BOOMERS/GEN X

Marijuana and hallucinogen use, binge drinking reached historic highs among adults 35 to 50

NIH-funded study also shows younger adults reported marijuana, vaping, and hallucinogen use at or near historically high levels

Reports and Proceedings

NIH/NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE

Past-year use of marijuana and hallucinogens by adults 35 to 50 years old continued a long-term upward trajectory to reach all-time highs in 2022, according to the Monitoring the Future (MTF) panel study, an annual survey of substance use behaviors and attitudes of adults 19 to 60 years old. Among younger adults aged 19 to 30, reports of past-year marijuana and hallucinogen use as well as marijuana and nicotine vaping significantly increased in the past five years, with marijuana use and vaping at their highest historic levels for this age group in 2022. The MTF study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, and is conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor.

While binge drinking has generally declined for the past 10 years among younger adults, adults aged 35 to 50 in 2022 reported the highest prevalence of binge drinking ever recorded for this age group, which also represents a significant past-year, five-year, and 10-year increase.

“Substance use is not limited to teens and young adults, and these data help us understand how people use drugs across the lifespan,” said NIDA director, Nora Volkow, M.D. “Understanding these trends is a first step, and it is crucial that research continues to illuminate how substance use and related health impacts may change over time. We want to ensure that people from the earliest to the latest stages in adulthood are equipped with up-to-date knowledge to help inform decisions related to substance use.”

Since 1975, the MTF study has annually surveyed substance use behaviors and attitudes among nationally representative samples of eighth, 10th, and 12th graders. The MTF longitudinal panel study conducts follow-up surveys on a subset of the participants after the 12th grade to track their drug use through adulthood. After high school, the participants are followed every other year through age 30, then every five years afterward, with the oldest participants now in their 60s.

Data for the 2022 survey of adults were collected via online and paper surveys from April 2022 through October 2022. Researchers divided the data into two age groups to conduct trend analyses: 19 to 30 years old and 35 to 50 years old. Key findings include:

Marijuana Use: For adults aged 19 to 30, the percentages of those reporting past-year marijuana use and daily marijuana use reached their highest levels ever reported by the study. Past-year use was reported by approximately 44% of those surveyed in 2022, an increase from five years ago (35% in 2017) and 10 years ago (28% in 2012). Daily marijuana use also reached its highest level reported in 2022 (11%), which was greater than five years (8% in 2017) and 10 years ago (6% in 2012).

Reports of past-year marijuana use among adults aged 35 to 50 also reached an all-time high in 2022 (28%). This had increased from the previous year (25% in 2021) and five years ago (17% in 2017), and more than doubled compared to 10 years ago (13% in 2012).

Vaping: Past-year marijuana vaping was reported by 21% of adults 19 to 30 years old in 2022, the highest levels reported since the measure was first added in 2017 (12%), as well as a notable increase from the past year (19% in 2021) and five years ago (12% in 2017). Past-year nicotine vaping among this younger adult group also reached a historic high in 2022 (24%), nearly double the rate reported five years ago in 2017 (14%), when the measure was first added.

Among adults aged 35 to 50, reports of past-year marijuana vaping remained at similar levels (9% in 2022) since 2019, when these measures were first available in this age group. Prevalence of past-year nicotine vaping has also remained steady in this age group since it has been reported, with 7% reporting in 2022.

Hallucinogen Use: Among adults aged 19 to 30, 8% reported past-year use of hallucinogens, significantly higher than five years ago (5% in 2017) and 10 years ago (3% in 2012). Types of hallucinogens reported by participants included LSD, MDMA, mescaline, peyote, shrooms or psilocybin, and PCP. Most of past-year use in 2022 reported by adults in this age group involved hallucinogens other than LSD (7% in 2022).

Past-year hallucinogen use reached historically high prevalence among adults 35 to 50 years old, reported by 4% in 2022. The prevalence reported in 2022 was also a substantial increase compared to the year before (2% in 2021) and five and 10 years ago (no greater than 1% in both 2017 and 2012).

Alcohol Use: Over the past decade, rates of alcohol use – including past-month use, daily drinking, and binge drinking – have shown an overall downward trend for adults 19 to 30 years old. Past-year drinking slightly increased for this age group in 2022 (84%) compared to five years ago (82% in 2017).

Alcohol use among adults aged 35 to 50 has shown a gradual increase over the past 10 years, with past-year drinking increasing from 83% in 2012 to 85% in 2022. Binge drinking in this older group reached its highest levels (29% in 2022), and increased over the past year, five years, and 10 years (26% in 2021; 25% in 2017; 23% in 2012).

The study also showed that past-year use of cigarettes, sedatives, and non-medical use of opioid medications (“narcotics other than heroin”) showed a 10-year decline for both adult age groups. Reports of past-year amphetamine use continued a 10-year decrease among 19- to 30-year-olds and a 10-year increase among 35 to 50 year-olds. Drug use trends among college and non-college young adults, demographic subgroups, and other additional data are also included in the report.

“The value of surveys such as MTF is to show us how drug use trends evolve over decades and across development – from adolescence through adulthood,” said Megan Patrick, Ph.D., a research professor at the University of Michigan and principal investigator of the MTF panel study. “Behaviors and public perception of drug use can shift rapidly, based on drug availability and other factors. It’s important to track this so that public health professionals and communities can be prepared to respond.”

Results from the related 2022 MTF study of substance use behaviors and related attitudes among teens in the United States was released in December 2022, and 2023 results are upcoming in December 2023.

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For more information on substance and mental health treatment programs in your area, call the free and confidential National Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit www.FindTreatment.gov. 

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About the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy, improve practice, and advance addiction science. For more information about NIDA and its programs, visit www.nida.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

About substance use disorders: Substance use disorders are chronic, treatable conditions from which people can recover. In 2021, over 46 million people in the United States had at least one substance use disorder. Substance use disorders are defined in part by continued use of substances despite negative consequences. They are also relapsing conditions, in which periods of abstinence (not using substances) can be followed by a return to use. Stigma can make individuals with substance use disorders less likely to seek treatment. Using preferred language can help accurately report on substance use and addiction. View NIDA’s online guide.
 

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

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ARTICLE TITLE

2022 Monitoring the Future Panel Study Annual Report: National data on substance use among adults ages 19 - 60, 1976 - 2022

 

Scientists proposed to adapt a Mars ISRU system to the changing Mars environment

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BEIJING INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PRESS CO., LTD

 

IMAGE: FIG. 1. MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS FOR OXYGEN PRODUCTION view more 

CREDIT: SPACE: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Human missions to Mars will require a substantial launch vehicle to ascend from Mars to rendezvous with a waiting Earth return vehicle in Mars orbit. For an ascending crew of 6, the current best estimate of oxygen propellants required for ascent is about 30 metric tons. Producing oxygen for ascent propellants and possibly life support from the indigenous CO2 on Mars, rather than bringing oxygen to Mars from Earth, is of significant benefit. The oxygen production is accomplished through a process known generically as in situ resource utilization (ISRU). Since the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) Project demonstrated operation of a prototype electrolysis system for converting Martian CO2 to O2 on Mars with great success, it is now appropriate to investigate scaling up this prototype to a full-scale system. In a research paper recently published in Space: Science & Technology, Donald Rapp and Eric Hinterman modeled the performance of a full-scale Mars in situ resource utilization (ISRU) system to produce 30 metric tons of liquid O2, operated for 14 months as the Mars environment changes diurnally and seasonally.

First, the authors introduce the ISRU system layout, requirements, and settings. The simplified layout of the ISRU system is shown in Fig. 1. The heart of the system is the stack (or, more likely, a set of stacks) of electrolysis cells, producing a flow of O2 out of the anode and a mixture of CO, CO2, and inert gases in the cathode exhaust. While the process operates, a compressor first pulls Mars atmosphere into the system and compresses it from Mars pressure to stack pressure. A heat exchanger recuperates some heat from the exhaust gases to incoming gas from Mars, and this gas is preheated to stack temperature before entering the stack. After the electrolysis in the stack, the effluent from the stack is fed back to the heat exchanger to prewarm incoming Mars gas, and the cathode exhaust is vented, while the anode exhaust is fed to the liquefier. Moreover, it is critical that the voltage across the electrolytic cells of the stack(s) must be greater than the Nernst voltage for the oxygen production reaction (0.96 V) and less than the Nernst voltage for side reaction that deposits carbon (1.13 V). The system is required to be on a 14-month (420-sol) run with an average oxygen production rate of 3.0 kg/h to produce a total of 30240 kg of oxygen over this period. There are also several control schemes (see Table 1). In option 1, the electrolysis stacks and the liquefier are operated at constant flow rate 3.0 kg/h, while the compressor revolutions per minute (RPM) is controlled to be greater when the Mars density is lower, and vice versa. In control option 2a, the RPM is always maintained at 3325, and the compressor is the same size as in control option 1, but the number of cells in the stacks is reduced. In control option 2b, the RPM is always maintained at 3325, and the number of cells is the same as in control option 1, but the size of the compressor is reduced. In control option 2c, the number of cells and compressor size are the same size as in control option 1, but the RPM is always maintained at 2705.

Then, the authors examine the intrinsic area-specific cell resistance (iASR), current density (J), and flow rate in different control options. The basic relationship: Vop = <VNO> + Vother + (iASR)(J) is used, in which Vop is the average operating voltage applied to a cell; <VNO> is the Nernst potential for O2 production, averaged across a cell; Vother is a voltage added to balance the equation. In addition, anode pressure = cathode pressure = 0.2 bar, utilization = 0.60, and iASR is assumed to start at 1.00 ohm-cm2 and increase to 1.20 ohm-cm2 after 420 sols of operation. In control option 1, the required cell area to produce 3 kg/h of oxygen is AT = 83750 cm2. With cells of area 100 cm2 each, this requires 840 cells. The span of cell-operating voltages is Max Vop = 1.060, Avg. Vop = 1.048, and Min Vop = 1.036. The RPM varies from 3325 at minimum density, to 2706 at average density, to 2251 at maximum density. In control option 2a, Max Vop = 1.114, Avg. Vop = 1.078, and Min Vop = 1.037. The maximum average cell voltage is perilously close to the Nernst voltage for carbon formation, and considering the uncertainties in estimating iASR, this option is unacceptable. In control option 2b, Max Vop = 1.077, Avg. Vop = 1.048, and Min Vop = 1.014. In control option 2c, Max Vop = 1.077, Avg. Vop = 1.048, and Min Vop = 1.014, which are essentially the same as for control option 2b. The results for the various options are shown in Table 3.

In the above table, change number of cells to 840, 670, 840, 840

Finally, authors discuss the results and draw conclusions. As for the solid oxide electrolysis (SOXE) system, the electrochemical power is 14.6 kW for control option 1 and 4.87*FO2 kW for control option 2. The preheat power is estimated to be ~0.5 kW. The heat loss is approximately 0.35 kW, although it depends on atmospheric conditions. The total SOXE power for any control option is the sum of the electrochemical power, preheating power, and heat loss power. The runs for the various control options yield the results shown in Table 4. As for the compressor, the adiabatic efficiency is a function of inefficiencies of its components, including motor losses, seal friction, and bearing friction. Table 5 summarizes power requirements for compression in various control options. The rate of heat removal from the system by the cryocooler is calculated as the cooling required to lower the temperature of the gaseous oxygen to its boiling point and liquefy it. The result is shown in Table 6. Total power including all contributions is concluded in Table 7.

Infographic for the article

CREDIT

Space: Science & Technology

JOURNAL

Space Science & Technology

DOI

10.34133/space.0041 

ARTICLE TITLE

Adapting a Mars ISRU System to the Changing Mars Environment

With advances in in-vitro models, group proposes refined legal definition of an embryo

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CELL PRESS

Thanks to continuous advances in human stem cell research, studies that make use of embryo models are progressing quickly. This research offers both a scientific and ethical alternative to the use of embryos resulting from fertilized human eggs, and the appropriate ethical guidelines have been developed in parallel with the advances being made. In a perspective appearing in the August 17 issue of the journal Cell, a group of biologists and ethicists suggest additions to the current ethical framework that refine thinking about human embryology using embryo models to maximize benefits to society.

“Stem cell research has enabled the formation of models capable of organizing into structures that rudimentarily resemble embryos and reflect various degrees of completeness and developmental stages,” says first author Nicolas Rivron (@NRivron), a development biologist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. “These new propositions are part of an effort to bring clarity to ongoing research—to better classify the types of structures formed in the laboratory, to refine the legal definition of human embryos, and to pinpoint what currently makes models and embryos different from the legal standpoint.”

These new propositions build on the latest formal guidelines from the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), which were issued in 2021 and dealt with emerging advances in the field, including stem cell-based embryo models, human embryo research, chimeras, organoids, and genome editing. Discussions about updated guidelines started after mouse embryo models were formed, in anticipation of major advances in human counterparts.

“It’s important to frequently refine these ethical guidelines and gradually adapt ethical oversights as science advances,” Rivron says. “Here, we propose a refined definition of the human embryo that focuses on what it can become rather than how it came to be. This definition allows us to think about the conditions under which models, if improved, might eventually pass a tipping point and be legally considered embryos.”

The authors propose this definition to be “a group of human cells supported by elements fulfilling extra-embryonic and uterine functions that, combined, have the potential to form a fetus.” They note that current models do not meet legal definitions, but that it’s important to define how to evaluate whether they have passed that tipping point in the future.

Decisions about how to regulate embryo research are guided by scientific societies but are ultimately the responsibility of local authorities. “Some nations ask their ethical committees to adapt or implement the ethical guidelines as established by scientific societies without legislating, while others prefer to engrave decisions in a regulatory context, for example the UK’s rule that restricts the culturing of embryos to 14 days,” Rivron says. “Different approaches allow for a different level of flexibility as science progresses.”

In addition, the authors also reiterate that, according to the ISSCR’s Fundamental Principles, it is the duty of scientists to ensure accurate public understanding and perception of human embryology using embryo models.

“Appropriate, trustworthy, and timely public communication is necessary,” Rivron says. For the structures currently being formed, the terms “embryo models,” “embryonic models,” and “stem cell-derived embryo models” are preferable to the term "synthetic embryos,” which could imply that synthetic elements are being used, rather than the natural cells and developmental programs that are at play.

“The reality is that these embryo models cannot form neonates, but they help us fill an important knowledge gap in our basic understanding of how humans form—something that is normally hidden in the womb,” he says. “We hope that in the future this knowledge will benefit society by supporting the development of medicines to combat infertility and early pregnancy loss and by leading to a better understanding of the origins of congenital malformations and diseases. The field is still in its infancy, but it is opening important and previously inaccessible avenues for science, ethics, and medicine.”

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Information about financial support and declarations of interests can be found in the manuscript.

Cell, Rivron et al. “An ethical framework for human embryology with embryo models.” https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00807-3 

Cell (@CellCellPress), the flagship journal of Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that publishes findings of unusual significance in any area of experimental biology, including but not limited to cell biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, virology and microbiology, cancer, human genetics, systems biology, signaling, and disease mechanisms and therapeutics. Visit: http://www.cell.com/cell. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.

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JOURNAL

Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.cell.2023.07.028 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

An ethical framework for human embryology with embryo models

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Aug-2023

COI STATEMENT

Declarations of interest can be found in the manuscript.

 

Researchers building green fertilizer system to reuse wastes, cut greenhouse gas emissions

Grant and Award Announcement

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: VIGNESH KUMAR THOOMATTI HARIDASS, A POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE WORKING WITH IOWA STATE'S LIANG DONG, INSTALLS SOIL AND STALK NITRATE SENSORS WITHIN A CORNFIELD. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY LIANG DONG/IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY.

AMES, Iowa – Midwest researchers want to take some of the greenhouse gas emissions out of crop fertilizer.

 

Research teams from Iowa State University and Wichita State University in Kansas are teaming up to develop a system that captures waste nitrogen and carbon dioxide to produce a green fertilizer that reduces emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

 

The system’s big goal, according to a research summary, “is to promote N₂O (nitrous oxide)- and CO₂ (carbon dioxide)-relieved nitrogen fertilizers with economic resilience and environmental consciousness as an innovative way to mitigate the challenges posed upon climate change-threatened Midwest farming and ranching communities.”

 

The National Science Foundation is supporting the project with a four-year, $4 million grant, with half going to Iowa State and half going to Wichita State. The funding is from the agency’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (known as EPSCoR).

 

EPSCoR grants are designed to build scientific infrastructure and capabilities across the country. This grant is from EPSCoR’s “Track 2” program that promotes research collaborations among states or territories. The program’s current focus is “advancing climate change research and resilience capacity.”

 

One project, two teams

Wenzhen Li, a professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Herbert L. Stiles Faculty Fellow, will lead Iowa State’s work on the project. Other team members include Michael Castellano, the William T. Frankenberger Professor in Soil Science; Liang Dong, the Vikram L. Dalal Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Fallys Masambuka-Kanchewa, an assistant professor of agricultural education and studies.

 

The team’s tasks will include designing materials, processes and reactors for the electrochemical capture and conversion of waste nitrogen and carbon dioxide for a fertilizer known as “green urea,” modeling the nitrogen cycle in crops, developing and testing nitrogen sensors for crops and educating farmers and ranchers about the new fertilizer.

 

(Urea is a common ingredient in fertilizers and chemicals. Mammals use it to excrete nitrogen in urine; it must be purified before it can be used in fertilizer. High-purity urea can also be synthesized from inorganic materials.)

 

The researchers also want to boost the project’s sustainability by using wind and solar energy to power the electrochemical synthesis of their green fertilizer. “We want to take advantage of abundant renewable energy that Iowa and Kansas currently generate and use,” Li said.

 

Shuang Gu, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Wichita State, will lead the project in Kansas. He’ll work with Mark Schneegurt, a professor of biological sciences; Janet Twomey, the College of Engineering’s associate dean for graduate studies, research and faculty success and a professor of industrial, systems and manufacturing engineering; and Ruowen Shen, an assistant professor in the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs.

 

The Kansas team’s tasks will include capturing and concentrating nitrate, separating urea, studying soil microbial communities, conducting life-cycle assessments of green fertilizers and determining societal impacts of green fertilizers.

 

The Iowa State and Wichita State researchers have worked together on other projects, so it made sense to pursue this new collaboration.

 

“There is a seamless synergy between ISU in Iowa and WSU in Kansas in terms of shared common problems, united interest in Midwest farming and ranching, and complementing research expertise and education strength,” Gu said.

 

Building a whole new system

Li said the project will do more than create a new, green fertilizer product. It will create an entire system of technologies and understandings that could cut nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer.

 

The researchers will figure out how to capture waste nitrogen and carbon dioxide from agricultural runoff. They’ll also develop technology to synthesize green urea from the collected nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

 

The researchers will also do life-cycle and economic analyses of using green fertilizer, develop advanced sensors for in-field measurement of nitrogen use by plants, study plant metabolism of nitrous oxide, look at the impacts of policy changes and work to encourage the use of green fertilizers.

 

“Living in the Midwest – the heart of agriculture,” wrote Gu and Li, “we felt obliged to do something to alleviate this national problem of greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide emission. The nitrous oxide-relieved nitrogen fertilizer could strengthen the long-term thriving and prosperity of Midwest agriculture, while mitigating climate-change issues.”

 

– 30 –

 

Another EPSCoR project

Iowa State researchers are part of another project that recently won support from the National Science Foundation's EPSCoR program. It's called Chemurgy 2.0 and it's a five-year, five-school, $20 million program to support Iowa researchers working to make the state a leader in advanced biomanufacturing. https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2023/05/09/ia-epscor

 

 

LRT, REM, mass transit projects and their fuzzy reality

New research from the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management provides insight into managing public projects to deliver them on time, within budget and to expectations

UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

 

IMAGE: LAVAGNON IKA, MSC, PHD IS PROFESSOR OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT, MSC PROGRAM DIRECTOR IN MANAGEMENT AND HEALTH, AND FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE OBSERVATORY OF MAJOR PROJECTS AT THE TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA. view more 

CREDIT: TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

The city of Gatineau is planning a tramway network that will link up with Ottawa, where the Light Rail Transit (LRT) continues to be bogged down by major mishaps. With Montreal’s new Réseau express métropolitain (REM) light transit system experiencing its own hiccups to start, how can cities looking to incorporate mass transport systems successfully launch such endeavors while avoiding project failures and years of misfortune?

New research from a University of Ottawa professor suggests project leaders not overlook the “F” word.

Telfer School of Management professor Lavagnon Ika found a lack of full appreciation of the context surrounding the delivery of large-scale public mass transit projects is detrimental to their performance. In particular, the elusive or changing nature of these projects’ goals, their shifting scope, and the conflicting expectations of their stakeholders lead to the biggest problems. Managing this fuzziness rather than delivering within budget is the most important role of project managers.

“There is a solution to time overruns, cost blowouts, business case failures, and users’ dismay,” says Professor Ika, who looked into transit projects in his study and also recently published a book on the topic based on his research on 3,000 projects. “Managing fuzziness requires a shift from a narrow focus on time, cost, and scope to a comprehensive approach that considers the rational, psychosocial, and political dimensions of projects.”

Professor Ika, Founding Director of the Observatory of Major Projects at Telfer, provides insight into this research, which considers the rational, political and dimensions that would benefit the next stages of the Ottawa LRT, the upcoming Gatineau Tramway, and the Montreal REM.

Question: What is the common theme to understanding why these mass public transport projects succumb to complications?
Lavagnon Ika: “Managers often approach these projects in a standard way, focusing on being on time and on budget while ignoring their sociopolitical dimensions and societal impacts. Soon enough they realize the politics surrounding the project will trump their plans, even if the delivery of benefits for users and society is what matters most.

“With the LRT, then Ottawa Mayor Watson pegged its budget to a number - $2.1 billion - before planning and design were completed. Prematurely announcing an optimistic budget publicly was a political move that led to poor decisions, like excluding platform doors from the design, which later backfired in that passengers interfered with the doors, thereby jamming the platforms, and causing major delays in their commute, as revealed in the inquiry report. Planners and managers also tend to overlook stakeholder expectations and political repercussions in and around the core project team, only to realize that politics ultimately trumps the plans.”

Q: You mention expectations around the “F word”; why is fuzziness so pertinent?
L.I.: “The degree of fuzziness is at its highest when multiple principals with differing agendas and several agents with conflicting expectations are involved. They may strongly influence the project’s major stages, starting with the mandate’s initial formulation, which can significantly evolve over time. This may change unexpectedly following an election, also, which provides a new political dimension.”
 

Q: What kind of solution do you propose?
L.I.: “A holistic approach prioritizes overall effectivity (societal benefits) over effectiveness (for formal clients) and efficiency (resource utilization). It also suggests conducting premortems and engaging a very broad array of stakeholders for better planning and decision-making.

“Overall, there is a need for a paradigm shift in transit project management, emphasizing the importance of societal impact, stakeholder engagement, and a comprehensive understanding of the project's context and sociopolitical complexity.”

Q: What can these projects ultimately do to be a success?
L.I.: “Drawing from extensive research on "fuzzy projects" which involved evolving goals and diverse stakeholders, early and continuous engagement with transit users is key. Additionally, non-users must be involved as they are overlooked despite being the largest group affected as taxpayers but also because they will benefit from reduced traffic, pollution, and urban revitalization.

“There are three practical recommendations for managing the cost performance of projects:

1. Benchmarking projects.
2. Recalibrating cost estimates at the business case phase.
3. Reassessing how contingency is produced and evaluated.

 

“If progress is to be made to improve the cost performance of transport infrastructure projects, then standard definitions and terminologies must be enacted to better understand context and meaning surrounding projects. Then, evidence-based decisions surrounding risk can be enacted.”
 

Professor Lavagnon Ika is co-author of Managing Fuzzy Projects in 3D: A Proven, Multi-Faceted Blueprint for Overseeing Complex Projects and one of the co-authors of Large-Scale Transport Infrastructure Project Performance: Generating a Narrative of Context and Meaning, published in IEEE Transactions of Engineering Management, August 2023.

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JOURNAL

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management

DOI

10.1109/TEM.2021.3094511 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Large-Scale Transport Infrastructure Project Performance: Generating a Narrative of Context and Meaning

You’re reading this because an asteroid killed the dinosaurs, allowing mammals to dominate the Earth. But why?

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Almost 66 million years ago, an asteroid struck the Earth, killing all non-avian dinosaurs and allowing mammals to dominate.

But just how did we evolve from rat-like creatures running between the feet of dinosaurs to take over their ecological niches? Dr. Kendra Chritz, assistant professor in the UBC department of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences, aims to find out.

Dr. Chritz is co-leading a new multi-million-dollar research project to learn how ecosystems and organisms recover after a catastrophic, climate-changing event. She explains in this Q&A that clues may lie in the fossilized teeth of mammals.

Why don’t we know much about how mammals rose to dominate the Earth?

The Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event was a really tumultuous time in Earth’s history, when a cataclysmic extinction event killed off 75 per cent of the planet’s species. It set Earth on a course to become the world that we have today. If that hadn’t happened, we’d still be tiny rat-like creatures, living underground and running between dinosaur feet.

We don’t know much about this period because fossils of smaller organisms tend to not preserve as well as larger organisms. The fossils are delicate and can become easily damaged over millions of years. Luckily, a few years ago, researchers found a rich trove of mammal fossils from this time period in Colorado a few years ago. We’ll use fossils collected previously from this site, in addition to new fossils dug up by a team led by paleontologists based out of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

How will you use teeth to explore this?

My lab will look at the chemistry of fossilized material in order to explore the ecology and behaviour of organisms through time. We mostly look at teeth because they are very well preserved in the fossil record. They’re like rocks in your mouth – highly mineralized, very dense, and they don’t change throughout the course of your life. All the chemical elements and signatures of your life, such as the climate you’re living in, what you’re eating, where you are in the food web and more, are stored in your teeth.

We will sample these mammal fossils after the asteroid struck and we hope to see an expansion of mammal diet and ecology over one million years immediately after the extinction of the dinosaurs. We want to pinpoint when mammals started to evolve and diversify, and how quickly their evolution took place once dinosaurs were gone. We’ll also explore whether environmental changes, including the appearance of different kinds of plants, or changes in climate, align with differences in tooth shape, body size, brain size and ecology. For instance, this is the first time we see beans appear on the planet – did this correspond with a different type of tooth with which mammals could eat them?

What is the connection between climate change and this mass extinction?

This was a period of lightning-fast climate and biodiversity changes. This project will explore how the biodiversity of ecosystems recover after such an event and may provide data to predict the long-term consequences of our current rapid changes in climate and biodiversity.

There are a lot of parallels with the current climate situation and this mass extinction event. Although the asteroid hit in one day, geologically speaking, current climate change is happening in the blink of an eye as well. And while the aftermath of the asteroid was different from what we’re experiencing now, this project could give us insight into how quickly the planet recovers after a sudden mass extinction event.

It’s important to think long-term about ecosystems and the continuation of our and other species. It’s taken hundreds of millions of years for the planet to get to this point, and we carry the records of our evolution within our own bodies. With this project, we want to explore history more deeply, zooming in on what the planet was like following a traumatic global event, and hopefully this research will provide some important lessons for the future.

FEMICIDE

FGM identified as a leading cause of death in African countries

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a leading cause of death in the countries where it is practised, with over 44,000 additional women and young girls dying each year, a new study reveals.

FGM accounts for more deaths in these countries than any cause other than enteric infections – usually resulting from consuming contaminated food or water – respiratory infections, or malaria and remains legal in five of the 28 countries where it is most practiced.

Researchers are calling for FGM to be made illegal Mali, Malawi, Chad, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, given that legal change can lead to cultural change. They also say that efforts must be stepped up to eliminate FGM in countries where it is practiced.

Publishing their findings in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Exeter analysed the numbers of girls subjected to FGM in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.

They discovered that a 50% increase in the number of girls undergoing FGM increases their five-year mortality rate and leads to estimated 44,320 excess deaths per year across countries where the practice takes place.

Co-author Professor James Rockey, from the University of Birmingham, commented: “Our findings show that FGM is a leading cause of death amongst girls and young women in countries where it is practised, but lasting change requires changing attitudes towards FGM in these communities.

“There is cause for optimism, as work on non-communicable diseases shows effective interventions are possible, but change in patriarchal attitudes often lags other societal change – an important first step would be for FGM to be made illegal in the countries where it is within the law, given that legal change can lead to cultural change.”

Globally, over 200 million women and girls have been subjected to FGM – a practice which often happens in unsanitary conditions and without clinical supervision with consequent severe pain, bleeding, and infection. It is known to lead to obstetric complications, reductions in sexual function, and other long-term physical health problems, as well as mental health problems.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates the aggregate cost of medical treatment for girls and women after FGM was $1.4 billion in 2018. However, until now, there has been no systematic evidence about the role of FGM in the global epidemiology of child mortality – reflecting difficulties in measuring the practice.

A key social dimension of FGM is how it impacts on marriage, for example, the practice influences women’s marriage opportunities in Western Africa - due to patriarchal culture and institutions.

“Our research suggests that decisions about FGM may reflect trade-offs between perceived disadvantages of FGM, such as pain and illegality, and expected benefits such reduced social sanctions and a higher bride-price – people may factor in an increased risk of death as part of that calculation,” added Professor Rockey.

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact Tony Moran, Press Office, University of Birmingham, tel: +44 (0)7827 832312: email: t.moran@bham.ac.uk  or pressoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Notes to editor:

• The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.
• ‘Estimating excess mortality due to female genital mutilation’ – Arpita Ghosh, Heather Flowe & James Rockey is published in Nature Scientific Reports.

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Estimating excess mortality due to female genital mutilation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Aug-2023