Small portion sizes in worksite cafeterias: do they help consumers to reduce their food intake?

Background:Environmental interventions directed at portion size might help consumers to reduce their food intake.Objective:To assess whether offering a smaller hot meal, in addition to the existing size, stimulates people to replace their large meal with a smaller meal.Design:Longitudinal randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of introducing small portion sizes and pricing strategies on consumer choices.Setting/participants:In all, 25 worksite cafeterias and a panel consisting of 308 consumers (mean age39.18 years, 50% women).Intervention:A small portion size of hot meals was offered in addition to the existing size. The meals were either proportionally priced (that is, the price per gram was comparable regardless of the size) or value size pricing was employed.Main outcome measures:Daily sales of small and the total number of meals, consumers self-reported compensation behavior and frequency of purchasing small meals.Results:The ratio of small meals sales in relation to large meals sales was 10.2%. No effect of proportional pricing was found B0.11 (0.33), P0.74, confidence interval (CI): 0.76 to 0.54). The consumer data indicated that 19.5% of the participants who had selected a small meal often-to-always purchased more products than usual in the worksite cafeteria. Small meal purchases were negatively related to being male (B0.85 (0.20), P0.00, CI: 1.24 to 0.46, n178).Conclusion:When offering a small meal in addition to the existing size, a percentage of consumers that is considered reasonable were inclined to replace the large meal with the small meal. Proportional prices did not have an additional effect. The possible occurrence of compensation behavior is an issue that merits further attention. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved

facing the challenges of climate change and food security : the role of research, extension and communication for development

In line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this study defines climate change as any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity. This report is a shortened version of the final study report, produced on request of FAO. The purpose of the shortened report is twofold: (1) to serve as a planning document to sharpen the climate change focus of research, extension and communication for development institutions (including FAO’s) in developing effective and relevant support activities for their partners and (2) to communicate the climate change support activities implemented by FAO in this field to potential partners and inform them about possible strategies and specific approaches that will enhance the role of extension, research and communication institutions and services for climate change adaptation (CCA). Besides introduction into the topic (section 1) the report discusses the context of climate change adaptation and its linkages with food security (section 2) and the analytical framework which has been used for the study (section 3). Subsequently, lessons learned from the case studies (section 4) are presented. A sketch of a new-style role for agriculture innovation support service agencies, including FAO (section 5) is provided. Finally, Annex 1 provides a more detailed conceptual framework linking agriculture innovation to the work of research, extension and communication for development

Interaction Between Arteriosclerosis and Amyloid-β on Cognitive Function

Background: Dementia is a multifactorial disease, with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular pathology often co-occurring in many individuals with dementia. Yet, the interplay between AD and vascular pathology in cognitive decline is largely undetermined. Objective: The aim of the present study was to examine the joint effect of arteriosclerosis and AD pathology on cognition in the general population without dementia. Methods: We determined the interaction between blood-based AD biomarkers and CT-defined arteriosclerosis on cognition in 2,229 dementia-free participants of the population-based Rotterdam Study (mean age: 68.9 years, 52% women) crosssectionally. Results: Amyloid-β (Aβ)42 and arterial calcification were associated with cognitive performance. After further adjustment for confounders in a model that combined all biomarkers, only arterial calcification remained independently associated with cognition. There was a significant interaction between arterial calcification and Aβ42 and between arterial calcification and the ratio of Aβ42/40. Yet, estimates attenuated, and interactions were no longer statistically significant after adjustment for cardio metabolic risk factors. Conclusions: Arteriosclerosis and AD display additive interaction-effects on cognition in the general population, that are due in part to cardio metabolic risk factors. These findings suggest that joint assessment of arteriosclerosis and AD pathology is important for understanding of disease etiology in individuals with cognitive impairment.</p

Societal Innovation: between dream and reality lies complexity

Jan Rotmans (1961) is one of the founders of Integrated Assessment (IA), and has outstanding experience in IA modeling, scenario-building, uncertainty management and transition management. During the past twenty years he has led a diversity of innovative projects in the field of climate change, global change, sustainable development and transitions and system innovations. He is founder and director of the International Centre for Integrative Studies (ICIS) (1998) at Maastricht University. Since 2004 he is a full professor in Transitions and Transition Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where he founded the DRIFT-institute: Dutch Research Institute For Transitions. He is vice-president of The Integrated Assessment Society (TIAS), and founder and director of the Dutch Knowledge Network on System Innovations and Transitions (KSI). Jan Rotmans is founder of two scientific journals, Environmental Modeling and Assessment and Integrated Assessment, and has published ten books and more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles in journals and books in the fields of environment, sustainability, governance, transitions and system innovations.There are no easy, off-the-shelf solutions for persistent societal problems, because these are caused by fundamental flaws in our societal systems. Such systemic errors demand radical changes in our thinking and actions, i.e. transitions and system innovations. Transitions require a long period (one to two generations), and take time, patience, money, confidence, but also courage, daring and perseverance to gain the upper hand over various types of resistance. Research into transitions is by definition multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. For this we need knowledge and experience from systems analysis, social administration, history, innovation science, economics, business administration and technology. The nature of research into transitions is fundamental, explorative, creative and practical. A conceptual framework for research into transitions is presented that consists of four interlinked conceptual building blocks, which in turn provide an outline of a transition theory in its embryonic stages. These concepts are rooted in common notions from complexity theory, new forms of governance and social theory. Central here is the concept of transition management, for which a new management framework is developed. Transition management is an attempt to tackle persistent stubborn problems by steering them in a more sustainable direction, through a visionary, cyclical process of putting issues on the agenda, learning, orchestrating and experimenting. Not based on management and control but through clever, subtle changes and adjustments at several levels concurrently. Transition management is a very promising management concept that can initially be applied to a wide range of complex societal problems: from health care to energy provision, and from social security to mobility. Transition management can also be applied to complex processes of change in a business context.Voor hardnekkige maatschappelijke problemen bestaan geen pasklare oplossingen. Deze zijn het gevolg van weeffouten in onze maatschappelijke stelsels. Deze systeemfouten vergen radicale veranderingen in ons denken en handelen: transities en systeeminnovaties. Transities vergen een lange periode (1 à 2 generaties), en kosten tijd, geduld, geld, vertrouwen, maar ook moed, durf en doorzettingsvermogen om verschillende soorten weerstand te overwinnen. Onderzoek naar transities is per definitie multi-en interdisciplinair, waarbij kennis nodig is vanuit de systeemkunde, bestuurskunde, geschiedenis, innovatiewetenschappen, economie, bedrijfskunde en techniek. Transitieonderzoek is zowel fundamenteel, exploratief, ontwerpend en praktisch van aard. Een conceptueel kader voor transitieonderzoek wordt gepresenteerd, dat bestaat uit een viertal samenhangende conceptuele bouwstenen, die de contouren vormen van een transitietheorie in wording. Deze concepten zijn geworteld in gemeenschappelijke noties uit de complexiteitstheorie, nieuwe vormen van governance en de sociale theorie. Centraal hierin staat het concept van transitiemanagement, waarvoor een nieuw sturingsraamwerk is ontwikkeld. Transitiemanagement beoogt hardnekkige problemen bij te sturen in een meer duurzame richting, via een visionair, cyclisch proces van agenderen, leren, instrumenteren en experimenteren. Niet op basis van controle en beheersing, maar via slim, subtiel schakelen en bijsturen op meerdere niveaus. Transitiemanagement is een veelbelovend sturingsconcept wat in beginsel toepasbaar is op tal van complexe maatschappelijke problemen: van gezondheidszorg tot energievoorziening, en van sociale zekerheid tot mobiliteit. Ook in de bedrijfscontext kan transitiemanagement worden toegepast op complexe veranderingsprocessen

Farmers’ perceptions of climate change : identifying types

Ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture have been set by both national governments and their respective livestock sectors. We hypothesize that farmer self-identity influences their assessment of climate change and their willingness to im- plement measures which address the issue. Perceptions of climate change were determined from 286 beef/sheep farmers and evaluated using principal component analysis (PCA). The analysis elicits two components which evaluate identity (productivism and environmental responsibility), and two components which evaluate behavioral capacity to adopt mitigation and adaptation measures (awareness and risk perception). Subsequent Cluster Analyses reveal four farmer types based on the PCA scores. ‘The Productivist’ and ‘The Countryside Steward’ portray low levels of awareness of climate change, but differ in their motivation to adopt pro-environmental behavior. Conversely, both ‘The Environmentalist’ and ‘The Dejected’ score higher in their awareness of the issue. In addition, ‘The Dejected’ holds a high sense of perceived risk; however, their awareness is not conflated with an explicit understanding of agricultural GHG sources. With the exception of ‘The Environmentalist’, there is an evident disconnect between perceptions of agricultural emission sources and their contribution towards GHG emissions amongst all types. If such linkages are not con- ceptualized, it is unlikely that behavioral capacities will be realized. Effective communication channels which encour- age action should target farmers based on the groupings depicted. Therefore, understanding farmer types through the constructs used in this study can facilitate effective and tai- lored policy development and implementation

Digital Platforms in Climate Information Service Delivery for Farming in Ghana

AbstractPhone-based applications, Internet connectivity, and big data are enabling climate change adaptations. From ICT for development and agriculture perspectives, great interest exists in how digital platforms support climate information provision for smallholder farmers in Africa. The vast majority of these platforms both private and public are for delivering climate information services and for data collection. The sheer number of digital platforms in the climate information sector has created a complex information landscape for potential information users, with platforms differing in information type, technology, geographic coverage, and financing structures and infrastructure. This chapter mapped the existing climate information services and examined their impact on policy and practices in smallholder farming development in Africa, with a focus on Ghana. Specifically, the chapter provides highlights of digital platforms available to smallholder farmers and agricultural extension agents, analyzes the public and/or private governance arrangements that underpin the implementation of digital climate information delivery, and assesses the potential of these platforms in scaling up the use of climate information. The chapter contributes to understanding the dynamics of climate information delivery with digital tools in Africa, and suggests a future research agenda

Stakeholder collaboration in climate-smart agricultural production innovations: insights from the Cocoa industry in Ghana

Although collaboration is vital in addressing global environmental sustainability challenges, research understanding on stakeholder engagement in climate-smart production innovation adoption and implementation, remains limited. In this paper, we advance knowledge about stakeholder collaboration by examining the roles played by stakeholders in scaling up ecological sustainability innovations. Using the illustrative context and case of green cocoa industry in Ghana, the analysis identified three distinctive phases of stakeholder engagement in ecological sustainability innovations implemented from 1960-2017. We highlight defining periods of ecological challenges encompassing the production recovery sustainability initiative phase solely driven by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD)–a governmental body responsible for production, processing and marketing of cocoa, coffee and sheanut. During the period, major initiatives were driven by non-governmental organisations in collaboration with COCOBOD to implement the Climate-Smart agriculture scheme in the cocoa sector. The findings have implications for cocoa production research and stakeholder collaboration in environmental innovations adoption