tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/axa-research-fund-english-48665/articlesAxa Research Fund (English) – The Conversation2024-01-07T15:35:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2184852024-01-07T15:35:53Z2024-01-07T15:35:53ZWhy traditional cooking isn’t always healthier: the case of Ghanaians in Manchester and in Accra<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567995/original/file-20240105-20-wdtvse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C2000%2C1365&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Analysis of participants' photos demonstrated hybrid cooking practices, with a combination of ingredients and cooking methods and/or techniques.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In popular discussions of healthy eating, including political rhetoric and nutrition counselling, women are often blamed for a lack of nutrition knowledge or cooking skills, leading to the assumption that a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2008.01922">decline in cooking skills is connected with unhealthy diets and obesity</a>. This has been called a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Evolution-of-Deficit-Thinking-Educational-Thought-and-Practice/Valencia/p/book/9780750706650">“deficit approach”</a> and my research with Ghanaian women set out to <a href="https://axa-research.org/funded-projects/health/towards-healthier-culinary-practices-among-overweight-and-obese-ghanaian-women">challenge some of its assumptions</a>.</p>
<p>Previous studies on Ghanaian immigrants showed that following their arrival in the United Kingdom, most <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03014460.2017.1333148">maintained their dietary traditions</a>. This cuts against the perception that they, like others, would <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48710190">quickly succumb to fast-food culture in high-income countries</a>. We also know that traditional diets, while seemingly healthy, can also contain <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912420301061">excess calories and fat</a> and thus cause a range of health issues such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, and hypertension. The reason for this may lie in the way the home-cooked food is prepared, cooked, or served.</p>
<h2>Seeing versus telling</h2>
<p>We asked Ghanaian women living in Manchester, England, and in Accra, Ghana, to take photographs of their own cooking experience. We then used the photographs as a prompt to allow participants to tell the “stories” of their everyday cooking.</p>
<p>In both countries, the women said that they viewed their practices as a distinct subtype of home cooking, characterised by raw ingredients and/or whole foods, locally produced ingredients and specialised equipment. They also saw themselves as cooking with love and care and adhering to culturally acceptable ways of feeding their families.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I have introduced my kids to the local dishes, and they love them, and one of my boy’s favourites is yam. Every now and then I tend to cook spinach or what is called ‘nkontomire’.” (Manchester resident)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Analysis of participants’ photos demonstrated hybrid cooking practices, with a combination of ingredients and cooking methods and/or techniques. In some cases, the hybrid methods contributed to unhealthy food practices, including the excessive use of oil and processed foods/flavourings; extended periods of stewing and frying. Many women continued to cherish their <em>asanka</em>, an earthenware grinding pot central to Ghanaian cooking.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[An ‘asanka’] is very important in every Ghanaian home, because there are some foods that you cannot prepare using the blender, as it will not taste nice.” (Manchester resident)</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563713/original/file-20231205-21-rie53f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563713/original/file-20231205-21-rie53f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563713/original/file-20231205-21-rie53f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563713/original/file-20231205-21-rie53f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563713/original/file-20231205-21-rie53f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563713/original/file-20231205-21-rie53f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563713/original/file-20231205-21-rie53f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The <em>asanka</em> is a traditional Ghanian grinding pot, a key tool of Ghanaian kitchens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
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<p>Not surprisingly, the adoption of newer ways of cooking has been linked to the “nutrition transition”, where populations across the world are embracing a food revolution. Studies have shown that many in Britain have abandoned traditional ways of cooking and turned to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.12.014">new ways of cooking and eating</a>.</p>
<p>While a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975518791431">general decline in cooking skills has also been reported</a> in many western societies over the past decades, this was not the case for Ghanaian women both in Ghana and the UK. Our findings showed that they love to cook, and saw maintaining traditional foods as being a central part of their cultural heritage. While they made use of freezers and microwaves, these were used as tools to help them maintain their cultural heritage – for example, cooking in bulk to create food stocks that would last days or weeks.</p>
<h2>When tradition doesn’t rhyme with safety</h2>
<p>While traditional Ghanaian cooking was perceived as being healthier, this is not always the case. In Ghana, disease risks included foodborne illnesses, and both there and in the UK, the risk of obesity, high cholesterol and heart disease were highlighted. In Ghana, those interviewed strongly emphasised the need for clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, while concerns about the adulteration of packaged and/or processed ethnic foods were highlighted in both settings.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The ingredients make the food healthy.” (Accra resident)</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563706/original/file-20231205-27-759nes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563706/original/file-20231205-27-759nes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563706/original/file-20231205-27-759nes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563706/original/file-20231205-27-759nes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563706/original/file-20231205-27-759nes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563706/original/file-20231205-27-759nes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563706/original/file-20231205-27-759nes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563706/original/file-20231205-27-759nes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
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<p>To better understand the willingness of Ghanaian women in Manchester to change unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, in another study we assessed their readiness to engage in healthier dietary practices and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-022-01777-1">reduce the risk of obesity</a>. We found that despite the women recognising that obesity was an important health issue, it was not seen as a priority for targeting change. Our research suggests sociocultural rules and structural determinants often specify which foods are considered preferable, cooking choices as well as the differences in habitual intake for different people.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563708/original/file-20231205-27-pz9rq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563708/original/file-20231205-27-pz9rq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563708/original/file-20231205-27-pz9rq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563708/original/file-20231205-27-pz9rq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563708/original/file-20231205-27-pz9rq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563708/original/file-20231205-27-pz9rq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563708/original/file-20231205-27-pz9rq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
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<blockquote>
<p>“It takes a lot of time to cook over a fire and it produces a lot of smoke, which ends up making the food reek.” (Accra resident)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Like <a href="https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/126956">many others around the world</a>, cooking for Ghanaian women has a range of dimensions. Perceptions of “good” cooking were linked to nutrition and health but also had social, cultural, and emotional associations. There is therefore the need to continue to challenge the idea that women lack knowledge or the will to cook healthy foods.</p>
<p>Instead, health promotion interventions need to emphasise social, cultural, and emotional connotations of cooking in addition to the usual emphasis on physical health, for recommendations to resonate with women’s realities.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the Axa Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the Axa Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>To better understand Ghanaian women in Manchester, England, we asked them to tell the “stories” of their everyday cooking through photographs.Hibbah Araba Osei-Kwasi, Lecturer, Loughborough UniversitySawudatu Zakariah-Akoto, Research fellow in nutrition, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2158442023-11-16T10:40:17Z2023-11-16T10:40:17ZWhy the Pyrenees’ mountain lakes are turning green<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554285/original/file-20230921-21-xzmfew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C63%2C5232%2C3880&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Ayès lake, in the Ariège region of the Pyrenees.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dirk S. Schmeller</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I first set foot <a href="https://theconversation.com/pourquoi-le-rechauffement-climatique-saccelere-dans-les-pyrenees-173362">in the Pyrenees</a> in 2006. Two years later, I began a large-scale survey of mountain lakes and amphibian populations: from east to west, I covered more than 100 mountain lakes located in the eastern Pyrenees to the Béarn region (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).</p>
<p>For our various projects, we came back to sample the same lakes at least once a year. Over time, we noticed changes, in particular the increased growth of algae <a href="https://theconversation.com/dans-les-eaux-de-baignade-les-cyanobacteries-amies-ou-ennemies-204352">cyanobacteria</a> and sometimes dinoflagellates, the blue-green algae that turn many lakes green. Back in 2012, we informed the Pyrenees National Park (PNP) about our observations.</p>
<p>Over the years, I’ve seen many of these lakes change colour. Some have lost the clarity and blue we’ve all come to expect from a mountain lake, while others have started to take on a greenish hue or even a bright green, particularly at the end of summer.</p>
<p>This trend does not affect any one region more than another: it can be found in the Ariège Pyrenees, the central mountains of the Pyrenees, as well as the western Béarn region. This is not a rare, localised phenomenon, but a large-scale event that is set to spread over the coming years. We’re also seeing it on the other side of the border, in the Catalan Pyrenees, where my colleague Marc Ventura has been leading the <a href="http://www.lifelimnopirineus.eu/es/inicio">European Limnopirineus project</a>.</p>
<p>In the Alps, colleagues at the research centre for high-altitude ecosystems (<a href="https://creamontblanc.org/">in French: Centre de recherche des écosystèmes d’altitude, Crea</a>) have made a similar observation. Even in the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/algal-booms-mountain-lakes.htm">Canadian Rockies</a>, a clear growth in algae has been observed.</p>
<p>We have identified four main causes of this greening of the lakes.</p>
<h2>1. More fish and algae, fewer crustaceans</h2>
<p>On the Catalan side, Marc Ventura first noticed that the presence of fish was contributing to the phenomenon, and that their eradication was turning the lakes back to a bluish hue. For those of you who might have a problem with the idea of “eradication”, it should be pointed out that the presence of fish in mountain lakes is not natural: it is the result of fish stocking carried out to promote recreational fishing.</p>
<p>To better understand the mechanisms at work, it is important to realise that the species present in mountain lake communities form a highly complex system, with a bewildering number of interactions. The disappearance of one species or a group of species from an aquatic system can lead to radical changes of the overall ecosystem (in this case, a mountain lake).</p>
<p>In the lakes studied, for example, it was observed that crustaceans were much less numerous or even absent in the presence of fish, particularly minnows, a very commonly introduced species in mountain lakes. Microcrustaceans in aquatic ecosystems filter water to ingest food, which is essentially made up of algae: in their absence, this imbalance allows algae to proliferate.</p>
<h2>2. Insecticides that kill crustaceans</h2>
<p>According to our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pyrenees-francaises-un-cocktail-toxique-impressionnant-detecte-dans-les-lacs-de-montagne-181860">own work</a> carried out in certain lakes, the absence or sharp reduction in crustaceans is also due to pollution. It is thought two insecticides in particular shoulder the blame: <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969722015492">permethrin and diazinon</a>, which are either used on livestock to protect them from stinging insects or are present in insect repellents used by tourists.</p>
<p>We have identified many other chemical molecules in lake water – <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969722015492">141 in total</a> – and the effect of this cocktail on aquatic food webs is currently unknown. It should be noted, however, that we are currently only able to detect a small proportion of the organic molecules, due to methodological limitations. The cumulative toxicity of all the pollutants emitted by humans in these environments therefore remains a mystery.</p>
<p>It is therefore likely that we are underestimating the overall impact of the large number of organic molecules on aquatic ecosystems in the mountains and elsewhere. But there is no doubt that, in the lakes we are studying, the increase in pollution is encouraging the disappearance of microcrustaceans and therefore the proliferation of algae.</p>
<h2>3. Livestock waste, nutrients for algae</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969722015492">Research</a> has indicated pollutants may come from livestock, which are treated against biting insects with Butox or similar veterinary treatments containing deltamethrin or permethrin. Applied to the skin, these insecticides penetrate the animal’s bloodstream before being excreted in urine and faeces.</p>
<p>The active molecule remains largely unchanged and enters the water, even though it is <a href="https://enveurope.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12302-022-00710-3">highly toxic to crustaceans in mountain lakes</a> starting from a concentration of the order of a few nanograms per litre, which is tiny. By killing crustaceans, these insecticides profoundly alter the aquatic food web.</p>
<p>But that’s not all. Algae also need nutrients to grow. Cattle provide them by drinking from lakes before urinating and defecating in the water: these discharges contain a high concentration of nutrients (nitrates and phosphates, among others), and especially phosphates are needed by cyanobacteria, filamentous algae.</p>
<h2>4. Climate change</h2>
<p>Finally, algae appreciate the heat: they multiply with high growth rates during the summer months, particularly when the water temperature exceeds 20°C. The rise in temperature caused by climate change is therefore adding to the other factors. In 2022, the edge of Lake Lhurs, in the Béarn region of France, reached over 25°C at an altitude of almost 1,800 metres – a blessing for algae.</p>
<p>These are the main factors, but my research could uncover more in the future. The most important thing is to understand that they act in synergy: we kill crustaceans by introducing fish, we pollute by treating livestock and then, once the mountain aquatic ecosystems have been weakened, we contribute through our activities to increasing the temperature of the lakes: algae then find the ideal conditions for growth. Some of these <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135423009879">algae are toxic</a> and therefore present a health risk.</p>
<p>Our lakes thus change from blue to greenish, from greenish to bright green: no mystery to this, their colour simply reveals what we are inflicting on our mountain lakes, our water resources, wildlife, livestock and ourselves.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TKaW25EPSk8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Mountain lake ecosystem health indicators (“Mountains, a fragile source of life”, 21 September 2023).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How to get clear, blue lakes back</h2>
<p>Fortunately, all is not lost. The work of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361705726_Non-native_minnows_cause_much_larger_negative_effects_than_trout_on_littoral_macroinvertebrates_of_high_mountain_lakes">Marc Ventura</a> highlights that it is still possible to turn back the clock and return lakes to a blue colour and healthy ecosystems. But this means changing the management of all the mountain lakes.</p>
<p>First, it is essential to limit fish stocking to certain large lakes and ban it in the others, so that they are reserved for local flora and fauna. Even in the large lakes, areas that are inaccessible to fish can be created to encourage invertebrates, amphibians and other aquatic and semi-aquatic species.</p>
<p>The next step is to reduce the pollution caused by tourists, livestock and industry. In particular, by communicating and discussing with the various stakeholders, alerting them to the risks and working with them to find real solutions rather than unsatisfactory compromises.</p>
<p>For example, the Ariège Pyrenees Regional Nature Park has begun to raise awareness among tourists, at least about the use of sun creams. This is a first step, albeit an insufficient one given the range of problems explained here. Another step forward would be to limit cattle access to mountain lakes, which would also help to restore the ecosystems. Finally, on a larger scale, the phenomenon is yet another reminder of the urgent need to combat climate change…</p>
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the Axa Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the Axa Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>The <a href="https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-21-BIRE-0002">BiodivRestore</a> project is supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR), which funds project-based research in France. Its mission is to support and promote the development of fundamental and applied research in all disciplines, and to strengthen the dialogue between science and society. For more information, visit the <a href="https://anr.fr/">ANR website</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dirk S. Schmeller has received funding from the ANR and AXA Research Fund.</span></em></p>Many mountain lakes in the Pyrenees have turned green, a phenomenon that is a warning about the multiple pressures on ecosystems.Dirk S. Schmeller, Directeur de recherche CNRS, Expert for Conservation Biology, Axa Chair for Functional Mountain Ecology at the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136182023-11-07T17:24:43Z2023-11-07T17:24:43ZOvercoming the climate crisis with trade-based strategies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557599/original/file-20231105-27-uw7cz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2048%2C1358&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A container ships docked in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Corey Seeman/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Global warming is making <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_LongerReport.pdf">weather patterns more extreme</a> and <a href="https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2022/103/article-A001-en.xml">increasing inequalities</a> across regions. However, economic growth is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-trade-regulations-may-be-opening-up-a-new-era-of-sustainable-growth-in-the-global-south-182070">still possible</a>, with economies showing a range of responses to the impacts of global heating.</p>
<p>Recently, Martina Bozzola, Fabio Santeramo and I joined together to understand whether the climate crisis is creating new trading patterns. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23008221">Our research</a> concludes that international trade may serve as an adaptation strategy to climate change.</p>
<p>Production shifts induced by the changing climate may favour both the domestic and international markets depending on how interconnections across the globe facilitate the movement of goods. Taking into account conditions such as the geographical distance or the size of economies, the value of the exchange in goods between two trading partners is as large as their climatic conditions differ. Specifically, for an increase of 1 degree Celsius in the gap between the mean temperatures of two countries, the trade between them is expected to grow by 38% on average.</p>
<p>For example, between 1996 and 2015, the agricultural and food-related trade between India and Indonesia amounted to an average of 215 million dollars each year for the period. Indonesia is about 2 degrees Celsius warmer than India, and the effect of having a 1 degree Celsius larger difference in temperatures between the two countries would generate an average trade increase between them quantifiable in 82 million dollars per year.</p>
<h2>Changes in temperatures leading to new shipping routes</h2>
<p>The greater the temperature difference across countries, the tighter their commercial relationships get. In absolute terms, trade tends to increase more substantially for routes in the northern hemisphere, particularly when the European Union and the United States are involved: the intra-EU shipping routes are expected to increase annually by more than 1 billion dollars each. The monetary gain in the EU-US route is also relevant, rising from 611 to 893 million dollars more per year depending on the EU trading partner. While less marked, an increase in trade values is expected between countries in the southern hemisphere, including Latin America (for example, a rise of 552 million dollars between Argentina and Brazil) and Oceania (an increase of 573 million dollars between Australia and New Zealand).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Top 20 trade routes most affected by increase in the difference between countries' temperatures" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553250/original/file-20231011-23-p4k7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Top 20 trade routes most affected by increase in the difference between countries’ temperatures. Figures are in million dollars; the reference year is 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The difference in the magnitude of trade effects between Northern and Southern countries is likely due to the variation in both the countries’ climates and state of economic development. Most of northern countries are developed economies, whereas most of southern ones are developing or emerging. Northern (developed) countries tend to have a colder climate and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/twec.13256">higher trade values with respect to the southern</a> (developing) countries. Under the same increase in temperature differences, a higher level of economic development may explain the larger gains in monetary terms. </p>
<p>It should be kept in mind, however, that the strength of seasonality varies significantly across the globe, with seasons being more homogenous around the equator. Differences in temperatures tend to increase the value of agricultural and food products traded between lower-latitude countries, such as China, and higher-latitude countries, such as the EU. According to the data from Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/food-farming-fisheries/farming/documents/agrifood-china_en.pdf">China is both a top origin and a top destination for the EU</a>. On average, China is 6 degrees Celsius colder than the EU trading partners for the period between 1996 and 2015. Consistent with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23008221">our results</a>, such a difference would increase trade between the EU and China. Similar to other central Asian countries that traditionally suffered from a temperature penalty, China would benefit of an improved agricultural productivity with warmer temperatures.</p>
<h2>Strategies to survive in a warmer environment</h2>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/joeg/article-abstract/21/4/487/6384781">Climate change has a range of impacts across space</a>, with some countries experiencing losses or gains more than others. Overall, changes in climatic conditions and increasing differences in the temperatures of countries contributes to change the economic geography and shape sectoral specialisations. </p>
<p>Countries shifting their specialisation is a form of adaptation that depends, among other, on their ability to trade with partners in other regions of the world. Developing trading partners with different specialisations would result in a potentially beneficial adaptation strategy to climate change.</p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>As global warming accelerates, a new study indicates that new trading patterns could develop as an adaptation strategy.Emilia Lamonaca, AXA Research Fellow, Università di FoggiaFabio Gaetano Santeramo, Associate Professor, Università di FoggiaMartina Bozzola, Associate professor, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155062023-10-24T10:51:21Z2023-10-24T10:51:21ZDoing laundry by hand sheds just as many microfibres as machine washing – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555254/original/file-20231023-17-xkvoz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C63%2C1076%2C783&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most of the world washes their clothing by hand.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-washing-river-female-water-3447847/">elJad/Pixabay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Between <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-023-25246-8#Sec10">6,500 and 87,000 tonnes</a> of microfibres are shed during domestic laundering every year in the UK. Many of these minuscule fibres end up in rivers and oceans, with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749119340552?via%3Dihub">devastating consequences</a> for aquatic animals and environments.</p>
<p>As a result, environmental advocacy groups in the <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3077">UK</a>, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiehailstone/2023/04/21/eu-urged-to-mandate-microplastic-filters-in-new-washing-machines/">EU</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/filters-on-laundry-machines-lead-to-significant-cut-in-microfibre-pollution-ontario-study-finds-1.6241689">North America</a> are campaigning for legislation to mandate microfibre-catching filters for all new washing machines. </p>
<p>But microfibre pollution isn’t limited to machine washing. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.139391">new research</a> shows that washing clothing by hand can shed just as many microfibres as laundry washed in a machine. </p>
<p>This is an issue. More than half of the global population <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652623035497?via%3Dihub">doesn’t have regular access to a washing machine</a> and so launder “off-grid”, such as by hand. Hand washing laundry often involves a lot of scrubbing and abrasion that sheds fibres. Wastewater from hand laundering may flow directly into rivers or onto concrete and stone “laundry decks”, bypassing wastewater treatment facilities even where such facilities are available.</p>
<p>Resolving the microfibre pollution problem necessitates more than just installing washing machine filters. It requires changes in how textiles are designed, manufactured and traded on a global scale.</p>
<h2>Fibres shed from hand laundry</h2>
<p>Scientific research into fibre shedding often overlooks people that hand launder their clothes, with the predominant focus being on the fibres shed by conventional electric washing machines. Although scientists from countries where many people wash by hand <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1020919/full">have observed</a> that these methods result in fibre shedding, they have seldom received the necessary support to measure or compare the quantity of fibres shed. </p>
<p>Our research was conducted with colleagues from Isabela State University in the Philippines, Wollongong University in Australia and seven other universities across the UK. We held a workshop and observed hand laundering practices in the Cagayan River Valley in the northern Philippines. We then replicated the hand laundering techniques demonstrated by the local community within a laboratory. </p>
<p>Our experiments measured the fibres shed from both pre-washed and brand-new 100% polyester trousers purchased from a UK high street store. These trousers closely resembled the polyester clothing we found in markets in the Philippines and the garments we observed being hand laundered there.</p>
<p>We found that hand washing these trousers using a plastic scrub brush led to fibre shedding levels of between <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652623035497?via%3Dihub">6,499 and 64,500</a> individual fibres per garment. This is comparable to the levels reported for machine laundering. It is evident that hand laundering is not necessarily gentler on textiles than machine laundry.</p>
<h2>Measuring ‘sheddability’</h2>
<p>People who hand wash their clothes employ various techniques. These are based on the textiles they are washing and the purpose an item of clothing serves. Clothing that is covered in dust or mud, like garments worn for farm work, may require vigorous scrubbing.</p>
<p>Our research could not recreate all of the ways people launder by hand. We were also unable to explore the impact of every textile variable on fibre shedding, including colouration method, dye type, specific knit or weave structure, and mechanical or chemical finishing. </p>
<p>Among the variables we did examine, our results demonstrated that the structure of the textiles had a more pronounced effect on fibre shedding than the type of fibre itself. Fibre type had no significant influence on shedding. Notably, woven textiles shed fewer fibres compared to their knitted counterparts.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1620346289681481730"}"></div></p>
<p>It’s not just synthetic textiles that shed problematic fibres. Plant-based textiles like cotton and animal-based textiles such as wool shed fibres in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652623035497?via%3Dihub">similar quantities</a> to plastic fibres. <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.991650/full">Some research</a> even suggests that cellulose-based fibres such as cotton may impose comparable, if not more severe, consequences on organisms that ingest them when compared to synthetic microfibres.</p>
<p>Despite often being marketed as “biodegradable”, cotton fibres <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/mercerization">undergo modifications</a> for use in the textile industry that alter the structure of the cellulose they are composed of. Most cottons also have <a href="https://oecotextiles.blog/2012/12/05/what-does-mercerized-cotton-mean/">chemical dyes</a> and finishes added during processing. </p>
<p>As a result, cotton textile fibres do not readily biodegrade in natural surroundings. And any degradation that does occur will probably release chemicals from their production into the environment. This holds true regardless of the laundering method used for the textiles.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/plastic-free-fashion-is-not-as-clean-or-green-as-it-seems-139082">'Plastic-free' fashion is not as clean or green as it seems</a>
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</em>
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<h2>Solving the microfibre problem</h2>
<p>Solving the issue of textile fibre shedding is complex. There is a massive global trade in used clothing, worth about <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/hs/used-clothing">US$5 billion (£4.1 billion) per year</a>. Even when care labels and fashion designers have considered electric machine washing, potential washing machine filters and wastewater treatment, the export of used clothing takes these textiles away from that established infrastructure.</p>
<p>But the people we observed hand washing clothing need the affordable and durable work attire that this used clothing trade provides. This means that, to address textile fibre shedding, we require a complete rethink not only of the ways we launder our clothes, but of how clothing is made.</p>
<p>The fundamental problem lies not in the secondhand clothing trade, but in the design of textiles themselves. We could make headway in tackling the microfibre issue by designing low-shed fabrics to make garments that can better withstand the rigours of hand washing. Another approach is the development of <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-environments-new-clothes-biodegradable-textiles-grown-from-live-organisms/">new truly biodegradable fibres</a> that will break down naturally in the environment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A secondhand clothing store." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555259/original/file-20231023-19-alhu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555259/original/file-20231023-19-alhu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555259/original/file-20231023-19-alhu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555259/original/file-20231023-19-alhu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555259/original/file-20231023-19-alhu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555259/original/file-20231023-19-alhu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555259/original/file-20231023-19-alhu6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A secondhand clothing store in the Philippines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dumaguete-philippines-9-september-2017-cheap-713736202">Davdeka/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In the meantime, those who pride themselves on avoiding synthetic fabrics should recognise that the microfibre problem <a href="https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wat2.1490">extends beyond the materials we wear</a>. Textile marketing should not greenwash by conflating “natural” and “biodegradable”. And relying on washing machine filters alone will not solve the problem of microfibre shedding. </p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215506/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deirdre McKay receives funding from the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, and UKRI via the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Global Challenges Research Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Sheridan receives funding from UKRI (NERC / AHRC / Innovate UK) via their Circular Fashion and Textiles Network Plus funding. In addition to Northumbria University she also works for The Microfibre Consortium.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Stanton receives funding from the AXA Research Fund and UKRI (NERC / AHRC / Innovate UK) via their Circular Fashion and Textiles Network Plus funding. </span></em></p>Simply trying to avoid synthetic clothing won’t fix our microfibre pollution problemDeirdre McKay, Professor of Sustainable Development, Keele UniversityKelly Sheridan, Associate Professor in Forensic Science, Northumbria University, NewcastleThomas Stanton, Axa Research Fund Fellow, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136282023-10-09T16:27:37Z2023-10-09T16:27:37ZThe secrets to self-confidence, according to cognitive science<p>In 2019, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/edn-20210910-1">7.2% of people in the European Union</a> suffered from chronic depression. The human – and economic – cost of this illness is considerable, which is why the European Commission unveiled a <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/health-consumers/news/beyond-health-policy-eu-commission-lays-out-mental-health-strategy/">€1.23 billion mental health strategy in June</a>, to be achieved through 20 flagship initiatives.</p>
<p>Science shows that self-esteem <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18729703/">plays a key role with certain mental disorders</a>, particularly those of anxious and depressive nature.</p>
<p>Even today, however, the cognitive mechanisms underlying self-esteem remain mysterious. If we are to understand them, we need to start by asking ourselves a set of questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How is self-esteem expressed?</p></li>
<li><p>Why does it vary from one individual to another?</p></li>
<li><p>How do psychiatric disorders and self-esteem interact?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Situated at the intersection of neuroscience, mathematical modelling and psychiatry, our research aims to answer these questions to better understand self-assessment, a critical aspect of human cognition.</p>
<p>Here’s what we’ve learned so far, and the main hypotheses we’re pursuing.</p>
<h2>Self-esteem and motivation</h2>
<p>Research in psychology shows that a high level of confidence in oneself and one’s abilities is associated with a greater <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1977-25733-001">sense of control over what happens to us</a>, which may promote our ability to take on challenges. When the latter are met with success, our confidence may enjoy a boost, propelling us into a virtuous circle.</p>
<p>Conversely, if a person lacks confidence when embarking onto a project, they are more likely “not to believe in it,” and therefore to give up trying. The chances of success – and consequently the opportunities to positively reinforce their confidence – are then reduced.</p>
<p>But is it low self-esteem that leads to the onset of anxiety or depressive disorders, or the reverse?</p>
<p>To explore these questions, we need to look at how individuals assess their performance.</p>
<h2>A wide range of confidence</h2>
<p>Let us preface what follows by stating there is huge variability in self-assessment. For example, a depressed person may underestimate their ability to complete a task despite performing on a par with others, while a person suffering from cognitive problems (in the early stages of dementia, for example) may continue to trust their own abilities.</p>
<p>This variability, the origins of which are not fully known yet, takes two main forms.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The degree to which the confidence judgements made by an individual enable them to discriminate between their own correct responses and their errors. For example, one can tend to be overconfident, but still be less so when one is wrong than when one is right. Conversely, one can be overconfident, but equally so, regardless of the correctness of one’s answer.</p></li>
<li><p>The existence or not of a gap between subjective confidence and objective performance.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We’ve all noticed that some people underestimate themselves, while others overestimate themselves. On the other hand, some are “well calibrated” – they are able to show a high level of confidence when their objective performance is high, and a lower level when their performance is truly lower.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_XFQS4eX-7c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>At the population level, a well-validated finding in behavioural psychology and economics is that <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-04236-009">we are (slightly) overconfident</a>. A case where the numbers speak for themselves is that more than half of people think that they are better than average drivers or are more intelligent than the average.</p>
<h2>Different levels of confidence</h2>
<p>Scientists have long struggled to differentiate variations in confidence from those in other cognitive characteristics. The task is made all the more difficult by the fact that confidence is expressed <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006322321013299">at different hierarchical levels</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Our confidence in a given decision (“I answered this question correctly”);</p></li>
<li><p>Our confidence in a task (“I did pretty well in that exam”);</p></li>
<li><p>Our confidence in a given cognitive domain (“I have a good memory”);</p></li>
</ol>
<p>4… up to our self-confidence, which constitutes an overall level.</p>
<p>These distinctions are important: one can be confident of one’s ability to drive in bad weather (perceptual domain), while not being sure one can remember a list of things to do (memory domain).</p>
<p>Similarly, for certain types of exercise one may be able to “know when one knows and know when one doesn’t know”, whereas for others it may be trickier to distinguish one’s mistakes from one’s successes.</p>
<h2>Two main hypotheses</h2>
<p>There are currently two main coexisting hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying confidence judgements.</p>
<p>One is that there is a central self-assessment mechanism that estimates confidence in any given response or task. This mechanism would be the same across different domains, such as memory, language or reasoning. In this case, actions designed to improve the accuracy of self-assessment <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/personality-neuroscience/article/human-metacognition-across-domains-insights-from-individual-differences-and-neuroimaging/16940B57B2F1649B5F0BC399174F84BA">should aim to “re-educate” or “train” this very central judgement capacity, independently of the task at hand</a>. The benefits would then become widespread.</p>
<p>The second hypothesis postulates that our confidence judgements are not the result of a central self-assessment mechanism, but are intimately linked to each domain. According to this hypothesis, any action designed to improve the accuracy of self-assessment should therefore target the relevant task or domain.</p>
<p>Both hypotheses remain hotly debated. Whether at the behavioural or neurological level, research results tend to indicate that the reality is probably somewhere in between. There is no single centralised mechanism (which would probably not confer enough flexibility), but neither is there a specific mechanism for each domain – that would be too “costly” for the brain to maintain.</p>
<h2>Mental health profiles in the population</h2>
<p>Another hurdle in the study of self-assessment and confidence is that the <a href="https://www.elsevier-masson.fr/dsm-5-manuel-diagnostique-et-statistique-des-troubles-mentaux-9782294739293.html">current classification of psychiatric disorders</a> is in the process of being rethought.</p>
<p>This is particularly true of the idea that a symptom is equivalent to an illness. Anxiety, for example, is not a diagnostic symptom of a single psychiatric disorder – one can be anxious when suffering from depression, a borderline personality disorder, and so on. Conversely, an illness does not necessarily limit itself to a single symptom. Take the case of an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), where some patients experience high levels of anxiety, whereas others do not. Yet their diagnosis is the same.</p>
<p>This makes it challenging to reliably predict which treatment option would be most effective for a given patient. Indeed, while the traditional classification is clinically relevant, it does not always directly match the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders.</p>
<p>Complementary to this traditional viewpoint, the so-called <em>dimensional</em> approach focuses on the heterogeneity and variability in underlying symptoms, which may be common to several illnesses. This alternative classification is understood as <em>transdiagnostic</em>, one that works through traditional diagnostic categories.</p>
<h2>Maths can help to better capture mental health symptoms</h2>
<p>Traditionally, psychologists and doctors have tended to diagnose mental health disorders by relying on patients’ reports. The latter can enlighten either by expressing themselves directly on the couch or by answering specialised questionnaires, including questions such as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Do you find it difficult to make decisions?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>or</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Do you sometimes feel so anxious that you find it hard to breathe?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Using machine learning, researchers attempted to group the symptoms in such a way as to identify common points to different pathologies, rather than studying each illness separately. Once groupings of symptoms common to several diseases had been established, experimental techniques could be used to better grasp the biological, cognitive or behavioural mechanisms involved.</p>
<p>In the case of OCD, machine learning methods could potentially identify subgroups – for example, an “anxiety” subgroup. The hope is that this will make it possible to offer treatments or psychotherapeutic methods that are better suited to each individual. Indeed, a person with anxious OCD may not respond in the same way to a given treatment as a person with OCD where anxiety is less pronounced.</p>
<h2>In the general population</h2>
<p>The idea is that mental health symptoms naturally fluctuate, both in patients and in the entire population. This is true even with those who have not been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder – we are all to some degree more or less anxious, more or less impulsive, more or less obsessive, and so on.</p>
<p>Applying machine learning methods on volunteers, we found that people with more compulsive and intrusive thinking symptoms generally reported higher confidence, but had a less accurate self-assessment. This pattern <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29458997/">could be related psychological effects such as a tendency to jump to conclusions</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, people with more marked anxious and depressive symptoms were found to have lower confidence in their decisions, but a more accurate self-assessment – which may be related to the notion of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22717337/">“depressive realism”</a>. However, these results seem to depend on the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44184-022-00009-4">domain</a> in which we are evaluating our confidence (for example, memory, sport, etc.).</p>
<p>A better understanding of how confidence judgements are formed could help us determine why self-assessment varies from one person to another. It could also help us gain awareness of the gap that can exist between our performance and our perception of it.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Created in 2007 to accelerate and share scientific knowledge on major societal issues, the Axa Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects worldwide, led by researchers from 38 countries. To find out more, visit the Axa Research Fund website or follow us on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213628/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marion Rouault's research is supported by the Axa Research Fund.</span></em></p>Cognitive disorders can often impact self-confidence, for the better or for the worse. But we won’t be able to offer adequate treatment unless we understand the mechanisms, one scientist warns.Marion Rouault, Chargée de recherche CNRS en neurosciences cognitives, Institut du Cerveau (ICM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2137312023-10-03T16:34:50Z2023-10-03T16:34:50ZMicroplastics in the mud: Finnish lake sediments help us get to the bottom of plastic pollution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551737/original/file-20231003-25-ks87tq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3596&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers on the frozen surface of Lake Kallavesi prepare to take a sample of the sediment down below. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Timo Saarinen</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The sun is shining, and air feels surprisingly warm when we walk on a 35cm ice that covers a frozen lake in central Finland. The heavy sledges move nicely, because there is not much snow on the ice today. The journey isn’t far either, as we’re by the city of Kuopio, which is surrounded by Finland’s 10th largest lake. Despite the temperature of -10˚, I need to take off my hat – the sun in early March is already warm, or it could be the fact that the heavy sledge is following me obediently.</p>
<p>We’re crossing the icy bay not for sport or holiday activities, nor is it part of a plan to hike to north Pole. Instead, our focus is in research. We are determinedly walking to the middle of the bay to collect a sediment core from its bottom. Mud – or sediments, as geologists call them – are deposited slowly at the bottom of lakes. How quickly mud accumulates varies greatly depending on the body of water, but at this bay in Lake Kallavesi, about 1 centimetre of sediment is deposited annually. Logically, the new sediment is deposited on top of earlier layers, and so sediments are like time machines – the deeper you dig into the older sediments, the further you reach into the past. You can think of sediments like libraries of a lake’s untold stories, and if you can read the words of the sediment core, they can tell amazing stories.</p>
<p>Lake Kallavesi has a specific and rare type of sediments called annually laminated or <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4020-4411-3_226">varved sediments</a>. They’re composed of a bright and dark couplets one after the other, just like tree rings, that can be counted backwards. It is possible to check how your birth year looked – or your grandmother’s birth year. Such sediment layers can reach back thousands of years.</p>
<h2>The history of plastic, buried in the mud</h2>
<p>Our historical destination this time is much more recent – we want to investigate the presence of plastic particles within the natural sediment. It’s a continuation of our ongoing research, most recently published in the <em>Journal of Soils and Sediments</em> in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11368-023-03465-3">February 2023</a>. </p>
<p>Widespread use of plastic started about 70 years ago, and since then, 9 billion metric tonnes has been produced. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1700782">Only 12% is incinerated</a>, meaning that 7.5 billion metric tonnes are still with us somewhere – recycled and in use; in landfills or dump pits, or in nature, including our waters. The weight of all that plastic is more than that of all the people on the planet – there’s about 1,000 kg of plastic for each of us, mostly in form of waste. What would you do with your share? What would I do?</p>
<p>These are my thoughts when I am drilling a hole in the ice. It would be nice to work on lake on a sunny summer day, but the thick ice serves as a stable platform. It allows us to spread all our corers, saws, sledges, tubes, wires, and hot water pots around us. We use metal rods to push the core tubes down 11 metres to the lake floor and then into the sediment. A few minutes later, we lift the core tube out on the water. It was known that the bay is polluted, but we’re surprised by the strong smell of oil when the core emerges.</p>
<p>Because plastic is very durable material, it works well as a core tube. This benefit is also plastic’s worst aspect: released into the environment, it doesn’t decompose but breaks into ever smaller pieces. <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html">Particles smaller than 5 mm are called microplastics</a>, and they have only been studied since 2004, after Richard Thompson <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1094559">accidently noted their presence</a> in coastal sediments near Plymouth, England. While it’s a relatively new research field, we already know that microplastics are harmful pollutants that endanger animal life – including our own – and that they are found everywhere from the top of the Himalayas to the deepest oceans.</p>
<p>Like natural particles, microplastics are transported to the lakes by rivers, rainfall, and wind. They can float in the surface but finally sink to the bottom. There they will be slowly buried under new layers of sediments. But how much microplastics has increased in the nature since the last 70 years? Let’s go to see what the sediment library can tell us.</p>
<h2>The ABCs of reading sediment layers</h2>
<p>The 2-meter sediment core lies on the metallic table at our laboratory. As we saw open the core, my skin gets goosebumps. It might be the noise or maybe it is just excitement – after all, you never know beforehand what the sediment will look like.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The core of the lake sediment reveals brighter and darker bands that allow us to look back into time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sediments consist of natural materials as well as pollutants. Detrital materials such as clay, silt and sand are washed into the lake by spring floods that follow the melting of snow – this is the bright layer in Lake Kallavesi sediment. The thicker the bright layer is, the more intensive the spring flood and higher the snow was during the winter.</p>
<p>There is also a lot of organic matter in the sediments – not only plants transported by the rivers and pollen flown in from long distances, but also algae. On sunny summer days, they bloom on the lake’s surface and so serve as a buffet for the zooplankton that graze on the surface. When these microscopic organisms die, they too sink to bottom and become part of the mud.</p>
<p>Sediments also bear witness to human activities. Building a bridge or a road involves digging and can increase erosion, and our sediment shows bright layers that can be several centimetres thick. A significant number of pollutants are buried within the sediments – we found trace metals such as mercury, copper, lead and zinc as well as <a href="https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=423&toxid=75">petroleum hydrocarbon fractions</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/PAHs_FactSheet.html">PAH compounds</a> that are ecologically risky and potentially dangerous to health. Many are related to burning of fossil fuels. In addition to this chemical cocktail, the sediments were flavoured by a large amounts of microplastics.</p>
<p>Occasionally I get the feeling that I never went too far from my childhood. Playing with water and mud was the greatest thing I could imagine for the summer holidays, and nowadays I keep on doing very similar activities – collect mud, treat it in different ways, put it in all kinds of cups and machines. I often come home with my clothes splashed with mud. Today, however, I’m planning my playing in more detail, having spent weeks in the laboratory preparing these sediments for analysis.</p>
<h2>Two steps forward, one steps back</h2>
<p>The preliminary results show that the amount of heavy metals and oil fractions have decreased significantly from the peak in the 1970s toward the present day. This is good news, because it tells us that we’ve come to understand the harmfulness of these chemicals and our actions to preserve nature have paid off. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for microplastics – their presence in the sediments is increasing over time. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up view of microplastic particles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A magnified view of lake sediments reveals an immense number of microplastic particles. Many are from single-use plastics that find their way into the environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The materials most frequently found are polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene, often employed for so-called single-use products such as packaging. In the annual layers we can immediately find the years 2011-2013, when there was significant construction work and dredging in the harbour. During this period, a huge number of microplastics are present with a large diversity of types.</p>
<p>With such detailed information, we start to understand how human activities on the land have a direct influence on the microplastics in the water. In the future, we want to understand how all kinds of pollutants that are already in the nature can be attached to microplastic particles, and what when such particles are eaten by plankton and animals that graze on the bottom of lakes. There is still much we do not understand from microplastics and the risks they pose, but our knowledge increases with every sediment core. It is not piece of cake, but a mud cake.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the Axa Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the Axa Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saija Saarni a reçu des financements de AXA Research Fund. </span></em></p>Since the 1950s, billions of tons of plastic have been produced and much of it ends up in the environment – even at the bottom of lakes in Finland.Saija Saarni, Senior research in geology, University of TurkuLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122032023-09-14T10:41:46Z2023-09-14T10:41:46ZFrance launches bird vaccination scheme, amid fears of a repeat of H5N1 outbreaks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548173/original/file-20230913-15-o3wxi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C12%2C1200%2C855&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vaccination of poultry in Hong Kong. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">F. Keck</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Of all the recently emerging and potentially pandemic viruses, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus H5N1 is one of the fiercest. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/34/Supplement_2/S58/459477">First detected in Hong Kong in 1997</a>, it spread to the rest of the world with a mortality rate of 60% when transmitted from birds to humans. The World Health Organization has declared in August 2023 that <a href="https://www.who.int/fr/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2023-DON461">878 cases and 458 deaths were recorded since 1997</a>. </p>
<p>The past two years have seen a new strain of the virus circulate among wild birds and domestic poultry in Europe and the Americas, <a href="https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/avian-influenza-overview-april-june-2023">with high avian mortality</a>. So far, humans appear to have been spared, with five cases recorded since early 2023. International health authorities are however keeping a close eye on mutations of the virus and prescribing strict measures to control its spread.</p>
<p>But French health authorities are also not standing idle, green-lighting avian flu vaccination in the country for the first time and introducing innovative monitoring schemes. The country’s agricultural sector is in no mood to take risks, after the last outbreak of H5N1 in 2022 resulted in the slaughter of <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2022/12/24/the-french-government-postpones-bird-flu-vaccination-deadline-to-fall-2023_6008920_7.html">21 million birds in France</a> at an estimated cost of 1.5 billion euros. At the time, health services who came to “depopulate” buildings were so overwhelmed by the scale of the task that many farmers had to euthanise their poultry themselves, sometimes with no other means than cutting off ventilation in the buildings. These culls undermined not only the viability of the poultry industry, but also animal-welfare standards and farmers’ morale.</p>
<h2>Disparities between large and small farms</h2>
<p>French health authorities imposed containment and hygiene measures (respectively referred to as “sheltering” and “biosecurity”) on poultry farms to protect them from the risk of transmission of avian flu by wild birds. As highlighted in <a href="https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/16/organes/commissions-permanentes/affaires-economiques/missions-de-la-commission/mi-grippeaviaire">a report by the French National Assembly</a>, these measures have had a significant negative impact on small-scale free-range poultry farms, as large-scale industrial operations were more easily able to integrate the costs. </p>
<p>The Confédération Paysanne, France’s progressive farmers’ union, negotiated with the health authorities for measures adapted to <a href="https://www.confederationpaysanne.fr/mc_nos_positions.php?mc=956">small-scale outdoor farming</a>. Both the Assembly’s rapporteurs and the farmers’ unions point out that genetic diversity on small farms can provide a form of immunity against emerging viruses. This is not the case with closed farms, where biosecurity measures can accentuate the vulnerability of poultry, which are genetically standardised and weakened by the use of antibiotics.</p>
<h2>France introduces avian vaccination</h2>
<p>After the massive slaughters of spring 2022, poultry farmers have asked health authorities to make avian flu vaccination accessible. Until recently, European regulation prohibited such vaccination, as it makes it impossible to know whether exported poultry are virus free, but <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2023.052.01.0001.01.FRA&toc=OJ%3AL%3A2023%3A052%3ATOC">this ban was lifted</a> this year. In Asia, countries such as China and Vietnam with high levels of domestic poultry consumption vaccinate their flocks against bird flu, while those with high exports, such as Thailand, do not. In France, 40% of the value produced by the poultry sector comes from exports, even though half the poultry meat consumed is imported. Only birds raised in French zoos are vaccinated.</p>
<p>The French National Agency for Health Safety, Anses, has tried experiments on the vaccination of ducks that <a href="https://www.anses.fr/fr/system/files/SABA2022SA0165.pdf">carry avian flu viruses asymptomatically</a>. These experiments were first made on small farms in southwest France, then in animal houses at a laboratory in Brittany. The results were deemed sufficiently positive for the Ministry of Agriculture to announce a vaccination campaign for farmed ducks in autumn 2023, allowing for a <a href="https://agriculture.gouv.fr/experimentation-de-vaccination-des-canards-mulards-en-elevage-contre-un-virus-iahp">manufacturing time of 6 to 8 months</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Chickens being transported by bicycle in Suzhou, China" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532939/original/file-20230620-21-e74oss.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532939/original/file-20230620-21-e74oss.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532939/original/file-20230620-21-e74oss.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532939/original/file-20230620-21-e74oss.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532939/original/file-20230620-21-e74oss.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532939/original/file-20230620-21-e74oss.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532939/original/file-20230620-21-e74oss.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chickens being transported by bicycle in Suzhou, China, in 2009. High poultry consumption in Asia has encouraged the use of vaccination in the wake of avian flu epidemics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bicyclette_et_poulets_%28Suzhou,_Chine%29.jpg">Gérald Tapp/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The technical difficulty of vaccinating poultry lies in their short lifespan compared to other farm animals (around 60 days) and the fact that two doses are required for the vaccine to be effective. Farmers point out that the first dose can be injected at birth (as is the case for vaccination against <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/newcastle-disease/">Newcastle disease</a>), but pharmaceutical laboratories estimate that 75% of the cost of vaccination is due to vaccine handling and post-vaccination follow-up. Vaccination cannot be carried out on a large scale in France because of the diversity of avian species and viral strains. </p>
<p>Anses has issued the following recommendations:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Vaccination of ducks as a preventive and experimental measure.</p></li>
<li><p>Vaccination of poultry in the event of an outbreak of H5N1 as an emergency measure.</p></li>
<li><p>When a bird flu outbreak is detected in a vaccinated areas, only the affected farm should be culled, not those nearby.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Experts point out that vaccination will not enable health authorities to avoid other sanitary measures, such as surveillance of virus strains in normal times and <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/wrestling-bird-flu-europe-considers-once-taboo-vaccines">culling of poultry in emergencies</a>. Vaccination mishaps risks of releasing strains of H5N1, which can mutate and amplify in the ecological niche opened up by the destruction of other strains.</p>
<h2>Sentinel chickens</h2>
<p>The DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) system is prescribed by health authorities to distinguish between viruses introduced by vaccination and those that herald a new outbreak of infection. This system may be inspired by measures adopted in Hong Kong, where unvaccinated chickens are placed at farm entrances to act as sentinels. The Chinese term <em>shaobingji</em> refers to these chickens are “soldiers” who <a href="https://limn.it/articles/hong-kong-as-a-sentinel-post/">sound the alarm on the presence of the virus</a>.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, vaccination offers farmers the hope of <a href="https://hal.science/hal-01207044/file/C30Larrere.pdf">reestablishing a “domestic contract”</a> with their poultry, between the daily anguish of finding a sick bird and the desolation of having to slaughter an entire “batch”. The terms of the bird flu debate – between containment and vaccination – seem to replay the one that took place around Covid-19 three years earlier, as if human and avian populations were subject to the same “biopolitics” consisting, in Michel Foucault’s words, of <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/lhomme/29305">“making populations live and letting them die”</a>. </p>
<p>When animals are vaccinated, they cease to be perceived as commodities that can be slaughtered in the event of a defect. Instead, they once again become living beings who are cared for because of the risk to their species and ours.</p>
<h2>Wildfowl and domestic poultry</h2>
<p>The experts’ insistence on the need to continue monitoring wild birds and domestic poultry also shows that vaccination, while it may lighten the moral burden on poultry farmers, in no way solves the ecological problems posed by export-oriented industrial farming. </p>
<p>Against a backdrop of climate change, which is also affecting wild birds’ migratory trajectories, poultry farmers can play the role of sentinels by reporting cases of sick birds found in their fields. The <a href="https://www.ofb.gouv.fr/ce-quil-faut-savoir-sur-linfluenza-aviaire">French Office for Biodiversity</a> and the <a href="https://www.lpo.fr/la-lpo-en-actions/agir-pour-la-faune-en-detresse/faq-grippe-aviaire">League for the Protection of Birds</a> have pointed out that the number of wild birds carrying bird flu has increased to such an extent that wildlife specialists will be unable to count them.</p>
<p>Experts are not yet talking about vaccinating wild birds against influenza, something that would be technically impossible and morally dubious. However, bird flu has not only forced health authorities to innovate in prevention and containment strategies, but has also blurred the divide that has long separated livestock management and wildlife surveillance.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212203/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frédéric Keck has received funding from the Axa Research Fund, the Agence nationale de la recherche, DIM One Health and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Rese</span></em></p>Vaccination against bird flu offers farmers hope, rather than being caught between the anguish of finding a sick bird and the desolation of having to slaughter their entire flock.Frédéric Keck, Anthropologie, EHESS, CNRS, Laboratoire d'anthropologie sociale, Collège de France, Auteurs historiques The Conversation FranceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2066602023-06-20T17:37:31Z2023-06-20T17:37:31ZInternet of microbiota: could synthetic probiotics help prevent our natural bacteria from going astray?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532974/original/file-20230620-19-6ltoty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C59%2C1997%2C1353&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Having a healthy _E coli_ community in our intestinal system is essential to good human health.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/fr/photos/koli-bact%C3%A9ries-escherichia-coli-123081/">Geralt/Pixabay</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Animals use chemical substances called <a href="https://www.americanscientist.org/article/how-animals-communicate-via-pheromones">pheromones</a> to communicate with each other and attract mates, mark territory, and signal danger. Plants release volatile organic compounds to attract pollinators and repel predators. Communication using molecules, known as “molecular communication”, is also useful to humans, albeit in a way that goes unnoticed by us – it plays a critical role in the interactions between the trillions of natural bacteria that live in and on our bodies.</p>
<p>Indeed, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/26/the-human-microbiome-why-our-microbes-could-be-key-to-our-health">human microbiota</a> – the natural bacteria inside the human body – use <a href="https://asm.org/Articles/2020/June/How-Quorum-Sensing-Works">“quorum sensing”</a> molecules to organise themselves and communicate with their human host. The microbiota is crucial for our health since it involves a wide range of physiological processes, including digestion and immune system regulation, besides producing certain hormones and other essential molecules.</p>
<p>Specifically, the gut microbiota directly affects the central nervous system and influences the host’s moods, behaviour, and cognition via the <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/gut-brain-connection">“gut-brain axis”</a>, a complex network that connects the two through signalling pathways involving molecules. This communication based on exchanges of molecules within the body is essential for maintaining <a href="https://www.livescience.com/65938-homeostasis.html">homeostasis</a> (that is, cell stability), and has been linked to many physiological processes such as neural development and dopamine metabolism. Conversely, when any failure in these communication networks occurs or when the microbiota population is not optimal, it can result in serious conditions, including <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/9/2115">autism spectrum disorder</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-022-00681-2">Parkinson’s disease</a>.</p>
<p>Despite the multiplexed benefits of gut microbiota, its population and how well they operate in the body cannot be controlled by humans since they are independent organisms that live within us. To alleviate these issues, a field of research explores human-made alternatives that could substitute for these organisms, making things more controllable and predictable. Recent research has shown that <a href="https://www.bdebate.org/en/news/artificial-bacteria-will-live-our-bodies-treat-certain-diseases-0">artificial bacteria</a>, also called “synthetic probiotics”, could offer a promising new approach to treating gut-brain axis disorders. These artificial bacteria would use molecular communication, as it occurs naturally in living organisms, but here as a bio-inspired communication paradigm that uses molecules to transfer information.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PWj_mMV08Js?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Molecular communication in a nutshell (Biophysical Communication Engineering Lab).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What are artificial bacteria?</h2>
<p>Artificial bacteria <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2021.826479/full">can be designed</a> to interact with the gut microbiome and the central nervous system to modulate and interfere with communication networks within these systems. For instance, they can be programmed to produce specific molecules that <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2021.826479/full">modulate the growth and activity of specific bacteria in the gut microbiome</a>, or to produce neurotransmitter-like neuronal signalling molecules that can <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/sb5002505">modulate the nervous system’s activity</a>.</p>
<p>Artificial bacteria can also be designed to mimic the function of a type of natural bacteria, who are called <a href="https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-are-probiotics-and-what-do-they-do">probiotics</a> and who have beneficial effects on the gut-brain axis: they can restore or maintain the balance of the gut microbiota, which may help to ameliorate the symptoms of gut-related disorders, such as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31171-0">inflammatory bowel disease</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31171-0">infectious diarrhoea</a>, and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/7/1973">irritable bowel syndrome</a>.</p>
<p>The active use of artificial bacteria in the treatment of gut-brain axis-related disorders is projected to make significant breakthroughs. The ability to engineer microorganisms to perform specific functions or behaviours will be a key enabler for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28976641/">preventing the proliferation of pathogens and achieving homeostasis in the body</a>. For example, by developing artificial bacteria to produce antimicrobial peptides, we can target and kill harmful bacteria with greater precision, avoiding the development of antibiotic resistance. Similarly, by programming artificial bacteria to promote the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the gut, more effective communication between microorganisms can be established, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7137092/">promoting the restoration of homeostasis</a>.</p>
<p>The development of intestinal biosensors and artificial bacteria to detect disease-related biomarkers enables using them as diagnostic tools. However, the first step in developing diagnostic tools is understanding the communication between natural bacteria and the brain. Accordingly, mimicking it via artificial counterparts might eventually help us tackle many conditions, such as mood disorders and autism, in the foreseeable future.</p>
<h2>How to develop artificial bacteria?</h2>
<p>Molecular communication is a bio-inspired communication paradigm that uses molecules to transfer information as it occurs naturally in living organisms, with several analogous examples in nature as exemplified throughout the article. This communication paradigm paves the way for the realisation of various foreseen applications.</p>
<p>In the context of molecular communication, artificial bacteria refers to the development of engineered bacteria that can communicate with each other and human cells at the molecular level. This envisioned organism is nothing but a <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frcmn.2021.733664/full">network of systems transmitting and receiving, or, in engineering speak, “transceiving” molecules at the microscale or the nanoscale</a>.</p>
<p>This bacteria-based transceiver can send and receive molecular signals inside the human body to further sense and control biological processes in real time. As stated before, envisioned artificial bacteria is a perfect candidate for biomedical applications of nano-communication networks such as diagnosis and treatment of diseases, health monitoring, drug delivery, and bio-hybrid implants. Yet, the design and fabrication of these bio-compatible devices necessitate cross-disciplinary efforts that benefit from the accumulated knowledge in the fields of information and communication theory, nanotechnology, molecular science, and many others. These involve developing energy and molecule-efficient, low-complexity, and reliable communication techniques, as well as realistic molecular communication channel models validated through experiments.</p>
<p>These transceivers can also be designed for developing “lab-on-chip” technologies, which are miniaturised laboratory systems that can be used to perform various diagnostic and analytical tests for the gut-brain axis. Although there is a vast number of ongoing research projects and developed testbeds on this topic, no experiments in living systems have been done. Many ongoing <a href="https://nwcl.ku.edu.tr/axa.html">research projects</a> are actively working toward bringing this paradigm into reality. A notable example is the development of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-98609-1">a prototype molecular communication receiver using graphene</a>, a nanomaterial with outstanding biochemical properties, along with the <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.03824">utilisation of biosensor technology</a>.</p>
<p>These works indicate that practical devices are not too far off on the horizon, and given the pace of technological advances, we are in a good position to envision the production of these devices within a few decades. However, the main hurdle that researchers still face is conducting successful testing within living organisms such as mice, rats or any model organisms. Advancements in molecular communication and synthetic biology will pave the way for the next significant milestone for in vivo experiments that might enable diagnosis tools for many diseases, especially gut-related disorders.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Özgür Barış Akan ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Our microbiota is linked to essential physiological processes, but when its communication falters, our health can suffer. Synthetic probiotics offer a promising approach to treating gut-brain axis disorders.Özgür Barış Akan, Professor in electrical and electronics engineering, University of Cambridge, Koç UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2052702023-05-25T08:55:50Z2023-05-25T08:55:50ZMental health: research reveals harrowing impact of traumatic material on crime investigators<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527978/original/file-20230524-25-y567ma.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C890%2C328&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">According to recent by the University of Birmingham, 37% of analytical practitioners have been diagnosed with severe depression, while approximately 55% of them suffer from moderate depression</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Birmingham/Author</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rape, murders, torture, arson, acts of terrorism and even genocide: if there is one thing police and justice staff know, it is that humanity’s cruelty and destruction knows no bounds. In their jobs, the professionals working to bring offenders to justice are routinely exposed to traumatic experiences through written witness accounts, video footage or recordings. And there is <a href="https://www.qao.qld.gov.au/reports-resources/managing-mental-health-queensland-police-employees">increasing concern</a> that the systems in place are failing to protect them.</p>
<p>In Europe, the figures are alarming. In 2022, mental health issues led police officers in England to take <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/huge-rise-number-police-officers-29251463">730,000 days of sick leave</a> – up from 320,000 in 2012/13. In Spain, <a href="https://theobjective.com/espana/2023-01-01/suicidio-agentes-peores-datos/">28 committed suicide</a> – 21.4% less than in 2021, but the second worst figure since records began. This climbs to <a href="https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/pas-une-fois-on-ne-sattaque-aux-problemes-de-management-deux-flics-sortent-un-livre-choc-sur-les-suicides-dans-la-police-27-01-2023-2F4MJ3UFOBHC7CW4ZHFXF5SCRA.php">78 suicides</a> in France when including prison guards, while Greece <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/rochester/news/2019/09/25/greece-police-spearhead-law-enforcement-suicide-awareness-walk">recorded 159 suicides</a> among police forces in 2019. The situation is compounded by the stigmatisation of opening up about mental health issues, where officers fear that it could lead them to be seen as weak or deny them the chances of career progression.</p>
<p>To better grasp how traumatic material affects police forces, our team of psychologists at the University of Birmingham conducted <a href="https://www.axa-research.org/en/project/fazeelat-duran">surveys and 40 interviews with analytical practitioners in the UK, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands and Canada</a>. This group of professionals work in the shadows of crime investigations. They include crime analysts, intelligence analysts, intelligence officers, digital forensic analysts and behavioural investigative advisors. An integral part of the criminal justice system, they provide analysis, intelligence and support to investigations and prosecutions for the most serious of crimes. Among them, 37% were diagnosed with severe depression and approximately 55% with moderate depression, as per our analysis conducted early this year.</p>
<h2>Echoes of trauma</h2>
<p>Analytical practitioners have reported how this constant exposure negatively influences their feelings about the world, their home life and social life. Reflecting a general concern among these professionals over their loved ones’ safety, one woman said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I am more worried about my sister is she would tell her [she were] going for a walk in the night on a quiet road.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Interviewees report precautionary and avoidance behaviour related to the trauma they have read or heard about via their work. This affects their lives and the lives of close family. One of them, S. (all interviewees are anonymous) wonders how can he “leave his children at someone’s place for sleepover”. His voice noticeably shaking, he says that he “thinks he is more sceptical than a normal parent would be”. Meanwhile, Y. says she doesn’t leave a phone charger on her bedside, as she “thinks the burglar would strangle her with that”.</p>
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<p>Interviewees grappled with intense emotions, mentioning instances of “emotional meltdown”. “The victim’s interviews are distressing to watch,” Z. said, her eyes searching around her nervously. “They are written in such detail that I often feel tears rolling down my cheeks.”</p>
<p>Overall, many report having “forgotten how to trust”. “I’m more socially aware of my surroundings,” one man says. “I’d say I’m more cautious, and I don’t make friends as easily”. “It’s turned me into a paranoid wreck in relationships,” another woman admits “Like if I dated a man, he’d behave like one of those offenders whose cases I’ve worked on”.</p>
<p>We found that analytical practitioners with a belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people (known as “belief in a just world”) are at greater risk of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is possible experience bad things happening to good people and that bad deeds go unpunished, leading to psychological distress.</p>
<h2>Ignored by governments</h2>
<p>Despite the toll this exposure takes, our interviewees felt invisible to policy-makers, commenting that little consideration was given to their mental health and well-being compared to that given to front-line officers. One woman expressed relief the focus was finally turned toward them.</p>
<p>Most analytical practitioners who spoke to us said they had received no training on what are adaptive and maladaptive coping mechanisms to manage working with traumatic content. They felt the support provided to them was reactive not preventative, and mental health stigmatisation in the workplace was certainly a barrier to help-seeking for some.</p>
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<blockquote>
<p>“Seeking private support is my only option. All will know what problems I am facing and some will think I cannot do my job or I’m unfit for the job.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For these professionals to protect us, we need to protect them. On top of our academic research, we produced <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/psychology/research/protecting-the-protectors/resources.aspx">two videos</a> to give them a voice and raise awareness of the impact of this work on their mental health.</p>
<p>We are also co-producing a tool kit with practical recommendations for organisations and we are working with the lead of Strand 3 of the National Well-being Group for UK policing that focuses on the well-being of investigators. The aim of our work is to give them a voice and recognition.</p>
<p>Looking forward, more research is required to understand the mechanisms for what could be the risk and resilience factors for these analytical practitioners and other professionals experiencing difficulties working indirectly with traumatic experiences of other people. This will help employers and policy-makers provide adequate support.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205270/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fazeelat Duran a reçu des financements de AXA. </span></em></p>The mental health of front-line officers has drawn considerable attention, yet research shows that justice professionals working with traumatic material can also suffer psychological distress.Fazeelat Duran, Postdoctoral researcher in occupational psychology, AXA Fonds pour la RechercheLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1977472023-04-13T17:48:59Z2023-04-13T17:48:59ZThe problem with cashless payments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520817/original/file-20230413-28-zkhqvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C30%2C6720%2C4436&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cashless payments have advantages, but only to those who have the means to make them. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karolina Grabowska/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Citizens living in the euro area make an average of <a href="https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/ecb_surveys/space/html/index.en.html">13 payments per week</a> of all types. They circulate through a range of channels and by way of different media, including cash, payment cards, and online.</p>
<p>Our means of payment have been constantly evolving and have done so all the more rapidly during the Covid-19 crisis. They have indeed been greatly digitised: although a majority of those made in shops are in cash, their number is constantly decreasing and the share of cash in the total value of exchanges is already a minority. Some believe that we are on the verge of a “cashless society”, which they see as holding the <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691172132/the-curse-of-cash">promise of economic efficiency and social progress</a>.</p>
<p>Individually, most of us can see advantages in the increasing payment digitisation. Although some adaptation may be necessary, they often appear to be more convenient, faster, and more secure. In the euro area, half of the respondents now say they prefer digital payments to cash. But we also see that what may be perceived as rather positive for oneself as an individual does not necessarily translate into a vision of a desirable future for society as a whole.</p>
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À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/le-pour-et-le-contre-faut-il-supprimer-le-cash-176175">« Le pour et le contre » : Faut-il supprimer le cash ?</a>
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<p>Among European respondents, a slight majority (55%) say that it is important or very important for them to be able to continue to pay in cash in the future. As with other countries, in France cash is being used less and less, yet <a href="https://www.ifop.com/publication/plus-de-huit-francais-sur-dix-sont-attaches-aux-especes/">83% of respondents say they are worried about the disappearance of cash</a>.</p>
<p>Why are there such differences between practices and perceptions?</p>
<h2>Monetary exclusion</h2>
<p>One concern is for those who find it more difficult to adapt to digital payments. Even if this transition can be seen as positive “on average”, it is not favourable to all, and its negative impacts mainly fall on those who are already the most vulnerable.</p>
<p>Among the poorest 40% of the population in the euro area, <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex">about 20% are excluded from digital payments</a> because they do not use any payment cards: this would mean more than 23 million people. For them, the increasing digitisation of payments complicates their daily lives, creating difficulties in accessing goods and services, additional costs, a loss of autonomy and a feeling of relegation.</p>
<p>Certain types of means of payment now seem indispensable for full participation in socioeconomic activity, yet they’re not necessarily available to everyone. Digitalisation thus increases the number of people in a situation of “monetary exclusion” – they may have money, but not in the right form.</p>
<p>More generally, with the evolution of our monetary forms, something deeper is at stake that cannot be summed up in simple considerations of practicality. Money is not just a simple technical tool that makes our economic transactions more fluid, but a <a href="https://www.puf.com/content/Th%C3%A9ories_fran%C3%A7aises_de_la_monnaie">social institution</a>: our collective use of money helps shape our society.</p>
<p>From this point of view, the dematerialisation of money is also accompanied by a loss of meaning: the meaning conveyed by the symbolic dimensions of our coins and notes. For example, a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1465116520970286">2021 study</a> found that after the introduction of the euro in 2002, people identified themselves more as European citizens. It is not certain that this would have been the case in a cashless society.</p>
<p>In the current context, while cash is supposed to be legal tender – that is to say, it should be <a href="https://www.banque-france.fr/billets/reconnaitre-et-utiliser-les-billets-et-les-pieces-en-euros/ou-quelles-conditions-et-jusqua-quel-montant-peut-payer-en-especes">compulsorily accepted</a> as a means of payment – an increasing number of shops have already switched to “cashless” (especially in urban centres). In several European countries, the usability of cash is becoming increasingly uncertain, while access to it is becoming more difficult as <a href="https://theconversation.com/fermetures-des-agences-bancaires-une-tendance-amorcee-bien-avant-la-crise-sanitaire-154084">bank branches and even cash machines disappear</a>. It is also this dual constraint on users that explains the evolution of payment practices.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/la-crise-na-pas-leve-toutes-les-reticences-sur-les-paiements-mobiles-sans-contact-178445">La crise n’a pas levé toutes les réticences sur les paiements mobiles sans contact</a>
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<p>What is also not as apparent is that the types of payment used are less and less the public goods they should be. Indeed, given the central role that payment services play in our societies, they should be universally accessible and mainly free of charge for their users. However, these services are increasingly subject to commercial management, guided by profitability principles that limit their accessibility. This poses a risk to the legitimacy of our public institutions – to which money is always fundamentally linked – and to the trust we place in them.</p>
<p>With the digitisation of our means of payment, the sovereign signs that represent our institutions are replaced by commercial brands – those of payment-card networks (Visa and Mastercard, in particular) or of the new payment services proposed by the GAFAM (ApplePay, for example) and other tech companies. The process of digitisation of money should be seen for what it really is: not primarily the dematerialisation of our means of payment, but their increasing privatisation.</p>
<p>Cash is no exception either, since our coins and banknotes are largely minted and printed by private companies, and all of them are delivered to the public by other private companies. If cash is disappearing today, it is primarily because it is seen as a source of costs by those who have been entrusted with its management.</p>
<p>The digitisation of means of payment is therefore not just a technical development. As it translates into a greater commodification of the fundamental element of money, it is also a political and social issue. In a context where everyone must be able to use digital means of payment satisfactorily in order to participate fully in society, it is the question of the division of tasks between the public and the private sector that must be reopened.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.euractiv.fr/section/economie/opinion/leuro-numerique-concerne-la-societe-et-pas-seulement-la-finance/">digital euro</a> currently being developed by the European Central Bank could be an opportunity to reaffirm the public nature of money and to (re) develop a genuine public service for account and payment services.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308798/original/file-20200107-123373-wmivra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to accelerate and share scientific knowledge on major societal issues, the Axa Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects worldwide, led by researchers from 38 countries. To find out more, visit the Axa Research Fund website or follow us on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197747/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tristan Dissaux is a post-doctoral fellow of the Axa Research Foundation.</span></em></p>The slow disappearance of cash has advantages, but it can also exclude the most vulnerable from socio-economic activity. It’s also a privatisation that deteriorates the symbolic dimensions of money.Tristan Dissaux, Chercheur en socioéconiomie (CERMi, ULB), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2010522023-03-07T18:03:33Z2023-03-07T18:03:33ZWith the two top jobs in politics now held by women, Italy just became a real-time case study in female leadership<p>Italy elected its first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, in October last year. Now, the leftwing opposition Democratic party has elected its own female leader for the first time, too, in the form of Elly Schlein.</p>
<p>As a result, a country which is highly conservative in terms of gender equality, now has two women party leaders – one leading the government and the other leading the main opposition party. The glass ceiling has been broken: women have reached the top positions in politics.</p>
<p>Women have long been under-represented in Italian politics. According to the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2022/">World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index 2022</a>, Italy ranks 40th out of 146 countries for gender equality in politics. Only around 31% of current parliamentarians are women – which is in fact a decrease in gender balance for the first time in 20 years. </p>
<p>Women represent only 22% of regional councillors and 15% of municipal mayors. Meanwhile on the wider labour market, female participation barely reaches 50% – one of the lowest levels in Europe.</p>
<p>All this makes the rise of both these women surprising. It sends a positive message to future generations of women. They can plainly see that reaching the highest level is feasible across the entire political spectrum.</p>
<h2>Far right and far left</h2>
<p>Meloni and Schlein sit at the extreme opposite ends of that spectrum, one on the far right and the other the far left. Neither tends to compromise and both dabble in populism.</p>
<p>They take very different positions in their politics and have different approaches to leadership. Meloni says she wants to be referred to by the male <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/12/02/giorgia-meloni-il-presidente-of-the-council-of-ministers_6006350_4.html">“Il Presidente”</a> rather than “La Presidente”, effectively opting out of celebrating the fact that a woman has reached the premiership for the first time. </p>
<p>“La Presidente” would be the technically correct (and more progressive) term to use in her case, yet she prefers to distance herself from any feminist interpretations.</p>
<p>Schlein is also controversial but on the opposite extreme. She expresses radical intersectional feminist views and is bisexual with a female partner. She not only speaks about these identities but led her leadership campaigning by talking about them, famously stating at a rally:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am a woman, I love another woman and I am not a mother, but I am no less a woman for this. We are not living wombs, but people with their rights.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In terms of their social and economic views, Schlein and Meloni have nothing in common. Schlein prioritises minorities and civil rights. She is in favour of the “citizen’s income”, which provides the poorest with a form of guaranteed income. And she is against the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/italy-economy-reform-idUSL5N11A2IE20150904">jobs act</a>, a labour market reform law introduced by Matteo Renzi’s former centre-left government which makes it easier to fire workers.</p>
<p>Meloni, meanwhile, promotes nationalism and takes conservative positions on family. She governs in alliance with Lega Nord, which is well known for its opposition to the LGBTQI+ community.</p>
<p>The two women are also examples of how times change. Gone are the days when rich people leaned right politically and the poor voted left. The far-right Meloni grew up in a working-class neighborhood of Rome while the far-left Schlein comes from the rich region of Canton Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.</p>
<h2>A radical experiment</h2>
<p>Decades of studies have shown that female politicians are on average <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/gender-equality-and-public-policy/gender-equality-and-public-policy/714D4A441FF39B8CD6C97F0EE816ED82">different</a> from their male counterparts. Women tend to care more about women’s issues and support policy agendas which are more inclusive. They are less corrupt and less confrontational.</p>
<p>Although we lack conclusive evidence on how having women in leadership affects public spending (because many other variables are at play), there is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0176268020300446">abundant evidence</a> on the different style of leadership men and women bring to the table, including communication style and electoral strategy.</p>
<p>The current Italian scenario will provide new evidence that will enrich our knowledge of women in politics. Meloni and Schlein have such polar opposite views that the chances of them uniting around any shared “women’s issues” is effectively nil. </p>
<p>At the same time, people in Italy no longer need to choose between having a leader who shares their politics and having a woman leader because all sides are being catered for in an unprecedented way. Meloni leads a coalition of the right and Schlein, while far left herself, is the head of a centre-left party. </p>
<p>Women leaders often talk of needing to adapt to fit into a world dominated by men so it will be fascinating to see what happens in Italy once that particular pressure is removed.</p>
<p>Identity politics has suddenly become multidimensional and intersectional. We are about to see how gender interacts with the many other dimensions of these politicians (their sexual orientation, social background and religion). Radical and divisive political views should be expected on both sides – but the results are harder to predict.</p>
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paola Profeta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Giorgia Meloni famously became the first woman prime minister last year. Now she has a female opponent as leader of the Democratic party.Paola Profeta, Dean for Diversity Inclusion and Sustainability, Professor of Public Economics, Director of Axa Research Lab on Gender Equality, Bocconi UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1960652023-01-12T08:22:48Z2023-01-12T08:22:48ZQuantum computers threaten our whole cybersecurity infrastructure: here’s how scientists can bulletproof it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502119/original/file-20221220-20-oerjes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=105%2C19%2C3089%2C1978&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Against quantum cyber attacks, one can use smarter softwares, or encrypt communications differently in terms of hardware.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/fr/photos/wGICoyAhEs4">Salvatore Andrea Santacroce/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03928-y">Thirteen</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1666-5">53</a> and <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2346074-ibm-unveils-worlds-largest-quantum-computer-at-433-qubits/">433</a>. That’s the size of <em>quantum computers</em> in terms of <a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/quantum/concepts-the-qubit">quantum bits</a>, or qubits, which has significantly grown in the last years due to important public and private investments and initiatives. Obviously, it is not only a mere question of quantity: the quality of the prepared qubits is as important as their number for a quantum computer to beat our existing classical computers, that is, to attain what’s called the “quantum advantage”. Yet it is conceivable that soon quantum-computing devices delivering such an advantage will be available. How would this affect our daily lives?</p>
<p>Making predictions is never easy, but it is agreed that <em>cryptography</em> will be altered by the advent of quantum computers. It is an almost trivial statement that privacy is a key issue in our information society: every day, immense amounts of confidential data are exchanged through the Internet. The security of these transactions is crucial and mostly depends on a single concept: complexity or, more precisely, computational complexity. Confidential information remains secret because any eavesdropper wanting to read it needs to solve an extremely complex mathematical problem.</p>
<p>In fact, the problems used for cryptography are so complex for our present algorithms and computers that the information exchange remains secure for any practical purposes – solving the problem and then hacking the protocol would take a ridiculous number of years. The most paradigmatic example of this approach is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_(cryptosystem)">RSA protocol</a> (for its inventors Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman), which today secures our information transmissions. </p>
<p>The security of the RSA protocol is based on the fact that we don’t yet have any efficient algorithm to <a href="https://medium.com/coinmonks/integer-factorization-defining-the-limits-of-rsa-cracking-71fc0675bc0e">factorise large numbers</a> – given a large number, the goal is to find two numbers whose product is equal to the initial number. For example, if the initial number is 6, the solution is 2 and 3, as 6=2x3. Cryptographic protocols are constructed in such a way that the enemy, to decrypt the message, needs to factorise a <em>very</em> large number (not 6!), which is at present impossible to do.</p>
<p>If computing devices are built for that would allow current cryptography methods to be easily cracked, our current privacy paradigm needs to be rethought. This will be the case for <a href="https://theconversation.com/google-claims-to-have-invented-a-quantum-computer-but-ibm-begs-to-differ-127309">quantum computers</a> (once an operational quantum computer exists, that is): they should be able to break RSA because there is a <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/365700">quantum algorithm for efficient factorisation</a>. While classical computers may need the age of the universe to such a problem, <em>ideal</em> quantum computers should be able to do it in a <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1905.09749.pdf">few hours</a> or maybe even minutes. </p>
<p>This is why cryptographers are developing solutions to replace RSA and attain <em>quantum-safe security</em>, that is, cryptographic protocols that are secure against an enemy who has access to a quantum computer. To do so, there exist two main approaches: <em>post-quantum cryptography</em> and <em>quantum key distribution</em>.</p>
<h2>How to encrypt information in a world equipped with quantum computers</h2>
<p>Post-quantum cryptography maintains the security paradigm based on complexity. One should look for mathematical problems that remain difficult for quantum computers and use them to construct cryptographic protocols, the idea again being that an enemy can hack them only after a ridiculously large amount of time. Researchers are working hard to develop algorithms for post-quantum cryptography. In fact, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated a process to <a href="https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/post-quantum-cryptography/selected-algorithms-2022">solicit and evaluate these algorithms</a> and the chosen candidates were announced in July 2022.</p>
<p>Post-quantum cryptography presents a very strong advantage: it is based on software. It is therefore cheap and, more importantly, its integration with existing infrastructures is straightforward, as one only needs to replace the previous protocol, say RSA, by the new one.</p>
<p>[<em>Nearly 80,000 readers look to The Conversation France’s newsletter for expert insights into the world’s most pressing issues</em>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/fr/newsletters/la-newsletter-quotidienne-5?utm_source=inline-70ksignup">Sign up now</a>]</p>
<p>But post-quantum cryptography also has a clear risk: our confidence on the “hardness” of the chosen algorithms against quantum computers is limited. Here it is important to recall that, strictly speaking, none of the cryptographic protocols based on complexity are proven to be secure. In other words, there is no proof that they cannot be solved efficiently on a classical or quantum computer.</p>
<p>This is the case for factoring: one can’t rule out the discovery of an efficient algorithm for factorisation that would enable a classic computer to break down RSA, no quantum computer required. While unlikely, such a possibility cannot be excluded. In the case of the new algorithms, the evidence of their complexity is much more limited, as they have not yet been intensively tested against smart researchers, much less quantum computers. Indeed, a quantum-safe algorithm proposed in the NIST initiative was later <a href="https://thequantuminsider.com/2022/08/05/nist-approved-post-quantum-safe-algorithm-cracked-in-an-hour-on-a-pc/">cracked in an hour on a standard PC</a>.</p>
<h2>Exploit the laws of quantum physics to secure communications</h2>
<p>The second approach for quantum-safe security is <a href="https://www.ssi.gouv.fr/en/publication/should-quantum-key-distribution-be-used-for-secure-communications/"><em>quantum key distribution</em></a>. Here, the security of the protocols is no longer based on complexity considerations, but on the laws of quantum physics. We therefore speak of quantum <em>physical security</em>.</p>
<p>Without entering into the details, a secret key is distributed using qubits and the protocol’s security follows from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle">Heisenberg uncertainty principle</a>, which implies that any intervention by the eavesdropper is detected because modifies the state of these qubits. The main advantage of quantum key distribution is that it is based on quantum phenomena that have been verified in many experimental labs.</p>
<p>The main problem for its adoption is that it requires new (quantum) hardware. It is therefore expensive and its integration with existing infrastructures is not easy. Yet important initiatives are taking place for the <a href="https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-quantum-communication-infrastructure-euroqci">deployment of quantum key distribution at a European scale</a>.</p>
<p>Which approach to take? This question is often presented as an either-or choice and even in this article, you may have given this impression too. However, our vision is that the right way to go is to look for the combination of post-quantum and quantum key distribution. The latter has shown us that quantum physics provides us with new tools and recipes to truly safeguard our secrets. If the two approaches are combined, hackers will have a <em>much</em> more difficult time, as they will have to face both complex computational problems and quantum phenomena.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Antonio Acín is ICREA Professor at the ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences. Il received funding from the AXA Research Fund, the European Union and the Spanish and Catalan gouvernments.</span></em></p>To protect against future quantum cyber attacks, two technological paths are being explored. Decryption.Antonio Acín, Professor and group leader, Instituto de Ciencias Fotónicas (ICFO)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1944052022-12-09T10:44:55Z2022-12-09T10:44:55ZWhy we need more Lehman Sisters: the significant benefits of female leadership<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499076/original/file-20221205-17-f2tyhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C15%2C5184%2C3406&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/silhouette-super-business-woman-look-somewhere-1024943923">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Establishing gender equality is one of the <a href="https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/principles-and-values/aims-and-values_en">founding values of the European Union</a>, yet women are still underrepresented in decision-making positions in Europe. According to the <a href="https://eige.europa.eu/gender-statistics/dgs">European Institute of Gender Equality (EIGE)</a>, women represent just 32.3% of presidents, board members and employee representatives, and 21.5% of CEOs, executives and non-executives of the largest listed companies in Europe. The situation is much the same in other sectors, including governments, financial institutions and national academies of science.</p>
<p>Beyond the importance of equal representation, our <a href="https://www.axa-research.org/en/project/paola-profeta">research at the AXA Lab on Gender Equality</a> shows gender-balanced leadership has many benefits. Given that women make up half of the earth’s population, ensuring that they’re equally represented among potential candidates for a leadership post results provides larger pool being available; this, in turn, leads to a higher quality of the person selected. Thus, when women are involved in leadership positions which were traditionally male-dominated, there is a higher probability to have more qualified leaders.</p>
<p>This has been empirically proved by research. For example, the introduction of <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4200">board gender quotas</a> in Italy not only increased the share of women on boards but raised the qualifications of all board members, male and female, because less-qualified men previously on the board were not re-appointed. This outcome depends on the status quo and becomes possible when qualified and competent women ready to be leaders are in abundant supply, as is the case today in many European countries.</p>
<h2>Imagining Lehman Sisters</h2>
<p>A second argument relates to the agenda and outcomes of institutions and organisations. The agendas of gender-balanced leaderships can include items typically neglected by a male-dominated groups, but that may be important for their organisations – for example, sustainability goals. There is evidence that the presence of women in political leadership is associated with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176268020300446">higher childcare funding</a>, which are positively related to maternal employment. This creates a virtuous circle, with women’s greater representation in leadership leading to policies that reduce gender gaps in the labour market.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499072/original/file-20221205-24-dchtz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499072/original/file-20221205-24-dchtz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499072/original/file-20221205-24-dchtz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499072/original/file-20221205-24-dchtz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499072/original/file-20221205-24-dchtz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499072/original/file-20221205-24-dchtz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499072/original/file-20221205-24-dchtz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The president of European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, arrives for a hearing of the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament in Brussels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.afpforum.com/AFPForum/Search/Results.aspx?pn=1&smd=8&mui=3&q=4823152774898244456_0&fst=christine+lagarde&fto=3&t=2#pn=1&smd=8&mui=3&q=4823152774898244456_0&fst=christine+lagarde&fto=3&t=2">Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP</a></span>
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<p>Leadership style also matters. <a href="https://www.axa-research.org/en/news/barriers-to-women-in-employment-and-leadership">Research has established</a> that compared to men, women leaders tend to be more risk-averse and less competitive, more democratic and innovative, and that they have a longer-term horizon. These traits are not details: Christine Lagarde, former director of the IMF and current president of the European Central Bank, often noted that <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/ten-years-after-lehman-lessons-learned-and-challenges-ahead">if Lehman Brothers had been “Lehman Sisters”</a>, the 2007-2008 financial crisis might never have occurred. The reason is that if decision-making bodies do not have an equal number of women, an overrepresentation of men may lead to <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.0704025105">aggressive and overcompetitive behavior</a>. Given the global damage left behind by the financial crisis, a leadership of “brothers and sisters” has become a benchmark for organisations.</p>
<p>A more recent example is the Covid-19 pandemic. A 2021 study on 194 countries found that in the first quarter of the crisis, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13545701.2021.1874614">countries led by women experienced better outcomes</a> because they tended to impose lockdowns significantly earlier than male leaders did. This is in line with women’s being more risk-averse than men, even when they are in leadership positions. <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2012520117">Evidence also suggests</a> that women were more likely to perceive Covid-19 as a serious health problem, to agree with restraining public policy measures, and to comply with them.</p>
<h2>Shifting cultural stereotypes</h2>
<p>A major obstacle to gender-balanced leadership positions are well-established stereotypes. There is a general consensus that gender gaps are a matter of culture, and because culture changes slowly, policies and measures can accelerate the reduction of gender gaps, but we will need time to see real changes. How to measure gender culture and how to assess the progress is difficult. Scholars use data from the <a href="https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/">World Value Survey</a> to measure gender stereotypes.</p>
<p>These data show that explicit stereotypes have been declining over time, although differences across countries within Europe are still substantial. For example, the statement “Men are better business leaders than women” was approved by 15,8% of Italian citizens, yet only 4.6% of Swedes. Yet implicit stereotypes are everywhere stronger than explicit ones.</p>
<p>Recent research shows that implicit stereotypes, as measured by the <a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/">Implicit Association Test</a> on gender and career, are well established in the workplace: for example, people tend to associate women with family and men with careers. Managers who make hiring and promotion decisions are found to share such stereotypes, similar to rates in the general population. How to counter and diminish them is a more complicated task, but an important one to reduce gender gaps in the workplace.</p>
<p>A clear successful policy which has promoted women’s presence in the workplace in Europe is childcare. Day-care services are not only important for child development, but they also help families with small children – and in particular women – to deal with their professional and personal life. How to see this policy implemented? We could start by having more women in leadership positions as politicians and in top business places, as suggested by results of the research at the AXA Research Lab on Gender Equality.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194405/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paola Profeta ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Women are still underrepresented in decision-making positions, yet research shows that gender equality can lead to more qualified leaders and better outcomes.Paola Profeta, Director of Axa Research Lab on Gender Equality, AXA Fonds pour la RechercheLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1880892022-10-13T08:16:14Z2022-10-13T08:16:14ZJust how safe are cosmetics on the European market?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482014/original/file-20220831-26-pzawkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C2048%2C1352&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Regulations in the US and EU are intended to ensure that cosmetics and other personal-care products are safe, but the two continents approach the issue in different ways.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/30478819@N08/50301489872">Marco Verch/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When was the last time you read the ingredient label on a bottle of shampoo? Have you ever sneezed when applying face powder? As you lay on the beach this summer, did you wonder what it was in your sunscreen that blocked the sun’s UV light and protected your skin?</p>
<p>A large number of chemical substances are used in many such products. The HBO documentary series <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDcs6N44Aok"><em>Not So Pretty</em></a> investigates harmful chemicals used in the beauty industry and centres, in particular, on the experiences of consumers and workers who say that they were exposed to harmful substances in personal-hygiene products. Above all, it is a chilling exposé of the lack of regulation of cosmetics in the United States.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/prohibited-restricted-ingredients-cosmetics">US Food & Drug Administration</a> (FDA), the United States has only banned 11 harmful substances in cosmetic products. By comparison, the European Union (EU), prohibits more than 1,300 substances, and restricts more than 250 with a concentration threshold.</p>
<p>The United States is one of the world’s largest markets of the cosmetics industry. Studies conducted <a href="https://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/26403/Article.pdf">there</a>, in <a href="https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/handle/2066/157068/157068.pdf;PDF#page=22">Europe</a>, and in <a href="https://www-nature-com.proxy.bnl.lu/articles/jes201720">Asia</a> have confirmed that women tend to consume cosmetics and personal-hygiene products much more than men and tend to account for the vast majority of workers (90%) in professional beauty services such as hair and nail salons.</p>
<p>Some interviewed in the series claim to have contracted <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mesothelioma/symptoms-causes/syc-20375022">mesothelioma</a>, a cancer that affects tissue surrounding bodily organs, due to asbestos detected in talc and make-up. Others explain they have suffered fertility problems and even miscarriages as a result of exposure to “everyday chemicals” upsetting hormones, formally known as endocrine disruptors. These include bisphenol A (BPA), which can be found in eye make-up and nail varnish, or phthalates, which keep nail polish from cracking and help the scent of perfumes linger.</p>
<h2>The differences between the continents</h2>
<p>Despite the parallels, the continents fundamentally differ over how they regulate substances in cosmetics and other personal-hygiene products.</p>
<p>The FDA has <a href="https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/fda-authority-over-cosmetics-how-cosmetics-are-not-fda-approved-are-fda-regulated">little power</a> when it comes to demanding manufacturers disclose their products’ ingredients and safety data. In the absence of such critical information, the agency must nevertheless bear the burden of proof and show that a certain substance is harmful in its intended use in order to withdraw it from circulation.</p>
<p>By contrast, in the EU the <a href="https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/cosmetics/legislation_en">Cosmetic Products Regulation</a> framework sets the rules for placing substances on the market on the basis of their human health impacts. The <a href="https://www.coslaw.eu/what-is-the-scientific-committee-on-consumer-safety-sccs/">Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety</a> (SCCS) also advises the European Commission on the health and safety risks of cosmetic products and their ingredients. Lastly, and contrary to the US, the burden of proof of safety is on the manufacturer, which must add data on cosmetic products to the <a href="https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/cosmetics/cosmetic-product-notification-portal_en">Cosmetic Products Notification Portal</a> (CPNP) available to competent authorities, SCCS, and poison centres.</p>
<h2>Keeping make-up users safe in Europe</h2>
<p>In Europe, the manufacturer is always responsible for the safety of the products it places on the market, and each product must have undergone a safety assessment before it is sold. The rule of thumb is that substances that are classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction (CMR) of category 1 or 2 are prohibited from cosmetics. Following a mandatory safety assessment by the SCCS, certain exceptions may be granted. Other EU chemicals regulations complement the safety provisions based on a classification procedure for hazardous substances such as CMR, as well as providing a safety net for environmental risks posed by cosmetics after they’re washed off.</p>
<p>A quick glance over the <a href="https://echa.europa.eu/fr/cosmetics-prohibited-substances">prohibited substances list</a> of the European Cosmetics Products Regulation reveals that asbestos is banned from all cosmetic products. Moreover, the production and marketing of asbestos is completely prohibited, except in the case of its use for the production of <a href="https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/ea9dc42d-7656-8afd-09e4-d8b41fae2c9c">chlorine and sodium hydroxide</a>, two chemicals found in household cleaners, according to the regulator. Asbestos is thus a clear and strict “no go” on the European cosmetics market.</p>
<p>Similarly, BPA and phthalates are also prohibited in cosmetics. BPA is officially classified in the EU as toxic for reproduction, an endocrine disruptor and included in the candidate list of <a href="https://echa.europa.eu/candidate-list-table">substances of very high concern</a> (SVHC). This means the consumer can request that manufacturers inform them of the presence of the chemical in their articles starting from 0.1% by weight in the article, as specified under the EU’s <a href="https://echa.europa.eu/regulations/reach/understanding-reach">REACH regulation</a>.</p>
<p>What about titanium dioxide? A white and opaque powder, the chemical has been used for almost a century as a white pigment and can be found in colour cosmetics such as eye shadow and blush, loose and pressed powders. Its resistance to ultra-violent light also make it a key ingredient in many sunscreens. The EU classifies it as a category 2 carcinogen by inhalation, which means this substance is suspected to cause cancer when inhaled. Certain restrictions on its use in cosmetic products are in place and these are especially prevalent in products that are sprayed. For example, a limit threshold of 1.1% is set in professional hair aerosol spray products and in colourants. Powder applications that “may lead to exposure of the user’s lungs by inhalation” are prohibited.</p>
<h2>How confident can EU consumers be?</h2>
<p>When it comes to the legal frameworks around chemicals and cosmetic products, the European market has extensive safety provisions.</p>
<p>However, regulation may be challenging to enforce within the realm of international trade and online sales. <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate-alerts/screen/webReport">EU reports</a> have highlighted the presence of some harmful substances in cosmetics and other personal-care products circulating on the European market. In 2018, one brand of make-up, including some items made in China destined for children, was found to contain asbestos in Czech Republic and the Netherlands.</p>
<p>The European enforcement authorities collaborate to avoid such products on the EU market, and the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate-alerts/screen/webReport">Safety Gate platform</a> alerts consumers to non-compliant goods within the EU. Furthermore, the 2020 <a href="https://echa.europa.eu/hot-topics/chemicals-strategy-for-sustainability">European Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability</a> aims at an even higher level of consumer and environmental protection with its various actions such as the consideration of “cocktail effects” of chemicals.</p>
<h2>Reducing your exposure to harmful chemicals: a checklist</h2>
<p>For European consumers seeking to reduce their potential exposure to harmful chemicals, here are some safety guidelines and resources:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>If you are sensitive to common allergens, seek out unscented cosmetics whose labels do not contain the words <em>fragrance</em> or <em>perfume</em>.</p></li>
<li><p>For the sake of the environment and personal health, try to limit the dosage used. Be it a shampoo or a cleaning agent, usually small amounts are enough for the purpose of getting your hair or a surface cleaned.</p></li>
<li><p>Be wary of less-expensive imported cosmetic and hygiene products. The consumer could look at the label and check the country where the product has been manufactured. Manufacturers outside the EU are not necessarily aware of EU regulations and may pay less attention to product safety.</p></li>
<li><p>Tell your medical professional about any unwanted side effects following the use of a product. Keep the product packaging and label for further reference.</p></li>
<li><p>Use the help of European apps detecting chemicals in products, such as <a href="https://incibeauty.com/en">INCI Beauty</a> (for cosmetics), <a href="https://www.bund-naturschutz.de/oekologisch-leben/einkaufen/toxfox">ToxFox</a> (for cosmetics and articles), and <a href="https://www.ineris.fr/fr/risques/dossiers-thematiques/substances-chimiques-consommation-scan4chem-accompagne/scan4chem">Scan4Chem</a> (for everyday articles such as clothing, kitchenware, sports equipment, electronics, etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>Use your right to know about SVHCs in articles by requesting information from suppliers.</p></li>
</ul>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oona Freudenthal a reçu des financements d'AXA Research Fund. Elle est membre de Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis de l'Agence Europeenne des Produits Chimiques (ECHA).</span></em></p>From miscarriages to cancer, poor regulation of cosmetics in the US have taken a devastating toll on consumers’ lives. Are European consumers any safer?Oona Freudenthal, R&T Associate, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853512022-08-02T20:07:43Z2022-08-02T20:07:43ZLess leadership, more democracy: lessons from a craft brewer’s management crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474619/original/file-20220718-51582-dx23r5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C1500%2C990&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Selection of BrewDog products at the Edinburgh October Elite Event.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/bd1a59a7-02e0-4236-8fd0-c82bc40868bf">Yelp</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Craft beer brewing was born back in the 1980s, and while the start was slow, it’s since become a big business. One of the success stories is Scotland’s BrewDog, which was founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie. Fifteen years after they pulled their first pint, BrewDog has become one of the sector’s leaders. In 2020, the firm’s overall revenues grew by 10%, online sales by 900% and the gross profit margin to 48%. All this despite the pandemic and the fact that the majority of its 100 bars were closed for long periods over the year. The company is currently valued at close to £2 billion and employs <a href="https://d1fnkk8n0t8a0e.cloudfront.net/docs/BrewDog-Reports_Accounts-2020.pdf">more than 1,600 people globally</a>.</p>
<p>BrewDog grew thanks to crowdfunding support from thousands of small investors and a reputation for doing business with social and environmental values. Aiming to distinguish themselves from traditional corporations, the company sought to become “the best employer in the world” and refers to their employees as “our people”, “the beating heart of our business” and “the reason we exist”.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, despite such rhetoric, 2021 was a turbulent year for the company, triggered by allegations from former employees that there was a bullying culture. The allegations were made in an <a href="https://www.punkswithpurpose.org/dearbrewdog/">June 2021 open letter</a> signed by more than 300 former and current workers. They accused the company of creating a <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/brewdogs-ethical-status-at-risk-over-allegations-of-rotten-culture-lg9stcnnb">“rotten culture”</a> in which growth is pursued at all costs and employees are left feeling burnt-out, miserable and afraid to speak out.</p>
<h2>Certification, yet troubling questions</h2>
<p>Ironically, the letter was published just four months after the firm was <a href="https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/brew-dog">certified as a B Corp</a>, with the workers’ dimension receiving the highest score. The certification is aimed at businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability toward generating positive impact on its stakeholders – workers, communities, customers, suppliers, and the environment.</p>
<p>The accusations and the company’s move to offer attractive financial terms to private equity groups left many of the BrewDog’s 18,000 crowdfunding investors <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5ad0e222-a35b-4ae8-aa16-27f1feb964a5">deeply worried</a>. The organisation that runs the B Corp certification, B Lab, also raised concerns.</p>
<p>In response, the company apologised and announced plans to conduct an independent review into the allegations. It concluded that mistakes were made and the company would <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/brewdog-draws-a-line-under-culture-row-whg22lm7d">enact measures to address them</a>. But it was too little, too late. A month after the announcement, a BBC documentary, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013yfj">“The Truth about BrewDog”</a>, brought the accusations back to the headlines. Many were directed at the company’s leader and co-founder, James Watt, who had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/21/brewdog-boss-accused-of-trying-to-intimidate-ex-staff-over-tv-expose">allegedly attempted</a> to pressure former staff from appearing in the documentary.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘The Truth about Brewdog’, BBC.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In May 2022, Watt announced that he would donate a fifth of his personal shares to an employee trust providing share options to around 750 of its 2,200 staff. Despite being a limited form of employee ownership, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/134f78ef-1291-4bb4-af0f-75ef99994a5d">he described it</a> as a “radical” move and “very much about ownership, about building a new type of company and about giving back.”</p>
<h2>Limitations of leadership</h2>
<p>The BrewDog case raises important questions about the limitations of certification systems and the potential of employee ownership. <a href="https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/b-corp-certification-and-its-impact-on-organizations-over-time">My PhD research</a> involved an in-depth comparative case study of four leading Brazilian B Corps during 2015, combining 57 interviews of leaders and employees with observation-led research and document analysis, including the companies’ B Impact Assessement reports. The enquiry revealed three key points:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The role of leaders is decisive in shaping the culture of these companies;</p></li>
<li><p>However, certification is not always followed by plans to address remaining critical gaps, particularly with regards to the companies’ governance processes and relationship with workers;</p></li>
<li><p>Corporate governance is key to achieving a balance of purpose and profit.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>This raises the question as to whether improving leadership is enough or bringing workers to the centre of decision-making is what will make a difference. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-018-3924-0#:%7E:text=Employees%20as%20Conduits%20for%20a%20Firm's%20Stakeholder%20Engagement%20Practices&text=Stakeholder%20engagement%20therefore%20is%20part,2002">Research</a>) carried out with a group of small and medium-sized B Corps shows that those who had some form of ownership and/or governance model shared with employees presented higher levels of engagement with external stakeholders. Having a stake in the company made employees feel more invested and interested in developing positive relationships with customers, suppliers, communities, and the environment. </p>
<p>The importance of employee ownership to reinforce social mission is perhaps something that the B Corp movement could be more explicit about. As for BrewDog, it’s still a timid step, but appears to be a move in the right direction to prioritise collective democracy over individual leadership in the workplace.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185351/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Malu Villela Garcia's current work is supported by the AXA Research Fund</span></em></p>Scotland’s BrewDog had long championed its social and environmental values, then came accusations of a “bullying culture”. What can we learn from their case?Malu Villela, Senior Research Associate at the School of Management, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1873062022-08-01T18:09:42Z2022-08-01T18:09:42ZNew research reveals that wildfires can influence El Niño<p>Wildfire is a phenomenon that has affected pretty much every vegetated environment on Earth for millions of years. However, during the past few decades, the planet has been experiencing extraordinary wildfire activity, with widespread devastation in diverse places such as the Mediterranean, North and South America, Southeast Asia, Australia and even Siberia. The current year has already shown troubling signs of massive fires – for example, Europe’s total burnt area for the 2022 fire season is four times greater than the 2006-2021 average, according to the <a href="https://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/">European Forest Fire Information System</a> (EFFIS).</p>
<p>In addition to causing direct damage to ecosystems and communities, wildfires also lead to enormous quantities of pollutants being emitted into the atmosphere. Globally, wildfire emissions upset the carbon cycle and the Earth’s radiation equilibrium; a phenomenon known as<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/climate-forcing">climate forcing</a>. They also influence temperature, clouds and rainfall, prompting air quality degradation and the subsequent death of around 300,000 people every year.</p>
<p>Despite the fact that catastrophic wildfires are rapidly intensifying and that their effects on people and the environment can be drastic, it is one of the most poorly understood processes in the Earth system. Given that wildfires emit greenhouse gases and aerosols (tiny smoke particles) that affect radiation in the atmosphere, it is expected with high confidence that they also result in disturbances to global and regional climate. </p>
<h2>The limits of current models</h2>
<p>However, the extent of such effects is highly uncertain. Models currently used for predicting the evolution of future climate, such as those participating in simulation experiments in support of the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change</a> (IPCC) reports, either do not include a representation of wildfire effects or do so in a way that is not satisfactory. Without models that can accurately represent influences of climate change on wildfires, and, in turn, influences of wildfire-generated pollution on climate (i.e., fire-climate feedbacks), the future climate change predictions that we have available as a society might be suffering from significant biases.</p>
<p>Fire emissions do not only have the potential to influence long-term climate, but they can also alter short-term weather conditions in different parts of the globe. This is also a poorly understood scientific topic, despite the existence of some sporadic studies that have attempted to examine it. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://centreforwildfires.org/news/simulations-show-large-human-made-wildfires-in-indonesia-impact-on-el-nino-weather/">recent set of experiments</a> by our team of climate scientists from the UK and Greece is shedding light on this question. The work involved a set of novel state-of-the-art climate model simulations of <a href="https://theconversation.com/el-nino-quest-ce-que-cest-47645">El Niño</a> events, through which the impact of intense wildfire emissions over Equatorial Asia that have accompanied strong El Niño events in recent decades have been quantified.</p>
<h2>Longer dry seasons in Asia</h2>
<p>El Niño is a climate phenomenon with significant societal impact, altering weather patterns around the Pacific region, as well as in multiple regions across the globe. One consequence is a deeper and prolonged dry season in Equatorial Asia. During recent large El Niño events, such as in 1997 and 2015, this has combined with expanding agricultural land clearance to produce vast fires in peat-dominated areas. These are some of the largest fires on Earth, attracting both scientific and media attention due to the blanket of smoke they produce across the region lasting several weeks, impacting the health of millions of people.</p>
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<span class="caption">The 2015 fire season in Indonesia left behind a smoky pall that reached around the globe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasaearthobservatory/23451153146">NASA/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Previous literature has focused on the magnitude of these El Niño-driven smoke emissions and their serious health impacts. However, there has been surprisingly little research on the climate feedback of this transient but very large aerosol radiative forcing. The hypothesis of the new study is that these smoke emissions can drastically influence atmospheric conditions in the western Pacific and therefore modify the development of the El Niño phenomenon itself.</p>
<p>The study represents the first time that the impact of intense smoke emissions over Equatorial Asia have been investigated in <a href="https://centreforwildfires.org/news/simulations-show-large-human-made-wildfires-in-indonesia-impact-on-el-nino-weather/">full-complexity climate simulations</a>. These allowed the researchers to compare the development of El Niño events with and without the presence of large wildfire emissions from Equatorial Asia, using the intense 1997 fire season as a test case. </p>
<h2>Wildfires’ impact on El Niño</h2>
<p>The findings suggest that the intense smoke emissions result in a strong lower atmospheric heating over Equatorial Asia, which enhances local convection (ascending motion of air), cloud concentration and rainfall over the Maritime Continent. This in turn shifts cloud cover westward in the Pacific, and significantly strengthens the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/walker-circulation">“Walker circulation”</a>, which is the typical pattern of air flow in the tropical lower atmosphere. This opposes the typical El Niño circulation in the Pacific (which is a weakening of the Walker circulation) and results in a negative feedback on the El Niño event itself. The researchers find that the El Niño event is weakened by around 22% on average due to the wildfire emissions that the El Niño event itself produces.</p>
<p>As well as being an indication of the climate impact that these exceptional El Niño-driven fire seasons in Indonesia can have, these findings also have clear implications for El Niño predictability. Including the impact of enhanced wildfire emissions during large El Niño events can significantly influence the progression and intensity of the El Niño itself. More generally, these findings pave the way for more such studies investigating the implications of fire-generated pollution for atmospheric circulation, rainfall, and temperatures, in a variety of world regions, both on short (weather) and on long (climate) timescales.</p>
<p>In addition to the scientific significance of this research, it also has the potential to significantly impact a variety of economic sectors and societal stakeholders. Better weather and climate forecasts resulting from an improved representation of wildfires in models is expected to lead to better-informed policy making, and to higher-quality weather/climate information available to businesses and to society as a whole.</p>
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the Axa Research Fund has been supporting nearly 600 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 54 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org/en/">Axa Research Fund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Kasoar receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust, through the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society. Climate modelling capabilities which were used in this research were provided by the Joint Weather and Climate Research Programme, which is a strategic partnership between the UK Met Office and the Natural Environment Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Apostolos Voulgarakis ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Wildfires are intensifying, yet they’re one of the most poorly understood phenomena on Earth. New research shows that they can disturb both regional and global climate.Apostolos Voulgarakis, AXA Chair in Wildfires and Climate Director, Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment & Climate Change, Technical University of CreteMatthew Kasoar, Research Associate at the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society, Imperial College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1828672022-07-24T15:48:27Z2022-07-24T15:48:27ZLifesaving maternal health services are so close, yet so far for pregnant women living in sub-Saharan Africa’s largest metropolis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475138/original/file-20220720-26-4561hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C3035%2C1847&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A pregnant woman arrives at Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, Nigeria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year around the world, <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Maternal_mortality_report.pdf">295,000 women die</a> due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Seven in 10 of these maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. These deaths are usually caused by excessive bleeding, infection, high blood pressure, obstructed labour and abortion. Many are preventable, especially when pregnant women can get prompt access to critical maternal health services, otherwise known as <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.ijgo.2004.11.026">emergency obstetric care</a>.</p>
<p>When complications arise, pregnant women need to travel to health facilities that can provide emergency obstetric care. Any delays in travelling to such health facilities affects pregnancy outcomes for them and their unborn child. However, some women need to travel <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czab099">long distances</a> from outskirts of town to large hospitals or over a <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/1/e004318">prolonged time due to traffic congestion</a> in urban areas.</p>
<p>There is a misconception that women living in rural areas experience more challenges in travelling to care compared to those in urban areas. However, research has shown that there are <a href="https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-020-00996-7">significant challenges with geographical access</a> even for women living in urban areas.</p>
<p>The past few decades has been characterised by the emergence of many large, densely populated, sprawling cities in sub-Saharan Africa. By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas and 40% of the projected additional 2.5 billion urban residents are likely to concentrate in Africa. As such, it is imperative to fully gather evidence on care outcomes in sub-Saharan African urban areas.</p>
<h2>Some pregnant women live close but…</h2>
<p>In an <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/4/e008604.full">April 2022 study</a> published in the journal <em>BMJ Global Health</em>, we mapped journeys of pregnant women who had an emergency to public hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa’s largest metropolis, Lagos. To do this, we extracted data from patient records reflecting their journeys to reach health facilities while in an emergency. These data were inputted into Google Maps, which had been shown to be able to provide <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/1/e004318">closer-to-reality travel time and distance estimates</a> for journeys of pregnant women to care.</p>
<p>Results from the study showed that almost two-thirds of maternal deaths occurred among pregnant women who travelled 10 kilometres or less directly from home and arrived at the hospital in 30 minutes.</p>
<p>Also, there was a higher likelihood of maternal deaths with a 10 to 15 kilometre distance from home. Travel of pregnant women to a hospital located in the suburbs was almost four times more likely to result in a maternal death compared to those in the city. On the other hand, travel to a hospital located in the outskirt towns was more than two times more likely to lead to a maternal death compared to those in the city. For pregnant women who were referred, the likelihood of maternal death was significantly higher even when travel of 10 to 29 minutes was required.</p>
<h2>Addressing inequalities in care access</h2>
<p>Indeed, the so-called “urban advantage” might be disappearing in sub-Saharan Africa. As such, there is a need to consider geographical access to health facilities with an urban versus rural lens in the region.</p>
<p>In citing services, it is not enough for governments to say health facilities have been <a href="https://www.publichealthinafrica.org/index.php/jphia/article/view/717">“strategically located”</a>. Functional health facilities within 10km of every woman, supported by robust referral systems that can transfer women promptly if care elsewhere is deemed more beneficial must be available. Furthermore, pre-hospital services have to be able to support pregnant women in crisis, as was the case for a pregnant women who <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/04/how-lagos-health-officials-rescued-stranded-pregnant-woman-in-labour/">fell into labour while in public transport</a>.</p>
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À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/geographic-access-to-critical-maternal-health-services-in-an-african-megacity-142607">Geographic access to critical maternal health services in an African megacity</a>
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<p>As part of birth preparedness planning, pregnant women along with their care companions need to be proactively encouraged to commence journeys to the hospital early in the event of an obstetric emergency. If an emergency occurs, structures need to be in place to support her access to a hospital. This needs to be done while making consideration for <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12939-020-1123-y">pregnant women who are poor and those who live far from hospitals</a>.</p>
<p>At a global level, the World Health Organization has long recommended that health facilities with capacity to provide emergency obstetric care should be <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/44121/9789241547734_eng.pdf">“available within two to three hours of travel for most women”</a>. Evidence from our research suggests that this two-hour access benchmark warrants careful review, with many maternal deaths involving women who travelled less than an hour. These global guidelines also need to reflect delays permissible at referring facilities, recognising that some women still face additional delays even if they make it to hospitals that can provide the care needed.</p>
<p>In conclusion, pregnant women living in urban areas (city or suburb) and even next to a hospital are not precluded from the risk of poor adverse outcomes in pregnancy. Priority needs to be given to fixing areas of access inequalities, especially in the suburbs. This will be crucial for efforts geared toward the realisation of the “leave no one behind” mantra of the sustainable development goals.</p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has been supporting nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org">Axa Research Fund</a> or follow on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/axaresearchfund?lang=fr">@AXAResearchFund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182867/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Every year, seven in ten maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. A study examining sub-Saharan Africa’s largest metropolis find that inequalities in access play a key role.Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas, Senior lecturer, University of GreenwichLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1820702022-07-19T17:50:47Z2022-07-19T17:50:47ZHow trade regulations may be opening up a new era of sustainable growth in the Global South<p>You may or may not have noticed from the headlines of the past years: in our interconnected world the food systems are increasingly under pressure.</p>
<p>Cross-border trade has brought prosperity to households and food diversity to our kitchens, but also an increased risk of transporting pests and pathogens. Illegal trade in live animals, <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2014/May/wildlife-crime-worth-8-10-billion-annually.html">which accounts for $8-10 billion annually</a>, <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/72953">exacerbate these hazards</a> yet even more.</p>
<p>Climate change is another global challenge, unleashing heat waves, floodings and hurricanes on our cultures. Moreover, warmer temperatures provide ideal breeding conditions for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate1990">pests and pathogens</a> attacking plants and livestock. The biblical <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-whats-behind-the-locust-swarms-damaging-crops-in-southern-africa-147129">Desert Locus plague</a> that clouded over the Horn of Africa in 2020 was due to unusual high rainfall and flooding in areas usually spared by the insect. A year later, homeowners and farmers in the Northeast, Midwest, South and Southwest United States watched in horror as an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fall-armyworm-invasion-is-fierce-this-year-and-scientists-are-researching-how-to-stop-its-destruction-of-lawns-football-fields-and-crops-167098">unprecedented fall armyworm invasion</a> stripped down rice, soybean, alfalfa and other crop fields. The <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/06/1093202">United Nations</a> reckon some 40% of global crop production is currently lost to pests while plant diseases cost the global economy more than $220 billion annually.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Desert locusts feed on corn in a field in Meru, central Kenya" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473627/original/file-20220712-32189-srk4pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473627/original/file-20220712-32189-srk4pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473627/original/file-20220712-32189-srk4pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473627/original/file-20220712-32189-srk4pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473627/original/file-20220712-32189-srk4pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473627/original/file-20220712-32189-srk4pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473627/original/file-20220712-32189-srk4pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Desert locusts feed on corn in a field in Meru, central Kenya.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP</span></span>
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<p>Amid these increased stresses, we are not equal. Rich countries such as the United States, Canada, Japan and much of western Europe – the Global North – bear a large responsibility for climate change, having emitted <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/12/climate/cop26-emissions-compensation.html">50% of all greenhouse gases</a> since the Industrial Revolution. They have also developed <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.20201539">better strategies</a> to control the cross-border transport of pathogens, pests, and diseases through technology and production practices (e.g., the use of rootstocks to limit the spread of diseases on perennial crops; the genetic selection of resistant varieties).</p>
<h2>Trade policies contribute to regulate safety issues_</h2>
<p>Several international institutions, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), are stressing the importance of <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/envir_e/climate_measures_e.htm">the problem and the need to act</a>, and encourage the use of trade policies to <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abo4207">support the climate agenda</a>. Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank (WB) and the WTO concur on the necessity to foster <a href="https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/0534eca53121c137d3766a02320d0310-0430012022/original/Subsidies-Trade-and-International-Cooperation-April-19-ci.pdf">international cooperation as a unique strategy to face climate change issues</a>. Indeed, and worrisome, we tend to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40812-022-00219-z">observe the opposite</a>.</p>
<p>Trade policies such as the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures are pervasive in the agri-food sector and frequently used to regulate trade of products vulnerable to pests and pathogens and exposed to disease outbreaks. Their aim is to protect human, animal or plant life or health through safety standards. For instance, between the late nineties and early 2000s, the European Union implemented SPS measures to limit the presence of growth hormones in imported beef and of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in imported food.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps_e/spsagr_e.htm">Agreement on the application of SPS measures</a>, negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and entered into force in 1995 with the establishment of the WTO, defines the basic rules that governments are required to follow to provide safe food to consumers, avoid forms of protectionism of domestic producers, and prevent unnecessary obstacles to trade.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="US ambassador Michael Froman sits at a panel alongside representatives of the East African Community" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473632/original/file-20220712-15-popz5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473632/original/file-20220712-15-popz5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473632/original/file-20220712-15-popz5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473632/original/file-20220712-15-popz5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473632/original/file-20220712-15-popz5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473632/original/file-20220712-15-popz5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473632/original/file-20220712-15-popz5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">US ambassador Michael Froman signs the East African Community–United States Cooperation Agreement on Trade Facilitation, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and Technical Barries to Trade, alongside representatives from the East African Community in Washington, 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Saul Loeb/AFP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Safety standards favour the growth of the Global South</h2>
<p>With the Global South accounting for the vast bulk of raw agricultural production (e.g., the value added of agriculture accounted for <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?view=chart">17.2% of Gross Domestic Product of Sub-Saharan Africa in 2021</a>), Fabio Gaetano Santeramo and I were curious to see how these regulations impacted national economies and global trade.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/twec.13256">Our research</a> brings largely positive news: countries who could afford to comply with these new safety standards benefited from increased economic growth and safer foods. Although vested interests may motivate the use of trade policies (and standards) to divert global welfare toward domestic firms, shifting the trade paradigm from a win-win scenario to a win-lose reality, the empirical evidence shows a different story.</p>
<p>Increased safety standards have led to upgrades in technologies and production practices, such as substitutions from chemical to organic fertilisers, thus to high quality in food. Safety standards have also contributed to the emergence of new origins and the expansion of existing trade routes to the benefit of the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1093/aepp/ppx063">Global South’s market share and international relevance</a>. The agricultural trade between the Global North and the Global South tends to be 30% larger with safety standards in place. The beneficial effects of safety standards are even more relevant <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aepp.13276">if traders cooperate</a> not only formally (e.g., employing a group of experts addressing safety issues) but also substantially (e.g., fixing technical rules to cooperate on safety issues).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Positive spillovers of SPS measures and coopetation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474251/original/file-20220715-495-ypz4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474251/original/file-20220715-495-ypz4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474251/original/file-20220715-495-ypz4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474251/original/file-20220715-495-ypz4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474251/original/file-20220715-495-ypz4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474251/original/file-20220715-495-ypz4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474251/original/file-20220715-495-ypz4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Positive spillovers of SPS measures and coopetation – Effects on agricultural trade between the Global North and the Global South.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors' elaboration</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Is a sustainable growth possible?</h2>
<p>Contrary to claims by the <a href="https://www.jasonhickel.org/less-is-more">degrowth movement</a>, our research shows that trade regulations can make sustainable growth possible.</p>
<p>Sharing safety standards between <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/twec.13256">differently developed economies</a> would favour market access and avoid trade obstacles, lowering the developed-developing divide. Standard harmonisation, for instance in the context of trade agreements, is critical to achieve a sustainable growth in a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aepp.13276">cooperative environment</a>. The research shows that trade agreements reduce frictions in trade, and lower the amount of time required to solve trade disputes. In short, trade agreements foster cooperation and growth.</p>
<p>Careful evaluations of the environmental impacts of trade agreements demonstrate that <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.2202/1538-0637.1330/html">arrangements do not favour pollution havens</a> but contribute to a sustainable growth instead.</p>
<p>If the joint impact of climate change and international trade will favour the emergence and spread of pests and pathogens, efforts to monitor and manage their occurrence and to control their cross-border transport will be crucial to face the challenges of a global safety and a sustainable growth. Trade policies could be a successful strategy but <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/136/2/831/6039348">their harmonisation is pivotal</a>, particularly with economies characterised by heterogeneous responsiveness to impacts of climate change and by different abilities to alter the terms of trade.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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</figure>
<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Trade regulation by rich countries against pests and disease is gradually making its way into the less developed nations. On top of safer foods, new research shows this could also bring sustainable growth.Emilia Lamonaca, AXA Research Fellow, Università di FoggiaFabio Gaetano Santeramo, Applied Economist, Università di FoggiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1850762022-07-04T18:40:56Z2022-07-04T18:40:56ZHow does the cockpit pecking order impact decision-making during the final approach?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472287/original/file-20220704-13-iyr4cr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C19%2C4272%2C2820&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">file v jw</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Senohrabek</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Deciding whether to land or to make a go-around is one of the most important and hazardous operations involved in flying. In fact, the vast majority of accidents <a href="https://accidentstats.airbus.com/statistics/accident-by-flight-phase">in the past 20 years</a> have occurred during the final approach or landing phases. While these are not the deadliest accidents (accounting for 9% of all deaths in commercial flights between 2015 and 2019), they nevertheless generate huge financial losses for airlines.</p>
<p>Airline pilots are expected to perform a go-around in the case of an unstabilised approach, which is characterised by a important deviation of at least one flight parameter (e.g., airspeed, flight path, altitude). However, <a href="https://flightsafety.org/asw-article/inspiring-the-decision-to-go-around/">a 2011 study</a> showed pilots chose to continue the landing in 95% of unstabilised approaches for which a go-around should be performed (unstabilised approaches representing 3.5% of all approaches). The <a href="https://flightsafety.org/">Flight Safety Foundation</a> estimates that 83% of runway excursions and 54% of all accidents that occurred between 2000 and 2015 could have been avoided had the pilots chosen to go around.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://flightsafety.org/toolkits-resources/go-around-project-final-report/">extensive study</a> carried out in 2017 looked at the reasons why pilots struggle to opt to go around during an unstabilised approach. On top of the complexity, cost, and risks associated with this course of action (with one in ten go-arounds resulting in a hazardous outcome), the research also demonstrated that pilots are reluctant to call it due to feeling certain pressure from the rest of the crew to go ahead with a landing, as well as great unease when it comes to challenging the judgement of other pilots.</p>
<p>While the captain is both legally responsible for the aircraft operation and more experienced than the first officer, the onus is on the crew to execute the go-around if one of the pilots (regardless of status) has called it. Interestingly, studies have shown that go-around requests are issued <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753520301351?via%3Dihub">less frequently by first officers</a> than by captains.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467127/original/file-20220606-18-nd13n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467127/original/file-20220606-18-nd13n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467127/original/file-20220606-18-nd13n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467127/original/file-20220606-18-nd13n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467127/original/file-20220606-18-nd13n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467127/original/file-20220606-18-nd13n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467127/original/file-20220606-18-nd13n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 slid off the runway while attempting to land in Chicago in December 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hierarchical influence and risk taking during landing</h2>
<p>Just before the start of the pandemic, my colleagues and I <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105536">investigated</a> the behaviour of young, inexperienced first officers during more or less stable approaches, with an emphasis on the captain’s influence on their propensity to take risks during landing.</p>
<p>Participants were student pilots nearing the end of their training, all of whom possessed the necessary knowledge to fly an aircraft, but had no professional experience as commercial pilots. The captain, an A380 pilot for Air France, acted as our accomplice during the experiment.</p>
<p>The participants had to decide, both alone (in the first part of the experiment) and within a crew (in the second part), whether to land or to go around during various landing situations rated as (1) safe, (2) moderately risky, (3) highly risky, and (4) extremely risky.</p>
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<p>Following the completion of the first part of the experiment, the participants were told that they would have to make decisions as first officers alongside a real A380 captain for Air France, who had agreed to take part in the study.</p>
<p>The uniformed captain was then invited into a room where he greeted the newly appointed first officer participant with a firm handshake. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00295">exercise</a> was intended to induce a strong hierarchical imbalance between the two pilots.</p>
<p>After introducing himself, the captain spoke to the participants of the potential difficulties in decision-making that could arise during landing, using the example of a hazardous situation (i.e., strong wind, slight overspeed, etc.) in which he had recently found himself and explaining how he had managed to land despite the adverse conditions.</p>
<p>This (entirely fabricated) story aimed to lead the participants to believe that their captain had a certain propensity for taking risks. At the end of his speech, the captain then walked out of the room, leaving the pilots to their own devices.</p>
<p>In the second part of the experiment, the participants had two decisions to make:</p>
<p>(1) a pre-decision, which was not communicated to the captain and made before being told his decision, and (2) a final decision, communicated to the captain and made after learning of his decision.</p>
<p>The captain chose to land the aircraft in safe, moderately risky, and highly risky situations, and to go around in extremely risky situations.</p>
<h2>The captain’s direct and indirect influence on the first officer</h2>
<p>Our results show that the captain strongly influenced the participants’ decisions in moderately and highly risky landing situations, whereby their likelihood of proceeding with a landing increased respectively by 19% and 15% (in comparison with the earlier solo pilot configuration).</p>
<p>In moderately risky situations, participants were significantly more likely to go ahead with a landing even before knowing the captain’s decision. Given this rate did not vary over time, this increase in risk taking may not result from a tendency to adapt to the captain’s behaviour.</p>
<p>Several studies have shown that the mere presence of one or more other people increases an observed individual’s motivation and desire to be perceived as competent by the observer(s).</p>
<p>Known as <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-social-facilitation-4800890">“social facilitation”</a>, this phenomenon can often result in <a href="https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjop.12195">increased risk-taking behaviour</a>. Further research has also indicated that first officers make a great deal of effort to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128129951000038">appear competent</a> in the eyes of their captain.</p>
<p>With this in mind, our results suggest that the increased risk taking observed in moderately risky situations reflected participants’ eagerness to impress the captain.</p>
<p>In highly risky situations, however, increased risk taking occurred at the moment of final decision, that is, only after the participants had been informed of the captain’s own decision.</p>
<p>Moreover, the more the participants perceived their captain as authoritative, the greater their tendency to adapt their decision to the Captain’s. These results suggest that a fear of opposing the captain may have accounted for the increased risk taking during highly risky landing situations.</p>
<h2>Inexperience and Dunning-Kruger effect</h2>
<p>Although the landing rate observed during the solo pilot configuration was proportional to the risks associated with the landing situations (57%, 34% and 30% respectively in moderately, highly, and extremely risky situations), first officers’ risk-taking was nonetheless elevated.</p>
<p>This result is coherent with <a href="http://www.cog-tech.com/papers/NASA/avspych.pdf">previous studies</a>, which had already shown that young, inexperienced pilots often struggled to assess the risk level in landing situations and decide to go around.</p>
<p>Of particular note in our study was the participants’ behaviour in extremely risky situations. In 8% of such situations, participants chose to insist upon landing despite knowing the captain’s wanted to go around (final decision).</p>
<p>This makes for a reassuring yet troubling statistic. We can find some reassurance in the fact that the captain’s feedback considerably reduced the participants’ risk-taking behaviour, which highlights the former’s positive impact and important role in limiting such behaviour among first officers.</p>
<p>But while this figure may appear rather low, it becomes troubling when placed in the context of annual air traffic figures worldwide (i.e. <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/564769/airline-industry-number-of-flights/">38.9 million flights</a>.</p>
<p>This result is all the more surprising when we consider that the participants were essentially operating as pilot flying, meaning that they would have had the commands of the aircraft. It appears, therefore, that certain participants had an unrealistic vision of their flying skills. This phenomenon (which I have covered <a href="https://theconversation.com/comment-le-coronavirus-nous-a-tous-biaises-134415">in other articles</a>) is referred to as “overconfidence bias” or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780123855220000056">the “Dunning-Kruger effect”</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Illustration of the Dunning-Kruger effect, which depicts an individual’s level of confidence as compared to their actual skill level in a given area" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472322/original/file-20220704-25-wlwce0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472322/original/file-20220704-25-wlwce0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472322/original/file-20220704-25-wlwce0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472322/original/file-20220704-25-wlwce0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472322/original/file-20220704-25-wlwce0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472322/original/file-20220704-25-wlwce0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472322/original/file-20220704-25-wlwce0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration of the Dunning-Kruger effect, which depicts an individual’s level of confidence as compared to their actual skill level in a given area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leighton Kille/Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It often affects beginners in a discipline, who tend to overestimate their skills by a significant degree. First officers under the influence of the Dunning-Kruger effect represent a risk to flight safety, especially when partnered with a captain who lacks <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assertiveness">assertiveness</a> and/or authority. This was the case for instance with the <a href="https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0706.pdf">accident</a> that befell the Southwest Airlines 1248 Flight from Baltimore, Maryland to Chicago, Illinois, whereby the captain had given in to indirect pressure from his first officer and went ahead with a dangerous landing.</p>
<h2>Communication between crew members: the cornerstone of flight safety</h2>
<p>Flight safety depends largely on the pilots’ ability to prevent, detect, and correct their own errors, as well as those of other pilots.</p>
<p>A hierarchical organisation is by far the <a href="https://commons.erau.edu/jaaer/vol10/iss1/8/">most effective</a> for flight crews, but if the hierarchy balance between the captain and first officers is inadequate, it can present a safety risk. This is in great part due to the fact that first officers often have difficulty <a href="https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/2192-0923/a000021">challenging captains</a>, mainly because they see them as more experienced, do not wish to damage their relationship, and/or fear potential retaliation.</p>
<p>Yet, in spite of their expertise, captains are still human and therefore fallible. In the large majority of commercial aviation accidents that are attributed (at least partially) to human error, it is the captain who made the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Limits-of-Expertise-Rethinking-Pilot-Error-and-the-Causes-of-Airline/Dismukes-Berman-Loukopoulos/p/book/9780754649656">initial error</a> behind the accident, which then went on to be either undetected or uncorrected by their first officers.</p>
<p>While the implementation of <a href="https://skybrary.aero/articles/crew-resource-management-crm">Crew Resource Management</a> – a set of crew training procedures that aims to prevent human error – has greatly improved inter-pilot communication and crew decision-making, hierarchical imbalance between captains and first officers remains a potential hazard factor.</p>
<p>Our study has revealed how young, inexperienced pilots are very likely to be swayed by their captain’s influence in situations of particularly strong hierarchical imbalance. We are hopeful that our research will make captains more aware of how they may be influencing their first officers’ decisions (even without meaning to).</p>
<p>Our protocol could also help assess how easily swayed student pilots are during their training, and strengthen their awareness of these associated risks. This would contribute to improving flight safety in commercial aviation, which is – lest we forget – still the safest form of transport available.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185076/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eve Fabre has received funding from the European Union, the DGA and the AXA Research Fund. She currently works for APSYS.</span></em></p>A study into the hierarchical relationship between first officers and their captains has shed light on the risk taking that occurs during the critical moment of landing an aircraft.Eve Fabre, Chercheure en Facteur Humain & Neurosciences Sociales, ISAE-SUPAEROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1820742022-05-30T18:39:45Z2022-05-30T18:39:45ZThe multiple faces of inequality in India<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463599/original/file-20220517-16-mniatq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C1024%2C676&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Punit Paranjpe/AFP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Known for its caste system, India is often thought of as one of the world’s most unequal countries. The <a href="https://wir2022.wid.world/www-site/uploads/2022/03/0098-21_WIL_RIM_RAPPORT_A4.pdf">2022 World Inequality Report</a> (WIR), headed by leading economist Thomas Piketty and his protégé, Lucas Chancel, did nothing to improve this reputation. Their research showed that the gap between the rich and the poor in India is at a historical high, with the top 10% holding 57% of national income – more than the average of 50% under British colonial rule (1858-1947). In contrast, the bottom half accrued only 13% of national revenue. A <a href="https://www.oxfamindia.org/knowledgehub/workingpaper/inequality-kills-india-supplement-2022">February report by Oxfam</a> noted 2021 alone saw 84% of households suffer a loss of income while the number of Indian billionaires grew from 102 to 142.</p>
<p>Both reports highlight not only the problem of revenue inequality but also of opportunity. While there may be disagreement between left and right on the ethics of equality, there is a consensus that everyone should be given the chance to succeed and the principle of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-fairness-matters-more-than-equality-three-ways-to-think-philosophically-about-justice-140954">fairness</a> – and not factors such as birth, region, race, gender, ethnicity or family backgrounds – ought to lay the foundations of a level playing field for all.</p>
<p>Drawing from the latest pre-pandemic database from the Periodic Labour Force Survey of 2018-19, our research confirms this is far from the case in India. On the one hand, the country has had a consistently high GDP growth rate of <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=IN">more than 7%</a> for nearly two decades, the exception being the period around the 2008 financial crisis. On the other hand, this income has failed to trickle down to India’s marginalised communities, with preliminary results pointing to a higher level of inequality of opportunity in the country than in Brazil or Guatemala.</p>
<p>Precarity as well as a large shadow economy also plague the country’s labour market. Even before the pandemic, only 30% to 40% of regular salaried adult Indian earners had job contracts or social securities such as national pension schemes, provident fund or health insurance. For self-employed workers, the situation is even more critical, even though these constituted nearly 60% of the Indian labour force in 2019.</p>
<h2>Castes, gender and background still determine life chances</h2>
<p>Our research indicated that at least 30% of earning inequality is still determined by caste, gender and family backgrounds. The seriousness of this figure becomes clear when it’s compared with rates of the world’s most egalitarian countries, such as Finland and Norway, where the respective estimates are below 10% for a similar set of social and family attributes.</p>
<p>The caste system is a distinctive feature of Indian inequality. Emerging around 1500 BC, the hereditary social classification draws its origins from occupational hierarchy. Ancient Indian society was thought to be divided in four <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616"><em>Varnas</em></a> or castes: <em>Brahmins</em> (the priests), <em>Khatriyas</em> (the soldiers), <em>Vaishyas</em> (the traders) and <em>Shudras</em> (the servants), in order of hierarchy. Apart from the above four, there were the “untouchables” or <em>Dalits</em> (the oppressed), as they are called now, who were prohibited to come into contact with any of the upper castes. These groups were further subdivided in thousands of sub-castes or <em>Jatis</em>, with complicated internal hierarchy, eventually merged into fewer manageable categories under the British colonisation period.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463592/original/file-20220517-16-fk8u09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463592/original/file-20220517-16-fk8u09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463592/original/file-20220517-16-fk8u09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463592/original/file-20220517-16-fk8u09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463592/original/file-20220517-16-fk8u09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463592/original/file-20220517-16-fk8u09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463592/original/file-20220517-16-fk8u09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The head of Lamborghini India Sharad Agarwal and managing director of Lamborghini Bangalore T.S. Sateesh pose with the $580,000 Lamborghini Huracan 610-4 Spyder at its launch in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Manjunath Kiran/AFP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://dopt.gov.in/sites/default/files/ch-11.pdf">Indian constitution</a> secures the rights of the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) through a caste-based reservation quota, by virtue of which a certain portion of higher-education admissions, public sector jobs, political or legislative representations, are reserved for them. Despite this, there is a <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/upper-caste-hindus-richest-in-india-own-41-total-assets-says-study-on-wealth-distribution-5582984/">notable earning inequality</a> between these social categories and the rest of the population, who consists of no more than 30% to 35% of Indian population. Adopting a data-driven approach we find that, on average, SC, ST and OBC still earn less than the rest.</p>
<p>While unique, the caste system is not the only source of unfairness. Indeed, it accounts for less than 7% of inequality of opportunity, something that’s in itself laudable. We will need to add criteria such as gender and family background differences to explain 30% of inequality.</p>
<p>In a country where <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-gang-rapes-tell-us-about-delhi-and-the-wider-world-22074">femicides and rapes</a> regularly make headlines, it comes as no surprise that women from marginalised social groups are often subject to a “double disadvantage”. For some states such as Rajasthan (in the country’s northwest), Andhra Pradesh (south), Maharashtra (centre), we find even upper-caste women enjoy fewer educational opportunities than men from the marginalised SC/ST communities. Even among the graduates, while the national average employment rate for males is 70%, it is below 30% for the females.</p>
<h2>A temporary byproduct of rising growth?</h2>
<p>Rising inequality could be dismissed as a temporary byproduct of rapid growth on the grounds of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/simon-kuznets.asp">Simon Kuznets’ famous hypothesis</a>, according to which inequality rises with rapid growth before eventually subsiding. However, there is no guarantee of this, least of all because widening gap between rich and poor is not only limited to fast-growing countries such as India. Indeed, a <a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2019/11/07/the-threat-of-inequality-of-opportunity/">2019 study</a> found that the growth-inequality relationship often reflects inequality of opportunity and prospects of growth are relatively dim for economies with a bumpy distribution of opportunities.</p>
<p>Despite sporadic evidence of converging caste or gender gaps, our research shows an intricate web of social hierarchy has been cast over every aspect of life in India. It is true that <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/FLn6TiQPArdQZUN9LE2ZsM/The-impact-of-caste-on-economic-mobility-in-India.html">some deprived castes</a> may withdraw from school early to explore traditional jobs available to their caste-based networks – thereby limiting their opportunities. However, are they responsible for such choices or it is the precariousness of the Indian economy that pushes them down such routes? There is no straightforward answer to these questions, even if some of the “bad choices” that individuals make can result more from pressure than choice.</p>
<p>Given the complicated intertwining of various forms of hierarchy in India, broad policies targeting inequality may have less success than anticipated. Dozens of factors other than caste, gender or family background feed into inequality, including home sanitation, school facilities, domestic violence, access to basic infrastructure such as electricity, water or healthcare, crime rates, political stability of the locality, environmental risks and many more.</p>
<p>Better data would allow researchers studying India to capture the contours of its society and also help gauge the effectiveness of policies intended to expand opportunities for the neediest.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tista Kundu a reçu des financements de AXA Research Fund. </span></em></p>Preliminary research finds that India’s high growth rate has failed to trickle down to society’s marginalised communities, with caste, gender and background still dictating life chances.Tista Kundu, Post-doctoral research fellow in economics, Centre de Sciences Humaines de New DelhiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1808192022-04-08T16:12:28Z2022-04-08T16:12:28ZBehind French election tweets, the far right is hidden in plain sight<p>During the 2017 French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron was the darling of digital democracy. With his calls for a “startup nation,” the future head of state placed technology at the centre not only of his programme but also of his <a href="https://frenchcrossroads.substack.com/p/startup-president-part-3?s=r">campaign</a>.</p>
<p>The now-president’s digital performance in the run-up to this year’s election has been much less clear-cut. It’s left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon who’s been trying to push the technological envelope, going so far as to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/06/jean-luc-melenchon-hologram-french-election">appear in the form of a hologram</a>, while Macron concentrated on shifting his programme to the right. And while he still leads in the polls, his <a href="https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/france/">margin is slipping</a>. Indeed, five years after Macron took office, far-right candidates have been more effective than Macron at exploiting the Internet and social networks.</p>
<p>In the newly published book <a href="https://www.epflpress.org/produit/1047/9782889154548/l-illusion-de-la-democratie-numerique"><em>L’illusion de la démocratie numérique. Internet est-il de droite?</em></a> (EPFL Press), I argue that conservatives dominate online. While the Internet may have been a key part of left-leaning movements, such as the Arab Spring or Occupy Wall Street, the right dominates the online world thanks to factors such as its popular bases, hierarchical organisations, capital, as well as social inequality. The French presidential elections are a case in point.</p>
<h2>The French Internet: a political genealogy</h2>
<p>But before we turn to the current elections, it is worth revisiting French politics’ digital history. France is no newcomer to digital politics, with the egalitarian use of the 1980s pre-web French <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/thank-minitel-for-the-french-election/">Minitel computers for political information</a> paving the way to current global networks. Imagining the early web as a bastion of left-leaning French politics led by Macron is overly simplistic, though, as the National Front was the first political party in France to have a web presence, as well as an army of trolls working behind the scenes.</p>
<p>But it would be a mistake to view Le Pen’s support as artificial or top-down. She has been the sleeper in this current election, pulling ahead in the polls. While digital media eyes were on Zemmour, Le Pen boasts a strong base of support throughout the country, both online and offline. From Facebook groups, Twitter, down to WhatsApp channels, she dominates her rival. Despite extensive coverage in international media outlets, the former <em>Figaro</em> columnist has fewer than 400,000 Twitter followers, versus 2.7 million in the case of Le Pen.</p>
<h2>Zemmour and Le Pen</h2>
<p>Both have launched their campaigns amid a rightward turn of French politics, as voters increasingly resent the gap between their purchasing power and that of previous generations. While Zemmour and Le Pen have both clearly capitalised on such sentiments, scapegoating immigrants subtly or explicitly, there are differences between them.</p>
<p>Throughout his campaign, Zemmour has deployed an openly Islamophobic rhetoric that closely mirrored that of a <a href="http://hatemeter.eu/">research project tracking online anti-Muslim hatred</a> between 2018 and 2020. Zemmour’s movement, Reconquête (“Reconquer”) echoes the theme of a supposed “invasion” by immigrants that marked the 2016 US presidential campaign. Like former US president Donald Trump, Zemmour asserts the need to make France “great again”.</p>
<p>Le Pen also privileges imagery celebrating “traditional France”, including its agricultural heritage. Unlike Zemmour, she has confined most of her speeches to bread-and-butter issues, directly appealing to much of the working-class and rural <em>gilets jaunes</em> base. The movement started out in 2018 as a fuel-tax occupations in mostly small towns stopping traffic and morphed into a series of mostly urban marches. Once focused on cost-of-living issues, the protesters’ demands became diverse and sometimes contradictory ideologically, and the movement lost steam in late 2019 when the pandemic hit.</p>
<h2>Popular bases</h2>
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<span class="caption">In advance of the French election, Eric Zemmour has been sinking in the polls relative to Marine Le Pen, and so has sought to dismiss them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eric Zemmour/Twitter</span></span>
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<p>Too many people on the left present right-wing leaders as puppet masters and downplay the role of organised people on the ground. The fantasy is that by somehow getting rid of these leading online influencers, whether Zemmour or Le Pen, or even Putin or Trump, that the right-wing digital base will disappear.</p>
<p>The reality is in fact the opposite. These leaders built their movements on existing networks and groups. These include everything from the far-right component of the <em>gilets jaunes</em> to Civitas, Action Française, and even elements of the Catholic Church. Institutions like these are more likely to have a solid network of political supporters that are in constant communication, as well as have dedicated armies of volunteers to post and promote online content relevant to its members.</p>
<p>This finding of the role of organisations, and especially what I found in the United States in how hierarchical organisations dominated online as opposed to the myth of horizontal digital activism. Simply put, conservative groups are more likely to be hierarchical, as compared to many of those on the left, and this enables more online engagement.</p>
<h2>A media ecosystem benefiting the far right</h2>
<p>But it is not just individual groups peppered throughout France, or any other country, that enable conservative digital activism. Key to the circulation of social media information is how these groups work in sync with an ecosystem of other like-minded organisations. As in the United States, conservative media outlets are growing in France: the far-right media empire of <a href="https://www.vivendi.com/en/biography/vincent-bollore/">Vincent Bolloré</a> includes CNews, which propelled Zemmour into the nightly TV spotlight, while the media conglomerate of <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200122-bernard-arnault-france-s-wolf-in-cashmere-billionaire">Bernard Arnault</a> pushes free-market ideas. And the content they produce and personalities they promote feed directly into conservative social-media feeds, despite – and because of – conservative claims that the media censors them.</p>
<p>By contrast, the left in France is fragmented and does not work as effectively as the far right does with all types of media outlets. This has a direct relationship with what works – and doesn’t – in terms of virality on social media. Conservative conceptions of <em>freedom</em> play better on platforms that favour simplistic, short, and provocative posts, whether it is “freedom” from immigrant “invasions” or from “mask mandates.” The left focuses more on principles such as <em>fairness</em>, and the messages are inherently more nuanced and dispersed. Whether it is the environment, gender rights, anti-racism, or LGBTQ+ issues, the broad coalition of ideas can lead to fuzzy messaging. So in today’s digital era, the left has a bigger hill to climb, and France is no exception.</p>
<p>So this is how ideology, even in its own right, fuels the digital activism gap I found in my research in why conservatives dominate online.</p>
<h2>Inequality</h2>
<p>Now for the last factor that we also see in France: inequality. The Internet was supposed to be a place where everyone can come together on the same playing field, but this is not the case. But how does this map onto the French working-class increasingly voting for Le Pen?</p>
<p>As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Not included in polls of Le Pen’s working-class base are the members of the working-class who do not vote or those who are not citizens and thus can’t vote. As it is defined in surveys, the working class in France also does not include other low-wage workers or those unable to work. The digital divide in access and skills, for example, is still strong in France, especially in rural areas. The cliche of far-right supporters is that they are duped, uninformed, and uneducated, but in my research and with Zemmour’s base, it’s key to see the dominance of middle to upper-class “well-educated” voters that he has captured.</p>
<h2>The right’s big money</h2>
<p>Questions have also swirled around who may be financing Zemmour’s glitzy campaign of slick posters, synced social media, and well-orchestrated rallies. Certainly, conservatives are more likely to have these resources, both individually and organisationally. And this kind of big money is key to digital <em>production</em> of online content, but it does not automatically result in digital <em>participation</em>. It takes people on the ground who believe and support these far-right philosophies to keep the social media content flowing. It is not just individual supporters. Political organisations, whether parties or civil society groups, that have a lot of resources can harness the power of platform algorithms by paying staff (or trolls) to engage online or can afford the high-tech software and other gadgets to sustain digital participation.</p>
<p>The result, then, of differences in institutions, ideologies, and inequalities offline is a dominance of the far right online. The bottom line is that offline power results in online power, and with conservatives having and gaining power, it is an uphill battle for those on the left.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has been supporting nearly 650 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 55 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org">Axa Research Fund</a> or follow on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/axaresearchfund?lang=fr">@AXAResearchFund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180819/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jen Schradie ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>While many progressive movements have organised online, conservatives dominate because of better organisation, capital, and social inequality. France’s presidential elections are a case in point.Jen Schradie, Digital Sociologist, Sciences Po Paris, Sciences Po Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1631402022-01-09T17:24:15Z2022-01-09T17:24:15ZHow Covid broke supply chains, and how AI and blockchain could fix them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439518/original/file-20220105-19-2ocyl0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2001%2C12%2C4460%2C3040&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/aerial-view-panoramic-oil-tanker-moving-1206527953">Studio concept/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the coronavirus crisis erupted in 2020, it became apparent that the medical emergency was accompanied by severe shortages, especially in some medical devices.</p>
<p>The pattern was first observed for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7737425/">ventilators</a>: demand spiked everywhere and the supply chain was disrupted. This was because production of the devices spanned multiple countries, with each part dependent on other parts manufactured in different locations. The longer the chain and the more complex the dependence, the greater the exposure of any point to the disruption of another one, and to mandated shutdowns.</p>
<p>Now, two years since Covid first hit, this pattern has affected almost every sector of the global economy. “Supply chain issues” have become so widespread that they are now a <a href="https://qz.com/2092878/supply-chain-is-finding-its-way-into-memes-and-the-dictionary/">running joke</a>, affecting everything from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/11/the-great-furniture-delay-well-be-eating-christmas-dinner-on-our-camping-tables">furniture</a> to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-04/food-shortages-at-major-supermarkets-covid-rises/100737066">groceries</a>. But why has Covid had such a severe effect on how we receive products and goods?</p>
<p>In recent decades, supply chains became lean, and they lengthened as they became more cost-efficient: more and more steps were added in the manufacture and transportation of any given product in the name of speed and cost. This means there are more and more places where something can go wrong between you ordering something online and it arriving to your door.</p>
<p>Today, downstream suppliers – such as those who provide vehicle control systems to your car manufacturer – depend on upstream suppliers – such as chip manufacturers – to deliver on time so they can in turn deliver on time to you.</p>
<p>With long chains, risks are now shared between multiple entities all around the world.</p>
<h2>Using AI and blockchain to protect trade</h2>
<p>Supply chain problems have a knock-on financial effect known as trade credit contagion. This is where firms delay payments to suppliers because their customers delay payments to them. The pay-on-delivery model can lead to cancelled or delayed shipments which can in turn lead to bankruptcies.</p>
<p>While a high proportion of trade credit risk remains uninsured today, a post-pandemic world may see insurance and reinsurance firms fill in this protection gap.</p>
<p>Researchers are currently working to develop methodologies to identify vulnerabilities in global supply chains and to understand their trade credit contagion risks. The goal is to make these systems more <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3669363">robust overall</a>.</p>
<p>How can we design ways to design insurance and reinsurance contracts in order to effectively share the risk and mitigate vulnerabilities? How can reliable trade credit lead to fewer delays in supply chains and replace the familiar predicament we face now, of paying for something in advance with an unknown delivery date?</p>
<p>Artificial intelligence and complex network theory are helpful in identifying the <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3389">structures that could pose systemic risk</a>. They help us ask: which patterns of connections are likely to lead to delay and trade credit contagion and which are more robust?</p>
<p>Using these tools, we can create large-scale simulators of global supply chains responding to a wide variety of shocks and then use machine learning techniques to detect the problematic parts of the chain. This knowledge can then be used in market designs that strengthen the system before another pandemic or disaster occurs.</p>
<p>Other novel technologies such as blockchain bring the promise of using high quality data to analyse supply chain dependencies. blockchain technology uses real-time data and transparent verification carried out by multiple parties. In combination with other features, such as smart contracts, this could lead to timely resolution in cases of disputes along the supply chain.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439514/original/file-20220105-23-8n7skg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C0%2C5568%2C3667&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An aisle in a warehouse with shelves stacked with boxes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439514/original/file-20220105-23-8n7skg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C0%2C5568%2C3667&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439514/original/file-20220105-23-8n7skg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439514/original/file-20220105-23-8n7skg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439514/original/file-20220105-23-8n7skg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439514/original/file-20220105-23-8n7skg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439514/original/file-20220105-23-8n7skg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439514/original/file-20220105-23-8n7skg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">We need to insure each link in the chain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/warehouse-largescale-shopping-center-541183837">dreamnikon/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3914284">My research</a> involves</p>
<p>using blockchain to streamline record-keeping and payments. This problem is challenging because the adoption of blockchain depends both on the specifics of the technology and the cost.</p>
<p>The problem of adopting technology in the presence of positive externalities (whereby firms adopting the technology in turn improve the operations of external parties) is an old one in economics, but now these externalities are systemic in nature: the effects propagate along the chains. The cost of the technology depends on how many firms adopt it, and each one faces business specific costs based on its position in the supply chain, its risk tolerance and its costs to insure these risks.</p>
<p>Real-time recording keeping, the traceability of transactions, and the immutability of blockchain can all help supply chains become more efficient. This is all the more true if we consider the full length of the chain, where transactions need to be verified by several parties: participants in the supply chain, insurance and reinsurance firms.</p>
<h2>The future of supply chains</h2>
<p>Trade credit insurance is likely to grow after the pandemic. It may rely on private-public partnerships – the pandemic has shown that governments become important players when they impose shutdowns in certain areas.</p>
<p>These funds can be used to make up for payment delays, reduce losses and jump-start critical production where necessary. But not all links in a chain can be insured, and an important challenge is to identify the most important stages under different shock scenarios.</p>
<p>Supply chains can also be rewired – large-scale algorithms can identify which suppliers need to be replaced and which new ones need to emerge.</p>
<p>In a few years, supply chains may look different, as the overall goal shifts from minimising costs, as was the case before the pandemic, to minimising delays and trade credit risks. The end consumer will drive the need to rewire the network, as demand shifts. Ultimately, the flexibility of the customer determines the resilience of the supply chain.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has been supporting nearly 650 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 55 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org">Axa Research Fund</a> or follow on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/axaresearchfund?lang=fr">@AXAResearchFund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreea Minca has received funding from AXA Research and NSF.</span></em></p>Covid has led to delays in consumers receiving everything from furniture to groceries. This is how we might reshape supply chains after the pandemic.Andreea Minca, Associate Professor, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1533612021-12-19T21:59:07Z2021-12-19T21:59:07ZStress less – it might protect you from Covid<p>While stress has always been around, in 2021 it has seemed utterly inescapable. Between the stress of family possibly getting very ill, increased care responsibilities, perpetual concern about lost income, the pain of social disconnection, and the rise of new variants, the stressors are never-ending.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, recent US surveys have reported that 55% of the general population felt <a href="https://www.pandemicimpactreport.com/report/PalssonBallouGray_2020_PandemicImpactReport.pdf">increased stress during the pandemic</a> and university students around the world reported pandemic-related increases in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8316976/pdf/fpsyg-12-669119.pdf">depression and anxiety</a>.</p>
<p>While many have acknowledged the decline in mental health since early 2020, what has gone mostly unspoken is how these feelings may be connected to your likelihood of getting sick.</p>
<h2>How stress makes you sick</h2>
<p>You may have heard previously that stress is bad for you, but perhaps you didn’t understand exactly how. In fact, researchers have been studying the mechanisms of how this works for decades. This body of evidence has proven without question that stress can cause damaging changes to the immune system in both humans and animals.</p>
<p>Psychological scientist Sheldon Cohen and his colleagues have conducted a number of <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/common-cold-project/publications/index.html">studies</a> where healthy people are exposed to an upper respiratory infection via drops of virus placed directly into their nose. These participants are then quarantined in a hotel and monitored closely to determine who gets sick and who doesn’t.</p>
<p>One of the most important factors that predicts who gets sick and who stays well is prolonged psychological stress.</p>
<p>Individuals with stressors that persist for six months to two years (nearly the length of the pandemic so far) are almost three times more likely to become sick with an infectious agent as those who are unstressed. This phenomenon is specifically driven by stressors common to many of us today, including unemployment and enduring difficulties with family or friends.</p>
<p>But don’t be too disheartened. One important fact that is frequently missed in these studies is that even when a virus is put <em>into your nose</em>, your fate isn’t sealed. In fact, as many as a third of the participants are resilient to viruses known to make us quite ill including cold viruses, flu viruses, and even, you guessed it, coronaviruses. So, who are these people who tend to not get sick?</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691620942516">recent article</a>, Cohen explained that while coronaviruses haven’t been studied nearly as much as cold and flu, there is reason to believe that some of the same protective factors will be relevant for the severity of coronavirus infection or resistance to it.</p>
<p>The biggest protective factors include feeling socially connected and supported and getting at least seven hours of sleep every night, but his studies over the years have also shown repeatedly that factors like lower stress and higher levels of positive emotions are also key to illness protection.</p>
<h2>The role of inflammation</h2>
<p>How do feelings of stress or stressful life experiences get under our skin to change our likelihood of getting sick? One of the key factors is inflammation.</p>
<p>Inflammation is responsible for critical trafficking of immune cells in your body so that the right cells are present in the right locations at the right times and at the right levels. When stress is high and long lasting, the hormones in our body get unbalanced in a way that leads to higher than normal levels of inflammation and a host of adverse health outcomes.</p>
<p>As it happens, many of the preexisting conditions associated with severe Covid-19 symptoms and hospitalisation are also associated with higher levels of stress and inflammation, such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.</p>
<p>It has even been proposed that Covid-19 activates inflammation in a similar way that chronic stress does and results in a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smi.3017">“cytokine storm”</a>. This may be partly due to activities of stress hormones like cortisol, revealed to be high in the most severe cases of Covid <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7102614/">including an increased risk of death</a>.</p>
<h2>Taking stress seriously</h2>
<p>Your stress and well-being matter, especially during a time of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59160525">rebounding Covid-19 infection levels</a> and new variants around the world.</p>
<p>Having an optimally functioning immune system has never been so critical. Even if you are lucky enough to live somewhere with Covid-19 levels that have levelled off or dropped, or if you have been immunised vaccinated, it turns out that stress, loneliness, sleep, and other inflammation-relevant phenomena are also key to how well your body responds to a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691621989243">vaccination</a>. That is, how much protective antibody you produce in response to the vaccine.</p>
<p>This gives us yet another reason to focus on our wellness right now. So please, follow the advice from decades of research: take your stress seriously and protect your well-being during this endlessly stressful time.</p>
<p>Stay socially connected, even if it has to be virtual. Focus on what you can control rather than what you can’t. Take time every day to do something that makes you happy. Rest. Prioritise your sleep and exercise.</p>
<p>And most importantly, listen to public health experts and get vaccinated, wear a mask, and wash your hands, but also remember that that’s not the end all of staying healthy. Your mind affects your body in important and Covid-relevant ways, so taking care of your well-being, especially your stress level, is essential too.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the Axa Research Fund has been supporting nearly 600 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 54 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org/en/">Axa Research Fund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie Ginty a reçu des financements de National Institutes of Health et du Fonds Axa pour la Recherche.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Pressman a reçu des financements du Fonds Axa pour la Recherche. </span></em></p>As we face the rise and rise of the Omicron variant, your risk of getting severe Covid may depend on how stressed you are. Now is a great time to look after your mental health.Annie Ginty, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor UniversitySarah Pressman, Associate Professor of Psychological Science, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1698862021-11-08T20:40:19Z2021-11-08T20:40:19ZClimate change is transforming mountains – we must act to save them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430861/original/file-20211108-21-1288vb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C11413%2C4151&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dirk Schmeller</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mountain ecosystems provide vital <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041620301558#b0135">services to human life</a>. Mountains sequester CO<sub>2</sub>, clean water and the air and regulate floods. Worldwide, they provide for the livelihoods of <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/W9300E/w9300e03.htm">more than half of human society</a>.</p>
<p>Climate change is particularly acute in mountains. The highly developed relief of the ranges creates many microclimates, ecosystems and therefore living spaces for numerous species. Quite a few of those species can <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?query=mountains&searchType=species">only be found in mountains</a>.</p>
<p>High-altitude mountain areas are projected to warm much faster than lowland regions. For the Pyrenees, which run along the border of France and Spain, warming of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4823">0.57°C per decade</a> has already been observed, while the rate is only 0.18°C in lowland France.</p>
<p>It is difficult to precisely predict temperature increases in mountains, but for the Pyrenees, the mean annual temperature has been estimated to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4823">2°C warmer than 1970</a>, compared to 1.2°C in lowland France. This difference will only increase in the future.</p>
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À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mountains-a-fragile-source-of-life-153400">Mountains, a fragile source of life</a>
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<p>Increased temperatures in mountain regions decrease the amount of snow that falls, causes snow and ice to melt earlier and accelerates deglaciation – the process by which glaciers retreat.</p>
<p>Increased temperatures also accelerate biochemical reactions such as photosynthesis in plants, increase the rates of many biological and ecological processes such as decomposition and sedimentation, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.agron.2016.10.011">organic carbon mineralisation</a>, organismic growth (such as the time from egg hatching to metamorphosis in frogs), and biomass production (for example, the regrowth of grazed meadows).</p>
<h2>How climate change affects mountains</h2>
<p>We can thus accurately predict that profound ecological changes will follow the temperature increases that are already taking place, destabilising mountain ecosystems.</p>
<p>European mountains like the Pyrenees are far from the remote and pristine ideals we often imagine, and many show the marks of centuries-long human activities. In the Pyrenees, mining activities have largely ceased, but still have an impact in the form of ongoing heavy metal pollution through increased flooding due to climate change, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119413332.ch9">releasing stored heavy metals from peatbogs and peatlands</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time, toxic organic pollutants are carried from lowlands to sensitive mountain ecosystems by atmospheric transport – the process of evaporation, cloud formation, wind and precipitation – but also via local activities such as the use of insect repellents by farmers and tourists.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, introduced fish species in mountain lakes bring with them <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b01299">high levels of mercury</a>, which is known for its negative effects on the nervous system of animals and humans.</p>
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<p>Introducing fish into mountain lakes also lead to a processes called <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/eutrophication.html">eutrophication</a> – where water systems are flooded with too many nutrients. Together with increased temperatures, this causes algae to bloom in greater numbers and lowers oxygen in waterways. These algae also produce poisons known as cyanotoxins in high enough concentrations to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10408440701749454">cause illness in animals and humans</a>.</p>
<p>Climate change in mountains will challenge downstream freshwater ecosystems and along with them, an important source of drinking water. <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-drink/reporting_en.html">Water quality has already decreased</a> and, as it is difficult to detect all the different toxic molecules in water samples, the amount of toxins in current drinking water remains unclear.</p>
<h2>Transformative change</h2>
<p>As human health is <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/one-health">inextricably linked</a> to animal and environmental health, it is important to understand that the Pyrenees and many other mountain ranges are not as healthy as many of us think.</p>
<p>In the future, they may no longer provide us with the clean drinking water, clean air and other ecosystem services we need.</p>
<p>We need a new approach for how we treat mountain ecosystems. That’s why many, including the <a href="https://ipbes.net/transformative-change">Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services</a>, are calling for a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-021-02261-0">“transformative change”</a>.</p>
<p>This new buzzword replaces the term “sustainable development” of previous years. Transformative change goes much further than sustainable development – because we waited too long to take small steps toward a sustainable future, we now need to make much bigger strides.</p>
<p>These strides are very likely to affect many of us – we will need to drastically reduce our mobility, change our food habits (by reducing or entirely cutting out meat from our diets), and give up many of the commodities of modern life.</p>
<p>Transformative change in the Pyrenees specifically might include restricting access to sensitive sites for tourists and farmers, reducing herd sizes of sheep and cows, and ending the use of veterinary and human insect repellents in the mountains.</p>
<p>Transformative change will have to have an impact on every facet of our lives, if it has to have an effect. Our society needs to adapt to save mountains and the essential services they provide.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has been supporting nearly 650 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 55 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org">Axa Research Fund</a> or follow on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/axaresearchfund?lang=fr">@AXAResearchFund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dirk Schmeller a reçu des financements de Axa Research Fund. </span></em></p>Mountain ecosystems are not as pristine as we may think – and climate change could trigger devastating transformations that will affect us all.Dirk S. Schmeller, Professor for Conservation Biology, Axa Chair for Functional Mountain Ecology at the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse, Université de Toulouse III – Paul SabatierLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1669912021-09-06T19:44:28Z2021-09-06T19:44:28ZHow Google Maps can help with efforts to tackle delays in accessing critical maternal health services<p>Every year, <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Maternal_mortality_report.pdf">295,000 women die</a> from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth globally. Nigeria accounts for an enormous <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Maternal_mortality_report.pdf%20">23% of these deaths</a>. Each one is a needless tragedy, and preventing them should be a global priority.</p>
<p>How can we do so? Research has shown that prompt access to nine critical maternity services, together known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgo.2004.11.026">emergency obstetric care</a>, can reduce deaths of pregnant women by 15-50% and the deaths of their unborn children by 45-75%.</p>
<p>Pregnant women have a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277953694902267">higher risk of dying if they experience any of three delays</a> in accessing this care when they need it. These include a delay in deciding to seek care, a delay travelling to appropriate health facilities, or a delay in receiving the care they need when they get there.</p>
<p>In Nigeria, it’s the delay in travelling to receive care that is often the most deadly, with many women left to travel to health facilities either on their own or with support of their relatives, without professional help. This journey is thought of as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-020-00996-7">“black box”</a> because unravelling what happened during their travel, including delays experienced while en route, can only be analysed after it is already too late.</p>
<h2>The promise of Google Maps</h2>
<p>What if we could <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/1/e004318">use Google Maps</a>, the most popular navigation app on earth, to help understand these delays? In a recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czab099">published study</a>, my colleagues and I assessed travel time to care for pregnant women in emergency situations using data from Google Maps.</p>
<p>We used the travel time estimates we found to assess the coverage of critical maternity services in Nigeria’s most urbanised state and the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa – Lagos.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A satellite view of Lagos on Google Maps" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418913/original/file-20210901-17-2szf3p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418913/original/file-20210901-17-2szf3p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418913/original/file-20210901-17-2szf3p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418913/original/file-20210901-17-2szf3p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418913/original/file-20210901-17-2szf3p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418913/original/file-20210901-17-2szf3p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418913/original/file-20210901-17-2szf3p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Google Maps data can help us understand pregnant women’s journeys to hospital for emergency care.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google Maps</span></span>
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<p>Our results showed that for women who travelled directly to a hospital, travel time ranged from 2 to 240 minutes. For those who went there after a referral, travel time ranged from 7 to 320 minutes. Total travel time was within 60 minutes for 80% of pregnant women. The time of day and having been referred were both associated with travelling more than 60 minutes.</p>
<p>We identified three hotspots from which pregnant women travelled more than 60 minutes to public hospitals in Lagos. These areas were Alimosho/Ifako-Ijaiye, Eti-Osa and Ijanikin/Morogbo. In cases when a referral was required, we identified a fourth hotspot in the north of Ikorodu, where pregnant women required more than 60 minutes to arrive at a hospital that could provide the care they need.</p>
<h2>Eliminating hotspots</h2>
<p>Our findings indicate that these hotspots require government intervention to reduce delays in women accessing care. The Lagos state government already appears to be addressing one of these hotspots by <a href="https://businessday.ng/health/article/lagos-targets-1m-mothers-children-as-110-bed-mcc-opens-in-eti-osa/">building the Eti-Osa Maternal and Child Care Centre</a>.</p>
<p>Similar action is needed to address the Ijanikin/Morogbo hotspot, as there is currently no public hospital for about 30 km to the east and west of this cluster.</p>
<p>For Alimosho/Ifako-Ijaiye and north of Ikorodu, there are established public hospitals within these areas already and it appears the challenge might be their relative inaccessibility. In these areas, road expansion and repair and the improvement of referral systems could be effective ways to minimize travel time.</p>
<p>Our research reinforces existing evidence that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-020-00996-7">pregnant women face significant challenges</a> in accessing emergency care. Even in places that are expected to have the so called “urban advantage”, pregnant women in urgent situations still have to face traffic congestion, poor roads and slow referral systems.</p>
<p>For a pregnant woman in an emergency situation, delay can be a matter of life and death. If we are going to make progress in reducing maternal mortality, targeted actions that respond to local area-specific challenges like those recommended in our study will go a long way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166991/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas a reçu des financements de AXA Research Fund.</span></em></p>Using data from the popular navigation app, researchers have pinpointed the areas of Lagos, Nigeria, where emergency obstetric care is most needed.Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas, Research Fellow, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.