Determination of agro-ecological zones in Africa: ILCA activities and expectations

Outlines some of the work being done by ILCA in the field of agroecological zonation and the use of models to predict the effect of environment on pastoral and agricultural systems. Includes plans for future developments and the potential benefits of the work

Fraud Law and Misinfodemics

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many on whom the public depended for truthful information purposefully or recklessly spread misinformation that put thousands at risk. The term “misinfodemic,” coined in 2019, describes such events where misinformation facilitates the spread of a disease or causes some other health-related outcome. Though the term was only recently defined, the recent misinfodemic was not a new or novel phenomenon. False information is spread to the public all the time. This often results in harm to public health. False claims are communicated by corporations seeking to mislead the public to make more money, by politicians to gain votes and support, and by media outlets to increase viewership and advertising revenue. Although these and other deceptions of the public for profit might be unethical, they are legal. This Article explores the question of why. There are two key components to this analysis, one centered on tort law and the other on the First Amendment. This Article will focus only on tort law aspects. This Article discusses how fraud law developed to focus almost exclusively on personal deceptions while almost entirely ignoring impersonal deceptions like deceptions of the public. As a result, there is most often no tort remedy available to individuals harmed by misinfodemics. This Article prescribes a fix for this gap in the law: treat fraud on the public like any other fraud by prohibiting misinformation and punishing those who spread it. Precedent and policy support imposing civil remedies against those who purposefully or recklessly mislead the public for gain. The important First Amendment aspects of this issue will be addressed in future scholarship

Intended Injury: Transferred Intent and Reliance in Climate Change Fraud

For an intended injury the law is astute to discover even very remote causation. - Justice Thurgood Marshall ExxonMobil, the world\u27s largest oil company, misled the public about climate change for at least two decades. Several states\u27 attorneys general have opened investigations into the potential criminality of the company\u27s conduct. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened its own investigation. Criminal or not, however, ExxonMobil\u27s conduct closely resembles schemes carried out by the tobacco, asbestos, opioid, sugar, and leaded gasoline industries, among others. The scheme is always the same: there is a product that is both profitable and destructive, but its destructiveness is not readily apparent because the causal connection between the product and the harm it causes can only be bridged with scientific knowledge. Moreover, companies selling the product tell the public that the science linking the product to the harm it causes is unsettled when, in fact, the science is well-enough established to warrant regulation of the product and imposition of liability for harm caused by it. The corporate message of scientific doubt, in other words, does not square with what scientists know, making the assertion misleading, if not illegal

Disinformation and the First Amendment: Fraud on the Public

(Excerpt) Following the 2020 presidential election, the losing candidate, Donald Trump, along with most of the Republican Party, spread the false claim that the election had been stolen by Democrats. Joe Biden, so the claim went, had not been legitimately elected, and was therefore an illegitimate President and needed to be removed. This profitable falsehood6 became known as the “Big Lie.” It was not only baseless, but it was in fact made in spite of and in direct conflict with the overwhelming evidence debunking it. This did not stop people from believing it. Millions bought into the Big Lie, which has caused numerous harms. A few of them are worth noting here to illustrate the problem posed by harmful disinformation. One harm caused by the Big Lie was that it prompted Republicans in dozens of states to attempt to pass hundreds of voter suppression laws to combat nonexistent voter fraud. The irony of these laws is that, while the motivation behind them was a fictional threat to the electoral process, the effect of the laws is a real threat to the electoral process: disenfranchisement of American voters. The laws are designed to disenfranchise those voters Republicans view as likely to vote for someone other than the Republican candidate, a voting bloc that includes minority groups, college students, college graduates, and those living in and around cities. In addition to an attack on voting rights, the Big Lie also caused the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. After weeks of false claims in the media of widespread election and voter fraud, the “Stop the Steal” rally was organized in Washington, D.C. There, after a string of speakers spread inflammatory rhetoric to the gathered crowd of thousands, Trump took the stage and told those in attendance he would “never concede” the election, which he called “stolen.” In the speech, Trump called on Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results. Trump’s speech contained falsehoods that inflamed the crowd, calling on those in attendance to go to the Capitol stating, “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” while at the same time calling Biden “an illegitimate president.” Other Republicans also inflamed the crowd. Following the rally, the crowd marched on the Capitol, overwhelmed the police, and broke into the building. In addition to property damage and stolen items from the Capitol, five people died during the storming of the Capitol, including a Capitol Police officer. At least 138 police officers were injured, including fifteen hospitalized with severe injuries. For example, one D.C. Metro police officer “was hit six times with a stun gun,” suffered a heart attack, and “lost the tip of” one of his fingers. Another officer suffered “two cracked ribs and two smashed spinal discs,” another lost an eye, another “lost three fingers,” another was impaled “with a metal fence stake,” and a large number of officers suffered brain trauma, including several with concussions

The pursuit of happiness : an exploration of older adults' intentional happiness-enhancing activities and their association with wellbeing and health : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Research on the wellbeing of older adults is becoming increasingly important in order to inform social policy and planning relating to the growing aging population. Happiness has been identified as an important social policy objective and wellbeing indicator and research indicates that intentional happiness-enhancing activities provide a promising avenue for enhancing wellbeing. However, limited research has been conducted on the intentional activities people choose to engage in to enhance their happiness, particularly in regard to older adults. Another limitation of the intentional activities research to date is the predominant focus on happiness as the criterion variable. Health is another important factor to consider, especially given the physical declines that occur with age. Research support for the influence of intentional activities on happiness, and for the positive influence of happiness on health, indicate promise for improving wellbeing and health outcomes for older adults. However, given the limited research to date, further work is required. A programme comprising four studies was designed to address these research limitations. Study One explored the intentional happiness-enhancing activities of older adults with a thematic analysis of interviews with 23 adults (aged 56–76 years). The results of this study informed the second study, which involved the development of a measure of older adults’ happiness-enhancing activities and initial empirical testing of this measure using survey responses from a population sample of 2313 older adults (55-73 year olds). The third study used the same data to examine relationships between happiness-enhancing activities, happiness, and health outcomes, and to test a hypothesised intentional activity to happiness to health pathway. The final study extended the previous research by employing a longitudinal investigation with a population sample of 1730 older adults to further clarify the nature of relationships between intentional activities, wellbeing, and health outcomes. The results of this research indicate that older adults’ intentional activities are positively related to happiness, life satisfaction, and life meaning, and that these are in turn predictive of better physical and mental health. These findings point to potential benefits of promoting older adults’ intentional activities, particularly self-concordant and socially-oriented activities, for enhancing wellbeing and health

Moisture availability, cropping period and the prospects of early warning of famine in Ethiopia

Estimates moisture availability in Ethiopia since 1953, using a model developed by the FAO; correlates results of the analysis using existing meteorological data with the recorded incidence of drought and famine