First ever detailed description of a volcanic eruption from Sierra Negra

TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN

Research News

 

A volcanic eruption in the Galápagos Islands has given scientists a fresh insight into how volcanoes behave and provided vital information that will help to predict future hazards on the islands.

Irish scientists, based at Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) and Trinity College Dublin respectively, were members of an international research team from Ireland, United Kingdom, United States, France and Ecuador that made the discovery.

The research published today (02.03.21) in Nature Communications reveals the first ever detailed description of a volcanic eruption from Sierra Negra - one of the world's most active volcanoes - found on Isabela Island, the largest of the Galápagos archipelago and home to nearly 2,000 people.

The new understandings developed from the research will allow Ecuadorian volcanologists to track the evolution of unrest for future eruptions in the Galápagos Islands, and communicate it to local authorities and the public.

The research process

The eruption in June 2018 began after 13 years of earthquakes and uplift of the surface marked the gradual accumulation of molten rock (magma) under the volcano. They were amongst the largest signals ever recorded before an eruption. Strong earthquakes allowed new fissures to open in the shield volcano, feeding lava flows that extended 16 km to the coast, and were active for nearly two months.

When the eruption finished, the hills within the 10 km wide caldera of the volcano were nearly two metres higher than at the start. This phenomenon, known as 'caldera resurgence', is important for understanding when and where eruptions happen, but is rare and had never been observed in such detail.

Despite their significance, the Galápagos Islands' remote location means that this is the first eruption there to have been recorded by modern monitoring instruments, including seismometers and GPS. Consequently, there have been no previous multidisciplinary studies into the volcanic processes behind Galápagos Island volcanism.

The international research team combined the latest data recorded by instruments on the ground, by satellites, and by analysis of the chemical composition of the erupted lava. They showed how ascending magma permanently uplifted a 'trapdoor' in the floor of the caldera, raising the surface, and triggering large earthquakes.

Comments from the research team

Professor Chris Bean, Head of the Geophysics Section and Director of the School of Cosmic Physics at DIAS, who was a member of the research team said:

"It was fantastic to represent DIAS on this international research team, we managed to examine the Sierra Negra volcano with an unprecedented level of detail which has produced some ground-breaking results. Although the volcano had been slowly inflating for over a decade, the final trigger to the eruption was a violent earthquake strong enough to make anything that wasn't tied down hop clear off the ground. Stress changes related to this event unzip subterranean fractures through which magma flowed to the surface in a spectacular eruption."

Dr Michael Stock, Assistant Professor of Geology at Trinity College Dublin, who was also a member of the research team, said:

"This is a genuinely multidisciplinary study which brought together a diverse team of international scientists to produce one of the most detailed records of pre-eruptive processes at an active volcano to date. The data will be invaluable in improving volcano monitoring in Galapagos, where eruptions pose a risk to the unique and fragile ecosystem. However, it also has far-reaching global implications, demonstrating that not all volcanoes are created equally - our current understanding of volcano monitoring data is largely based on well-studied eruptions in Iceland and Hawaii and may need to be urgently reassessed to effectively manage volcanic hazards in other locations."

###

Further information about the project is available at http://www.dias.ie/geo-recent-research-activities/ .

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to Eure

Lead up to volcanic eruption in Galapagos captured in rare detail

PENN STATE

Research News

 

IMAGE: FIELD CREW DOWNLOADING DATA FROM A CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING GLOBAL POSITIONING STATION IN THE SIERRA NEGRA CALDERA, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, ECUADOR. view more 

CREDIT: KEITH WILLIAMS (UMAVCO, INC).

Hours before the 2018 eruption of Sierra Negra, the Galápagos Islands' largest volcano, an earthquake rumbled and raised the ground more than 6 feet in an instant. The event, which triggered the eruption, was captured in rare detail by an international team of scientists, who said it offers new insights into one of the world's most active volcanoes.

"The power of this study is that it's one of the first times we've been able to see a full eruptive cycle in this detail at almost any volcano," said Peter La Femina, associate professor of geosciences at Penn State. "We've monitored Sierra Negra from when it last erupted in 2005 through the 2018 eruption and beyond, and we have this beautiful record that's a rarity in itself."

For nearly two months in 2018, lava erupted from the volcano, covering about 19 square miles of Isabela Island, the largest island in the Galápagos and home to about 2,000 people and endangered animal species like the Galápagos giant tortoise.

"The 2018 eruption of Sierra Negra was a really spectacular volcanic event, occurring in the 'living laboratory' of the Galápagos Islands," said Andrew Bell, a volcanologist at the University of Edinburgh. "Great teamwork, and a bit of luck, allowed us to capture this unique dataset that provide us with important new understanding as to how these volcanoes behave, and how we might be able to better forecast future eruptions."

While Sierra Negra is among the world's most active volcanos, its remote location previously made monitoring difficult. Scientists now use networks of ground-based seismic and GPS monitoring stations and satellite observations to observe the volcano.

"Based on constant monitoring of activity of Galapagos volcanoes, we detected a dramatic increase of seismicity and a steady uplift of crater floor at Sierra Negra," said Mario Ruiz, director of the Ecuador Geophysical Institute, the country's national monitoring agency. "Soon we contacted colleagues from the United Kingdom, United States and Ireland and proposed them to work together to investigate the mechanisms leading to an impending eruption of this volcano. This research is an example of international collaboration and partnership."

The scientists captured data over 13 years as the volcano's magma chamber gradually refilled following the 2005 eruption, stressing the surrounding crust and creating earthquakes. This continued until June 2018, when an earthquake occurred on the calderas fault system and triggered the subsequent eruption, the scientists said.

"We have this story of magma coming in and stressing the system to the point of failure and the whole system draining again through the eruption of lava flows," La Femina said. "This is the first time anyone's seen that in the Galápagos to this detail. This is the first time we've had the data to say, 'okay, this is what happened here.'"

Often during volcanic eruptions, as magma chambers empty the ground above them sinks and forms a bowl-like depression, or a caldera. But Sierra Negra experienced a caldera resurgence, leaving this area higher in elevation than it was before the eruption, the scientists said.

Inside the Sierra Negra caldera is a "trap-door fault," which is hinged at one end while the other can be uplifted by rising magma. The scientists found the fault caused hills inside of the six-mile-wide caldera to lift vertically by more than 6 feet during the earthquake that triggered the eruption.

Caldera resurgence, important to better understanding eruptions, had not been previously observed in such detail, the scientists reported in the journal Nature Communications.

"Resurgence is typical of explosive calderas at volcanoes like Yellowstone, not the kind of shield volcanoes we see in the Galápagos or Hawaii," La Femina said. "This gives us the ability to look at other volcanoes in the Galápagos and say, 'well that's what could have happened to form that caldera or that resurgent ridge.'"

The scientists said the findings could help their counterparts in Ecuador better track unrest and warn of future eruptions.

"There are people who live on Isabella Island, so studying and understanding how these eruptions occur is important to manage the hazards and risks to local populations," La Femina said.

###

Other Penn State researchers on the project were Machel Higgins and Andres Gorki Ruiz, doctoral students, and Nathan Meier, a former undergraduate student.

Scientists from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Cambridge, the University of Miami, Tulane University, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory also contributed to the study.

The National Science Foundation, NASA and the Nature Environment Research Council funded this res

Adverse childhood and combat experiences may drive veterans' suicidal thoughts

PENN STATE

Research News

 

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The rate of suicide among post-9/11 military veterans has been rising for nearly a decade. While there are a number of factors associated with suicide, veterans have unique experiences that may contribute to them thinking about killing themselves.

"Compared to their civilian peers, veterans are more likely to report having experienced traumatic adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as physical and emotional abuse," stated Keith Aronson, associate director of the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State and the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI). "Veterans also engage in life-threatening combat and witness the corollaries of combat such as seeing colleagues killed or wounded."

A recent study of nearly 10,000 post-9/11 veterans sought to determine if traumatic childhood and combat experiences were associated with suicidal thinking.

The research published on Feb. 24 in the Journal of Community Psychology.

Compared to veterans who had no ACEs or combat exposure (reference group), male and female veterans who had experienced one ACE but no combat were two-and-a-half times more likely to report thoughts of suicide. Females who experienced three or more ACEs but no combat were five times more likely to think of suicide, while males were three times more likely compared to the reference group.

"This data shows that veterans' suicidal thinking and mental well-being is influenced by factors that happen both before and during military," noted Daniel Perkins, principal scientist at the Clearinghouse and professor of Family and Youth Resiliency and Policy in the College of Agricultural Sciences who is also an SSRI cofunded faculty member.

Female veterans who were exposed to three or more ACEs and corollaries of combat were more than five times more likely and males were more than three times more likely to have thoughts of suicide compared to the reference group.

Female veterans who only were exposed to combat were nine times more likely to have thoughts of suicide, while males were four times more likely. Female veterans exposed to one or more ACEs and combat were more than eight times more likely to think about suicide than females in the reference group. Males exposed to one or more ACEs and combat were between two and five times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than male veterans in the reference group.

There was no association between suicidal thinking and exposure to the corollaries of combat irrespective of exposure to ACEs.

"Clearly exposure to ACEs and combat increase the odds that post-9/11 veterans will think about suicide," said Nicole Morgan, assistant research professor at the Clearinghouse. "Female veterans appear particularly vulnerable to suicidal thinking and they likely need enhanced support and programs to decrease their suicidality and work to resolve their childhood and combat traumatic experiences through appropriate evidence-based treatment."

The study is a part of The Veterans Metrics Initiative (TVMI). The initiative focuses on understanding veterans' use and non-use of VA and non-VA resources designed to support healthy reintegration over the first three-years of military disconnection.

###

The Veterans Metrics Initiative (TVMI) research was managed by the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine Inc., and it was collaboratively sponsored by the Bob Woodruff Foundation, Health Net Federal Services, Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine Inc. (HJF), Lockheed Martin Corporation, Marge and Philip Odeen, May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust, National Endowment for the Humanities, Northrop Grumman, Prudential, Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Rumsfeld Foundation, Schultz Family Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Service, Walmart Foundation, and Wounded Warrior Project Inc.

About the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness

The Clearinghouse is an applied research center committed to advancing the health and well-being of service members and their families. The Clearinghouse takes a solution-oriented approach that includes conducting applied research studies, building workforce expertise through training and resource provision, implementing and evaluating evidence-informed programs and practices, and delivering objective data and policy-relevant findings so that decisions are based on the best science and evidence available. The Clearinghouse is located within Penn State's Social Science Research Institute.

About HJF

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. is a global nonprofit organization with the mission to advance military medicine. HJF's scientific, administrative and program operations services empower investigators, clinicians, and medical researchers around the world to make medical discoveries in all areas of medicine. With more than 35 years of experience, HJF serves as a trusted and responsive link between the military medical community, federal and private partners, and the millions of warfighters, veterans, and civilians who benefit from military medicine.

'Silent epidemic of grief' leaves bereaved and bereavement care practitioners struggling

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Research News

 

Major changes in bereavement care have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, amid a flood of demand for help from bereaved people, according to new research from the University of Cambridge. The first major study of pandemic-related changes in bereavement care has found that the switch to remote working has helped some services to reach out, but many practitioners feel they do not have capacity to meet people's needs.

It is estimated that for every death, nine people are affected by bereavement. The scale of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on those bereaved is now becoming apparent, whether the death was from COVID or from other causes.

Those whose loved ones have died with COVID-19 have had to cope with sudden and unexpected death, deaths in intensive care units, and with seeing loved ones suffer severe symptoms including breathlessness and agitation at the end of life. Social distancing measures have meant restricted visiting at the end of life, leaving some to die alone. Viewing the deceased person's body and funeral proceedings have been severely curtailed, with major impact on those bereaved from all causes, not only from COVID-19. All these factors mean that the risks of complicated and prolonged grief responses have become higher during the pandemic.

In research published today in BMJ Open, researchers at Cambridge's Department of Public Health and Primary Care report the results of an online survey sent to health and social care staff in August 2020, inviting them to describe their experiences and views about changes in bereavement care. 805 people responded, including those working in community, care home, hospital and hospice settings across the UK and Ireland.

Services faced initial challenges adapting to changing national government guidelines. Some bereavement services were suspended due to staff being furloughed or redeployed, particularly specialist bereavement services. Volunteer support in hospitals and hospices was reduced and some services saw increased waiting lists.

"We had 600% increase in deaths for a 3-week period. Dealing with the backlog of bereavement support was challenging," said one palliative medicine doctor.

Bereavement care fell to a wider range of staff members, including some with limited experience. Some people reported that services were under-resourced before the pandemic and that the pandemic would worsen the situation and add new difficulties due to the complex grief reactions.

The biggest change has been the switch to remote methods of providing support - such as telephone and video - which was reported by 90% of respondents. Adapting care to online or telephone formats was particularly challenging, with limited access to the equipment needed and limited staff training in their use.

The move to remote support has been a double-edged sword. On one hand, it increased some opportunities for bereavement support. Services supporting children and young people at times reported these groups to be more receptive to online support and hospices and hospital teams reported widening access to their bereavement support. However, practitioners described the remote work as "draining" and difficult to manage, alongside their own emotional strains during the pandemic.

Some practitioners feared being overwhelmed by demand: "We are really only seeing those who have been bereaved in Jan/Feb so far, so there may be many more to come," said one Community Listening Service Coordinator.

The changes to services were reported to have disrupted the ability to offer emotional support: "It has felt as though we are dealing with them at arm's length whereas we would be there to hold their hands, give them a hug as needed," said a palliative medicine doctor.

Many respondents expressed grave concerns over the long-term impacts on bereaved people, highlighting the inability or restrictions on being with the dying patient as having a profound impact in bereavement.

"Many people who died were denied opportunity to die in their preferred place of care / preferred place of death and died in suboptimal environments to receive their care in last days," said a GP.

While those bereaved from COVID-19 and non-COVID conditions were similarly affected by the restrictions, specific challenges related to COVID-19 were reported. Some respondents described relatives' anger at having COVID-19 on the death certificate. One Bereavement Specialist Liaison Nurse said that the disease "seemed to have a 'stigma' for some". This sense of stigma was thought to exacerbate peoples' feelings of having failed to protect their family member from COVID-19.

Concerns were raised over a large and 'invisible cohort of people' who may not access support or for whom support will be restricted, leading to greater unmet need. "There may be a silent epidemic of grief that we have not yet picked up on," said a Palliative Medicine Doctor.

Dr Caroline Pearce, the lead researcher, said: "Bereavement care has undergone major changes in both acute and community settings affecting bereaved people, clinicians, support workers and the wider health and social care system. The increased need for bereavement care has challenged practitioners as they have taken on new responsibilities and skills and shifted to remote and electronic working. The increased potential for prolonged and complicated grief responses among those bereaved during this period is particularly concerning."

Andy Langford, Clinical Director, CRUSE Bereavement Care, added: "Speaking about grief remains an area of public discomfort, and it is important practitioners encourage bereaved people to view grief as a 'valid' reason to seek help from health and community services, as well as from those they trust in their communities. It was heartening that many respondents reported the development of new and expanded services, but it is imperative that these are made sustainable in the longer-term. The need isn't going away."

###

This study was funded by National Institute of Health Research, School for Primary Care Research.

Reference

Pearce, C et al. 'A silent epidemic of grief': a survey of bereavement care provision in the UK and Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Open; 1 March 2021; DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046872

In era of online learning, new testing method aims to reduce cheating

Rensselaer-developed method proven effective in reducing collusion among students

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

Research News

 

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.

###

Mengzhou Li, a graduate student in biomedical engineering, was first author on this paper. Li and Wang were joined in this work by Hisham Mohamed and Uwe Kruger, also from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Lirong Xia, a professor of computer science, as well as teaching assistants and graduate students within their labs.

About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1824, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is America's first technological research university. Rensselaer encompasses five schools, 32 research centers, more than 145 academic programs, and a dynamic community made up of more than 7,600 students and over 100,000 living alumni. Rensselaer faculty and alumni include more than 145 National Academy members, six members of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, six National Medal of Technology winners, five National Medal of Science winners, and a Nobel Prize winner in Physics. With nearly 200 years of experience advancing scientific and technological knowledge, Rensselaer remains focused on addressing global challenges with a spirit of ingenuity and collaboration. To learn more, please visit http://www.rpi.edu.

Why some rural enrollees in Medicare Advantage are switching to traditional Medicare

DREXEL UNIVERSITY

Research News

Philadelphia, Pa. -- More than one out of every 10 seniors (10.5%) enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, also known as a Medicare managed care option, and living in a rural area, switched to traditional Medicare during 2010-2016. The switch was driven primarily due to low satisfaction with care access, according to a study published this week in Health Affairs from researchers at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health. By contrast, only 1.7% of rural traditional Medicare enrollees made the switch to Medicare Advantage during this period.

The findings, among the first to look at rates of switching between the two options among rural versus nonrural enrollees, found a similar, yet more muted, effect among nonrural enrollees, with 2.2% of traditional Medicare enrollees and 5% of Medicare Advantage enrollees making the switch.

Switching was most common among Medicare Advantage enrollees who experienced higher costs, such as hospitalization or long-term facility stay. Among those requiring more expensive services, rural enrollees were about twice as likely to switch from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare as nonrural enrollees (16.8% versus 8.3%), suggesting that limited provider options in rural areas were a major factor leading consumers to change their coverage plan.

"We studied 11 factors that might make someone switch their health insurance and found that much of this transfer from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare among rural residents came from limited provider availability. However, care quality or out-of-pocket costs played a limited role." said lead author Sungchul Park, PhD, an assistant professor in the Dornsife School of Public Health. "It's not that rural patients were sicker than nonrural patients, they might just have a much tougher time than their counterparts did when it came to finding an approved medical provider."

Unlike traditional Medicare, which is administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicare Advantage is operated by private companies approved by the government. Both traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage include hospital (Part A) and medical (Part B) insurance. However, funding for the two programs differs and influences how they're delivered. In traditional Medicare, the federal government pays for services performed, but the government pays Medicare Advantage insurers using fixed, pre-negotiated rates. This creates incentive for Medicare Advantage plans to implement cost-saving measures, such as programs to keep their enrollees healthy, implement networks and require prior authorization restrictions to care.

"Medicare Advantage plans might have lower premiums and/or supplemental coverage in some areas, but that value is not enough for patients in more restrictive provider networks that prevent them from accessing care they need," said Park. "We found that levels of satisfaction with out-of-pocket costs had little very little influence in patients who decided to change their plan."

Data was gathered from a nationally representative sample of seniors over age 65 from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey from 2010-2016, (expect for 2014, when data was not reported), including demographics, socioeconomic characteristics, health data and satisfaction with care. Rural residency was based on county-level 2013 data from the Department of Agriculture.

The authors suggest the importance of developing policies to incentivize the health care workforce to practice in rural areas. For example, loan repayment or forgiveness programs may attract needed health care professionals to areas of shortages. Also, the federal government could consider changing Medicare Advantage network adequacy standards for rural areas to make sure that there are enough providers included. Finally, offering a rural payment add-on for Medicare Advantage plans that operate in rural areas may improve access to high-quality Medicare Advantage plans among rural enrollees.

###

In addition to Park, authors on this paper include David J. Meyers, PhD, of Brown University and senior author Brent A. Langellier, PhD, of Drexel's Dornsife School of Public Health.

This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health.

Study examines what makes people susceptible to fake health news

Source credibility, how info is presented have little influence; tagging unverified content makes difference

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

Research News

 

LAWRENCE -- A new study from University of Kansas journalism & mass communication researchers examines what influences people to be susceptible to false information about health and argues big tech companies have a responsibility to help prevent the spread of misleading and dangerous information.

Researchers shared a fake news story with more than 750 participants that claimed a deficiency of vitamin B17 could cause cancer. Researchers then measured if how the article was presented -- including author credentials, writing style and whether the article was labeled as "suspicious" or "unverified" -- affected how participants perceived its credibility and whether they would adhere to the article's recommendations or share it on social media. The findings showed that information presentation did not influence how people perceived it and that only social media efficacy played a role in whether respondents said they would share it.

Hong Tien Vu, assistant professor of journalism & mass communications, and Yvonnes Chen, associate professor of journalism & mass communications at KU, co-wrote the study. They will present their work, funded by a KU General Research Fund grant, at the 2021 International Communication Association Conference.

Vu and Chen shared eight versions of an article verified as false with respondents that claimed a lack of vitamin B17, which does not exist, could be a cause of cancer. In one version, it included a doctor's byline, including a short description of her medical credentials. In another version, the author was described as a mother of two with a background in creative writing who was a lifestyle blogger in another. Some versions followed a journalistic style, while others used more casual language.

"We wanted to test two skills that are often employed in media literacy training programs around the world, author credentials and writing style, as well as flagging," Vu said. "The results suggest relying on audience members to do the work to determine fake news may be a long way to go. When people have to evaluate the credibility of information, it requires mental work. When surfing the web in general, we tend to rely on big tech companies to verify information."

Respondents who showed higher levels of social media efficacy, or were more savvy in using the technology, evaluated information more carefully and reported they would be less likely to share the article. Health orientation, or whether or not respondents were interested in or sought out health information, did not play a role in discerning accuracy of information. It is significant, however, as those highly interested in health information are more likely to share news they find, whether credible or not, the authors said.

Results showed that author credentials and how the story was written did not have significant differences on how people perceived its credibility, whether they would adhere to its recommendations or share it. However, those who saw the article presented with any sort of flagging stating it was not verified information were significantly less likely to find it credible, adhere to recommendations or share it.

While the study took place before the COVID-19 pandemic, its findings are especially relevant, as misinformation and politicized information about the pandemic have proliferated. It shows seemingly innocuous misinformation can be dangerous as well.

"One problem with fake news studies is the topic becomes so politicized," Vu said. "Fake news can be about something that is not politicized or polarizing as well. Talking about vitamin B17 seems to be harmless, but people believed it. People can spend time, money and efforts on trying to find a cure, and that can be very dangerous if you don't follow a doctor's advice and come across false information."

The fact that any sort of flagging information significantly affected readers' perceptions and intentions to share show how important it is for big technology companies such as social media platforms to verify information or label content that has false, unverified or dangerous information, the authors wrote.

"Whenever we see information that has been flagged, we immediately raise our skepticism, even if we don't agree with it. Big tech companies have a very important role to play in ensuring a healthy, clean information environment," Vu said.

Metal whispering: Finding a better way to recover precious metals from electronic waste

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: NEW TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED BY IOWA STATE ENGINEERS USES HEAT AND OXIDATION TO RECOVER PURE AND PRECIOUS METALS FROM ELECTRONIC WASTE. IT WORKS IN TWO WAYS -- IT CAN BRING THE... view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO COURTESY OF MARTIN THUO/IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY.

AMES, Iowa - Inspired by nature's work to build spiky structures in caves, engineers at Iowa State University have developed technology capable of recovering pure and precious metals from the alloys in our old phones and other electrical waste.

Using controlled applications of oxygen and relatively low temperatures, the engineers say they can dealloy a metal by slowly moving the most reactive components to the surface where they form stalagmite-like spikes of metal oxides.

That leaves the least-reactive components in a purified, liquid core surrounded by brittle metal-oxide spikes "to create a so-called 'ship-in-a-bottle structure,'" said Martin Thuo, the leader of the research project and an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Iowa State University.

"The structure formed when the metal is molten is analogous to filled cave structures such as stalactites or stalagmites," Thuo said. "But instead of water, we are using oxidation to create these structures."

A paper describing the new technology, "Passivation-driven speciation, dealloying and purification," has recently been published by the journal Materials Horizons. (See sidebar for the paper's co-authors.)

University startup funds and part of a U.S. Department of Energy Small Business Innovation Research grant supported development of the technology.

Thuo noted this project is the exact opposite of his research group's previous work to develop heat-free solder.

"With heat-free solder, we wanted to put things together," he said. "With this, we want to make things fall apart."

But not just fall apart any which way. Thuo and the engineers in his research group want to control exactly how and where alloy components fall apart, or dealloy.

"It's like being a metal whisperer," he said. "We make things go the way we want."

The engineers offered a more precise description in their paper: "This work demonstrates the controlled behavior of surface oxidation in metals and its potential in design of new particle structures or purification/dealloying. By tuning oxidation via temperature, oxidant partial pressure, time and composition, a balance between reactivity and thermal deformation enables unprecedented morphologies."

Those unprecedented forms and structures could be very useful.

"We need new methods to recover precious metals from e-waste or mixed metal materials," Thuo said. "What we demonstrate here is that the traditional electrochemical or high-temperature methods (above 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) may not be necessary in metal purification as the metal's reactivity can be used to drive separation."

Thuo said the oxidation technology works well at temperatures of 500 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. ("This is set in an oven and getting metals to separate," he said.)

Besides metal purification and recovery, this new idea could also be applied to metal speciation - the ability to dictate creation and distribution of certain metal components. One use could be production of complex catalysts to drive multi-stage reactions.

Let's say chemists need a tin oxide catalyst followed by a bismuth oxide catalyst. They'll start with an alloy with the bismuth oxide buried beneath the tin oxide. They'll run the reaction with the tin oxide catalyst. Then they'll raise the temperature to the point that the bismuth oxide comes to the surface as spikes. And then they'll run the reaction with the bismuth oxide catalyst.

Thuo credits development of the new technology to working with talented students and two collaborators.

"We built on this big idea very slowly," he said. "And working together, we were able to break into this knowledge gap."

###

The collaborators/co-authors

Martin Thuo, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Iowa State University, is the project leader and the paper's corresponding author. Collaborators and co-authors are:

Andrew Martin, an Iowa State graduate with a doctorate in materials science and engineering who's now at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Boyce Chang, an Iowa State graduate with a doctorate in materials science and engineering who's now at the University of California Berkeley

Joel Cutinho, an Iowa State graduate with a master's degree in materials science and engineering who now works for Nanolab Technologies

Liyang Shen, an Iowa State doctoral student in chemical and biological engineering

Thomas Ward, an associate professor of aerospace engineering, who contributed work in mass transport

Eric Cochran, a professor of chemical and biological engineering, who contributed work in X-ray diffraction and characterization

Read the paper
"Passivation-driven speciation, dealloying and purification," Materials Horizons, published online Jan. 19, 2021,
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0MH01832E

Transmission risk of COVID-19 from sewage spills into rivers can now be quickly quantified

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Research News

 

Scientists have identified that the COVID-19 virus could be transmitted through faecal contaminated river water.

A team of researchers, including water quality, epidemiology, remote sensing and modelling experts, led by Dr Jamie Shutler at the University of Exeter, have developed a fast and simple way to assess the potential risk of water-borne transmission of the COVID-19 virus, posed by sewage spills into open and closed freshwater networks.

The new study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology - Water, identifies the relative risk of viral transmission by sewerage spills, across 39 different counties.

The study used information on the environment, a population's infection rate, and water usage to calculate the potential potency of viral loads in the event of a sewerage spill.

The research team believe the new study could provide fresh impetus in identifying new ways in which to prevent the spread of the virus amongst communities and the environment.

Dr Jamie Shutler, lead author of the study and at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall said: "it's important to identify and break all viable transmission routes if we want to stop any future outbreaks".

Airborne water droplets have previously been highlighted as the main route for transmission of the virus which causes COVID-19, but we know that other forms of transmission are likely to exist.

Previous studies have shown that COVID-19 viral pathogens can be found in untreated wastewater, in concentrations consistent with population infection rates. While studies are still relatively early in relation to COVID-19, other human coronaviruses are documented to survive in wastewater, with colder water temperature likely to increase viral survival.

Using this knowledge and existing methods, the research team identified how the transmission risk from water contaminated with sewage reduces over time.

This issue is likely to be especially problematic in parts of the world with a large proportion of temporary settlements, such as shanty towns, favellas or refugee camps, which are less likely to have safe sanitisation systems. Or any densely populated region that has high infection rates that also suffers from a sewage spill.

Modifying established pollution analysis methods, the team were able to estimate the viral concentration in rivers after a sewage spill. This meant they could calculate the relative transmission risk posed to humans by contaminated waterways for 39 countries.

These methods, the team argue, provides a fast way to assess the transmission risk associated to sewage spills through the use of easily available population, infection rate and environmental data, allowing evidence based guidance following a spill.

Dr Shutler added: "we hope that water companies or NGOs will use our simple spreadsheet calculator, that is freely available, to estimate the transmission risk after a spill. They can then use this information to advise the public."

###

This research was partially funded by the European Union project Aquasense, which is focussing on novel methods to study and monitor water quality.

The research resulted from a collaboration between the University of Exeter in Cornwall, the University of Glasgow, the ?ukasiewicz-Institute of Electron Technology in Poland, and the University of Agriculture in Kraków, Poland.

The fully open access paper is available here:
Shutler et al., (2021) Rapid Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Risk for Fecally Contaminated River Water, Environmental Science and Technology Water.

WHO expert panel strongly advises against use of hydroxychloroquine to prevent covid-19

Drug is no longer a research priority; resources should focus on other more promising drugs to prevent covid-19

BMJ

Research News

 

The anti-inflammatory drug hydroxychloroquine should not be used to prevent infection in people who do not have covid-19, say a WHO Guideline Development Group (GDG) panel of international experts in The BMJ today.

Their strong recommendation is based on high certainty evidence from six randomised controlled trials involving over 6,000 participants with and without known exposure to a person with covid-19 infection.

High certainty evidence showed that hydroxychloroquine had no meaningful effect on death and admission to hospital, while moderate certainty evidence showed that hydroxychloroquine had no meaningful effect on laboratory confirmed covid-19 infection and it probably increases the risk of adverse effects.

As such, the panel considers that this drug is no longer a research priority and that resources should be used to evaluate other more promising drugs to prevent covid-19.

This guideline applies to all individuals who do not have covid-19, regardless of their exposure to a person with covid-19 infection.

The panel judged that almost all people would not consider this drug worthwhile, and also decided that factors such as resources, feasibility, acceptability, and equity for countries and healthcare systems were unlikely to alter the recommendation.

Today's recommendation is the first version of a living guideline for drugs to prevent covid-19, developed by the World Health Organization with the methodological support of MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation. It's aim is to provide trustworthy guidance on the management of covid-19 and help doctors make better decisions with their patients.

Living guidelines are useful in fast moving research areas like covid-19 because they allow researchers to update previously vetted and peer reviewed evidence summaries.

New recommendations for other preventive drugs for covid-19 will be added to this guideline as more evidence becomes available.

###

Peer reviewed? Yes
Evidence type: Clinical practice guideline
Subjects: Drugs to prevent covid-19