UMaine-led study shows mountain glacier melting is linked to shifting westerlies and likely to accelerate

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE

 

IMAGE: VIEW LOOKING WESTWARD DOWN THE DEBRIS-COVERED BALFOUR GLACIER TOWARD THE TASMAN SEA. THE SHARP TRANSITION FROM WHITE SNOW TO BROWN DEBRIS-RICH ICE MARKS THE POSITION OF THE SNOWLINE ON THE GLACIER, WHICH IS DETERMINED BY THE TEMPERATURE OF THE ATMOSPHERE. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY AARON PUTNAM

The combination of global atmospheric warming and westerly winds shifting toward the poles will likely speed up the recession of mountain glaciers in both hemispheres, according to a UMaine study. 

Mountain glaciers freeze and gain mass when the climate cools, and melt and lose mass when the climate warms. The extent to which the fluctuations in mountain glaciers are reflective of local, regional and even hemispheric climate variations, however, is less clear, which has made it more difficult for scientists to use glacial data to interpret past climate dynamics and make predictions for the future.

A team of researchers from the University of Maine conducted a National Science Foundation-funded study evaluating how atmospheric conditions are reflected in the mass fluctuations of mid-latitude glaciers on opposite sides of the Earth, comparing global temperature and wind changes with glacier snowline elevations (also called “equilibrium-line altitudes”) in the Southern Alps of New Zealand and in the European Alps observed over the course of nearly four decades. Glacier extent is dependent on the height of the snowline in the atmosphere, below which ice melts, which in turn is determined by the temperature of the atmosphere.

The data showed that the fluctuations in glacial snowlines reflected temperature changes over large regions of the atmosphere for the two mountain systems studied — even on hemispheric scales. Moreover, the latitudes of westerly wind belts were found to be important for regulating the proportion of cold versus warm air masses that influence glacier melting and freezing. 

“This study really shows how intertwined Earth’s climate system is. At first subtle shifts in the state of the climate system can create waves throughout the system that have far reaching consequences,” says Alexander Audet, principal author of the study, who completed the research as a master’s student at the University of Maine. He is now pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Nevada, Reno. 

The results show that under global warming, the poleward contraction of the westerly winds belts may accelerate warming — and glacier melting — in the mid latitudes of both hemispheres.

“These results highlight the sensitivity of Earth’s mountain glaciers to broad-scale atmospheric dynamics. They are incredibly sensitive, physical thermometers, monitoring atmospheric conditions from the sea surface to the top of the troposphere. Reconstructions of past glacier change from glacial landforms may therefore help to provide quantitative insights into how large portions of the atmosphere behaved during past episodes of abrupt climate change, and in turn may offer clues into the climate dynamics of a warming world,” says Aaron Putnam, co-author of the study and associate professor at the UMaine School of Earth and Climate Sciences. George Denton, UMaine professor at the School of Earth and Climate Sciences and the Climate Change Institute, also co-authored the report.

Other co-authors of the study included Joellen Russell of the University of Arizona; Andrew Lorrey, who received his master’s at UMaine and is now principal scientist of climate and environmental applications at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand; Andrew Mackintosh of Monash University, Australia; and Brian Anderson at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. 

The study will be published in the Dec. 16, 2022 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, and was first published online Nov. 14, 2022.

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JOURNAL

Geophysical Research Letters

DOI

10.1029/2022GL099897 

ARTICLE TITLE

Correspondence Among Mid-Latitude Glacier Equilibrium Line Altitudes, Atmospheric Temperatures, and Westerly Wind Fields

ETRI developed 『Smart Safe Livestock Barn Platform』 technology

10% increase in productivity by applying the world’s first digital twin and building a virtual livestock barn. Integrated management such as early detection of livestock diseases and energy efficiency with artificial intelligence

Business Announcement

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: ETRI RESEARCHERS ARE ANALYZING THE BEHAVIOR OF PIGS IN A BARN THROUGH A PERMANENT SAFETY MONITORING SYSTEM view more 

CREDIT: ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE(ETRI)

Researchers in Korea have developed a smart safety livestock barn platform that can comprehensively manage pig breeding and disease situations. It is expected to be of great help in improving productivity and responding to diseases by establishing a smart safety livestock barn based on information and communication technology (ICT).

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that it has developed TRIPLETS, a smart safety livestock barn platform that can prevent livestock diseases and effectively control and manage livestock by incorporating the latest ICT such as artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twins in the livestock.

Among agricultural and livestock products in Korea, pig farming is the largest, with domestic production exceeding KRW 8 trillion as of last year. However, due to difficulties in the field, such as frequent livestock diseases, odor, and reduced workforce, small-scale farms are decreasing and large-scale farms are increasing.

In line with the trend of large-scale and systematization of the pig farming industry, there is a growing demand for an ICT-based smart livestock barn specialized in early response to livestock diseases and efficient livestock management and sanitary barn management.

TRIPLET, a smart livestock barn platform developed by ETRI, combines AI and digital twin technologies into the pig industry. It analyzes pigs' behavior and immunity 24 hours a day and comprehensively controls early detection of livestock diseases such as diarrhea and respiratory diseases, productivity improvement through complex environment and specification management, energy utilization optimization, and air re-circulation.

In particular, the digital twin platform (TRIPLET-P) is a technology that builds and analyzes virtual livestock barn in a digital space by utilizing real-time information such as facilities, pig behavior, environment sensor information, and energy use of livestock barn. In digital space, livestock barn control, operation, and environmental changes such as breeding density and livestock group management can be simulated in advance, reflected in actual livestock, thereby increasing productivity and establishing an optimal livestock barn environment. The TRIPLET platform is the world's first to apply digital twin technology to the livestock industry. The researchers expect the platform to increase productivity by at least 10% over the previous years.

The livestock barn safety monitoring system (TRIPLET-Eye) is a technology that utilizes AI technology and bio sensors to monitor livestock stress, changes in immunity, and abnormal signs. First, the behavior of pigs is monitored 24 hours a day through low-cost IP cameras to infer and analyze signs of abnormalities in pigs. Also, through the saliva extractor module and bio sensor installed in the livestock barn, the pig's stress and immune state changes are analyzed and the health condition is comprehensively managed.

In addition, through joint research with Seoul National University, the smart safety livestock barn system (TRIPLET-S) with the world's best air re-circulation system was also developed. The smart safe livestock barn system integrates and manages the barn environment, such as air cleaning and deodorization, ultraviolet sterilization, and energy management, and prevents the occurrence and inflow and outflow of diseases.

Additionally, through the integrated autonomous operation system for farms with smart safe livestock barn (TRIPLET-A), livestock farmers are supported to autonomously operate the platform according to the environment of each farm.

Based on the TRIPLET platform and related element technologies, the research team has applied for/registered about 30 domestic and foreign patents, and is working hard to commercialize the platform by improving the platform's completeness at “Eco-Farm”, an agricultural corporation in Suncheon, Jeollanam-do as a TestBed.

The researchers announced that this technology was successfully developed based on ▲ETRI's digital twin platform technology, ▲AI image analysis technology, ▲time-series data prediction technology, ▲agricultural and livestock IoT platform technology, and ▲big data accumulated over many years.

Kim Se-han, Director of ETRI's Agriculture, Animal and Aquaculture Intelligence Research Center, said, "This technology will be of great help in narrowing the technological gap with leading countries in the livestock industry, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, and enhancing the competitiveness of the livestock industry. We will continue to work with farmers in the field to improve and spread the completeness of the platform.”

In the future, the research team will proceed with commercialization for companies related to agricultural and livestock IT systems, and will strive to spread the smart safe livestock barn platform and foster an ecosystem for new industries converged in the livestock industry through technology transfer and start-up support for domestic and foreign companies.

 

ETRI researchers are monitoring a pig barn through the TRIPLETS

CREDIT

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute(ETRI)

This technology was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute for Information & communication Technology Planning & evaluation (IITP) “ICT-based intelligent smart safe livestock barn technology development for livestock disease prevention and control management”.

 

Australia’s opportunity to decarbonize light-duty vehicles with fuel efficiency standards

Reports and Proceedings

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION

 

IMAGE: FIGURE 1. ESTIMATED CO2 EMISSIONS UNDER OUR FOUR POLICY SCENARIOS FOR AUSTRALIA’S LIGHT-DUTY VEHICLE STOCK FROM 2019 TO 2050. view more 

CREDIT: INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION

Washington, DC, 13 December 2022 — Australia can almost fully decarbonize its light-duty vehicle (LDV) fleet by 2050 by implementing fuel efficiency or carbon dioxide (CO2) emission standards like those already adopted in leading vehicle markets including the European Union, New Zealand, and the United States, a new study from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) finds. Stringent, world-class standards starting in 2024 could reduce well-to-wheel CO2 emissions from the LDV fleet in Australia by 95% in 2050 compared to 2019 (Figure 1).

Emissions from LDVs, which are passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, are nearly two-thirds of Australia’s transport emissions and these were approximately 12% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, according to Australian government estimates. ICCT’s analysis shows that even implementing a less ambitious national standard that matches existing state-level electric vehicle targets would bring benefits: Well-to-wheel CO2 emissions from the LDV fleet would be 84% lower in 2050 than in 2019. However, this would also allow 165 Mt more CO2 emissions from 2019 to 2050 than if world-class standards are instead adopted.

“It’s abundantly clear that emission standards would be effective in driving significant reductions in CO2 emissions from Australia’s fleet, and they can promote both electric vehicles and emissions reduction from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs),” said Zifei Yang, ICCT’s passenger vehicles program lead and a co-author of the paper released today.

The study also analyzed the impact of the voluntary CO2 emissions targets set by Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI). ICCT’s Roadmap model projections show that these targets, under their maximum stringency for new LDVs without adjusting for weights and credits, would allow ICEVs to dominate Australia’s vehicle stock even in 2050 (Figure 2). Additionally, the FCAI targets are not stringent enough to spur emissions reduction from ICEVs if state electric vehicle targets are met, and they might even allow emissions from ICEVs to increase.

“Preventing any backsliding in ICEV emissions performance is important because decarbonizing transport is a key part of achieving Australia’s 2050 net-zero target,” said Tanzila Khan, ICCT associate researcher and the study’s lead author. “We urge policymakers to adopt the world-class standards starting no later than 2024.”

Aligning with world-class emission standards would mean all new LDVs sold in Australia in 2035 are zero-emission vehicles. Such standards correspond to a fleet-average CO2 emissions target of 50 gCO2/km on the New European Driving Cycle in 2030, a 72% reduction compared with the emissions from the LDV fleet in 2019.

Figure 2. Australia’s light-duty vehicle stock by power train from 2019 to 2050 for each policy scenario based on ICCT's Roadmap model projections.

CREDIT

International Council on Clean Transportation

Publication details

“Fuel efficiency standards to decarbonize Australia’s light-duty vehicles”
Authors: Tanzila Khan, Zifei Yang, Arijit Sen, and Josh Miller
Download: https://theicct.org/publication/pv-australia-CO2-standards-dec22

The International Council on Clean Transportation is an independent nonprofit organization founded to provide first-rate, unbiased research and technical and scientific analysis to environmental regulators. Our mission is to improve the environmental performance and energy efficiency of road, marine, and air transportation, in order to benefit public health and mitigate climate change.

https://www.theicct.org

@TheICCT

Governments around the world, including in the UK, ”hindering not helping” transformation of food systems to tackle hunger and poverty, UN to hear 

Meeting Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF SURREY

National governments, including the UK’s, are holding back food transformation systems – this is the message a University of Surrey expert will give to the United Nations on Thursday 15 December. 

At an event organised by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, Professor Roberta Sonnino will point the finger at national governments across the world, accusing them of a lack of collaboration to make food systems more sustainable. 

Prof Sonnino is professor of sustainable food systems who led the writing of the Framework for the Urban Food Agenda for the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. She says: 

“It’s no secret that existing food systems aren’t working for the world’s poor or for the planet, yet national governments fail to act. Even worse, with their red-tape and silo working, they stymie the efforts of organisations on the ground trying to tackle the problem.” 

The panel discussion takes place at the 17th Annual Session of the Global Forum on Human Settlements, which addresses the role cities play in solving the crises of climate change, nature loss, economic downturn and more.  

Highlighting the areas relating to food which need addressing, Prof Sonnino says: 

“Few countries even have a food policy; the UK is in bad company by not having one. Do the stories coming from stretched food banks mean nothing? Have the Covid-era images of empty supermarket shelves alongside food rotting in fields not highlighted what isn’t working in food systems? 

“Food is a connector which impacts everyone and everything: the economy, health, agriculture, environment, business, transport and more. It’s an obvious priority but government responses are piecemeal and inadequate. We need collaboration and for governments to listen to the voices of people tackling the problem at local levels.” 

The event aims to bring attention to and increase awareness about the importance of urban food systems in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It will share examples of successful practices and experiences of how urban and local food governance can contribute to achieving sustainable food systems transformation. 

Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti, Founding Director of the new Institute for Sustainability at the University of Surrey, says: 

“This interdisciplinary work and ambition to bust silos is typical of the approach being taken at the University of Surrey to tackle sustainability issues. By getting academia, NGOs, governments at many levels and businesses working together, we will succeed in making a more equitable world where everyone can live fulfilling and healthy lives within the limits of the planet.” 

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Water cleanup method developed by University of California, Riverside, scientists destroys pervasive, cancer-causing “forever chemicals” or PFAS

One-two punch of hydrogen and short-wave ultraviolet light infusions destroy PFAS in method designed for future drinking water and toxic site cleanup applications

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE

An insidious category of carcinogenic pollutants known as “forever chemicals” may not be so permanent after all.

University of California, Riverside, chemical engineering and environmental scientists recently published new methods to chemically break up these harmful substances found in drinking water into smaller compounds that are essentially harmless. 

The patent-pending process infuses contaminated water with hydrogen, then blasts the water with high-energy, short-wavelength ultraviolet light. The hydrogen polarizes water molecules to make them more reactive, while the light catalyzes chemical reactions that destroy the pollutants, known as PFAS or poly- and per-fluoroalkyl substances.

This one-two punch breaks the strong fluorine-to-carbon chemicals bonds that make these pollutants so persistent and accumulative in the environment. In fact, the molecular destruction of PFAS increased from 10% to nearly 100% when compared to other ultraviolet water-treatment methods, while no other undesirable byproducts or impurities are generated, the UCR scientists reported in a paper recently published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters. 

What’s more, the cleanup technology is green. 

“After the interaction, hydrogen will become water. The advantage of this technology is that it is very sustainable,” said Haizhou Liu, an associate professor in UCR’s Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and the corresponding author of the paper. 

Liu’s laboratory developed the technology with help from a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. 

PFAS are a family of thousands of chemical compounds characterized by fully fluorinated carbon atoms with stubbornly strong chemical bonds that last indefinitely in the environment – hence the moniker “forever chemicals.” Examples of PFAS-containing products include grease-resistant paper wrappers and containers such as microwave popcorn bags, pizza boxes, and candy wrappers. They are also found in stain and water repellents used on carpets, upholstery, clothing; cleaning products; non-stick cookware; and paints, varnishes, and sealants, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Studies have linked exposure to certain levels of PFAS to many ill health effects, including increased risk for prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers, as well as decreased fertility or increased high blood pressure in pregnant women, developmental effects or delays in children, low birth weight, and accelerated puberty, according to the EPA. 

Because of these health effects, federal and state officials are promulgating new cleanup standards for PFAS in drinking water and in groundwater below or emanating from toxic cleanup sites. 

Click here for a more detailed web version of this press release with pictures.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters

DOI

10.1016/j.hazl.2022.100072 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Hydrogen-polarized vacuum ultraviolet photolysis system for enhanced destruction of perfluoroalkyl substances

Why humans get infected with rodent-borne diseases

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

 

IMAGE: EXAMPLES OF ZOONOTIC PATHOGEN CARRYING RODENTS INCLUDE THE BANK VOLE IN EUROPE, THE NORTH AMERICAN DEER MOUSE, AND AZARA'S GRASS MOUSE IN SOUTH AMERICA. view more 

CREDIT: ROLF SEGERSTEDT

In a global study, researchers have identified that most reservoirs of rodent-borne diseases tend to live exclusively or occasionally in or near human dwellings, show large fluctuations in their numbers, and/or are hunted for meat or fur. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed the need to better understand the transmission routes of animal-spread diseases. The study demonstrates how the risk of pathogen transmission from animals to humans is driven by the interplay between natural and human-caused factors. 

Rodents’ “fast life” with sexual maturity at early age, many litters per year and numerous young per litter is an important explanation why rodents are important reservoirs for pathogens. But why do humans get infected by rodent-borne pathogens? 

“Most rodents that spread zoonotic pathogens, meaning pathogens spreading between animals and humans, show large population fluctuations, move at least occasionally indoors, or are hunted for meat or fur. Our results were consistent among pathogen types i.e., virus, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. And with transmission modes, i.e., intermediate, involvement of vectors or non-close and close contact, with close contact including inhalation of contaminated aerosols,” says Frauke Ecke, project leader and Professor at University of Helsinki, Finland and senior lecturer at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). 

Global study on 436 rodent species 

In the study published in Nature Communications, researchers from SLU, University of Helsinki and Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, USA, performed a global quantitative study based on data collected from research papers and databases. The study includes 436 rodent species of which 282 are all known reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens. The researchers studied the linkage among the rodents’ choice of environment, variation in numbers i.e., population fluctuations, humans’ hunting of rodents, and the status of rodents as reservoirs. 

“It is remarkable how consistent the results are among continents, disease systems and rodent species,” says Rick Ostfeld, co-leader of the study. 

 Some areas of the world are more risky to get zoonoses from rodents 

In addition, the researchers have identified regions where transmission risk between rodents and humans is high. Large parts of Europe, especially central and northern Europe, a wide stretch extending from eastern Europe to eastern Asia, eastern China, parts of South America, south-east Australia, and eastern regions in North America are at high risk.  

“If people encounter a rodent in these regions, there is a high risk that this rodent carries zoonotic pathogens,” says Ecke.  

Examples of such pathogen carrying rodents include the bank vole in Europe, the North American deer mouse, and Azara's Grass Mouse in South America. These species show large population fluctuations and can also move indoors. 

“It is especially the large population fluctuations together with the disturbance of the rodents’ natural habitat that can explain why rodents move nearby and into human dwellings. This movement behaviour is typical for so-called generalists, which are species that can cope with many different environments. These generalists are the most important reservoirs of pathogens,” explains Ecke.  

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-35273-7 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Population fluctuations and synanthropy explain transmission risk in rodent-borne zoonoses

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Dec-2022

Not everyone aware sustainable diets are about helping the planet

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY

A new study has found that young Brits would be willing to change to a more sustainable diet, but a lack of understanding about what that actually means is preventing many from doing so.

Many people are also uncertain about what changes they should make.

Sustainable diets are defined by the UN as “diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations.”

Previous research has suggested that 20-30% of environmental impacts in Europe and the UK originate from our diets, including impacts from food production, processing and retail. It is also now widely accepted that the consumption of meat and animal products typically has a higher environmental impact than plant-based foods.

“When thinking about how to live more sustainably, people seem to understand that this can mean taking fewer flights, using the car less, recycling more, but it seems that not everyone is aware of the difference that changing their diet can make as well,” explained Katherine Appleton, Professor of Psychology at Bournemouth University, who led the study.

For this new study, researchers from Bournemouth University interviewed twenty-one mostly young adults from a range of households and with different cooking responsibilities – from cooking for everyone in the house, to living with others who do all the cooking for them.

They were asked various questions about their understanding of a sustainable diet and their willingness to make changes.

The findings, published in the journal Appetite, found that many participants did not know or were very unsure of what a sustainable diet was, with some not considering the environment or the planet at all.

Participants were unclear what would make their food choices more environmentally sustainable. When it came to making changes to their diet, participants explained that they would be willing to do that to help the environment, but there was significant uncertainty about what changes they should make.

There was particular interest in making small and easy changes – for example, eating less meat but not cutting it out completely and being prepared to pay a little bit more for it, but not significantly more.

The research team recommend that more work needs to be done to raise public awareness of what constitutes a sustainable diet and how people’s food choices can impact the environment and global food security.

“We were surprised by our findings. We had originally intended looking at how we can encourage people to eat more foods such as beans and pulses, but we discovered that people still don’t know enough about why this is important, so to talk about increasing the consumption of specific foods is getting too far ahead for many,” explained Professor Appleton.

“We need to promote greater awareness and knowledge of how changes to eating habits can go some way to helping the planet, while also offering some suggested changes that are likely to be acceptable and acted upon,” she added.

Focussing on likely impact and personal benefit and increasing public availability and accessibility to sustainable diets will be of value, the researchers suggest, but consideration of consumer preferences and abilities will also be needed, the researchers conclude.

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JOURNAL

Appetite

DOI

10.1016/j.appet.2022.106388 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Public understanding of sustainable diets and changes towards sustainability: A qualitative study in a UK population sample

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Dec-2022

Could artificial intelligence help us build a technological world that is more ethical?

The way users use technology can create new opportunities to bring about ethical benefits for society

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITAT OBERTA DE CATALUNYA (UOC)

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. The Three Laws of Robotics were set out by Isaac Asimov eighty years ago, long before artificial intelligence became a reality. But they perfectly illustrate how humans have dealt with the ethical challenges of technology: by protecting the users.

However, the ethical challenges facing humanity, whether they are related to technology or not, are not really a technological problem, but rather a social one. As such, technology in general, and artificial intelligence in particular, could be used to empower users and help us move towards a world that is more ethically desirable. In other words, we can rethink the way we design technology and artificial intelligence and draw on them to build a more ethical society.

This is the approach put forward by Joan Casas-Roma, a researcher at the SmartLearn group belonging to the Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), in his open-access Ethical Idealism, Technology and Practice: a Manifesto. In order to understand how to implement this paradigm shift, we need to go back in time a little.

 

Artificial intelligence is objective, right?

When Asimov first set out his Laws of Robotics, the world was a very low-tech place compared to the present day. It was 1942 and Alan Turing had only just finished formalizing the algorithmic concepts that would be key to the development of modern computing decades later. There were no computers, no internet, let alone artificial intelligence or autonomous robots. But Asimov was already anticipating the fear that humans would succeed in making machines so intelligent that they would end up rebelling against their creators.

But later, in the early days of computing and data technologies in the 1960s, these issues were not among the key concerns of science. "There was a belief that, because the data were objective and scientific, the resulting information was going to be true and of high quality. It was derived from an algorithm in the same way that something is derived from a mathematical calculation. Artificial intelligence was objective and therefore helped us to eliminate human bias," explained Joan Casas-Roma.

But this was not the case. We came to realize that the data and the algorithms replicated the model or worldview of the person who was using the data or who had designed the system. In other words, the technology itself was not eliminating human biases, but rather transferring them to a new medium. "Over time, we have learned that artificial intelligence is not necessarily objective and, therefore, its decisions can be highly biased. The decisions perpetuated inequalities, rather than fixing them," he said.

So, we have ended up at the same point that was anticipated by the Laws of Robotics. Questions about ethics and artificial intelligence were brought to the table from a reactive and protective point of view. When we realized that artificial intelligence was neither fair nor objective, we decided to start acting to contain its harmful effects. "The ethical question of artificial intelligence arose from the need to build a shield so that the undesirable effects of technology on users would not continue to be perpetuated. It was necessary to do so," said Casas-Roma.

As he explains in the manifesto, the fact of having to react in this way has meant that over the past few decades we have not explored another fundamental question in the relationship between technology and ethics: what ethically desirable consequences might a set of artificial intelligences with access to an unprecedented amount of data help us to achieve? In other words, how can technology help us move towards the construction of an ethically desirable future?

 

Towards an idealistic relationship between ethics and technology

One of the European Union's major mid-term goals is to move towards a more inclusive, more integrated and more cooperative society in which citizens have a greater understanding of global challenges. To achieve it, technology and artificial intelligence could be a major obstacle, but they could also be a great ally. "Depending on how people's interaction is designed with artificial intelligence, a more cooperative society could be promoted," said Casas-Roma.

There has been an undeniable boom in online education in recent years. Digital learning tools have many benefits, but they can also contribute to a sense of isolation. "Technology could encourage a greater sense of cooperation and create a greater sense of community. For example, instead of having a system that only automatically corrects exercises, the system could also send a message to another classmate who has solved the problem to make it easier for students to help each other. It's just one idea to understand how technology can be designed to help us interact in a way that promotes community and cooperation," he said.

According to Casas-Roma, an ethical idealist perspective can rethink how technology and the way users use it can create new opportunities to achieve ethical benefits for the users themselves and society as a whole. This idealistic approach to the ethics of technology should have the following characteristics:

• Expansive. Technology and its uses should be designed in a way that enables its users to flourish and become more empowered.
• Idealist. The end goal that should always be kept in mind is how technology could make things better.
• Enabling. The possibilities created by technology must be carefully understood and shaped to ensure that they enhance and support the ethical growth of users and societies.
• Mutable. The current state of affairs should not be taken for granted. The current social, political and economic landscape, as well as technology and the way it is used, could be reshaped to enable progress towards a different ideal state of affairs.
• Principle-based. The way technology is used should be seen as an opportunity to enable and promote behaviours, interactions and practices that are aligned with certain desired ethical principles.

"It's not so much a question of data or algorithms. It is a matter of rethinking how we interact and how we would like to interact, what we are enabling through a technology that imposes itself as a medium," concluded Joan Casas-Roma. "This idea is not so much a proposal concerning the power of technology, but rather the way of thinking behind whoever designs the technology. It is a call for a paradigm shift, a change of mindset. The ethical effects of technology are not a technological problem, but rather a social problem. They pose the problem of how we interact with each other and with our surroundings through technology."

 

This research contributes to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

 

UOC R&I

The UOC's research and innovation (R&I) is helping overcome pressing challenges faced by global societies in the 21st century, by studying interactions between technology and human & social sciences with a specific focus on the network society, e-learning and e-health.

The UOC's research is conducted by over 500 researchers and 51 research groups distributed between the university's seven faculties, the E-learning Research programme, and two research centres: the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) and the eHealth Center (eHC).

The University also cultivates online learning innovations at its eLearning Innovation Center (eLinC), as well as UOC community entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer via the Hubbik platform.

The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and open knowledge serve as strategic pillars for the UOC's teaching, research and innovation. More information: research.uoc.edu.

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DOI

10.1007/s13347-022-00575-7 

https://rowlandpasaribu.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/pc3abtr-kropotkin-ethics.pdf

Ethics: Origin and Development - Pëtr Kropotkin 

Kropotkin's “Ethics: Origin and Development,” is, in a sense, a continuation of his well-known work, “Mutual Aid as a Factor of. Evolution.

IMDEA Software creates a tool capable of tracking cybercrime financial transactions in Bitcoin

Researchers Gibran Gómez, Pedro Moreno-Sánchez and Juan Caballero develop "Watch Your Back"

Peer-Reviewed Publication

IMDEA SOFTWARE INSTITUTE

IMDEA Software researchers Gibran Gómez, Pedro Moreno-Sánchez and Juan Caballero have created an open-source automated tool to track the financial relationships of malicious entities that abuse Bitcoin technology, tested on 30 malware families. The study "Watch Your Back: Identifying Cybercrime Financial Relationships in Bitcoin through Back-and-Forth Exploration", in which they present their research and the tool, was presented at the prestigious CCS'22 conference (ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security) last November.

 

Cybercrime is the plague of the digital environment. Scams, phishing, identity theft, personal data theft, phishing or computer fraud are just a few examples of illicit activities on the network. Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, have consistently attracted the attention of cybercriminals, who have frequently used them as a means of payment and even as a means of storing data for illicit purposes.

 

Aware of this problem, Gibran, Pedro and Juan have analyzed more than 7,500 Bitcoin addresses belonging to 30 malware families, including ransomware families, clippers, sextorsion, crypto-jackers  or info stealers. 

 

The main advantage provided by the back-and-forth exploration method, used in the study, is that it allows tracking all transactions produced by a Bitcoin address recursively. This means that, if a Bitcoin address receives cryptocurrencies from another address, and this in turn sends them to a third address, the complete path of the cryptocurrencies could be traced starting from the first address, or from the last one.

 

As Gibran Gómez points out, "one of the main advantages of the tool is that the user can replicate the whole process in a transparent way, which allows the results to be corroborated". 

 

The tool, in addition to serving Bitcoin users themselves, could be especially useful for law enforcement agencies, as it would allow them to identify paths between malicious addresses and deposit addresses used by operators of illicit activities that belong to financial entities regulated by KYC policies, such as exchanges (cryptocurrency exchanges). This means that the National Police, for example, could use such paths as evidence to obtain a court order to require from an exchange the personal identification data associated with the addresses involved, and get to know who the final recipients of the illicit money are.

 

In addition, Gómez advises users to take certain precautionary measures before carrying out transactions to avoid being the target of cybercrime: "Paying close attention when including the destination address in a transaction is essential. It is necessary to check several times that the destination address is correct to avoid clippers". To prevent malware, he suggests always using antivirus software and running frequent computer scans and, lastly, performing constant back-ups to avoid the loss of important data that can result from a ransomware attack.

 

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DOI

10.1145/3548606.3560587 

ARTICLE TITLE

Watch Your Back: Identifying Cybercrime Financial Relationships in Bitcoin through Back-and-Forth Exploration