Historical food consumption declines and the role of alternative foods

The adoption of sustainable new foods could potentially reduce the environmental burden of human food production if they can reduce demand for products with higher environmental impact. However, there is little empirical evidence for how frequent food consumption declines are when new foods are introduced, limiting our knowledge of the potential for such introductions to drive food system transformations. Using 53 years of global food supply data for 99 crop, livestock, and seafood commodities in 159 countries, we use regression analyses on 12,883 time series to detect sustained declines in apparent national food consumption, as well as corresponding consumption increases of other food commodities. First, we show that sustained declines in the consumption of any food item are rare, occuring in 9.6% of time series. Where declines are present, they most frequently occur in traditional plant-based staples, e.g., starchy roots, and are larger compared to animal-source foods, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where much of the future increase in food demand is expected to occur. Second, although declines were rare, we found national production rather than trade was identified as the most common proximate driver of declines in consumption, suggesting that shifts in diets have the potential to translate into reduced environmental impacts from food production. Third, we found consumption increases were nearly twice as common as declines, but only 8% of declines (from within 4% of total time series) occurred parallel to incline events within the same food group, suggesting limited interchangeability. An examination of case studies suggests that new foods can facilitate food system transitions, but strong relative disadvantages for existing foods across aspects of technology, markets, policy and culture need to exist in parallel to support for new foods across the same factors. Where existing foods are already produced in highly efficient systems, a lack of systematic disadvantage may provide a barrier to alternative foods driving change.

NGHIÊN CỨU DỰ ĐOÁN SỐ HỘ VÀ THỜI GIAN CHẤP NHẬN MÔ HÌNH TRỒNG CÂY HOA ATISO ĐỎ TẠI XÃ PHONG AN, HUYỆN PHONG ĐIỀN, TỈNH THỪA THIÊN HUẾ

Để áp dụng các kỹ thuật hay các mô hình sản xuất nông nghiệp mới, các nhà nghiên cứu thường thực hiện rất nhiều thử nghiệm sâu về kỹ thuật trước khi đưa vào áp dụng. Nhưng để đảm bảo tính khả thi khi áp dụng các kỹ thuật đó vào thực tế thì việc dự đoán bao nhiêu người áp dụng và khoảng bao lâu sau người dân sẽ chấp nhận các kỹ thuật đó là một vấn đề hết sức quan trọng. Do vậy nghiên cứu được tiến hành với mục đích áp dụng phương pháp ADOPT để xác định và dự đoán được số người và thời gian chấp nhận mô hình nông nghiệp trong trường hợp mô hình trồng hoa Atiso tại xã Phong An. Các phương pháp thu thập số liệu trong đề tài bao gồm: phỏng vấn hộ (n = 77), phỏng vấn sâu (n = 10), và thảo luận nhóm (n = 2) các hộ trồng cây hoa atiso đỏ. Số liệu nghiên cứu thu được từ quá trình điều tra được tổng hợp và xử lý bằng phần mềm Excel 2019 và phân tích ADOPT. Kết quả nghiên cứu chỉ ra rằng sau thời gian 11,6 năm thì có tới 67% người chấp nhận hoàn toàn mô hình trồng cây hoa atiso đỏ. Để nâng cao số người và thời gian chấp nhận mô hình trồng cây hoa atiso đỏ của các nông hộ trên địa bàn xã, cần thực hiện đồng bộ các giải pháp về thu nhập, kỹ thuật, thị trường cũng như chính sách từ chính quyền địa phương. ABSTRACT In order to apply new techniques or models in agricultural production, researchers have conducted in-depth technical experiments before transferring them into practice. However, how to predict the number of households will apply and how long after that households will accept new agricultural practices is still a challenge. Therefore, to predict the number of households accepting and the time to transfer new agricultural practices in the long term, the ADOPT method was applied in red artichoke flower growing model. The research applied three main methods to collect data including household interview (n=77), in-depth interview (n=10), and group discussion (n=2) with red artichoke flowers planting farmers. The data from the survey was synthesized and processed by Excel software and ADOPT analysis. Research results showed that after a period of 11.6 years, up to 67% of people fully accepted the red artichoke flower model. In order to increase the number of households accepting and the time to transfer the red artichoke flower model of farmers in the commune, it is necessary to synchronously implement solutions to income, technology, markets as well as policies from the local government.

China’s Escape from the Peripheral Condition: A Success Story?

This article explores the strategy of active interventions through which Chinese policymakers have created the conditions for pulling their country out of its peripheral status within the world economy. We find that the strategic use of exchange rate policy and the maintenance of extensive ownership in industrial assets by the national government have played a key role in cumulatively promoting the upgrading of technological capabilities of the national workforce since the mid-1990 onward. Economic data show support for the hypotheses of an increasing capacity of Chinese producers to gain access to oligopolistic technology markets. To the extent that this offers the opportunity to capture a slice of the technological rent hitherto reserved to the capitalist center, our study suggests that the growth of real wages in China will be consistent with the maintenance of the country’s external balance in the long run. JEL classification: L16, O47, J21, F13, B51

Maximizing Scalability in Literacy Game App Design for Minority Languages

Minority language communities lack access to educational technology that facilitates literacy skill building. The approach currently taken by most educational game app developers privileges widely spoken languages and often requires intensive resource investment. In response, a new game app was designed to provide easily localized, pedagogically appropriate games for literacy skill building. Scalability to multiple minority languages was possible through a programming design based on language packs that could be compiled by local implementation teams without specialized technical skills and without significant resource investment. We describe the scalability issues encountered when localizing the app for the initial ten minority language pilot groups and how a language-neutral app design that relies on language packs to specify language-specific content and parameters can adequately address these issues. When it comes to meeting the demands of growing education technology markets in underserved Indigenous and minority communities, localizing an app initially designed for maximum scalability is more feasible than investing significant resources converting apps custom designed for one language into new languages.

TECNOLOGÍA, INDUSTRIA Y MERCADOS EN LA CONFRONTACIÓN ESTADOS UNIDOS-REPÚBLICA POPULAR CHINA

<p align="center"><strong>RESUMEN</strong></p><p>En menos de dos generaciones la República Popular China se convirtió en una superpotencia industrial y en la segunda economía del mundo. Las cadenas globales de valor transformaron a la economía china y ésta a su vez las transformó, produciendo un cambio en la estructura mundial. La simbiosis económica con Estados Unidos (EE. UU.) ha sido el eje de esos procesos, en torno a los cuales concurre la codependencia tecnológica, la aceleración de la innovación a través del diseño modular y la formación de mercados globales de tecnología. El pasaje a la etapa de bajo crecimiento mundial puso en tensión la referida relación, poniendo al descubierto la desconcentración de la hegemonía estadounidense. Estas tensiones han trasformado la relación conductiva en un conflicto entre ambas superpotencias. El motivo real de dicho conflicto es la resistencia de EE. UU. a adaptarse a las implicaciones de la presencia china en el mundo.</p><p> </p><p align="center">TECHNOLOGY, INDUSTRY AND MARKETS IN THE UNITED STATES-PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA CONFRONTATION</p><p align="center"><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p>In less than two generations, the People’s Republic of China became an industrial superpower and the world’s second largest economy. Global value chains transformed the Chinese economy, which in turn transformed them, bringing about a change in the global structure. The economic symbiosis between China and the United States has been the axis of these processes, which have involved technological co-dependence, the acceleration of innovation through modular design and the creation of global technology markets. The transition to the stage of low world growth put a strain on this relationship, exposing the deconcentrating of US hegemony. These tensions have transformed the conductive relationship into a conflict between the two superpowers. The real reason for this conflict is the US resistance to adapt to the implications of China’s presence in the world.

Robots in Healthcare? What Patients Say

In this paper, we analyse patients’ perspectives on the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic systems in healthcare. Based on citizens’ experiences when hospitalised for COVID-19, we explore how the opinions and concerns regarding healthcare automation could not be disassociated from a context of high pressure on the health system and lack of resources, and a political discourse on AI and robotics; a situation intensified by the pandemic. Thus, through the analysis of a set of interviews, a series of issues are identified that revolve around the following: the empirical effects of imagined robots, the vivid experience of citizens with the care crisis, the discomfort of the ineffective, the virtualised care assemblages, the human-based face-to-face relationships, and the automatisation of healthcare tasks. In light of these results, we show the variability in patients’ perspectives on AI and robotic systems and explain it by distinguishing two interpretive repertoires that account for different views and opinions: a well-being repertoire and a responsibility repertoire. Both interpretative repertoires are relevant in order to grasp the complexity of citizens’ approaches to automatisation of healthcare. Attending to both allows us to move beyond the dominant (political) discourse of technology markets as the only way to respond to healthcare challenges. Thus, we can analyse and integrate patients’ perspectives to develop AI and robotic systems in healthcare to serve citizens’ needs and collective well-being.

On the Introduction of Diffusion Uncertainty in Telecommunications’ Market Forecasting

Long-run forecasts of telecommunication services’ diffusion play an important role in policy, regulation, planning and portfolio decisions. Forecasting diffusion of telecommunication technologies is usually based on S-shaped models, mainly due to their accurate long-term predictions. Yet, the use of these models does not allow the introduction of risk in the forecast. In this paper, a methodology for the introduction of uncertainty in the underlying calculations is presented. It is based on the calibration of an Ito stochastic process and the generation of possible forecast paths via Monte Carlo Simulation. Results consist of a probabilistic distribution of future demand, which constitutes a risk assessment of the diffusion process under study. The proposed methodology can find applications in all high-technology markets, where a diffusion model is usually applied for obtaining future forecasts.