Earth observation and advanced modelling to improve climate predictions: The CONCERTO Project is launched

The new Horizon Europe project to enhance carbon cycle modelling, improve climate predictions and support climate policy

Pensoft Publishers

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CONCERTO Project

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Terrestrial carbon cycle dynamics remain one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in climate projections, with diverging estimates of ecosystem carbon uptake, affecting the accuracy of Earth system models.

To address these challenges, CONCERTO (Improved CarbOn cycle represeNtation through multi-sCale models and Earth obseRvation for Terrestrial ecOsystems), was launched in January 2025.

CONCERTO’s kick off meeting was held on 21-22 January 2025 in Milan, Italy, where representatives of the 13 consortium partners gathered, laying the groundwork for their four-year research goals. 

The project aims to advance the current understanding and modelling of the terrestrial carbon cycle, leading to reduced uncertainty in climate predictions and models. The project will also integrate cutting-edge Earth оbservation data, innovative land surface process models, data assimilation, and machine learning techniques to refine carbon cycle representation. Finally, by providing more accurate predictions of ecosystem carbon fluxes, the project will contribute to improved climate policy and support global efforts towards carbon neutrality.

"CONCERTO represents an important step towards improving Earth system models by leveraging the latest advancements in remote sensing and modelling techniques. By reducing uncertainties in carbon cycle predictions, we are paving the way for more effective climate mitigation strategies and informed policy decisions." says Manuela Balzarolo, project coordinator of CONCERTO.

More information about CONCERTO can be found on the project website. Follow us on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and YouTube for updates on research developments.

 

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CONCERTO receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement #101185000. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the EU nor REA can be held responsible for them.

  

Study suggests a new way to curb social media’s body image toll

Washington State University

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PULLMAN, Wash. — Reflecting on how fitness posts on social media make them feel may help young women reduce the harmful tendency to compare themselves to idealized influencers and content online.

That’s according to a new study published in Health Communication that explores the impact of “fitspiration”—fitness-themed inspirational content—on young women’s body image, and whether short, daily reflections could lead to meaningful changes in their emotions and self-perception.

Led by Jessica Willoughby, associate professor of communication at Washington State University, the research found that sending young women twice-daily text messages prompting them to reflect on the fitness content they encountered on social media significantly reduced social comparison—one of the key mechanisms previous studies have identified as contributing to poor body image.

“We wanted to see whether calling attention to the content people are viewing impacts how they perceive it and, in turn, how they feel about themselves,” Willoughby said. “Even content meant to be motivational can include unrealistic ideals or objectifying imagery that affect how young women feel about their own bodies.”

For the study, Willoughby and co-author Leticia Couto, an assistant professor at DePaul University and WSU Murrow College of Communication alum, recruited 40 women between the ages of 18 and 24 who reported viewing fitness content at least occasionally. Participants completed a pretest survey, then received two daily surveys for four days asking about the content they saw, how it made them feel and their levels of body appreciation. A follow-up posttest and a set of in-depth interviews with seven participants rounded out the analysis.

The researchers found a significant drop in social comparison after the four-day reflection period. On the other hand, body appreciation scores rose only slightly, contrary to the team’s initial assumptions, and were not statistically significant. Likewise, participants showed no measurable change in their knowledge of traditional media literacy, which assesses a person’s ability to critically analyze message sources and content.

Yet the interviews told a deeper story.

“Our interview participants said the daily surveys made them more aware of how specific types of content—whether body positive, objectifying, or focused on health—made them feel,” Willoughby said. “That awareness led some to take action, like curating their feeds or unfollowing accounts that made them feel worse.”

Overall, Willoughby said the study demonstrates the potential of sending daily reflections via text as a low-cost way to help young women avoid the negative impacts of social comparison when viewing content online.

“It’s really easy to get stuck in passive scrolling,” she said. “But just calling attention to what you’re seeing and how it makes you feel can shift how you engage with content—and that can have lasting effects.”

While the study’s small, localized sample limits its generalizability it nevertheless could lay valuable groundwork for future interventions.

Moving forward, Willoughby’s next step is to develop a more robust version of the reflective approach used in the study, incorporating additional prompts informed by best practices in health communication theory. She also hopes to better understand differences in how individuals perceive sexually objectifying content—especially in the nuanced world of fitness media—and how those perceptions relate to emotional and behavioral outcomes.

“Whether someone views a social post as sexually objectifying or not will vary a lot between a researcher and an 18–24-year-old student,” Willoughby said. “That’s especially true with fitness content, where showing certain body parts can be part of the context. I think it’s important that we better understand how people perceive this kind of content differently and how those perceptions map onto actual effects. And from there, I’d love to develop this into a more fully realized intervention.”

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Journal

Health Communication

DOI

10.1080/10410236.2025.2480685 

Article Title

Assessing Fitspiration Content: A Mixed Methods Study on the Effects of an Ecological Momentary Assessment on Body Appreciation, Social Comparison, and Media Literacy Among Young Women

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

The association between screen time and depression may be mediated by poor sleep, the new findings suggest.

PLOS

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Excessive screen time among adolescents negatively impacts multiple aspects of sleep, which in turn increases the risk of depressive symptoms — particularly among girls. That is the conclusion of a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Sebastian Hökby of Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and colleagues.

 

Recently, the Swedish Public Health Agency published recommendations that adolescents use no more than two-to-three hours of daily leisure screen time, partly to promote better sleep. Previous studies have suggested associations between screen time, sleep disruptions, and depression in teens. However, sleep problems and depression often coincide, and the direction of these associations has been unclear.

 

In the new study, researchers tracked 4,810 Swedish students aged 12-16, collecting data on sleep quality and quantity, depressive symptoms, and screen usage at three timepoints over the course of a year.  

 

The researchers found that increased screen time led to deteriorated sleep within three months, impacting both the duration and quality of sleep. Screen time was also found to postpone sleep times towards later hours – disrupting multiple aspects of the human sleep-wake cycle at once. Among boys, screen time had a direct adverse effect on depression after twelve months, while among girls the depressive effect was mediated through sleep disturbances. Sleep could explain about half (38%-57%) of the association between screen time and depression in girls. Boys who spent more time on screens also experienced sleep disruptions, but these were not strongly associated to later depression.

 

The authors summarize: “In this study, we found that adolescents who reported longer screen times also developed poorer sleep habits over time. In turn, this led to increased depression levels, especially among girls.”

 

They add: “Our results do suggest that less[…] screen time seems healthier, in line with previous World Health Organization statements…if screen times were somehow reduced, for example through public health policies, our results imply that the high burden of depressive states among young Swedish women, and maybe young men, would likely decrease.”

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Global Public Health: https://plos.io/4lcseoX

Citation: Hökby S, Alvarsson J, Westerlund J, Carli V, Hadlaczky G (2025) Adolescents’ screen time displaces multiple sleep pathways and elevates depressive symptoms over twelve months. PLOS Glob Public Health 5(4): e0004262. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0004262

Author Countries: Sweden

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

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Journal

PLOS Global Public Health

DOI

10.1371/journal.pgph.0004262 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Publication Date

2-Apr-2025

 SDG/ESG

Creating measures to determine whether companies are truly sustainable

Technical University of Munich (TUM)

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Land use, water pollution, resource consumption and harmful emissions: existing approaches to the analysis of business process sustainability have given little or no consideration to these aspects. “Our objective with SOPA is to create transparency – in contrast to greenwashing and vague sustainability labels. Ultimately, CO₂ emissions and investments in sustainability can be decisive when customers choose whether or not to do business with a company. But I also believe that we will eventually see regulatory standards for measurement and evidence-based transparency in this regard,” says Luise Pufahl, who holds the Professorship of Information Systems at TUM Campus Heilbronn. SOPA is the outcome of work done by Luise Pufahl with her team.

A new benchmark for environmental assessment

In their framework they supplement the business process management life cycle, a widespread method for describing the various phases for managing a business process, with two further aspects. Life cycle assessment (LCA) looks at the environmental impact of a product or process over its entire life cycle – from raw material extraction to disposal. It is complemented by the principle of activity-based costing (ABC), which, rather than distributing costs based on fixed percentages, attributes them to the processes that cause them.

Testing costs and benefits in advance instead of costly trial-and-error approach

Another central element of SOPA is the ability to simulate sustainable process changes in advance. In contrast to the costly trial-and-error methods traditionally used by many companies when testing process changes, companies can apply SOPA to perform data-driven analysis and evaluation of various scenarios. “With our simulations, process experts can see exactly which measures have the biggest environmental impact and where savings make the most sense,” says Finn Klessascheck, a doctoral student at the Professorship of Information Systems and first author of the study. “This allows companies to develop targeted environmental alternatives without incurring high costs or risks.”

The researchers have tested SOPA using a case study on a hiring process at a German university. They simulated three scenarios, from a paper-based process to a fully digital hiring process and calculated the resulting environmental costs. The results showed that the increased use of digital communications can significantly reduce the environmental impact. SOPA is not only suitable for universities, however. It can also be applied to almost all processes in any company.

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DOI

10.1007/s10257-024-00695-x 

Article Title

SOPA: a framework for sustainability-oriented process analysis and re-design in business process management

 

WVU, RAND research partnership launches with initial focus on workforce needs

West Virginia University

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An innovative collaboration between West Virginia University and RAND, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization, will aid in transforming the University’s world-class research into practical solutions focused on workforce development and education.

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Credit: WVU Photo/Matt Sunday

To support policymaking that helps develop an agile, future-ready labor pool, West Virginia University is partnering with RAND to turn world-class research into practical solutions for evolving job markets — focusing on workforce development and education.

Launching this year, the innovative collaboration will leverage the University’s land-grant mission and R1 research capacity with analysis and expertise from RAND, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization that has informed policymaking at all levels of government for nearly eight decades.

The project will identify workforce trends and solutions, with a specific focus on apprenticeships, stackable credentials and career pathways, and career technical education.  

“At West Virginia University, part of our mission is to deliver solutions to real-world problems, and this partnership will allow us to expand our efforts in workforce development,” President Gordon Gee said. 

“Working with RAND, our faculty and student researchers will be able to develop and implement policy recommendations that enhance state and national workforce strategies with potential benefits across the Mountain State and around the world, positioning our University and our state as a national leader.”  

Initially, the work will focus on exploring enhancements for apprenticeship opportunities, promoting career mapping that includes stackable credentials and occupational transitions, and expanding career technical education courses to meet workforce needs. 

The goal is to address shifts in the labor market, technological challenges and training deficiencies. 

“Collectively, we have the ability to uncover pragmatic, evidence-based guidance that can bolster career pathways across industries and demographic groups in the 21st century economy,” University Vice President for Research Fred King said. 

“This is the kind of transformative research that could potentially change economic trajectories for entire communities and regions.” 

Initial research findings from the collaboration that could serve as a model for other states are expected by the end of this year. 

“This partnership is a natural fit,” said Jason Matheny, RAND president and CEO. “RAND and WVU share a commitment to improving people’s lives through research and action. Our partnership will provide a model for how to harness the power of policy research and analysis to serve the needs of such an important part of the country.” 

Andrew Hoehn, RAND’s senior vice president for research and analysis, agreed.   

“This partnership will allow both of our organizations to accomplish something together that we could not accomplish alone,” he said. 

RAND officials will join WVU representatives at Focus Forward, a free statewide conference about issues affecting West Virginia, on April 22 at the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place in Morgantown. 

Find more information. 

 

ECNU Review of Education study explores how large language models can revolutionize teaching as personalized assistants

ECNU Review of Education

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Large Language Models (LLMs) assist educators by generating tailored teaching materials, automating assessments, and providing personalized feedback, revolutionizing modern pedagogy while requiring human oversight for effective implementation.

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Credit: Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence by mikemacmarketing Image Source Link: https://openverse.org/image/4984f318-2feb-4256-ad42-a70de04807b4?q=artificial+intelligence&p=4

As personalized education gains recognition as crucial for student achievement, the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to teaching faces significant challenges. A study by Jiayi Liu, Bo Jiang, and Yu'ang Wei from East China Normal University investigates how Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can help educators overcome these challenges by automating teaching material generation, assessment, and feedback provision. This article was made available online on January 02 2025, in ECNU Review of Education.

The study identifies two key areas where LLMs can significantly enhance personalized teaching. First, LLMs excel at generating customized educational materials across diverse subjects, creating resources such as language learning quizzes, programming exercises, and curriculum-aligned learning objectives. Second, LLMs can streamline assessment processes by helping design evaluations, providing automated scoring, and generating targeted feedback for students, thereby substantially reducing the time educators traditionally spend on these tasks.

"The potential of LLMs to handle routine educational tasks allows teachers to focus on what they do best—mentoring students and creating meaningful learning experiences," says Jiayi Liu, lead author of the study. "This human-AI collaboration represents a promising direction for the future of education."

The study acknowledges that while LLM-generated content requires supervision and adjustment, it substantially reduces teachers' workload during pedagogical preparation. As these models continue to evolve, they may soon offer sophisticated, ready-to-use teaching materials across various subjects.

LLMs have demonstrated their ability to assist in various educational domains by generating quizzes, programming exercises, and curriculum-aligned learning objectives. These AI-driven tools help educators design structured and engaging course content while automating student assessments with accuracy comparable to human evaluation. By creating physics curriculum tasks, scoring essays, and providing personalized feedback, LLMs reduce teachers' administrative workload, allowing them to focus on student engagement. However, despite these benefits, AI-generated content often requires supervision and refinement to ensure accuracy and relevance. Researchers emphasize that the success of LLM-driven education depends on a balanced human-AI collaboration, where teachers curate and adjust AI-generated materials based on students' unique needs.

The study highlights the ideal teacher-LLM collaboration model, where educators act as orchestrators, integrating AI-generated materials into lesson plans while LLMs function as assistants providing structured content and automated assessments. "LLMs are not here to replace teachers but to enhance their capabilities," states Jiayi Liu, emphasizing that thoughtful AI integration can create dynamic and personalized learning environments. The research calls for further empirical studies to optimize AI-generated content, improve adaptability in feedback mechanisms, and explore integration strategies across diverse educational settings. With careful implementation, LLMs have the potential to revolutionize education by making personalized learning more scalable and accessible worldwide.

 

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Reference                                    

Title of original paper: LLMs as Promising Personalized Teaching Assistants: How Do They Ease Teaching Work?

Journal:  ECNU Review of Education

DOI: 10.1177/20965311241305138

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Journal

ECNU Review of Education

DOI

10.1177/20965311241305138 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

LLMs as Promising Personalized Teaching Assistants: How Do They Ease Teaching Work?

 

Insufficient sleep should not be a taboo in the workplace – new research provides tools for addressing sleep-related challenges in management

A study from the University of Vaasa, Finland, examines the effects of insufficient sleep on work performance and presents how it can be identified and managed in the workplace

University of Vaasa

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Jenni Tuomilehto

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Persistent fatigue caused by insufficient sleep is a common and growing problem among working-age people, but sleep deprivation is rarely discussed in the workplace. According to Jenni Tuomilehto's doctoral dissertation at the University of Vaasa, Finland, workplaces should not only encourage open discussions about sleep but also develop shared strategies to prevent the challenges that chronic fatigue may bring.

Although wellbeing at work is a frequently discussed topic, the impact of insufficient sleep on employees’ performance is often overlooked. According to Jenni Tuomilehto, who will defend her dissertation at the University of Vaasa on 8 April, sleep deprivation affects all workplaces. However, discussing it with colleagues can even feel like a taboo – making it a topic many do not have the courage to bring up in the workplace.

In her doctoral dissertation in human resource management, Tuomilehto examines the effects of insufficient sleep on work performance and presents practical methods for identifying and managing the impacts of sleep deprivation in the workplace.

– Employees across various sectors encounter multidimensional performance issues stemming from a lack of sleep – the phenomenon is extremely common. Fatigue has negative effects on, for instance, productivity, decision-making ability, concentration, and emotion regulation. At the same time, the risks of illness, burnout, and accidents increase, Tuomilehto explains.

According to Tuomilehto, those suffering from insufficient sleep should enhance their coping, for example, by scheduling tasks based on their level of difficulty and slowing down their work pace.

– It is essential that employees have the support of the work community in dealing with the challenges brought on by a lack of sleep. Since insufficient sleep affects wellbeing and work performance at such a large scale, it should be possible to talk about it openly with colleagues and supervisors. This way, strategies for coping with fatigue can be developed together – for instance, by adjusting working hours, adding breaks, and changing work tasks. Good sleep should be a mutual value for the whole work community.

Practical tools for coping with a lack of sleep in the workplace

In her dissertation, Tuomilehto presents a theoretical model that helps identify fatigue caused by insufficient sleep. The model also provides supervisors, HR professionals, and others practical tools for maintaining work performance by preventing chronic fatigue and exhaustion.

– It is important that sleep is more effectively acknowledged as part of managing workplace wellbeing. Although individuals have means to manage their fatigue through personal resources, employer’s support and jointly developed coping strategies are crucial, Tuomilehto emphasises.

The data for Tuomilehto’s doctoral research consisted of individual interviews with 24 people, focusing on their personal experiences of how fatigue affects their work. All interviewees were employed in different sectors in Finland.

Doctoral dissertation

Tuomilehto, Jenni (2025) Puutteellisen unen heijastukset työhyvinvointiin ja työssä suoriutumiseen. Acta Wasaensia 554. Doctoral dissertation. University of Vaasa.

Publication pdf 

Public defence

The public examination of M.Sc. Jenni Tuomilehto’s doctoral dissertation, ”Puutteellisen unen heijastukset työhyvinvointiin ja työssä suoriutumiseen”, will take place on Tuesday, 8 April 2025 at 12 noon (EEST / UCT+3) in the Nissi Auditorium at the University of Vaasa, Finland.

It is possible to participate in the defence also online: https://uwasa.zoom.us/j/69212036275?pwd=H7hCJ9JpiXH4ec1iyBQ69aBEePJaJQ.1 

Password: 689243

Professor Pia Heilmann (University of Eastern Finland) will act as opponent and Professor (emer.) Riitta Viitala as custos.

Further information

Jenni Tuomilehto, tel. +358 44 341 3050, jenni@tuomilehto.com

Jenni Tuomilehto was born in 1975 in Helsinki, Finland. She earned a Master’s degree in Economic Sciences from the University of Vaasa in 2006. Tuomilehto has worked in the field of sleep for 15 years, including as CEO of a network of medical sleep clinics in Finland. Today, she is one of the founders and the CEO of Sleep Academy, a company specialised in sleep coaching.