It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, September 07, 2021
Apologizing to customers after product failures can encourage repurchase, stave off lawsuits
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Companies that express remorse in the wake of a product failure are more likely to encourage customers to repurchase from them, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.
The study, which examines how emotional reactions affect how consumers interact with a company, also found that remorseful statements can help stave off retaliatory actions such as lawsuits.
“Human beings are emotional. When something bad occurs, the first thing that happens is an emotional reaction – usually anger. We wanted to find out how the buyer’s anger translates into action when a product failure is caused by the seller’s negligence,” said Subimal Chatterjee, SUNY distinguished teaching professor of marketing at Binghamton University’s School of Management.
Chatterjee and his fellow researchers conducted two experiments to determine how consumers react to product failures, and looked specifically at two groups of consumers – a “promotion-focused” group, who were naturally inclined to gain something positive from the buyer-seller relationship, and a “prevention-focused” group, who sought to avoid failure in the buyer-seller relationship.
In one experiment, participants were shown an apology from a CEO, while participants in the other experiment were shown a message from a lawyer looking to seek damages from the company.
The researchers found that consumers were more likely to repurchase from the company when there was a match between the framing of the CEO apology and their natural inclinations, meaning a promotion-framed message worked best with promotion-focused consumers, and a prevention-framed message worked best with prevention-focused consumers.
Researchers also found that when consumers had an option to join a class action suit, the framing of the lawyer’s message had more of an impact on the prevention-focused consumers than the promotion-focused consumers.
“There is a lesson here,” said Chatterjee. “Framing a message can only go so far in persuading consumers, and it appears to work less when they are angry.”
According to Chatterjee, the most effective apologies encourage forgiveness and stress that consumers have more to gain from reengagement with the company rather than retaliation.
“By framing your apology with a promotion message, you’re acknowledging the failure, but telling the consumer that there is more to gain from trying again,” he said.
While Chatterjee’s study focuses on the framing of messages to consumers, he stressed that other factors, such as consumer perceptions of authenticity, are important.
“Consumers are smart. They can figure out if messages are authentic or inauthentic,” he said. “One good way to show that you are authentic is to highlight your corporate social responsibility footprint. That goes a long way in strengthening your apology, or conversely, blunting calls to punish you,” he said.
After adjustment for other factors, "[P]ersons with TBI compared to those without had over 52 percent increased risk for using prescription opioids in the past year, and over 65 percent increased risk for prescription opioid misuse," according to the report by Rachel Sayko Adams, PhD, MPH, of Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass. The JHTR special issue presents eight invited research papers providing evidence for the hypothesis linking a history of TBI to a unique pattern of increased vulnerability to pain and other interrelated risks for opioid use and its potential consequences, including overdose.
New data support 'Perfect Storm' hypothesis of opioid risks after TBI
The study included data on nearly 3,500 participants from a 2018 study of health risks among adults in Ohio. Overall 22.8 percent of participants said they had at least one TBI sometime in their lives. Of these individuals, more than two-thirds had had a TBI with loss of consciousness, most before age 20.
One-fourth of participants (25.5 percent) reported using a prescription opioid in the past year. About three percent met criteria for prescription opioid misuse – defined as using opioids more frequently or in higher doses than prescribed and/or using a prescription opioid not prescribed to the respondent. (The study did not address use of illicit opioids, such as heroin, following TBI – a gap in knowledge requiring further research.)
Participants with a history of TBI were more likely to report prescription opioid use in the past year: 30.9 percent, compared to 23.9 percent of those without a TBI history. After controlling for demographic factors (sex, age, race/ethnicity, and marital status), history of TBI was associated with a 52 percent increase in the odds of prescription opioid use and a 65 percent increase in the odds of prescription opioid misuse.
The findings support the hypothesis – outlined by Dr. Adams and other TBI researchers, in a paper published last year – that persons with a history of TBI face a three-phase "Perfect Storm" of increased opioid risks:
Phase I: Greater exposure to opioids related to pain and other factors following TBI
Phase II: Greater likelihood of progression to long-term opioid treatment, opioid misuse, or diagnosed opioid use disorder (OUD)
Phase III: Greater barriers to successful treatment for patients with TBI who develop OUD.
These "cascading vulnerabilities" may combine to lead to potential consequences of opioid misuse and OUD, including increased risk for overdose and suicide.
The special issue papers add to the growing body of evidence that persons with a history of TBI are more likely to be treated with prescription opioids (Phase I), in both civilian and military settings. Some papers provide new evidence that a history of TBI is associated with increased odds of opioid misuse (Phase II), in adolescents as well as adults. So far, there have been few studies investigating if TBI leads to increased obstacles to OUD treatment (Phase III).
Persons with TBI are at increased risk for pain, which is thought to be an important driver of their increased opioid risks. One of the new studies finds that opioids are more likely to be prescribed for patients with comorbid pain and/or psychological health conditions after TBI. Previous research has found that alcohol or drug use is a risk factor for TBI, and persons with TBI are at elevated risk for substance use after injury. The new studies in the special issue suggest that prescription opioid use follows a similar cyclical pattern with TBI as alcohol or other drugs.
"Empirical investigation into each element of the 'perfect storm' is needed to identify treatment targets and prevention opportunities," Dr. Adams writes in an introduction to the special issue. She and her colleagues believe that substance use treatment providers need to be trained to screen for and address problems related to a history of TBI, while rehabilitation professionals treating TBI patients should perform screening for at-risk substance use.
The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitationis a leading, peer-reviewed resource that provides up-to-date information on the clinical management and rehabilitation of persons with traumatic brain injuries. Six issues each year aspire to the vision of “knowledge informing care” and include a wide range of articles, topical issues, commentaries and special features. It is the official journal of the Brain Injury Association of America.
About the Brain Injury Association of America
The Brain Injury Association of America is the country’s oldest and largest nationwide brain injury advocacy organization. Our mission is to advance awareness, research, treatment and education and to improve the quality of life for all individuals impacted by brain injury. Through advocacy, we bring help, hope and healing to millions of individuals living with brain injury, their families and the professionals who serve them.
About Wolters Kluwer
Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and tax, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services.
Wolters Kluwer reported 2020 annual revenues of €4.6 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,200 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.
Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students in effective decision-making and outcomes across healthcare. We support clinical effectiveness, learning and research, clinical surveillance and compliance, as well as data solutions. For more information about our solutions, visit https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/health and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (09/07/2021) — The first patients have been enrolled in a phase 1 randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial to study a therapeutic vaccine for opioid use disorder developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, the trial will test the safety and potential efficacy of a vaccine that is designed to selectively prevent the euphoric and toxic effects of oxycodone.
Volunteers for the trial are being enrolled at Columbia University in New York City and Clinilabs Drug Development Corporation, based in Eatontown, New Jersey.
Marco Pravetoni, PhD, a leading expert of biologics for the treatment of substance use disorders and developer of the vaccine candidate, is an associate professor of pharmacology and medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. His laboratory led the development of a series of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies effective in counteracting respiratory depression (depressed breathing) and bradycardia (depressed heart rate) induced by oxycodone, fentanyl and heroin in preclinical studies, as published in theJournal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and theJournal of Medicinal Chemistry.
The vaccine currently being tested stimulates the body’s immune system to produce antibodies to oxycodone. If someone who has been vaccinated takes oxycodone, those antibodies would bind to the drug molecule, stopping it from entering the brain and, ultimately, preventing the “high” produced by the drug. Because of its selectivity for oxycodone, the vaccine will not interfere with FDA-approved medications, including methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone and naloxone, potentially offering a long-lasting, safe and cost-effective alternative that is complementary to standard medical intervention for opioid use disorders.
“In this study, my laboratory will conduct pharmacokinetic and immunological monitoring in blood samples from immunized volunteers to ensure that they are making antibodies to oxycodone and determine whether or not the antibodies are preventing the drug from reaching the brain,” said Pravetoni, who is also a member of the U of M Medical School’s Medical Discovery Team on Addiction.
Sandra Comer, PhD, director of the Opioid Laboratory in the Division on Substance Use Disorders in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, is the principal investigator of the study. Comer will oversee a team of physicians and nurses led by Jeanne Manubay, MD, the study’s medical director, who is monitoring the patients’ response to the vaccine, including their subsequent drug use and behaviors. She has nearly three decades of experience in developing medications for treating opioid and other substance use disorders and provides overall scientific and regulatory oversight of the clinical trial.
“This medication approach is unique in that it can be used alone or in combination with other treatment medications and, importantly, may offer patients long-lasting protection against overdose if they relapse to opioid use,” Comer said. “The long-term goal of this program is to develop a series of opioid vaccines that target other commonly used opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl. We are very excited about this research and hope to eventually provide a safe, new treatment option for patients with opioid use disorder.”
The study seeks volunteers who:
Are between the ages of 18-59;
Are currently using opioids and not seeking treatment for drug use; and,
Have prior experience with intranasal opioid use.
The study plans to enroll up to 45 volunteers. Volunteers will be closely monitored for several weeks on inpatient units at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and at Clinilabs to look for adverse events and determine their response to oxycodone after vaccination, before studying their drug behavior on an outpatient basis.
“Clinilabs is privileged to be working with the University of Minnesota Medical School and Columbia University on this groundbreaking trial. Exploring a preventative vaccine to treat opioid use disorder has the potential to be life-altering for patients and their families who are battling opioid abuse,” said Gary Zammit, Clinilabs’ President and CEO.
Research reported in this press release was supported by The National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under award number UG3DA047711. The total project cost is financed with federal dollars. The content of this press release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
About the University of Minnesota Medical School The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. We acknowledge that the U of M Medical School, both the Twin Cities campus and Duluth campus, is located on traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Dakota and the Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous people, and we affirm our commitment to tribal communities and their sovereignty as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with tribal nations. For more information about the U of M Medical School, please visit med.umn.edu.
Photos and videos from the Pravetoni Lab are available for media use. Credit should be given to Lisa Anderson, University of Minnesota Medical School.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Randomized controlled/clinical trial
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
Untapped potential for agrobiodiversity to contribute to food system sustainability
THE ALLIANCE OF BIOVERSITY INTERNATIONAL AND THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE
IMAGE: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR HOW AGROBIODIVERSITY CONTRIBUTES TO SUSTAINABILITY OUTCOMES ACROSS THE THREE PILLARS OF THE FOOD SYSTEM (CONSUMPTION, PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION). THIS INCLUDES CONTRIBUTIONS TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2,12, 13 AND 15, AND AICHI TARGETS 4, 7 AND 13 (AND THEIR SUCCESSORS ENCAPSULATED IN THE CBD POST-2020 FRAMEWORK).view more
CREDIT: ALLIANCE OF BIOVERSITY INTERNATIONAL AND CIAT.
Key points:
Effectively conserving and managing agrobiodiversity is critical to achieving sustainable food systems.
The Agrobiodiversity Index measures use and conservation of the diverse plants, animals, and micro-organisms that support food and agriculture.
By applying the Agrobiodiversity Index, a new study has found stark differences across 80 countries regarding agrobiodiversity levels in conservation, in farms, and on plates.
Researchers recommend strengthening of political commitments and actions around agrobiodiversity.
Monitoring and maintaining agrobiodiversity is critical to achieving sustainable food systems
Globally, biodiversity is in severe decline; and this includes agrobiodiversity.
“Of more than 6,000 different plant species cultivated for food, just 9 (sugarcane, maize, rice, wheat, potatoes, soybeans, oil-palm fruit, sugarbeet and cassava) contribute around 66% of total crop production. Currently, 26% of the world’s 7,745 remaining local livestock breeds are believed to be at risk of extinction, and an estimated 33% of fish stocks are overfished”, write the authors in Nature Food.
This reliance on only a fraction of available species and varieties reduces the sustainability of our food system, and puts underused and poorly conserved species at risk of extinction.
Until now, agrobiodiversity in different parts of the food system – such as in genebanks, on farms, and on plates – was monitored separately, making it hard to see the big picture of where food systems most lack or include diversity. Yet maintaining agrobiodiversity in each part of the food system is vital to achieving sustainable food systems, as each contributes to different sustainability outcomes (see Figure 1).
Why we need the Agrobiodiversity Index
The Agrobiodiversity Index fills this gap by collating data on agrobiodiversity: in consumption where it contributes to healthy diets, in production where it contributes to sustainable agriculture, and in conservation where it contributes to maintaining future use options.
“If we want to integrate agrobiodiversity into sustainability agendas, we need to understand how it can contribute and where it is underutilized across the food system,” explains Sarah Jones, scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, who led the analysis.
Applying the Agrobiodiversity Index to countries around the world, the paper provides a baseline to see what the data gaps are and start answering questions about how to improve the way agrobiodiversity contributes to healthy diets, sustainable agriculture, and resilient future use options.
The authors are hopeful that the research will trigger discussions in policy circles and a ‘race to the top’ to integrate agrobiodiversity-based solutions into food system policies.
The status of agrobiodiversity
Agrobiodiversity Index calculations for 80 countries show that, on average, the diversity of plants, animals and microorganisms supporting food and agriculture is well below desirable levels (average status score 56 out of 100).
This diversity is highest in consumption, reflecting, for example, high levels of food diversity available in many national markets. A low number of unique crop species in production, as well as a low proportion of cropland proximate to natural vegetation, are some of the factors accounting for lower levels of agrobiodiversity in production systems.
While some countries such as Brazil, France and Italy stand out with relatively high levels of agrobiodiversity in their food systems, work is needed to allow countries that lag behind to catch up. On the one hand, this means taking action to improve market access to nutritionally diverse foods and encourage healthy eating; a transformation in food production and land use management to increase diversity; and renewed efforts and support to conserve crop varieties, species and wild relatives in genebanks, botanical gardens and protected areas. It may also mean improving data collection, coverage and reporting to ensure that agrobiodiversity is reliably represented in global datasets.
Evidence of actions to enhance agrobiodiversity
Most countries in the analysis have taken some actions to integrate agrobiodiversity across their food system, yet more actions are needed. Also, reporting mechanisms must be improved to enable effective monitoring.
There is good news: over half of the countries surveyed have published national dietary guidelines which encourage more diverse and healthier diets. Unfortunately, most countries report on only a few of the indicators that FAO uses to monitor the conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, hampering global efforts to ensure actions are taken to safeguard these resources.
Political commitments
Most countries have made strong commitments to conserve agrobiodiversity in genebanks and off-farm as part of their national strategies and action plans (NBSAPs), but not to enhance diversity on agricultural land or in diets.
The NBSAPs set out national plans for meeting the Convention on Biological Diversity goals and targets. The upcoming COP-15 will set the post-2020 global agenda for biodiversity.
For policymakers, this is an unmissable opportunity to ensure that plans to safeguard and enhance agrobiodiversity across the whole food system are embedded into future NBSAPs. Ultimately this can help achieve biodiversity conservation and food system sustainability goals in tandem.
Next steps
Policymakers can use Agrobiodiversity Index scores as a baseline for further analysis and dialogue to pinpoint priority action areas for interventions at national and local levels.
As the authors explain, “The data collated for our application of the Agrobiodiversity Index are globally and freely available. The approach therefore represents a fast, practical method for countries to investigate the state of their agrobiodiversity and evidence of actions to use and conserve it.”
However, concerted efforts are needed to close gaps in agrobiodiversity data availability; for example, there are no consistent global data on many relevant actions to enhance agrobiodiversity in consumption (national healthy eating campaigns, regulations to maintain diversity in school meals) or in production (uptake of intercropping, use of cover crops or cultivar mixtures).
Public research and development funding should be invested in to collect data on varietal, functional and underutilized species diversity, as well as on the distribution and outcomes of food system interventions aimed at enhancing agrobiodiversity. Effective agrobiodiversity monitoring will make it much easier for policymakers to spot the gaps and mobilize biodiversity-based solutions to achieving sustainable food systems.
CAPTION
Although the study found that agrobiodiversity tends to be highest in consumption such as this market in Brazil, overall food system diversity is in decline.
IMAGE: A REPORT BY SOFIES, AN INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND CONSULTING FIRM, SAYS SCORES OF EUROPEAN POLICY INITIATIVES AIMED AT PROMOTING AN ENVIRONMENTALLY CIRCULAR ECONOMY NEED TO BE STREAMLINED TO AVOID OVERWHELMING BUSINESSESview more
CREDIT: SOFIES
Europe is leading the way globally in creating a Circular Economy with an ambitious commitment to slash waste sent to landfill by 90% and recycle 75% of packaging by 2030.
But with hundreds of policies being developed at country and EU level, it is important to streamline their scope and identify where the true focus should be, says a new report by Sofies, an international sustainability project management and consulting firm.
The Circular Economy for Europe: bridging the gap between policy and implementation report maps and assesses the Circular Economy policy initiatives at the EU level, as well as at the national governmental level in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
Over 87 policy initiatives related to circular economy – spanning from end-of-life to product design and repairability - were found to be in development in the target countries, an astounding number.
The most popular policy topics were communications about sustainability (9.6% of policy elements), waste management (8.7% of policy elements) and Eco-design (8.1% of policy elements).
Given the high number of policy initiatives and elements identified, it would require substantial administrative time and resources for businesses to keep track of them all. For example, assuming one analyst was able to track 5 policies at a time within a business, a company would need around 17 analysts to follow all 87 mapped policy initiatives.
To speed the transition from the traditional linear resource-intensive economy to a Circular Economy, smart, consistent and harmonised regulations across and within the EU are required.
The public overwhelmingly wants companies and industries to be socially and environmentally responsible, with surveys showing 77% of EU citizens willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products. When it comes to the packaging of those products, a large majority of Europeans said they were also willing to pay more for products with sustainable packaging.
So, given the demand from consumers for sustainable products and the instrumental role businesses play in achieving a circular economy, policy must facilitate this through the successful execution of sustainable initiatives, particularly as many businesses are already eager to engage in these issues, as further shown in the Ecommerce Europe report 'Collaborative Report on Sustainability and E-commerce in Europe'.
To do this, policies need to be streamlined.
Says report co-author Federico Magalini: “We should capitalise on a number of ambitious policy proposals that can contribute to companies’ transition towards a true circular economy, whilst ensuring simplification and harmonisation of the numerous sustainable product initiative requirements already being developed at national Member state level.”
A variety of policy initiatives has already been developed in Europe, with almost half of them covering operations (47%), then product & product packaging (37%) and relationship towards costumers (16%). But collaboration between industry actors and policymakers is essential for success. Policies that are harmonised and uncomplicated for businesses to implement without compromising environmental ambitions will smooth the road to a Circular Economy the public demands.
Comments Paolo Falcioni, Director General of APPLiA, a trade association for Europe’s home appliance industry: “This great piece of work shows the breadth and width of the challenge in front of us: to identify the right policy options to improve product sustainability. It would be great to establish a metric which identifies the most relevant policy elements - out of the 471 identified - as soon as possible. I feel a real sense of urgency regarding the deliverance of more sustainable products, coupled with the task of focusing only on what really matters."
To that end, the Circular Economy for Europe: bridging the gap between policy and implementation reportidentifies the topics most covered by policy in EU Member States. It then makes key recommendations to the European Commission to help ensure a level-playing field for businesses that is simple and incentivises the offer of sustainable products and packaging.
###
Summary of recommendations for the European Commission:
Harmonised eco-design standards and eco-labelling requirements across the EU to facilitate compliance and avoid fragmentation between Member States, which are developinginitiatives on repairability and durability indexes prior a full alignment with initiatives at EU level.
Tax incentives for recycled/reused goods market and repair services as well as to promote donation of unsold goods by businesses to charitable causes.
Harmonised EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) implementation across Member States for all targeted waste streams and establishment of a central coordination mechanism at EU level for the registration and reporting of batteries put-on-market toallow businesses to easily comply with EPR regulations related to all the products sold in any given European country, while at the same time reducing the administrative and financial burden of registering.
Information on product sustainability: Product information must be standardised (e.g., consumer information on repairability, environmental footprint etc.) and policy initiatives such as the Digital Product Passport (DPP) must be aligned with existing reporting systems to avoid overlap of administrative work and data duplication (e.g., avoid overlap of DPP with Substances of Concern In Products (SCIP), or the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals (REACH).
IMAGE: A RANGE OF EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS FOR THE 3D PRINTED CATALYSTS.view more
CREDIT: RMIT UNIVERSITY
Ultra-efficient 3D printed catalysts could help solve the challenge of overheating in hypersonic aircraft and offer a revolutionary solution to thermal management across countless industries.
Developed by researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, the highly versatile catalysts are cost-effective to make and simple to scale.
The team’s lab demonstrations show the 3D printed catalysts could potentially be used to power hypersonic flight while simultaneously cooling the system.
The research is published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Chemical Communications.
Lead researcher Dr Selvakannan Periasamy said their work tackled one of the biggest challenges in the development of hypersonic aircraft: controlling the incredible heat that builds up when planes fly at more than five times the speed of sound.
“Our lab tests show the 3D printed catalysts we’ve developed have great promise for fuelling the future of hypersonic flight,” Periasamy said.
“Powerful and efficient, they offer an exciting potential solution for thermal management in aviation - and beyond.
“With further development, we hope this new generation of ultra-efficient 3D printed catalysts could be used to transform any industrial process where overheating is an ever-present challenge.”
Need for speed
Only a few experimental planes have reached hypersonic speed (defined as above Mach 5 - over 6,100km an hour or 1.7km per second).
In theory, a hypersonic aircraft could travel fromLondon to New York in less than 90 minutes but many challenges remain in the development of hypersonic air travel, such as the extreme heat levels.
First author and PhD researcher Roxanne Hubesch said using fuel as a coolant was one of the most promising experimental approaches to the overheating problem.
“Fuels that can absorb heat while powering an aircraft are a key focus for scientists, but this idea relies on heat-consuming chemical reactions that need highly efficient catalysts,” Hubesch said.
“Additionally, the heat exchangers where the fuel comes in contact with the catalysts must be as small as possible, because of the tight volume and weight constraints in hypersonic aircraft.”
To make the new catalysts, the team 3D printed tiny heat exchangers made of metal alloys and coated them with synthetic minerals known as zeolites.
The researchers replicated at lab scale the extreme temperatures and pressures experienced by the fuel at hypersonic speeds, to test the functionality of their design.
Miniature chemical reactors
When the 3D printed structures heat up, some of the metal moves into the zeolite framework– a process crucial to the unprecedented efficiency of the new catalysts.
“Our 3D printed catalysts are like miniature chemical reactors and what makes them so incredibly effective is that mix of metal and synthetic minerals,” Hubesch said.
“It’s an exciting new direction for catalysis, but we need more research to fully understand this process and identify the best combination of metal alloys for the greatest impact.”
The next steps for the research team from RMIT’s Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry (CAMIC) include optimising the 3D printed catalysts by studying them with X-ray synchrotron techniques and other in-depth analysis methods.
The researchers also hope to extend the potential applications of the work into air pollution control for vehicles and miniature devices to improve indoor air quality - especially important in managing airborne respiratory viruses like COVID-19.
CAMIC Director, Distinguished Professor Suresh Bhargava, said the trillion-dollar chemical industry was largely based on old catalytic technology.
“This third generation of catalysis can be linked with 3D printing to create new complex designs that were previously not possible,” Bhargava said.
“Our new 3D printed catalysts represent a radical new approach that has real potential to revolutionise the future of catalysis around the world.”
The 3D printed catalysts were produced using Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) technology in the Digital Manufacturing Facility, part of RMIT’s Advanced Manufacturing Precinct.
Zeolites on 3D-Printed Open Metal Framework Structure: Metal migration into zeolite promoted catalytic cracking of endothermic fuels for flight vehicles
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of n
Austin partners with UT to give city lakes a health checkup
IMAGE: TOM MILLER DAM AND THE COLORADO RIVER AFTER HISTORIC RAINFALL IN OCTOBER 2018. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN’S INSTITUTE FOR GEOPHYSICS AND THE CITY OF AUSTIN ARE STUDYING THE IMPACT OF FLOODING EVENTS AND URBANIZATION ON AUSTIN’S INNER-CITY LAKES.view more
CREDIT: MARCY DAVIS/UT INSTITUTE FOR GEOPHYSICS
The waters of Austin’s city lakes are enjoyed by millions each year, but years of urban development and weather extremes are taking their toll.
Now, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and the City of Austin will give Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake a first-of-its-kind health checkup when they embark on Sept. 8 to take lakebed CT scans and algae biopsies.
The checkup will investigate thickening algal mats linked to sediments washed in by severe flooding. It will support the City of Austin’s routine water quality and harmful algal sampling efforts.
Learning how the sediments and algae affect Austin’s waterways can help the city predict how related problems might progress in the future. For example, in 2018, historic flooding swamped the humanmade lakes and shut down water treatment plants. The following summer the lakes were hit by a rarely seen toxic algae outbreak.
The project is motivated by the need to preserve local water sources from droughts and floods, said project co-lead Marcy Davis, an engineering scientist at UT’s Institute for Geophysics (UTIG).
“We have to take care of our water,” she said.
The exploratory operation will happen in two stages, each lasting about a week; a late summer survey when warm temperatures and stagnant water mean algal growth is at its highest, and another in the winter when waters are cooler and the algae are expected to be dormant.
At Lake Austin, the scientists will deploy geophysical instruments aboard UTIG’s 26-foot aluminum-hulled research vessel, the R/V Scott Petty, to map the lakebed’s topography and dig samples from its sediments. The next day they’ll mount their instruments onto a smaller municipal boat to survey Lady Bird Lake, where green, non-toxic algae grow in thick mats.
The crew will include Engineering Scientist Dan Duncan and Graduate Research Assistant Naoma McCall from UTIG as well as the City of Austin’s Brent Bellinger, a senior environmental scientist with the Watershed Protection Department.
CAPTION
Benign green algae cover an anchor pulled from Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. The collaborative study with UT’s Institute for Geophysics and the City of Austin will learn about the algae in Austin’s lakes and whether the emergence of toxic cyanobacteria are related and influenced by similar drivers.
CREDIT
Brent Bellinger/City of Austin
According to Bellinger, the benign algal mats feeding on lake floor sediments are a priority because as they grow thicker, they unbalance food chains and wash up on shorelines, creating a foul smell when they decompose and, on rare occasions, bacterial health risks.
The main culprits for the thickening algal mats are likely to be a combination of excess nutrients from river sediments and zebra mussels, an invasive species of mussels from Eurasia that filter the water. The nutrients put the algae into overdrive, while the filtered water means more sunlight reaches algae blanketing the bottom of the lake. The combined effect makes it much likelier the algae will bloom.
Water quality is further worsened by runoff pollution like pet waste, motor oil and garden chemicals. The city mitigates these problems through engineering projects, land preservation and management, and public awareness programs like Grow Green and Scoop the Poop that focus on how community members can make a positive difference.
The new project uses geophysical technologies they hope can guide the city’s actions and make them more effective.
“Every bit of data we can get to inform the overall health and condition of the reservoirs is essential to protecting them,” Bellinger said. “With this technology we should get a really nice look at the changing biogeochemistry.”
CAPTION
UT’s Institute for Geophysics is deploying a full arsenal of geophysical instruments to investigate lake floor sediments and algae. This includes its research vessel the RV Scott Petty, seen here during a 2020 demonstration for students on Lake Austin.
CREDIT
Marcy Davis/UT Institute for Geophysics
The project is supported by UTIG’s Blue Sky Initiative, a funding program for novel research ideas by the institute’s scientists and engineers. UTIG is a unit of UT’s Jackson School of Geosciences.
