bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Protease Production by Submerged Fermentation in Shake Flasks Using Bacillus sp. Isolated from the Soil
Authors: Okpalla J. , Onyekuru D. A. , Duru I. E. , Mba T. O.
Published: December 2022

Proteases are one of the most industrially important enzymes, which account for about 60% of total enzyme market. Protease production by submerged fermentation in shake flasks using Bacillus sp. isolated from the soil was studied. Soil samples were collected from different locations within Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Anambra state. The soil samples were serially diluted and inoculated on sterilized skim milk agar plates. The plates were incubated at 30oC for 72 h. A clear zone around the colonies gave an indication of protease-producing bacteria isolates.   The selected protease producers were subsequently used for shake flask fermentation in 50 ml sterile medium. Optimization study was conducted to determine the effect of carbon sources, nitrogen sources, trace elements, agitation rates and pH.  Twenty one bacteria isolates were found to be active protease producers and isolates RS-5 and OS-9 had the highest zone of clearance of 13.5 and 12.1 mm respectively. The result of submerged production of protease by the  bacteria isolates  revealed that the isolates RS-5 and OS-9 accumulated maximum protease yield of 3.23 and 2.71 U/ml respectively. The isolates were Gram positive and endospore formers, and were identified as Bacillus sp. RS-5 and OS-9.The addition of Starch and maltose stimulated optimum protease production of 3.47 and 2.77 U/ml by Bacillus sp. RS-5 and OS-9 respectively. Beef extract enhanced maximum enzyme yield of 3.35 and 2.90 U/ml for Bacillus sp. RS-5 and OS-9 respectively. Maximum protease yield of 3.28 U/ml for Bacillus sp. RS-5 and 2.85 U/ml for Bacillus sp. OS-9 was obtained by the supplementation of 0.4 g/l of FeS04 respectively. The maximum protease yield was observed at agitation rate of 200 rpm for Bacillus sp. RS-5 and 170 rpm for Bacillus sp. OS-9. At pH8, protease accumulation was highest for Bacillus sp. RS-5 and OS-9. The study revealed that the soil harbours some protease-producing bacteria strains and protease production can be greatly enhanced through optimization of process parameters.
Nanosecond pulsed electric field ablation‐induced modulation of sphingolipid metabolism is associated with Ly6c2+ mononuclear phagocyte differentiation in liver cancer
Authors: Liu Jingqi , Fang Chengyu , Jin Xinyan , Tian Guo , Sun Zhongxia , Hong Lijie , Pan Jinhua , Chen Xinhua , Zhao Jun , Cao Hongcui , Jiang Tianan
Published: January 2023

Preclinical studies have proven that nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) ablation can be a safe and effective treatment for humans with unresectable liver cancer that are ineligible for thermal ablation. The concomitant activation of antitumor immunity by nsPEF can also potentially prevent tumor recurrence. However, whether nsPEF exhibits similar efficacy in a clinical setting remains to be investigated. A prospective clinical trial (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04039747) was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ultrasound (US)‐guided nsPEF ablation in 15 patients with unresectable liver cancer that were ineligible for thermal ablation. We found that nsPEF ablation was safe and produced a 12‐month recurrence‐free survival (RFS) and local RFS of 60% (9/15) and 86.7% (13/15), respectively, in the enrolled patients. Integrative proteomic and metabolomic analysis showed that sphingolipid metabolism was the most significantly enriched pathway in patient sera after nsPEF without recurrence within 8 months. A similar upregulation of sphingolipid metabolism was observed in the intratumoral mononuclear phagocytes (MNPs), rather than other immune and nonimmune cells, of an nsPEF‐treated mouse model. We then demonstrated that lymphocyte antigen 6 complex, locus C2‐positive (Ly6c2+) monocytes first differentiated into Ly6c2+ monocyte‐derived macrophages with an increase in sphingolipid metabolic activity, and subsequently into Ly6c2+ dendritic cells (DCs). Ly6c2+ DCs communicated with CD8+ T cells and increased the proportions of IFN‐γ+ CD8+ memory T cells after nsPEF, and this finding was subsequently confirmed by depletion of liver Ly6c2+ MNPs. In conclusion, nsPEF was a safe and effective treatment for liver cancer. The alteration of sphingolipid metabolism induced by nsPEF was associated with the differentiation of Ly6c2+ MNPs, and subsequently induced the formation of memory CD8+ T cells with potent antitumor effect.
New insight into the effect of hydroxyl substituted flavonoids on the cytotoxicity of 2‐amino‐3‐methylimidazo[4,5‐f]quinoline
Authors: Deng Hongting , He Yuanju , Cao Hui , Chen Lei , Teng Hui
Published: January 2023

The aim of the present work was to evaluate different structures of flavonoids interfering with the cytotoxicity of heterocyclic amines (HCA). Eight flavonoids with similar structure including myricetin, rutin, fisetin, quercetin, myricetrin, quercetrin, kaempferol, and galangin were coincubated with 2‐amino‐4‐methylimidazo[4,5‐f]quinolone (IQ) respectively to determine the cytotoxicity. The results revealed that IQ at low doses showed no cytotoxicity; however, in the presence of myricetin and rutin, the cytotoxicity significantly elevated. It seems that C‐3′, C‐4′, C‐5′, and C‐5 hydroxyl substituents on the flavonoid skeleton of B ring play important role in the increasing cytotoxicity induced by IQ in HepG2 cells. Interestingly, the data obtained from the present study revealed an unexpected adverse effect of the supposed beneficial food ingredient myricetin, which appears to be able to increase the cytotoxicity of the procarcinogen HCA.
ダビガトラン過量服薬に対するイダルシズマブの静脈内投与：血漿中ダビガトラン濃度と血液凝固能の関連性(Intravenous idarucizumab for dabigatran overdose: association between plasma dabigatran concentration and coagulation profile)
Authors: 圭介 兼田 , 雄康 大野 , 勇輔 宮崎 , 一成 遠山 , 勇 山田 , 茂亮 井上 , 穣治 小谷
Published: January 2023

ダビガトランは直接トロンビンを阻害することで抗凝固作用を示す経口抗凝固薬であり，近年処方機会が急増している。過量内服症例における，血漿中ダビガトラン濃度および血液凝固能の推移に関するデータは不足している。腎機能障害のない，非弁膜症性心房細動をもつ71歳邦人女性が近医より処方されていたダビガトランを合計7,480mg自殺目的に過量内服し，当院に搬送された。過量内服4時間後の血漿中ダビガトラン濃度は4,217ng/mL（治療域濃度100～400ng/mL）であり，APTTは160.3秒，PT–INRは9.46であった。イダルシズマブ5g経静脈投与後，血漿中ダビガトラン濃度は経時的に低下し，それに伴いAPTTとPT–INRも正常化した。血漿中ダビガトラン濃度とAPTT（R2=0.9898），およびPT–INR（R2=0.9998）との間には強固な関連性が認められた。本症例は第9病日に後遺症なく独歩退院した。治療域の40倍の血漿中濃度を示すダビガトラン大量内服症例において，イダルシズマブは血漿中ダビガトラン濃度を安全に，かつ効果的に低下させた。また，血液凝固能は，血漿中ダビガトラン濃度を強固に反映した。本症例により，一般的な血液凝固能検査を用いることで，ダビガトランの血中薬物動態を推定できる可能性が示された。
シングルルーメンチューブを用いた緊急挿管後に大量皮下気腫を生じた気管損傷の1例(A case of tracheal rupture with massive subcutaneous emphysema after emergency tracheal intubation with a single–lumen tube)
Authors: 幸 服部 , 圭祐 櫻井 , 直志 武山
Published: January 2023

気管挿管は救急医療において日常的に行われている手技であるが，挿管後の気管損傷は稀かつ死亡リスクが高いうえ，症状発現までの時間も一定ではないため診断や原因検索に難渋する。また，発生率はダブルルーメンのほうが多く，シングルルーメンではごく僅かである。今回我々は，シングルルーメンを用いた緊急気管挿管後に大量の皮下気腫を呈したものの，良好な転帰を経た気管膜様部損傷の1例を経験したので報告する。症例は80歳代女性，明け方に呼吸困難で救急搬送された。来院時は不穏状態かつ，リザーバーマスク10L/分の高濃度酸素投与下でSpO2 86%であった。画像検査にて急性心不全による肺水腫と診断し初療室で緊急挿管を行い集中治療室管理となったが，入室時のカフ圧が高値を示していた。挿管数時間後に全身の皮下気腫を認め精査にて気管膜様部に4cmに渡る縦方向の裂傷を確認し，カフ圧損傷に伴う気管膜様部損傷と推測した。挿管後気管損傷に至る原因は患者側要因と医療側要因が複雑に絡むため原因不明な場合も多いが，双方のリスクを吟味し発症を予防するための具体的な行動指標を考察する。
Fostering Professional Development for Inclusive Education in Rural Iceland: A Collaborative Action Research Project
Authors: Óskarsdóttir Edda , Wozniczka Anna Katarzyna
Published: January 2023

This chapter discusses collaborative action research carried out by the authors while preparing and teaching a professional development course to develop inclusive school practices. The purpose was to understand how a professional development course on inclusive education can be developed through a distance learning module for diverse participants. The authors discuss how they explored how they were able to be inclusive throughout the course as well as the insights they gained into how course participants developed their own inclusive practice and pedagogy.
Policy Equity Contexts in Inclusive Education for Immigrant Children in the Faroe Islands
Authors: Vijayavarathan-R Kalpana
Published: January 2023

The aim of this chapter is to examine whether policies on integration and education in The Faroe Islands are fit-for-purpose when viewed from dual lenses: the acknowledgement of the importance of ethnic cultural identity and heritage language (first language/mother tongue) of immigrant children and their inclusion through education towards integration in The Faroe Islands. The focus is on whether existing policies consider the pivotal relationship between language and identity in education for second generation immigrant children and immigrant children in compulsory schools, i.e., grades 1 to 9 to ensure that they have agency in Faroese society.
Integrating EEG–fMRI Through Brain Simulation
Authors: Schirner Michael , Ritter Petra
Published: January 2023

EEG and fMRI are thought to measure partly distinct, partly overlapping, and certainly incomplete aspects of neuronal activity. Brain network models (BNMs) are used to simulate neuronal activity, like the dynamics of postsynaptic potentials, or spike-firing activity, and may conjointly predict both, EEG and fMRI, and therefore allow for the integration and the analysis of the two signals. The usual motivation for EEG–fMRI integration is to use both techniques in a complementary fashion by combining their strengths, while ameliorating their weaknesses. For instance, EEG measures electric activity on the scalp with a high temporal sampling rate, but a low spatial resolution (e.g., due to volume conduction effects). On the other hand, fMRI BOLD contrast is an indirect (proxy) measure of neural activity that is sensitive for the fluctuation of blood oxygenation at a relatively low temporal resolution. Some of the appeal of brain simulation-based integration of EEG–fMRI data is related to the idea that after fitting a neural model to reproduce observed activity, the internal activity of the model can tell us something about unobservable activity, like neural firing, which can only be measured invasively and in a spatially restricted manner. Brain simulation-based approaches have the potential to not only integrate EEG and fMRI, but basically data from every modality that can either directly (like multi-electrode recordings) or indirectly (like fMRI) be linked with the neural model.
Working with Robots as Colleagues: Kenyan Perspectives of Ethical Concerns on Possible Integration of Co-bots in Workplaces
Authors: Kwanya Tom
Published: January 2023

Robots are moving closer to human beings especially in work environments. The entry of co-bots into workspaces raises many questions. One of the key questions surrounds the likely relationship between the co-bots and their co-workers. Are co-bots to be considered as colleagues or are they tools? What ethical issues emerge from this consideration in the context of Kenyan workspaces? This chapter discusses these questions in the Kenyan context. Data for the chapter was collected using qualitative interviews with 20 data scientists selected through information-oriented purposive sampling. The chapter concludes that there are six ethical issues which can influence the perceptions of co-bots by data scientists in Kenya. These include the concept of work as a divine gift to humanity which cannot be shared with machines; the notion that treating co-bots as legal persons equates them to human beings which is viewed as demeaning to humanity; the fear that co-bots will dominate and eventually replace humans in ordinary workspaces thereby denying the latter not just an opportunity to work but to livelihood too; fear of unintended social consequences of “anthropomorphisation”; lack of trust for machines created by limited humans to offer unlimited services and companionship; and discomfort with exotic robots entering professional but also indigenous spaces. Until these ethical issues are addressed comprehensively, it is unlikely that information scientists would unreservedly welcome co-bots into their workspaces as colleagues.
Towards Shaping the Future of Responsible AI in Africa
Authors: Eke Damian Okaibedi , Chintu Schmidt Shilukobo , Wakunuma Kutoma
Published: January 2023

Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents unprecedented opportunities for Africa. Increasingly, AI and other emerging technologies are being deployed in African contexts—healthcare, agriculture, sociopolitical processes, businesses and education—in ways that promise to change cultural dynamics. Despite obvious potential good benefits, AI deployment and implementation raise fundamental questions bordering on human rights, fairness, privacy, bias, discrimination, security, climate change and the future of work which highlight the importance of Responsible AI. However, the growing literature on Responsible AI focuses more on contexts in the Global North whereas African contexts are ignored or largely forgotten. This chapter makes an argument to clarify the importance of Responsible AI that considers African contexts, interests, values, fears, hopes and aspirations. It reviews the current and future AI landscape and then makes recommendations on how the discussions on Responsible AI in and for Africa should be shaped.
Consumption, Sustainability and Everyday Life
Authors: Hansen Arve , Nielsen Kenneth Bo
Published: January 2023

Unsustainable consumption patterns are among the world’s most wicked problems. In large part in response to the environmental unsustainabilities embedded in modern consumer societies, a large field of consumption research has developed over the past decades. This introductory chapter reviews the history and development of consumption research and situates the contributions in this book within the broader field. We start broadly, before zooming in on the ‘practice turn’ and on research engaging with consumption and sustainability. Following this, we outline the chapters of the book and conclude with some reflections on the possible future of consumption research, calling for a broader agenda for research on consumption and sustainability.
Can Economics Help to Understand, and Change, Consumption Behaviour?
Authors: McNeill Desmond
Published: January 2023

This chapter assesses the contribution that economics can make to help us understand consumer behaviour and, if necessary, to try and change it. Economic theory of consumer behaviour is sophisticated and rigorous, but very limited. It excludes from consideration many of the factors which are well-recognised by other social sciences as being important. These limitations stem largely from the standard model of homo economicus. Economists are not unaware of this problem, but it is difficult to resolve it: to establish models that are tractable—for example incorporating the idea of interdependent preferences. But even simple economic theory, in which income and price are the main explanatory factors of consumer behaviour, provides the basis for potentially very effective policy instruments. If incomes fall, consumption is indeed reduced; and taxes and subsidies can substantially alter consumer behaviour. The problem is that such instruments are politically very unpopular.
Towards Sustainable Consumption: Reflections on the Concepts of Social Loading, Excess and Idle Capacity
Authors: Southerton Dale , Warde Alan
Published: January 2023

Current levels of material consumption in the West are incompatible with environmental sustainability. Present strategies for achieving reduction are not sufficient for purpose. In an early critique of inadequate conceptions of consumer demand, Wilhite and Lutzenhiser (Advances in Consumer Research, 26, 281–287, 1999) examined the difference between base and peak loading as a mechanism responsible for immediate inefficiencies and escalating levels of production in energy systems. Their article introduced the term ‘just-in-case’ to identify a common rationalisation for the persistent tendency of individuals and organisations to hold or increase excess capacity. As a source of and justification for excess capacity, the proviso ‘just-in-case’ has wider relevance in debates about unsustainable levels of everyday consumption, regarding the determination of what might be too much, what too little and what just enough. Defining enough is an intellectual and political minefield, but at least we can identify mechanisms which tend to generate unfruitful excess. Just-in-case reasoning is itself one such mechanism. It is one surreptitious way to increase environmental load through the justification for ownership of un(der)utilised material resources. We reveal circumstances in which just-in-case provides a rationalisation for escalating production and overstocking and point to four ways of reducing the environmental impacts of particular goods. We demonstrate the entailment of problematic items within practices. We discuss the merits of alternatives to the private and exclusive ownership of under-utilised resources-intensive products, including sharing ownership and renting services. Finally, we review the opportunities afforded by digital technologies.
Sufficiency in China’s Energy Provision: A Service Understanding of Sustainable Consumption and Production
Authors: Korsnes Marius
Published: January 2023

China’s power sector has contributed to more than 45 per cent of China’s total historical carbon emissions. The economic turnaround experienced in China since 1978 has increased incomes and the national gross domestic product, in part through actively embracing consumerism. Environmental exploitation and widespread pollution of air, soil and water have accompanied the development process. This chapter qualitatively explores China’s current development path by presenting a social science analysis of electricity consumption and energy services. The analysis will not encompass the whole energy sector but looks mainly at the services that electricity provides domestically in an urban Chinese context. Seeing needs and demand as socially constructed and developed over time through a variety of influences, the chapter analyses and assesses the services provided by electricity. The working hypothesis of this chapter is that we need to change from efficiency thinking to sufficiency thinking, i.e., the possibility of having enough of something for a particular purpose, and the onus should still be on the affluent population of the world. Nevertheless, China organises its economy according to market-based and government-guided principles and acts as a growth engine for global capitalist endeavours. To make headway, the chapter discusses two points: First, is energy growth in China mainly about developing basic services and infrastructures? Second, is it ethical or practical to argue for restrictions on energy growth in China?
Practical Aeromobilities: Making Sense of Environmentalist Air-Travel
Authors: Volden Johannes , Hansen Arve
Published: January 2023

Flying has become an increasingly contested form of consumption, but ‘green’ consumers often continue to fly. This chapter provides novel insights into the stubbornness of air-travel by specifically studying the obstacles that environmentally conscious consumers face when trying to limit or eliminate aeromobility. Through in-depth interviews with Norwegian environmental organisation workers—conceptualised as particularly self-reflexive when it comes to environmentally contested forms of consumption—we analyse how environmentalists negotiate one of the most environmentally destructive aspects of their consumption patterns. To explore how the social embeddedness of flying complicates the reduction of air-travel in these accounts, we draw on a combination of mobilities and social practice approaches. The participants considered flying to be problematic, but also often necessary in specific practices. Various expectations related to convenience, time, and sociality, led to a certain ‘lock-in’ of (aero)mobility. Zooming out to consider broader practice geographies, we argue that aeromobility contributes to the tempo-spatial expansion of many practices, changing their contents, meanings, and the contexts in which they unfold. To achieve sustainable mobility, we suggest that attention must be shifted from the air-travels of individual consumers to the broader practices in which aeromobility is embedded.
Executive Summary
Authors: Hasanov Fakhri J. , Joutz Frederick L. , Mikayilov Jeyhun I. , Javid Muhammad
Published: January 2023

The objective of this book is to introduce the KAPSARC Global Energy Macroeconometric Model (KGEMM) and to conduct a detailed survey of the existing macroeconomic models for Saudi Arabia discussing their strengths and weaknesses. KGEMM is a policy analysis tool for examining the impacts of domestic policies and changes in global economy including energy markets on the Saudi Arabian economic (macro and sectoral), energy, and environmental relations.
KGEMM Simulations
Authors: Hasanov Fakhri J. , Joutz Frederick L. , Mikayilov Jeyhun I. , Javid Muhammad
Published: January 2023

As mentioned earlier, MEMs are evaluated and validated using in-sample and out-of-sample simulations, and policy analysis, among other validation methods. In this section, we run KGEMM for in-sample forecasting and out-of-sample policy analysis to evaluate its predictive ability. Hasanov and Joutz (2013) provide an overview of the literature that covers in-sample and out-of-sample forecasts and other methods for evaluating the predictive ability of MEMs. This includes Calzolari and Corsi (1977), Beenstock et al. (1986), Klein et al. (1999), Fair (1984, 1994, 2004), Bardsen and Nymoen (2008).
Money and Management
Authors: Freebody Jane
Published: January 2023

Tensions between the therapeutic value and the financial benefits of patient work were exacerbated by the difficult financial climate following World War I and during the Great Depression. In France, prefects and asylum directors were keen to maximise the use of patient work to offset institutional running costs, which did not always sit comfortably alongside its therapeutic remit. The transformation of the Asile Clinique into a hospital for acute patients was delayed because it involved losing the asylum’s incurable and chronic patients, who were its best workers. In England, the economic contribution made by patient work was downplayed, in the light of accusations of exploitation, while the curative role of occupation was emphasised. Occupational therapy added to, rather than offset, institutional running costs, but this was justified by its role in active treatment. The budget for entertainment was another contested area; whether expenditure in this area could be justified on the grounds of therapy.
The Medical Prescription of Patient Occupation
Authors: Freebody Jane
Published: January 2023

Analysis of the different attitudes of English medical superintendents and French chief medical officers towards patient occupation provides an insight into the different conceptions of mental disorder and its treatment held by French and English psychiatrists during the interwar period. It also highlights the different management structures of French and English institutions. Authority for running French institutions was shared between a chief medical officer, in charge of medical matters, and an asylum director, responsible for administration and finance. In England, medical superintendents were in sole charge of their hospitals and had the authority to make decisions regarding all matters concerning management and medical treatment, including patient occupation. Psychiatrists' training, professional networks, and attitude towards innovation and risk all contributed to their vision of what constituted effective treatment. In France, this vision could be compromised by the asylum director’s need to maximise the productivity of the patient workforce.
Work and Support for Patients Outside Hospital
Authors: Freebody Jane
Published: January 2023

This chapter examines whether the rehabilitative remit of patient workhad decreased in importance during the interwar years compared to during the nineteenth century. Despite the need to rebuild their respective economies after World War I, and the high unemployment of the Great Depression, patient occupation in French and English asylums did not appear to prepare patients for the modern workplace, as Freebody’s comparison of the work available locally to the work provided in linstitutions demonstrates. The work around the hospital tended to be based on outmoded artisanal techniques in France, while in England, occupational therapy, in the form of arts and crafts, was the antithesis of modern working practices, such as those associated with “scientific labour management”. Freebody attempts to explain this anomaly in terms of  a focus on the "active treatment" of patients, rather than vocational rehabilitation, and increased levels of support for patients post-discharge in England, and to the emphasis on the financial contribution made by patient labour to asylum budgets in France.
The Nature and Circulation of False Information
Authors: Bakir Vian , McStay Andrew
Published: January 2023

This chapter focuses on the nature of disinformation (false information spread with intent to deceive) and misinformation (false information spread without specific deceptive intent), inquiring into processes that increase their circulation online. As befits any study of media systems, it addresses interconnections between technologies, media forms, wider media and political environments, people and impacts. It opens with a discussion on the role of deception in citizen-political communications. This highlights the long-standing debate on whether political leaders should lie to their citizens, addressing evidence of such activity in the areas of national security and election campaigns. It then discusses the nature and scale of two key forms of contemporary disinformation: fake news and deepfakes. Widening the focus beyond intentionally deceptive forms to false information in general, the chapter then examines the dynamics of spreading false information online, discussing why people engage with such processes.
Profiling, Targeting and the Increasing Optimisation of Emotional Life
Authors: Bakir Vian , McStay Andrew
Published: January 2023

To understand how the optimisation of emotion incubates false information online, this chapter examines profiling and targeting in citizen-political communications. Profiling and targeting are how emotion is understood, harnessed, amplified, dampened, manipulated and optimised. This chapter focuses on profiling and targeting in political campaigning as this is an intensively studied area awash with emotion and deception and attracts uneven protections across the world. Specifically, this chapter examines the targeting and profiling technologies and practices in political campaigning in the USA, UK and India, so highlighting the impact of different data protection regimes as well as uneven digital literacies. In exploring these issues, this chapter also outlines key tools and techniques utilised by digital political campaigners in the big data era to profile and target datafied emotions.
Harms to the Civic Body from False Information Online
Authors: Bakir Vian , McStay Andrew
Published: January 2023

Opening Part II of this book on how to strengthen the civic body against the rising tide of optimisation of emotion and its incubation of false information online, this chapter examines six core social and democratic harms arising from false information online. Firstly (1) it produces wrongly informed citizens that (2) in certain circumstances, for certain communities, are likely to stay wrongly informed in digital echo chambers and (3), more widely, be emotionally provoked (given the affective nature of much false information), thereby fuelling polarisation, partisan misperceptions, incivility and hatred. Added to this is a fourth problem: (4) contagion, where false, emotive information incubated in digital echo chambers and highly partisan enclaves influences wider social media and mainstream news, thereby spreading its pollutants far and wide. Meanwhile, (5) profiling and microtargeting raise core democratic harms comprising fragmentation of important national conversations; targeted suppression of voters; and undue influence over susceptible citizens, although this is hard to directly prove. Also related (6) is the impact of false information in seeding distrust in important civic processes and institutions, from health messaging to democratic processes.
Strengthening the Civic Body as the Bandwidth for Optimised Emotion Expands
Authors: Bakir Vian , McStay Andrew
Published: January 2023

This final chapter draws out more substantive answers to strengthen thecivic bodyagainst the harms arising from the optimisation of datafied emotion, as the bandwidth for the datafication, and optimisation, of emotion expands beyond web-based platforms to include bodies through biometrics. First, the chapter teases out core shifts discernable from a backward glance. This identifies that, while false information, emotion, profiling and targeting are hardly new phenomena in citizen-political communications, the scale of contemporary profiling is unprecedented. As such, a prime site of concern is the automated industrial psycho-physiological profiling of thecivic bodyto understand affect and infer emotion for the purposes of changing behaviour. Exploring this through three scenarios, the chapter looks to near-horizon futures. This is an important angle given the rapid onset, scale and nature of contemporary false information online, the rising tide of deployment of emotional analytics across all life contexts and the likely greater role that biometrics will play in everyday life. Peeking over the horizon line distils a core protective principle of protecting individual and collective mental integrity. This is necessary to strengthen thecivic bodyto withstand false information in a future where optimised emotion has become commonplace.
Priorities for Inclusive Urban Food System Transformations in the Global South
Authors: Moustier Paule , Holdsworth Michelle , Anh Dao The , Seck Pape Abdoulaye , Renting Henk , Caron Patrick , Bricas Nicolas
Published: January 2023

This chapter is concerned with identifying: (i) challenges to food systems in Africa, Asia, and Latin America caused by urban development, (ii) how existing food systems respond to these challenges, and (iii) what can be done to improve their responsiveness. The chapter is based on the authors’ published research complemented by additional literature. We define ‘urban food systems’ as food systems linked to cities by material and human flows. Urbanisation poses challenges related to food and nutritional security with the co-existence of multiple forms of malnutrition (especially for women and children/adolescents), changing employment (including for women), and environmental protection. It is widely acknowledged that contemporary food systems respond differently to these challenges according to their traditional (small-scale, subsistence, informal) versus modern (large-scale, value-oriented, formal) characteristics. We go beyond this classification and propose six types of urban food system: subsistence, short relational, long relational, value-oriented small and medium enterprise (SME)-driven, value-oriented supermarket-driven, and digital. These correspond to different consumer food environments in terms of subsistence versus market orientation, access through retail markets, shops or supermarkets, diversity of food, prices and food quality attributes. Urban food supply chains differ not only in scale and technology, but also in the origin (rural, urban or imports) and perishability of food products. We stress the complementarity between short chains that supply many perishable and fresh food items (usually nutrient-dense) and long chains that involve collectors, wholesalers, retailers, storage and processing enterprises for many calorie-rich staple food commodities. More and more SMEs are upgrading their business through technologies, consumer orientation, and stakeholder coordination patterns, including food clusters and alliances.

Urban food systems based on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have proven resilient in times of crisis (including in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic). Rather than promoting the linear development of so-called ‘traditional’ towards ‘modern’ food systems, we propose seven sets of recommendations aimed at further upgrading MSME business, improving the affordability and accessibility of food to ensure food and nutritional security while accounting for the specificities of urban contexts of low- and middle-income countries.
The Vital Roles of Blue Foods in the Global Food System
Authors: Leape Jim , Micheli Fiorenza , Tigchelaar Michelle , Allison Edward H. , Basurto Xavier , Bennett Abigail , Bush Simon R. , Cao Ling , Crona Beatrice , DeClerck Fabrice , Fanzo Jessica , Gelcich Stefan , Gephart Jessica A. , Golden Christopher D. , Hicks Christina C. , Kishore Avinash , Koehn J. Zachary , Little David C. , Naylor Rosamond L. , Selig Elizabeth R. , Short Rebecca E. , Sumaila U. Rashid , Thilsted Shakuntala H. , Troell Max , Wabnitz Colette C. C.
Published: January 2023

Blue foods play a central role in food and nutrition security for billions of people and are a cornerstone of the livelihoods, economies, and cultures of many coastal and riparian communities. Blue foods are extraordinarily diverse, are often rich in essential micronutrients and fatty acids, and can be produced in ways that are more environmentally sustainable than terrestrial animal-source foods. Yet, despite their unique value, blue foods have often been left out of food system analyses, discussions and solutions. Here, we focus on three imperatives for realizing the potential of blue foods: (1) Bring blue foods into the heart of food system decision-making; (2) Protect and develop the potential of blue foods to help end malnutrition; and (3) Support the central role of small-scale actors in fisheries and aquaculture.
Food System Innovations and Digital Technologies to Foster Productivity Growth and Rural Transformation
Authors: Benfica Rui , Chambers Judith , Koo Jawoo , Nin-Pratt Alejandro , Falck-Zepeda José , Stads Gert-Jan , Arndt Channing
Published: January 2023

This chapter looks at food system innovations and digital technologies as important drivers of productivity growth and improved food and nutrition security. The analysis emphasizes a mix of research feasibility and technology-enabling policy factors necessary to realize pro-poor benefits. Given their transformative potential and the urgency of developing the enabling R&D and policy trajectories required for impact, we highlight genome editing bio-innovations, specifically CRISPR-Cas9, to address sustainable agricultural growth; and digital technologies, including remote sensing, connected sensors, artificial intelligence, digital advisory services, digital financial services, and e-commerce, to help guide the operations and decision-making of farmers, traders, and policymakers in agricultural value chains.

The analysis points to the need to close critical gaps in R&D investments, capabilities, and enabling policies and regulations to accelerate the scaling and adoption of innovations. At the global level, the engagement of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with global players should be facilitated to strengthen intellectual property (IP) access and the management of innovations; and North–South, South–South, and triangular cooperation should be promoted to strengthen LMICs’ regulatory capabilities. At the national level, countries need to invest in science-based participatory approaches to identify and adapt technologies to local conditions; close regulatory gaps through evidence-based frameworks that enable the rapid development, deployment, and safe use of innovations; close institutional and human capacity gaps by addressing limitations in institutional capacities and coordination, while training a new generation of scientists with the skills needed to develop and deliver innovations; develop an understanding of political economy factors for a nuanced knowledge of actors’ agendas to better inform communications and address technology hesitancy; close digital infrastructure gaps in rural areas by promoting simultaneous investments in digital infrastructure and electrification, reducing data costs, and improving digital literacy; and develop sustainable business models for digital service providers to help them achieve profitability, interoperability, and scale to reach a sustainable critical mass, and thus facilitate the adoption of food system innovations.
Leveraging Data, Models & Farming Innovation to Prevent, Prepare for & Manage Pest Incursions: Delivering a Pest Risk Service for Low-Income Countries
Authors: Taylor Bryony , Tonnang Henri Edouard Zefack , Beale Tim , Holland William , Oronje MaryLucy , Abdel-Rahman Elfatih Mohamed , Onyango David , Finegold Cambria , Zhu Jessica , Pozzi Stefania , Murphy Sean T.
Published: January 2023

Globally, pests (invertebrates, vertebrates, pathogens, weeds) can cause estimated annual losses of between 20% and 40%, but higher losses are disproportionately experienced by many low-income countries, as agriculture is the mainstay of the majority of the people and of national economies. Pests pose a major barrier to these countries’ ability to meet the aims of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG2, “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” However, solutions, in the form of pest risk alert systems, coupled with major advances in technology, are now providing opportunities to overcome this barrier in low-income countries. In this paper, we review these systems and the advances in data availability, management and modeling and communication technology and illustrate how these can provide new and novel solutions for the development of agricultural pest and disease early warning and risk-mapping systems and contribute to improved food systems in low-income countries. In conclusion, we identify key areas for the UNFSS that will help guide governments in engaging with these developments.
Water for Food Systems and Nutrition
Authors: Ringler Claudia , Agbonlahor Mure , Baye Kaleab , Barron Jennie , Hafeez Mohsin , Lundqvist Jan , Meenakshi J. V. , Mehta Lyla , Mekonnen Dawit , Rojas-Ortuste Franz , Tankibayeva Aliya , Uhlenbrook Stefan
Published: January 2023

Access to sufficient and clean freshwater is essential for all life. Water is also essential for the functioning of food systems: as a key input into food production, but also in processing and preparation, and as a food itself. Water scarcity and pollution are growing, affecting poorer populations most, and particularly food producers. Malnutrition levels are also on the rise, and this is closely linked to water scarcity. The achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2 and 6 are co-dependent. Solutions for jointly improving food systems and water security outcomes include: (1) strengthening efforts to retain water-based ecosystems and their functions; (2) improving agricultural water management for better diets for all; (3) reducing water and food losses beyond the farmgate; (4) coordinating water with nutrition and health interventions; (5) increasing the environmental sustainability of food systems; (6) explicitly addressing social inequities in water-nutrition linkages; and (7) improving data quality and monitoring for water-food system linkages, drawing on innovations in information and communications technology (ICT). Climate change and other environmental and societal changes make the implementation and scaling of solutions more urgent than ever.
The True Cost of Food: A Preliminary Assessment
Authors: Hendriks Sheryl , de Groot Ruiz Adrian , Acosta Mario Herrero , Baumers Hans , Galgani Pietro , Mason-D’Croz Daniel , Godde Cecile , Waha Katharina , Kanidou Dimitra , von Braun Joachim , Benitez Mauricio , Blanke Jennifer , Caron Patrick , Fanzo Jessica , Greb Friederike , Haddad Lawrence , Herforth Anna , Jordaan Danie , Masters William , Sadoff Claudia , Soussana Jean-François , Tirado Maria Cristina , Torero Maximo , Watkins Matthew
Published: January 2023

Ensuring sustainable food systems requires vastly reducing their environmental and health costs while making healthy and sustainable food affordable to all. One of the central problems of current food systems is that many of the costs of harmful foods are externalized, i.e., are not reflected in market prices. At the same time, the benefits of healthful foods are not appreciated. Due to externalities, sustainable and healthy food is often less affordable to consumers and less profitable for businesses than unsustainable and unhealthy food. Externalities and other market failures lead to unintended consequences for present and future generations, destroying nature and perpetuating social injustices such as underpay for workers, food insecurity, illness, premature death and other harms. We urgently need to address the fundamental causes of these problems. This chapter sets out the results of an analysis to determine the current cost of externalities in food systems and the potential impact of a shift in diets to more healthy and sustainable production and consumption patterns. The current externalities were estimated to be almost double (19.8 trillion USD) the current total global food consumption (9 trillion USD). These externalities accrue from 7 trillion USD (range 4–11) in environmental costs, 11 trillion USD (range 3–39) in costs to human life and 1 trillion USD (range 0.2–1.7) in economic costs. This means that food is roughly a third cheaper than it would be if these externalities were included. More studies are needed to quantify the costs and benefits of food systems that would support a global shift to more sustainable and healthy diets. However, the evidence presented in this chapter points to the urgent need for a system reset to account for these ‘hidden costs’ in food systems and calls for bold actions to redefine the incentives for producing and consuming healthier and more sustainable diets. The first step to correct for these ‘hidden costs’ is to redefine the value of food through true-cost accounting (TCA) so as to address externalities and other market failures. TCA reveals the true value of food by making the benefits of affordable and healthy food visible and revealing the costs of damage to the environment and human health 3.
The Cost and Affordability of Preparing a Basic Meal Around the World
Authors: Masters William A. , Martinez Elena M. , Greb Friederike , Herforth Anna , Hendriks Sheryl L.
Published: January 2023

All countries have a rising burden of diet-related disease from the consumption of unhealthy foods. About three billion people around the world cannot afford the diverse foods needed for a healthy diet. This chapter aims to extend previous work on diet cost and affordability to address the hidden costs of meal preparation inside the home. Costs of a basic meal based on market prices for the most affordable items are estimated in 168 countries. Also, the hidden costs of meal preparation are considered, taking account of environmental or social externalities from the production and distribution of food, as well as the health externalities involved in food consumption. The data shown here reveal that even the simple raw ingredients for a basic plate are often unaffordable for the poorest, and the added cost of time and fuel can make such meals prohibitively expensive. Results suggest two main avenues for policy action. First, governments should use the information on the least costly way to meet dietary standards to inform poverty lines and provide targeted assistance so as to ensure that citizens can acquire safe and nutritious items in sufficient quantities for an active and healthy life, using locale-appropriate safety nets. Second, food policies should recognize the hidden costs of meal preparation that often put healthier, more sustainable diets out of reach. Overcoming the hidden barriers to preparation of healthy meals will require support for helpful forms of food processing that preserve or enhance nutritional values, while taking action to limit potentially harmful forms of ultra-processing associated with diet-related disease. Food-based safety nets and improvements in the food environment can make healthy diets affordable for all people at all times, to help every country reach global development goals.
Policy Options for Food System Transformation in Africa and the Role of Science, Technology and Innovation
Authors: Badiane Ousmane , Hendriks Sheryl L. , Glatzel Katrin , Abdelradi Fadi , Admassie Assefa , Adjaye John Asafu , Ayieko Miltone , Bekele Endashaw , Chaibi Thameur , Hassan Mohamed Hag Ali , Mbaye Mame Samba , Mengoub Fatima Ezzahra , Miano Douglas W. , Muyonga John H. , Olofinbiyi Tolulope , Ramadan Racha , Sibanda Simbarashe
Published: January 2023

As recognized by the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa – 2024 (STISA-2024), science, technology and innovation (STI) offer many opportunities for addressing the main constraints to embracing transformation in Africa, while important lessons can be learned from successful interventions, including policy and institutional innovations, from those African countries that have already made significant progress towards food system transformation. This chapter identifies opportunities for African countries and the region to take proactive steps to harness the potential of the food and agriculture sector so as to ensure future food and nutrition security by applying STI solutions and by drawing on transformational policy and institutional innovations across the continent. Potential game-changing solutions and innovations for food system transformation serving people and ecology apply to (a) raising production efficiency and restoring and sustainably managing degraded resources; (b) finding innovation in the storage, processing and packaging of foods; (c) improving human nutrition and health; (d) addressing equity and vulnerability at the community and ecosystem levels; and (e) establishing preparedness and accountability systems. To be effective in these areas will require institutional coordination; clear, food safety and health-conscious regulatory environments; greater and timely access to information; and transparent monitoring and accountability systems.