased revenue by about $150,000, while two-star recruits actually reduced revenue by about $13,000 a year for college football programs, the study found.

Amid the continuing national debate about compensation for college athletes, this study offers the first solid numbers on the financial impact of players in the highest-revenue college sport, said Trevon Logan, co-author of the study and professor of economics at Ohio State.

"There have been a lot of numbers put out there about how much college athletes should get under various compensation proposals," Logan said.

"But it's hard to do that when you don't know how players affect the bottom line. That's what we're trying to do here."

Logan conducted the study with Stephen Bergman, a former undergraduate student at Ohio State. The study has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Sports Economics.

For the study, the researchers collected a unique dataset from the federal Office of Postsecondary Education that included annual football-specific revenue and expenses from 2002 to 2012 for all college football bowl subdivision (FBS) schools - the top level in the sport.

To evaluate the quality of football players, the researchers used the high-school rankings of the players from Rivals. Using these rankings are the best way to rate college players for several reasons, Logan said.

One of the most important is that the service rates both defensive and offensive players the same way. Without access to this type of ranking, it would be nearly impossible for researchers to develop their own method to rate the impact of a defensive player's impact on the field on a similar scale to an offensive player, he said.

The researchers then calculated the effect of recruit quality on team performance, including wins and college bowl appearances. They then estimated the effects of team performance on total revenue.

The calculations were completed just before the current college football playoff system was introduced in 2014.

Results showed that five-star recruits had no statistically significant effect on the likelihood of their team getting to a bowl game. This was probably because teams didn't need the best players to get to just any bowl, Logan said.

But a five-star recruit increased the probability of appearing in a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game - the elite bowls that helped determine a national championship - by more than 4 percent if they played for one of the top schools.

"The best recruits had a significant impact on team performance and their ability to appear in the most lucrative postseason bowls," Logan said.

The study estimated that $650,000 was generated by five-star recruits because of the wins, bowl appearances, BCS bowl appearances and premier bowls that they helped their schools achieve - all of which bring additional revenue to their schools.

For some analyses, the researchers controlled for the fact that football powerhouses like Alabama or Ohio State tend to attract more of the highest-rated players than other schools.

That means that the revenue value of any individual elite player at a top school wouldn't be as high as it would be at other schools.

But the value would still be high, Logan said. When the school effects were taken into account, each five-star recruit still increased revenue by nearly $200,000 a year, while four-star recruits were responsible for nearly $90,000 a year.

The conferences that schools participated in also affected revenue, because many conferences share money earned with all their members, regardless of performance. The researchers also took this into account in their analyses.

Logan said it isn't possible to come up with clear compensation policy recommendations based just on the results of this paper.

One important issue is that the revenue from football supports many other college sports that don't make money, he said.

"If you pay players, especially based on how much they generate, you will also have to reduce the number of other sports available," Logan said.

"What our study can do is bring some hard data to the discussions about compensation."

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Can coral reefs 'have it all'?

ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES

A BLACKTIP REEF SHARK (CARCHARHINUS MELANOPTERUS ) SWIMS IN THE SHALLOWS IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS, INDIAN OCEAN. view more
CREDIT: TANE SINCLAIR-TAYLOR

Though coral reefs are in sharp decline across the world, scientists say some reefs can still thrive with plentiful fish stocks, high fish biodiversity, and well-preserved ecosystem functions.

An international team, led by Professor Josh Cinner from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (Coral CoE at JCU), assessed around 1,800 tropical reefs from 41 countries across the globe.

"Only five percent of the reefs were simultaneously able to meet the combined goals of providing enough fishing stocks, maintaining biodiversity and a working ecosystem," Prof Cinner said.

"These are like the Hollywood A-listers of coral reefs. They have it all, but they're also rare and live in exclusive areas--remote locations with little human pressure. Our study shows how to help other coral reefs get on that A-list."

The research team assessed if no-fishing marine reserves and other fisheries restrictions helped reefs to meet multiple goals. The study found that implementing such local efforts helped, "but only if the management efforts are in the right locations," Prof Cinner said.

"It's all about location, location, location," he said. "Marine reserves placed in areas with low human pressures had the best results for helping reefs get on the A-list."

"We also had a B-list of reefs, which met all the goals, but to a lesser degree. Reserves in areas with intermediate human pressure made the biggest difference to getting reefs on our B-list. Quite simply, they occurred in less exclusive locations than our A-listers."

However, marine reserves made little difference in areas where the environment was so severely degraded that only wider seascape conservation could help.

Co-author Jessica Zamborain-Mason, a Coral CoE and JCU PhD candidate, says coral reefs worldwide are facing intense degradation due to numerous anthropogenic drivers, such as overfishing, pollution, and climate change.

"There is an increasing need to manage coral reefs to meet multiple goals simultaneously," she said.

"Our findings provide guidance on where to strategically place local management to achieve the greatest benefits."

Co-author Professor Nick Graham from Lancaster University says the study uses data to show what works.

"Coral reef science and management is often focussed on meeting just a single goal," Prof Graham said.

"Managing for just one goal at a time is common, but what if you want it all? The multiple goals of biodiversity, fisheries and functioning ecosystems are often required at any given location, yet the science to understand when and how this can be achieved has been lacking."

"We looked at the fish communities, not the coral communities, and these are affected by different drivers--overfishing really drives the former and climate change the latter."

"The study not only has important implications for the placement of new marine reserves, but is also relevant to future socioeconomic changes, such as how infrastructure development and population growth may impact the efficacy of reef conservation," Prof Cinner said.

"We show where managers will be able to maximise multiple goals, and likewise, where they will be wasting their time."

The study concludes that, while international action on climate change is crucial for ensuring a future for coral-dominated reefs, effective management is also critical to sustaining reefs--and the millions of people whose livelihoods depend on them.

PAPER

Cinner J, Zamborain-Mason J, Gurney G, Graham N, MacNeil A, Hoey A, Mora C, Villéger S, Maire E, McClanahan T, Maina J, Kittinger J, Hicks C, D'agata S, Huchery C, Barnes M, Feary D, Williams I, Kulbicki M, Vigliola L, Wantiez L, Edgar G, Stuart-Smith R, Sandin S, Green A, Beger M, Friedlander A, Wilson S, Brokovich E, Brooks A, Cruz-Motta J, Booth D, Chabanet P, Tupper M, Ferse S, Sumaila R, Hardt M, Mouillot D. (2020). Science. 'Meeting fisheries, ecosystem function, and biodiversity goals in a human-dominated world.' DOI: 10.1126/science.aax9412

Study: Cultural variables play important role in perceptions of status, power

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, NEWS BUREAU

CULTURAL VARIABLES PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN PERCEPTIONS OF STATUS AND POWER IN BUSINESS, ACCORDING TO RESEARCH CO-WRITTEN BY CARLOS TORELLI, A PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND THE JAMES F.... view more CREDIT: PHOTO BY GIES COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Are powerful individuals such as politicians necessarily viewed by others as having high status? And conversely, are high-status individuals such as tech moguls always seen as powerful? According to new research co-written by a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign expert in consumer behavior and global marketing, the answer depends on one's cultural orientation.

Cultures with a "vertical collectivist orientation," in which the individual willingly submits to authority by subordinating personal goals and accepting hierarchy, respond differently to the power-status dynamic than cultures with a more egalitarian "horizontal collectivistic orientation" that emphasizes communality and pro-social cooperation, said Carlos Torelli, a professor of business administration and the James F. Towey Faculty Fellow at Illinois.

"Power and status are different sources of social hierarchy with distinct consequences," he said. "Power equates to control over resources, while status broadly means respect and admiration. A bill collector has power but doesn't have high status. An Olympic athlete, on the other hand, has high status but doesn't have power. Our paper seeks to advance understanding of social hierarchies by proposing that this variation can be explained, at least in part, by one's cultural orientation."

Across six studies, Torelli and his co-authors used a range of methodologies to investigate the perceptions of the power-status dynamic to better understand the established effects on fairness.

"Power and status are distinct bases of social hierarchy with unique effects," said Torelli, also the executive director of Executive and Professional Education at the Gies College of Business. "Yet evidence suggests wide variation in whether perceptions of status and power are highly correlated versus relatively distinct. We use a cross-cultural lens to explain this variation and suggest that cultural orientation shapes the effect of power on perceived status, and vice versa."

These cultural contingencies, in turn, have implications for established effects of power and status.

Because vertical collectivism - common in east Asia - is associated with a tendency to automatically respect those in positions of power and authority, the extent to which individuals perceive high-power individuals as also having high status increases, according to the research.

"In those cultures, it's not uncommon for powerful leaders - say, a Bill Gates type - to be widely respected and also seen as a high-status individual," Torelli said.

On the other hand, cultures with a horizontal collectivistic orientation - common in some parts of Latin America - view hierarchy in a much dimmer light, he said. As a result, horizontal collectivists don't automatically submit to authority, and believe goals are best achieved via cooperation and pro-sociality toward others. Accordingly, these cultures foster perceptions that high-status individuals - say, a LeBron James type - also have power.

The insights gleaned from the research have practical relevance for organizations and individuals in the global economy, Torelli said.

"The results have important implications for navigating social hierarchies in different cultural settings," he said. "If you're a manager or other high-level executive and you're transferred to a vertical-collectivist culture, you'll automatically be respected. But you also need to exercise that power. You can't lurk in the background. You have to be out front and assert yourself."

If you move to a more horizontal-collective environment, you shouldn't assume that "just because you're the boss, people will automatically respect you," Torelli said.

"You have to earn their respect by showing your employees your interpersonal ability - your empathy, your concern about your subordinates, your level of cooperation. That becomes more important in a horizontal-collectivistic environment, less so in a vertical-hierarchical environment. It's more important to perform in that environment."

Although the U.S. is an individualistic country that doesn't in aggregate subscribe to vertical or horizontal collectivism, pockets of collectivism exist in the southern U.S., Torelli said.

"Immigration patterns are also bringing more cultural diversity to the workplace - for example, collectivism associated with Latin American and east Asian immigrants - and younger generations are increasingly endorsing a horizontal-collectivist orientation," he said. "Managers operating in these settings should also pay attention to perceptions of the power-status dynamics."

Torelli said the research has direct consequences for American managers operating in global environments.

"There are important consequences for C-level executive types who are looking to break into markets in certain parts of east Asia or Latin America," Torelli said. "And that's important because the east Asian market is going to define the global economy for many years to come."

Torelli's co-authors are Lisa M. Leslie, of New York University; Jennifer L. Stoner, of the University of North Dakota; and Christopher To, of Northwestern University.

The paper was published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

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How did an ancient plant from Latin America become Asia's second-most-important cash crop?

Valued at dining room tables and factory floors alike, cassava is worth about $10 billion in Asia. The continued growth of the commodity faces challenges from climate change, land degradation and limited investment in crop improvement and disease
INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE (CIAT)

ROWS OF YOUNG CASSAVA PLANTS IN A FIELD IN THAILAND. view more
CREDIT: NEIL PALMER / INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE

Half a century ago, cassava was a simple staple crop for some smallholder farmers in Asia eking out a living in harsh landscapes.

The hardy crop that Europeans brought from Latin America many centuries before was a dependable source of nutrition - as long as it was skillfully processed to remove the toxins from bitter types to be turned into food.

While sweet varieties of cassava remain a staple in places like Indonesia, which is the world's third-largest producer, things have changed a lot for Manihot esculenta, the scientific name for yuca, manioc or mandioca.

Today, yields in Asia have increased dramatically and industry is growing bitter varieties for starch, biofuels and a variety of other ingredients. In Southeast Asia, only sugarcane and rice surpass cassava in total tonnage produced. Some 8 million farmers from India to China depend on the crop for food and income.

Ideally suited to flourish despite climate change, cassava is poised to become an even more important crop in the next fifty years in Asia, argue scientists in a comprehensive review of cassava research over the last 50 years in Asia. The article was published in March in Breeding Science.

"We need to continue investment in increasing yields, even more so under climate change, land degradation and new pests and disease outbreaks; the next big thing is improving the resilience of our cassava resources," said Luis Augusto Becerra Lopez-Lavalle, the program leader for cassava at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

The article looks at increases in yields, breeding strategies, development and deployment of different varieties over the last half-century. Countries in the study include China, India, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Authors from more than a dozen institutions contributed to the review, which summarizes major contributions from almost 170 different research articles.

The authors highlight the striking versatility and resilience of cassava, which has been gradually improved and adapted to local needs through cutting-edge plant breeding and agronomy.

Thank the genebanks

Becerra said many advances are due to the rich collection of cassava germplasm at the Alliance's genebank in Colombia, which includes a large collection of native varieties generally more diverse than varieties found further afield. By tapping the resources of the genebank and collections kept by breeding programs around the world, scientists have found traits to make widely used varieties more productive and resistant to disease and climate extremes.

In Vietnam, yields have increased from about 3 tons per hectare to 20 tons, largely through improved varieties and fertilizer management. Intercropping - sowing other crops alongside cassava - and crop rotation to include maize, peanuts, and beans, has improved soil fertility and increase farmer incomes.

"The introduction of germplasm into national breeding programs from the Alliance combined with improved agronomic practices markedly increased cassava yield in the region," said lead author Al Imran Malik, who is based at the Alliance's Lao PDR office. Malik also credited partners who support the new ideas and initiatives.

In Indonesia, breeding has focused on better-tasting and more nutritious cassava. In China, scientists have bred high-starch industrial cassava ideal for higher latitudes, which are generally cooler than those in cassava's native range.

"Over the past decades, cassava researchers in Asia, particularly breeders, have had to respond to changing market and policy conditions to ensure that the crop and the farmers that grow it are competitive in global markets," said Jonathan Newby, the research coordinator for the Alliance's cassava program in Southeast Asia.

Across the region today, researchers study erosion and health of the soil, sustainable intensification, artificial intelligence, and advanced genetics for crop improvement. Scientists are also intensely focused on controlling emerging diseases, which threaten productivity gains. Last year, the Alliance worked with national researchers and partners to draw up an emergency control plan for cassava mosaic disease (CMD), a project led by Becerra.

Becerra is also a global research leader in the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, which contributed to the study.

Cassava cooperation

One of the great lessons of the review was the extent to which local collaboration and ground-up initiatives were key to cassava improvement in the region.

In particular, the Alliance led partnerships with national agricultural research institutes in the region. NARIs from Vietnam, Thailand, China, Japan, Indonesia, Lao PDR, and Cambodia collaborated on many border-crossing cassava projects in the last few decades.

Partnerships among research organizations in Asia facilitated the understanding of specific contexts, allowing researchers to create appropriate recommendations in breeding and agronomy so farmers could grow cassava in accordance with their needs.

The Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) emphasized that the development in cassava research in Asia has great potential outside the region.

"This work will not only contribute to the prosperity of cassava in Asia but also contribute to the food security of people in Africa," said Wenjun Ou, a co-author from CATAS.

Outside of research partnerships, Dr. Malik said funders have been key supporters for ongoing, long-term research. Continued partnerships and support are key for controlling CMD, which requires regionally coordinated efforts in research on seed systems, pest and disease control, and capacity-building.

No longer 'a crop for the poor'

While there is still an impression that cassava is a poor man's crop in Asia, Becerra and Newby push back on this notion, highlighting its potential for wealth creation amongst smallholder farmers targeting a wide global market. "The future is bright for cassava as food and as an industrial ingredient in a range of new products that modern consumers demand," said Newby. "It will be critical that cassava breeders keep pace with these changes and opportunities to ensure that smallholder farmers in Asia continue to reap the benefits of this 'hidden' crop in our daily lives."

Becerra emphasized how different regions will contribute to a South-South knowledge transfer to ensure further prosperity for the crop, saying, "The key to cassava improvement is still at its center of origin. We ought to help sub-Saharan African farmers obtain the same genetic gains as Asian resource-poor farmers, where the Alliance built on genetic resources from Latin America."

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About the Alliance

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people's lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. http://www.bioversityinternational.org http://www.ciat.cgiar.org http://www.cgiar.org

Relying on 'local food' is a distant dream for most of the world

AALTO UNIVERSITY

Globalisation has revolutionised food production and consumption in recent decades and cultivation has become more efficient As a result, diets have diversified and food availability has increased in various parts of the globe. However, it has also led to a situation where the majority of the world population live in countries that are dependent on, at least partially, imported food. This can intensify vulnerabilities during any kind of global crisis, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, as global food supply chains are disrupted.

Aalto University dissertation researcher, Pekka Kinnunen, says 'There are big differences between different areas and the local foliage. For example, in Europe and North America, temperate crops, such as wheat, can be obtained mostly within a radius of 500 kilometres. In comparison, the global average is about 3,800 kilometres'.

The recent study, published in Nature Food and led by Kinnunen, modelled the minimum distance between crop production and consumption that humans around the world would need to be able to meet their food demand. The study was conducted in collaboration with the University of Columbia, the University of California, the Australian National University and the University of Göttningen. The study factored in six key crop groups for humans: temperate cereals (wheat, barley, rye), rice, corn, tropical grains (millet, sorghum), tropical roots (cassava) and pulses. The researchers modelled globally the distances between production and the consumer for both normal production conditions and scenarios where production chains become more efficient due to reduced food waste and improved farming methods.

It was shown that 27% of the world's population could get their temperate cereal grains within a radius of fewer than 100 kilometres. The share was 22% for tropical cereals, 28% for rice and 27% for pulses. In the case of maize and tropical roots, the proportion was only 11-16%, which Kinnunen says displays the difficulty of relying solely on local resources.

Foodsheds as areas of self-sufficiency

'We defined foodsheds as areas within which food production could be self-sufficient. In addition to food production and demand, food fences describe the impact of transport infrastructure on where food could be obtained', Kinnunen explains.

The study also showed that foodsheds are mostly relatively compact areas for individual crops. When crops are looked at as a whole, foodsheds formed larger areas, spanning the globe. This indicates that the diversity of our current diets creates global, complex dependencies.

According to Associate professor Matti Kummu, who was also involved in the study, the results clearly show that local production alone cannot meet the demand for food; at least not with current production methods and consumption habits. Increasing the share of effectively managed domestic production would probably reduce both food waste and greenhouse gas emissions. However, at the same time, it could lead to new problems such as water pollution and water scarcity in very densely populated areas, as well as vulnerabilities during such occurrences as poor harvests or large-scale migration.

'The ongoing COVID-19 epidemic emphasises the importance of self-sufficiency and local food production. It would be important also to assess the risks that dependence on imported agricultural inputs such as animal feed proteins, fertilisers and energy, might cause', says Kummu.

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Kummu and Kinnunen work in Water and Development Research Group at Aalto School of Engineering. The group focuses on the sustainability of water resources, especially in the context of water used in food production. Read more: https://wdrg.aalto.fi

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