ReportWire

Tag: Government/Law

  • Capitalist reforms in China led to higher extreme poverty

    Capitalist reforms in China led to higher extreme poverty

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    Newswise — It is widely believed that China’s socialist economy had relatively high rates of extreme poverty, while the capitalist reforms of the 1980s and 1990s delivered rapid progress, with extreme poverty declining from 88% in 1981 to zero by 2018.

    This belief has been challenged by a research project carried out by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) in collaboration with Macquarie University in Australia and Maastrich University in the Netherlands. The researchers point out that the data used to make these claims relies on the World Bank’s extreme poverty line of $1.90 per day (2011 PPP). However, the World Bank’s method has come under sustained critique in recent years, as it does not account for the cost of meeting basic needs, which varies across countries and over time, even when measured in PPP terms.

    To correct for this, researchers Jason Hickel of ICTA-UAB, Dylan Sullivan of Macquarie University and Michail Moatson of Maastricht University reviewed evidence on the share of the population unable to afford a basic subsistence basket – data which was recently published by the OECD. The researchers show that from 1981 to 1990, when many of China’s socialist provisioning systems were still in place, China’s extreme poverty rate was only around 5.6%, substantially lower than in capitalist economies of comparable size and income at the time: 51 per cent in India, 36.5 percent in Indonesia, and 29.5 per cent in Brazil. This is because China’s system of price controls and subsidies for food and housing kept the cost of basic needs low relative to economy-wide prices, and relative to working-class incomes.

    The researchers found that China’s relatively strong performance on basic-needs poverty during the socialist period is consistent with its performance on a range of social indicators, including life expectancy, infant mortality, death rate from malnutrition and poor sanitation, mean years of schooling, and access to electricity.

    Moreover, researchers found that extreme poverty in China increased during the capitalist reforms of the 1990s, reaching a peak of 68 per cent in 1995, as the privatisation of China’s public provisioning systems caused the price of essential goods to increase. While access to basic needs recovered during the 2000s, rough estimates for 2018 suggest that the extreme poverty rate remains at roughly the same level as during the 1980s.

    The study’s lead author, Sullivan, explained that “this research has important implications for policymakers and the development sector. Our findings suggest that socialist policies of public provisioning, subsidies, and price controls can be effective at reducing or preventing extreme poverty. Meanwhile, market-based policies and privatisation may threaten people’s ability to meet basic needs.”

    This research also suggests that rapid economic growth and improvements in aggregate income – as important as these may be in many contexts – cannot be relied upon to reduce extreme poverty. China’s experience during the 1990s suggests that economic growth may occur simultaneously with rising poverty under conditions of privatisation and commodification. According to Hickel, “when it comes to reducing extreme poverty in low-income countries, improving people’s access to public services and social guarantees is at least as important as increasing productive capacity”.

    The authors point out that, according to the cost-of-basic-needs data they review, the world’s governments failed to achieve the first Millenium Development Goal – i.e., to reduce by half the share of people in extreme poverty between 1990 and 2015. Moatsos said that “this represents a failure of global economic governance and suggests that new policy approaches are needed in order to eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere”.

    Sullivan D., Moatsos, M., & Hickel, J. Capitalist reforms and extreme poverty in China: unprecedented progress or income deflation? New Political Economy. (2023) https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2023.2217087

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    Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

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  • Sea ice melt, warming ocean temperatures and emergency response: Experts discuss the return of El Niño

    Sea ice melt, warming ocean temperatures and emergency response: Experts discuss the return of El Niño

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    The University of Delaware boasts several experts who can talk about El Niño’s return and its wide-reaching impacts, from record-breaking temperatures to sea ice melt that has been shattering scientists’ expectations. 

    Wei-Jun Cai: Air-sea CO2 flux; carbon cycling in estuaries and coastal oceans; global changes; sensor development; acid-base and redox chemistry in aquatic environments.

    Andreas Muenchow: Polar oceanography; glacier-ocean interactions; Greenland.

    Xiao-Hai Yan: Known for using satellites in tracking the notorious weathermaker El Niño and in developing new techniques for monitoring global climate change and coastal responses.

    Mark Warner: Phytoplankton physiological ecology, reef coral physiology, algal-invertebrate symbioses, harmful algal blooms, climate change.

    Carlos Moffatt: Polar oceanography; glacier-ocean interactions; the dynamics of riverine outflows; physical-biological interactions in coastal regions.

    Tricia Wachtendorf: Can speak to the challenges for communities and emergency managers associated with unexpected conditions that may result from warming climates. 

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    University of Delaware

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  • Economics expert explains potential consequences of massive UPS walkout

    Economics expert explains potential consequences of massive UPS walkout

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    Newswise — Labor negotiations between UPS and the Teamsters Union have come to an angry standstill, with the possibility of 340,000 UPS employees going on strike next month looming more likely than ever. Should that happen, the economic consequences will take place on a national scale.

    Jadrian Wooten, a Virginia Tech professor of economics, answered questions about the circumstances that led to this impasse and what the effects could be should the strike go forward.

    Q: What’s at stake if UPS workers do go on strike?

    “There would be significant consequences. For some perspective, this would be the largest single-employer walkout in U.S. history. The most obvious initial impact would be a disruption to deliveries that would create an inconvenience for businesses and households. UPS delivers 19 million packages per day, which is about 25% of all packages in shipped in the U.S. That disruption could have ripple effects in the broader economy, with higher prices caused by the impact on the supply chain, or a reduction in consumer spending as a result of the uncertainty in delivery options.”

    Q: What issues have led to this impasse?

    “The union and UPS have already settled some of the issues around working conditions—namely, air conditioning in trucks—but the last remaining hurdle appears to be related to what can be considered fair compensation for drivers. Annual profits at UPS are about three times higher than they were pre-pandemic, and the Teamsters would like to see more of those profits trickle down to drivers.” 

    Q: What other aspects of this situation should we watch closely?

    “The union wants what just about every other union wants to achieve, but it’s likely not clear to many people just how important of a role UPS plays in the United States economy. UPS estimates that it moves 6% of the country’s gross domestic product in its trucks every day. Only the U.S. Postal Service moves more parcels than UPS, but they aren’t known for being incredibly efficient. FedEx and Amazon are the other two major carriers, but those three companies can’t easily pick up all of that business if UPS goes on strike.”

    About Wooten 
    Jadrian Wooten is collegiate associate professor with the Virginia Tech Department of Economics and is the author of Parks and Recreation and Economics. Read more about Wooten’s takeaway on the economic impact from the Canadian wildfire crisis and climate change in his Monday Morning Economist newsletter. Wooten has been featured in USA Today, Inside Higher Ed, WJLA ABC 7 Washington, D.C., and NBC News, among scores of other media outlets. Read more about him here.

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    Virginia Tech

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  • Art that integrates data visualizations can help bridge the US political divide over climate change

    Art that integrates data visualizations can help bridge the US political divide over climate change

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    BYLINE: Elise Mahon

    Newswise — Communicating science to a general audience can be challenging. Successfully conveying research on polarizing topics such as climate change can be even more difficult.

    But a new study from University of Wisconsin–Madison researcher Nan Li shows that intentionally integrating art with data visualizations can help non-expert audiences more meaningfully engage with climate change while also bridging political divides in ways that data alone cannot. In fact, data graphs on their own can exacerbate political division on climate change.

    As an assistant professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication, Li studies how innovative visual representations of science can shape people’s understanding and opinions about various scientific issues. Li teamed up with Isabel Villanueva, Thomas Jilk and Dominique Brossard from UW–Madison and Brianna Rae Van Matre from EcoAgriculture Partners to survey the responses of people across the political spectrum to a painting by Diane Burko entitled “Summer Heat, 2020.”

    The painting depicts red, orange and blue motifs of wildfires and melting glaciers that overlap with maps that appear to drip over a graph of global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. It’s not just art and science side-by-side or pretty colors added to a graph; the two are combined to tell a larger story that makes people stop and think about climate change.

    Li thinks this intentional integration of the data into the piece of art is part of its success.

    “In order for art to maximize its potential as a tool for public engagement, you really need to use it as a catalyst for triggering self-reflection,” Li says. “People use this piece of art as a starting point to think about what this all means to themselves.”

    For the study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, 671 survey participants from across the U.S. were divided into groups and shown four different presentations of the painting and data it contains: the original painting, a detailed version of the graph it includes, a simplified version of that same graph and an edited version of the painting with a detailed graph.

    In the first iteration of the survey, participants were instructed ahead of time to reflect on the meaning of and emotions evoked by the visuals. Survey participants who saw the paintings reported stronger positive emotions — like happiness, awe, inspiration and hope — than participants who were shown just the graphs.

    The researchers then used a digital editing tool to represent what it would look like if “Summer Heat, 2020” and other visuals were posted to an Instagram feed. The caption contained more details about the painting and facts about climate change.

    Participants felt the artwork post was as credible a source of information as the data graphs post. Li says this finding supports the idea that galleries aren’t the only way these kinds of artwork can be successful, but that bringing them to a larger audience through social media is beneficial as well.

    In general, when people see graphs about climate change, whether they identify as liberal or conservative influences how they perceive the relevance of the issue. But in the new study, Li’s team saw that the gap between political affiliations was reduced when survey participants saw the painting in a social media format. In other words, when liberals and conservatives both see artistic representations of climate data rather than data alone, they are more likely to share the perception that climate change is relevant to them.

    Another iteration of the survey did not instruct participants to reflect on the meaning and emotions the visuals inspired before seeing them. Participants viewed the simulated Instagram posts and then later reported their perceived relevance of climate change. This time, participants’ perceived relevance of climate change was equally polarized along their political ideology despite the different visuals they were shown. To Li, this suggests that priming people for introspection is important for breaking down political barriers.

    While the findings are exciting, Li also recognizes this case study is very specific. The study is limited to the use of one painting in one style from one artist.

    Moving forward, she and her team hope to complete additional studies that tease out what element of a piece makes communicating the scientific information more successful. They want to expand the study to consider reactions to other styles by artists from other backgrounds and survey reactions of people in other countries. Li and her team also highlight that it’s important for scientists and artists to be aware of their audience’s interest level in art and recognize that not everyone will react emotionally or cognitively to a piece in the same way.

    Even though communicating these polarizing concepts can be challenging, Li believes in the ability of art to bridge the gap between a lay audience and scientific data.

    “When you show art, I think it sort of makes people think, ‘Hey, wait a minute. What is this all about?’” Li says. “It fills in people’s imaginative deficit of what data means without taking a lecturing approach. It actually engages people to explore the meaning themselves.”

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    University of Wisconsin-Madison

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  • Escaping exploitation with nowhere to go: Barriers in accommodating survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery

    Escaping exploitation with nowhere to go: Barriers in accommodating survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery

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    Newswise — Survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery are struggling to find places to live with some people becoming homeless and facing risks of re-entering exploitative environments.

    This is the harsh reality for people in Australia who have escaped serious exploitation such as forced labour, sex trafficking or forced marriage.

    A review by the University of South Australia and the Australian Red Cross has found that human trafficking and modern slavery survivors face several barriers accessing housing or accommodation after escaping exploitation.

    These include their immigration status, with more than half of human trafficking and modern slavery survivors supported by the Red Cross on a temporary visa.

    UniSA PhD candidate Kyla Raby says Australia has seen an increase in the number of people formally identified as survivors of human trafficking and slavery during the same period as Australia’s housing crisis has intensified.

    A recent article published by The Conversation and co-authored by Raby and UniSA’s Dr Nerida Chazal reflects on the rapidly growing issue, with the number of people living in modern slavery more than doubling in the past four years, rising to an estimated 41,000.

    “Access to stable housing has a significant impact on survivors – it’s crucial to their recovery but there is a shortage of available and suitable accommodation” says Raby.

    “We know we are in the middle of a severe housing crisis, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected housing affordability and the availability of rental properties and accommodation services.”

    Research conducted by the Australian Red Cross in collaboration with UniSA involved a survey of more than 100 accommodation providers across the country operating in homelessness, domestic violence, youth, and refugee settlement sectors, as well as modern slavery case workers supporting survivors.

    It found the most significant barriers that survivors face when trying to find accommodation or housing after escaping exploitation are related to their immigration status and their inability to secure an ongoing income through either employment or social benefits.

    The wait time for social housing in many states is more than 10 years and there are strict guidelines on who can apply. In New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australia Capital Territory, applicants must be permanent residents or Australian citizens to be eligible, with a few exceptions. Survivors on a temporary visa or those with an irregular immigration status cannot apply.

    UniSA’s Dr Nerida Chazal says the government’s Human Trafficking Visa Framework (HTVF) is intended to support survivors who are foreign nationals, but its design is limited.

    “Survivors are only eligible for longer term visas and support if they participate in the investigation of a human trafficking or slavery offence,” she says.

    “This leaves behind survivors who are unwilling to engage with authorities due to their trauma – leaving them unsupported and vulnerable to homelessness.”

    Immigration status was also a barrier for survivors being able to access a stable income to pay for accommodation or housing services.

    Three quarters of the surveyed accommodation providers require no proof of immigration status.

    However, a survivor’s immigration status may not allow them to legally work in Australia, meaning they can’t demonstrate ongoing income to pay for the accommodation.

    Some survivors of modern slavery and workplace exploitation might also not be ready to re-enter the workforce after being forced to work excessive overtime, having restricted freedom, or threats or severe violence made against them.

    This can manifest in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. For many survivors, workplaces are simply not neutral spaces, but reminders of previous mental and physical violence.

    Lina Garcia-Daza, Australian Red Cross’ Acting Lead for Trafficking, Forced Marriage, and Forced Labour says it’s a complex issue that requires a holistic approach to supporting survivors in their recovery.

    “We need an approach that includes accommodation services, but also ties in other supports tailored to survivors’ needs that help with their recovery,” she says.

    “The lack of accommodation for survivors of modern slavery cannot be addressed in a vacuum. Homelessness is the result of multiple variables including lack of income, immigration status, the lack of specialised trauma informed and person centre accommodation services, and limited resources available.

    “Ongoing partnerships and collaborative work between the housing, migrant and modern slavery civil society sectors is vital in overcoming identified barriers in accommodating survivors of modern slavery and working towards safe, suitable and sustainable housing.”

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    University of South Australia

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  • Baodong Liu and his role in landmark voting rights case

    Baodong Liu and his role in landmark voting rights case

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    Newswise — University of Utah political scientist Baodong Liu served as an expert witness in a consequential voting rights case decided on June 8 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision in  Allen v. Milligan rejected Alabama’s congressional redistricting map because it disenfranchises African-American voters.

    In a surprise 5-4 ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court agreed with Liu’s premise that the new voting districts, redrawn after the 2020 Census, packed a large portion of Alabama’s Black voters into a single district, thus diluting their voice in the six other districts.

    Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberal justices in upholding a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

    Central to the case was Alabama’s history of “racially polarized voting,” according to Liu, a professor of political science, as well as of ethnic studies in the U’s School for Social and Cultural Transformation. His analysis found the state’s Black voters tend to overwhelmingly favor Democratic candidates, while White voters lean heavily Republican.

    While Alabama’s voting population is nearly 27% Black, just one of its seven congressional seats is held by an African-American, Democrat Terri Sewell. The other six are held by White Republicans.

    This is largely the result of a voting-district map that packs many of the state’s Black residents into Sewell’s Birmingham district, while the others are spread out among the other districts in a way that virtually ensures their preferred candidate won’t stand much chance of winning election, according to Liu, who teaches political science in the College of Social and Behavioral Science.

    Similar legal challenges are targeting congressional district maps in other Southern states. This week, the Supreme Court affirmed a federal court’s decision that Louisiana’s six-district congressional map is racially gerrymandered to favor White voters.

    An immigrant from China, Liu is a U.S. citizen and a Utah voter. What follows is a Q&A with Liu conducted by U science writer Brian Maffly, edited for length and clarity.

    What is at stake in the Alabama case?

    As a state in the South, Alabama is growing in terms of population. We have the requirement every 10 years to do the census, which gives us the overall look at the balance of power in Congress in terms of which states get more seats, and which states get fewer seats. Southern states tend to get more seats, but if they have more seats, will they get more representation for only the White majority and not minorities.

    This case is about the Voting Rights Act, arguably, the most significant and successful civil rights law in U.S. history. It was such a significant law that had never taken place in human history, where the minorities of a nation can have access to not only representation at the highest level, but also state and local governments, all due to the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.

    It’s a huge accomplishment in our history. All of us should be very proud of it. However, more recently the political atmosphere has changed. The division has gone deep and the nation has revisited all kinds of laws, the Voting Rights Act being one of those. It’s up to the court to tell us how we should interpret the Voting Rights Act, and more importantly, how should we implement it. This Alabama case put everything at the center. Should we explain the Voting Rights Act in a way that fits our fundamental desire for not only majority rule, but also equality under law for all? This case has everything at stake in terms of not only politically, who gets elected and who represents who, but also how the democracy itself should represent in the future.

    The idea of “racially polarized voting” is central to this case. What is it and why does it matter?

    The Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Voting Rights Act concerning Section 2 is what we call the Gingles precondition. The Supreme Court’s 1986 Gingles decision made it clear in order to make a Section 2 claim, which is the vote dilution of a state entity against certain minorities, it is based on the tests that the Supreme Court set up. The centerpiece of the Gingles tests is called “racial polarized voting.” What does that mean? On the surface it is very intuitive, meaning different racial groups are polarized in their choices of voting. It’s American voters’ right to choose whoever they want to vote for. However, if racial groups do not agree with each other consistently then it has a profound impact on election outcomes.

    If this racially polarized voting takes place again and again and again, one has to ask, who will be elected? Intuitively it’s White voters’ choice that will prevail because they are the super majority of the state and they can form a formidable bloc to defeat any minority candidate, which leads to a scenario  where White voters dictate the election outcome, a phenomenon of tyranny of majority that our Constitution tries to correct.

    How did you become involved in the Alabama case?

    I am an immigrant myself. Back in China, I never had a chance to vote for anything. There was no election in China in a substantive way. As a graduate student coming to the U.S. studying American voting, it was always my desire to learn the mysteries surrounding it, but also for the incredible achievement of American democracy. That is, everybody has a right to vote, and collectively they decide based on their individual choices, who should represent them, but also for the most powerful position in human history, that is the U.S. president.

    When I was a graduate student in New Orleans, the question was at the mayor level. Was it possible for White voters to cast their vote across racial lines for Black candidates? I wrote a dissertation about the conditions under which White voters were willing to vote for black candidates [for mayor]. For that, I won the American Political Science Association dissertation award. And within just a few years beyond my Ph.D., the whole nation was faced with the choice of Barack Obama [the first African American elected president]. After I became an assistant professor, I was asked by voting groups to help analyze data. So starting from Obama’s election all the way to this current case in Alabama, I’ve been practicing as an expert witness for more than two decades.

    What did you document about Alabama’s new congressional districts during your investigation?

    What I have done in this case was to collect data in real elections. There are two parts to it. One is what we call “endogenous” elections. Those are the elections that deal directly with the elected offices under dispute in this case, congressional seats. I analyzed those elections from 2008 all the way to 2020. I analyzed seven congressional districts. That’s too few, so I analyzed a second group of elections called “exogenous” elections, which concern statewide offices, such as lieutenant governor and state auditor, to supplement the endogenous elections. In both groups of elections, I found racially polarized voting.

    I also compared the enacted plan, passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor of Alabama, with the plan proposed by the plaintiffs in this case, the Legal Defense Fund and other organizations that provided competing maps. I evaluate which plans would give more equal access to minorities based on empirical data. I’m an empirical scientist, so everything I do is based on data and statistical analysis.

    Your take on Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion?

    In my view, this is one of the best written opinions ever because it shows at the Jurisprudence level, how the court’s majority opinion evaluated not only the claim of Alabama but also the plaintiffs who challenged Alabama’s plan based on court’s interpretation of our Constitution.

    It’s not in favor of either the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party. It’s written in a very objective tone. It has no accusation against any party. It is fully based on the facts that both sides presented and explains why the court has gone through vigorous tests in the facts itself. And most importantly the case sends a strong message of why the Voting Rights Act still holds true today in our great democracy. All that is not based on whether the chief justice is a conservative or not. It’s based on his read of our great constitution. For that I am forever grateful as an American.

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    University of Utah

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  • Baodong Liu and his role in landmark voting rights case

    Baodong Liu and his role in landmark voting rights case

    [ad_1]

    Newswise — University of Utah political scientist Baodong Liu served as an expert witness in a consequential voting rights case decided on June 8 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision in  Allen v. Milligan rejected Alabama’s congressional redistricting map because it disenfranchises African-American voters.

    In a surprise 5-4 ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court agreed with Liu’s premise that the new voting districts, redrawn after the 2020 Census, packed a large portion of Alabama’s Black voters into a single district, thus diluting their voice in the six other districts.

    Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberal justices in upholding a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

    Central to the case was Alabama’s history of “racially polarized voting,” according to Liu, a professor of political science, as well as of ethnic studies in the U’s School for Social and Cultural Transformation. His analysis found the state’s Black voters tend to overwhelmingly favor candidates from their own racial group, while White voters vote as a bloc for White candidates.

    While Alabama’s voting population is nearly 27% Black, just one of its seven congressional seats is held by an African-American, Democrat Terri Sewell. The other six are held by White Republicans.

    This is largely the result of a voting-district map that packs many of the state’s Black residents into Sewell’s Birmingham district, while the others are spread out among the other districts in a way that virtually ensures their preferred candidate won’t stand much chance of winning election, according to Liu, who teaches political science in the College of Social and Behavioral Science.

    Similar legal challenges are targeting congressional district maps in other Southern states. This week, the Supreme Court affirmed a federal court’s decision that Louisiana’s six-district congressional map is racially gerrymandered to favor White voters.

    An immigrant from China, Liu is a U.S. citizen and a Utah voter. What follows is a Q&A with Liu conducted by U science writer Brian Maffly, edited for length and clarity.

    What is at stake in the Alabama case?

    As a state in the South, Alabama is growing in terms of population. We have the requirement every 10 years to do the census, which gives us the overall look at the balance of power in Congress in terms of which states get more seats, and which states get fewer seats. Southern states tend to get more seats, but if they have more seats, will they get more representation for only the White majority and not minorities.

    This case is about the Voting Rights Act, arguably, the most significant and successful civil rights law in U.S. history. It was such a significant law that had never taken place in human history, where the minorities of a nation can have access to not only representation at the highest level, but also state and local governments, all due to the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.

    It’s a huge accomplishment in our history. All of us should be very proud of it. However, more recently the political atmosphere has changed. The division has gone deep and the nation has revisited all kinds of laws, the Voting Rights Act being one of those. It’s up to the court to tell us how we should interpret the Voting Rights Act, and more importantly, how should we implement it. This Alabama case put everything at the center. Should we explain the Voting Rights Act in a way that fits our fundamental desire for not only majority rule, but also equality under law for all? This case has everything at stake in terms of not only politically, who gets elected and who represents who, but also how the democracy itself should represent in the future.

    The idea of “racially polarized voting” is central to this case. What is it and why does it matter?

    The Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Voting Rights Act concerning Section 2 is what we call the Gingles precondition. The Supreme Court’s 1986 Gingles decision made it clear in order to make a Section 2 claim, which is the vote dilution of a state entity against certain minorities, it is based on the tests that the Supreme Court set up. The centerpiece of the Gingles tests is called “racial polarized voting.” What does that mean? On the surface it is very intuitive, meaning different racial groups are polarized in their choices of voting. It’s American voters’ right to choose whoever they want to vote for. However, if racial groups do not agree with each other consistently then it has a profound impact on election outcomes.

    If this racially polarized voting takes place again and again and again, one has to ask, who will be elected? Intuitively it’s White voters’ choice that will prevail because they are the super majority of the state and they can form a formidable bloc to defeat any minority candidate, which leads to a scenario  where White voters dictate the election outcome, a phenomenon of tyranny of majority that our Constitution tries to correct.

    How did you become involved in the Alabama case?

    I am an immigrant myself. Back in China, I never had a chance to vote for anything. There was no election in China in a substantive way. As a graduate student coming to the U.S. studying American voting, it was always my desire to learn the mysteries surrounding it, but also for the incredible achievement of American democracy. That is, everybody has a right to vote, and collectively they decide based on their individual choices, who should represent them, but also for the most powerful position in human history, that is the U.S. president.

    When I was a graduate student in New Orleans, the question was at the mayor level. Was it possible for White voters to cast their vote across racial lines for Black candidates? I wrote a dissertation about the conditions under which White voters were willing to vote for black candidates [for mayor]. For that, I won the American Political Science Association dissertation award. And within just a few years beyond my Ph.D., the whole nation was faced with the choice of Barack Obama [the first African American elected president]. After I became an assistant professor, I was asked by voting groups to help analyze data. So starting from Obama’s election all the way to this current case in Alabama, I’ve been practicing as an expert witness for more than two decades.

    What did you document about Alabama’s new congressional districts during your investigation?

    What I have done in this case was to collect data in real elections. There are two parts to it. One is what we call “endogenous” elections. Those are the elections that deal directly with the elected offices under dispute in this case, congressional seats. I analyzed those elections from 2008 all the way to 2020. I analyzed seven congressional districts. That’s too few, so I analyzed a second group of elections called “exogenous” elections, which concern statewide offices, such as lieutenant governor and state auditor, to supplement the endogenous elections. In both groups of elections, I found racially polarized voting.

    I also compared the enacted plan, passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor of Alabama, with the plan proposed by the plaintiffs in this case, the Legal Defense Fund and other organizations that provided competing maps. I evaluate which plans would give more equal access to minorities based on empirical data. I’m an empirical scientist, so everything I do is based on data and statistical analysis.

    Your take on Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion?

    In my view, this is one of the best written opinions ever because it shows at the Jurisprudence level, how the court’s majority opinion evaluated not only the claim of Alabama but also the plaintiffs who challenged Alabama’s plan based on court’s interpretation of our Constitution.

    It’s not in favor of either the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party. It’s written in a very objective tone. It has no accusation against any party. It is fully based on the facts that both sides presented and explains why the court has gone through vigorous tests in the facts itself. And most importantly the case sends a strong message of why the Voting Rights Act still holds true today in our great democracy. All that is not based on whether the chief justice is a conservative or not. It’s based on his read of our great constitution. For that I am forever grateful as an American.

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    University of Utah

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  • U.S. Department of Energy Releases Plan to Ensure Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research

    U.S. Department of Energy Releases Plan to Ensure Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research

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    Newswise — WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released a plan to ensure the Department’s Federally funded research is more open and accessible to the public, researchers, and journalists as part of a broader effort by the Biden-Harris Administration to make government data more transparent. With 17 National Laboratories and scores of programs that fund university and private research, DOE directly supports thousands of research papers per year, and, when this plan goes into effect, those findings will be available immediately and at no cost.

    “Science and innovation cannot flourish in the dark—they require openness, scrutiny, and reexamination so that we can build on them to create the knowledge and technologies that will change the world,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “As one of the Federal Government’s leading sponsors of research, DOE is proud and excited to get our data and research out into the public’s hands faster and more efficiently, and we look forward to expanding and accelerating that access by engaging the American public in DOE’s mission.”

    DOE’s public access plan supports the August 2022 White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memo that called for Federal agencies to “make publications and their supporting data resulting from federally funded research publicly accessible without an embargo on their free and public release.” The new plan describes the steps DOE will take to enable equitable access to the unclassified and unrestricted results of its multi-billion dollar annual investments in climate, energy, environment, and basic and applied research and development.

    Since 2014, when DOE released its first plan to grant the public more access to research, the Department has provided free public access to nearly 200,000 articles and accepted manuscripts and has enabled broader access to scientific data through rigorous data management planning requirements.

    Key elements of the new DOE public access plan, as laid out by OSTP, will include elimination of any “embargo” period before the public gains free access to journal articles or final accepted manuscripts resulting from federal funding; immediate access to scientific data displayed in or underlying publications and expanded access to scientific data not displayed in publications; and broad adoption of persistent identifiers (PIDs) for research outputs, organizations, awards and contracts, and people.

    Most requirements and guidance will be in place by the end of 2024 with implementation by the end of 2025. DOE’s model for implementing access to publications and scientific data will be similar to existing practices—for publications, through submissions of accepted manuscripts or open access articles which will be made available through DOE’s public access repository, and for data, through submission of data management and sharing plans to DOE.

    Key changes include the requirement to submit accepted manuscripts or open access journal articles immediately upon publication and an increased focus on immediate and broader sharing of scientific data.

    DOE has played a leading role in the assignment and use of PIDs among Federal research agencies, and the new plan builds on this record and expands DOE’s support of PIDs for research outputs, such as data and software, research and sponsoring organizations, and for researchers themselves. DOE will work internally, and with other agencies, to develop options for PIDs for research and development awards and contracts and will update its public access plan when those details are finalized. 

    The Department engaged with numerous communities in developing its plan and will continue to encourage participation and input from researcher communities, libraries, professional societies, publishers, Federal agency partners, and the public.

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    Department of Energy, Office of Science

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  • 4000 climate turnaround scenarios explored

    4000 climate turnaround scenarios explored

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    Newswise — CO2 emissions from human activities account for about 42 billion tonnes per year. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has calculated that only another 300 to 600 billion tonnes can be added, from 2020 onwards, or else the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be virtually unattainable. Evangelos Panos of the PSI’s Laboratory for Energy Systems Analysis agrees: “It could be a close shave, because 70 percent of our scenarios predict that the world will exceed the 1.5 °C mark in the next five years.”

    Which climate measures are most successful?

    Tackling climate change requires numerous political, economic and social decisions to be made. However, these decisions are fraught with uncertainty. Understandably, decision-makers are seeking robust evidence, for example in answering one of the central questions: Which measures have the greatest effect and are also economically advantageous as a means of achieving the net-zero emissions target which Switzerland, for example, has set itself? A large computer simulation dealing with this issue is now providing some answers. It combines climate models with economic models and 1200 technologies for supplying and using energy, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the study, a supercomputer calculated 4,000 scenarios for 15 regions of the world, taking into account possible developments in ten-year steps up to the year 2100. “This calls for sophisticated data analysis and visualisation techniques,” adds co-author James Glynn, head of the Energy Systems Modelling Program at Columbia University in the US. The final file contains 700 gigabytes of data. The paper on this research has now been published in the academic journal Energy Policy.

    What makes the work done by Evangelos Panos and his co-authors unique is that, for the first time, their integrated assessment models take into account many of the uncertainties inherent in the models. Previous scenarios have typically assumed that all parameters concerning the future are known, such as which technologies will be available and when, what they will cost, or how large the potential for expanding renewable energies is. Moreover, the IPCC calculations focus solely on technology options, i.e. on what impact choosing certain technologies has on the climate. Uncertainties inherent in climate models and the way in which the climate responds to economic growth are left out of the equation, as are many other uncertainties, such as population trends and policy measures. “The most important contribution of our research is that it allows policymakers to make concrete decisions about climate action based on a full understanding of the existing uncertainties,” says co-author Brian Ó Gallachóir from University College Cork.

    18 uncertainty factors and 72,000 variables

    When researchers want to calculate scenarios that contain a large number of variables and uncertainties, they often resort to what is known as the Monte Carlo method. The Monte Carlo method does not predict the future. “Instead, it creates a kind of data map made up of what-if decision pathways,” explains Evangelos Panos. So too in the current study: For each scenario, the team adjusted 72,000 variables. “We considered 18 uncertainty factors, including population and economic growth, climate sensitivity, resource potential, the impact of changes in agriculture and forestry, the cost of energy technologies and the decoupling of energy demand from economic development,” explains James Glynn of Columbia University.

    Sound basis for national pathways to an energy system transformation

    In order to break down individual scenarios focusing on political and economic issues into different national pathways to an energy system transformation, additional parameters specific to each country need to be taken into account. “An energy system that enables the transition to a zero-carbon economy is capital-intensive and requires the mobilisation of resources from all stakeholders,” Panos concludes. This calls for customised analyses to be carried out at the national level: “Our study provides a sound basis for these.”

    Text: Bernd Müller

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    Paul Scherrer Institute

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  • Find the latest expert commentary on the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions here

    Find the latest expert commentary on the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions here

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    This Thursday, the United States Supreme Court rejected affirmative action at colleges and universities around the nation, declaring that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful. Now on Friday, the Supreme Court decided to block the Biden administration’s student debt relief program and sided with a Christian web designer in Colorado who refuses to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings out of religious objections. Despite their limited federal elected power, Conservatives have racked up more huge wins in the great political battles of the early 21st century.

    Newswise is your source for expert commentary. Below is a roundup of recent expert pitches concerning the United States Supreme Court.

    Sociologists Available to Discuss Affirmative Action Ruling in College Admissions

    – American Sociological Association (ASA)

    Law and diversity experts react to Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision

    – Tulane University

    Three important takeaways from SCOTUS decision in Groff v. DeJoy

    – University of Georgia

    SCOTUS decision on race-based admission: experts can comment

    – Indiana University

    U law expert available to comment on Supreme Court decision on affirmative action

    – University of Utah

    Recent SCOTUS decision puts to rest extreme 2020 presidential election claims, confirms state judicial input on states’ election rules

    – University of Georgia

     

     

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    Newswise

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  • Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Law and the Royal Thai Police Offer “Special LawLAB: Investigation in the Age of 5G” Gen 2

    Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Law and the Royal Thai Police Offer “Special LawLAB: Investigation in the Age of 5G” Gen 2

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    Newswise — On May 29, 2023, at the Surakiart Sathirathai Conference Room, Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University, Pol. Gen. Damrongsak Kittiprapas, Chief Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, chaired and gave a lecture in the Special LawLAB “Young Lawyers – Police Engagement” (YLPE) Project (Law Chula and Royal Thai Police Season 2) on the topic of “Investigation in the Age of 5G,” along with Pol Maj. Gen. Noppasin Poolsawat, Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, and Pol. Maj. Gen. Theeradej Thammasutee, Chief of Investigation of the Metropolitan Police Bureau. Asst. Prof. Dr. Pareena Srivanit, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University, welcomed the delegates, and students from the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University, attended the training in both the 1st and 2nd batches, along with their mentors. 

    The Special LawLAB “Young Lawyers – Police Engagement” (YLPE) Project (Law Chula and Royal Thai Police Season 2) marks a collaborative effort between the Royal Thai Police and the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University, to allow students to apply the knowledge they have learned in their practice. This is a pilot project for the Faculty of Law at Chiang Mai University, Khon Kaen University, and other universities across the country, with 24 student participants. The purpose is to prepare students with professional experience training before they perform their duties at the Metropolitan Police Station and in different divisions of the Metropolitan Police Bureau and the Investigation Division of Metropolitan Police Bureau. The works include handling documents, police reports, investigations, field visits, and emergency notice reports, which last for 14 days, including an exchange session with trainees from previous years.  

    Pol. Gen. Damrongsak Kittiprapas, Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, gave an opening speech and a special lecture on the urgent tasks of the Royal Thai Police, including law enforcement issues, crimes, drugs, accidents during holidays, criminals, and call center gangs. Examples from foreign countries have been studied and the solutions from which have been adopted and adapted to the problems continuously. Also, the Cyber Vaccine Teacher Project has been implemented to create immunity in terms of technological crimes. The Commissioner also explained his vision of being a professional police officer who has worked proactively for the peace of the people, along with 10 policies for students participating in the project. 

     

                           

     

                            

     

                            

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    Chulalongkorn University

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  • U law expert available to comment on Supreme Court decision on affirmative action

    U law expert available to comment on Supreme Court decision on affirmative action

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    In a widely anticipated decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued a decision finding that race-conscious admissions policies were unconstitutional. Students for Fair Admissions filed the original case against Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The decision, however, has far wider repercussions for higher education institutions. Erika George, a law professor at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, is available to comment on the decision and its implications.

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    University of Utah

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  • Working toward Black reproductive justice from the Library of Congress

    Working toward Black reproductive justice from the Library of Congress

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    Newswise — Historian Tamika Nunley can see the U.S. Supreme Court through the window of her office in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where she is serving as the library’s Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History this summer. It’s a great vantage point, she said, not only for looking out at landmarks of American government, but also for reflecting on the ways laws and judgements have negatively influenced Black maternal health throughout American history.

    “I think the Library of Congress is one of the most democratic institutions we have, one of the best examples of what is possible in our democracy,” said Nunley, associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S). “It’s been a great synergy for me to be in the library and to think about the relationship between what the government does and the work that I’m trying to capture … . The building is glamorous, but the work itself – I think we don’t oftentimes value what it means to live the life of the mind, that in order to produce this knowledge, we really do have to get quiet and we have to read, we have to study, and we have to try to understand.”

    Nunley is using her time at the Library of Congress to build the historical context for The Black Reproductive Justice Archive, a digital collection of oral histories from people at the forefront of addressing the Black maternal health and reproductive crisis. The archive will be housed on a website available to the public and feature a database of oral histories, critical essays, and multimedia forms of storytelling from medical and legal professionals, doulas, organizers and others. Her project is supported by a New Frontier Grant (NFG) from A&S.

    Today in the United States, Black women are three to five times more likely to face maternal death than white women, regardless of social, educational and economic status, Nunley said; Black infants are more likely to face life-threatening complications or mortality, and both are likely to receive poor treatment from America’s hospital systems.

    While this has become more understood in this contemporary moment, what’s less understood is Black women’s reproductive lives during the earlier periods of American history, said Nunley, who is writing a book on the subject as well as building the oral history archive.

    “I’m thinking about the history of Black women’s relationship to reproduction, which includes reproductive history, law and medicine,” she said. “It’s been fascinating research to conduct while simultaneously launching an oral history project on Black women activists, providers, doula collectives, who are on the front lines of addressing the crisis. There is the historical component to it, and there is the very present on-the-ground moment we’re trying to capture through this project with the New Frontier Grant.”

    The Black Reproductive Justice Archive will focus, at first, on Cleveland. Named one of the worst places in the U.S. for Black women in terms of health, economic, social and political outcomes, Nunley said, it also has a Black middle class that’s been affected by the crisis in Black maternal health.

    “In Cleveland, there are interesting dynamics happening with advancements in medicine and also rampant levels of poverty, bureaucratic challenges and barriers to accessing health care benefits,” Nunley said. “It is an important place to begin because it captures ways that other American cities might be struggling with this issue, as well.”

    Cornell doctoral candidate Arielle Rochelin, a specialist in Black women’s history, together with undergraduate researchers, will collect oral histories. The goal is to eventually expand to other American cities.

    Black women’s historical struggle for reproductive justice is far from over, Nunley said, a reminder, as America just celebrated Juneteenth as a national holiday, that “legal freedom is only the beginning of a long, long, rigorous fight for equality.”

    “I think the fight for reproductive justice, particularly for Black families, is a testament to that fight and the persistent fight that has to remain ongoing until we realize more equitable conditions,” Nunley said. “I think it’s a sobering reminder of the work that still remains.”

    But Juneteenth is also a celebration, she said, of the creative ways Black people have found to “embody joy in the face of incomplete revolution.”

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    Cornell University

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  • Weak policies and political ideologies risk jeopardising plans to tackle health and climate change, says Cambridge expert

    Weak policies and political ideologies risk jeopardising plans to tackle health and climate change, says Cambridge expert

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    Newswise — Efforts to tackle major issues facing the UK, including the nation’s health and climate change, are being hampered because politicians often ignore the existing evidence when setting policies, according to Dame Theresa Marteau, a public health expert at the University of Cambridge.

    Writing in the journal Science and Public Policy, Professor Marteau argues that this ‘evidence-neglect’ is a result of incentive structures that encourage politicians to set ambitious policy goals while simultaneously disincentivising them from implementing the policies needed to achieve them, and of political ideologies and interests that conflict with effective policies.

    Two changes could mitigate these factors, she writes: engaging citizens more in policy-making so their interests dominate; and increasing the accountability of politicians through legally binding systems for all stages of policy-making. 

    Recent UK governments have set ambitious goals to improve the nation’s health and tackle climate change. These include halving childhood obesity by 2030, eradicating smoking by 2030, narrowing the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030, and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

    But, says Professor Marteau, Director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at Cambridge, “None of these ambitions is on course. Of course, scientific evidence is just one of many sources of information for policymakers to consider, but neglecting evidence is a sure-fire route to unsuccessful policymaking.”

    According to predictions, childhood obesity is on track to double, not halve, by 2030. Smoking eradication is on track sometime after 2050, not by 2030. By 2030, the gap in healthy life expectancy between local areas where it is highest and lowest will have narrowed, but by 2035 is set to rise by five years. And the UK Sixth Carbon Budget – a key target towards achieving net zero carbon emissions – is likely to be missed by “a huge margin”. 

    Achieving each of these ambitions requires sustained changes in several sets of behaviour across all socio-economic groups including what we eat, drink, whether we smoke, and how we travel.  A wealth of research demonstrates that achieving such change is difficult, requiring many interventions that change the environments or systems that too readily cue, reinforce and maintain unhealthier and unsustainable behaviours.

    “There are many possible reasons why these policy ambitions are so far off-track, but chief among them is the neglect of evidence, particularly around achieving sustained changes in behaviour across populations,” said Professor Marteau. 

    “Put simply, these failures are baked-in, given the policies designed to achieve these ambitions are based on interventions that cannot achieve the change required.” 

    Part of the problem, she says, lies in the incentive structures for politicians, which favour setting ambitious policy goals whether as part of achieving election promises, attracting positive publicity or both. But they also discourage the policies needed to achieve them.

    “Fear of electoral damage plays a role here. Take taxes on tobacco, alcohol, junk food and carbon emissions: these are among the most effective interventions for improving health and the climate, but they are unpopular with the public and so politicians are unwilling to adopt them.” 

    Such policies may not just be unpopular with the public – they may also run counter to political interests and ideologies. Neoliberalism, for example, emphasises a small role for governments in the economy and public policy more generally, and a larger role for individuals to be personally responsible for behaving in ways to achieve health, wealth and happiness. Such ideologies often portray attempts by the government to intervene as ‘Nanny Statism’. 

    Certain industries, too, focus on personal responsibility to discourage politicians from adopting effective policies that conflict with their industries’ interests, such as those aimed at reducing consumption of fossil fuels, tobacco, alcohol, meat and junk food. These industries may cast doubt on the effectiveness of policies that would reduce their sales, as well as lobbying governments to persuade them of the business case for the status quo. 

    Professor Marteau added: “There are no quick or single fixes to overcoming these problems, but there are two changes which could help: engaging citizens more in priority setting and policy design, and increasing the accountability of politicians through introducing legally-binding systems for reporting progress on policy ambitions.”

    There are a number of options available to policymakers when it comes to engaging citizens, including: surveys, focus groups, town hall meetings and citizen assemblies, as well as working with civil society organisations. This approach has the potential to reduce the political costs of unpopular policies by exposing citizens to evidence for the effectiveness of policies, which – across many studies – has been shown to increase policy support. Policies designed with citizen engagement also attract more public support, such policies being seen as fairer and more successful as a result.

    Introducing legally binding systems for reporting policies and progress on policy ambitions, with plans to get back on track if progress is off course, could be a powerful way to decrease the neglect of evidence which is central to policy success. 

    An example of this is the UK government’s recent Levelling Up strategy paper, which included plans to introduce a statutory obligation for government to report annually on progress towards meeting the Levelling Up missions.  Alongside these plans, it published a set of metrics against which to measure progress against the missions and evaluate the success of the strategy.

    “Although these requirements are by no means perfect, the legislation as drafted will at least allow parliament significantly more scrutiny of progress towards a government ambition than is often the case.”

    According to Professor Marteau, failure to consider the evidence risks undermining the government’s attempts to take action.

    “Laudable policy ambitions to improve a nation’s health and protect life on the planet will remain unfulfilled ambitions unless and until evidence is given a more central role in the policy-making process.”

    Reference

    Marteau, TM. Evidence-neglect: addressing a barrier to UK health and climate policy ambitions. Science and Public Policy; 20 June 2023; DOI: 10.1093/scipol/scad021 

    ENDS

     

    Once the published, the full article will be available at: https://academic.oup.com/spp/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/scipol/scad021

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    University of Cambridge

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  • University of Utah law professor and Navajo Nation member available to comment on SCOTUS decision on Indian Child Welfare Act

    University of Utah law professor and Navajo Nation member available to comment on SCOTUS decision on Indian Child Welfare Act

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    Implications of the SCOTUS decision on the Indian Child Welfare Act

    Defying expectations, the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act, which gives preference to Native American families in adopting Native American children. The act is aimed at preserving Native American children’s ties to their tribes, traditions and cultures.

    Heather Tanana, a member of the Navajo Nation and law professor at the S.J Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, is available to comment on the decision and its implications.

    Faculty page

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    University of Utah

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  • Fatal overdoses rise after drug seizure, study finds

    Fatal overdoses rise after drug seizure, study finds

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    Newswise — PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — For decades, efforts by police to seize illicit drugs have been a cornerstone strategy for disrupting drug markets and removing drugs from communities. But there’s an unintended outcome when opioids are seized, a new study finds — increases in overdoses, including those that are fatal.

    The study found that police drug seizures were associated with increases in fatal overdose in the surrounding geographic area in the three weeks following enforcement, possibly by leading people with substance use disorder to take greater risks when they tried to restore their supply. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, raises questions about policies that might be exacerbating overdoses during a persistent epidemic that is contributing to reductions in the nation’s life expectancy.

    The findings provide evidence that efforts to disrupt drug markets can have unintended effects in generating public harm, said Bradley Ray, a senior researcher at the nonprofit research institute RTI International who led the study. 

    “It’s concerning to think routine drug enforcement can exacerbate harms, so we need to focus on mitigating these sources of overdose risk,” Ray said. 

    Brandon del Pozo, an assistant professor (research) at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School and School of Public Health, co-authored the study. Del Pozo spent 19 years at the New York City Police Department and four years as chief of police of Burlington, Vermont, where he directed the city’s response to the opioid crisis. The study highlighted the “collateral consequences” of law enforcement seizures of drugs, del Pozo said.

    “To be truly effective in reducing overdose deaths, policing strategies need to be comprehensive,” he said. “That means taking into account all the outcomes of police work, not just the effect of incapacitating drug dealers, but also how seizing drugs disrupts sales in a community, and how those disrupted sales affect usage patterns, and how those usage patterns affect an individual’s health and safety. According to this study, we have evidence that seizing opioids increases exposure to overdose.”

    To conduct the study, the research team used two years of administrative data from Marion County, Indiana, to compare different types of drug seizures with subsequent changes in fatal overdoses, nonfatal overdose calls for emergency medical services and naloxone administration in the surrounding area.

    They found that within seven, 14 and 21 days, opioid-related seizures of drugs by police were significantly associated with increased overdoses within 100, 250 and 500 meters of the seizure location. Most notably, the number of fatal overdoses was two-fold higher than expected within seven days and 500 meters following an opioid-related incident in which police seized drugs.

    The researchers hypothesized that the increase in overdose events was because people who use opioids will generally seek out a new supply after losing access to their previous drug supply, and that new supply will have unknown potency. In addition, in the time period between losing the familiar supply and finding a new one, people using opioids can experience diminished tolerance to drugs. Accidentally ingesting a dose beyond one’s tolerance can be fatal.

    “One of the risks of the illicit drug market is uncertainty about what constitutes a safe dose,” Ray said. “If people who use drugs lose access to their usual supply, they are forced to find an unknown supplier, which introduces uncertainty about what is in the drugs they procure, thereby increasing overdose risk.”

    Fentanyl — a highly potent opioid often used to lace other heroin or cocaine that has come to dominate the illicit opioid market — is driving the fatality count in opioid- and stimulant-involved overdose deaths, the researchers noted. Much of the drug supply is now contaminated by fentanyl, which is lethal even in small doses.

    “The ubiquity of fentanyl in the drug supply affords people who use drugs almost no margin of error if they make a dosing mistake,” del Pozo said.

    The study findings, del Pozo said, can inform a more effective law enforcement strategy for preventing overdoses. For example, he said that it’s important to ensure that a drug seizure in a particular area is also accompanied by targeted harm reduction approaches such as outreach services, links to treatment, increased naloxone distribution and programs that test illicit drugs for the presence of fentanyl.

    “If the seizure of drugs by law enforcement is going to continue to be a part of the strategic response to the country’s overdose crisis, then it has to take into the account that at least in the short term, seizing drugs increases overdoses,” del Pozo said. “Part of the mission of drug enforcement is to save lives, and with the current approach, it’s doing the opposite.”

    Other study contributors included Steven J. Korzeniewski, Grant Victor, Philip Huynh and Bethany J. Hedden from Wayne State University; George Mohler from Boston College; and Jennifer J. Carroll from the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University and North Carolina State University.

    The study was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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    Brown University

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  • Sylvester study identifies ‘marked disparities’ in federal cancer research funding

    Sylvester study identifies ‘marked disparities’ in federal cancer research funding

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    Newswise — MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL JUNE 8, 2023) – A research team at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine compiled and analyzed statistics from federal cancer research funding sources and found that funds tend to be allocated more heavily toward cancers that occur more often in non-Hispanic white people than in other racial and ethnic groups.

    The study found that funding across cancer sites is not concordant with lethality and that cancers with high incidence among racial/ethnic minorities receive lower funding, but the study’s authors say addressing these inequities could make a difference in cancer research disparities within a short time.

    “The results of this study are immediately actionable,” said Dr. Shria Kumar, a Sylvester gastroenterologist and the senior author of a paper in the June 8 Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “Agencies can evaluate their own recent funding distributions and those for upcoming cycles, then they can prioritize funding for cancers that disproportionately impact minorities to mitigate disparities and reduce cancer burden.”

    The authors analyzed federal funding data to determine correlations between funding directed to cancer incidence and funding aimed at cancer mortality. They focused on National Cancer Institute funding for the 19 most common cancers, considering their respective “public health burdens,” a term that includes the incidence rate of the disease, the mortality rate, and person-years of life lost.

    Although previous studies of funding distribution have evaluated these three factors separately, the Sylvester team evaluated funding using a validated measure – funding-to-lethality (FTL) scores – that incorporates all three metrics and provides a composite, objective perspective on disease burden.

    “We were very surprised that correlation was stronger for incidence than mortality. It shows how complex and multifaceted funding allocation is, but it really underlines the need to look at it objectively, as we did here, and use it as a tool to mitigate cancer disparities, a common goal,” Kumar said.

    Breast and prostate cancer had the highest and second-highest FTL scores, while esophagus and stomach cancer ranked 18th and 19th. Kumar and colleagues noted that breast cancer research received approximately 50 times more funding than stomach cancer in 2018, even though estimated breast cancer deaths were only four times those of stomach cancer deaths.

    The authors also cited previously published statistics showing that cancers more frequently affecting non-Hispanic white people – such as breast cancer, leukemia and lymphoma – receive more funding than cancers with high incidence rates among racial and ethnic minorities – such as stomach, uterine and liver cancers.

    “In my research and in clinical practice, disparities in cancer are an unfortunate but well-known entity. I’m a gastroenterologist, and disparities are of paramount concern in my areas of expertise – stomach and colorectal cancer,” Kumar said. “Racial and ethnic disparities are well documented across the spectrum of cancer types, and this is of utmost importance. The White House’s Cancer Moonshot initiative has a focus on mitigating cancer disparities, and the NCI is very attuned to the impact that disparities have on our quest to improve cancer burden.”

    Specifics from the study:

    • There was a stronger correlation between FTL scores and race/ethnicity-specific cancer incidence, rather than mortality.
    • There was strong correlation between a cancer’s incidence among non-Hispanic white people and its FTL score, but this was not the case for other racial/ethnic groups, where there was only a weak to moderate correlation.
    • There was a moderate to strong correlation between a cancer’s mortality among non-Hispanic white people and its FTL score, but there was only a weak correlation for all other racial/ethnic groups.

    For the study, Kumar and her team obtained data from the NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database, the United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) database, and Funding Statistics between 2014 and 2018. For each year, they identified the incidence rate and mortality rate – both overall and by race/ethnicity – per 100,000 people for the 19 most common cancer sites, as well as NCI funding for each cancer.

    “Despite initiatives to bolster cancer research funding and to mitigate disparities in cancer outcomes, there are marked disparities in federally funded cancer research that do not correlate with lethality,” the authors said. “Our paper identifies discrepancies in funding by demographic groups and highlights the need to ensure that federal funds are equitably distributed. This is especially important given the discrepancies in cancer outcomes for minorities, particularly in the more underfunded cancers.”

    Additional authors: Dr. Shida Haghighat is the study’s first and corresponding author. Co-authors include Dr. Chunsu Jiang, Dr. Wael El-Rifai, Alexander Zaika, and Dr. David S. Goldberg. All authors are affiliated with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine or Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University of Miami Health System.

    Funding: Dr. Haghighat is supported by a National Institutes of Health training grant, T32 DK 116678-05.

    Disclosures: The authors declare no personal, professional or financial conflicts of interest.

    Journal: Journal of the National Cancer Institute: Urgent Need to Mitigate Disparities in Federal Funding for Cancer Research.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djad097

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    PHOTO CAPTION/CREDIT:

    “Racial and ethnic disparities are well documented across the spectrum of cancer types, and this is of utmost importance,” said Dr. Shria Kumar. “The White House’s Cancer Moonshot initiative has a focus on mitigating cancer disparities, and the NCI is very attuned to the impact that disparities have on our quest to improve cancer burden.” Photo by Sylvester

    # # #

    MEDIA CONTACT:
    Sandy Van
    [email protected]
    808.206.4576

     

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    Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

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  • Time to ditch flaky white fish obsession

    Time to ditch flaky white fish obsession

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    Newswise — New research highlights the implications for our future food security as the UK faces a growing disparity between the fish we catch and the fish we desire to consume.

    In a groundbreaking study published in the international peer-reviewed journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, researchers from the University of Essex and the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) present a thorough and extensive analysis. This study, spanning 120 years, provides valuable insights into the ways major policy shifts have shaped the landscape of seafood production, trade, and consumption in the UK.

    The study reveals that altering our preference for imported flaky white fish, such as cod and haddock, to species that are abundant in our local waters, like herring and mackerel, would not be sufficient to fulfill the UK’s domestic demand or align with the government’s guidelines for healthy eating. It emphasizes that even with such a change in fish consumption habits, UK seafood production would remain insufficient.

    Luke Harrison, the lead researcher from Essex’s School of Life Sciences, elaborated on the study, stating that their findings shed light on the impact of policy changes in the mid-1970s. Specifically, the establishment of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and the UK’s membership in the European Union contributed to a significant disparity between the seafood produced within the country and the seafood consumed domestically.

    The widening gap between seafood availability and consumption, which has been intensified by declining stocks due to fishing, climate change, and habitat degradation, surpasses any previous disparities observed, even during times of global conflict like the two world wars. This discrepancy has led to an escalating dependence on seafood imports and a decline in domestic catches.

    Fish has emerged as one of the highly traded food commodities globally, and the UK has witnessed a significant surge in seafood imports, a trend that was relatively minimal before the 1970s. Presently, the majority of fish consumed in the UK is imported, while a significant portion of the fish produced within the country is exported from both fisheries and aquaculture. The UK’s preference for large, flaky fish originated in the early 1900s when the nation enjoyed a prosperous distant-water fishery.

    Nevertheless, in present times, these desirable species are caught in limited quantities within UK waters. Conversely, abundant and cost-effective bony species, notably mackerel and herring, are caught in substantial quantities. However, instead of being primarily consumed domestically, these species are primarily exported to the Netherlands and France.

    Dr. Georg Engelhard, a co-author from Cefas, elaborated on the matter, emphasizing that the increasing popularity of tuna, shrimps, and prawns among UK consumers indicates a failure to adapt eating habits in response to the changing availability of local seafood over time. Despite notable shifts in the local seafood landscape, consumer preferences have remained largely unaltered.

    Following the establishment of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and the UK’s accession to the European Union in the mid-1970s, there has been a sharp decline in domestic landings of fish in the UK. The figures demonstrate a significant decrease, with landings plummeting from 869 thousand tonnes in 1975 to 349 thousand tonnes in 2020.

    Presently, the UK population consumes 31% less seafood than what is recommended by government guidelines. Even if local species were to become more popular, the combined production from domestic fisheries and aquaculture would still fall short by 73% of the recommended levels, even when accounting for imports.

    Dr. Anna Sturrock, the senior author from Essex’s School of Life Sciences, further commented, stating that in light of climate change, rampant overfishing worldwide, and potential trade barriers, it is crucial to promote locally sourced seafood and offer clearer guidance on non-seafood alternatives. By doing so, we can effectively address national food security concerns while also striving to achieve health and environmental objectives.

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    University of Essex

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  • UK’s poorest kids less financially literate

    UK’s poorest kids less financially literate

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    Newswise — According to a recent research conducted on 3,745 families spanning the United Kingdom, there exists a significant disparity in financial literacy among children, with variations observed across different socio-economic groups.

    The study emphasizes notable disparities in the financial competencies of young individuals, underscoring the findings that indicate a lack of essential financial skills among disadvantaged children.

    The expert team from UCL, whose findings were published in the esteemed British Journal of Educational Studies, advocates for an increased focus on cultivating financial skills in children, beginning at the primary school level. This emphasis is particularly crucial for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The team highlights the necessity of carefully considering the delivery of financial education specifically tailored to this group.

    In the United Kingdom, there is growing apprehension regarding the limited social mobility and the persistent transmission of educational and social disadvantages from one generation to the next. This concern encompasses the cyclic nature of financial difficulties, poverty, and debt that can be associated with socio-economic disparities in the financial skills of young individuals.

    Professor John Jerrim, from the Social Research Institute at UCL, emphasizes the importance of public scrutiny and debate regarding the increasing disparities in socioeconomic status, particularly in financial capabilities.

    In our study, we discovered that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less inclined to discuss financial matters during their school lessons. Furthermore, we observed a significant gap in the provision of financial education, especially towards the later years of primary school, highlighting the impact of socioeconomic status.

    Socioeconomic gaps become apparent at an early stage of life and often endure into adolescence. While some of these disparities can be attributed to variations in children’s cognitive and socio-emotional abilities, it appears that discrepancies in financial capabilities based on socioeconomic status are not solely a result of inequalities in these other domains.

    Based on our findings, it appears beneficial for young individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to receive early engagement and education regarding money matters.

    The study utilized a nationally representative data sample extracted from the 2019 Children and Young People’s Financial Capability Survey. This survey assessed the financial capabilities and behaviors of British individuals aged 7 to 17 years. To gather additional information, the authors conducted both online and face-to-face parental questionnaires.

    The findings of the study indicate that children from wealthier backgrounds possess significantly higher financial knowledge compared to their counterparts from less privileged backgrounds. Specifically, young individuals from affluent households tend to have greater exposure to financial education prior to entering secondary school.

    According to the experts, a contributing factor to this issue is the level of interaction children have with their parents. Children from more disadvantaged backgrounds have fewer conversations about money with their parents and are less likely to receive guidance on understanding how money functions from their caregivers.

    “However,” states Dr. Jake Anders, Deputy Director of the UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities and co-author of the study, “although we observe that these parental interactions can explain a portion of the socioeconomic disparity in terms of money confidence, money management, financial connections, and financial behaviors, these interactions have less significance in enhancing financial abilities.”

    The authors suggest that in the future, the government and financial providers could potentially assume a more significant role in addressing this issue.

    Children from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially at a young age, are significantly less likely to possess a bank account, which can hinder their development of a strong connection with the financial realm. To enhance their financial connection, including their mindset and skills, it would be beneficial to promote the utilization of financial services among socioeconomically disadvantaged families and their children.

    One possible approach could involve the establishment of a young person’s account that is linked to the government’s Help to Save account, which is accessible to individuals with low incomes. Such an initiative could offer higher interest rates and rewards for fostering positive saving behaviors.

    This research, funded by St James’s Place Wealth Management, has certain limitations. One such limitation is that only one parent participated in the survey, potentially limiting the perspectives provided. Additionally, the quality of certain measures, such as the information gathered regarding children’s educational attainment and socio-emotional skills, was somewhat constrained.

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    Taylor & Francis

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  • Debt ceiling blues. Find political experts on the debt negotiations and the presidential bids in the Politics channel

    Debt ceiling blues. Find political experts on the debt negotiations and the presidential bids in the Politics channel

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    The House is on track Wednesday afternoon to begin considering a bipartisan plan to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling and limit spending, with the nation facing the risk of default if the debt ceiling is not raised by June 1st. The two parties remain deeply divided about how to rein in the federal deficit, with Democrats arguing wealthy Americans and businesses should pay more taxes while Republicans want spending cuts.

    More contenders enter the Republican presidential nominees’ list with Gov. DeSantis and Sen. Tom Scott declaring their bids to run. Do they have enough support to take on the front-runner, former President Donald Trump?

    Below are some of the latest expert pitches posted in the Politics channel.

    DeSantis to launch 2024 presidential campaign on Twitter, expert discusses implications for democracy

    -Virginia Tech

    GW Experts on Ron DeSantis Presidential Campaign Launch

    -George Washington University

    University of West Florida Expert Available to Interview on the Debt Ceiling

    -University of West Florida

    University of West Florida Expert Available to Discuss Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Looming Presidential Campaign

    -University of West Florida

    University at Albany Experts Available to Discuss U.S. Debt Ceiling Crisis

    -University at Albany, State University of New York

    GW Experts on Tim Scott 2024 Presidential Campaign

    -George Washington University

    Social media expert discusses consequences of changes for TikTok, Twitter

    -Virginia Tech

    University of West Florida professor available to interview about Gov. DeSantis’ potential run for President

    -University of West Florida

    Media Availability: Experts to Comment on New Hampshire’s First-in-the-Nation Primary Status

    -University of New Hampshire

    Looming debt ceiling deadline: Expert says economic impact could be significant if deal is not reached by June 1

    -Virginia Tech

    After Title 42: Limited Access to Asylum, Increased Discrimination, Rapid Deportation, predicts SMU Expert

    -Southern Methodist University

    Politics Experts in the Expert Directory 

    Yphtach Lelkes, PhD
    Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School for Communication

    Yphtach (Yph) Lelkes’s interests lie at the intersection of political communication, public opinion, and political psychology.

    		 Jennifer Chudy, PhD

    Jennifer Chudy, PhD
    Knafel Assistant Professor of Social Sciences; Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College

    Dr. Chudy focuses on White racial attitudes generally and the attitude of racial sympathy – defined as White distress over Black suffering – specifically.
    Adam Cayton, Ph.D.

    Adam Cayton, PhD
    Associate Professor, Government Department at the University of West Florida

    Dr. Adam Cayton conducts research on representation in Congress, legislative institutions, campaign effects, institutional change, and other topics.

    		 Megan Goldberg, Ph.D.

     Megan Goldberg, PhD
    Assistant Professor of American Politics at Cornell College

    Her work examines the dynamics of state politics in an increasingly nationalized context, studies how governors and state parties shift their rhetoric and ideologies towards elections, and how often governors use national politics to frame issues.
    Adam Cayton, Ph.D.

    Neil O’Brian, PhD
    Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon

    Neil can comment on public opinion and political participation in Oregon’s congressional and statewide races as well as national politics. His research agenda and expertise also include the partisan politics of abortion in the United States.

    		  

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    Newswise

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