CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Disclosing ‘true normal price’ recommended to protect consumers from deceptive pricing

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME

Fifty years ago, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stopped enforcing deceptive pricing regulations, assuming that competition would keep retailers honest.

Since then, competition has increased significantly — yet the practice of posting false, inflated comparison prices alongside sale prices has continued unchecked.

Think of an advertisement from a furniture store that touts a $599 sale price for a couch as an $800 savings from a promoted regular price of $1,399. The problem is that the store may have never offered the couch for sale at the higher price.  

This practice, called “fictitious pricing,” is ubiquitous in the retail trade. One recent investigation tracked the prices of 25 major retailers and found that “most stores’ sale prices … are bogus discounts” because the listed regular price is seldom, if ever, the price charged for the products.

“Competition and the Regulation of Fictitious Pricing” is forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing from Joe Urbany, professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, along with Rick Staelin from Duke University and Donald Ngwe, a senior researcher at Microsoft.

The paper critically evaluates two assumptions underlying the FTC’s decision to halt deceptive pricing prosecution.

The first is that inflated reference prices are largely ignored by consumers, who focus primarily on the sale prices, leading to price competition that pushes selling prices lower and renders reference prices harmless.

However, dozens of empirical studies in marketing and psychology reveal that advertised reference prices — even those exaggerated to unrealistic levels — have significant impact on consumer decision-making. This is explained by the natural value that consumers place on getting a good deal, labeled “transaction utility” by Richard Thaler in his Nobel Prize-winning body of work. 

In contrast to the FTC’s second assumption that competition drives out economic incentives to cheat, a number of recent economic models show the opposite. Competition in fact increases the chance that a firm will offer noisy information in an attempt to shield itself by looking different to customers. As a result, deception is found to be more profitable as competition increases.

These are fundamental forces that encourage the use of fictitious pricing. They also explain why state-level regulatory efforts and even a growing number of class action lawsuits have done little to discourage the practice.  

“There are limits to enforcement by litigation,” Urbany said. “It allows only a relatively small number of meaningful actions in a given time period, leading to limited visibility and impact on widespread practice.”

The authors propose instead a disclosure solution in the form of requiring firms that use comparison prices in their sales promotion to additionally post the item’s true normal price (TNP). The TNP is the most frequently offered price for that product in a given period.

For example, let’s say a price-promoting furniture retailer actually offers the sofa for sale at $1,399 for the first two weeks in a quarter (making zero sales), and then advertises the sofa on sale at $599, promoting $800 in savings for the other 10 weeks. Under the TNP disclosure proposal, the retailer would need to post $599 as its true normal price for the product in any subsequent sales promotions that included statement of a “regular price.” 

Through a controlled experiment with 900 participants, the authors found that providing TNP information largely eliminates the effect of an advertised regular price, which otherwise significantly raises the chance a consumer will buy.

To gauge the likely response of firms to the TNP disclosure concept, the authors also interviewed a dozen senior retail executives, each with extensive experience in pricing.

“Our interviews revealed that some practitioners are very supportive of efforts to rein in what is perceived to be an ‘out-of-control’ promotional environment,” Urbany said. “At the same time, they and others offered more sobering insights about the realities of likely resistance to intervention.”

The paper concludes with conjectures about how TNP provision would motivate greater honesty in pricing, likely having an impact on average market prices, promotion frequencies and firm profits. Important research directions are highlighted. 

 

Contact: Joe Urbany, 574-631-2687, urbany@nd.edu

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JOURNAL

Journal of Marketing

ARTICLE TITLE

Competition and the Regulation of Fictitious Pricing

 

First experiments with carbon black pigment dispersion acting as a Janus ultrasound contrast agent

Peer-Reviewed Publication

COMPUSCRIPT LTD

https://doi.org/10.15212/bioi-2023-0004

Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. Theranostic ultrasound contrast agents comprise a therapeutic component whose controlled release is triggered by an ultrasound pulse. However, once the therapeutic component has been released from an ultrasound contrast agent microbubble, its intended uptake cannot be monitored, as its acoustically active host has been destroyed. Acoustic Janus particles, whose hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties depend on the external acoustic regime, are of potential use as contrast agents and drug-delivery tracers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that submicron particles with Janus properties may act as ultrasound contrast agents whose hydrophobicity changes over time.

Fifty samples of carbon black were subjected to 5-minute sonication with pulses with a center frequency of 10 MHz and a 1% duty cycle, after which the optical absorption coefficients were measured in n-octanol and water. These coefficients were compared with those of unsonicated samples.

Preliminary results show that the difference between the linear absorption coefficients of sonicated and unsonicated samples was Δα = 80 ± 13 m−1 immediately after sonication, indicating that the carbon black particles were less hydrophobic after sonication than prior to it. Forty-eight hours after sonication, the difference in linear optical absorption coefficients had lessened to Δα = 16 ± 9 m−1, indicating that the carbon black particles had become more hydrophobic over time, but not equal to the hydrophobicity situation prior to sonication.

These experiments confirmed that submicron carbon black particles have acoustic Janus properties.

BIO Integration is fully open access journal which will allow for the rapid dissemination of multidisciplinary views driving the progress of modern medicine.

 

As part of its mandate to help bring interesting work and knowledge from around the world to a wider audience, BIOI will actively support authors through open access publishing and through waiving author fees in its first years. Also, publication support for authors whose first language is not English will be offered in areas such as manuscript development, English language editing and artwork assistance.

 

BIOI is now open for submissions; articles can be submitted online at:

https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/bioi

 

Please visit www.bio-integration.org to learn more about the journal.

Editorial Board: https://bio-integration.org/editorial-board/

 

Please visit www.bio-integration.org to learn more about the journal.

Editorial Board: https://bio-integration.org/editorial-board/

 

BIOI is available on the IngentaConnect platform (https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cscript/bioi) and at the BIO Integration website (www.bio-integration.org).

 

Submissions may be made using ScholarOne (https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/bioi).

There are no author submission or article processing fees.

 

Follow BIOI on Twitter @JournalBio; Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BIO-Integration-Journal-108140854107716/) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/bio-integration-journal/).

 

ISSN 2712-0074

eISSN 2712-0082

 

Article reference: First experiments with carbon black pigment dispersion acting as a Janus ultrasound contrast agent, de Bruin Jordaan, Jean; Nixon, Ken J.; Carlson, Craig S.; Postema, Michiel;, BIO Integration, 2023, https://doi.org/10.15212/bioi-2023-0004

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DOI

10.15212/bioi-2023-0004 

 

City-dwelling wildlife demonstrate “urban trait syndrome”

Scientists find nuanced tactics are needed to increase urban biodiversity

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: AMERICAN CROW WITH PIZZA. ONE CHARACTERISTIC OF URBAN WILDLIFE IS THEIR TASTE FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF FOODS. view more 

CREDIT: KEVIN J. MCGOWAN.

Ithaca, NY— City life favors species that are adaptable and not too fussy about what they eat, among other characteristics. A worldwide consortium of scientists calls the resulting collection of traits an "Urban Trait Syndrome." Their study includes data from 379 cities on 6 continents, with the largest data set coming from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird program. The work is published in Nature Communications. 

"The most pronounced changes among city-dwelling organisms are in reproduction and foraging," said co-author and researcher Frank La Sorte at the Cornell Lab. "For example, city birds tend to be smaller, eat a wider variety of foods, and produce smaller clutches than their rural counterparts. Smaller clutch sizes in urban birds have been associated with higher survival rates and increased growth."

But not all groups of species share the same urban trait syndrome. Beetles, birds, and reptiles tend to have smaller body sizes in the most urbanized areas compared to their country cousins. The mobility of ground beetles was higher while that of reptiles and birds was lower in more urbanized areas.

An organism's level of mobility plays a role in how it looks for food. The study authors identify four different types of foraging behavior among the urban creatures studied. These food-finding strategies are shown in the graphic as they relate to birds, bees, beetles, bats, and reptiles. The "mobile specialist" behavior is inferred but was not documented in the study.

Both birds and bees are "central place foragers," meaning they have a base of operations and make daily trips out and back to find food.

"The most common dietary strategy for birds in urban areas is to be a generalist—in other words they'll eat a variety of different foods instead of specializing. You see this clearly among such common city birds as the Rock Pigeon, European Starling, and House Sparrow. The specialists gradually disappear," La Sorte explained.

As the dietary specialists disappear, biodiversity goes down in cities around the world, and the species mix becomes increasingly homogenized. Yet biodiversity is what keeps an ecosystem heathy.

Urban ecology is a growing field of study driven in part by human population growth and the expansion of many of the world's largest cities. One of the biggest hurdles when addressing questions in urban ecology is a lack of comprehensive information from within cities. Much of the existing ecological data, apart from birds, is scarce and not gathered in a systematic way that allows for accurate comparisons across cities. The growth of citizen-science programs such as eBird, in which volunteers compile observations of the natural world, have the potential to address this information gap.

"My perspective is that preserving habitat is critical," said La Sorte. "Ecosystems in cities are heavily transformed and managed and intact native vegetation tends to be scarce. The more components of an ecosystem that are preserved and supported, the healthier the overall urban environment will be."

That support could be in the form of expanded parks and green spaces or by supplying artificial nesting resources as ways to partially compensate for habitat lost to city expansion. It’s a more nuanced approach to urban conservation aimed at keeping cities healthy for nature and people by accounting for the needs of many different types of species.

This research was conducted as part of the Urban Biodiversity Research Coordination Network (UrBioNet) funded by the National Science Foundation.

Reference:
Amy K. Hahs, et.al. (2023) Urbanisation generates multiple trait syndromes for terrestrial animal taxa worldwide, Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39746-1

Foraging Behaviors graphic (IMAGE)

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Graphic demonstrates four styles of wildlife foraging behavior.

CREDIT

Graphic produced by Bertrand Fournier. Silhouettes from Phylopic. Figure from Nature Communications, Amy K. Hahs, et.al. August 2023.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-39746-1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Urbanisation generates multiple trait syndromes for terrestrial animal taxa worldwide

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Aug-2023

Teamsters union pushes for US bankruptcy reform after Yellow's collapse

Story by By Dietrich Knauth •

Freight trucking company Yellow files for bankruptcy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday called for changes to U.S. bankruptcy laws following the Chapter 11 filing of freight trucking company Yellow Corp, saying that workers must not be "left behind" when big businesses fail.

The Teamsters union said 22,000 of its members were out of work despite making significant concessions on wages and pension benefits in labor negotiations with the nearly 100-year-old company, which filed for bankruptcy on Sunday.

Yellow has blamed the Teamsters' opposition to its internal reorganization efforts for its collapse. But the Teamsters said its members had sacrificed more than $5 billion in wage and benefit concessions since 2009 to keep Yellow moving.

The union warned that the bankruptcy could mean they will not receive bargained-for retirement benefits or severance pay.

"Corporate bankruptcy legislation in the U.S. is a joke," Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said in a statement. "Hardworking people routinely get left behind in this process when they should be at the front of the line to be paid and protected for the sacrifices they make to American employers."



The logo of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters labor union is seen on the outside of their headquarters in Washington, D.C.© Thomson Reuters

Yellow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The union argued that U.S. bankruptcy law should be reformed to protect collecting bargaining agreements and worker retirement plans, which can be terminated by a bankrupt company or by a new buyer who acquires a company out of bankruptcy.

The union cited legislation last introduced in 2020 by two Congressional Democrats, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Representative Jerry Nadler of New York, as an example of the kind of legislation it would support.

That legislation, the Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act, would have prioritized payment for certain employee wage and retirement claims and it would have made it more difficult for bankrupt employers to terminate pension plans and collective bargaining agreements.

The bill passed a House committee but was not enacted into law.

U.S. bankruptcy law currently prioritizes repayment of up to $15,150 in wages per employee, according to bankruptcy attorney George Singer, who is not involved in Yellow's case.

But a law that forces debtors to honor existing collective bargaining agreements and retirement plans could conflict with other fundamental goals of bankruptcy, like giving debtors a fresh start or ensuring that losses are shared by similarly-situated creditors, Singer said.

Yellow's bankruptcy also carries risk for U.S. taxpayers, who could be on the hook if the company is unable to repay a $700 million government loan.

Yellow executives have said they intend to fully repay a bailout loan issued by former President Donald Trump's administration in 2020, but that will depend on the company’s success in selling properties and roughly 12,000 trucks.

The U.S. government also faces losses on its nearly 31% ownership stake in Yellow, which it received as additional security for the loan. Shareholders are often last to recover their investments.

Yellow stock traded at $3.08 per share late Tuesday, up from $2.48 at the start of the day.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Jamie Freed)

 

Classroom environmental education doesn’t change attitudes - new research

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BATH

 

IMAGE: CLASSROOM ACTIVITY TO SHOW RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN WILDLIFE IN THE ECOSYSTEM. view more 

CREDIT: ROMY RICE

Increasing understanding of conservation issues in schools doesn’t necessarily translate into attitude change, says new research from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath.

The findings, published in Oryx, suggest that conservation educational activities should be evaluated carefully to make sure they are achieving the desired objectives.

With increasing urbanisation and advances in technology, children’s exposure to the natural world has decreased.

To respond to this, conservationists have promoted educational activities to increase children’s understanding and awareness of environmental issues, but new research shows that this doesn’t always translate to them changing their attitudes or encourage them to become more involved in protecting the environment.

In a study published in Oryx, researchers from the University of Bath worked with conservation non-profit Maio Biodiversity Foundation (FMB) in Maio, Cape Verde, to assess the impacts of environmental education on schoolchildren from the island.

The Cape Verde Islands, near the west coast of Africa, are powerhouses of evolution, home to an abundance of wildlife, including whales, turtles, sharks and shorebirds.

However, unsustainable practices such as turtle poaching, off-road excursions through protected areas, and large scale litter dumping threatens to put local wildlife at risk.

The researchers investigated the influence of a one-time classroom activity on children’s knowledge of local environmental issues, environmental attitudes and future aspirations.

The half-day activity, with 10 classes of 9–10-year-olds (4th grade) across eight schools (around 140 children), was focussed on the large wetland habitat of the island that is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including the largest breeding population of plover shorebirds that are genetically unique to the island.

The researchers talked to the children about the different species found locally, the environmental issues that threatened the wildlife and used a game activity to show the complex ecosystem of the area, helping the children understand how all the different parts were connected.

They assessed the children’s conservation knowledge, and attitudes to science and the environment before and after the activities to see how it had changed.

They found that whilst the activity was successful in improving the children’s knowledge and awareness of environmental issues, it did not change their attitudes towards animals and other wildlife.

Romy Rice, PhD student at the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, was first author on the paper.

She said: “There is a real need to reconnect society with nature – especially in places of rich biodiversity, like Maio. It is so important to raise awareness of how certain human activities can put the amazing wildlife on people’s doorstep at risk.”

“Educating schoolchildren about conservation increases eco-awareness among their parents too, so it could be a powerful tool to influence knowledge and positive attitudes towards the environment across generations.

“We were surprised that although the activities increased the children’s knowledge, it didn’t necessarily change their attitudes towards nature. In some cases it actually decreased their interest in science.

“This study shows the importance of evaluating activities - we shouldn’t assume that increasing knowledge will help solve environmental issues.

“Instead we must carefully plan and assess activities to make sure they are achieving the desired objectives.”

Herval Silva, Assistant for Sustainable Development at FMB and co-author on the study, said: "This project was great to see how children learn and how we can improve their learning, especially when it comes to their understanding of our island’s biodiversity and their appreciation of the local wildlife.

“Right now, these children are the future of conservation, so the more we understand how they feel towards the environment, the better we can go on to develop ways to protect it.”

Romy plans more research to assess whether field trips are more impactful than classroom activities, or whether it simply distracts them.

Romy Rice is funded by the Evolution Education Trust, a charitable trust that funds the use of evolutionary science in research, interventions, education and outreach.

Conservation education activities increase awareness and knowledge but don't necessarily change attitudes towards the environment.

CREDIT

Romy Rice

JOURNAL

Oryx

DOI

10.1017/S0030605323000303 

ARTICLE TITLE

Environmental education in the classroom: pilot study in Cabo Verde suggests differing impacts on local knowledge and environmental attitudes

 

Over one million acres of tribal land submerged by dams in the US 

Peer-Reviewed Publication

IOP PUBLISHING

 

IMAGE: BOX CANYON DAM IN THE US view more 

CREDIT: IOP PUBLISHING

Dam constructions have flooded over 1.13 million acres of tribal land in the US contributing to the historic and ongoing struggle against land dispossession for Indigenous peoples in the United States. New research, published in Environmental Research Letters, has identified that a region of tribal land larger than the state of Rhode Island has been submerged by dams in the US. The findings raise concerns about the destruction of ecosystems, cultural heritage, and livelihoods. 

The new study shows that dams have significantly contributed to land loss of Native people, a factor that has not been fully quantified until now. Over the centuries, colonial settlers and the federal government have acquired over two billion acres from Native nations through various policies, including forced removal, allotment, and the reservation system. The study considers data from federal Indian reservations and Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Areas (OTSAs) alongside the locations of nearly 8000 dams across the United States and the size of their reservoirs. The research reveals that 424 dams have flooded 1.13 million acres of tribal land in the US. 

Heather Randell, Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology and Demography at Penn State University, says: “The consequences of dam-induced land loss are far-reaching. The disruption of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems not only devastates natural resources but also destroys culturally significant sites. The impact on local communities' livelihoods and displacement from their ancestral lands is equally severe.” 

Recommendations proposed by the research team include the prioritization of dam removal wherever feasible, along with exploring alternatives such as tribal ownership or funding for dam repairs and improvements in cases where removal is not viable. 

"In the wake of recent federal legislation addressing aging infrastructure in the United States, it is important to prioritize removing dams that have flooded tribal land," Randell continues. "This is an opportunity to address historical land dispossession and to respect the sovereignty and rights of Indigenous communities." 

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JOURNAL

Environmental Research Letters

DOI

10.1088/1748-9326/acd268 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Dams and Tribal Land Loss in the US

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

9-Aug-2023

‘Our people are not well': First Nation under microscope

Story by The Canadian Press •

Shane Ward finds the frightening footage on his phone with a few flicks of his fingers.

It’s an old TV news report from Aug. 29, 2000, showing federal fisheries officers going full tilt in a big speed boat and ramming Ward’s much smaller vessel.

He and two other lobster fishers from Esgenoôpetitj, or Burnt Church First Nation, plunge into the water of Miramichi Bay.

“I tried to throw a few bricks,” says Ward, 45, chuckling. “That’s what we were fighting for 20 years ago.”

More than two decades on, Ward and others in this Mi’kmaq community of 1,240 people just north of Miramichi are saddened that the agreements signed with Ottawa since that tumultuous time to end the Indigenous fishing dispute haven’t benefited everyone.

On Thursday, two federal fraud investigators came to Esgenoôpetitj to interview people about allegations of financial irregularities on the band council.

A boat deckhand, Ward won't speak ill of anyone on council, the same people who control the community's lucrative fishing licences.

“A lot of Native people when you put the microphone in front of them, they’re quiet. But then later, we’re all talking about it. Everyone’s talking about this investigation here.”

With a knowing smile, he adds: “I’m happy to get the crumbs. I’m not saying I get the pie, but I get the crumbs.”

Other members of the tight-knit, seaside community are reluctant to speak about the investigation.

“I have nothing to say about that,” said Daren Metallic, who kindly posed for a photo on his motorcycle. “I have two first cousins on council.”

One 31-year-old woman, who Brunswick News agreed not to name because she fears repercussions, said the investigation was no surprise.

“It’s been crooked on that council as long as I’ve been here,” she said. "In other, smaller reserves, each member gets royalty payments of $1,500 around Christmastime. We might be lucky to get a $300 cheque."

A secretary at the large band office said Thursday no one on the 12-member council was available for an interview, mentioning that several of the councillors were in Nova Scotia for meetings.

Chief Alvery Paul answered his phone, but said little, other than to confirm an investigation was taking place.

“I have no problem with that,” Paul said, before excusing himself because he was in a meeting. The chief promised to talk later in the afternoon, but he didn’t answer follow-up messages.

Unafraid to speak out is Joanne Bartibogue, the elder and former crisis intervention worker who's been pushing for an investigation for almost a year, first going to the RCMP and then to Premier Blaine Higgs to air her concerns.

Two federal investigators with the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs – Abdihamid Mao and Chantal Dunn – knocked on her door Thursday to speak with her about her complaints.

In 2010, a study showed that Burnt Church was the poorest postal code in Canada. Bartibogue says the situation hasn’t changed much, and while most of the community remains impoverished, the chief and at least one other council member have become millionaires.

She also corroborated what the young woman said about inadequate royalty payments.

The department won’t comment on the investigation, but audited financial statements, signed by the chief, and available on the Government of Canada’s website, show that Paul took in more than $1.6 million in salary, expenses and other payments over the three years between 2020 and 2022, the latest figures available.

Coun. Jason Barnaby, who also owns the Sit N Bull bar and restaurant, raked in more than $1.1 million over the same period. Coun. Clark Dedam was the third-highest earner, making more than $662,000.

“This investigation is a long time coming,” Bartibogue, 61, said, shortly before the two investigators from Ottawa came to her home on Algonquin Road. Her house was egged the night after Brunswick News first published stories about the whistleblower in June. The splatter was still visible on her window and air conditioner. “Our people are not well. There are a lot of health problems and addictions and people are so hurt. They’ve been hurt so many times by the same leadership.”

Statistics show that about half of the adult population in the community has not completed high school, and two-thirds are out of the labour force or unemployed. Nearly half the homes need major repairs.

Like many Indigenous elders Brunswick News interviewed as part of a series about the problems at Esgenoôpetitj, Bartibogue said it was important for the community to return to traditional values of sharing.

But in the meantime, she wants accountability.

“The chief last year received more than $789,000 for 12 months. And on social media, our members are begging for food. I don’t understand their mentality on the band council any more. What I want to see is for us to be a community again and everyone to get a fair shake. Everyone, from the old to the young.”

Her private meeting with the investigators lasted over an hour. Bartibogue said the federal officials had also been to the band office on Bayview Drive but couldn’t find any of the councillors.

This is the third time in a little over a decade the band council has been under intense scrutiny. In April 2016, the federal cabinet ordered the removal of the entire 12-person council, including Paul, for vote buying and corruption, just before the end of their two-year elected term.

A similar investigation in 2011 led to the removal of another chief and three councillors.

Some of them were re-elected in subsequent years.

Bartibogue said she remained hopeful this time.

“The director said he has done these kinds of investigations for 20 years, and he’s going to put a report together. But he warned me it would cost $768,000 for a forensic audit, which still hasn’t been approved. I said, ‘take it out from the chief, he made almost a million dollars last year’.”

John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Daily Gleaner

‘Native American’ or ‘Indigenous’? Journalism group rethinks name

ATLANTA (AP) — The Native American Journalists Association is aiming to become more inclusive as its members vote on whether to rebrand as the Indigenous Journalists Association — a move inspired, in part, by evolving trends in cultural identity.

The group, with more than 950 members mostly in the United States, is expected to approve the change at its annual conference this week in Winnipeg, Canada. Voting on the new name, as well as branding that would replace a feather with an “ija” logo in stylized letters, runs through Thursday, Aug. 10.

Founded in Canada in 1983, NAJA wants to foster inclusion with Indigenous journalists there as well as in Alaska and Hawaii, since “ Native American ” is a modern alternative for “ American Indian ” — referring specifically to the millions of descendants of the original inhabitants of what is now the Lower 48 states.

“Essentially, we’re going back to our roots and trying to create and provide support and resources for Indigenous journalists all across Turtle Island,” board member Jourdan Bennett-Begaye said, invoking the term some Indigenous people use to refer to the North American continent.

More broadly, the proposed change aligns with terminology used by the United Nations and many multinational organizations as the group also seeks allies among Indigenous journalists worldwide. The Māori people in New Zealand, the Sámi people in Arctic Scandinavia and Russia, and the Mapuche people in Patagonia all face similar issues, with journalists who cover climate change, conflicts over land and resources and missing and murdered women, she said.

The change also would reflect an evolution in how Indigenous people see themselves. They're increasingly calling for “decolonizing” language, moving away from terms that were imposed on them, like “Indian” — a legacy of Christopher Columbus' infamous cartographic blunder — and even, in some contexts, “American,” which derives from a mapmaker's effort to honor another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci.

“It’s part of this larger movement that’s happening in Indigenous people, just reclaiming everything that’s theirs that should be theirs," Bennett-Begaye said. "Since contact, decisions have been made for us and not by us.”

Still, some NAJA members have raised concerns that if the association globalizes, its focus on issues particular to Native Americans might be lost. Board members have proposed creating regional chapters if that happens.

Related video: Natives redefining communication (Indian Country Today)

View on Watch

“Indigenous is inoffensive, but it also doesn’t do any of the kind of distinct sovereignty work, distinct political work, distinct cultural affiliation ″ that other words do, said Elizabeth Ellis, a historian at Princeton University and an enrolled citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. “It doesn’t tell you much beyond the fact that you’re existing in opposition to a history and ongoing legacy of colonization.”

Usage of the word “Indigenous” has soared in recent years, particularly after demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 forged the largest pan-Indigenous alliance in North American history. Standing Rock marked a before and after for Native American visibility in the media and popular culture, Ellis said.

But the proliferation of its usage doesn't mean other terms should disappear, because they're not always interchangeable, said Ellis. Indian, American Indian, Native American, Native, and even “NDN” — a tongue-in-cheek slang popular in social media — each have distinct meanings and are appropriate in different contexts.

Indian, for example, is a historical reference used to connote barbarism to justify enslaving Indigenous people during the colonial era — settlers equated it to savagery while seizing more land and federal policies invoked it as a racist concept in the 19th century, Ellis said. “Indian Law” remains embedded in the U.S. Constitution and in the official names of many Indigenous nations, so its usage in such contexts is inescapable.

“Indigenous” applies worldwide, including to anyone whose ancestors didn’t come from somewhere else, and whose communities have endured oppression of their people. But it doesn't reflect the particular duality that many Native Americans experience as citizens of their tribal nations as well as the U.S., Ellis said.

This is why many Native Americans, when communicating with wider audiences, identify themselves first by their tribal affiliations, and increasingly, in their Indigenous language. Ellis intentionally introduces herself as Peewaalia, just as Bennett-Begaye tells people she’s Diné, a member of the Navajo Nation.

Young people in particular are driving these changes in language, Bennett-Begaye said.

“A lot of older folks, and across Indian Country, they still call themselves Indian. My late grandmother, she still calls herself Indian," she said. "But young people ... they see that as derogatory. They’re like, ‘We don’t call ourselves that.’ And I think that’s the cool part, like, young people owning their identity.”

As editor of Indian Country Today, Bennett-Begaye oversaw that media organization's recent name change to ICT, prompted by conversations about identity that were happening across the United States after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.

For older generations, ICT can still mean Indian Country Today, while for younger folks, it can mean Indigenous Cultures Today, or Indigenous Communities Today, she said. “We really left it up to interpretation for our readers and our audience.”

Michael Warren, The Associated Press

QUOTED HIS OWN RESEARCH

French research centre behind controversial Covid paper found to have used questionable ethics processes

Story by Melissa Davey,  Medical editor •The Guardian

Prof Didier Raoult, 

A major French research centre that produced one of the most widely cited and controversial research papers of the Covid-19 pandemic has been found by an international research team to have used questionable and concerning ethics approval processes across hundreds of studies.

The Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection, or IHU, is a large clinical research centre in the south of France. It was founded by Prof Didier Raoult, who was also director of the centre until August 2022, when he stood down ahead of the release of findings from a government audit that found the institute conducted trials “likely to constitute offences or serious breaches of health or research regulations”.

Related: Hydroxychloroquine: how an unproven drug became Trump’s coronavirus ‘miracle cure’

Raoult was the corresponding author of an IHU-led study published in 2020 which claimed the drugs hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin could in combination treat Covid-19 with “100% viral clearance”, leading to several countries adopting the treatment, and former US president Donald Trump promoting it.

The research was quickly identified as problematic, with the study design and interpretation of data criticised by experts, and the combination treatment also found to be associated with increased risk of heart damage.

More rigorous studies concluded the treatments in combination and alone were ineffective, with major international organisations including the World Health Organisation recommending against the treatments and warning of adverse effects.

Despite this, the drugs are still being prescribed to treat Covid-19 in low and middle-income countries, raising concerns about antimicrobial resistance given azithromycin is an antibiotic. Raoult stands by the study’s findings and hydroxychloroquine.

Given the widespread ramifications caused by one highly promoted study, Lonni Besançon, a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University in Australia, co-led a review of 456 other studies led by the IHU and published in medical journals.

Related: Findings from Australian-led US study may explain why some don’t get Covid-19 symptoms

“Among the studies investigated, 248 were conducted with the same ethics approval number, even though the subjects, samples, and countries of investigation were different,” the review, published in the August edition of the journal Research Integrity and Peer Review, found. “Thirty-nine did not even contain a reference to the ethics approval number while they present research on human beings.”

Raoult’s name was on 415 of the 456 papers that were reviewed, and on 238 of the 248 studies with the same ethics approval number, Besançon told Guardian Australia. While reusing approvals is allowed in some circumstances, this is usually only the case if the research is related to the original approval, the review said.

However, Besançon and his team found ethics approvals were shared across a large variety of research. Some studies, for example, examined samples from stools, urine or organs; some studies were conducted in adults while others examined children, healthy volunteers or obese patients; and study populations even came from different countries.

The authors said medical journals should routinely require researchers to submit their ethics approvals before the work is reviewed and published.

Related: While life has largely returned to normal since the pandemic many relationships have not

“Although some publishers already require the upload of ethics approval, this practice is not widely adopted,” Besançon said.

“We therefore argue that it should be more widely and rigorously adopted. Ethical approval numbers should be provided as metadata so that post-hoc analysis can be carried out more systematically.”

Guardian Australia contacted Raoult and the IHU for comment but did not receive a response.

A co-author of the review, University of Western Sydney epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, said the IHU “produced by far the most cited and among the most viewed” paper in relation to the pandemic in its hydroxychloroquine study.

“It is genuinely one of the most influential papers of the pandemic and it resulted in a treatment across the world that is still being used, even though we know it does not work,” he said.

“I think it’s hard to overstate how potentially impactful it could be if this research, and other research conducted by the institution, was not conducted ethically.”

Canada looking to sell Trans Mountain pipeline stake to indigenous groups - Bloomberg News

A pipe yard servicing government-owned oil pipeline operator Trans Mountain is seen in Kamloops
© Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - Canada is looking to sell a stake in the Trans Mountain oil pipeline to indigenous groups through a special-purpose vehicle that will allow individual communities to buy into the enterprise, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

The Canadian government will provide the groups with access to capital so they do not have to risk any of their own money to participate, according to the report, citing a letter from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's office, dated Aug. 2.

The communities' equity interest in Trans Mountain will provide them with cash flows and allow them to jointly exercise governing rights, the report added.

Indigenous groups that take part in the special purpose vehicle will not be excluded from participating in later rounds offering additional equity in the pipeline and the government will soon begin discussions with the groups along the pipelines route and shipping corridor, the report said.

Freeland's office and Trans Mountain did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the report.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government bought the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2018 from Kinder Morgan Inc to ensure the expansion project got built and provided a C$10 billion loan guarantee to TMC.

But the project has been hampered by regulatory obstacles, environmental opposition, and construction delays, and is now anticipated to cost C$30.9 billion ($23.02 billion), more than quadrupling the C$7.4 billion budgeted in 2017.

A Canadian government agency last week guaranteed fresh commercial loans of up to C$3 billion to the pipeline expansion project.

($1 = 1.3422 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)