Culture

Home Office data shows the number of police officers voluntarily resigning from the force in England and Wales has more than doubled in the last eight years.

Scant attention has been paid to the reason for this mass exodus. Until now. Researchers from the University of Portsmouth studied government statistics, and discovered the numbers of officers voluntarily resigning from the police service is rising - from 1,158 in the year ending March 2012 to 2,363 in the year ending March 2020. The figure amounts to 1.83 per cent of the total police officer population in England and Wales up from 0.86 per cent eight years ago.

Dr Sarah Charman, from the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth, led the study. She says: "By any measure this rise is steep and troubling, especially when coupled with a more complex policing landscape requiring knowledge and experience. It seems more important than ever therefore to provide an insight into a relatively under-researched aspect of policing - why police officers resign prematurely from the police service through what could be argued to be avoidable turnover."

The researchers then carried out a small-scale study of officers who had resigned voluntarily from one medium-sized police force in England between November 2014 and June 2019. The study was published today in the journal Policing and Society. The data from this survey of 46 police leavers plus 27 interviews suggests a number of contributory factors, the majority relating to three areas:

1. Poor leadership and management was cited as the most regular theme in answers as to why officers left the police service voluntarily. Perceptions of poor management were often enhanced by concerns about powerful policing occupational cultures. Comments referred to management at all levels, whether immediate line management, middle management or senior management within the organisation. This related to both levels of supervision and levels of support. For example:

'The force regularly forcibly moved you between teams and roles. This was through no fault of your own, but through poor demand planning'

'Lack of robust supervisory support'

2. The research showed that police officers who had left the organisation felt an overriding sense of organisational 'injustice', to such an extent that that the delicate balance between employer and employee had been breached. Participants felt that they had little or no control or autonomy over their job, their role or their future - they felt that they lacked a 'voice' within the organisation. A lack of access to promotions and unsustainable workloads, with an inability to maintain a work/life balance had a negative impact. The comments related to these factors, the most frequently mentioned of these were related to a perceived lack of promotion and progression opportunities.

'Absolutely no prospect of lateral career progression or promotion'

'The talent management and progression in policing is very poorly developed'

3. Personal factors were cited by 25 per cent of participants as being in their top three reasons for leaving. Almost half of these former officers referred to difficulties in managing caring responsibilities while doing the job. After poor leadership and management, this was the second most cited reason for leaving the police service.

'Relentless working hours - expectation as a single parent to leave my children at home alone all weekend to fit in with the working pattern'

'Having my first baby...made to feel like it would be too tough to come back into a Detective role'

Dr Charman says, "With policing in England and Wales undergoing one of the biggest recruitment drives in modern history and the focus for the Home Office firmly back in favour of retention, an understanding of what contributes to a decline in organisational commitment and ultimately to avoidable turnover within policing is crucial. This research has endeavoured to understand this relationship and its findings have important implications for the police service in England and Wales."

Researchers conclude that internal organisational issues are far more relevant to an individual officer's intention to leave policing than occupational factors. While there are also relevant external factors, particularly in relation to 'excessive' workloads, which do clearly impact on levels of dissatisfaction, the focus for change would appear to be in a consideration of how the social exchange factors, which are so crucial to an enhanced sense of organisational commitment can be rebalanced equitably to take account of both the individual needs of staff in addition to organisational demand.

New research will enhance corona safety during cruises and help cruise lines to again attract passengers onboard

Researchers within Cell Biology and Industrial Management at Åbo Akademi University have developed models aimed at ensuring corona safety during cruises.

The coronavirus pandemic stopped the cruise industry more or less completely. Major international cruise lines, such as Royal Caribbean Group and Carnival Corporation, largely suspended their cruises during 2020, which resulted in practically zero turnover and losses amounting to billions.

Upon assignment by Business Finland, an interdisciplinary research team has been working to find solutions for managing the current crisis as well as possible future pandemics. Within the Healthy Travel project, the researchers have developed models to describe work and passenger flows on vessels of different sizes as well as the need for testing in order to cost-effectively minimise the risk of embarkation of disease carriers.

- We have identified situations where the risk of spreading the virus is particularly high and developed processes and procedures to minimise the risks. Because the risk of infection spread is the largest when lots of people are gathered in confined spaces, we have primarily focused on embarkation and shared premises onboard, explains Magnus Hellström, Associate Professor in Industrial Management at Åbo Akademi University.

Moreover, the researchers have outlined how the different security levels can be used to prevent the virus from spreading onboard, depending on the infection situation. During a pandemic, the passenger numbers are limited and more attention is paid to cleaning the surfaces. Also, the need for queuing and times spent in shared premises can be reduced by, for example, offering electronic restaurant bookings. The risk of spreading the virus can further be mitigated by placing hand sanitizers and mask recommendations at entrances and by acquiring coronavirus test equipment for use during the cruise.

- Last spring in Japan, a virus outbreak originating from a single passenger onboard the Diamond Princess resulted in about 700 persons falling ill. The case showed how important it is to invest in relatively simple screening procedures for embarkation and safety routines during the cruise. Many of the measures implemented by cruise lines already create the conditions for much safer cruises than people may think, says Erik Niemelä, Project Researcher in Cell Biology at Åbo Akademi University.

Spikes in temperature can affect a plant's fertility, resulting in a reduction of yield and economic loss

How plants can protect themselves from stress has been studied by a consortium led by the University of Warwick

Two argonaute-like proteins protect the plant's fertility, understanding these proteins is critical to safeguarding crop production

As Temperatures rise due to global warming the need to protect plants from stressful conditions has increased, as stress can cause a loss in yield and cause further impact economically. A consortium led by the University of Warwick have successfully identified two proteins that protect crops from stress, which is key in safeguarding food production.

Plant fertility is dramatically affected by spikes in temperature, directly resulting in yield reduction and economic loss. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that underpin plant fertility under environmental constraints is critical to safeguarding food production.

In the paper, 'A transposon surveillance mechanism that safeguards plant male fertility during stress', published in the journal Nature Plants, led by researchers from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick have studied the molecular mechanisms that maize plants utilise to safeguard fertility under high temperatures, and identified two Argonaute-like (AGO) proteins that protect the male sex cells.

By subjecting maize plants with non-functional AGO proteins to different growth conditions, researchers discovered that a 5?C increase in ambient temperature dramatically decreased male fertility.

Using a multidisciplinary approach, the team found that higher temperatures activated small pieces of ribonucleic acid (or small RNAs) in wild-type plants, which bind to these AGO proteins to control the activity of stress-activated jumping genes - pieces of DNA that can copy themselves into different parts of the genome. Therefore, these AGO proteins control the activity of jumping-genes, thereby protect plant fertility.

Professor Jose Gutierrez-Marcos, from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick explains:

"We have essentially found that when plants are stressed by high temperatures they activate an RNA-guided surveillance mechanism in the form of small RNAs and Argonaute proteins, in reproductive cells which are critical to sustain male fertility and ultimately plant survival.

"Understanding the molecular mechanism implicated in safeguarding plant fertility is critical to safeguard future crop production under unpredictable and stressful climatic conditions."

Dr Charo del Genio, from the School of Computing, Electronics and Mathematics at Coventry University adds:

"Modelling the structure of the Argonaute proteins and simulating them at the level of the single atoms revealed how they change their electric charge when subject to thermal stress, initiating the process that brings the jumping genes back under control."

Respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 (causing COVID-19) can often catalyse an overactive immune response that leads to a life-threatening cycle, known as a cytokine storm. Analysing cytokine responses from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and similar common respiratory viruses has unearthed glaringly important differences in how SARS-CoV-2 affects cytokines compared to other common respiratory viruses.

The comprehensive data resource aims to help specialists identify better treatments and diagnosis of underlying causes that can cause the deadly cytokine storm.

Scientists at the Earlham Institute (EI) and the Quadram Institute study how the immune system responds to infection with SARS-CoV-2 and other similar respiratory viruses, in particular to identifying unique features in severely ill COVID-19 patients.

Members of the Korcsmaros Group working alongside the clinical virologist Claire Shannon-Lowe at the University of Birmingham, focused their attention on how SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses are causing the so-called 'cytokine storm' - a hyper-activation of our own immune system - one of the main reasons for the high death rate in subgroup of COVID-19 patients.

To identify the similarities and differences in the cytokine storm, the researchers collected and analysed the vast collection of thousands COVID-19 research papers. They looked for patterns of cytokine changes in patients who had been infected by respiratory viruses that cause cytokine release syndrome.

By systematically analysing over 5,000 scientific studies to find those containing immune response data from patients, the researchers showed that SARS-CoV-2 has a unique tendency of halting the rise of specific cytokines in certain patients, when compared to other similar viruses. This is important in understanding the causes of the potentially fatal cytokine release syndrome, more commonly known as a cytokine storm.

"As the onset of the cytokine storm is one of the key factors behind the mortality rates we're seeing in a particular group of COVID-19 patients, it is critical to understand why it is happening" said project lead PhD Student Marton Olbei in the Korcsmáros Group.

"Cytokine storms are not unique to SARS-CoV-2 infection; they can be found in most of the critical human coronaviruses and influenza. A subtype outbreaks of the past two decades."

Cytokines are small proteins that tightly regulate our immune system and how our body reacts to internal or external stress, such as cancer, inflammation, or infection. Cytokines act as conductors, orchestrating our immune response when infected with viruses. One of their roles is to cause inflammation, which is part of the healing process of many infections and injuries.

Respiratory viruses all activate antiviral responses in the body but there are differences in how each virus attempts to evade the attention of the immune system. The most common strategy is to confuse, or specifically attack, crucial immune response mechanisms - such as the release of cytokines.

A cytokine storm happens only in certain patients' immune systems when reacting to a virus. A feedback loop causes the continual activation of cytokines responsible for inflammation, resulting in organ failure or even death.

While SARS-CoV-2 cases have distinct similarities to both influenza patients and those who were infected in previous coronavirus outbreaks (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV), the researchers' analysis found specific immune mechanisms that make SARS-CoV-2 uniquely dangerous.

"We examined the changing cytokine levels upon infection with similar viral pathogens (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, H5N1, H7N9) to highlight the protective and unique cytokine responses caused by these viruses," said Marton.

By comparing the COVID-19 patients' immune response data, the researchers found similarities mounted against these pathogens - discriminating between influenza A subtypes and coronaviruses - and the unusual aspects of the current circulating SARS-CoV-2 virus.

SARS-CoV-2 is similar to other respiratory viruses but, by targeting specific regulators of the cytokine response, with just small-scale differences, it could lead to a more severe disease - not from the virus itself, but from the patient's immune system response.

"For a subgroup of patients, when infected by these viruses, a real danger is posed by the immune system overreacting. We're drawing out which specific parts of our immune system react in a potentially harmful way to these viruses, said Marton.

"We wanted to take a step back and summarise what is actually being reported in the scientific literature, specifically focusing on cytokine-mediated immune responses, to put into context and differentiate SARS-CoV-2 from these other viruses. Building up a data repository such as this will also be vital for the future; if other similar viruses arose, you could quickly find their profile and compare."

A map of such immune responses could help clinical specialists identify interventions that have successfully alleviated cytokine storm in other diseases, and evaluate whether they could be effective in treating certain COVID-19 cases.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Toronto, ON - Children in the United States who have more screen time at ages 9-10 are more likely to develop binge-eating disorder one year later, according to a new national study.

The study, published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders on March 1, found that each additional hour spent on social media was associated with a 62% higher risk of binge-eating disorder one year later. It also found that each additional hour spent watching or streaming television or movies led to a 39% higher risk of binge-eating disorder one year later.

Binge-eating disorder is characterized by eating large quantities of food in a short period of time, a feeling of loss of control during the binge, and experiencing shame or guilt afterwards. Binge-eating disorder can be severe and life-threatening if it causes heart disease or diabetes, and it is the most common eating disorder in the United States. People with binge-eating disorder may be overweight or of normal weight, but unlike those with bulimia, they do not compensate by vomiting, using laxatives or exercising excessively. They frequently eat alone or in secret and may eat until they are uncomfortably full.

"Children may be more prone to overeating while distracted in front of screens. They may also be exposed to more food advertisements on television. Binge-watching television may lead to binge-eating behaviors because of overconsumption and a loss of control," said lead author, Jason Nagata, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.

The researchers analyzed data from 11,025 children 9-11-years old who are part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, the largest long-term study of brain development in the United States. Data were collected from 2016-2019. The children answered questions about their time spent on six different screen time modalities, including television, social media, and texting. Parents answered questions about their children's binge-eating behaviors, specifically the frequency and characteristics of overeating and related distress.

"Exposure to social media and unattainable body ideals may lead to a negative body image and subsequent binge eating," said senior author, Kyle T. Ganson, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. "This study emphasizes the need for more research on how screen time impacts the well-being of young people now and in the future."

While the study was conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, its findings are especially relevant during the pandemic. "With remote learning, the cancellation of youth sports, and social isolation, children are currently exposed to unprecedented levels of screen time," said Nagata.

"Although screen time can have important benefits such as education and socialization during the pandemic, parents should try to mitigate risks from excessive screen time such as binge eating. Parents should regularly talk to their children about screen-time usage and develop a family media use plan."

Ribosome formation is viewed as a promising potential target for new antibacterial agents. Researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have gained new insights into this multifaceted process. The formation of ribosomal components involves multiple helper proteins which, much like instruments in an orchestra, interact in a coordinated way. One of these helper proteins - protein ObgE - acts as the conductor, guiding the entire process. The research, which produced the first-ever image-based reconstruction of this process, has been published in Molecular Cell*.

Ribosomes are an essential component of all living cells. Frequently referred to as 'molecular protein factories', they translate genetic information into chains of linked-up amino acids which are otherwise known as proteins. The process of protein biosynthesis is the same in all cells, even in bacteria (including the widely known intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli). If this process cannot take place, the cell dies; single-celled organism (such as E. coli and other bacteria) cannot survive. Researchers are hoping to exploit this circumstance for the development of novel antibiotic agents. The need for these new drugs is not only the result of an increase in antibiotic resistance and the emergence and spread of new multidrug-resistant pathogens, but also because it has been a long time since a new class of antibiotic substances emerged. A new type of antibiotic might be designed to interfere with ribosome formation in a way that inhibits their assembly.

"It is a coincidence that we are currently in the middle of a viral pandemic. The next pandemic could easily be of bacterial origin because both bacterial antibiotic resistance and multidrug resistance are spreading rapidly, across species barriers", explains the study's last author, Prof. Dr. Christian Spahn, Director of Charité's Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics. He adds: "The long-term aim of our basic research is therefore to contribute to the development of new antibiotics." Working with colleagues from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine MDC) in Berlin and the University of Konstanz, the Charité researchers explored the early stages of ribosome formation to identify points in the process which might serve as targets for new antibacterial and antimicrobial drugs.

Ribosomes consist of two subunits: one larger subunit and one smaller one. As part of their latest endeavors, the team, led by Dr. Rainer Nikolay of Charité's Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics, focused on studying the nature and development of the larger ribosomal subunit in the bacterium E.coli. Hoping to identify a potential target for new antibiotics, the researchers wanted to isolate and visualize the precursor stages of this larger subunit. To do so, they wanted to use the subunit in its unadulterated form, i.e. as close to its natural condition as possible. For the first time, the researchers succeeded in not only isolating one such precursor from bacterial cells (in this case, E. coli), but also visualizing it using cryo-electron microscopy imaging at near-atomic resolution. "We now have a better understanding of the way in which the larger bacterial ribosomal subunit develops at the molecular level, although our understanding remains far from complete," says first author Dr. Nikolay.

The research team chose a minimally invasive protocol in order to minimize the degree to which the bacterial cell would need to be manipulated. One of the key agents in the process of ribosome formation, the protein ObgE, was marked using what is known as a 'Strep tag'. This step involves a 'gene knock-in' procedure - the insertion of genetic information into the bacterial genome. A bacterium thus treated will produce only marked ObgE. After minor processing of the cell, this ObgE can then be visualized using an electron microscope. Strep tagging enabled the researchers to study the entire complex for the first time. This is because the helper protein ObgE effectively carries the precursor of the larger ribosomal subunit on its back. The results came as a surprise, as Dr Nikolay explains: "We found that this precursor is covered in multiple helper proteins, which either interact or directly communicate with one another. The ObgE protein takes on a key role in this process, effectively directing and coordinating it." This could constitute a target for new drugs, which might stop bacterial growth by inhibiting the assembly of functional ribosomes.

The team want to use similar strategies to gain further insights into the development of bacterial ribosomal subunits and enhance their understanding of the relevant biological processes at the molecular level. Previous research, conducted at Charité and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, had produced valuable information on the fundamental structure of ribosomes and the various steps of the maturation process which these cellular protein factories must undergo. While all of these earlier insights were based on in vitro studies, the researchers knew that the formation of the large chromosomal subunit could only be observed in a living cell. The latest step in their endeavors has therefore been a crucial one: in order to identify new cellular drug targets, it is necessary to understand how the process of ribosome formation seen in bacteria differs from that in human cells. "We have managed to make some headway in that respect," says Dr. Nikolay. "We were able to reveal the existence of both conserved and divergent evolutionary features between prokaryotes - such as bacteria - and eukaryotes - organisms whose genetic information is contained inside a cell nucleus." These findings are important if we are to target features specific to bacteria while also protecting human cells against unwanted side effects.

What can you see on this picture (next to thearticle)? Say what comes to your mind immediately!

If you said „star", you focus rather on the details, if you said „sun", then rather on the global pattern.

People can be different in whether they typically see the forest or the trees, but the dominant attentional mode is focusing first on the whole, and then on the details. This is the same with children. Or so it has been until now! Children of the Alpha Generation (who has been born after 2010) typically grow up with mobile devices in their hands which seems to change how they perceive the world, as Hungarian researchers showed.

The Alpha Generation Lab of Diagnostics and Therapy Excellence Programme at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest) studies how the use of digital devices affects children's cognitive and socio-emotional development. Now, a study they conducted have been published in the prestigious journal Computers in Human Behavior.

„Focusing on the global picture helps us in perceiving the world in meaningful, coherent patterns, and not just as a bunch of unrelated spots"- said Veronika Konok, first author of the study. „We automatically process the global pattern even if we intend to pay attention only to the details. For example, if we have to focus solely on the small details of a picture like above to decide if they are sun-shaped or not, we cannot ignore the big picture (which can be different from the small shapes) and this slows down our reaction. However, if we have to focus on the big picture, the little details do not confuse us, because we do not process them automatically."

Children using mobile devices differ in this skill! When they have to press a button upon seeing a sun either at the global or at the local level, their performance shows that they process the details first: they respond faster when the target (sun) is at the local level, in contrast with pre-schoolers who do not use mobile devices, or with typical adults.

To verify if these attentional changes are caused by the use of mobile devices, the researchers recruited pre-schoolers regardless they use mobile devices or not and investigated if a short game on tablet causes detail-focused attention in short term.

"Interestingly, 6 minutes of playing with a balloon-shooting game was enough to induce a detail-focused attentional style in a consecutive task. In contrast, children who played with a non-digital game (a whack-a-mole game) showed the typical global focus"- said Ádám Miklósi, leader of the group.

So, the use of digital devices changes how children perceive the world. The results show that the type of experiences children meet matters much, because at this age the brain is very plastic, so such massive early exposure may have a significant long-term effect.

"The atypical attentional style in mobile user children is not necessarily bad, but different for sure, and we cannot ignore this - for example in pedagogy"- said Krisztina Liszkai-Peres, a co-worker of the group, second author of the publication.

These children probably need a new way of presenting educational material. As the researchers point out, people who pay attention to details are more skilful at analytic thinking, but less creative and have weaker social skills. Therefore, it is possible that - if there will be no change in this trend - among children of the new generation there will be more scientific thinker and less artistic or social ones, and this will probably change the world we live in.

HANOVER, N.H. - March 1, 2020 - During World War II, British intelligence agents planted false documents on a corpse to fool Nazi Germany into preparing for an assault on Greece. "Operation Mincemeat" was a success, and covered the actual Allied invasion of Sicily.

The "canary trap" technique in espionage spreads multiple versions of false documents to conceal a secret. Canary traps can be used to sniff out information leaks, or as in WWII, to create distractions that hide valuable information.

WE-FORGE, a new data protection system designed at Dartmouth's Department of Computer Science, uses artificial intelligence to build on the canary trap concept. The system automatically creates false documents to protect intellectual property such as drug design and military technology.

"The system produces documents that are sufficiently similar to the original to be plausible, but sufficiently different to be incorrect," said V.S. Subrahmanian, the Distinguished Professor in Cybersecurity, Technology, and Society, and director of the Institute for Security, Technology, and Society.

Cybersecurity experts already use canary traps, "honey files," and foreign language translators to create decoys that deceive would-be attackers. WE-FORGE improves on these techniques by using natural language processing to automatically generate multiple fake files that are both believable and incorrect. The system also inserts an element of randomness to keep adversaries from easily identifying the real document.

WE-FORGE can be used to create numerous fake versions of any technical design document. When adversaries hack a system, they are faced with the daunting task of figuring out which of the many similar documents is real.

"Using this technique, we force an adversary to waste time and effort in identifying the correct document. Even if they do, they may not have confidence that they got it right," said Subrahmanian.

Creating the false technical documents is no less daunting. According to the research team, a single patent can include over 1,000 concepts with up to 20 possible replacements. WE-FORGE can end up considering millions of possibilities for all of the concepts that might need to be replaced in a single technical document.

"Malicious actors are stealing intellectual property right now and getting away with it for free," said Subrahmanian. "This system raises the cost that thieves incur when stealing government or industry secrets."

The WE-FORGE algorithm works by computing similarities between concepts in a document and then analyzing how relevant each word is to the document. The system then sorts concepts into "bins" and computes the feasible candidate for each group.

"WE-FORGE can also take input from the author of the original document," said Dongkai Chen, a graduate student at Dartmouth who worked on the project. "The combination of human and machine ingenuity can increase costs on intellectual-property thieves even more."

As part of the research, the team falsified a series of computer science and chemistry patents and asked a panel of knowledgeable subjects to decide which of the documents were real.

According to the research, published in ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems, the WE-FORGE system was able to "consistently generate highly believable fake documents for each task."

Unlike other tools, WE-FORGE specializes in falsifying technical information rather than just concealing simple information, such as passwords.

WE-FORGE improves on an earlier version of the system--known as FORGE--by removing the time-consuming need to create guides of concepts associated with specific technologies. WE-FORGE also ensures that there is greater diversity among fakes, and follows an improved technique for selecting concepts to replace and their replacements.

Almas Abdibayev, Deepti Poluru Guarini and Haipeng Chen all contributed to this research while with Dartmouth's Department of Computer Science.

The hidden social, environmental and health costs of the world's energy and transport sectors is equal to more than a quarter of the globe's entire economic output, new research from the University of Sussex Business School and Hanyang University reveals.

According to analysis carried out by Professor Benjamin K. Sovacool and Professor Jinsoo Kim, the combined externalities for the energy and transport sectors worldwide is an estimated average of $24.662 trillion - the equivalent to 28.7% of global Gross Domestic Product.

The study found that the true cost of coal should be more than twice as high as current prices when factoring in the currently unaccounted financial impact of externalities such as climate change, air pollution and land degradation.

The study authors say the research highlights the market failure of the world's energy systems. Factoring in their true costs by including social costs almost equal to production costs, would make many fossil fuelled and nuclear power stations economically unviable, the research published in Energy Research & Social Science found. Even wind, solar, hydro, and other renewable energy systems have their own hidden costs.

Benjamin K. Sovacool, Professor of Energy Policy in the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex Business School, said: "Our research has identified immense hidden costs that are almost never factored into the true expense of driving a car or operating a coal-powered power station. Including these social costs would dramatically change least-cost planning processes and integrated resource portfolios that energy suppliers and others depend upon.

"It is not that these costs are never paid by society, they are just not reflected in the costs of energy. And unfortunately these hidden costs are not distributed equally or fairly. The most affected parties are under-represented in the marketplace, and have external costs imposed upon them, whether that be the families forced to live in areas of highest air pollution and toxicity because they have no other choice to the inhabitants of low-lying island states such as the Maldives or Vanuatu who are threatened most immediately by rising sea levels."

Professor Jinsoo Kim, from the Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering at Hanyang University, said: "Or study clearly reveals oil, coal, and waste in electricity portfolios generate far more externalities than alternative sources of supply. If you factored in the true cost of fossil fuels, the multi-national giants that dominate this sector would be huge loss-making operations. Instead, it is left to society and government to pick up the considerable bill."

The researchers sought to find the range and scope of externalities, e.g. the unexpected costs or benefits resulting from economic activity that affects people other than those engaged in that activity for which there's no proper compensation, associated with electricity supply, energy efficiency, and transport.

To do so, they carried out a meta-analysis and research synthesis of 139 studies with 704 distinct estimates of externalities: 83 studies (with 318 observations) for electricity supply, 13 studies (with 13 observations) for energy efficiency, and 43 studies (with 373 observations) for transport.

They found that coal accounts for by far the largest share of energy externalities ($4.78 trillion, or 59%) followed by oil (more than $2 trillion, 26%) and gas ($552 billion, or 7%) across the four largest energy markets of China, Europe, India, and the United States.

The study found coal to have about three times as many negative externalities as solar PV, five times as many as wind energy, and 155 times as many as geothermal energy.

The researchers found that the externalities of coal amounted to 14.5 ¢/kWh compared to its levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of between 6.6 to 15.2 ¢/kWh. Similarly natural gas combined cycle turbines has externalities of 3.5¢ and an LCOE of 4.4 to 6.8 ¢/kWh.

Prof Sovacool said: "The challenge is for policymakers, regulators, and planners to ensure that electricity and transport markets function as they should and accurately price the trillions of dollars in external costs that the energy and mobility industries surreptitiously shift to society currently.

"At the moment, consumers have become shielded from the true costs of energy extraction, conversion, supply, distribution or use, which means the immense ecological or community impacts of our existing systems becomes far less discernible. The fundamental policy question is whether we want global markets that manipulate the presence of externalities to their advantage, or a policy regime that attempts to internalize them."

Prof Kim said: "Our findings are timely and we hope it will help inform the design of Green New Deals or post-pandemic Covid-19 recovery packages around the world.

"Some of the most important commonalities of many stimulus packages have been bailouts for the fossil fuel, automotive and aeronautic industries but a global and national recovery may not be sustainable if the true cost of these industries is not correctly factored in."

A study by two researchers at the UPF Department of Political and Social Sciences (DCPIS) has examined the effect of selecting party leaders by direct vote by the entire membership (a process known in southern Europe as "primaries" and in English-speaking countries as "one-member-one -vote", OMOV) on the likelihood of a woman winning a leadership competition against male rivals.

Javier Astudillo and Andreu Paneque, a tenured lecturer and PhD with the DCPIS, respectively, and members of the Institutions and Political Actors Research Group, are the authors of the article published recently in the journal Party Politics: "Our statistical analysis shows that 'controlling for other influential factors', while the probability of a male candidate winning hardly varies according to the type of selection method, in the case of a female candidate, her likelihood of winning falls significantly in primaries compared to other methods", they assert.

In the case of primaries, a female candidate has a 14 percentage points lower likelihood of winning than a male candidate.

The researchers determine that, while under other, less inclusive selection systems the likelihood that men and women have of winning the contest is practically the same (the difference is not statistically significant, although it slightly favours women), in the case of primaries, a woman candidate has a 14 percentage points lower chance of winning than a male candidate.

Contributions to the debate around the primaries selection method

In their study, the authors re-examine the debate currently existing in the specialized literature concerning the possible effects of this system of selecting leaders and candidates in comparison with traditional methods (primarily via congresses of delegates).

One of the most recent proposals, developed by the researchers Rahat, Hazan and Katz, proposes that the selection system by means of primaries involves having to choose between two democratic values: on the one hand, the "inclusion" of members that form a group in their decision-making, and, on the other, the "representation" of social groups that have traditionally been excluded, such as women ("descriptive representation").

In its current format, the system for selecting leaders through primaries implies choosing between "inclusion" and "representation."

To subject this proposal to a more robust empirical test than those conducted to date, Javier Astudillo and Andreu Paneque constructed a database of leadership contests held in the main centre-right and centre-left parties, both national and regional, in eight western democracies (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Portugal and the UK) between 1985 and the present. This database contained 608 male and female candidates who contested 168 mixed competitions.

From their analysis, the authors show that the female candidates perform worse than males in party primaries, and they argue that in its current format this leadership selection mechanism effectively involves a trade-off between "inclusion" and "representation": "Our study confirms that the introduction of party leaders through primaries, in its current form, poses a handicap for women to break the glass ceiling", they assure.

Influence of the type of people competing

The study authors have also considered whether the difference might be due to the fact that primaries differ from other selection systems not only with regard to who participates in the voting (whether rank and file members or party delegates and leaders), but also the type of candidate who stands, whether male or female.

"Our study indicates that even when controlling for 'type' of candidate (measured by age and political experience), women achieve worse results under primaries".

According to researchers, it may occur that in conferences and in other more restricted selection processes only those women take the step to stand who are previously highly confident of their chances of winning, for example, having extensive experience within the parties, while in primaries, a wider variety of women are encouraged to compete, in the belief that selection by the membership removes the traditional "gatekeeper" barriers in the parties.

However, following their analysis, the authors assure that their "study indicates that even when controlling for '0type' of candidate (measured by age and political experience), women achieve worse results under primaries".

A problem of "demand" and a proposal for improvement

These results lead the researchers to believe that there is really a problem of "demand" (that is, in the selectors) and not so much a problem of "supply" (of those standing): "Further studies should clarify whether this is so due to a simple matter of party membership underestimating women's leadership, or if it hides another type of problem", they posit.

However, Javier Astudillo and Andreu Paneque uphold that these results do not necessarily have to lead to the conclusion that primaries should be avoided and claim that other mechanisms can be explored to make democratic values of inclusion and representation compatible within an institution: "One possible way could be the combination of mixed co-leaderships, as introduced in several parties, and selection by means of primaries, with one contest for men and another for women. Such a 'quota' system would ensure the presence of women in party leadership", they conclude.

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown breeding site used by the world's rarest seal species.

The Mediterranean monk seal is classified as "endangered", with a total population of about 700.

The new study - by the University of Exeter and the Society for the Protection of Turtles (SPOT) - used camera-traps to confirm breeding in caves in northern Cyprus, with at least three pups born from 2016-19 at one cave.

Only certain caves are suitable for monk seal breeding and resting, so - although the numbers are small - the researchers say urgent action is needed to protect these caves.

"This area of coastline in being developed rapidly, especially for construction of hotels," said Dr Robin Snape, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

"A survey of the coast in 2007 found 39 possible breeding caves, and some of these have already been destroyed.

"The main breeding site we identify in this study currently has no protected status, and we are working with local authorities to try to change this."

Lead author Dr Damla Beton, of SPOT, added: "Another major threat to monk seals in this area is bycatch (accidental catching by fisheries).

"We are working with fishers and government ministries to ensure protection areas at sea, because at present no measures are implemented to mitigate bycatch in the core areas used by these seals."

The team has now established long-term monitoring of the breeding caves, aiming to determine the size of this seal population.

TROY, N.Y. -- The era of widespread remote learning brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic requires online testing methods that effectively prevent cheating, especially in the form of collusion among students. With concerns about cheating on the rise across the country, a solution that also maintains student privacy is particularly valuable.

In research published today in npj Science of Learning, engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrate how a testing strategy they call "distanced online testing" can effectively reduce students' ability to receive help from one another in order to score higher on a test taken at individual homes during social distancing.

"Often in remote online exams, students can talk over the phone or internet to discuss answers," said Ge Wang, an endowed chair professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer and the corresponding author on this paper. "The key idea of our method is to minimize this chance via discrete optimization aided by knowledge of a student's competencies."

When a distanced online test is performed, students receive the same questions, but at varying times depending on their skill level. For instance, students of highest mastery levels receive each question after other groups of students have already answered those questions. This approach, Wang said, reduces the incentive for students to receive help from those who have more mastery of the material. In order to determine the order of each student's questions, their competence levels are estimated using their grade point averages, SAT scores, or midterm scores, depending on what is available at a specific point in the semester.

According to statistical tests and post-exam surveys, this method reduced the points gained through collusion by orders of magnitude when compared to conventional exam methods. As an added benefit, Wang said, when students knew collusion would not be possible, they were more motivated to study class material. Wang and his collaborators hope to share this pedagogical innovation beyond the Rensselaer campus.

"We plan to develop a good platform so that others can easily use this method," said Wang, a member of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at Rensselaer.

A group of researchers including Tiago Falótico, a Brazilian primatologist at the University of São Paulo's School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities (EACH-USP), archeologists at Spain's Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) and University College London in the UK, and an anthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, have published an article in the Journal of Archeological Science: Reports describing an analysis of stone tools used by bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) that inhabit Serra da Capivara National Park in Piauí State, Brazil. It is the first systematic study to characterize the tools used by capuchin monkeys living in the wild.

The animals use the tools for digging, seed pounding, nut cracking, and stone-on-stone percussion. The ultimate aim of the study was to find out whether these different activities created use-wear marks that pointed to the purpose for which the tools were used.

"Archeologists in the field analyze the tools found in a dig and the use-wear marks they bear," Falótico said. "In our case, we had both the tools used by these monkeys and the chance to observe their behavior, to see how they used the tools. This is the first comparative analysis of the different tools used by wild capuchin monkeys for different purposes. We concluded that the tools displayed different patterns of use and wear in accordance with the activities involved and that these use-wear marks served to identify the activities performed by each type of tool and by the individuals that used the tools."

The animals concerned inhabit the Caatinga, Brazil's semi-arid shrubland and thorn forest biome. To crack open encapsulated seeds or fruits, such as locust fruit or jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril) and cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale), they pound them with a stone on another that serves as an anvil. They also use stones to dig or scrape the soil in search of tubers, roots, and spiders.

"They also hammerstones with other stones. The purpose of this stone-on-stone percussion, in the case of the groups we studied in Serra da Capivara, is to crush quartzite cobbles so that they can lick the powder and smear it on their bodies," Falótico said. "We've only ever observed this behavior by the animals inhabiting the study site. We have a few theories to explain it, such as the use of quartz to combat parasites by eating the dust, or ectoparasites such as lice by rubbing themselves with it.
We have yet to test these hypotheses. The behavior isn't seen all the time but it's commonplace in the population concerned."

The research is supported by São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP via a Young Investigator Grant for the project "Cultural variation in robust capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.)".

Evolutionary environment

The capuchin monkeys found in the Caatinga and the Cerrado, Brazil's savanna biome, are more terrestrial than those in the Amazon or Atlantic Rainforest. "The latter don't use stone tools. They're arboreal and rarely seen on the ground. These tools are used on the ground," Falótico said. As an evolutionary environment, he added, Serra da Capivara is very similar to that of the first hominins.

According to reputable sources, the term hominin is now defined as the group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species, and all our immediate ancestors (including members of the genera Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Ardipithecus).

As these ancestors evolved, they too began spending more time on the ground and using stone tools. "Capuchin monkeys can serve as a model to help us understand which factors led to the use of tools by the first hominins," Falótico explained.

Individuals may use the same tool in more than one activity, but this is unusual. "It also depends on the environment. In Serra da Capivara, there are lots of rocks and stones, so they can easily switch between tools," he said. "In places with less stone available, they may use the same tool for different purposes. We have sightings of monkeys using a stone to dig and then pound a tuber they've found by digging."

The capuchin monkeys of Serra da Capivara also use twigs, sticks, and other kinds of wood as tools. "In this case, the tools may be used off the ground, and they modify the shape and size by removing leaves and branches, for example. They may understand the physical properties of these tools," he said. "We expected to observe this behavior in other less terrestrial populations, but it appears not to be the case. We have reports that it occurs occasionally but not habitually, as in Serra da Capivara."
The monkeys may also use different tools in the same activity. "They may use a stone to enlarge a rock crevice and then use a twig to probe the hole for food, for example," he said.

As a rule, males handle objects more than females, but skill does not vary by sex. "Males and females are good at manipulation once they've become adult and acquired the skill," he said.

Primate tool library

Primate archeology, Falótico explained, is a relatively new field. Among non-human primates, only chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys, and long-tailed or crab-eating macaques use tools. "We now know that when capuchin monkeys bang stones together, they create flakes that closely resemble those made by the first humans," Falótico said. "The same goes for the simpler percussive tools - stones used for hammering and pounding - which can be confused with tools used by humans for the same purposes. In short, we provide more data for archeologists, who often come across these remains."

Creating a primate tool library is one of the aims of the Young Investigator project. "If the tools are described, it will be easier for archeologists and anthropologists to know at a later stage which groups used them and for what purpose," he said.

In this study specifically, the sample comprised 29 tools: 16 were used solely for pounding, 12 for digging, and one for stone-to-stone percussion. The technological analysis was based on a classification into active elements (hammers) and passive elements (anvils). The scientists set out to establish use-wear patterns, and to this end analyzed attributes such as general tool metrics, raw material, and surface traces such as fractures, impact points, battered areas formed by superimposed impacts, and percussive mark location.

The digging tools had fewer conspicuous use-wear marks on their surfaces when analyzed microscopically. Tools used to crush quartz most frequently had perceptible use-wear traces. Soft fruit and cashew nut processing tools displayed a wider spatial distribution of pounding marks than digging tools, although they also displayed a low degree of physical modification.

According to Falótico, tools differed more in terms of size than in terms of use-wear marks, especially those used for stone-to-stone percussion, which were much larger and heavier than the rest. "Digging stones are typically smaller," he said. "Pounding stones vary according to the chosen object. The monkeys prefer larger stones to crack open a hard object."

The researchers looked for traces of pollen among the residues found on the tools, in order to discover which plant species the monkeys preferred. "We identified starch grains and other non-pollen palynomorphs, such as fungal spores, algae and other organic elements found alongside pollen in palynology, the subdiscipline of botany in which pollen grains are examined and identified," Falótico said. "We experienced some difficulty for lack of a reference library to identify the origin of the pollens and starches occurring in this part of the Caatinga."

Researchers at CÚRAM, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices based at National University of Ireland Galway, and BIOFORGE Lab, at the University of Valladolid in Spain, have developed an injectable hydrogel that could help repair and prevent further damage to the heart muscle after a heart attack.

The results of their research have just been published in the prestigious journal Science Translational Medicine.

Myocardial infarction or heart disease is a leading cause of death due to the irreversible damage caused to the heart muscle (cardiac tissue) during a heart attack. The regeneration of cardiac tissue is minimal so that the damage caused cannot be repaired by itself. Current treatments lack an effective method to prevent death and subsequent cardiac tissue repair following a heart attack.

"This project involved the development and testing of an elastin-based hydrogel derived from a naturally occurring biomaterial in the human body", explains Professor Abhay Pandit, Scientific Director of CÚRAM at National University of Ireland Galway and project lead. The hydrogel is based on a family of unique biomaterials, called elastin-like recombinamers, that BIOFORGE-UVa had developed in the search for advanced hydrogels for regenerative medicine. "The hydrogel was developed to mimic the environment around the heart following an infarction and then customised to have the ability to protect and promote regeneration of the cardiac tissue", says Professor Pandit.

The therapeutic effect of multiple injections of this hydrogel into the cardiac tissue was assessed during the first-ever preclinical study of its kind, demonstrating its efficacy for cardiac tissue remodelling following a heart attack.

The international research team, which included researchers from Ireland, Spain, Sweden, France and Italy, were able to show that if their hydrogel was injected into the heart muscle shortly after a heart attack, it resulted in less fibrosis (scarring of the cardiac tissue) and an increase in the generation of new blood vessels in the area. They were also able to observe the rise in the preservation and survival of cardiomyocytes, a type of cell that allows the heart to beat, in the affected area.

Professor Abhay Pandit added: "This project demonstrates the efficacy of a unique biomaterial-only system able to induce a positive healing effect on cardiac tissue following a heart attack event. The functional benefits obtained by the timely injection of the hydrogel supports and highlights the potential use of this treatment in the clinic. The next step will be to develop a prototype for a delivery system for the hydrogel."

Professor Mark Da Costa, Cardiothoracic Surgeon and senior co-author of the study, said: "In this study, we employed a model to specifically look at a type of heart attack that has increased in incidence and is not often treated until the acute phase resolves. Scar tissue that forms after the heart attack often remodels negatively, causing future problems like heart failure. The timely injection of this hydrogel appears to change the way the heart muscle heals after a heart attack. There is a significant positive histological, biological and functional recovery of the injured heart muscle. Work is progressing now to deliver this to the sites of injury in different clinical settings and will be followed with translation into a clinical trial."

The Acheulean was estimated to have died out around 200,000 years ago but the new findings suggest it may have persisted for much longer, creating over 100,000 years of overlap with more advanced technologies produced by Neanderthals and early modern humans.

The research team, led by Dr Alastair Key (Kent) alongside Dr David Roberts (Kent) and Dr Ivan Jaric (Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences), made the discovery whilst studying stone tool records from different regions across the world. Using statistical techniques new to archaeological science, the archaeologists and conservation experts were able to reconstruct the end of the Acheulean period and re-map the archaeological record.

Previously, a more rapid shift between the earlier Acheulean stone tool designs often associated with Homo heidelbergensis - the common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals - and more advanced 'Levallois' technologies created by early modern humans and Neanderthals, was assumed. However, the study has shed new light on the transition between these two technologies, suggesting substantial overlap between the two.

Acheulean stone tool technologies are the longest-lived cultural tradition practiced by early humans. Originating in East Africa 1.75 million years ago, handaxes and cleavers - the stone tool types which characterise the period - went on to be used across Africa, Europe and Asia by several different species of early human. Prior to this discovery, it was widely assumed that the Acheulean period ended between 300-150,000 year ago. However, the record was lacking in specific dates, and the timing of its demise has been heavily debated. The Kent and Czech team discovered that the tradition likely ended at different times around the world, varying from as early as 170,000 years ago in Sub-Saharan Africa through to as late as 57,000 years ago in Asia.

To understand when the Acheulean ended, the team collected information on different archaeological sites from around the world to find the latest known stone tool assemblages. A statistical technique known as optimal linear estimation - commonly used in conservation studies to estimate species extinctions - was used to predict how much longer the stone tool tradition continued after the most recent known sites. In effect, the technique was able to model the portion of the archaeological record yet to be discovered.

Dr Alastair Key, a Palaeolithic Archaeologist and the lead author of the study, said: 'The earliest archaeological record will always be an incomplete picture of early human behaviour, so we know that the youngest known Acheulean sites are unlikely to actually represent the final instances of these technologies being produced. By allowing us to reconstruct these missing portions of the archaeological record, this technique not only gives us a more accurate understanding of when the tradition ended, but it gives us an indication of where we can expect to find new archaeological discoveries in the future.'

Dr Roberts added: 'This technique was originally developed by myself and a colleague to date extinctions, as the last sighting of a species is unlikely to be the date when it actually became extinct. It is exciting to see it applied in a new context.'