Culture

HOUSTON - (March 15, 2021) - Increased internet-access spending by Texas public schools improved academic performance but also led to more disciplinary problems among students, a study of 9,000 schools conducted by a research team from Rice University, Texas A&M University and the University of Notre Dame shows.

Whether students benefit from increased internet access in public schools has been an open question, according to the researchers. For example, some parents and policy advocates contend it increases children's access to obscene or harmful content and disciplinary problems. Others believe it promotes personalized learning and higher student engagement.

To address these policy questions, the research team created a multiyear dataset (2000-14) of 1,243 school districts representing more than 9,000 Texas public schools. The team measured internet-access spending, 11 academic performance indicators and 47 types of school disciplinary problems. It used econometric techniques to develop causal estimates linking internet-access spending to academic performance and disciplinary problems. Using student earning, the researchers calculated the economic impact of increased annual internet spending.

To date, this is the largest and most comprehensive study linking school internet-access spending to academic and disciplinary outcomes, the researchers said.

The team found that increased school district internet spending is associated with not only improved graduation rates, but also higher numbers of students meeting SAT/ACT criterion and completing advanced courses. It also led to an improvement in commended performance in math, reading, writing and social studies. Interestingly, the researchers noted these improvements were stronger for students who lived in counties with greater internet access (as measured by the number of broadband providers).

On the flip side, increased school district internet spending also led to higher rates of disciplinary problems at schools, they said.

The team also calculated how much economic benefit a school district's internet access will bring students during their lifetimes. It found that a $600,000 increase in annual internet-access spending produces a financial gain of approximately $820,000 to $1.8 million per school district, together with losses from disciplinary problems totaling $25,800 to $53,440.

In other words, investments in internet access are well worth the costs.

"We are proud that Texas public schools can serve as a live learning case for understanding education policy," said study co-author Vikas Mittal, a professor of marketing at Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business. "Investments in internet access provide clear and meaningful academic benefits. Yet, schools need to implement policies to address increased disciplinary issues such as cyberbullying.

"K-12 education has transformed into virtual learning due to COVID-19," he continued. "Our research conclusions apply to a setting where physical learning is supplemented by internet access."

However, Mittal cautioned that these benefits cannot be expected to hold if physical learning is completely supplanted by internet-based learning.

If you are a consumer and/or entrepreneur who can make decisions based on cost, competition, supply and demand, you probably possess an element of marketplace literacy.

"Marketplace literacy" is defined as the knowledge and skills that enable individuals to participate in a marketplace both as consumers and entrepreneurs. San Diego State University marketing professor Nita Umashankar, along with professors Madhubalan Viswanathan (Loyola Marymount University), Arun Sreekumar (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign) and Ashley Goreczny (Iowa State University), explored the impact on marketplace literacy on approximately 1,000 people in 34 remote villages in India and Tanzania.

The four researchers set out to find how marketplace literacy would affect the villagers' psychological wellbeing, consumer confidence and decision-making ability, as well as the entrepreneurial outcomes for those with limited marketplace access. Their research, titled "Marketplace Literacy as a Pathway to a Better World: Evidence from Field Experiments in Low-Access Subsistence Marketplaces," was published in the Journal of Marketing in February 2021. This was the first research of its kind to demonstrate the effect of marketplace literacy on multiple forms of wellbeing.

"While many multinational companies have increased their efforts to engage subsistence consumers like those in our study, we found a disconnect in the consumers' ability to participate in the marketplace efficiently and in a manner that offers them maximum benefit," said Umashankar. "Without marketplace literacy, consumers are often cheated by marketers. They buy higher-priced and lower quality products, and they cannot advocate for themselves. In addition, as entrepreneurs, they lack the skill to attract customers, distribution expertise, and the ability to learn from other entrepreneurs."

Entrepreneurship Arises Out of Necessity

According to the research, marketplace literacy is important to subsistence consumers like those involved in the study because consumption and entrepreneurship are deeply intertwined within the culture. "Consumers in subsistence environments face chronic resource constraints including the lack of access to financial resources and technical skills while they may be subject to periodic surges in household expenses," said Umashankar. "With this in mind, subsistence consumers become microentrepreneurs out of necessity to meet unexpected expenses. For example, they may sell fruits and vegetables, create handicrafts or manage a pop-up restaurant to gain additional capital, but their lack of marketplace literacy may compromise their profitability, product quality or ability to make impactful business decisions."

To test their hypotheses, the researchers worked with an established field team in a rural area of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, to test the effect of marketplace literacy on the psychological wellbeing of 392 women farmers in 18 different villages in the area. Half of the women participated in two half-day marketplace literacy education sessions, while the other half attended no sessions, or they attended educational sessions that were not focused on marketplace literacy. All participants were surveyed about their psychological wellbeing, their consumer confidence, and their existing marketplace literacy before the educational intervention process and again nine weeks afterward.

Both groups reported similar survey results prior to participation. However, after the educational intervention, those receiving the marketplace literacy education reported higher levels of psychological wellbeing, greater consumer confidence, and greater marketplace literacy. This is especially the case for participants who lacked easy access to a marketplace. In other words, the most remote participants benefitted from the most from marketplace literacy.

In the second phase of the research (field experiment 3), the setting was moved to Tanzania where the team identified four tribal villages that ranged from 0 to 30 kilometers (18.64 miles) from a weekly marketplace. In this case, 248 men and women participated in the research trials with half the participants engaging in a marketplace literacy program while the others (the control group) participated in a sustainability literacy program. As in the Indian study, the Tanzanian participants were surveyed prior to the administration of the educational program as well as three weeks afterward, however, in this case, consumer decision-making ability and entrepreneurial behavior of the Tanzanian participants were measured as opposed to the psychological factors for the Indian participants.

Those Who Benefit Most from Marketplace Literacy

When the results of the post-education survey were tabulated, the researchers found that not only did those with marketplace literacy engage in greater entrepreneurial behavior, but that many of the participants started their own enterprise three weeks after the educational programs. The benefits of marketplace literacy for those who started income-generating microenterprises were greatest for those who had access to a marketplace. They also found that those receiving the marketplace literacy education said they were now able to assess a product's quality and negotiate for a better price and that the educational programs had their greatest positive impact on the participants that lived the furthest from the weekly marketplace.

At the conclusion of the research, the researchers determined that:

Improvements in marketplace literacy can improve wellbeing, which could have broad ripple effects

Marketplace literacy in subsistence environments can improve individuals' lives and livelihoods

Marketplace access must be considered in improving long-term positive outcomes

While the research was conducted in India and Tanzania, the findings also had implications in the U.S. as well. "During the COVID-19 crisis, many Americans have become micro-entrepreneurs out of necessity. They've become Lyft or Uber drivers, started selling products on Etsy or eBay, or have picked up construction or cleaning jobs to make ends meet," says Umashankar. "However, most Americans lack the marketplace literacy to operate a business. They don't know how to efficiently sell products or services, how to attract consumers, how to provide quality service and how to address consumer needs."

Potential remedies to improving marketplace literacy, according to Umashankar and the other researchers, is to scale up educational programs by advocating for policies that reward organizations for adhering to consumer protection standards. They also recommend that additional research be carried out in developing economies that further explore issues like gender roles, income, market access level and education, and how those attributes may contribute to the effectiveness of marketplace literacy.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, a stimulus package introduced by the Biden Administration, recently received Congress' approval. The stimulus package, like its two predecessors aimed at providing relief for individuals and businesses hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic, includes another round of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

The American Rescue Plan includes $7.25 billion for PPP loans as well as a number of changes to make it easier for the smallest of businesses to gain access to the funding. With billions on the table for struggling small businesses, new research from the University of Florida Warrington College of Business finds that community banks are a critical source for helping these businesses keep their workforce employed during the pandemic through PPP loan access.

"Smaller community banks have traditionally been an important source of funding for small businesses," said Christopher James, William H. Dial/SunTrust Eminent Scholar and research author. "Community banks tend to be relationship lend­ers, characterized by local ownership, local control and local decision making. Relationship lenders had strong incentives to make PPP loans in order to preserve small business relationships in the face of the massive economic downturn caused the pandemic."

In their research, James, Warrington Ph.D. student Jing Lu and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Yangfan Sun, find that community banks were able to respond faster to PPP loan requests from small businesses as compared to larger banks. They also find that community banks made more PPP loans per dollar of deposits than larger banks, particularly during the early stages of the pandemic.

"Community banks tend to specialize in lending based on close personal ties between the loan officer and the small business customer," James said. "This type of lending requires providing branch managers with greater decision rights in making lending decisions. As a result, lenders at community banks were able to respond faster when the PPP was introduced."

Consistent with community bank focus on small business lending and their faster implementation of PPP lending, the authors find significantly more PPP loans per small business in counties where community banks had higher market shares. More important, the authors find that higher levels of PPP lending are associated with significantly fewer small business bankruptcies.

"The goal of PPP was to mitigate the adverse impact of the pandemic on small businesses," James said. "The significantly lower rate of bankruptcies among small businesses in areas with higher levels of PPP lending suggests that the PPP provided real benefits to small businesses."

Overall, James, Lu and Sun's research finds that community banks are an important source for small businesses when crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, arise and business owners need to secure help quickly to continue paying their employees.

Louisiana State University researchers recently published findings that blight leads to an increased abundance of disease-carrying mosquitoes. The researchers investigated the presence of several mosquito species in two adjacent but socio-economically contrasting neighborhoods in Baton Rouge: the historic Garden District, a high-income neighborhood, and the Old South neighborhood, a low-income area. They found significantly higher adult and larvae abundance of the Asian tiger mosquito (a carrier of Zika and dengue) and higher mosquito habitat availability--particularly discarded tires--in the Old South neighborhood. This indicates that environmental conditions in the low-income neighborhood were most ideal for this mosquito to breed and proliferate.

"These two neighborhoods are very similar in terms of vegetation cover, human population and density of households. One of the main differences is blight. One neighborhood has a lot of blight in the form of abandoned residences, empty lots and mismanaged waste, and the other neighborhood does not. It was the perfect set of conditions for addressing this question," said Rebeca de Jesús Crespo, lead author and an assistant professor in LSU's College of the Coast & Environment.

In recent years, the Old South neighborhood has been the focus of revitalization plans by multiple stakeholder groups. The researchers recommended that these blight reduction efforts continue for the benefit of public health.

"This is an area at high risk of these mosquito-borne diseases," said Madison Harrison, co-author of the publication. "All that it takes for these diseases to spread is for the right vector to be infected with the pathogen and to bite humans at the right point of incubation of said pathogen."

So far, Zika and dengue are not currently present in the state. However, Louisiana's climate is ideal for these diseases to spread once introduced.

According to de Jesús Crespo, Harrison was an invaluable addition to the team. Currently, she is a public health master's student at LSU Health New Orleans.

"In the College of the Coast & Environment, for almost every project that we do, we are integrated and interdisciplinary. We take a broad approach to doing research that is important for solving problems in real time. For this project, it was important to me to include Madison from LSU Health Sciences as well as community stakeholders who could provide their expertise and unique perspectives," de Jesús Crespo said.

The researchers examined the prevalence of two container-breeding species of mosquitoes that are known to spread disease, the Asian tiger mosquito and the southern house mosquito (a carrier of West Nile virus). They inspected potential larvae habitats (such as discarded tires, discarded Styrofoam cups and snack bags, plant pots and water baths) in publicly accessible locations and calculated the percentage of those that contained larvae. Additionally, they placed adult mosquito traps around the perimeter of some private homes with the permission from the homeowner, in an abandoned house and in an empty lot with trash accumulation in the higher income neighborhood.

They found that the adult population of the southern house mosquito was fairly diffuse, but the lower income neighborhood had significantly higher numbers of Asian tiger mosquito (adults and larvae) and higher numbers of total mosquito larvae. This shows that the presence of discarded container habitats due to neglect provides more breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes, disproportionately affecting low-income groups.

"I think everybody can agree that urban blight is a problem we need to solve here in Baton Rouge. Mosquito risk is one of those factors that could impact human health and that adds another level of importance with that," de Jesús Crespo said.

An important Maya man buried nearly 1,300 years ago led a privileged yet difficult life. The man, a diplomat named Ajpach' Waal, suffered malnutrition or illness as a child, but as an adult he helped negotiate an alliance between two powerful dynasties that ultimately failed. The ensuing political instability left him in reduced economic circumstances, and he probably died in relative obscurity.

During excavations at El Palmar, a small plaza compound in Mexico near the borders of Belize and Guatemala, archaeologists led by Kenichiro Tsukamoto, an assistant professor of anthropology at UC Riverside, discovered a hieroglyph-adorned stairway leading up to a ceremonial platform. When deciphered, the hieroglyphs revealed that in June, 726 CE, Ajpach' Waal traveled and met the king of Copán, 350 miles away in Honduras, to forge an alliance with the king of Calakmul, near El Palmar.

The findings, published in the journal Latin American Antiquity, shed light on the role communities peripheral to major centers played in cementing connections between royal families during the Late Classic period (600-800 CE), and the ways they might suffer when something shattered those alliances.

The inscriptions identified Ajpach' Waal as a "lakam," or standard-bearer, an ambassador that carried a banner as they walked on diplomatic missions between cities. He inherited this lofty position through his father's lineage, and his mother also came from an elite family. Ajpach' Waal must have considered this his crowning achievement because the hieroglyphs indicate he was not given the platform by El Palmar's ruler, but had it built it for himself a few months after the mission in September, 726 CE. The platform served as a sort of theatrical stage where spectacular rituals were performed for an audience, with only influential people able to build their own.

Beneath the floor of a temple next to the platform, Tsukamoto discovered the undisturbed burial of a male skeleton in a small chamber. Though interred in a location that suggested ownership of the platform and temple, unlike other elite Maya burials, only two colorfully decorated clay pots -- no jewelry or other grave goods -- had accompanied this individual into the underworld.

In the new paper, Tsukamoto and Jessica I. Cerezo-Roma?n, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, study the bones of the person buried in this puzzling tomb to tell his story.

"His life is not like we expected based on the hieroglyphics," Tsukamoto said. "Many people say that the elite enjoyed their lives, but the story is usually more complex."

The man was between 35 and 50 years old when he died. Several dating methods, including radiocarbon, stratigraphy, and ceramic typology, suggest the burial occurred around 726, when the stairway was constructed. The high status of the individual combined with proximity to the stairway lead the authors to believe that this was probably Ajpach' Waal himself, or possibly his father.

All his upper front teeth, from right canine to left, had been drilled to hold decorative implants of pyrite and jade, which was valuable and highly regulated. Maya living in geographic areas associated with ruling elites underwent this painful procedure during puberty as a rite of passage to mark their inclusion within a high office or social group. Ajpach' Waal might have received such implants when he inherited his father's title.

The skull had been mildly flattened in back from prolonged contact with something flat during infancy, which the Maya believed made a person more attractive. Because the front of the cranium was not preserved, the archaeologists could not tell if the forehead had been similarly flattened, a beautification practice limited to royalty.

Other aspects of the bones belied the privilege displayed by the dental and cranial modifications. Some of his arm bones had healed periostitis, caused by bacterial infections, trauma, scurvy, or rickets, which would have made his arm ache until the condition improved. Both sides of the skull had slightly porous, spongy areas known as porotic hyperostosis, caused by childhood nutritional deficiencies or illnesses. The condition is relatively common in burials throughout the Maya world, suggesting Ajpach' Waal's high status couldn't shield him from malnutrition and disease.

A healed fracture on his right tibia, or shinbone, resembles fractures seen in modern athletes who play contact sports such as football, rugby, or soccer. This could indicate he played some of the ballgames depicted on the stairway, strengthening the case that this was Ajpach' Waal.

Long before he died, the individual had lost many teeth on the left side of his lower jaw due to gum disease and might have had a painful abscess on his lower right premolar, all of which would have restricted his diet to soft foods. One inlaid tooth had thickened near the root in response to the injury of drilling and could have ached.

He also developed arthritis in his hands, right elbow, left knee, left ankle, and feet as he aged, which would have caused stiffness and pain, especially in the morning. Tsukamoto and Cerezo-Roma?n suggest that his arthritis might have been caused by carrying a banner on a pole for long distances over rugged terrain and walking and up and down stairways. He would have also been required to kneel on the platforms of Maya rulers.

As if these maladies weren't enough, fate conspired to change Ajpach' Waal's fortunes.

"The ruler of a subordinate dynasty decapitated Copán's king 10 years after his alliance with Calakmul, which was also defeated by a rival dynasty around the same time," Tsukamoto said. "We see the political and economic instability that followed both these events in the sparse burial and in one of the inlaid teeth."

The archaeologists determined that the inlay in Ajpach' Waal's right canine tooth had fallen out and was not replaced before his death because dental plaque had hardened into calculus in the cavity. The hole, easily visible when the man smiled or spoke, would have been an embarrassing, public admission of hardship or El Palmar's reduced significance. This also would have made him a less useful emissary if he still occupied the role.

Though people continued living at El Palmar for some time after Ajpach' Waal's death, it was eventually abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle.

Ketone bodies are generally an alternative energy source during starvation, but in newborns, ketogenesis is active regardless of nutritional status. In a recent study from Kumamoto University (Japan), researchers analyzed the effects of ketogenesis in mice and found that it has a protective effect on cells by maintaining the function of mitochondria. They expect that this effect can be used in future therapies for protecting mitochondria and organs.

Ketones, along with glucose and fatty acids, are metabolites used as energy sources. In particular, ketones are known to be an alternative energy source during periods of fasting or starvation. However, ketogenesis is known to be active in the neonatal period regardless of the number of calories consumed during nursing, and role it plays in newborns is not well understood.

To search for answers, researchers generated ketogenesis-deficient mice that lacked the gene for HMG-CoA Synthase 2 (HMGCS2), an important enzyme ketogenesis. Their analysis showed that, in the absence of ketone bodies, the mice developed a severely fatty liver during the neonatal period.

Focusing on the mitochondria, they showed that enzymatic reactions in the mitochondria, mainly the Krebs cycle, were impaired. Nutrients are converted to acetyl CoA during the Krebs cycle, which is then converted to citric acid and seven other acids to produce energy. In the search for the cause of the dysfunction, researchers confirmed that the accumulation of the substrate acetyl CoA (due to insufficient ketogenesis) impairs the functions of proteins in the mitochondria by adding excessive acetylation.

"During a rapid increase in fatty acid intake with postnatal nursing, active ketogenesis under normal conditions has a protective effect by preventing excessive acetylation of mitochondrial proteins and maintaining mitochondrial function," said study leader Dr. Yuichiro Arima. "We believe that this result will be used in therapeutic applications for mitochondrial and organ protection in the future."

Note: The dwarf galaxy corresponding to the Gaia-Sausage structure of the Milky Way was named Enceladus by astronomers, after one of the hundred-handed giants in Greek mythology who opposed the rule of Zeus.

Looking up at the starry sky, the deep Universe appears quiet and mysterious. It is hard to imagine that the ancient dwarf galaxy Enceladus violently collided and was torn apart by our own Milky Way Galaxy, leaving behind the cries of a whole new generation of children from the hundred-handed giant. Recently, SCIENCE CHINA: Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy published an (Editor's Focus) article titled "Low-α Metal-rich stars with sausage kinematics in the LAMOST survey: Are they from the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus Galaxy?" (Vol. 64, No. 3, 2021) co-authored by Gang Zhao and Yuqin Chen, researchers from the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The article depicts the tortuous process of how the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) dwarf galaxy mysteriously disappeared in a major merger event that occurred long ago in the early history of the Milky Way, and tells the story of how the authors search for their member stars via a multipath exploration method. Simultaneously, two commentaries by Prof. Yipeng Jing from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Prof. Zhanwen Han from Yunnan Observatory were published.

Dances with wolves - The Accretion of the GSE by the Milky Way

In the cosmic family, there are massive galaxies such as the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy, but more numerous are dwarf galaxy members such as Sagittarius, the Magellanic Clouds, and GSE. In its long evolutionary history, the Milky Way has been constantly interacting, colliding, and eventually merging with nearby dwarf galaxies, leading to the formation of many substructures. In 2018, the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite detected the so-called "Gaia-Sausage" structure in velocity space (Figure 1), which is the debris of the GSE dwarf galaxy after "dancing" with the Milky Way. Numerical simulations have revealed that the GSE dwarf galaxy collided head-on with the Milky Way and was buried deep within the Galactic Center 10 billion years ago. The strong impact force in the biggest splash "heated" disk stars up to the Galactic halo, above 4 kpc from the Galactic plane. This is the largest merger event in the Milky Way's ancient history. This discovery is a milestone in the research field of galaxy formation and evolution.

Being towards Death- GSE Merger Brings New Vitality into the Galaxy

After the GSE dwarf galaxy fell into the Milky Way, this family was completely dissolved, and it is hard to find its member stars in space. In search for these missing member stars, Prof. Gang Zhao proposed a multi-path exploration on the GSE debris based on the LAMOST survey, which opened up a new path to find the merging imprints in velocity space, orbital space, and chemical space by combining forces of two large spectral and astrometric surveys. Based on LAMOST and Gaia data, he and his colleague picked out possible GSE member stars in velocity space. Then they adopted chemical abundances as a DNA test for membership identification, since chemical composition does not vary with stellar positions or motions. In total, they identified 1534 low-α metal-rich member stars of GSE among the 8 million stars from the LAMOST data. This is the first discovery of a low-α metal-rich component of the GSE galaxy. Figure 2 shows that this newly discovered component naturally extends from the previously detected metal-poor component.

They calculated spatial distributions and estimated the ages of these member stars. Surprisingly, the stars are young, but reach to 4 kpc above the Galactic plane. Since the GSE merger event happened 10 billion years ago, when these member stars were not even born, it is impossible that the "splash" process could bring disk stars to such high positions. This caused doubt on the previous picture of the GSE merging process. Zhao and Chen suggested that these low-α metal-rich member stars had not undergone the splash process but were newly formed from the metal-rich gas of the GSE merger during subsequent evolution. This suggestion is consistent with the hydro-dynamical simulation by Amarante et al. that produces bimodal disk chemistry. Observationally, this work proves that the GSE dwarf galaxy is a clumpy Milky-Way-like analogue, which updates our understanding of the chemical evolution of the GSE galaxy.

The GSE merger even is essential to the evolution of the Milky Way. It not only brought in GSE member stars with a different chemical composition, but also changed the distribution of stars in the Milky Way. What's more, it brought metal-rich gas and triggered new star formation, radiating new vitality in the Milky Way.

Promising Future--Joining Hands to Build the Milky Way Home and March toward the Andromeda Galaxy

In order to verify the bimodal disk chemistry of the GSE galaxy, the authors studied the distribution in orbital space for GSE metal-rich member stars sharing the same velocity but different chemistry. It is found that both high-α and low-α metal-rich stars exhibit the same clumps and strips as shown in Figure 3, which suggests that they are all accreted from GSE and respond to the Galactic gravitational potential in the same way. Interestingly, the dense strip at Zmax=3-5 kpc forms a clear disk-halo transition at 4 kpc from the Galactic plane.

How did the GSE merger form this transition? This is due to the observational effect caused by the unique speed of the GSE member stars under the influence of the gravitational potential of the Milky Way. Since GSE members have nearly zero rotation and their vertical velocities at Zmax (the highest point in their orbits) are also zero, they spend a longer time at Zmax than at other positions (non-zero velocity), leading to a pile-up of stars at |Z|~ 4 kpc. It's just like cars on the highway. When you're stuck in a traffic jam, the speed is very low, and you can see a lot of cars clustered together, while few cars are shown at a given place where the speed is high. As a large number of GSE member stars have Zmax=3-5 kpc, we observe a high-density region at |Z|~4kpc. Since their radial velocities are neither zero nor identical (see Figure 1), what we see is not a clump, but the long strip shown in Figure 3.

Why can't this disk-halo transition be caused by other dwarf galaxies? The transition depends on not only the velocity characteristics and mass of the dwarf galaxy, but also the mass of the Milky Way and the time when the merger event happened. Because the GSE rotates at zero speed and collides head-on with the Milky Way, as well as continuously responds to the Milky Way's gravitational potential, its member stars show this unique orbital feature. Other dwarf galaxies probably produced clumps elsewhere. For example, the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy merged with the Milky Way at a lower inclination, and their member stars clustered at the apogee of their orbits at about 30 kpc, which is considered to be the transition between the inner and outer halo of the Milky Way. Since other dwarf galaxies do not have the orbital characteristics of the GSE and do not contribute to the |Z|=4 kpc transition, we conclude that it is an imprint left only by the GSE merger event.

For decades 4 kpc has been adopted as the disk-halo transition without knowing the reason of its formation. This is the first time to reveal the physical mechanism by which the GSE merger event causes the apparent separation of the Galactic halo and disk at 4 kpc. It is a true portrayal of the hundred-handed giant's (GSE's) children working together to build our Milky Way home.

Over time, the descendants of the GSE and the Galactic inhabitants merged and became indistinguishable in position, kinematic, and chemical space. Under the attraction of gravity, they march toward the distant Andromeda galaxy. According to the latest numerical simulation, our future generations will be able to witness the spectacular collision of the two large galaxies up close and personal in 4 billion years. Eventually, our Milky Way and Andromeda will merge together to become a new galaxy, but our solar system is expected to survive in this merger event.

The future 2-meter China Space Station Telescope (CSST) has great advantages in the systematic search for imprints left by the GSE and in the study of interactions between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy. If you're interested in more stories of galaxy collisions and mergers, stay tuned for further revelations by the CSST project in the future.

SINGAPORE, 16 March 2021 - ETC-159, a made-in-Singapore anti-cancer drug that is currently in early phase clinical trials for use in a subset of colorectal and gynaecological cancers, could also prevent some tumours from resisting therapies by blocking a key DNA repair mechanism, researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore reported in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.

Among the many therapies used to treat cancers, inhibitors of the enzyme poly (ADP ribose) polymerase (PARP) prevent cancer cells from repairing naturally occurring DNA damage, including unwanted/harmful breaks in the DNA. When too many breaks accumulate, the cell dies.

"Some cancers have an overactive Wnt signalling pathway that may make them resistant to this sort of DNA damage," said Assistant Professor Babita Madan, from Duke-NUS' Cancer and Stem Cell Biology (CSCB) Programme and a senior author of the study. "Understanding how this pathway drives resistance to existing therapies could lead to the development of novel anti-cancer treatments."

Normally, Wnt signalling proteins interact with cell receptors to activate the translocation of another protein, called beta-catenin, into the nucleus, where it regulates the activation of several genes.

"We found that, when Wnt signalling sends beta-catenin into the nucleus, it activates a family of DNA break repair genes," said Professor David Virshup, director of the CSCB Programme and co-senior author of the study. "Cancers with excessive Wnt signalling, like colorectal cancer, therefore, have an enhanced ability to repair DNA breaks and thus escape the effects of PARP inhibitors."

The team found that blocking Wnt signalling with a drug called ETC-159 reversed PARP inhibitor resistance in several cancer cell lines.

ETC-159 inhibits an enzyme called porcupine, which in turn, prevent the secretion of Wnt proteins. ETC-159 is being tested in a clinical trial for use in cancers with overactive Wnt signalling, amongst other therapeutic indications

Analysis of this pre-clinical study shows that therapeutic doses of ETC-159 appear to be well tolerated by the gut, without causing toxicity. This means that a low dose of ETC-159, when given alongside PARP inhibitors, could prevent cancer resistance to treatment with PARP inhibitors while sparing intestinal stem cells, providing further options for treating cancers with hyperactive Wnt signalling.

Through this study, the researchers also learned that the same signal for DNA repair helps to prevent mutations from developing in stem cells residing inside the intestinal epithelium, further confirming the importance of normal Wnt signalling in stem cell maintenance.

ETC-159 was jointly developed by Duke-NUS and the Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC), a national platform for drug discovery and development hosted by A*STAR. The Wnt-pathway inhibitor is a novel small-molecule drug candidate that targets a range of cancers. It is currently progressing through clinical trials as a treatment for a subset of colorectal and gynaecological cancers.

"These findings improve our understanding of how Wnt signalling enhances DNA repair in stem cells and cancers, maintaining their genomic integrity," said Dr May Ann Lee, a group head at EDDC and also a senior author of the study. "Conversely, interventions that block Wnt signalling could cause some cancers to be more sensitive to radiation and other DNA damaging agents."

DALLAS, March 15, 2021 -- Beta-blockers treat various cardiovascular diseases and were not more likely to cause depression compared to other similar treatments, according to new research published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal. While depression may occur during beta-blocker therapy, the research suggests beta-blockers are not the likely cause.

Beta-blockers are a class of medications that reduce the heart rate, the heart's workload and the heart's output of blood, which, together, lower blood pressure. They are a common treatment for cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, arrhythmias, chest pains and high blood pressure. Researchers have suspected beta-blockers of having negative psychological side effects, including depression, anxiety, drowsiness, insomnia, hallucinations and nightmares.

"The possible mental health side effects of beta-blockers have been the subject of discussion in the scientific community for many decades," says Reinhold Kreutz, M.D., Ph.D., a professor at the Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology and the study's supervising and corresponding author. "So, our results showing beta-blockers are not the cause of so many of these negative side effects are quite consequential."

The study is the first of its kind to examine the entire spectrum of mental health side effects in relation to beta-blockers. The researchers analyzed data for more than 50,000 individuals from 258 studies including beta-blockers in double-blind, randomized controlled trials. Nearly 70% of the studies were clinical trials focused on high blood pressure treatment, and 31 assessed depression in placebo-controlled trials.

Results from the comprehensive analysis revealed:

Despite being the most frequently reported mental health side effect, depression did not occur more frequently during beta-blocker treatment compared to placebo treatment.

The rate of discontinuing medication use due to depression was not any different for those taking beta-blockers compared to those on other treatments.

Unusual dreams, insomnia and sleep disorders may be linked to beta-blockers.

Among the mental health events analyzed, the most common reason for discontinuing beta-blockers was fatigue/tiredness.

"Our results indicate that concerns about adverse mental health events, especially depression, should not affect the decision about beta blockers. Beta-blockers are mostly safe regarding psychological health," said Kreutz. "We found no indication of an association between beta-blocker use and depression. The same was true for most of the other mental health symptoms, as reported in the studies that were included in our analyses. However, sleep-related symptoms such as unusual dreams or insomnia did emerge during beta?blocker therapy for some patients."

Kreutz added, "Patients with a history of cardiovascular events such as a heart attack or stroke were prone to develop psychological complications. Though we found beta-blockers were not causally linked, these patients should be monitored."

The original studies did not include individual patient data, so for this analysis, researchers were unable to investigate whether sleep-related symptoms were persistent for those taking beta-blockers. Additional research is needed to address this question.

The researchers report there an important limitation to consider when interpreting the results of their analysis: most beta-blocker trials were conducted more than 20 years ago, before a uniform language to describe adverse events was established. Additionally, the authors only considered randomized, double-blind trials for their analysis, which left out some studies that might provide more data on long-term beta-blocker treatment.

DALLAS, March 15, 2021 — Primary care clinics can play an important role in preserving patients’ brain health using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 as a guide, as well as addressing 6 other factors associated with cognitive decline, according to a new American Stroke Association/American Heart Association Scientific Statement. “A Primary Care Agenda for Brain Health,” published today in the Associations’ journal Stroke.

Preserving brain health in an aging population is a growing concern in the U.S. An estimated one in five Americans 65 years and older has mild cognitive impairment, and one in seven has dementia. By 2050, the number of Americans with dementia is expected to triple, the statement authors note.

“Primary care is the right home for practice-based efforts to prevent or postpone cognitive decline. Primary care professionals are most likely to identify and monitor risk factors early and throughout the lifespan,” said Chair of the scientific statement writing group Ronald M. Lazar, Ph.D., FAHA, the Evelyn F. McKnight Endowed Chair for Learning and Memory in Aging and director of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. “Prevention doesn’t start in older age; it exists along the health care continuum from pediatrics to adulthood. The evidence in this statement demonstrates that early attention to these factors improves later life outcomes.”

Life’s Simple 7 focuses on seven lifestyle targets to achieve ideal cardiovascular health: managing blood pressure, healthy cholesterol levels, reducing blood sugar, increasing physical activity, eating better, losing weight and not smoking. The new statement suggests primary care professionals also consider assessing risk factors to address cognitive health. The six risk factors to consider, in addition to Life’s Simple 7, that impact optimal brain health are depression, social isolation, excessive alcohol use, sleep disorders, less education and hearing loss. The statement lists risk factors for cognitive impairment, prevention strategies and best practices to integrate brain health prevention into primary care.

“Scientists are learning more about how to prevent cognitive decline before changes to the brain have begun. We have compiled the latest research and found Life’s Simple 7 plus other factors like sleep, mental health and education are a more comprehensive lifestyle strategy that optimizes brain health in addition to cardiovascular health,” said Lazar, who is also a professor of neurology and neurobiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The statement uses cognition to define brain health, referring to the spectrum of intellectual-related activities, such as memory, thinking, reasoning, communication, and problem solving that enables people to thrive and navigate the world on an everyday basis. The ability to think, solve problems, remember, perceive and communicate are crucial to successful living; their loss can lead to helplessness and dependency.

“Studies have shown that these domains are impacted by factors that are within our control to change,” Lazar said. “Prevention and mitigation are important, because once people have impaired cognition, the current treatment options are very limited.”

According to the statement:

Recent data show that hypertension, diabetes and smoking in adulthood and middle-life increase the odds of cognitive decline in middle-age and accelerate cognitive decline in older age.
People with dementia experience lower quality of life, and caregivers - typically family members - experience high rates of psychological stress and physical ill-health. Dementia is more costly than heart disease or cancer, with worldwide costs estimated at $818 billion in 2015.
Primary care is the right place for practice-based efforts to prevent or postpone cognitive decline. This setting can provide comprehensive coordinated care to promote AHA‘s Life’s Simple 7 as a guide for brain health and overall wellness. 
Professional guidelines also recommend routine screening for depression and counseling patients to focus on healthy eating and exercising a minimum of 150 minutes a week.
Implementation of practices to prevent cognitive decline often fall short – referred to as an evidence-practice gap. However, new practices and technology like telehealth, which are more common as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, are addressing this gap.
Lack of access to primary care services may be a barrier to prevention. Even with the Affordable Care Act, an estimated 15% of Americans adults still lack health insurance, and 25% of Americans do not have a source of primary care.

“Many people think of high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and other risk factors as affecting only heart health, yet these very same risk factors affect our brain health. Patients might be more likely to pay attention to the importance of addressing modifiable risk factors if they understood the links,” Lazar said. “I’ve given lectures, and what people tell me is, the one thing they do not want to lose during the course of their lives is their mind.”

In 2017, the American Stroke Association/American Heart Association issued a presidential advisory on achieving optimal brain health that includes Life’s Simple 7.

The American Heart Association and the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group together with additional contributors, including the Oskar Fischer Project and Henrietta B. and Frederick H. Bugher Foundation, have committed over $43 million to fund research with the potential to move forward brain health and cognitive impairment science. The American Heart Association/Allen Initiative in Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment has granted 3 competitive basic science research awards to study brain health over eight years.

This scientific statement was prepared by the volunteer writing group on behalf of the American Heart Association’s Stroke Council, and the American Academy of Neurology affirms the value of the statement, additionally, as an educational tool for neurologists.

In 2016, a collaborative group of research and education specialists received funding from the National Science Foundation for the project 'Building a Comprehensive Evolutionary History of Flagellate Plants' -- also known as 'Genealogy of Flagellate Plants' (GoFlag). Members of the team have the ambitious goal of reconstructing the 470-million-year history of one of the most diverse groups of land plants on the planet.

The first of several forthcoming publications from the project was published in a recent issue of Applications in Plant Sciences. In their inaugural article, the researchers report on the successful development of 451 nuclear target enrichment probes, which correspond to short, variable loci.

By creating a standard set of publicly available probes, members of the GoFlag project aim to provide researchers around the world with the means to reconstruct relationships among a diverse group of plants with more than 30,000 living species, including ferns, lycophytes, bryophytes, and gymnosperms.

Though distantly related, all flagellate plants have swimming sperm that rely on water for fertilization. They were the first plants to grow on land, and for over 300 million years, they were the only land plants on Earth, from diminutive mosses and hornworts to towering cycads and tree ferns.

Due to the sheer size of the group and their long evolutionary history -- replete with slow and rapid bursts of diversification and extinction -- resolving their relationships has been a challenging task for systematists dating back to Linnaeus.

"Our main hope is that these new data will help grow the tree of flagellate land plants," said Gordon Burleigh, an associate professor at the University of Florida and Principal Investigator of the project. "Our probe set will help add in some of the enormous number of understudied, and in many cases previously unsampled, flagellate land plant taxa."

A team of over 20 contributing coauthors took on the task of assembling samples, with a core team developing the probe set and taking a first pass at assessing its efficacy by constructing a phylogenetic tree with a representative group of flagellate plant species.

"This has been a truly interdisciplinary effort," said Burleigh. "Computational biologists helped design the probes and the data-processing pipeline, lab geneticists designed the protocols and generated the data, and a number of extremely skilled botanists collected and validated samples from across the world."

The resulting 451 RNA probes code for nuclear DNA, adding a further dimension of utility and value. Since nuclear genes are inherited bi-parentally in many flagellate plants, researchers can use the probe set to identify hybrids and patterns of reticulate evolution, which would be impossible to discern with more commonly used plastid loci.

"With nuclear loci, we can obtain independent estimates of phylogeny that can be used to elucidate some of the complexities of plant evolution that are too often not explored in plant phylogenetic studies," said Burleigh.

The probes are also single or low copy, meaning a given species has only one or a few copies of the portion of gene being targeted. This is especially important in a group such as ferns, which has some of the highest rates of genome duplication in the plant kingdom. Single-copy probes avoid the problem of amplifying several gene copies from the same individual, which can stymy downstream analyses and add ambiguity to datasets.

Not only do the probes themselves correspond with variable loci, they can also be used to recover flanking regions of the targeted sequence, which tend to be even more highly variable between species. The probe set thus has the potential to resolve deep phylogenetic bifurcations spanning back hundreds of millions of years but may also help disentangle the relationships among species that evolved during rapid and recent diversification events.

With the design of the probe set complete, members of the GoFlag team and the plant systematics community are using it to construct phylogenetic trees of flagellate plants that will include thousands of species and will be even further supplemented with a compendium of trait and fossil data. An education team is concurrently developing web-based interactive teaching modules around themes of plant biodiversity, featuring flagellate plants and their importance in global ecosystems and plant evolution.

When the work is complete, it will offer researchers an unparalleled look into the history of land plant evolution. But by making their probe set freely available, the GoFlag team provide something even more important -- they have created a continuous, collaborative project, a malleable dataset that scientists from various disciplines can add to and take part in.

An international team of researchers, affiliated with UNIST has unveiled a novel technology that could improve the learning ability of artificial neural networks (ANNs).

Professor Hongsik Jeong and his research team in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UNIST, in collaboration with researchers from Tsinghua University in China, proposed a new learning method to improve the learning ability of ANN chips by challenging its instability.

Artificial neural network chips are capable of mimicking the structural, functional and biological features of human neural networks, and thus have been considered the technology of the future. In this study, the research team demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed learning method by building phase change memory (PCM) memristor arrays that operate like ANNs. This learning method is also advantageous in that its learning ability can be improved without additional power consumption, since PCM undergoes a spontaneous resistance increase due to the structural relaxation after amorphization.

ANNs, like human brains, use less energy even when performing computation and memory tasks, simultaneously. However, the artificial neural network chip in which a large number of physical devices are integrated has a disadvantage that there is an error. The existing artificial neural network learning method assumes a perfect artificial neural network chip with no errors, so the learning ability of the artificial neural network is poor.

The research team developed a memristor artificial neural network learning method based on a phase-change memory, conceiving that the real human brain does not require near-perfect motion. This learning method reflects the "resistance drift" (increased electrical resistance) of the phase change material in the memory semiconductor in learning. During the learning process, since the information update pattern is recorded in the form of increasing electrical resistance in the memristor, which serves as a synapse, the synapse additionally learns the association between the pattern it changes and the data it is learning.

The research team showed that the learning method developed through an experiment to classify handwriting composed of numbers 0-9 has an effect of improving learning ability by about 3%. In particular, the accuracy of the number 8, which is difficult to classify handwriting, has improved significantly. The learning ability improved thanks to the synaptic update pattern that changes differently according to the difficulty of handwriting classification.

Researchers expect that their findings are expected to promote the learning algorithms with the intrinsic properties of memristor devices, opening a new direction for development of neuromorphic computing chips.

A chromatin-regulating enzyme has been shown by in-depth interdisciplinary investigations to be a key driver of a common type of lung cancer. Drugs that target the enzyme could improve treatment and survival rates for this particular cancer.

"Squamous cell carcinoma represents nearly one third of all lung cancers in humans," says KAUST structural biologist Lukasz Jaremko, who led the research along with colleagues at Stanford University and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, U.S. "Our joint structural and dynamics investigations, including enzymatic activity studies, genetic analyses, and mouse model and human cell results, all point to the enzyme histone-lysine N-methyltransferase (NSD3) as a main driver of cancer," he says.

As part of the investigations, Ph.D. student Vladlena Kharchenko, a member of Jaremko's lab, used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to experimentally evaluate the structure and dynamics of both normal NSD3 and the hyperactive mutant implicated in driving lung squamous cell carcinoma.

"The mutation did not appear to affect the static structure of the enzyme," Kharchenko says. "However, using the dynamic nuclear Overhauser effect, we were able to show that the hyperactive mutation led to mobility changes in part of the NSD3 enzyme, enabling it to more easily catalyze the addition of two methyl molecules to a histone tail in chromatin," she explains. "This ultimately deregulates cancer-promoting genes in some forms of lung cancer."

Scientists have long been aware that many genes within a specific region on chromosome 8 are potentially involved in cancer formation. One gene in particular, FGFR1, has received much attention as a potential driver of lung cancer. But clinical trials inhibiting the protein coded by this gene have been disappointing.

"Our studies explain the molecular foundations of NSD3 enzymatic hyperactivity, its danse macabre, and unequivocally confirm that NSD3, not the previously suspected FGFR1, is the main driver of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung," says Jaremko.

The collaborative investigations also found that NSD3 was susceptible to a category of anticancer drugs called bromodomain inhibitors. But inhibitors that specifically target NSD3 are still needed, making it a prominent target for drug screening campaigns.

The team wants to improve its molecular-level understanding of the function of NSD3 in chromatin and cells. "Our study reveals that the molecular dynamics aspects of cancer research are complex and fascinating," says Kharchenko. "It also shows there is more to understand about NSD3 function at the atomic level before we can develop a potent NSD3-specific therapy."

Basic, acidic, basic again: for pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, the human digestive tract is a sea change. So how do the bacteria manage to react to these changes? A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg led by Andreas Diepold has now provided a possible explanation: pathogenic bacteria can change components of their injection apparatus on the fly - like changing the tires on a moving car - to enable a rapid response.

Some of the best-known human pathogens - from the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis to the diarrhea pathogen Salmonella - use a tiny hypodermic needle to inject disease-causing proteins into their host's cells, thereby manipulating them. This needle is part of the so-called type III secretion system (T3SS), without which most of these pathogens cannot replicate in the body.

Only recently it was discovered that large parts of the T3SS are not firmly anchored to the main part of the system, but are constantly exchanging during function. However, the significance of this phenomenon remained unclear. Researchers in the laboratory of Andreas Diepold at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology have now discovered that this dynamic behavior allows the bacteria to quickly adapt the structure and function of the injection apparatus to external conditions.

The digestive system: a sea change for bacteria

Human digestion starts with a neutral to slightly alkaline environment in the mouth and esophagus, which the addition of gastric acids suddenly changes to strongly acidic in the stomach - an environment that many pathogens do not survive. The actual target of Yersinia enterocolitica, the pathogenic bacteria investigated in the study, is the intestine. Here, pH-neutral conditions are restored.

But how do the bacteria manage to adapt so quickly to the changing conditions, and how is this controlled? PhD student Stephan Wimmi, the first author of the study, was able to demonstrate that a protein in the bacteria's membrane acts as a sensor for the pH value. In a collaboration with Ulrike Endesfelder's lab at the Max Planck Institute, he found that this protein becomes more motile at low (= acidic) pH and thus transmits the signal to the T3SS components inside the bacterium.

Flexibility prevents misfiring

In an acidic environment like the stomach, the mobile components do not bind to the rest of the apparatus (including the needle itself), so that the injection system remains inactive. As soon as the bacteria enter a pH-neutral environment - as it is found in the intestine -, the dynamic proteins reassemble, so that the T3SS can quickly become active at these sites - to the possible distress of the infected person.

The researchers speculate that the newly discovered effect may allow the bacteria to prevent an energy-consuming "misfiring" of the secretion system in the wrong environment, which could even activate the host's immune response. On the other hand, the mobility and dynamics of the structure allows the system to be rapidly reassembled and activated under appropriate conditions.

Protein mobility and exchange are increasingly being discovered in complexes and nanomachines across all domains of life; however, the utility of these dynamics is mostly not understood. The new results from Marburg show how protein exchange allows to respond flexibly to external circumstances - an immense advantage, not only for bacteria.

Despite pandemic-driven restrictions on movement, there were over 12,000 accidents in Madrid in 2020, leading to 31 fatalities. In Barcelona, there were more than 5,700 collisions, causing 14 deaths. Pedestrian and vehicle safety is a priority, which is why a research project at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to make decisions that will make cities safer. The researchers have looked into the correlation between the complexity of certain urban areas and the likelihood of an accident occurring there.

According to the researchers, the data they have gathered can be used to train neural networks to detect probable hazards in an area and work out patterns associated with this high risk potential. The researchers, headed by Cristina Bustos and Javier Borge, are working with algorithms that will aid traffic authorities in reducing the likelihood of accidents in urban environments.

The interdisciplinary study was carried out by two UOC research groups - Complex Systems @ IN3 (CoSIN3), from the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), and the Scene Understanding and Artificial Intelligence Lab (SUNAI), from the Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications, in collaboration with Spain's National Traffic Authority (DGT), the city councils of Madrid and Barcelona, academic affiliates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and researcher Àlex Arenas from the Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics at Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV).

Accidents and the urban scene, what is the connection?

According to the researchers, the visual layout of what they call the "urban scene" influences the likelihood of an accident occurring. Cristina Bustos, a member of CoSIN3 and first author of a scientific article recently published on the project, said: "Our findings show that there are certain patterns in the scene layout that may affect the accident rate."

For the researcher, key factors such as the arrangement of street furniture, the location of parked cars, advertisements and façades increase driver distraction. "Our findings suggest that we've got more than just a hypothesis on our hands," said Javier Borge, lead research of CoSIN3. "What seems clear is that the number of distinct elements in a scene correlates with the number of accidents that have taken place there".

Understanding the reason behind this correlation is the crux of the matter. Borge said: "The AI pinpoints places that are potentially hazardous, but it doesn't tell us why. That's why we turn to certain interpretation techniques, such as those used in this study, which bring us closer to an answer. Although we need to pursue this research line further, there's no doubt that traffic accidents happen for many reasons and a combination thereof. Our study shows that scene layout is a factor to bear in mind."

According to Borge, he and his fellow researchers hypothesise that human cognitive limitations are affected by the complexity of the scene. He said: "If a scene is very complex, there is more strain on my cognitive system, possibly dampening my ability to steer clear of unexpected events." This is where the outside help of artificial intelligence comes in, applying algorithms to identify complex urban patters.

Using algorithms to reduce the likelihood of accidents

Artificial intelligence has stepped up its possibilities, especially since the appearance of technologies such as neural networks and machine learning. The former is a computational model that has evolved from knowledge of the brain's plasticity, while the latter is a branch of AI that allows machines to learn without being specifically programmed to do so. The technology employed by the UOC research group is based precisely on these concepts.

Cristina Bustos said: "We use deep learning [a type of machine learning based on a set of machine learning algorithms] applied to computer image processing." According to the researcher, "the purpose of these algorithms is to identify patterns in photos or videos in order to perform a specific task, for example recognizing the objects that appear and where they are or identifying the general context of the image, or even more complex tasks, such as recognizing the emotion that an image or video evokes in a person".

The researchers employ convolutional neural networks, so named because they apply an operation called "convolution" on the input image and throughout the network layers. "Applying this operation," Bustos said, "the network learns to discern simple patterns in the top layers, such as lines, edges, textures, colours and corners, and becomes more complex the deeper it goes. In the end, the network is able to identify complex patters such as a person's face or a car.

This type of network needs to train to perform a task, repeating the processes over and over while the researchers indicate whether it has performed well or not. Cristina said: "We don't train the network from scratch, rather we use one that has already been instructed for another task, such as recognizing people or animals, and we take advantage of this knowledge to teach it to recognize hazardous objects and patterns that may lead to accidents."

AI, a city planner's greatest ally

"One of the challenges of neural networks is that, given their deep, non-linear and complex nature, we don't have control over what patterns they are learning," said Bustos. "That's why we have turned to other deep learning techniques, such as image segmentation and class activation mapping". The former, she clarified, pinpoints objects in an image through their pixels, while the latter maps out the regions in the image that the network is to look at to obtain results.

Javier Borge pointed out that "artificial intelligence strikes us as a very powerful tool for finding out where problems might occur, but it's not going to solve them on its own". Thus, the team has developed a heuristic method for improving urban scenes which, according to Borge, "is worthless without a human behind it," such as an urban planner, an architect or an engineer who is able to validate and implement changes based on the algorithm-driven data.

With artificial intelligence on their side, the researchers are looking at multiple hazardous urban patterns. Bustos said: "Right now we are analysing how the visual scene affects drivers' stress". Accordingly, the researchers believe that this type of technology can be of great use to bodies such as the DGT, with a view to designing safer cities for vehicles and pedestrians. To conclude, Borge said, "Our biggest hurdle is data availability: the analysis requires a rich collection of street view images and open, geolocalized data on accident rates with details of those involved, which are not currently easy to obtain".