It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, October 05, 2021
NUKES FOR PEACE
Did China just figure out how to make nuclear energy safe? | DW News
Experts believe there’s a cleaner, safer and better way to harvest nuclear energy. With its newest power plant, China might be first to get there. Scientists are very excited about an experimental reactor in Wuwei, China, and so are environmentalists. The reactor is cooled by molten salts instead of water, and instead of using uranium, like most commercial nuclear plants, it’s fuelled by thorium. Thorium is a weakly radioactive metal that is much more abundant than uranium. It’s also not as messy, producing less waste that remains toxic for a fraction of the time. Even in terms of safety, thorium trumps uranium. Thorium can’t cause a reactor meltdown, and it cannot be used to create nuclear weapons as easily. So why has thorium not been used before? It has. Thorium was tried early on as fuel for nuclear power plants. But it was abandoned because it couldn’t be weaponized during the Cold War. Catching up to uranium-fuelled plants and making thorium commercially viable would require risking a huge investment. China clearly feels it’s worth a punt. It’s confident the first commercial plants to go online in 2030.
WHITE RUSSIAN NATIONALIST Oleksander Usyk, Ukraine's controversial heavyweight boxing champion
Ukrainian boxer Oleksander Usyk has followed in the footsteps of the Klitschko brothers by winning several world championship belts. At home, though, his attitude toward Russia has made him a controversial figure.
Olexander Usyk has followed in the footsteps of Ukraine's Klitschko brothers
Outside of his own country, nobody doubts the fact that Oleksander Usyk is Ukrainian.
That's how all the media describe the new heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
By beating Britain's Anthony Joshua in London on September 26, Usyk secured the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight championship titles, just like Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko did years ago.
"The belts are going home," Usyk said in a video posted on Instagram after the fight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cheered the victory on Facebook, saying: "Ukraine has reclaimed what belongs to it!"
But, back home, the bout was not broadcast by any Ukrainian TV channel, highly unusual for a fight of this magnitude. Those who wanted to see it live had to tune in to Russian television or pay TV. A dispute raged on social media about the character of the new king of boxing. While some congratulated Usyk on his victory, others attacked him.
He must be one of the few, if not the only, world boxing champions not to be universally congratulated at home but to also face hostility from some particularly patriotic Ukrainians. The reason for this is ambivalent statements Usyk has made in the past on Russia and the annexed Crimea, his home region. The case is anything but clear cut.
Taking world heavyweight belts to Crimea
The Russian-speaking Usyk fought Joshua in boxing gloves with the name of his hometown, "Simferopol," and "Ukraine" written on them. After the fight, he waved the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag in front of the cameras. But after returning to Kyiv, Usyk poured fueled controversy when he announced that he wanted to bring the world championship belts to Crimea to show them to his coach. He's planning to face Joshua in the rematch in Kyiv in 2022.
Oleksander Usyk is happy to drape himself in the Ukrainian flag after a victory
Usyk, who moved from Simferopol to Kyiv after 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, regularly travels to the peninsula. He still trains there and calls Crimea home. For years he's been criticized in Ukraine for referring to Russians and Ukrainians as "one people" — just like Russian President Vladimir Putin does.
In addition, his ties to the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and his participation in a Russian film about Orthodoxy are a thorn in the side for some. And whenever a journalist has asked him whether Crimea now belongs to Russia or Ukraine, he dodges the question.
It is also a fact that Usyk traveled to the front lines in eastern Ukraine and taught boxing to Ukrainian army soldiers. However, some fighters have criticized him for statements he has made that they saw as being pro-Russia. What to do with Ukrainians like Usyk?
Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, who like Usyk is from Crimea, was imprisoned in Russia for years after the annexation. He articulated the Ukrainian dilemma on Facebook: How should you deal with prominent Ukrainians who do not call Russia an "aggressor" and maintain ties? Should you try to persuade them to move to Russia, or should you try to change their views?
Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov In Russia, Usyk would probably be welcomed with open arms. Prominent television host Vladimir Solovyov raved about Usyk as "the greatest." A well-known singer suggested inviting Usyk to Russia and supporting him financially.
Sentsov has described Usyk's remarks as "Putin's propaganda stamps," but suggested "not pushing him away but explaining what it means to feel Ukrainian and why that cannot coexist with the 'Russian world,'" a vision of a cross-border Russian community propagated by Moscow. This would take time and "help from those who had already grasped their identity," Sentsov said.
Iryna Medushevska from Odessa is one of the few influential pro-Ukrainian bloggers who publicly expressed joy at Usyk's victory. As a result, she lost about 100 of her more than 40,000 subscribers, the blogger told DW.
"Sentsov is right in this case. With citizens like Usyk, whose ties to Russia include the Orthodox church," Ukraine will require a lot of patience, Medushevska said: "It's a very long process, he's a church person."
High jumpers Mariya Lasitskene (left) of Russia and Yaroslava Mahuchikh (right) of Russia
This is far from the first time that sports and politics have been hotly debated in Ukraine. After having won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics back In August, high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh came under fire for having her photo taken with the Russian gold medalist. Both were carrying flags — those of Ukraine and the Russian Olympic Committee. After she returned home, Mahuchikh was called up on the carpet by a deputy defense minister.
German publicist Christoph Brumme, who lives in Ukraine, told DW that he understands both the criticism of Usyk and Mahuchikh and the expression of "spontaneous joy in Tokyo." He thinks that the two sides need to "calm down" and get beyond "thinking about politics in terms of black and white."
"Usyk is fighting for Ukraine to improve its image — that's the bottom line," Brumme said. Those who "still can't distinguish friend from foe" after seven years of war are to be pitied. According to Brumme, one should also be able to have reasonable discussions "with such people."
WEARING CRUSADER T SHIRT FOR BELT AWARD
CHRISTIAN CRUSADER IS A COMMON ICON/MEME AMONGST THE SVABODA FASCIST MOVEMENT IN UKRAINE AND THE WHITE RUSSIAN NATIONALISTS IN THE DON BAS
WHO SEE THEMSELVES AS CRUSADERS FOR ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY AGAINST JEWS AND MUSLIMS
Russian chess queens beat India to win World Women’s Team Championship
2 Oct, 2021
A quintet of Russian female chess stars claimed the World Women’s Team Championship title as they beat India in Saturday’s final in Spain.
Competing under the banner of the Chess Federation of Russian (CFR) in the tournament in the Catalan town of Sitges, Russia ran out winners 2.5-1.5 in the first game and 3-1 in the second to see off their Indian rivals.
The CFR team was represented by stars Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Kateryna Lagno, Alina Kashlinskaya, and Polina Shuvalova.
Russia had previously romped through the pool stage of the competition before seeing off the FIDE Americas team in the quarterfinal and then Ukraine in the semifinal.
India had reached the final by overcoming Kazakhstan and Georgia in the knockout stages but came up against an insurmountable challenge in the form of Russia’s formidable stars.
The Indian players were still hailed for a first-ever women's medal at this level.
Others to take part in the tournament were Azerbaijan, Armenia, Germany, Spain, Poland, and France.
The triumph is the second time Russia’s women have been crowned world team champions, after their victory on home soil in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2017.
This year’s victory also makes up for the heartache of losing to China in the final in 2019.
China – who have won the title a record four times – were not among the contenders in Spain this time round.
Andrey Filatov, president of the Chess Federation of Russia and head coach of the Russian national men's chess team, was among those to congratulate the team.
“My congratulations to our outstanding chess players and coaches on this confident victory at the World Women’s Team Championship and to all the Russian chess fans and amateurs on this magnificent achievement!”said Filatov.
“The Russian athletes, who have recently won the second FIDE Online Olympiad as members of the national team, once again confirmed their highest class and a professional level of the country’s chess school, having won gold medals so convincingly. Bravo!”
India Lose to Russia in Final
But Win 1st-ever Medal at
World Women's Chess Championship
India bagged a silver medal at the FIDE World Women's Team Chess Championship. (FIDE Photo)
India clinched a silver medal after going down 2-0 to Russia in the final of the FIDE World Women's Team Chess Championship.
SITGES (SPAIN) LAST UPDATED:OCTOBER 03, 2021, 08:55 IST
India clinched a silver medal after going down 0-2 to Russia in the final of the FIDE World Women’s Team Chess Championship here on Saturday. After losing the first match 1.5.-2-5 despite a brilliant win for D Harika on the board, the Indians were outclassed 3-1 in the second as a strong Russian team stormed to a title triumph. It was India’s first ever medal in the world team chess championship.
In the second match, Harika held Goryachkina to a draw as did R Vaishali (Elo 2149) against the higher rated Alexandra Kosteniuk (Elo 2517). However, Tania Sachdev and Mary Ann Gomes went down to higher rated Katernya Lagno and Polina Shuvalova to give Russia a comprehensive victory and the gold. Sacheva fought well before losing to Lagno in 53 moves and Gomes, who has been in good form throughout the tournament, succumbed to defeat in 48 moves against Shuvalova in a Sicilian Kann Variation game.
Earlier, India lost the first match despite Harika (Elo 2450) pulling off a superb win over Goryachkina (Elo 2520) on the first board despite the gulf in Elo ratings. Gomes drew against Alina Kashlinskaya on the fourth board. For Russia, former world champion Kosteniuk beat young Vaishali on the second board while Bhakti Kulkarni’s poor form hurt India as she lost to Lagno. India, who had done well to finish second in the preliminary Pool A by winning three matches and drawing one while losing to Russia, came into the final after a win over a strong Georgian team.
Albertans will be voting for more than just mayors, councillors and school board trustees on October 18. They’ll also be weighing in on referendum questions on several controversial subjects.
The two issues on the ballot—three, if you live in Calgary—are more complex than the political rhetoric around them might suggest. But in order to make an informed choice, it’s worth taking time to understand some of the basics behind each question. #VOTE NO Ballot question No. 1: Equalization
“Should Section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982—Parliament and the government of Canada’s commitment to the principle of making equalization payments—be removed from the Constitution?”
Let’s get this out of the way: Equalization is not only a federal matter, it’s in the Canadian constitution. Amending the constitution requires agreement from seven provinces representing 50% of the population of Canada. In the face of this high threshold for altering the fundamental structure of the confederation, a “yes” vote by one province is meaningless.
This is acknowledged on the Elections Alberta website, which notes that “the result of this vote is binding only on the provincial government to pursue the action directed by the majority vote, not on the federal government to amend the Constitution Act, 1982.”
But it’s worth examining why this question is being put to Albertans.
In the face of this high threshold for altering the fundamental structure of the confederation, a “yes” vote by one province is meaningless.
Equalization is often presented as something so complicated and mysterious that few could ever hope to understand it. But this is an exaggeration that only benefits certain academics and politicians.
The fundamentals are straightforward. The federal government makes equalization payments to provinces whose “fiscal capacity”—their ability to generate tax revenue—is below the national average. The goal of the program is to ensure “reasonably comparable” public services are provided across the country. (All provinces receive federal funding via the Canada Health Transfer and Canada Social Transfer.)
Unpacking the calculation formula used to determine which provinces receive payments is beyond the scope of this article, but in simplified terms, the national average tax rate is applied to a province’s tax base to determine its fiscal capacity; if it is lower than the average fiscal capacity of all provinces, equalization payments bring it up to par.
Haizhen Mou, a professor of public policy at the University of Saskatchewan, compares it to a family sharing resources.
“All siblings contribute to the family and the parents reallocate the money among siblings to ensure comparable living standards,” she said.
Jason Kenney’s complaints that Alberta is getting screwed by the equalization program are the latest and loudest in a long tradition. Those complaints can be summarized as follows: Alberta’s booming economy brings prosperity to all Canadians, but when our economy falls along with oil prices, we are still sending money to Quebec. Unfair!
This framing misstates the purpose of the equalization program, which is not to ensure that all provinces have similar economic outcomes.
I think it’s a distraction or diversion from the real problems Alberta is facing.
HAIZHEN MOU, UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
It’s worth noting that for 2021/22, Quebec receives the lowest total amount per capita in major federal transfers of the five provinces receiving equalization payments. Alberta’s per capita total, meanwhile, is identical to that of Ontario, B.C., Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador.
“I think it’s a distraction or diversion from the real problems Alberta is facing in terms of fiscal and economic [issues],” said Mou, who said that the referendum outcome will have no practical effect.
“Politicians certainly have the right to do things like this. Because equalization is complicated, it’s a topic that is easy to be manipulated. It’s up to journalists and academics to try to communicate and educate the public.” #VOTE YES Ballot question No. 2: Daylight Saving Time
“Do you want Alberta to adopt year-round Daylight Saving Time, which is summer hours, eliminating the need to change our clocks twice a year?”
Daylight saving time (DST) has an interesting history in Alberta.
In 1946 municipal plebiscites, voters in Calgary and Edmonton favoured switching to DST. Instead, two years later the provincial government passed The Daylight Saving Time Act—an ironic name, given that it barred any municipality from observing DST or any time zone other than Mountain Standard Time.
Alberta was still quite a rural province then, and farmers in particular were strongly opposed to the changes. While things like office hours and bus schedules mean city dwellers’ schedules are fixed to the clock, farmers’ working hours are typically determined by daylight. Even if the Social Credit government wanted to introduce DST, the political cost from its rural base would have been too high.
Campaigns against DST have become stronger as more evidence of its negative effects has become clear.
After being narrowly rejected in a 1967 provincial plebiscite, Albertans finally approved DST in 1971, the last province to do so (not counting Saskatchewan, which has its own messy history with time).
Campaigns against DST have become stronger as more evidence of its negative effects has become clear, from health impacts like increased risk of heart attacks, cancer and depression, to public safety concerns over increased traffic and workplace accidents.
This idea of “permanent” DST has been gaining traction recently. Yukon voted for it last year, and several U.S. states have passed bills that will enact it once Congress approves them.
When Russia tried it in 2011, however, the late winter sunrises proved so unpopular that the government reversed the change in 2014.
This may be an important consideration for Albertans: on January 1, Calgary saw the sun rise at 8:37 a.m. and set at 4:42 p.m. Shifting to year-round DST would get us later sunsets, but also sunrises at 9:37 a.m. Northern Alberta currently has a seven hour difference between their winter and summer sunsets; the proposed change would reduce that by one hour in exchange for a five-and-a-half hour seasonal difference in sunrise times.
Shifting to year-round DST would get us later sunsets, but also sunrises at 9:37 a.m.
Still, a 2019 government survey received 141,000 responses, 91% of which were in favour of moving to DST year-round.
The UCP’s rationale for proposing a move to DST rather than year-round standard time is that it would put Alberta out of sync with regional jurisdictions: Saskatchewan observes DST year-round, and B.C. intends to do the same in coordination with west coast American states. FLOURIDE IS NOT A COMMUNIST PLOT!
Ballot question No. 3 (in Calgary): Water fluoridation
“Are you in favour of reintroducing fluoridation of the municipal water supply?”
Calgarians have been battling over fluoridation for more than six decades.
After rejecting it four times (in 1957, 1961, 1966 and 1971), voters approved fluoridation in a 1989 plebiscite, and reaffirmed that choice in 1999. In 2011, council unilaterally ended fluoridation of Calgary’s drinking water, opting not to hold a plebiscite.
This year’s vote is not binding on council.
Fluoridation has been described as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. Tooth decay is an ancient human disease, but its prevalence spiked sharply after the Industrial Revolution made refined sugar cheap and available to the masses. Prior to the discovery of fluoride’s decay-prevention properties around the turn of the 20th century, and the beginning of community water fluoridation in North America in the 1940s, tooth decay was widespread and usually treated by extraction
We increasingly keep the majority of our teeth for a lifetime, and fluoride is a major reason why. Between 1970 and 2007, the percentage of Canadian adults with no natural teeth dropped from 23.6% to 6.4%.
This year’s vote is not binding on council.
But dental caries (or cavities) are still a major public health concern in Canada, correlated with factors like race and socioeconomic status. Community water fluoridation, proponents argue, is one effective, safe and relatively inexpensive way to provide a basic degree of dental protection to an entire population.
Arguments against fluoridation are varied, with differing degrees of legitimacy. Its introduction coincided with the beginning of the Cold War, and a far-right conspiracy theory that fluoridation was a Communist plot was parodied in the 1964 film Dr. Strangelove.
Today, critics raise concerns about the effects of fluoridated water combined with fluoridated toothpaste, or that people consume different amounts of water, or that the money could be better spent on targeted dental programs. Others cite discredited or misrepresented research. One argument popular in libertarian-friendly Alberta is consent and freedom of choice. Then there are those whose distrust of science is reminiscent of anti-vaccine propaganda.
Decades of study on fluoridation have established its general effectiveness and safety, though the recommended amount has been revised downward. In 2012, 435 million people worldwide had access to fluoridated water, including about 57 million accessing water that was naturally fluoridated.
The most common risk of fluoridation is fluorosis, which occurs during childhood and is typically characterized by small white spots on parts of the teeth. It’s a cosmetic rather than structural concern, and quite a common one: 41 to 61% of American adolescents have fluorosis. Other risks, such as fluoride toxicity, are rare in the developed world, and often the result of children swallowing fluoridated toothpaste
The benefits, however, are significant. A 2021 University of Calgary study found children in Calgary, after fluoride was removed, were significantly more likely to have dental caries than children in Edmonton (which has fluoridated its water since 1967). The results held even after controlling for socio-demographic factors, diet, dental hygiene habits and other exposure to fluoridation.
A pro-fluoridation group, Fluoride Yes!, has registered as a third-party advertiser during the election period. Taylor Lambert is The Sprawl's Alberta politics reporter.
Alberta Premier Kenney's approval rating plummets in new Think HQ poll
A Think HQ poll released Monday suggests Premier Jason Kenney is continuing to see a decline in approval of his leadership in Alberta.
More than 1,100 respondents gave their opinion on the Kenney's leadership, with only 22 percent of offering any degree of approval for the first-term premier.
Of the respondents, 77 per cent disapprove of Kenney’s leadership, while 61 per cent of those strongly disapprove.
Think HQ’s results indicate a sharp decline in support, which is down 16 percentage points from July, when Kenney received an uptick in support following the removal of all public health restrictions.
“Jason Kenney for one thing, because of his personality, is unlikely to willingly hang up his hat,” said John Church, a political scientist at the University of Alberta. “Jason Kenney is a different animal than any other political leaders we’ve had in the province.”
Kenney’s highest approval rating, accordin to Think HQ, sat around 56 per cent following his election victory in 2019.
“Jason Kenney is a leader on life-support, and his prognosis is not good,” said Think HQ president Marc Henry.
“We have not seen a sitting premier with numbers this low in almost a decade.”
The last Alberta premier to sink to these depths in terms of public support was Alison Redford.
She recorded an approval rating of only 18 per cent in March 2014, shortly before resigning.
CTV News contacted Redford for a response to this poll.
“I am not commenting on this matter,” stated Redford.
Henry says even in stronghold regions like rural Alberta, Kenney’s approval rating does not eclipse 30 per cent.
Henry adds men are now equally unsupportive of Kenney as women.
“Ralph Klein, he resigned when his numbers dropped below 50 per cent,” said Church.
“(Kenney's) core political base in Alberta is very unhappy with him and they are the ones that have been pushing the hardest for his removal as leader of the party at this point."
Among respondents who voted UCP in the last provincial election, only 39 per cent say they approve of Kenney’s performance since.
The UCP has had to deal in recent weeks with party infighting from caucus members and from constituency associations, some of which had called for an early leadership review.
UCP officials have confirmed a leadership review, scheduled for next fall, was moved to spring 2022.
It will take place at the party’s annual general meeting in Edmonton on April 8 and 9, 2022.
The latest Think HQ poll was conducted between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.9 per cent.
Braid: Kenney's UCP leadership on 'life-support,' according to pollster's latest survey The 'political gamble' in July 'is now taking a punishing toll both politically for the leader and in real human costs for Albertans and the health-care system'
Author of the article: Don Braid • Calgary Herald Publishing date: Oct 04, 2021 •
Premier Jason Kenney provided an update on COVID-19 and the ongoing work to protect public health at the McDougall Centre in Calgary on Tuesday, September 28, 2021
. PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOWICHUK/POSTMEDIA Premier Jason Kenney’s approval rating is now very close to the level marked BASEMENT EXIT.
Only 22 per cent of Albertans support him, while 77 per cent disapprove of his performance, according to a new poll from Marc Henry’s ThinkHQ.
Even the meagre approval appears soft. Of the 22 per cent who support Kenney, only six per cent are ardent backers while 16 per cent say they “somewhat” approve.
Of the 77 per cent who disapprove, 61 per cent do so strongly.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley, meanwhile, gets 50 per cent approval and 47 per cent disapproval.
Kenney’s approval is lowest in Edmonton (no surprise there), but it’s identically awful in Calgary, at 19 per cent in both cities.
With numbers like that, the NDP could win the province with little help from rural Alberta.
But Notley might get more than expected. Kenney’s approval outside the big cities is nowhere higher than 30 per cent.
The premier enjoyed a popularity jump in July when COVID-19 rates were low and many people wanted to believe his promise of Alberta’s “best summer ever.”
But when cases surged in September and the government lay dormant, Kenney quickly crashed 16 percentage points to his current dismal standing.
ThinkHQ president Henry recalls what happened to Progressive Conservative Premier Alison Redford on March 19, 2014.
She stood at 18 per cent popularity — and had seen the poll that day — when she announced her resignation in the legislature rotunda.
Ralph Klein stood at 17 per cent in the spring of 1992, largely because of a fierce scandal over MLA pensions. Some ex-MLAs were getting more retirement pay than their salaries.
Klein abolished the pension plan and went on to win a majority, with three more to come later.
Recoveries do happen and Kenney has until the spring of 2023 to regain approval — if his party gives him the chance.
Henry doesn’t like the premier’s odds for a comeback.
“Jason Kenney is a leader on life-support, and his prognosis is not good,” he said in comments on the polling.
Redford’s 18 per cent, he says, was only “a ‘margin of error’ difference from Kenney’s results today.”
The “political gamble” in July “is now taking a punishing toll both politically for the leader and in real human costs for Albertans and the health-care system.”
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney attends a Canada Day event in Parkland in southeast Calgary on Thursday, July 1, 2021.
Jim Wells/Postmedia
Henry notes that the UCP was sewn together from two often antagonistic conservative parties that wanted to beat the NDP, but now “the creature is tearing itself apart at the stitches.”
At the party level, the opposition didn’t die just because Kenney faced down a caucus revolt on Sept. 22.
As of last Friday, 10 riding associations had agreed to a motion calling for a leadership vote before March 1.
Twenty-two must sign on to force the timeline on the party executive, which is famously, although perhaps not permanently, loyal to Kenney.
The motion also calls for the appointment of two riding presidents to the leadership election committee, and for an outside accounting and auditing firm to count votes and control electronic voting.
That’s a sharp echo of the scandals from the leadership campaign that elected Kenney.
The party executive, while appearing to compromise with the April review, actually ignored all three demands in the motion.
Then there’s money — the grease of every election machine.
The NDP has vastly outstripped the UCP in fundraising all this year.
In the first quarter, for instance, Kenney’s party raised $591,000, the NDP $1.1 million. The trend continued in the second quarter.
The third quarter ended Sept. 30. Although results aren’t yet official or announced, the NDP says it collected $1.3 million.
If the UCP falls far short again, as seems very likely, this premier will stand on one shaky basement pedestal.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Calgary Herald.
Annual municipality-level increases in the rate of urban population exposure to extreme heat, 1983-2016. Credit: Adapted from Tuholske et al., PNAS, 2021
A new study of more than 13,000 cities worldwide has found that the number of person-days in which inhabitants are exposed to extreme combinations of heat and humidity has tripled since the 1980s. The authors say the trend, which now affects nearly a quarter of the world's population, is the combined result of both rising temperatures and booming urban population growth. The study was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Over recent decades, hundreds of millions have moved from rural areas to cities, which now hold more than half the world's population. There, temperatures are generally higher than in the countryside, because of sparse vegetation and abundant concrete, asphalt and other impermeable surfaces that tend to trap and concentrateheat—the so-calledurban heat island effect.
"This has broad effects," said the study's lead author, Cascade Tuholske, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University's Earth Institute. "It increases morbidity and mortality. It impacts people's ability to work, and results in lower economic output. It exacerbates pre-existing health conditions."
The researchers combined infrared satellite imagery and readings from thousands of ground instruments to determine maximum daily heat and humidity readings in 13,115 cities, from 1983 to 2016. They defined extreme heat as 30 degrees Centigrade on the so-called "wet-bulb globe temperature" scale, a measurement that takes into account the multiplier effect of high humidity on human physiology. A wet-bulb reading of 30 is the rough equivalent of 106 degrees Fahrenheit on the so-called "real feel" heat index—the point at which even most healthy people find it hard to function outside for long, and the unhealthy might become very ill or even die.
To come up with a measure of person-days spent in such conditions, the researchers matched up the weather data with statistics on the cities' populations over the same time period. The population data was provided in part by Columbia's Center for International Earth Science Information Network, where Tuholske is based.
The analysis revealed that the number of person-days in which city dwellers were exposed went from 40 billion per year in 1983 to 119 billion in 2016—a threefold increase. By 2016, 1.7 billion people were being subjected to such conditions on multiple days.
Sheer urban population growth accounted for two-thirds of the exposure spike, while actual warming contributed a third. That said, the proportions varied from region to region and city to city.
The most-affected cities tend to cluster in the low latitudes, but other areas are being affected, too. The worst-hit city in terms of person-days was Dhaka, the fast-growing capital of Bangladesh; it saw an increase of 575 million person-days of extreme heat over the study period. Its ballooning population alone—4 million in 1983, to 22 million today—caused 80 percent of the increased exposure. This does not mean that Dhaka did not see substantial warming—only that population growth was even more rapid. Other big cities showing similar population-heavy trends include Shanghai and Guangzhou, China; Yangon, Myanmar; Bangkok; Dubai; Hanoi; Khartoum; and various cities in Pakistan, India and the Arabian Peninsula.
On the other hand, some other major cities saw close to half or more of their exposure caused by warming climate alone versus population growth. These included Baghdad, Cairo, Kuwait City, Lagos, Kolkata, Mumbai, and other big cities in India and Bangladesh. The populations of European cities have been relatively static, so increases in exposure there were driven almost exclusively by increased warmth. The researchers found that 17 percent of the cities studied added an entire month of extreme-heat days over the 34-year study period.
"A lot of these cities show the pattern of how human civilization has evolved over the past 15,000 years," said Tuholske, pointing out that many are located in warm climates where humidity is delivered by big river systems. This made them attractive for farming and eventually urbanization. "The Nile, the Tigris-Euphrates, the Ganges. There is a pattern to the places where we wanted to be," he said. "Now, those areas may become uninhabitable. Are people really going to want to live there?"
This interactive map allows users to zoom in on more than 13,000 individual cities for data on increases in person-day exposure to extreme heat and humidity, and the factors involved. For the live version, go to: https://bit.ly/3uj23Ty. Credit: Adapted from Tuholske et al., PNAS, 2021. Interactive graphics by Jeremy Hinsdale/Earth Institute
In the United States, about 40 sizable cities have seen rapidly growing exposure, mainly clustered in Texas and the Gulf Coast. In many, the causes of the rises have been varying combinations of both increasing population and increasing heat. These include Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin, Tex., along with Pensacola and other cities in Florida. In some, population growth is the main driver. These include Las Vegas; Savannah, Ga.; and Charleston, S.C. In others, it is almost exclusively fast-rising heat: Baton Rouge, La.; Gulfport, Miss.; and Lake Charles and Houma, La. One major outlier: the bayside city of Providence, R.I., where rising exposure was 93 percent due to warmer, more humid weather.
Because the period covered by the study ran only through 2016, the data did not include the series of record heat waves that raked the U.S. Northwest and southern Canada this summer, killing hundreds of people.
The study is not the first to document the dangers of excessive urban heat; among others, last year a separate Earth Institute team showed that combinations of heat and humidity literally beyond the limits of outdoor human survival have been briefly popping up around the world. The newer study led by Tuholske adds to the picture by quantifying on a granular level how many people are being affected in each location, and the degree to which exposure is being driven by population versus climate. The authors say this information should help urban planners come up with better-targeted strategies to help citizens adapt.
Kristina Dahl, a climate researcher at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the study "could serve as a starting point for identifying ways to to address local heat issues," such as planting trees and modifying rooftops with lighter colors or vegetation so they don't trap so much heat. "This study shows that it will take considerable, conscientious investments to ensure that cities remain livable in the face of a warming climate," she added.
The other authors of the study are Kelly Caylor, Chris Funk, Stuart Sweeney and Pete Peterson of the University of California, Santa Barbara; Andrew Verdin and Kathryn Grace of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities; and Tom Evans of the University of ArizonaNew heat exposure model can protect citizens
More information:Global urban population exposure to extreme heat,Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(2021).doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024792118
Study explores how a robot's inner speech affects a human user's trust
by Ingrid Fadelli , Tech Xplore
An interactive session where a participant collaborates with a robot as the robot also talks to itself. A virtual table is represented in the tablet, and the participant and the robot are setting up the table together. Credit: Pipitone et al.
Trust is a very important aspect of human-robot interactions, as it could play a crucial role in the widespread implementation of robots in real-world settings. Nonetheless, trust is a considerably complex construct that can depend on psychological and environmental factors.
Psychological theories often describe trust, either as a stable trait that can be shaped by early life experiences or as an evolving state of mind that can be affected by numerous cognitive, emotional and social factors. Most researchers agree that trust is generally characterized by two features: positive attitudes and expectations about a trustee and the readiness to become vulnerable and accept the possible risks associated with trusting others.
Researchers at University of Palermo have recently carried out a study investigating the effects of a robot's inner speech on a user's trust in it. In their paper, pre-published on arXiv, the team present findings of an experiment using a robot that can talk to itself out loud in a way that resembles humans' inner speech.
"Our recent paper is an outcome of the research we carried out at the RoboticsLab, at the University of Palermo," Arianna Pipitone, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. "The research explores the possibility of providing a robot with inner speech. In one of our previous works, we demonstrated that a robot's performance, in terms of transparency and robustness, improves when the robot talks to itself."
In their previous work, the researchers showed that a robot's performance can improve when it talks to itself. In their new work, they set out to investigate whether this ability to talk to itself can affect how users perceive a robot's trustworthiness and anthropomorphism (i.e., the extent to which it exhibits human characteristics).
The recent study was carried out on a group of 27 participants. Each of these participants were asked to complete the same questionnaire twice: before interacting with the robot and after they interacted with it.
"During the interactive session, the robot talked to itself," Pipitone explained. "The questionnaire we administered to participants is based on both the well-known inner speech scales (such as the Self Talk Scale) and the Godspeed test, which measure the aforementioned cues. By comparing questionnaires' results from the two different phases, we can observe how the robot's cues vary from the participants' perspective after the interaction, so inferring the effects of inner speech on them."
Understanding a robot's decision-making processes and why it performs specific behaviors is not always easy. The ability to talk to itself while completing a given task could thus make a robot more transparent, allowing its users to understand the different processes, considerations and calculations that lead to specific conclusions.
"Inner speech is a sort of explainable log," Pipitone explained. "Moreover, by inner speech, the robot could evaluate different strategies in collaboration with the human partner, leading to the fulfillment of specific goals. All these improvements make the robot more pleasant for people, and as shown, enhance the robot's trustworthiness and anthropomorphism."
Overall, Pipitone and her colleagues found that participants reported trusting the robot more after they interacted with it. In addition, they felt that the robot's ability to talk to itself out loud made it more human-like, or anthropomorphic.
In the future, the robotic inner speech mechanism developed by this team of researchers could help to make both existing and emerging robots more human-like, potentially encouraging more users to trust these robots and introduce them in their households or workplaces. Meanwhile, Pipitone and her colleagues plan to conduct further studies to confirm the validity of the initial results they collected.
"We now want to complete the experimental session by involving a large number of participants, to validate our initial results," Pipitone said. "Moreover, we want to compare the results from the interactive sessions during which the robot does not talk to itself, for refining the effective inner speech contribution on the cues. We will analyze many other features, such as the robot's emotions by inner speech. The human's inner speech plays a fundamental role in self-regulation, learning, focusing, so we would like to investigate these aspects."Pepper the robot talks to itself to improve its interactions with people
More information:Arianna Pipitone et al, Robot's inner speech effects on trust and anthropomorphic cues in human-robot cooperation. arXiv:2109.09388v1 [cs.RO],arxiv.org/abs/2109.09388
IMAGE: LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY SCIENTISTS HASSAN HIJAZI (LEFT) AND CARLETON COFFRIN (RIGHT) DEVELOPED ALGORITHMS THAT TOOK TOP PRIZES IN A NATIONAL COMPETITION TO HELP IMPROVE THE RESILIENCY OF THE ELECTRICAL GRID.view more
CREDIT: LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
Los Alamos, N.M., October 4, 2021—Two scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory took top prizes in a national competition for developing algorithms to help improve the resiliency and efficiency of the electrical grid. The algorithm developed by Hassan Hijazi of the Applied Mathematics and Plasma Physics Group took first place in all four divisions, while the one developed by Carleton Coffrin of the Laboratory’s Information Systems and Modeling Group placed second in two of the four divisions. Their work outperformed 14 other entries in the competition funded by Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), a United States government agency that promotes and funds research and development of advanced energy technologies.
“Grid security is a national security issue, which is why this is important work for Los Alamos,” said Nancy Jo Nicholas, associate Laboratory director for Global Security at Los Alamos. “Every five minutes, optimization problems arise in the U.S. electrical grid that require a mathematical solution. Hassan’s and Carleton’s achievement will help advance national efforts to create a more reliable, resilient, and secure electrical grid.”
Both Hijazi’s and Coffrin’s algorithms use artificial intelligence to find ways to improve grid performance. Coffrin’s code is open-source and available through GitHub. Hijazi competed in his individual capacity.
The contest is part of an effort to identify emerging grid optimization algorithms and to accelerate the adoption of these algorithms by industry. It requires competitors to demonstrate the applicability and strength of new algorithms across a wide range of system operating conditions. Groups from other national laboratories, academia, and industry all took part in the competition.
The success of Coffrin’s artificial intelligence methods in this competition were made possible by the Laboratory’s long-term strategic investment in foundational mathematical methods through the Advanced Network Science Initiative.
About Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is managed by Triad, a public service oriented, national security science organization equally owned by its three founding members: Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle), the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS), and the Regents of the University of California (UC) for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns. LA-UR-21-29639
