Seabird nests are full of discarded plastic debris

by University of Glasgow
  

Credit: University of Glasgow

Researchers have found that plastic debris is incorporated in up to 80% of seabird nests.

For the first time, it has now been identified where that plastic might come from—at least for some of the species studied.

Surveys carried out in 2018 on an uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland found that more than a quarter of all nests contained plastic, while the presence of plastic debris in nests of European shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) was as high as 80%.

But in other species that build new nests every year, like gulls, only around a third of the nests contained plastic debris. The large difference between species in the proportion of nests with plastic is probably due to their different nest-building behaviours; shags reuse their nests year after year so plastic builds up over time.

The difference between species may also be explained by the way that plastic debris ends up in their nests. Plastic in nests has been identified as being mostly from consumer waste thrown away in built-up areas.

"They end up in seabird nests, not because seabirds actively pick them up in built-up areas and carry them to their nest, but because are brought there passively by marine currents." says Dr. Ruedi Nager, a seabird ecologist and senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow.

Danni Thompson, a researcher volunteering with Dr. Nager, looked more closely at the herring gull (Larus argentatus), the most numerous species nesting on Lady Isle.
 

Credit: University of Glasgow

"As herring gulls often forage in landfills, we wanted to see if they were swallowing plastic whilst eating and then bringing it back to the nest," said Ms Thompson.

From photographs of the nests and plastic found in pellets of regurgitated food remains at the nest site, they were able to compare types and colour of ingested plastic and plastic incorporated in the nest. If the likely source of plastic in nests is from plastic debris that birds ingest while foraging in populated areas, then the researchers would have expected a high similarity between plastic debris in pellets and nests.

"But the plastic types in their diet were different from those found in the nest, which tells us that the plastic in nests arrived by different means," Said Dr. Nager.

The researchers also mapped all nests on the island and tested whether nests with plastic were equally distributed across the island. Results showed that nests on the north of the island, which are closer to the outgoing tide from the mainland, were more likely to contain plastic. This suggests that the plastic in the nests came originally from the mainland and was washed up on the shore where the birds could collect it from the immediate surrounding of their nest.

Seabird populations are facing a global decline so it is important to understand all the pressures that they face. Seabirds interact with plastic pollution through ingestion, entanglement and nest incorporation. Plastic debris in nests may affect the birds in different ways. It can potentially affect the quality and properties of the nest with detrimental effects for the eggs and chicks.

Plastic in the nest can also lead to fatal entanglement of adults and chicks. Monitoring plastic in nests using photographs to assess the type and quantity of plastic in nests can allow scientists to monitor changes over time as well as tell them where the plastic came from. Identifying the potential sources of plastic can inform conservationists, allowing them to develop management actions, such as targeted beach cleans, which may reduce any negative impacts on our struggling seabird populations.

Seabirds are building and rebuilding their nests just now as British people—responsible for putting their debris in the environment in the first place—are in lockdown.

"It will be interesting to see what seabird nests are made of this season," said Dr. Nager.

Explore furtherBalloons the number one marine debris risk of mortality for seabirds

Provided by University of Glasgow

Demographic expansion of several Amazonian archaeological cultures by computer simulation

by Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona

Computer simulation of the expansions of several archaeological cultures in South America. Credit: UPF

Expansions by groups of humans were common during prehistoric times, after the adoption of agriculture. Among other factors, this is due to population growth of farmers which was greater than of hunter-gatherers. We can find one example of this during the Neolithic period, when farming was introduced to Europe by migrations from the Middle East.


However, in South America, it was not clear whether the same would have occurred as it was argued that no cultural group had expanded across such long distances as in Europe or Asia. In addition, it was believed that the type of agriculture practised by pre-Columbian peoples in the Amazon would not allow them to expand at the same rate.

Research conducted by three members of the Culture and Socio-Ecological Dynamics Research Group (CaSEs) at the UPF Department of Humanities shows that expansions by some archaeological cultures in South America can be simulated by computer through population growth and migration in the same way as the Neolithic in Europe. This is the case of so-called Saladoid-Barrancoid culture, which spread from the Orinoco to various parts of Amazonia, even reaching the Caribbean.

The article, published on 27 April in the journal PLOS ONE, involved Jonas Gregorio de Souza, a Marie Curie researcher, as first author, together with Jonas Alcaina Mateos, a predoctoral researcher, and Marco Madella, UPF-ICREA research professor and director of the CaSEs Research Group.

"The use of computer simulations to test human migrations in prehistoric times is an approach that has proved productive in other continents, but had not been applied to the area of the tropics of South America. We have shown that some cultural expansions that have taken place from Amazonia may be the result of similar demographic processes to the Neolithic in Eurasia," says Jonas Gregorio de Souza.

A computational model to simulate the expansions of four archaeological cultures

The article uses a computational approach to simulate human expansions in prehistory. "We use parameters derived from the ethnography of farmers in the Amazon to simulate the rate of population growth, the fission of villages, how far and how often they moved," the authors state. Based on these parameters, they created a computer model to simulate expansions from different points and dates and compare the results with archaeological data.

The researchers used radiocarbon dates from different archaeological cultures over a large area of territory in the last 5,000 years, which were compared with the prediction of the model, to assess whether their rate of territorial expansion could be explained as being a demographic phenomenon (rather than another type, such as cultural diffusion).

The four archaeological cultures or traditions analysed were the Saladoid-Barrancoid, the Arauquinoid, the Tupiguarani, and the (closely related) Una, Itararé and Aratu traditions. In most regions where they settled, these cultures introduced the cultivation of domesticated plants, marked the transition towards more permanent settlements, and spread an economic model called "polycultureagroforestry."

However, the authors warn that some expansions could not be predicted by the simulations, suggesting that they were caused by other factors: "Although some archaeological expansions can be predicted by the simulations as demographic processes, others are not easily explained in the same way. This is possibly due to different processes that drive their dispersal, such as cultural diffusion, or because the archaeological data are inconclusive or sparse," they conclude.


Explore further  Genetic study pushes back timeline for first significant human population expansion

More information: Jonas Gregorio de Souza et al, Archaeological expansions in tropical South America during the late Holocene: Assessing the role of demic diffusion, PLOS ONE (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232367

Journal information: PLoS ONE


Provided by Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona

A hydrological model leads to advances in the creation of a world water map
by University of Córdoba
 

The research Rafael Pimentel during his field work. Credit: University of Córdoba

Water is a global resource which is essential for life on our planet, thus hydrological research and the study of its management has also become crucial work for the continuity of life on Earth. The availability of public data on water behavior such as data about river flow and rainfall are key for the research community in order to create a world water map. When drawing this map, the public and people who manage water resources on local scales also play important roles. By means of carrying out citizen science, they provide and verify data.


The research community works on this task with hydrological models, which are tools that enable them to represent processes in the hydrological cycle, and are able to obtain, for example, predictions about river flow using primarily rainfall data (though also other atmospheric variables such as temperature, solar radiation, land features and plant development can be used). These tools usually use a hydrological basin as a unit of measurement, with a basin being a unit of land whose water flows toward the same point.

Researcher Rafael Pimentel from the Fluvial Dynamics and Hydrology research group at the University of Cordoba, worked for two years at the Hydrology Unit of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) where he participated in shaping the first global model on a basin scale. The model used was HYPE, a model designed in said unit for comprehensive water management in Sweden and previously used on a European scale.

The modelling process was challenging but feasible according to the research staff since it was applied to more than 130,000 basins that cover the world's land mass (except for Antarctica). The main challenge was compiling data and evaluating their quality, as well as calibrating the model, that being the process of testing the river flow model data and the observed data to assess whether or not the model was working properly. Due to the complexity of representing the great array of global hydrological processes, the model's performance varied. Generally speaking, the model provides good results, with an average value of over 0.4 in the Kling-Gupta Efficiency metric (KGE), which is an index used to quantify the goodness of a hydrological model which classifies models of 0.4 or more as good. The Eastern US, Europe, Japan and areas of Russia, Asia, Canada and South America were the areas with the best results, with KGE values of over 0.6, demonstrating a high potential for its use in performing seasonal forecasts of river flow in these areas. Using these weather data in a six-month period, it is possible to predict river flow data for the next six months. This prediction is quite useful for staff at reservoirs and hydroelectric power plants who could, with the help of these data, manage and plan their resources better and more precisely.

The challenge of scaling and quantifying the goodness of this model, in addition to verifying the geographical location of lakes, rivers and reservoirs so that it all coincides when scaling the model, was possible thanks to the amount of free access hydrological data that are available to the research community as well as to the general public, though the river flow data in this case was scarce in many areas. This shows how open access and shared knowledge helps hydrology progress. Nevertheless, there is a lack of information, especially regarding river flow, in many areas of the world with which to carry out this verification. Thus, the idea of creating a network of collaborative science has been proposed. Using this network, researchers, managers, consultants and students working in these areas with hydrological information on a local scale could assess the model in those areas. The corresponding part of the model would be provided to those interested, with the idea of working together to verify and adjust the model by means of workshops during which the locals would give their feedback. In this way, the model's representation of reality on a global scale would improve.


Explore further Global database for Karst spring discharges

More information: Berit Arheimer et al, Global catchment modelling using World-Wide HYPE (WWH), open data, and stepwise parameter estimation, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.5194/hess-24-535-2020 

Provided by University of Córdoba

Cut-and-paste enters era of augmented reality

by Peter Grad , Tech Xplore


It was in 1901 that an author of children's books imagined an electronic image that could float over people and provide information about them. L. Frank Baum, who a year earlier penned "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," referred to that image as a character marker. In fact, it is the first known reference to what 120 years later would commonly be referred to as augmented reality.

From SnapChat's whimsical face filters to daily evening weather forecast maps on TV, digital overlays upon real world scenes have become ubiquitous.

The pace of advances in augmented reality will only increase in coming months and years.

Some of those advances will be relatively simple. One such example was unveiled last month. Cyril Diagne, a designer and programmer currently in residence at the Google Arts and Culture Lab in Paris, showed that as mundane an operation as cut-and-paste can be turbocharged in the era of augmented reality.

He posted demonstration videos of his smartphone camera process that singles out an object, isolates it from the background and, when pointed to a desktop computer, inserts the image into a document. This is all done in under 10 seconds.

Diagne explained that he utilizes BASNet to trace the outline of an image and smoothly wipe out the background. He uses other image-tracking technology to determine precisely where the phone's camera is pointing.

4/10 - Cut & paste your surroundings to Photoshop
Code: https://t.co/cVddH3u3ik
Book: @HOLOmagazine
Garment: SS17 by @thekarentopacio
Type: Sainte Colombe by @MinetYoann @ProductionType
Technical Insights: ↓#ML #AR #AI #AIUX #Adobe #Photoshop pic.twitter.com/LkTBe0t0rF— Cyril Diagne (@cyrildiagne) May 3, 2020

"This is a prototype that uses the phone camera to capture, extract and paste objects from your surroundings directly to Photoshop," Diagne explained. "Thanks to OpenCV SIFT, an image-tracking technology, the app is able to detect where the phone is pointing at the screen, making it a seamless experience. It's part of a series of experiments I'm doing every weekend to explore how machine learning and AI can help create more digital interactions that are more natural."

His demonstration video shows him pointing his camera at three items in succession—a plant, a book and a blouse—and in each instance pointing the camera at a desktop computer, where each image flies into the document.

Images require 2.5 seconds to capture and 4 seconds to paste.

Other video examples show him capturing still images hanging on a wall transferred to a computer where they initiate video clips, and capturing the logo of hard rock band Iron Maiden on the T-shirt of his wife that, when transferred to the computer, instantly plays "Drifter" from their "Killers" album.

Diagne says there is room for improvement, including a reduction in times needed for transfer. But for now, he offers AR Cut and Paste only as a prototype and has uploaded all details and code on GitHub. A local server must be established to link the smartphone to Photoshop on the desktop computer.

Augmented reality fuels some of the most intriguing apps available today. Aside from its obvious application to innumerable games, it offers many practical uses for personal, educational and commercial needs.

Froggipedia projects a lifelike 3-D frog on any surface you point your camera at, offering a highly detailed—and pain-free—step-by-step dissection, conducted with your fingertip motions. HairStyle Pro captures your image and presents you with hundreds of hairstyles and differing colors precisely positioned over your face (including beards and sideburns for men). YouCam Makeup-Magic does the same for women seeking the perfect shade of cosmetics.

For the craftsmen or craftswoman in the home, AR Measure Kit lets you point your camera at any two targets and returns a precise measurement. If you prefer to purchase ready-made furniture, IKEA allows you to project images of its inventory of furniture and other home accessories right into your living room or kitchen.

And perhaps best of all, with an AR Visualizer, you can check out that Porsche 911 Carrera 4S that you always wanted, listing at a mere $120,600 today, and place its image on your own driveway in front of your home as you select colors, interiors and rim style and then watch the car drive off and down the road.

L. Frank Baum would be impressed.

Explore furtherEngineers develop computerized camera without optics that instead uses an ordinary window as the lens

More information: www.theverge.com/2020/5/4/2124 … world-photoshop-demo

© 2020 Science X Network

Electrical activity in living organisms mirrors electrical fields in atmosphere
by Tel Aviv University

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Most electrical activity in vertebrates and invertebrates occurs at extremely low frequencies, and the origin—and medical potential—of these frequencies have eluded scientists. Now a Tel Aviv University study provides evidence for a direct link between electrical fields in the atmosphere and those found in living organisms, including humans.


The study's findings may change established notions about electrical activity in living organisms, paving the way for revolutionary, new medical treatments. Illnesses such as epilepsy and Parkinson's are related to abnormalities in the electrical activity of the body.

"We show that the electrical activity in many living organisms—from zooplankton in the oceans, to sharks and even in our brains—is very similar to the electrical fields we measure and study in the atmosphere from global lightning activity," explains Prof. Colin Price of TAU's Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, who led the research for the study, published in the International Journal of Biometeorology on February 8.

Colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Alaska also contributed to the study.

"We hypothesize that over evolutionary timescales living organisms adapted and evolved to actually use the electricity in the environment—global lightning," Prof. Price continues. "This has likely not changed over billions of years and is similar to the evolution of our eyes, which evolved using the sunlight nature gave us."

As living organisms evolved over billions of years, the natural electromagnetic resonant frequencies in the atmosphere, continuously generated by global lightning activity, provided the background electric fields for the development of cellular electrical activity. Prof. Price's research found that, in some animals, the electrical spectrum is difficult to differentiate from the background atmospheric electric field produced by lightning.

"Neither biologists nor doctors can explain why the frequencies in living organisms (0-50 Hz) are similar to those in the atmosphere caused by lightning," adds Prof. Price. "Most of them are not even aware of the similarity we presented in our paper."

"Our review of previous studies revealed that lightning-related fields may have positive medical applications related to our biological clock (circadian rhythms), spinal cord injuries and maybe other bodily functions related to electrical activity in our bodies," says Prof. Price. "The connection between the ever-present electromagnetic fields, between lightning in the atmosphere and human health, may have huge implications in the future for various treatments related to electrical abnormalities in our bodies."

The study comprised a retrospective review of previous studies on the link between lightning-related fields in the atmosphere and human and animal health. "We collected many different studies over the years to build a clear picture of this link," concludes Prof. Price. "Going forward, we need to design new experiments to see how these extremely low frequency fields from lightning may impact living organisms, and to investigate how these fields can be used to benefit us. One new experiment we are now planning is to see how these fields may impact the rate of photosynthesis in plants."


Explore furtherLightning's electromagnetic fields may have protective properties
More information: Colin Price et al, Natural ELF fields in the atmosphere and in living organisms, International Journal of Biometeorology (2020). DOI: 10.1007/s00484-020-01864-6
Journal information: International Journal of Biometeorology


Provided by Tel Aviv University

Yellow-legged gull adapts its annual lifecycle to human activities to get food

by University of Barcelona

The experts warn it is necessary to better know the ecological impact of opportunist species in natural ecosystems Credit: Isabel Afán (EBD-CSIC)

The yellow-legged gull has a high ability to adapt to human activities and benefit from these as a food resource all year. This is stated in a scientific article published in the journal Ecology and Evolution whose first author is the researcher Francisco Ramírez, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona.

Other participants in the study are the experts Josep Lluís Carrasco (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the UB); Isabel Afán y Manuela González Forero (Doñana BIological Station, EBD-CSIC); Joan Navarro (Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC)) and Willem Bouten (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands). This research is part of a Talent-Hub project funded by Agencia Andaluza del Conocimiento.

Opportunist species with great spread abilities

The yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) is an opportunist species which feeds from a great range of preys (fish, crustaceans, annellids, organic material from dumping sites, etc.). As part of the new study, experts analysed—with remote monitoring devices—the movement of thirty gulls that nest in the Marismas del Odiel Natural Site (Huelva).

The animals were marked with GPS devices to obtain their location every five minutes for a year, from the moment of breeding—also during winter season—until the next reproductive season. The exact location of each animal enabled experts to identify their use of the land and the relationship with human activity. As a result, the research team could obtain a detailed map of their movements in space and time.

Changes in the eating pattern over the year
The conclusions of the study reveal a tight relation between the space distribution of the gulls and the human-origin resources during the year. "The preferences of the gulls in the use of habitat changed over their annual cycle as a possible response to the restrictions the species suffer over the course of their phenological cycle: physiological restrictions due to the differences of energetic demand of each period, and time restrictions resulting from the fluctuations in the availability of food resources," notes researcher Francisco Ramírez (UB-IRBio). The expert notes that "The extreme ability to adapt allows these species to modify their eating habits and the exploitation of different habitats to manage both limitations."

In the study, the location of the gulls was compared to the information on the occupation of the land obtained in high-resolution databases. The use of information of the satellite sensors—to quantify the intensity of artificial night lights—enabled researchers to relate the habitats of gulls with the close activity to urban sites.

The large potential for spread of these individuals, covering cross-border areas of Spain, Portugal and Morocco during their annual cycle, shows the need for international efforts to limit the availability of human food resources and improve the management of this species.

"The knowledge of behavioural patterns over the year in opportunist species with a wide spread, such the yellow-legged gull, is important in order to assess potential impacts such species can have on the ecosystem," concludes Ramírez.


Explore furtherSeagulls favor food humans have handled

More information: Francisco Ramírez et al, Humans shape the year-round distribution and habitat use of an opportunistic scavenger, Ecology and Evolution (2020). DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6226

Journal information: Ecology and Evolution

Provided by University of Barcelona

Struggles in India, Brazil, US show virus fight far from won

by Chris Blake

Relatives mourn at the roadside while waiting for funerary service workers to pick up of the body of Arlen Laranjeira Bezerra, 39, a victim of the new coronavirus who died after fleeing the emergency room of the Delphina Rinaldi Abdel Aziz Hospital in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Bezerra was admitted to undergo treatment for COVID-19 disease and after escaping from the hospital at dawn, his body was found by family members approximately 200 meters from it. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)

Even as countries moved forward Wednesday with easing their coronavirus restrictions and restarting their economies, a large cluster of infections linked to a market in India and the first lockdown of a major Brazilian city highlighted that the battle against the pandemic was far from won.


In the United States, President Donald Trump emphasized his determination to see a quick return to normalcy with a visit to an Arizona mask factory that was expected to kick off his regular travels as the nation emerges from seven weeks of virus-imposed isolation. The push to ease stay-at-home orders comes even as U.S. infection rates outside the New York metropolitan area are rising.

In India, which partly eased its lockdown Monday, health authorities were rushing to contain an outbreak of the virus at one of Asia's largest markets for perishable goods. The market in the southern city of Chennai, spread over more than 250 acres, had remained open throughout the lockdown and is now tied to at least 1,000 cases.

Another 7,000 people connected to now-shuttered Koyambedu market were being traced and quarantined, a huge task given that the facility is critical to the food supply across Tamil Nadu and neighboring states.

The market cluster contributed to India's biggest single-day increase in virus infections yet, with authorities on Tuesday reporting 3,900 cases and 195 deaths. The health ministry attributed the spike to reporting delays by state governments, but experts remain worried about a potential health catastrophe in a country of 1.3 billion people and a medical system strained even in the best of times.

People wear masks to help stop the spread of coronavirus, while waiting in line to enter a store on Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park, a Brooklyn neighborhood with one of the city's largest Mexican and Hispanic communities, Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in New York. The annual street festival parade marking Cinco de Mayo was canceled this year due to COVID-19. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

The capital of Brazil's tropical Maranhão state ground largely to a halt Tuesday, becoming the first major city in the country to enter a lockdown in the hopes of preventing the coronavirus from overwhelming the health care system of one of the nation's poorest states.

Some 1.5 million people in São Luís and three neighboring cities have been confined to their homes, except for a handful of essential tasks. The vast majority of businesses have been shuttered, as have schools and public transport. Parks are closed, and residents cannot go out to exercise.


The decree from the state governor will last 10 days to start and applies to one-fifth the state's population. It comes despite President Jair Bolsonaro's insistence that only the elderly and other high-risk populations should stay home. The president and his followers have repeatedly criticized local leaders who imposed more stringent restrictions in the face of surging coronavirus cases.

President Donald Trump participates in a tour of a Honeywell International plant that manufactures personal protective equipment, Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Phoenix, with Tony Stallings, vice president of Integrated Supply Chain at Honeywell, right and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Elsewhere, Britain's official death toll, at more than 29,000, topped that of Italy to become the highest in Europe and second-highest in the world behind the United States. The official number of dead worldwide surpassed a quarter-million, according to a count by Johns Hopkins' University, though the true toll is believed to be much higher.

On his visit to Arizona, Trump acknowledged the human cost of returning to normalcy.

"I'm not saying anything is perfect, and yes, will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon," he said.

On Monday, a model from the University of Washington nearly doubled its projection of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. to around 134,000 through early August, with a range of 95,000 to nearly 243,000. Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the institute that created the projections, said the increase is largely because most states are expected to ease restrictions by next week.

Cars and trucks are driven on a relatively empty highway in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Due to the coronavirus a lot less traffic is seen during the day. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Trump, asked about the projections before traveling to Arizona, disputed the accuracy of models in general and said keeping the economy closed carries deadly costs of its own, such as drug abuse and suicide.

New confirmed infections per day in the U.S. exceed 20,000, and deaths per day are well over 1,000, according Johns Hopkins figures. And public health officials warn that the failure to lower the infection rate in places could lead to many more deaths—perhaps tens of thousands—as people are allowed to venture out and businesses reopen.

"Make no mistakes: This virus is still circulating in our community, perhaps even more now than in previous weeks" said Linda Ochs, director of the Health Department in Shawnee County, Kansas.

According to an Associated Press analysis, the numbers show that when the New York metropolitan area's progress against the coronavirus is taken out of the equation, the rest of the U.S. is moving in the wrong direction.

Forensic investigators look at the body of a man infected with the new coronavirus who collapsed on the street and died, according to Police Captain Diego Lopez, in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Tara Van Wieren works on a Mother's Day flower arraignment at Relles Florist in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Florists are among the retail businesses that Gov. Gavin Newsom said might be eligible to open before the end of this week under upcoming state guidelines concerning the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

A woman walks in the "Villa 31" neighborhood during a government-ordered lockdown to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. According to official data, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 disease in this city's slum have increased in the past week, putting authorities on high alert. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

An Indian traffic police man stops a motorist during nationwide lockdown in Gauhati, India, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. India's six-week coronavirus lockdown, which was supposed to end on Monday, has been extended for another two weeks, with a few relaxations. Locking down the country's 1.3 billion people has slowed down the spread of the virus, but has come at the enormous cost of upending lives and millions of lost jobs. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

An employee calls for a client to enter a fast food restaurant, during a government lockdown restricting residents to essential shopping in the mornings in an attempt to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Forensic investigators look at the body of a man infected with the new coronavirus who collapsed on the street and died, according to Police Captain Diego Lopez, in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

When the still-locked-down area is included, new infections in the U.S. appear to be declining, according to the AP analysis. It found that the five-day rolling average for new cases has decreased from 9.3 per 100,000 people three weeks ago on April 13 to 8.6 on Monday.

But subtracting the New York area from the analysis changes the story. Without it, the rate of new cases in the U.S. increased over the same period from 6.2 per 100,000 people to 7.5.

While the daily number of new deaths in the New York area has declined markedly in recent weeks, it has essentially plateaued in the rest of the U.S. Without greater New York, the rolling five-day average for new deaths per 500,000 people dropped slightly from 1.86 on April 20th to 1.82 on Monday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the national debate over when to reopen ultimately boils down to the value placed on people's lives.

"The faster we reopen, the lower the economic cost—but the higher the human cost, because the more lives lost," he said. "That, my friends, is the decision we are really making."

Work-related PTSD in nurses
by Wiley

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A recent analysis of published studies examined the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among nurses and identified factors associated with work-related PTSD among nurses. The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.


For the analysis, investigators identified 24 relevant studies. The researchers found that PTSD is a world-wide issue affecting nurses and that the reported prevalence of PTSD in nurses varied greatly, likely due to different methods of measuring PTSD or its symptoms.

Factors associated with PTSD related to the workplace (such as exposure and organization support), relationships at work and home, the witnessing of suffering, and coping behaviors, among others.

"Through this article, we want to bring attention to the phenomenon of PTSD within the nursing profession. We hope this article brings greater awareness and insight into what nurses might be experiencing," said corresponding author Michelle Schuster, MSN, RN, CPHON, of Boston Children's Hospital. "A better understanding of the factors influencing PTSD can provide insight into ways to potentially mitigate the harmful impact of PTSD in order to promote nurse wellbeing."


Explore further Postcode stress, PTSD seen after unsuccessful resuscitation

More information: Michelle Schuster et al, Post‐traumatic stress disorder in nurses: An integrative review, Journal of Clinical Nursing (2020). DOI: 10.1111/jocn.15288
Journal information: Journal of Clinical Nursing

Spending time in the garden linked to better health and well being
by University of Exeter

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Spending time in the garden is linked to similar benefits for health and wellbeing as living in wealthy areas, according to a new large-scale study.

Research conducted by the University of Exeter and the Royal Horticultural Society charity, published in Elsevier's Landscape and Urban Planning, analysed data from nearly 8,000 people collected by Natural England between 2009 and 2016. The research, conducted with funding from Innovate UK and NIHR, found that people who spend time in the garden are significantly more likely to report general good health, higher psychological wellbeing and greater physical activity levels than those who do not spend time in the garden.

The study found the benefits of gardening to health and wellbeing were similar to the difference in health between people living in the wealthiest parts of the country, compared to the poorest. The benefits applied whether people spent their time gardening or simply relaxing. People who regularly spend time in their garden were also more likely to visit nature elsewhere once a week.

The study also found that people with access to a private garden had higher psychological wellbeing and those with an outdoor space such as a yard were more likely to meet physical activity guidelines. These benefits were in comparison to people who did not have a garden or outdoor space.

Dr. Sian de Bell, of the University of Exeter Medical School, lead author of the study, said: "A growing body of evidence points to the health and wellbeing benefits of access to green or coastal spaces. Our study is one of the largest to date to look at the benefits of gardens and gardening specifically. Our findings suggest that whilst being able to access an outdoor space such as a garden or yard is important, using that space is what really leads to benefits for health and wellbeing."

Dr. Becca Lovell, also of the University of Exeter Medical School and project lead, said: "Gardens are a crucial way for people to access and experience the natural environment. Our new evidence highlights that gardens may have a role as a public health resource and that we need to ensure that their benefit is available equally."

Prof Alistair Griffiths, Director of Science and Collections at the Royal Horticultural Society and co-author on the paper, said: "This work adds to the increasing body of scientific evidence on the health benefits of gardens and gardening. As the current COVID crisis has demonstrated, there's an urgent need to include the provision of private gardens in the planning process to better support the UK's preventative health agenda and the wellbeing of our nation."

There is growing evidence that living in a greener neighbourhood can be good for health and wellbeing, but most research has focused on public green spaces such as parks and playing fields. The current research used data collected by Natural England's Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment Survey, the world's largest survey collecting data on people's weekly contact with the natural world.

Marian Spain, Interim Chief Executive of Natural England, said:

"In these unprecedented times, the government's priority continues to be making sure people stay at home to help protect the NHS and save lives. The benefits of spending time around nature during this time, be that in our back gardens or in local green spaces as part of our daily exercise, cannot be underestimated—and this research shines a light on the impact this has on people's health and wellbeing.

"We know that not everyone has easy access to nature or green spaces, and that's why we've launched our #BetterWithNature campaign to inspire more people to connect with nature safely during this period. Longer term, this campaign aims to bring the benefits of nature to as many people as possible through initiatives like our Nature Recovery Network, which will see more green spaces created near where people live and work."


Explore furtherTwo hours a week is key dose of nature for health and wellbeing

Two hours a week is key dose of nature for health and wellbeing
More information: Siân de Bell et al, Spending time in the garden is positively associated with health and wellbeing: Results from a national survey in England, Landscape and Urban 

Planning (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103836

Robots help some firms, even while workers across industries struggle

by Peter Dizikes, Massachusetts Institute of Technolog

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Overall, adding robots to manufacturing reduces jobs—by more than three per robot, in fact. But a new study co-authored by an MIT professor reveals an important pattern: Firms that move quickly to use robots tend to add workers to their payroll, while industry job losses are more concentrated in firms that make this change more slowly.


The study, by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu, examines the introduction of robots to French manufacturing in recent decades, illuminating the business dynamics and labor implications in granular detail.

"When you look at use of robots at the firm level, it is really interesting because there is an additional dimension," says Acemoglu. "We know firms are adopting robots in order to reduce their costs, so it is quite plausible that firms adopting robots early are going to expand at the expense of their competitors whose costs are not going down. And that's exactly what we find."

Indeed, as the study shows, a 20 percentage point increase in robot use in manufacturing from 2010 to 2015 led to a 3.2 percent decline in industry-wide employment. And yet, for firms adopting robots during that timespan, employee hours worked rose by 10.9 percent, and wages rose modestly as well.

A new paper detailing the study, "Competing with Robots: Firm-Level Evidence from France," will appear in the May issue of the American Economic Association: Papers and Proceedings. The authors are Acemoglu, who is an Institute Professor at MIT; Clair Lelarge, a senior research economist at the Banque de France and the Center for Economic Policy Research; and Pascual Restrepo Phd '16, an assistant professor of economics at Boston University.

A French robot census

To conduct the study, the scholars examined 55,390 French manufacturing firms, of which 598 purchased robots during the period from 2010 to 2015. The study uses data provided by France's Ministry of Industry, client data from French robot suppliers, customs data about imported robots, and firm-level financial data concerning sales, employment, and wages, among other things.

The 598 firms that did purchase robots, while comprising just 1 percent of manufacturing firms, accounted for about 20 percent of manufacturing production during that five-year period.


"Our paper is unique in that we have an almost comprehensive [view] of robot adoption," Acemoglu says.

The manufacturing industries most heavily adding robots to their production lines in France were pharmaceutical companies, chemicals and plastic manufacturers, food and beverage producers, metal and machinery manufacturers, and automakers.

The industries investing least in robots from 2010 to 2015 included paper and printing, textiles and apparel manufacturing, appliance manufacturers, furniture makers, and minerals companies.

The firms that did add robots to their manufacturing processes became more productive and profitable, and the use of automation lowered their labor share—the part of their income going to workers—between roughly 4 and 6 percentage points. However, because their investments in technology fueled more growth and more market share, they added more workers overall.

By contrast, the firms that did not add robots saw no change in the labor share, and for every 10 percentage point increase in robot adoption by their competitors, these firms saw their own employment drop 2.5 percent. Essentially, the firms not investing in technology were losing ground to their competitors.

This dynamic—job growth at robot-adopting firms, but job losses overall—fits with another finding Acemoglu and Restrepo made in a separate paper about the effects of robots on employment in the U.S. There, the economists found that each robot added to the work force essentially eliminated 3.3 jobs nationally.

"Looking at the result, you might think [at first] it's the opposite of the U.S. result, where the robot adoption goes hand in hand with destruction of jobs, whereas in France, robot-adopting firms are expanding their employment," Acemoglu says. "But that's only because they're expanding at the expense of their competitors. What we show is that when we add the indirect effect on those competitors, the overall effect is negative and comparable to what we find the in the U.S."

Superstar firms and the labor share issue

The competitive dynamics the researchers found in France resemble those in another high-profile piece of economics research recently published by MIT professors. In a recent paper, MIT economists David Autor and John Van Reenen, along with three co-authors, published evidence indicating the decline in the labor share in the U.S. as a whole was driven by gains made by "superstar firms," which find ways to lower their labor share and gain market power.

While those elite firms may hire more workers and even pay relatively well as they grow, labor share declines in their industries, overall.

"It's very complementary," Acemoglu observes about the work of Autor and Van Reenen. However, he notes, "A slight difference is that superstar firms [in the work of Autor and Van Reenen, in the U.S.] could come from many different sources. By having this individual firm-level technology data, we are able to show that a lot of this is about automation."

So, while economists have offered many possible explanations for the decline of the labor share generally—including technology, tax policy, changes in labor market institutions, and more—Acemoglu suspects technology, and automation specifically, is the prime candidate, certainly in France.

"A big part of the [economic] literature now on technology, globalization, labor market institutions, is turning to the question of what explains the decline in the labor share," Acemoglu says. "Many of those are reasonably interesting hypotheses, but in France it's only the firms that adopt robots—and they are very large firms—that are reducing their labor share, and that's what accounts for the entirety of the decline in the labor share in French manufacturing. This really emphasizes that automation, and in particular robots, is a critical part in understanding what's going on."


Explore furtherHow many jobs do robots really replace?
More information: This is part 2 of a three-part series examining the effects of robots and automation on employment, based on new research from economist and Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu.



Part 1: techxplore.com/news/2020-05-jobs-robots.html

Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.
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