Thursday, February 01, 2024

How does the majority population feel about policies for minorities?

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by a large majority at the UN General Assembly in 2007

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF KONSTANZ

On the international level, there is broad consensus that it is essential to recognize and implement Indigenous rights as well as to correct inequalities and historical injustices. Yet many nation-states struggle with effective implementation: "National policies play a decisive role in the implementation of these rights. At the same time, such policies also clearly depend on public opinion", explains Fabian Bergmann, a doctoral researcher in the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz.

Study in Norway and Sweden
In a recent study, Bergmann compared the political preferences of the Sámi, an Indigenous population in Norway and Sweden, with those of the majority population in both countries. He studied the level of support for political measures that grant the Sámi rights in the areas of language, self-administration and land use. The results paint a differentiated picture: On the one hand, Sámi respondents strongly support political agendas that clearly promote the self-determination of the Indigenous population. On the other hand, respondents from the majority population are sceptical of such agendas, but do not completely reject the implementation of Indigenous rights. Instead, the majority population prefers policy measures that allow for limited implementation of Indigenous rights for the Sámi.

Although Sweden and Norway have different national policies on Sámi rights, the attitudes of the majority populations in both countries are surprisingly similar. This suggests that a country's political context is not the only deciding factor in the formation of these preferences, but that social identity also plays an important role. Public opinion on Indigenous peoples' policies is of great relevance for democratic societies: "It is difficult to pursue effective policies for implementing indigenous rights if there is not enough support from the majority population for doing so", Bergmann says.

Individual rights vs. collective rights
Against the backdrop of Norway and Sweden's reputation as committed advocates of human rights, he concludes: "The majority of the Swedish and Norwegian population supports international human rights conventions. Yet these conventions only define individual rights, whereas the rights of Indigenous peoples are collective rights. In order to generate a similar level of support among the majority population for both the collective protection of Indigenous peoples and individual human rights, a great deal of persuasion still seems to be necessary".

Key facts

Original publication: Bergmann, Fabian 2023: "Divided Attitudes Toward Rectifying Injustice: How Preferences for Indigenous Policies Differ Between the Indigenous and Majority Populations of Norway and Sweden".
Original data from a survey of the populations in northern Norway and Sweden focusing on the policy preferences of participants.
Fabian Bergmann is completing his doctorate in the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz on the topic "Horizontal Inequality in Egalitarian Societies? The Sámi in Norway and Sweden".

Note to editors

Photos can be downloaded below:

Link: https://www.uni-konstanz.de/fileadmin/pi/fileserver/2024_EXTRA/wie_steht_die_mehrheit.jpeg

Caption: The library of the Sami Parliament in Norway. Picture: Denis Caviglia.

Link: https://www.uni-konstanz.de/fileadmin/pi/fileserver/2024_EXTRA/wie_steht_die_mehrheit_bergmann.jpg

Caption: Fabian Bergmann, PhD student at the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequali-ty" at the University of Konstanz. Image: Ines Janas.

Dortmund physicists develop highly robust time crystal

The team led by Dr. Alex Greilich has published its findings in the journal Nature Physics

NEWS RELEASE 1-FEB-2024

TU DORTMUND UNIVERSITY

Dr. Alex Greilich — IMAGE:
DR. ALEX GREILICH WORKS AT THE CONDENSED MATTER RESEARCH FOCUS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AT TU DORTMUND UNIVERSITY.
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CREDIT: TU DORTMUND UNIVERSITY

A team from TU Dortmund University recently succeeded in producing a highly durable time crystal that lived millions of times longer than could be shown in previous experiments. By doing so, they have corroborated an extremely interesting phenomenon that Nobel Prize laureate Frank Wilczek postulated around ten years ago and which had already found its way into science fiction movies. The results have now been published in Nature Physics.

Crystals or, to be more precise, crystals in space, are periodic arrangements of atoms over large length scales. This arrangement gives crystals their fascinating appearance, with smooth facets like in gemstones. As physics often treats space and time on one and the same level, for example in special relativity, Frank Wilczek, physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, postulated in 2012 that, in addition to crystals in space, there must also be crystals in time. For this to be the case, he said, one of their physical properties would have to spontaneously begin to change periodically in time, even though the system does not experience corresponding periodic interference.

That such time crystals could be possible was the subject of controversial scientific debate for several years – but quick to arrive in the movie theater: For example, a time crystal played a central role in Marvel Studios’ movie Avengers: Endgame (2019). From 2017 onwards, scientists have indeed succeeded on a handful of occasions in demonstrating a potential time crystal. However, these were systems that – unlike Wilczek’s original idea – are subjected to a temporal excitation with a specific periodicity, but then react with another period twice as long. A crystal that behaves periodically in time, although excitation is time-independent, i.e. constant, was only demonstrated in 2022 in a Bose-Einstein condensate. However, the crystal lived for just a few milliseconds.

The Dortmund physicists led by Dr. Alex Greilich have now designed a special crystal made of indium gallium arsenide, in which the nuclear spins act as a reservoir for the time crystal. The crystal is continuously illuminated so that a nuclear spin polarization forms through interaction with electron spins. And it is precisely this nuclear spin polarization that then spontaneously generates oscillations, equivalent to a time crystal. The status of the experiments at the present time is that the crystal’s lifetime is at least 40 minutes, which is ten million times longer than has been demonstrated to date, and it could potentially live far longer.

It is possible to vary the crystal’s period over wide ranges by systematically changing the experimental conditions. However, it is also possible to move into areas where the crystal “melts”, i.e. loses its periodicity. These areas are also interesting, as chaotic behavior, which can be maintained over long periods of time, is then manifested. This is the first time that scientists have been able to use theoretical tools to analyze the chaotic behavior of such systems.

What looks like a flame is the measurement of the new time crystal: Each point corresponds to an experimental value, resulting in different views of the periodic dynamics of the nuclear spin polarization of the time crystal.

CREDIT

Alex Greilich/TU Dortmund University

JOURNAL

Nature Physics

DOI

10.1038/s41567-023-02351-6

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Robust continuous time crystal in an electron–nuclear spin system

HKUST researchers develop AI-enabled model to help mitigate global ammonia emissions from cropland by 38%

Contributing to UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Group photo of the HKUST research team — IMAGE:
(FROM LEFT) PROF. ALEXIS LAU, HEAD AND CHAIR PROFESSOR OF THE DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY; PROF. JIMMY FUNG, CHAIR PROFESSOR OF THE DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE ACADEMY OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES AND DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS; MR. LI GENG, PHD STUDENT OF THE DIVISION OF EMERGING INTERDISCIPLINARY AREAS AND DR. ZHANG XUGUO, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS.
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CREDIT: HKUST

An international research team led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has achieved a significant breakthrough by developing an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can help mitigate global ammonia (NH3) emission from agriculture.

Harnessing the power of machine learning, this groundbreaking study not only revealed that global NH3 emissions from cropland are lower than previously estimated, but also demonstrated how optimizing fertilizer management can effectively reduce emissions by approximately 38%, without compromising the overall use of nitrogen fertilizers. It provides valuable insights for policymakers worldwide to address the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty eradication, food security, and sustainable agriculture.

The release of NH3 from various agricultural and industrial processes could cause air and water pollution, damaging the ecosystem and posing threats to human health. While NH3 itself is not a greenhouse gas, it can react in the soil and atmosphere, forming compounds like nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.

Notably, the production of three major crops – rice, wheat and maize – account for more than half of the global cropland NH3 emission. As the demand for food increases amid the world's population growth, it has become crucial to discover ways of reducing these emissions for sustainable development. However, the lack of accurate global-scale information makes it challenging for countries to implement effective emission reduction strategies tailored to their specific conditions.

To address this challenge, a research team led by Prof. Jimmy FUNG Chi-Hung, Chair Professor of HKUST’s Division of Environment and Sustainability in the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies and Department of Mathematics, and Prof. ZHENG Yi from the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), collected and compiled a dataset based on field observation data of NH3 emission rates spanning between 1985 and 2022.

They subsequently trained an AI-powered computer model to estimate global NH3 emissions using the dataset while considering various geographical factors such as climate, soil characteristics, crop types, irrigation water, fertilizer, and tillage practices. This model is capable of generating customized fertilizer management plans for different regions. For instance, in Asia, around 76% of wheat land is suitable for using enhanced-efficiency fertilizers (EEFs) to reduce NH3 emissions due to the influence of global warming, as temperature plays a pivotal role in NH3 emission from wheat land in Asia.

The AI model discovered that by optimizing fertilizer management, including adjusting the timing of fertilization, utilizing a specific blend of nutrients, and implementing suitable planting and tillage practices, it is possible to reduce global NH3 emissions from the three crops by up to 38%, with Asia having the highest NH3 reduction potential, followed by North America and Europe. This finding holds particular significance as this work has projected a 4.0% to 5.5% increase in global NH3 emissions from cropland over the 30-year period until 2060. Therefore, even achieving a fraction of this potential reduction would suffice to offset the projected increase.

Prof. Jimmy Fung said, "Global efforts to reduce emissions currently face significant obstacles, such as high costs and small farm sizes. The findings illustrate a global map with up-to-date data on global NH3 emissions, which can inform policymaking and management practices aimed at reducing haze and ensuring food security. This underscores the tremendous potential of utilizing big data and AI in promoting sustainable development."

The study, entitled “Fertilizer management for global ammonia emission reduction”, has been published in Nature, a leading multidisciplinary science journal. The research’s co-first authors included Mr. LI Geng, PhD student from HKUST and Dr. XU Peng, Research Assistant Professor from SUSTech. The research team comprised members from Tianjin University, Colorado State University, Peking University, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Beijing Forestry University, and Cornell University.

This groundbreaking study not only reveals that global NH3 emissions from cropland are lower than previously estimated, but also demonstrates optimizing fertilizer management can effectively reduce emissions by approximately 38%.

NH3 emission maps and mitigation potential of three major crops – rice, wheat, and maize.

Prof. Jimmy FUNG, Chair Professor of the Division of Environment and Sustainability in the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies and Department of Mathematics (front row, middle); Prof. Alexis LAU, Head and Chair Professor of the Division of Environment and Sustainability (front row, right); Dr. ZHANG Xuguo, Research Associate of the Department of Mathematics (front row, right); Mr. LI Geng, PhD student of the Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas (second row).

CREDIT

HKUST