Culture

Researchers from the University of Texas, University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, and London School of Economics published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines whether entrepreneurs in emerging markets can benefit from marketers' help.

The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled "Do Marketers Matter for Entrepreneurs? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Uganda" and is authored by Stephen Anderson, Pradeep Chintagunta, Frank Germann, and Naufel Vilcassim.

Can marketers help improve the world? While this question may seem vast and unknowable, this new study proposes otherwise. The researchers propose that marketers can help entrepreneurs in emerging markets grow their businesses. And flourishing entrepreneurs in these markets can then improve lives, sustain livelihoods, enhance overall living standards, and strengthen societies.

Entrepreneurs are ubiquitous in emerging markets. In 2010, more than 31% of the adult population in Uganda, the setting for the study, was either starting a business or running a business less than four years old. However, many emerging market entrepreneurs struggle to make ends meet and their firms' growth rates are low, stifling the positive impact they could have on society. The low growth rates seem to result from most businesses being undifferentiated and failing to attract customer interest.

Marketing helps firms differentiate by attempting to answer the question, "Why should the customer buy from the firm and not elsewhere?" Thus, we examine whether entrepreneurs in emerging markets can benefit from marketers' help.

To test marketers' effect on emerging market entrepreneurs, the researchers conducted a randomized controlled field experiment with 930 Ugandan businesses. The experiment allowed them to examine the impact of a business support intervention in which international professionals from varying functional backgrounds (e.g., marketing, consulting) volunteered time to help small-scale entrepreneurs. Results show volunteer marketers are effective at helping entrepreneurs grow sales, profits, assets, and employees. Specifically, compared to control firms, the entrepreneurs supported by volunteer marketers grew monthly sales by 51.7% on average, while their monthly profits improved by 35.8%, total assets increased by 31.0%, and paid employees rose by 23.8%. An analysis of interactions between volunteers and entrepreneurs indicates the marketers spent more time on product-related topics than other volunteers during the intervention. Furthermore, analyses indicate the marketers helped the entrepreneurs focus on premium products to differentiate in the marketplace. As Anderson explains, "Because small-scale businesses form the commercial backbone of most emerging markets, their performance and development are critically important. And marketers' positive impact on the businesses highlights the need for the field's increased presence in emerging markets. "

Chintagunta continues that "Given the positive and direct impact marketers can have on growth outcomes, we hope our study will motivate marketing practitioners to work with entrepreneurs and early-stage ventures in emerging markets." Governmental and non-governmental organizations actively serving emerging markets should also benefit from our findings when designing and implementing future business support services. Entrepreneurs should also take note of our findings and solicit marketers' help. Finally, business schools could incorporate versions of this 'remote coaching' intervention into their emerging market programs with a focus on matching entrepreneurs with their marketing students. Multinationals can participate in future remote marketing coaching interventions like this, too. "This endeavor, we believe, could be a win-win for the entrepreneurs and the multinationals: The entrepreneurs' businesses would likely grow and the multinationals would likely have more satisfied employees, accrue corporate social responsibility-related benefits, and learn about opportunities (and threats) that exist in emerging markets" says Germann.

BINGHAMTON, NY -- Customized diets and lifestyle changes could be key to optimizing mental health, according to new research including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

"There is increasing evidence that diet plays a major role in improving mental health, but everyone is talking about a healthy diet," said Begdache, an assistant professor of health and wellness studies at Binghamton University and co-author of a new paper in Nutrients.

"We need to consider a spectrum of dietary and lifestyle changes based on different age groups and gender," she said. "There is not one healthy diet that will work for everyone. There is not one fix."

Begdache, who is also a registered dietitian, believes that mental health therapies need to consider the differences in degree of brain maturity between young (18-29 years old) and mature (30 years or older) adults, as well as the brain morphology among men and women.

She and her research team conducted an online survey to examine food intake, dietary practices, exercise and other lifestyle factors in these four subpopulations. Over a five-year period (2014-19), more than 2,600 participants completed the questionnaire after responding to social media posts advertising the survey. The team collected data at different timepoints and seasons and found important dietary and lifestyle contributors to mental distress -- defined as anxiety and depression -- in each of the groups.

Key findings of this study:

Significant dietary and lifestyle approaches to improve mental well-being among young women include daily breakfast consumption, moderate-to-high exercise frequency, low caffeine intake and abstinence from fast food.

Dietary and lifestyle approaches to improve mental well-being among mature women include daily exercise and breakfast consumption, as well as high intake of fruits with limited caffeine ingestion.

To improve mental well-being of young men, dietary and lifestyle approaches include frequent exercise, moderate dairy consumption, high meat intake, as well as low consumption of caffeine and abstinence from fast food.

Dietary approaches to improve mental well-being among mature men include moderate intake of nuts.

Begdache and her team split the respondents into two age groups because human brain development continues into the late 20s. For young adults of both genders, quality of diet appears to have an impact on the developing brain.

"Young adults are still forming new connections between brain cells as well as building structures; therefore, they need more energy and nutrients to do that," Begdache said.

As a result, young adults who consume a poor-quality diet and experience nutritional deficiencies may suffer from a higher degree of mental distress.

Age is also the reason high caffeine consumption was associated with mental distress in both young men and young women.

"Caffeine is metabolized by the same enzyme that metabolizes the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen, and young adults have high levels of these hormones," Begdache said. "When young men and women consume high levels of caffeine, it stays in their system for a long time and keeps stimulating the nervous system, which increases stress and eventually leads to anxiety."

The team also split respondents based on biological sex, since brain morphology and connectivity differ between men and women. Put simply, the male brain is "wired" to enable perception and coordination, whereas the female brain is built to support analysis and intuition. Begdache and her team believe these differences may influence nutritional needs.

"I have found it in my multiple studies so far, that men are less likely to be affected by diet than women are," said Begdache. "As long as they eat a slightly healthy diet they will have good mental well-being. It's only when they consume mostly fast food that we start seeing mental distress.

"Women, on the other hand, really need to be consuming a whole spectrum of healthy food and doing exercise in order to have positive mental well-being," she added. "These two things are important for mental well-being in women across age groups."

According to Begdache, current recommendations for food intake are all based on physical health; there are no recommendations for mental health. She hopes that will change -- and that her work will play a role in making those changes.

"I hope to see more people doing research in this area and publishing on the customization of diet based on age and gender," she said. "I hope that one day, institutions and governments will create dietary recommendations for brain health."

More than three quarters (78%) of hospitals surveyed between June and August 2020 reported that their paediatric cancer care had been affected by the pandemic.

Almost half (43%) made fewer new cancer diagnoses than expected, while around one third (34%) noted a rise in the number of patients abandoning treatment.

Nearly one in ten (7%) closed their paediatric cancer units completely at some stage during the pandemic.

Hospitals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) were disproportionately affected, with unavailability of chemotherapy, treatment abandonment, and disrupted radiotherapy among issues more frequently reported.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on childhood cancer care worldwide, according to a survey of more than 300 clinicians from 200 hospitals worldwide published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.

The first global assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on paediatric cancer care reveals that paediatric cancer care was affected at more than three quarters of surveyed hospitals (78%).

Almost half (43%) reported diagnosing fewer new cases than expected, while around one third (34%) reported a rise in the number of patients who abandoned treatment. The survey also found that nearly one in ten (7%) closed their paediatric cancer units completely at some stage during the pandemic. Of the 15 units that closed, 13 (87%) were in LMICs, and mean closure time was 10 days.

COVID-19 has placed huge pressures on hospitals and healthcare systems around the world. Previous studies have reported delays in the presentation and care of paediatric cancer patients during the pandemic at the national or regional level. The survey published today adds the views of health care workers from around the world on the care their hospitals are able to deliver.

Daniel Moreira, M.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA, said: "Our findings suggest that COVID-19 has had a greater impact on childhood cancer care globally than single-region studies had suggested, with centres in LMICs particularly hard hit. Hospitals in LMICs were under strain even before the pandemic, with fewer resources and less access to care for children with cancer, so our results seem to reflect the relative strength of different healthcare systems around the world." [1]

Wide-ranging impacts were identified worldwide, including reductions in available clinical staff, paediatric cancer beds and personal protective equipment (PPE). However, the results suggest the effects in LMICs were more pronounced, with changes to chemotherapy due to treatment agent shortages, treatment abandonment, and disruptions to radiotherapy among issues frequently reported.

The authors of the new study assessed the global impacts of COVID-19 on childhood cancer care by designing a cross-sectional survey that was distributed to hundreds of healthcare workers worldwide through international and regional networks. The survey covered the period from June 22nd to August 21st, 2020, and included a range of questions to assess hospital characteristics, the number of patients diagnosed with COVID-19, and disruptions and adaptations to cancer care.

The survey was completed by 311 healthcare workers at 213 institutions in 79 countries. Countries were grouped as low-income, lower middle-income, upper middle-income, and high-income. Responses were analysed at the institutional level.

Most hospitals (83%) were in LMICs and the vast majority (88%) were able to test for COVID-19. The authors found that effects of the pandemic on paediatric cancer care were largely independent of the number of COVID-19 cases in individual hospitals or at national levels.

The findings suggest that paediatric cancer care globally has been affected by COVID-19, with more than three quarters of hospitals (78%) reporting some impact on their capacity to provide care.

Considerable disruption to cancer diagnosis was reported, with almost half of hospitals (43%) diagnosing fewer new cases than expected. Effects on hospitals' ability to provide cancer treatment were also noted, with one in three (34%) reporting a rise in the numbers of patients whose therapy did not begin or was delayed by four weeks or longer - known as treatment abandonment.

Several impacts on the management of paediatric cancer were reported, including a reduction in surgery at most hospitals (79%). More than half noted shortages in blood products, while a similar proportion modified chemotherapy because of treatment agent shortages (60% and 57%, respectively). Disruption to radiotherapy was also considerable, with almost one third (28%) reporting treatment disruption.

Hospital resources were significantly affected, with one third (32%) noting decreased financial support, while two thirds (66%) reported a reduction in available clinical staff. Around one in five hospitals (19%) noted a reduction in availability of paediatric cancer beds.

Nearly one in ten hospitals (7%) had to close their paediatric cancer unit completely at some point, with an average period of closure of 10 days. The vast majority of these (87%) were in LMICs, and while some impacts on paediatric cancer care did not vary based on country income level, LMICs were disproportionately affected in a number of areas.

This included changes to chemotherapy due to treatment agent shortages (40%, 45%, and 40% for low-income, lower middle-income, upper middle-income countries, respectively, compared with 11% for high-income), higher rates of treatment abandonment (38%, 52%, and 33% for low-income, lower middle-income, upper middle-income, respectively, compared with 8% for high-income), and more frequent disruptions to radiotherapy (78%, 68%, and 46% for low-income, lower middle-income, upper middle-income, respectively, compared with 10% for high-income).

Hospitals in LMICs also reported decreased access to life-saving interventions more frequently (8%, 33%, and 16% for low-income, lower middle-income, upper middle-income, respectively, compared with 3% for high-income), and unexpected deaths (31%, 36%, and 13% for low-income, lower middle-income, upper middle-income, respectively, compared with 8% for high-income).

Hospitals in LMICs were also more likely to report decreases in their usual government funding for cancer care (15%, 52%, and 31% for low-income, lower middle-income, upper middle-income, respectively, compared with 8% for high-income).

Dylan Graetz, M.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA, said: "The long-term impacts on childhood cancer outcomes are not yet clear. Our findings highlight the need for ongoing assessment of resource needs during the pandemic and the sharing of successful strategies to tackle the negative effects on paediatric cancer care." [1]

Most hospitals put in place new policies and guidelines to support paediatric cancer care during the pandemic, with more than two thirds (69%) using new or adapted patient and staff safety checklists, while new processes for communication with patients and families (63%) and new guidance on essential services (56%) were also common. The authors found that many of these were well received by hospital staff and may be beneficial beyond the pandemic.

Professor Laila Hessissen, of Mohammed V University, Morocco, said: "Although the COVID-19 pandemic has created additional barriers to childhood cancer care, we have proven we are a resilient community and can translate some of the adaptations forced by the pandemic to the future of cancer care." [1]

The authors note a number of limitations. The survey results reflect only the knowledge and opinions of respondents at one stage during a fast-changing pandemic. As the survey was in English and distributed within two paediatric oncology networks, the results may not be generalizable to small, low-resource settings where staff do not speak English and are not part of these networks. The survey covered a range of topics and took around 60 minutes to complete, which may have caused survey fatigue leading to relatively high number of incomplete responses. Nonetheless, the authors believe this study captured a comprehensive description of the global effect of this pandemic on paediatric oncology care.

This report is part of the COVIMPACT study, which aims to capture the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric cancer care. Furthermore, this work is linked to The Global COVID-19 Observatory and Resource Center for Childhood Cancer (covid19childhoodcancer.org), a collaboration of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP).

Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Soad Fuentes-Alabi, of Ayúdame a Vivir Foundation Medical Center, and National Children's Hospital Benjamin Bloom, El Salvador, says studies such as this emphasise the challenges of delivering childhood cancer care in LMICs during public health emergencies: "In low-income and middle-income countries, including in Latin America, the common issues of late diagnosis and treatment abandonment or interruptions have worsened during the pandemic."

A series of nanoparticle-based vaccines elicits protective antibodies against various strains of the influenza virus in nonhuman primates, according to work from Nicole Darricarrère and colleagues. Although more research is needed, the vaccines mark an important step toward a universal flu vaccine for humans, which has long been a major goal for infectious disease researchers. Current seasonal flu vaccines can prevent disease but often only work for a year, after which a new vaccine must be developed. This occurs because influenza viruses evolve extremely quickly, meaning that a year-old vaccine may not prepare the immune system to recognize a new strain. A universal vaccine that could remain effective year-to-year would represent a major medical accomplishment but creating such a vaccine has been challenging. However, scientists theorize that a universal vaccine might work if it incorporated key proteins on the surface of the influenza virus that remain constant during evolution, such as those that allow the virus to enter cells. Based on this strategy, Darricarrère et al. tested influenza vaccines that use nanoparticles to deliver modified forms of hemagglutinin (HA) influenza virus surface proteins and an emulsion vaccine adjuvant. When given to nonhuman primates, the vaccines stimulated the production of protective antibodies against multiple H1 and H3 influenza A viruses - the ones most likely to cause pandemics. Furthermore, the antibodies were potent and recognized viruses in a similar way as human antibodies, suggesting the vaccines might provide broad immunity. Darricarrère et al. note that although their study didn't evaluate the durability of vaccine responses, their vaccines are also currently being tested in early clinical trials.

Daily infusions of albumin provide no significant health benefit to patients hospitalised with advanced liver disease, over and above 'standard care', finds a large-scale multicentre trial led by UCL researchers.

Albumin is a protein made in the liver that prevents fluid leaking from the bloodstream to other body tissues and carries various substances throughout the body, such as hormones or enzymes. In people with liver disease, low albumin levels are associated with an increased risk of death among hospitalised patients who have cirrhosis, and laboratory studies have shown albumin to have an anti-inflammatory effect. Therefore, albumin infusions are considered the best fluid for patients with cirrhosis and are an integral part of clinical care.

Explaining the ATTIRE* trial, Principal Investigator, Professor Alastair O'Brien (UCL Division of Medicine) said: "Acutely hospitalised patients with cirrhosis are very ill; infection and increased systemic inflammation lead to very high rates of death in those affected.

"Albumin infusions have been used with great enthusiasm by liver specialists for 70 years, are widely believed to be the best at reducing abnormal fluid build-up caused by cirrhosis and preclinical studies support an anti-inflammatory role. However, albumin is considerably more expensive than other fluids, shortages in production do occur and, crucially, confirmatory large-scale clinical trials to support use are lacking.

"To establish a better evidence base, we examined whether increasing a serum albumin level of 30 g/L or greater in these patients with repeated daily infusions of human albumin solution, compared with standard UK albumin use, would reduce the incidences of infection, kidney dysfunction, and death."

In the ATTIRE trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 777 patients hospitalised with acute decompensated liver cirrhosis, were randomly placed in one of two groups. The trial was conducted across 35 UK sites and alcohol was the primary cause of cirrhosis in 90% of patients.

In the experimental arm of the study, known as the 'targeted albumin group', 380 patients were given daily infusions of human albumin solution to raise the concentration in the blood to 30 grams of albumin per litre or greater, for up to 14 days or until discharge.

In the other group, 397 patients were given 'standard care', which could include albumin infusions for draining ascites (fluid in the abdomen) or renal failure, for up to 14 days or until discharge. Standard care varies per patient, is based on a clinician's judgement, and the levels of albumin prescribed are far lower than the study's experimental arm.

The targeted albumin group received about 10 times more albumin and serum albumin levels rose to 30 grams per litre or greater within three days in this group, whereas levels remained at 25 grams per litre or lower in the standard care group. To establish if the targeted albumin treatment had worked, the trial's primary end point was; infection, renal failure or death between days 3 and 15 after initiation of treatment.

Findings

In the targeted albumin group, 113 of 380 patients (29.7%) developed one of the primary end points: infection, renal dysfunction or death. In the standard care group it was 120 of 397 patients (30.2%). Across all hospitalised patients one third (32.3%) had died within six months of initiating treatment.

Researchers concluded there is no evidence of benefit for targeted albumin. In addition, more severe or life-threatening serious adverse events (i.e. pulmonary edema or ascites) occurred in those patients in the targeted albumin group.

Professor O'Brien, also Clinical Director of the UCL Comprehensive Clinical Trials Unit, added: "Our large, high quality, randomised trial showed no benefit for targeted albumin infusions and those given higher doses, in fact, had more serious adverse events. These data strongly support both the need to abandon the use of this costly therapy, and a reappraisal of our understanding of this complex condition. Finally, the high mortality in these patients does not appear to have changed in 20 years. This calls for a renewed focus on preventing the major causes of liver disease, excessive alcohol consumption and obesity."

Liver cirrhosis

Liver disease is the fifth commonest cause of death in the UK and the only one of the top 10 currently rising, predominantly as a consequence of excess alcohol consumption and increasing levels of obesity.

Around 70,000** people are admitted every year to hospitals in England with liver disease, and of those approximately 22,000** admissions are alcoholic liver disease and this figure continues to rise.

It is estimated that around 9,000*** people die from cirrhosis in the UK each year. Average survival for people with decompensated (advanced) cirrhosis is two years. A common cause of death is infection as patients have a weakened immune system, yet no effective strategy exists to improve this.

The condition places a high demand on the health service with frequent admissions to hospital for management of ascites (abnormal fluid build-up in the abdomen) and other complications such as internal bleeding and brain complications such as encephalopathy.

Researchers from the UCL Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, the UCL Comprehensive Clinical Trials Unit, and the UCL Division of Medicine, played a part in this trial.

European Union law rules that Member States must provide fair and appropriate compensation for victims of sexual offences. In some countries, few victims receive any financial compensation, or often the amount received is very low. According to figures from the Spanish Government's Ministry of Finance, obtained by professor of Criminal Law at the UOC, Josep M. Tamarit, between 1998 and 2018 in Spain some 1,356 applications for public compensation were made, of which 272 were favourably settled. "During these two decades, only 20% of the compensation requested was granted. In other words, an average of 13 grants of 1,375 euros per person were paid out," revealed the expert.

Tamarit, the lead researcher on victimization in the UOC's VICRIM group, is involved in the European project FAIRCOM along with academics from other universities and NGOs from Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Latvia. The project aims to improve the chances of victims of sexual offences to get fair and effective compensation. In the context of this research, the expert managed to ascertain that even though in Spain there is the possibility of applying for this compensation, in accordance with Law 35/1995, victims are faced with a number of obstacles to obtaining it.

"The figures show that in Spain there are few applications, and this is mainly due to the fact that not all the victims are properly informed about the option of making a claim," explained Tamarit. And in the case of the people who do apply for public compensation, it is often refused.

The criminal process in Spain

The main route to getting compensation is the criminal process. "If the aggressor has been identified, judged and sentenced, the court imposes in its ruling the obligation to pay compensation to the victim, who can apply for it if they have taken part in person in the proceedings or, in Spanish law, it can also be requested by the Public Prosecution Service," explained Tamarit. "The procedures for making a claim can be very long and complicated. The compensation awarded very often does not reach the victim because the offender has no resources or because the judicial system is incapable of executing the sentences," the expert added.

For the cases in which compensation cannot be made effective, Tamarit explained that the European states have established compensation mechanisms from public funds, based on the idea that the State must assume its duty to protect its citizens from crime. The payments are made as a symbol of recognition, public sympathy, and social solidarity with the victims. He said: "In Spain, the system of public compensation for victims of violent crimes and crimes against sexual freedom is managed by the Ministry of Finance, which takes a very restrictive approach, as shown by the figures."

12 good practices to guarantee compensation

Within the framework of the FAIRCOM project, funded by the European Union, the experts are drawing up a series of resources aimed at providing professionals and institutions with the tools to improve current legislation and practices. Among the first results, they concluded that Member States should take measures to ensure that the compensation awarded by the court is actually available to the victim, and that the public compensation systems have an effective impact on the victims who need it.

In their e-book State and Offender Compensation of Victims of Sexual Violence: Survey, Good Practices and Recommendations, the experts involved in the project recommend various good practices:

1. A public body should be responsible for obtaining the compensation awarded by the courts from the offender. In the Netherlands, this task is the responsibility of the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJCA), which recovers up to 70% of the compensation awarded from offenders.

2. This could be complemented by an advance payment by the State, whereby if the compensation granted is advanced partially or in full to the victims in the event of the (partial) insolvency of the offender, the State can take recourse against the offender to recover this amount.

3. An effective and easy-to-follow procedure needs to be put in place. Article 16 of the Victims' Rights Directive obliges Member States to ensure that victims can obtain a decision on compensation by the offender within a reasonable time frame during the criminal proceeding. States should provide an alternative to civil proceedings, as these are currently ineffective in obtaining compensation from the offender, especially in the case of sexual offences.

4. State-funded lawyers and/or other forms of legal aid should be available to the victims of sexual offences who enter criminal proceedings, especially at the start of the process.

5. No court fee should be charged to extend access to compensation.

6. With regard to compensation by the State, it is recommended that this type of compensation is made available to all victims of sexual offences, including those that do not imply 'violence' in their usual connotation, such as online sex offences.

7. Specific attention should be paid to minors who suffer sexual abuse, taking into account the problem of domestic victimization and arbitrating procedures to ensure that the amount of compensation will meet the needs of underage victims, or that they will receive it when they reach adult age.

8. State compensation must be available, regardless of the outcome of criminal proceedings. Having to wait for the final decision of a criminal trial can lead to disproportionate waiting times, as most criminal proceedings take many years and consequently the situation places an unacceptable burden on the victims.

9. State compensation should be available in cases where the offender is not known, not prosecuted or not sentenced. A victim is no less a victim in these cases (UN Declaration of Basic Principles, 1985; European Convention on the Compensation of Victims of Violent Crimes (1983).

10. The deadline to apply for state compensation must be long and flexible enough to allow access to justice. It is revealing how the research shows that victims of sexual offences in the Netherlands apply for compensation on average about six years after the event. In the case of underage victims, calculating the deadline for applying for public compensation should begin when they reach adult age.

11. The decision-making authority should be an independent entity.

12. Countries should take into account the framework established by the European Court of Justice regarding the amounts of compensation. These amounts should not be purely symbolic or manifestly insufficient, and they should compensate, to the appropriate extent, the suffering to which the victims have been exposed. If fixed amounts are used, they should vary according to the severity of the violence suffered, and also to avoid a manifestly insufficient amount being awarded in view of the circumstances of a specific case.

To develop this good practice manual, the researchers undertook a study of the legal documents and instruments of European policy. The compensation schemes of the five participating countries were compared, using the descriptions of the compensation systems of the European e-Justice Portal. The content was validated and complemented with compensation experts from the participating countries and project partners. In addition, workshops were held in each participating country for professionals working with victims of sexual violence to discuss good practices and potential improvements.

A team of scientists has, for the first time, identified landfalls of tropical cyclones (TCs) in Japan for the period from 1877 to 2019; this knowledge will help prepare for future TC disasters.

In recent years strong TCs have been making landfalls in Japan, such as Typhoon Jebi in 2018, which severely hit the Kinki region, and Typhoon Hagibis in 2019, which severely hit eastern Japan. While Japan has suffered from a number of TC impacts throughout its history, meteorological data for these events has been sparse.

The team, including Specially Appointed Associate Professor Hisayuki Kubota of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, investigated TC activity over the western North Pacific and TC landfalls in Japan by analyzing a combination of TC tracking and meteorological data observed at weather stations and lighthouses, including rescued and recovered historical observations.

The team has collected and recovered TC track and landfall data and meteorological observations in the mid-19th century and later through an approach that rescues, collects and digitizes weather data across the world that has been stored away and often forgotten. To give the data useful consistency, the team developed a new, unified definition for TCs, based on minimum pressure.

According to their analysis, TC landfall locations tend to shift to the northeast and then southwest regions of Japan at roughly 100-year intervals. The analysis also shows that annual TC landfall numbers and their intensities have been increasing in recent years, while noting that these increases may be part of an oscillated fluctuation operating on interdecadal time scales.

The landfall numbers were relatively small in the late 20th century, and larger at other times. The Tohoku and Hokkaido regions, which experienced small numbers of TC landfalls in the late 20th century, may experience more landfalls in the future.

Japan's first official meteorological observation was conducted in Hakodate, Hokkaido, in 1872. There is very little earlier meteorological data obtained by meteorological instruments at terrestrial stations, which makes it difficult to perform long-term meteorological variability analyses. In a new approach, the team focused on foreign ship log weather records from the mid-19th century made with meteorological instruments on vessels sailing through East- and Southeast Asian waters.

The team used records from the US Navy expedition fleet to Japan led by Commodore Matthew C. Perry and from British Navy ships that also sailed to Japan to accurately identify the track of a TC moving over the ocean around the Okinawa Islands from 21 to 25 July 1853, and the track of a TC moving north over the East China Sea from 15 to 16 August 1863.

The results of the study show for the first time the usefulness of such marine data in identifying weather patterns after the mid-19th century in Asia, where there is much less meteorological data for that time period compared with Western countries. "It is projected that stronger TCs will hit Japan in the future due to global warming. The long-term data from our research is indispensable for knowing the variabilities of TC activities in the past and to prepare for future TCs," says Hisayuki Kubota.

While the digitization process offers an extensive list of opportunities, it also presents a number of challenges for higher education institutions, a primary one of which is learner authentication in online education. More and more higher education establishments are making use of digital learning environments (DLE), and electronic assessment systems are now an increasingly important element in the digital age, both for academic institutions and for students, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

David Bañeres is a researcher with the IN3 SOM Research Lab group and professor at the Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). He recently published a study in the ETHE open access journal, that he conducted in conjunction with researchers from Finland, Turkey and the United Kingdom to evaluate the needs of this faction of the student community. "The study was developed as a result of one of the advantages provided by the UOC's TeSLA system (an adaptive trust-based e-assessment learning authentication system), which facilitates access to online assessment for students with disabilities."

The researchers analysed the perceptions and views of students representing this group that attend those universities that have participated in the European TeSLA project: the University of Jyväskylä (Finland), the Open University (UK) and Anadolu University (Turkey). As Bañeres explained: "We evaluated the perceptions of students with special educational needs and disabilities in relation to the use of an authentication and authorship validation system and the sharing of personal biometric data, which, for some students, may include highly sensitive information related to their special need or disability."

The study was carried out within the framework of legislation related to online education and online services. New legislation has been introduced in the EU regarding privacy and data transfer (General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR) and accessibility (Directive [EU] 2016/2102), which has led to an increased awareness of these issues among end users (European Commission, 2016; Voigt and Bussche, 2017).

Electronic authentication for students with disabilities

Digitization undoubtedly represents a key solution to the challenges of modern society: it presents the opportunity for greater flexibility in higher education learning and makes it available to all students, regardless of their disabilities or special needs, personal circumstances, geographic location, or exceptional local or global context, such as with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The identification process typically requires users to introduce information, such as their name, user ID or email address, while authentication requires them to disclose private and secret information, such as a password. In general, both non-private and private user information can be compromised in a variety of ways, which may potentially jeopardize user identification and authentication. Trust is a fundamental precondition for the success of any new form of technology, particularly in the field of education, and trust in relation to electronic authentication appears to be a complex issue.

To what extent do students accept the sharing of personal data for e-authentication purposes? Do background variables, such as type of disability, gender, age, educational level, etc., play a part in terms of the willingness of SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) students to share personal data for e-authentication? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using e-authentication in electronic assessment according to students with special educational needs?

Crucial factors for the acceptance of the system

The responses collected by the study ruled out special educational needs or disabilities as a variable that influences a student's willingness to use an authentication system, such as TeSLA, highlighting factors such as age, gender and previous technological experience as more likely to impact their acceptance of the system. After analysing the results, the researchers identified three factors as being crucial with regard to system acceptability: familiarity with the technology on the part of the student; the additional effort required for using the system, and the degree to which students deem the technology to be intrusive.

The results of the study are of particular interest to academics and researchers working to facilitate access to online assessment for students with disabilities. As Bañeres pointed out: "The study gives us an understanding of their perceptions and therefore helps with making decisions in terms of the most suitable system for use in these cases and which authentication and authorship identification tools they are willing to use. It also gives us an insight into how they feel about sharing personal data."

It is important to consult students with special educational needs on their views regarding e-authentication in education and maintain their trust when implementing new technologies, as well as to respond to the doubts and needs of students with disabilities to prevent e-authentication from becoming a barrier to their studies.

As is sensed in our daily life, jiaozi frozen in domestic refrigerator tastes less delicious than an instant frozen one sold in the supermarket. The formation of the ice crystal is to blame. In scientific researches ranging from aerospace to biology and medicine, the formation, growth and elimination of the ice crystal are of significant importance.

By far, slow freezing and vitrification are generally adopted for cryopreservation. The former method, assembling freezing jiaozi with domestic refrigerator, is accompanied by mass formation of ice crystal which inevitably does irreversible damage to the cell. Vitrification effectively avoids former problems but requires either extremely rapid freezing rate which is too hard to achieve or high density of agent which is equally harmful to the sample. Even if all the damages have been avoided during freezing, recrystallization will do fatal damage while thawing. To successfully preserve the samples, the only possible solution is to avoid crystallization through the entire process.

Recently, Prof. ZHAO Gang's team from University of Science and Technology of China of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) presented prospective insights on cryopreservation. The work was published in Advanced Science on February 1st. The thesis unprecedentedly integrated mechanism, chemical ice-inhibition molecules and other disciplines to cope with crystallization of cryopreservation. The inspiration in the thesis is likely to shed instructive light on technical innovation of cryobiology. Based on previous researches, Prof. ZHAO's team joined hands with Prof. SONG Li's team from National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and Prof. WANG Hai's team from National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and put forward new method of restraining crystallization of cryopreservation. Another thesis titled Synergistic Ice Inhibition Effect Enhances Rapid Freezing Cryopreservation with Low Concentration of Cryoprotectants was published in Advanced Science on January 29th.

In their researches, nanocomposites were constructed to control the growth and elimination together with function materials and external physical field. This nanometer material is of high quality when it comes to restraining crystallization: it's capable of regulating ice nucleation thus reduce the damage done to the sample; by selectively absorbing onto the crystal and melting the crystal, this nanocomposite helps the sample survive the injuries caused during thawing; because of the protection from the nanocomposite, the cells not only survive the cryopreservation but proliferate as well.
The technical breakthrough on suppressing the formation and the growth of the ice crystals for the cryopreservation of cells and organs provide some fundamental support for future medical research and clinical treatment.

Information is encoded in data. This is true for most aspects of modern everyday life, but it is also true in most branches of contemporary physics, and extracting useful and meaningful information from very large data sets is a key mission for many physicists.

In statistical mechanics, large data sets are daily business. A classic example is the partition function, a complex mathematical object that describes physical systems at equilibrium. This mathematical object can be seen as made up by many points, each describing a degree of freedom of a physical system, that is, the minimum number of data that can describe all of its properties.

An interdisciplinary team of scientists from the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) showed that such a massive collection of data can be combed through, bringing out fundamental physical properties of an unknown system.

These results were highlighted in a paper just published in Physical Review X, introducing a new data-based viewpoint on phase transitions. The team showed that a generic statistical property of large data sets that describe a broad range of physical systems at equilibrium, known as intrinsic dimension, can in fact reveal the occurrence of a phase transition.

The authors of the paper, coordinated by Marcello Dalmonte, a researcher in ICTP's Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics Section and SISSA collaborator, come from different backgrounds. Tiago Mendes, a former postdoctoral fellow at ICTP and now at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, in Dresden, Germany, works mainly in numerical methods applied to statistical mechanics. Alex Rodriguez is a chemist, previously working at SISSA and now at ICTP, who works in the implementation of complex system algorithms and the development of machine learning methods. Xhek Turkeshi, a PhD student at SISSA, works mostly in statistical physics.

The researchers focussed on a generic statistical property of the data sets, called the intrinsic dimension. The simplest way to describe this property is as the minimum number of variables needed to represent a given data set, without any loss of information. "Take, for example, all the people around the world," explains Rodriguez. "That is a data set by itself. Now, if you want to specify the position of the people around the world, in theory, you would need the coordinates of all their positions in space, that is, three data for each person. But since we can approximate the Earth as a bidimensional surface, we will only need two parameters, that is, the latitude and the longitude. This is what intrinsic dimension is: if the data set was humanity then the intrinsic dimension would be 2, not 3."

In the more theoretical context of statistical systems, the paper shows that this property of intrinsic dimension can reveal collective properties of partition functions at thermal phase transitions. This means that, regardless of what system is under consideration, the data can show if and when that system is undergoing a phase transition. The team has developed a theoretical framework to explain why generic data exhibit such a 'universal' behaviour, common to a broad range of different phase transitions, from melting ice to ferromagnets.

"The work introduces a new viewpoint on phase transitions by showing how the intrinsic dimension reveals correspondent structural transitions in data space," say the scientists, "when ice melts, its data structure does as well."

What is really new in this work is that raw data mirror the physical behaviour of the systems under consideration, and that is important for physicists, as it allows them to analyse a system without knowing the physics underlying it. Looking at the data is enough in order to see if there is a transition happening in the system or not, without even knowing what kind of transition it is. "We could say that this method is completely agnostic," says Mendes. "You don't need to know a priori all the parameters of the system; you just work with raw data and see what comes out of them."

After the interesting results obtained in this research, the team plans to continue working together in the same direction, broadening their field of analysis. They are already working on a second paper, focussing on the so-called 'quantum phase transitions', that is, quantum systems where phase transitions happen at a temperature equal to zero and are induced by external parameters, like the magnetic field.

In terms of applications of these findings, the possibilities are many - from experiments with computer simulations of quantum systems to more fundamental branches of physics, such as quantum chromodynamics, that could also have an impact on nuclear physics. "An interesting possibility of application is in the use of statistical physics techniques to understand machine learning," says Rodriguez. "In this kind of research, that goes from quantum computing to the study of neural networks for example, phase transitions are very often involved and we could try to use our method to tackle all these kinds of different problems."

Judging by its massive, bone-crushing teeth, gigantic skull and powerful jaw, there is no doubt that the Anteosaurus, a premammalian reptile that roamed the African continent 265 to 260 million years ago - during a period known as the middle Permian - was a ferocious carnivore.

However, while it was previously thought that this beast of a creature - that grew to about the size of an adult hippo or rhino, and featuring a thick crocodilian tail - was too heavy and sluggish to be an effective hunter, a new study has shown that the Anteosaurus would have been able to outrun, track down and kill its prey effectively.

Despite its name and fierce appearance, Anteosaurus is not a dinosaur but rather belongs to the dinocephalians--mammal-like reptiles predating the dinosaurs. Much like the dinosaurs, dinocephalians roamed and ruled the Earth in the past, but they originated, thrived, and died about 30 million years before the first dinosaur even existed.

The fossilised bones of Dinocephalians are found in many places in the world. They stand out by their large size and heavy weight. Dinocephalian bones are thick and dense, and Anteosaurus is no exception. The Anteosaurus' skull was ornamented with large bosses (bumps and lumps) above the eyes and a long crest on top of the snout which, in addition to its enlarged canines, made its skull look like that of a ferocious creature. However, because of the heavy architecture of its skeleton, it was previously assumed that it was a rather sluggish, slow-moving animal, only capable of scavenging or ambushing its prey, at best.

"Some scientists even suggested that Anteosaurus was so heavy that it could only have lived in water," says Dr Julien Benoit of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University).

By carefully reconstructing the skull of the Anteosaurus digitally using X-ray imaging and 3D reconstructions, a team of researchers investigated the internal structures of the skull and found that the specific characteristics of its brain and balance organs were developed in such a way that it was everything but slow-moving.

"Agile predators such as cheetahs or the infamous Velociraptor have always had a very specialised nervous systems and fine-tuned sensory organs that enable them to track and hunt down prey effectively," says Benoit. "We wanted to find out whether the Anteosaurus possessed similar adaptations."

The team found that the organ of balance in Anteosaurus (its inner ear) was relatively larger than that of its closest relatives and other contemporaneous predators. This indicates that Anteosaurus was capable of moving much faster than its prey and competitors. They also found that the part of the brain responsible for coordinating the movements of the eyes with the head was exceptionally large, which would have been a crucial trait to ensure the animal's tracking abilities.

"In creating the most complete reconstruction of an Anteosaurus skull to date, we found that overall, the nervous system of Anteosaurus was optimised and specialised for hunting swiftly and striking fast, unlike what was previously believed," says Dr Ashley Kruger from the Natural History Museum in Stockholm, Sweden and previously from Wits University.

"Even though Anteosaurus lived 200-million years before the famous dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex, Anteosaurus was definitely not a 'primitive' creature, and was nothing short of a mighty prehistoric killing machine," says Benoit.

When the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted in April 2010, air traffic was interrupted for six days and then disrupted until May. Until then, models from the nine Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres (VAACs) around the world, which aimed at predicting when the ash cloud interfered with aircraft routes, were based on the tracking of the clouds in the atmosphere. In the wake of this economic disaster for airlines, ash concentration thresholds were introduced in Europe which are used by the airline industry when making decisions on flight restrictions. However, a team of researchers, led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, discovered that even the smallest volcanic ash did not behave as expected. Its results, to be read in the journal Nature Communications, will help to refine the way that volcanic ash is represented in forecasting models used by the VAACs, which must react in real-time to provide useful advice during a volcanic eruption.

The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010 not only disrupted global air traffic, but also called into question the functioning of the forecast strategies used by the VAACs, based only on the spatial tracking of the ash cloud. A meeting of experts refined the strategies based on ash concentration thresholds and enabled flights to resume more quickly, while ensuring the safety of passengers and flight personnel.

"During a volcanic explosive eruption, fragments ranging from a few microns to more than 2 metres are ejected from the volcanic vent," explains Eduardo Rossi, a researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences of the UNIGE Faculty of Sciences and the first author of the study. The larger the particles, the faster and closer to the volcano they fall, reducing the concentration of ash in the atmosphere. "This is why the new strategies have integrated concentration thresholds better defining the dangerousness for aircraft engines. From 2 milligrams per cubic metre, airlines must have an approved safety case to operate," says the Geneva-based researcher.

Particle aggregates that impact predictive models

Despite existing knowledge about the ash clouds, several open questions remained unanswered after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, including the discovery of particles in UK that were much larger than expected. "We wanted to understand how this was possible by accurately analysing the ash particles from the Sakurajima volcano in Japan, which has been erupting 2-3 times a day for more than 50 years," says Costanza Bonadonna, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at UNIGE.

By using adhesive paper to collect the ash before it hit the ground, the team of scientists had already observed during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption how micrometric particles would group together into clusters, which, after the impact with the ground, were destroyed. "It plays an important role in the sedimentation rate, notes Eduardo Rossi. Once assembled in aggregates, these micrometre particles fall much faster and closer to the volcano than the models predict, because they are ultimately heavier than if they fell individually. This is called premature sedimentation. "

The rafting effect, declared impossible by theory

In Japan the UNIGE team made a new important discovery: the observation of the rafting effect. Using a high-speed camera, the volcanologists observed the sedimentation of the ash in real-time and discovered previously unseen aggregates called cored clusters. "These are formed by a large particle of 100-800 microns - the core - which is covered by many small particles less than 60 microns, explains Costanza Bonadonna. And this external layer of small particles can act like a parachute over the core, delaying its sedimentation. This is the rafting effect. "

This rafting effect had been theoretically suggested in 1993, but finally declared impossible. Today, its existence is well and truly proven by direct observation and accurate theoretical analysis, made possible by high-speed camera. "Working with Frances Beckett of the UK Met Office, we have carried out several simulations that have enabled us to answer the questions raised by the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull and the unexplained discovery of these oversized ash particles in UK. It was the result of this rafting effect, which delayed the fall of these aggregates," enthuses Eduardo Rossi.

Now that the ash aggregates, the cored clusters and the rafting effect have been studied, it is a matter of collecting more accurate physical particle parameters so that one day they can be integrated into the operational models of the VAACs, for which size and density play a crucial role in calculating the concentration of ash in the atmosphere.

The planet Mars has no global magnetic field, although scientists believe it did have one at some point in the past. Previous studies suggest that when Mars' global magnetic field was present, it was approximately the same strength as Earth's current field. Surprisingly, instruments from past Mars missions, both orbiters and landers, have spotted patches on the planet's surface that are strongly magnetized--a property that could not have been produced by a magnetic field similar to Earth's, assuming the rocks on both planets are similar.

Ahmed AlHantoobi, an intern working with Northern Arizona University planetary scientists, assistant professor Christopher Edwards and postdoctoral scholar Jennifer Buz in NAU's Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, led a study looking for answers to explain these magnetic anomalies. The team explored the relationships between the strength of the magnetic field on the surface and the composition of the crust in the Terra Sirenum-Terra Cimmeria region of Mars.

"Our findings show that in the area with the strongest magnetic patches, there is a verifiable positive correlation between the magnetic field and mineralogical data," said AlHantoobi. "This leads us to believe that the composition of those patches enables them to record the magnetic field exceptionally well. Therefore, Mars' ancient global magnetic field did not need to be as large to produce the strongly magnetized crust we observe today."

The team recently published their findings in the journal Geophysical Research Letters in a paper entitled, "Compositional Enhancement of Crustal Magnetization on Mars."

AlHantoobi, a student at Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), spent the last two summers participating in a program offered at NAU by Edwards and Buz to train and mentor Emirati undergraduate students in planetary science research. The program is part of Edwards' involvement in the UAE space agency's Emirates Mars Mission Hope orbiter project, which carries a unique new instrument he co-designed in collaboration with engineers from the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) and Arizona State University (ASU). While AlHantoobi was able to be on campus during the summer of 2019, in order to continue his project during the summer of 2020 and abide by travel restrictions, the team was forced to adapt to the 11-hour time difference between Dubai and Flagstaff.

"The impact of this study is quite high," said Edwards, "as it provides some of the first answers to details related to the magnetism of the Martian crust."

"My research with Jennifer and Christopher was an eye-opening experience," said AlHantoobi, "and I believe it has impacted what I want to be in the future. I got to experience first-hand the beauty of discovering and answering the unknown."

A review of nearly 28,000 emergency department records shows less than 2% of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 suffered an ischemic stroke but those who did had an increased risk of requiring long-term care after hospital discharge. Those are the findings from a study conducted by researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and MU Health Care.

The researchers teamed up with the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics and the Tiger Institute for Health Innovation to review data from 54 health care facilities. They found 103 patients (1.3%) developed ischemic stroke among 8,163 patients with COVID-19. Comparatively, 199 patients (1.0%) developed stroke among 19,513 patients who didn't have COVID-19.

"Patients with COVID-19 who developed acute ischemic stroke were older, more likely to be black and had a higher frequency of cardiovascular risk factors," said lead researcher Adnan I. Qureshi, MD, a professor of clinical neurology at the MU School of Medicine.

The mean age of COVID-19 patients with stroke was 68.8 compared with 54.4 for those without stroke. Among those with COVID-19 and stroke, 45% were Black, 36% were white and 6% were Hispanic. They tended to have hypertension (84%), high fat content in the blood (75%) and diabetes (56%).

"We also found that COVID-19 patients with stroke had a significantly higher rate of discharge to a destination other than home compared to stroke patients without COVID-19," Qureshi said. "Patients with COVID-19 tend to have multisystem involvement and elevated markers of inflammation, which have been shown to increase the rate of death or disability."

Qureshi said his findings are somewhat different from earlier studies that suggested patients with COVID-19 who developed stroke were younger and without preexisting cardiovascular risk factors.

"Even if COVID-19 was a predisposing factor, the risk was mainly seen in those who were already at risk for stroke due to other cardiovascular risk factors," Qureshi said.

PHILADELPHIA (March 3, 2021) - According to a new study published in Medical Care, improving hospital nurse staffing as proposed in pending legislation in New York state would likely save lives. The cost of improving nurse staffing would be offset by savings achieved by reducing hospital readmissions and length of hospital stays.

Researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, conducted independent research in early 2020 on whether pending nurse staffing legislation in New York state is in the public's interest. The study of 116 hospitals and 418,000 Medicare patients documented large differences in patient-to-nurse ratios by hospital from an average of 4.3 patients for each nurse to as many as 10.5 patients per nurse. The wide variation in patient-to-nurse ratios across hospitals in New York is contributing to avoidable deaths and unnecessary costs.

The new study finds hospital deaths and costs of care are significantly lower in hospitals with better nurse staffing. Each additional patient added to a nurse's workload is associated with 13% higher in-hospital mortality and 8% higher readmissions. Similarly, the odds of staying a day longer in the hospital, a major cost factor, increased by 9% for surgical patients and 5% for medical patients.

Lead author Karen Lasater, PhD, RN, an assistant professor and CHOPR researcher said, "Results show that improving nurse staffing in New York hospitals could substantially reduce deaths and save money that could go to funding improved staffing."

Researchers estimated that if all New York hospitals had staffed at levels recommended in pending state legislation of not more than 4 patients per nurse on medical and surgical units, over a two-year period more than 4,370 deaths could have been avoided and over $720 million saved just among Medicare patients alone and likely considerably more across all hospitalized patients.

Co-author, Linda H Aiken, PhD, RN, a senior researcher at CHOPR and professor at the University of Pennsylvania said, "This independent scientific study shows that setting a quality standard for nurse staffing in hospitals is in the public's interest. It is also feasible to fund because of significant savings associated with avoided days of care associated with better patient care."