Study finds that agricultural diversity has a positive impact on food security

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE ALLIANCE OF BIOVERSITY INTERNATIONAL AND THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE

 

IMAGE: WOMEN SELLING DIFFERENT PRODUCE INCLUDING WATERMELONS, CUCUMBERS AND PINEAPPLES IN A LOCAL MARKET IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA. view more 

CREDIT: ALLIANCE OF BIOVERSITY AND CIAT / P. MATHUR

Agricultural diversity can be an important driver of food security, but the magnitude of the contribution depends on the broader socio-economic and biophysical characteristics of the local farming system, according to a recently published paper from researchers including those from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

In their paper, “The benefits and trade-offs of agricultural diversity for food security in low- and middle-income countries: A review of existing knowledge and evidence” published in the journal Global Food Security in June of 2022, the researchers found that in almost two-thirds of all cases, agricultural diversity had a positive effect on food security, but in about one third of the relationships there was no effect of agricultural diversity on food security, or the results were mixed. 

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life, whereas agricultural diversity includes the diversity of crop varieties, livestock breeds, fish species and non-domesticated (wild) resources, including the way in which they are processed and consumed. 

The literature review conducted by the researchers showed the work that had been done across the Global South or the Lower-Middle-Income (LMIC) countries looking at the link between agricultural diversity and food security and providing a base for other researchers in the field can now use to find collaborators or to think about further research questions.

Katharina Waha, a Senior Research Scientist in the Global Food and Nutrition Security group at CSIRO in Brisbane, Australia and the lead author of the study said that there were 40 indices measuring the different measures and individual relations.  

“We looked at all the combinations you could think of and how to quantitatively measure between the food security and diversity indicators,” Waha said, “In terms of negative health outcomes for individuals, all the literature on nutritional and health outcomes would say that not having that diversity or quality is the final outcome.”

The researchers found that although agricultural diversity can be beneficial for food security, it is not the only available strategy to promote food security. Where diversification is also the cheapest strategy in terms of monetary and labor costs, it can be an appealing and effective option to improve agricultural practices and profits. 

Elisabetta Gotor is principal scientist and agricultural economist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. She has 20 years of experience in economic analyses and evaluation of food system solutions that are at the nexus of agriculture, environment and nutrition, with research focusing on linking biodiversity-based intervention with poverty reduction, food security and nutrition, sustainable rural livelihoods and resilience outcomes. Gotor said that it was important to study the link between the two concepts. 

Gotor said that it was important to study the link between the two concepts. 

“I have a number of studies where I find the link between agricultural diversity and food security,” Gotor said, “Not only is it the driver, but it's the foundation of everything,” 

Gotor said on-farm diversity must be preserved and the way to conserve that is through daily use. 

“If you have a diverse system, you can deal with biotic and abiotic stresses, for example, like the impacts of climate change,” Gotor said, adding that genetic diversity is needed to find new crop varieties. 

“It's important to understand how we measure diversity and how we assess the other elements of diversity,” Gotor said. 

The researchers said holistic study designs considering the natural, social and economic aspects of agricultural and food systems are best suited to represent interactions between them and understand the complex effects of diversification.

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JOURNAL

Global Food Security

DOI

10.1016/j.gfs.2022.100645 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Systematic review

ARTICLE TITLE

The benefits and trade-offs of agricultural diversity for food security in low- and middle-income countries: A review of existing knowledge and evidence

Researchers warn of potential threat to heart health from extreme weather

Reports and Proceedings

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CARDIOLOGY

Barcelona, Spain – 26 Aug 2022: An analysis in nearly 2.3 million Europeans has found detrimental associations between cold weather and deaths from heart disease, particularly in poor neighbourhoods. The late-breaking research is presented at ESC Congress 2022.1 Hot weather was linked with excess deaths from heart disease and stroke in patients with heart conditions.

Study author Professor Stefan Agewall of the University of Oslo, Norway said: “Climate change is leading to a rise in the average global temperature but also extreme cold in some regions. More than 70,000 excess deaths occurred across Europe during the summer of 2003 due to intense heatwaves.2 Cold weather also accounts for excess deaths and hospital admissions.3,4 Previously studies on the cardiovascular effects of heat and cold mainly used aggregated data, such as daily deaths in a city. The EXHAUSTION project used individual data, enabling us to identify vulnerable subgroups for protective interventions, thereby increasing resilience for future weather events.”

The analysis included 2.28 million adults from five cohort studies conducted in Italy, Germany, the UK, Norway, and Sweden between 1994 and 2010. The average age ranged from 49.7 years to 71.7 years and the proportion of women ranged from 36.0% to 54.5%. Participants with and without cardiovascular disease at baseline were included. Data on mortality and new-onset disease were collected through death and disease registries and follow up surveys. Daily average air temperatures at participants’ home addresses were collected from local weather stations or estimated using modelling of temperature data from weather stations

The relationships between temperature and cardiovascular conditions and death were analysed for all participants and in subgroups with particular characteristics. A time-stratified case-crossover study design was used where for each participant, the researchers compared the temperature on the day of the week an adverse event occurred (e.g. Monday) with the temperature on the same day of the week without an adverse event (e.g. all remaining Mondays) within the same month. Using within-participant comparisons between days in the same month eliminated the potential confounding effects of participant characteristics and time trends.

The analysis found increased risks of death from cardiovascular disease overall and ischaemic heart disease in particular, as well as an elevated risk of new-onset ischaemic heart disease, associated with cold weather. With an approximately 10°C temperature drop, from 5°C to -5°C, there was a 19% greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease (relative risk [RR] 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–1.36) and a 22% elevated likelihood of death from ischaemic heart disease (RR 1.22; 95% CI 1.07–1.38). There was a 4% higher risk of new-onset ischaemic heart disease associated with an approximately 11°C temperature drop, from 2°C to -9°C (RR 1.04; 95% CI: 1.01–1.08).

Professor Agewall said: “The relationships between cold temperatures and deaths were more pronounced in men and people living in neighbourhoods with a low socioeconomic status. The links between cold and new-onset ischaemic heart disease were stronger among women and people older than 65 years.”

Heat was not related to detrimental effects in the overall study population. However, temperature rises from 15°C to 24°C were associated with 25% (RR 1.25; 95% CI 1.12–1.39) and 30% (RR 1.30; 95% CI 1.10–1.53) elevated risks of death from cardiovascular disease and stroke, respectively, in people with heart disease at baseline.

Professor Agewall said: “Clinicians can use this information to provide tailored advice to those most at risk of adverse health outcomes during hot and cold days. Patients with heart conditions should stay hydrated in hot weather and adhere to advice from their cardiologist on medication use. We can all check the news for extreme heat and cold alerts and follow safety tips from local authorities.”

 

ENDS

 

Notes to editors

Authors: ESC Press Office
Mobile: +33 (0)7 85 31 20 36
Email: press@escardio.org

The hashtag for ESC Congress 2022 is #ESCCongress.

Follow us on Twitter @ESCardioNews 

This press release accompanies an presentation at ESC Congress 2022. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Society of Cardiology.

Acknowledgements: The analysis was led by Dr. Alexandra Schneider from Helmholtz Munich.

Funding: This study was conducted within the framework of the EXHAUSTION project (Exposure to heat and air pollution in Europe – cardiopulmonary impacts and benefits of mitigation and adaptation), which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Disclosures: There are no disclosures to report.

References and notes

1EXHAUSTION will be presented by Dr. Siqi Zhang from Helmholtz Munich during the session Latest science in primary and secondary prevention and environmental health on Friday 26 August at 14:00 to 15:15 CEST in room Dali.

2Robine JM, Cheung SLK, Le Roy S, et al. Death toll exceeded 70,000 in Europe during the summer of 2003. C R Biol. 2008;331:171–178.

3Gasparrini A, Guo Y, Hashizume M, et al. Mortality risk attributable to high and low ambient temperature: a multicountry observational study. Lancet. 2015;386:369–375.

4Sun Z, Chen C, Xu D, Li T. Effects of ambient temperature on myocardial infarction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Environ Pollut. 2018;241:1106–1114.

 

About the European Society of Cardiology

The European Society of Cardiology brings together health care professionals from more than 150 countries, working to advance cardiovascular medicine and help people lead longer, healthier lives.

About ESC Congress 2022

It is the world’s largest gathering of cardiovascular professionals, disseminating ground-breaking science both onsite in Barcelona and online – from 26 to 29 August. Explore the scientific programme. More information is available from the ESC Press Office at press@escardio.org.

Majority of clinicians in US safety net practices report ‘moral distress’ during COVID-19 pandemic

UNC School of Medicine’s Donald Pathman, MD, MPH, found that most healthcare providers experienced either mild or intense levels of moral distress during the first year of the pandemic due to issues related to patient care and their workplaces.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA HEALTH CARE

 

IMAGE: DONALD PATHMAN, MD, MPH view more 

CREDIT: UNC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

CHAPEL HILL, NC – The distress of doctors and nurses working in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic has received much attention in news media and academic research, including their moral distress witnessing so many deaths at times when they could offer so little. Much less attention has been paid to the moral distress of clinicians working in other settings during the pandemic.

Using data from a survey of more than 2,000 primary care, dental, and behavioral health clinicians who work with low income patients in safety net clinics, UNC School of Medicine’s Donald Pathman, MD, MPH, found that nearly 72 percent reported experiencing either mild or intense levels of moral distress during the first year of the pandemic due to limits on what they could do for their patients, witnessing their patients’ struggles and the challenges of their own work situations.

This analysis, published in BMJ Open, was conducted from data late in 2020 from practices in 20 states.

“Most people receive their health care in office settings, and many clinicians working there experienced moral distress from how the pandemic limited the care they could provide to patients and from witnessing the pandemic’s effects on patients and coworkers,” said lead author Donald Pathman, MD, MPH, a professor in the UNC Department of Family Medicine.

Moral distress was defined in the survey as when one witnesses or does things that contradict deeply held moral and ethical beliefs and expectations. “Moral distress is a concept developed to understand the consequences of disturbing situations nurses can experience in hospitals, but the concept of moral distress is likely just as useful in understanding a type of distress clinicians in all disciplines and work settings experience,” Pathman said.

Respondents in the survey were 2,073 clinicians who work in community health centers, mental health facilities and other types of safety net clinics that provide care to low income patients who face barriers to receiving care in the mainstream U.S. healthcare system. Many of these patients are also members of racial-ethnic minority groups.

Among respondents, 28.4% reported no moral distress related to work during the pandemic. But 44.8% reported “mild” or “uncomfortable” levels of moral distress, and 26.8 percent described their moral distress as “distressing,” “intense” or “worst possible.” The latter two groups combined are 71.6% of respondents, a substantial majority.

Many of this study’s office-based clinicians reported moral distress from not being able to provide care to all patients — think of the closed practices early in the pandemic that then reopened but limited care to only the sickest patients — and not being able to provide best care to their patients when care protocols changed to minimize infecting patients and staff within the office and virtual visits were required even when in-office, face-to-face visits were better for their patients.

Other respondents felt moral distress witnessing how the pandemic affected the health and lives of their patients, some of whom they had known for years. One study nurse practitioner in North Carolina noted moral distress watching how the pandemic “has impacted families in our clinic and feeling powerless to make meaningful change.”

Other clinicians were morally distressed when their coworkers’ health was jeopardized or they lost their jobs. Respondents sometimes regarded the hardships for coworkers as unavoidable during the pandemic but sometimes as due to their employers’ lack of concern for clinic staff’s wellbeing. One dentist reported: “All our manager and director seem to care about is making money and how many patients we see. I was having to balance being exposed to so many patients then going home to my family and potentially exposing them.”

Some respondents reported moral distress from patients, clinic staff and people in the community not wearing masks or following public health recommendations, as well as the politicization of the pandemic. As healthcare professionals, they knew these precautions worked, and when people did not follow them they knew others would be infected needlessly.

Social inequities and health disparities morally distressed some respondents, such as a respondent distressed from, “Seeing how my patient population has been disproportionately affected by illness and death because of socioeconomic issues.” Pathman noted that, “given the type of individual who chooses to provide healthcare in low income communities, it is not surprising that some would be morally distressed watching the pandemic worsen the health and lives of their patients because of their limited resources.”

The consequences of moral distress are concerning. The article notes that moral distress is known to cause burnout, compassion fatigue, disengagement from patients and job turnover for nurses in hospital settings and is likely to also do so for clinicians in safety net practices.

Co-authors of the article are Jeffrey Sonis, MD, MPH, an associate professor in the UNC Departments of Social Medicine and Family Medicine; Thomas E. Rauner at the Nebraska Division of Public Health; Kristina Alton, MD, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Anna S. Headlee at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Jerry N. Harrison at New Mexico Health Resources.

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JOURNAL

BMJ Open

DOI

10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061369 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Moral distress among clinicians working in US safety net practices during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed methods study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

25-Aug-2022

Vital ventilation

Stony corals use a refined built-in ventilation system to protect themselves from environmental stressors

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE, HELMHOLTZ CENTRE FOR POLAR AND MARINE RESEARCH

 

IMAGE: REEF WITH STONY CORAL COLONY (PORITES LUTEA) IN THE ANDAMAN SEA OFF THE WEST COAST OF THAILAND. view more 

CREDIT: (NIPHON PHONGSUWAN, PHUKET MARINE BIOLOGICAL CENTER)

Coral reefs are not only one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on our planet; they are also among the most economically important ones. “For example, they’re extremely important for fishing and tourism,” says Moritz Holtappels. “And as wave breakers, they provide essential services for coastal management.” Accordingly, the experts are very concerned about the current status of these valuable undersea cities, which are simultaneously facing a variety of threats: the overfertilization and acidification of the ocean, as well as overly intensive fishing. Making matters worse, climate change is increasingly leading to the dreaded “coral bleaching”.

This happens when the water gets too warm for the reef-builders. Most of the small polyps that create these impressive calcium carbonate formations live in symbiosis with algae belonging to the dinoflagellates. They offer these organisms protection, and in return receive energy-rich sugar and other products that their “flatmates” produce from carbon dioxide and water with the aid of sunlight. But this process, known as photosynthesis, can become problematic when temperatures climb too high. Instead of providing the corals with energy, the algae release harmful substances. In response, the polyps “evict” them, causing the corals to lose their colour – and in many cases, to die off completely. “But this doesn’t happen to all the corals in a reef,” Cesar Pacherres explains. “Some bleach out quickly, others, not at all.” What explains the difference in responses?

In order to find out, the researchers took a closer look at the complex relationship between the stony coral Porites lutea and its green neighbours. Apparently, one problem facing this underwater “shared flat” is that the algae’s photosynthesis releases large amounts of oxygen. Although vital for most flora and fauna, too much oxygen can be dangerous, particularly in warm water. When the concentration is too high, the algae’s photosynthesis organ increasingly processes oxygen instead of carbon dioxide. This is not only less efficient in terms of generating energy; it also produces dangerous oxygen radicals, which can harm cells. “When there’s too much sunlight, it’s hard for corals to get rid of this surplus oxygen,” says Pacherres. “Low water movement and high temperatures worsen this effect, known as oxidative stress, which is widely considered to be the main cause of coral bleaching.”

Using innovative new methods, the experts followed the oxygen’s trail. What they learned: the algae producing the oxygen were by no means uniformly distributed among the corals examined. The algae were far denser in some areas than in others. “We expected to find the highest oxygen concentrations in the water above these photosynthesis hotspots,” says Soeren Ahmerkamp. “But much to our surprise, just the opposite was true.”

This finding contradicts the conventional theory regarding mass transfer between corals and their environs: until recently, the assumption had been that, once released substances left the tissue in question, they simply moved from regions with higher concentrations to those with lower concentrations via diffusion. But if that were true, the researchers should have found the highest oxygen concentrations where the most oxygen was produced. The only explanation for a different pattern is if the corals actively transport the element elsewhere. And thanks to cutting-edge surveillance technologies, they now know exactly how it’s done.

“The trick is that the tiny hairs, or cilia, on the corals’ surface, when moved in unison, create small eddies,” Ahmerkamp explains. In this way, the polyps can shape local currents in order to specifically ventilate those areas that are rich in algae. To do so, they direct oxygen-poor water from above to those areas with the highest algal densities, where it becomes charged with oxygen. In turn, the upward portion of the eddy produced flows away from the corals and releases its load higher up in the water column. Using a computer model, the researchers simulated the interplay between diffusion and ciliary action on the corals’ surface. As the simulation shows, by producing these local eddies near the algae, stony corals can cut the area of their surface exposed to critical oxygen concentrations in half.

“Accordingly, these sessile corals aren’t completely at the mercy of their marine environment, as was previously believed,” summarises Moritz Holtappels. Influencing the mass transfer with their surroundings in a targeted manner, and fanning away surplus oxygen, can be vital for these organisms – especially those growing in waters with little or no current. However, most likely not all corals have such a refined ventilation system. This could explain why some undergo more extreme bleaching than others in response to adverse conditions.

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JOURNAL

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2022.07.071 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

ARTICLE TITLE

Ciliary flows in corals ventilate target areas of high photosynthetic oxygen production

New evidence shows planting around school playgrounds protects children from air pollution

Scientists have published new evidence showing that selective planting of vegetation between roads and playgrounds can substantially cut toxic traffic-derived air pollution reaching school children.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: WESTERN RED CEDAR LEAVES view more 

CREDIT: PROFESSOR BARBARA MAHER

Scientists have published new evidence showing that selective planting of vegetation between roads and playgrounds can substantially cut toxic traffic-derived air pollution reaching school children.

The new findings, published this week in the journal Scientific Reports, demonstrate that roadside vegetation can be designed, installed and maintained to achieve rapid, significant and cost-effective improvement of air quality.

Exposure to traffic-related air pollution has been linked with a range of health risks including cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological health. These risks are likely to be exacerbated in young children attending primary schools next to busy roads as their major organs are still developing and children have a higher breathing rate than adults.

Exposure to fine particulate matter in air pollution is reportedly the largest environmental risk factor contributing to cardiovascular deaths and disease globally, and is linked to around six to nine million premature deaths each year.

A team of researchers led by Barbara Maher, Emeritus Professor at Lancaster University, and supported by Groundwork Greater Manchester, installed ‘tredges’ (trees managed as a head-high hedge) at three Manchester primary schools during the summer school holidays of 2019.

One school had an ivy screen installed, another had western red cedar and the third school had a mixture of western red cedar, Swedish birch and an inner juniper hedge. A fourth school, with no planting, was used as a control.

The school with the ivy screen saw a substantial reduction in playground particulate matter concentrations, but an increase in black carbon. The playground with the mixture of planting saw lower reductions in air pollution to that of the western red cedar.

The biggest overall reductions in particulate matter and black carbon were shown at the school with western red cedar planted. The results showed almost half (49%) of black carbon and around 46% and 26% of the fine particulates, PM2.5 and PM1 emitted by passing traffic were captured by the western red cedar tredges.

The tredges also significantly reduced the magnitude and frequency of acute ‘spikes’ in air pollution reaching the playgrounds.

Professor Maher said: “Our findings show that we can protect school playgrounds, with carefully chosen and managed tredges, which capture air pollution particulates on their leaves. This helps to prevent at least some of the health hazards imposed on young children at schools next to busy roads where the localised air quality is damagingly poor, and it can be done quickly and cost-effectively.”

The scientists believe that western red cedar performed best at preventing the particulate air pollution from reaching the playground because its prolific, small, rough, evergreen leaves act like a filter, capturing particulate pollution and stopping it circulating in the atmosphere. When it rains, the particulates wash off – ending up in the soil or drains – enabling the leaves to then capture more particulate pollution.

Professor Maher said: “Western red cedar tredges work well because this species’ leaves form millions of tiny rough corrugated projections, each of which can bump into the particulates suspended in the air and ‘capture’ them in their ridges, furrows and pores.

“This takes them out of the local atmosphere and therefore reduces the exposure to these traffic-sourced air pollution particulates of the children and staff in the playground.”

The researchers believe species like ivy were not as effective at capturing particulate pollution as the western red cedar because of the smooth, waxy surface of its leaves. It therefore acts more akin to a fence where it blocks the transport of some particulate matter but is not as effective at capturing and thus removing it from the air.

The researchers suggest these benefits highlighted by the study are not just limited to schools and that carefully selected and managed tredges could be used in other parts of urban areas to reduce the damaging health impacts of exposure to traffic pollution.

The study was supported with funding from Manchester City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester, and Groundwork Greater Manchester which installed the tredges and ran ‘citizen science’ workshops with classes from the schools to highlight issues around air quality and steps young people and their families can take to make a difference.

Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Environment for Manchester City Council, said: "We were keen to be part of this study as Manchester seeks to embrace innovation in our efforts to become a greener city with cleaner air and tackle climate change. We note these positive findings with interest and will consider how we can use the lessons from this project to make further targeted use of green infrastructure in the city."

The study’s findings are detailed in the paper ‘Protecting playgrounds: local-scale reduction of airborne particulate matter concentrations through particulate deposition on roadside ‘tredges’ (green infrastructure)’.

Researchers on the paper include: Barbara Maher and Vassil Karloukovski of Lancaster University; Tomasz Gonet, formerly of Lancaster University and now Jaguar Land Rover; Huixia Wang of Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, China; and Thomas Bannan, University of Manchester.

  

CAPTION

Installation of western red cedar tredge at school

CREDIT

Professor Barbara Maher

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18509-w

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-022-18509-w 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

‘Protecting playgrounds: local-scale reduction of airborne particulate matter concentrations through particulate deposition on roadside ‘tredges’ (green infrastructure)’

Economical PEF production

Efficient titanium-based catalyst used to produce PEF, the biobased alternative to PET

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILEY

One possible replacement for drink containers made from PET is polyethylene furandicarboxylate (PEF), made from renewable resources. However, the production of the raw material for PEF from biomass is still rather inefficient. A new titanium-based photocatalyst could be about to change this, making it more economical to access the raw material for PEF from biomass, as a team of researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

In the valorization of biomass, the key chemical 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is first obtained from the mix of natural substances. PEF is a recyclable plastic that can be produced from HMF. As PEF has very similar properties to PET, the most commonly used material for plastic bottles, it is used as a biobased replacement. However, the production of PEF is still expensive, due in large part to the difficulty in producing the raw material for PEF from HMF.

To produce the raw material for PEF, HMF must be oxidized, and this step is inefficient for two reasons. First, unwanted byproducts are formed during oxidation with atmospheric oxygen. In addition, the titanium-oxide-based catalysts available to date require UV light. Since UV light only makes up a small portion of the spectrum of sunlight, the efficiency of this photocatalytic reaction is low, making the process expensive.

A group of researchers headed by Ya-Qian Lan and Yifa Chen of the South China Normal University (SCNU) in Nanjing, China, have now developed a titanium-based photocatalyst that overcomes both obstacles. A titanium component in conjunction with an organic oxidizing group forms flat, crystalline nanosheets from an organometallic framework. By chemically linking the titanium with the organic components, the light absorption shifts from the UV to the visible range, considerably increasing efficiency, say the team.

The reaction is also highly selective, as relatively few reaction partners are required and virtually no waste is formed. The authors suggest that tailor-made photocatalysts like this could also be used to make a number of other reactions more sustainable.

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About the Authors

Dr. Ya-Qian Lan is a Professor of Chemistry at South China Normal University (SCNU) in Nanjing, China. His group’s research interests focus on the application of polyoxometalate-based composite materials in energy storage and conversion and porous metal–organic frameworks for applications in catalysis and proton conduction.

Dr. Yifa Chen is a Professor of Chemistry at SCNU. He has long been dedicated to the design of covalent metal–organic frameworks, membrane fabrication, and their applications in the fields of catalysis, energy storage, and environment treatment.

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JOURNAL

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

DOI

10.1002/anie.202209289 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Covalent-Bonding Oxidation Group and Titanium Cluster to Synthesize a Porous Crystalline Catalyst for Selective Photo-Oxidation Biomass Valorization

A recycling hub for materials research

The EU project ReMade@ARI starts on September 1st under the coordination of the HZDR

Business Announcement

HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM DRESDEN-ROSSENDORF

 

IMAGE: ACCELERATOR AT HZDR'S ION BEAM CENTER view more 

CREDIT: HZDR/OLIVER KILLIG

According to the European Union's Circular Economy Action Plan, the industry can determine up to 80 percent of a product's subsequent environmental impact at the design phase. However, the linear manufacturing pattern offers few incentives to make products more sustainable. The research infrastructure project ReMade@ARI, which deals with innovative materials for key components in various areas such as electronics, packaging or textiles, wants to change this: The goal is to develop new materials with high recyclability and at the same time competitive functionalities. To this end, the institutions involved want to harness the potential of more than 50 analytical research infrastructures throughout Europe under the coordination of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR).

An illustrative example: In the supermarket fruits and vegetables are often  packaged in plastics to extend their shelf life. In future, bio-based materials derived from wood could provide a sustainable alternative. This is where ReMade@ARI comes into play: research leading to the development of such sophisticated new materials crucially relies on access to the world-class European research infrastructures, which joined forces in ReMade@ARI.

The ReMade@ARI platform will be the central hub for all sectors and research areas in which new materials for a circular economy will be developed. “We provide scientists who are working on the design of new recyclable materials with analytical tools that enable them to explore the properties and the structure of their material in smallest details up to atomic resolution. This requires the exploitation of the most diverse analytical methods, involving appropriate combinations of photons, electrons, neutrons, ions, positrons and the highest magnetic fields,” says Dr. Stefan Facsko, the project’s scientific coordinator. “Any scientist in academic or industrial research working on new recyclable materials should get in touch with us.”

A particular focus will be on scientists in research fields in which up to now, the potential of research infrastructures has not yet been exploited. “We will offer them an all-round service, closely collaborating with them to identify the relevant properties to be analyzed in order to develop the optimum material for a particular purpose. Based on that, the most suitable research infrastructures to measure these properties will be identified from among the pool of Europe’s unique facilities.”

ReMade@ARI will have a significant impact on the advancement of the circular economy. Overall, 40 partners of the ARIE network are involved in the project. HZDR alone is contributing three large-scale user facilities: the Ion Beam Center (IBC), the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory (HLD) and the positron source at the ELBE Center for High-Power Radiation Sources (pELBE).

The project is being funded by the EU with a budget of 13.8 million euros. The project coordinator is HZDR.

Dr. Barbara Schramm, EU-Liaison Officer at HZDR, explains: “With a pool of highly motivated young researchers, the project will offer a user service of unprecedented quality which will enable each promising idea to be brought to success. We encourage in particular researchers from industry, for which we have put together an extensive package of support measures tailor-made to industry needs, to get in touch with us.”

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) performs – as an independent German research center – research in the fields of energy, health, and matter. We focus on answering the following questions:
•    How can energy and resources be utilized in an efficient, safe, and sustainable way?
•    How can malignant tumors be more precisely visualized, characterized, and more effectively treated?
•    How do matter and materials behave under the influence of strong fields and in smallest dimensions?
To help answer these research questions, HZDR operates large-scale facilities, which are also used by visiting researchers: the Ion Beam Center, the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the ELBE Center for High-Power Radiation Sources.
HZDR is a member of the Helmholtz Association and has six sites (Dresden, Freiberg, Görlitz, Grenoble, Leipzig, Schenefeld near Hamburg) with almost 1,500 members of staff, of whom about 670 are scientists, including 220 Ph.D. candidates.

Brothers and sisters shape character less than thought

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH

Our personality as adults is not determined by whether we grow up with sisters or brothers. This is the finding of an international study by researchers from Leipzig University, the University of Zurich and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The results have now been published in the renowned journal “Psychological Science”.

Siblings play a central role in childhood, and so it seems reasonable to assume that they influence each other’s personalities in the long term. In fact, psychological research has been dealing with the question of what difference it makes whether people grow up with sisters or brothers for more than half a century.

Scientists have repeatedly investigated whether brothers and sisters influence the extent to which their siblings adopt traditional “gender-conforming” characteristics, i.e. characteristics that are considered “typically male” or “typically female” in society. There are many assumptions and also contradictory findings on this, which is due in part to the fact that earlier studies were often based on limited and not very robust data.

In order to shed light on the previously inconsistent data situation, a team of researchers has now analysed data from more than 80,000 adults from nine countries, including Germany and the US, but also Mexico and China, for example. This was made possible by various national longitudinal studies that systematically collect information about people over decades, including their living conditions and personality traits determined in various ways. Statistical analysis of this data showed across national borders that personality traits such as risk-taking, emotional stability, conscientiousness and patience are not systematically related to sibling gender.

“Our findings refute the idea that growing up with brothers or sisters causes us to develop certain personality traits in the long term that are considered ‘typically female’ or ‘typically male’ in a society,” explains Dr Julia Rohrer, one of the authors of the paper. “Overall, current research suggests that siblings have a surprisingly small impact on personality in adulthood. For example, previous studies by our research group here in Leipzig show that sibling position – that is, whether a person is a firstborn or a sandwich child, for example – also does not play a major role in personality.”

However, the results of the new study do not mean that sibling gender does not play a role at all in long-term life paths. Economic studies have shown that in the US and Denmark, women with brothers earn less when employed. “So there do seem to be some interesting dynamics here that are related to gender,” says Rohrer. “But personality is probably not part of the explanation for such effects.”

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JOURNAL

PSYCHOLOGICAL JOURNAL

DOI

10.1177/09567976221094630 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

No Evidence that Siblings’ Gender Affects Personality Across Nine Countries

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Aug-2022