Stella McCartney calls for end to fur trade with protest

Stella McCartney campaigns with the Human Society International to urge the fashion industry to stop using fur

Stella McCartney


Stella McCartney has called for an end to the fur trade.

17 June 2021

The 49-year-old fashion designer, animal rights activist and environmentalist has insisted it's her "life mission" to give her industry "a conscience" when it comes to the materials they choose to use and how they source them.

Sir Paul McCartney's daughter voiced her stance as part of the Humane Society International's campaign.

The organisation "confronts cruelty to animals in all of its forms".

Stella told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Whether it's sold here in the UK or farmed globally, barbarism knows no borders, and this effort is key to my life's mission of bringing a conscience to the fashion industry. I am proud to partner with Human Society International. Please join us in ending this horrendous practice."

It comes after the activist vowed to "drive change" in the fashion industry to create a "cruelty-free society" for generations to come, and was among those to sign Prince Charles' Terra Carta Transition Coalitions for a sustainable future at the G7 Summit in Cornwall last weekend.

She said: “My goal is to drive change, encourage investments, and create lasting difference through incentives supporting the next generation. “I hope the G7 Summit will translate our message into policies bringing us closer to creating a cruelty-free society that is kinder to all creatures, Mother Earth, and each other.”

Stella was recently a guest at St. James Palace, where she urged global leaders to introduce new laws or legislation that will "put hard stops" on unsustainable practices in the industry.

She said: “I’m really here to ask all of these powerful people in the room to make a shift from convention to a new way of sourcing and new suppliers into the fashion industry. “One of the biggest problems that we have in the fashion industry is we're not policed in any way. We have no laws or legislations that will put hard stops on our industry… We need to be incentivized, [and] we need to have taxations looked at to work in a better way.”

CLASS CONCIOUSNESS

UK

Will Mellor: NHS staff should be country's top earners

'Coronation Street' star Will Mellor believes the NHS staff should be the country's top earners, and he was left fuming at the government's proposed pay rise of just one per cent this year.


Will Mellor believes NHS staff should be "the highest paid people in the country".


Will Mellor in Corrie

17 June 2021

The 'Coronation Street' star was left fuming with the government's proposed NHS pay rise of just one per cent this year - which Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who caught coronavirus in 2020, said was "as much as we can" - as he thinks the health service's staff should receive a bigger boost after their courageous work amid the coronavirus pandemic.

He said: "All of us have needed the NHS at some point.

"Imagine this country without it. Where we would be now? I wasn’t happy at all with that one per cent rise they got. It p***** me off.

"They should be the highest paid people in the country.

"They saved his life. We spend billions and billions on track and trace and this and that, that don’t work, but we can only afford a one per cent pay rise for the NHS who saved lives and put their own lives at risk when this country was on its back."

As well as starring in 'Corrie', Will has recorded a new version of 1998 Fat Les classic 'Vindaloo', alongside stars such as Paddy McGuinness and Danny Dyer, to encourage the nation to get behind England during Euro 2020.

And the cobbles actor believes his father Bill - who died from cancer in April last year - would be "really proud" of him for 'Vindaloo Two'.

Will - who plays drug lord Harvey Gaskell in the ITV soap - added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "He’d be really proud of me doing this, and getting behind it and getting his mates to sing it down the pub."

Dr Martens' profits fall by over half after the iconic bootmaker awards £49.1m in staff bonuses related to its IPO

Despite falling store sales, it managed to open 18 more shops during the year

A greater focus on digital sales helped the firm's online purchases jump by 73%

Dr Martens has now handed back £1.3m in furlough cash to the UK government

By HARRY WISE FOR THIS IS MONEY

PUBLISHED:  17 June 2021

Leather boot brand Dr Martens saw its profits fall last year despite rising online sales after it handed out tens of millions of pounds in staff bonuses following its public listing.

Shares in the group tumbled by 11.5 per cent today as it blamed the £80.5million in total costs arising from its initial public offering (IPO) in January for causing profits to fall by over half to £35.7million in the year to March 31.

Without these exceptional costs, which included a £49.1million one-off 'IPO bonus' for employees, the company said its operating profit would have been 25 per cent higher at £193million.

Staff bonuses caused profits to fall by over half to £35.7million in the year to March 31

The Northamptonshire shoemaker was further hit by store closures across the world, sending its retail sales plummeting by around 40 per cent to £99.7million, which particularly impacted its performance in Japan.

Yet it still managed to open 18 more shops across the period, including six in the United States and its first store in Rome, and it hopes to open another 20 to 25 during the current financial year.

Three stores were shut down in the UK though, leaving 34 overall; but due to 'resilient trading,' Dr Martens has now returned £1.3million in furlough cash that it claimed from the UK government.

Overall sales grew by 15 per cent to £773million, as demand in China soared by 46 per cent, sales in Europe and the Americas grew 17 per cent, and Asia-Pacific sales tipped up 7 per cent.

However, higher digital investment and an accelerating shift towards customers purchasing their shoes on the internet helped the value of online purchases jump 73 per cent.

The share of online sales also grew by ten percentage points to 30 per cent, and Dr Martens aims for them to comprise 40 per cent of its revenues in the medium term, with the remaining 60 per cent coming from direct-to-consumer channels.


Retail weakness: Store closures sent Dr Martens's retail revenues falling 40 per cent last year

Chief executive Kenny Wilson said: 'People buy their first pair of Dr Martens in their late teens or early 20s. Those consumers have grown up in a world where digital is the norm, so our strategy has been for a long time to build the digital capabilities of business.

'When the pandemic actually hit, we were ready, and we were able to drive more of our demand to online. The trend towards digital was something we've been working on for years, so we were agile enough to move quite quickly.'

Meanwhile, wholesale revenue rose by 18 per cent to £437.9million thanks to sturdy demand from the United States and the company's focus on having fewer relationships but with 'quality partners.'

Most of its shoe categories recorded decent growth levels as well, including its sandals collection and classic shoe brands like its 1460 boot, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2020.

Rock 'n' roll: More famous for being a popular fashion accessory among mods, punks, and grunge bands, bootmaker Dr Martens had its initial public offering in January earlier this year

It also announced new sustainability targets today, such as having zero waste in its value chain going to landfill by 2028, becoming a net zero firm by the end of the decade and having all shoes made from 'sustainable materials' by 2040.

Russ Mould, an analyst at AJ Bell, said: 'While the aim is to increase web-based sales further in the future, some people will want to try their shoes and boots on first before buying, which could be an obstacle to these efforts.

'There may be some disappointment that, despite a robust sales performance, the outlook given by Dr Martens has remained unchanged. Newly listed firms often set the bar low on guidance so they can clear it early in their life as a public company.

'The company continues to push a strategy of increasing the amount of product it sells direct to consumers, something a lot of major brands are targeting as it gives them greater control over the way it engages with customers.'

From a German doctor to punks and rockers: How Dr Martens became THE iconic British boot

By Harriet Johnston for MailOnline

Klaus Märtens was a doctor in the German army during World War II. While on leave in 1945, he injured his ankle while skiing in the Bavarian Alps.

He found that his standard-issue army boots were too uncomfortable on his injured foot.

While recuperating, he designed improvements to the boots, with soft leather and air-padded soles made of tyres.

When the war ended and some Germans recovered valuables from their own cities, Märtens took leather from a cobbler's shop. With that leather he made himself a pair of boots with air-cushioned soles.


By the later 1960s, skinheads started to wear them, 'Docs' or 'DMs' being the usual naming

Märtens did not have much success selling his shoes until he met up with an old university friend, Herbert Funck, a Luxembourger, in Munich in 1947.

Funck was intrigued by the new shoe design, and the two went into business that year in Seeshaupt, Germany, using discarded rubber from Luftwaffe airfields.

The comfortable soles were a big hit with housewives, with 80% of sales in the first decade to women over the age of 40.

By the late 1970s, they were popular among punks, musicians and members of other youth groups (pictured Ian Dury in the shoes)

Sales had grown so much by 1952 that they opened a factory in Munich. In 1959, the company had grown large enough that Märtens and Funck looked at marketing the footwear internationally.

Almost immediately, British shoe manufacturer R. Griggs Group Ltd. bought rights to manufacture the shoes in the United Kingdom.

Griggs anglicised the name to 'Dr Martens', slightly re-shaped the heel to make them fit better, added the trademark yellow stitching, and trademarked the soles as AirWair.

By the later 1960s, skinheads started to wear them, 'Docs' or 'DMs' being the usual naming, and by the late 1970s, they were popular among punks, musicians and members of other youth groups.

The boots and shoes became increasingly popular in the 1990s as grunge fashion arose.

In 2003 the Dr Martens company came close to bankruptcy. On 1 April that year, under pressure from declining sales, the company ceased making shoes in the United Kingdom, and moved all production to China and Thailand. Five factories and two shops were closed in the UK, and more than 1,000 of the firm's employees lost their jobs.

Following the closures, the R. Griggs company employed only 20 people in the UK, all in the firm's head office.

Five million pairs of Dr Martens were sold during 2003, which was half the 1990s level of sales.

In 2004 a new range of Dr Martens was launched in an attempt to appeal to a wider market, and especially young people.

The boots and shoes became increasingly popular in the 1990s as grunge fashion arose. (pictured, the band Madness wearing the boots)

The shoes and boots were intended to be more comfortable, and easier to break in, and included some new design elements.

Worldwide sales of Dr Martens shoes grew strongly in the early 2010s, and in 2012 it was the eighth-fastest-growing British company.

In 2018 ten million pairs of Dr Martens shoes were produced, only one percent in the UK and in 2019, Dr Martens announced plans to double the production of shoes and boots in the UK, to 165,000 pairs annually in 2020.

The boots have a trademark yellow stitching which was added by the British shoe manufacturer R. Griggs Group

Cargill and Nestlé welcome US Supreme court ruling rejecting Ivory Coast child slavery case



Posted: 17 June 2021

Cargill and Nestlé have welcomed a landmark US Supreme Court ruling in favour of the two major companies, rejecting a claim of child slavery within Ivory Coast cocoa farms, reports Neill Barston.

According to Reuters, the decision was an 8-1 result in favour of the businesses in a high-profile case brought on behalf of former child slaves from Mali, who had reportedly originally put their case forward in 2005.

The hearing was told that their claim was not possible under the US legal frameworks that have enabled non citizens to bring legal action within American courts.

As previously covered by Confectionery Production, the strongly disputed court case had been brought on the basis of allegations that the two corporations had failed to take a duty of care to those working within the supply chain.

Speaking following the court decision, a Nestlé spokesperson strongly refuted the case, and believed that the right verdict had been reached.

He said: “Child labor is unacceptable. That is why we are working so hard to prevent it. Today, all nine Supreme Court Justices unanimously agreed there is no basis for this lawsuit to proceed against Nestlé. Nestlé never engaged in the egregious child labor alleged in this suit, and we remain unwavering in our dedication to ending child labor in the cocoa industry and to our ongoing work with partners in government, NGOs and industry to tackle this complex, global issue.

“Access to education, modernising farming methods, and improving livelihoods are crucial to combatting child labor in cocoa production. Addressing the root causes of child labor is part of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan and will continue to be the focus of our efforts in the future.”

Similarly, Cargill was also firm in its belief that the case reached the correct decision, but added that there remained significant work to be done on the issue.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling today affirms Cargill’s analysis of the law and confirms this suit has no basis to proceed. Regardless, Cargill’s work to keep child labor out of the cocoa supply chain is unwavering. We do not tolerate the use of child labor in our operations or supply chains and we are working every day to prevent it. We will continue to focus on the root causes, including poverty and lack of education access. Our mission is to drive long-lasting change in cocoa communities and to lift up the families that rely on cocoa for their income. This is part of Cargill’s Cocoa Promise, which guides all of our work and reinforces our commitment to a sustainable cocoa sector into the future.

 

Developing countries pay steep economic & health costs because of high car air pollution

Some of the world's most vulnerable cities suffer disproportionate economic losses because of the health consequences of in-car air pollution, finds a new study.

UNIVERSITY OF SURREY

Research News

 

In an international study published by the journal Environment International, the University of Surrey led an international team of air pollution experts in monitoring pollution hotspots in 10 global cities: Dhaka (Bangladesh); São Paulo (Brazil); Guangzhou (China); Medellín (Colombia); Cairo (Egypt); Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); Chennai (India); Sulaymaniyah (Iraq); Blantyre (Malawi); and Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania).

Surrey's Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) set out to investigate whether the amount of fine air pollution particles (PM2.5) drivers inhaled is connected to the duration drivers spend in pollution hotspots and socio-economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP).

Across all the cities in the study, researchers found that drivers only needed to spend a short amount of time in high-pollution hotspots to inhale a significant amount of PM2.5 particles. For example, drivers in Guangzhou and Addis Ababa spent 26 and 28 per cent of their commute in hotspot areas, which contributed to 54 and 56 per cent of the total amount of air pollution inhaled on their trip.

The researchers found that the cities where drivers were exposed to the highest levels of PM2.5 pollution - Dar-es-Salaam, Blantyre and Dhaka - also experienced higher death rates per 100,000 commuting car population per year. The low PM2.5 levels in Medellín, São Paulo and Sulaymaniyah corresponded with very low death rates.

The international study assessed economic losses by measuring a city's death rate caused by PM2.5 car exposure against its GDP per capita. It found that, for most cities, lower GDP linked directly to more significant economic losses caused by in-car PM2.5 exposure - with Cairo and Dar-es-Salaam being impacted the most (losses of 8.9 and 10.2 million US dollars per year, respectively).

The team also found that, except for Guangzhou, cities with higher GDP per capita have less hotspot areas during an average route trip, thus decreasing the risk to drivers.

Professor Prashant Kumar, Principal Investigator of CArE-Cities Project, Associate Dean (International) and Founding Director of GCARE at the University of Surrey, said: "Our global collaborative project has confirmed that air pollution disproportionately affects developing countries. Many countries are caught in a vicious cycle where their low GDP leads to higher pollution exposure rate for drivers, which leads to poorer health outcomes, which further damages the economy of those cities. This is discouraging news - but it should galvanise the international community to find and deploy measures that mitigate the health risks faced by the world's most vulnerable drivers."

Professor Shi-Jie Cao, a collaborative partner from the Southeast University, said: "If we are ever to make a world where clean air is available to all, it will take a truly global collaborative effort - such as CArE-Cities. We hope to continue to work closely with Surrey and other global partners, sharing knowledge and expertise that will make a cleaner future a reality."

Professor Adamson Muula, a collaborative partner from formerly University of Malawi and now Head of Public Health at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), said: "If developing countries are to not be left behind in the struggle against air pollution and climate change, it is important that we build the capacity and knowledge to gather on-the-ground data. This project is a small but a significant step in the right direction for Malawians; a direction which will lead to better decisions and cleaner air for Malawi."

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Note to editors

The study was part of the Clean Air Engineering for Cities (CArE-Cities) project and builds upon our previous work around car exposure. CArE-Cities is a seed funding project awarded by the University of Surrey under the Research England's Global Challenge Research Funds. CArE-Cities involves 11 Development Assistance Committee (DAC) listed countries and aspires to bring cleaner air to cities by building a knowledge exchange platform. Its activities include joint workshops, researchers exchange and pilot studies to address urban development and health impact assessment agendas in ODA countries.

Reference

Kumar, P., Hama, S., Abbass, R. A., Nogueira, T., Brand, V. S., Abhijith, K. V., de Fatima Andrade, M., Asfaw, A., Aziz, K. H., Cao, S. J., El-Gendy, A., Khare, M., Muula, A. S., Nagendra, S. M. S., Ngowi, A. V., Omer, K., Olaya, Y., Salam, A., 2021. Potential health risks due to in-car aerosol exposure across ten global cities. Environment International 155, 106688. Online link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106688

 

Can biodegradable polymers live up to the hype?

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

 

As consumers and corporations alike become more environmentally conscious, the chemical industry is working to find solutions to the plastic waste crisis. One idea is to use biodegradable polymers known as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) as replacements for traditional plastic packaging and other materials. A feature article in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, explores the possibilities and pitfalls of PHA.

PHA is not a new human invention; this class of polymers can be found in nature and is used to store cellular energy, writes Senior Editor Alex Tullo. Commercially, it is manufactured through the industrial fermentation of sugars or lipids. As cities around the world ban single-use plastic products, such as straws and bags, companies are working to commercialize PHA as a viable alternative. The main selling point is rapid biodegradability in a variety of environments. Demand has increased for PHA in recent years, with several companies opening or planning commercial plants in the U.S. and beyond. In addition, major food and beverage brands are planning to switch their packaging to PHA-based materials soon.

Despite its much-touted promise, there's reason to believe PHA might be too good to be true. Several companies have tried and failed to bring it to market in recent years, and PHA is much more expensive than its traditional plastic counterparts. Beyond that, some experts have published findings saying the biodegradability of PHA is overstated, and that the rapid degradation time is based on optimized laboratory conditions rather than real-world ones. However, PHA's boosters say that it's still a better alternative to non-biodegradable plastics, and that the industry may be on the cusp of a breakthrough.

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The article, "Will the biodegradable plastic PHA finally deliver?," is freely available here.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS' mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world's scientific knowledge. ACS' main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

 

Sex differences in COVID-19 outcomes

MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC./GENETIC ENGINEERING NEWS

Research News

 

IMAGE: DEDICATED TO THE DISEASES AND CONDITIONS THAT HOLD GREATER RISK FOR OR ARE MORE PREVALENT AMONG WOMEN, AS WELL AS DISEASES THAT PRESENT DIFFERENTLY IN WOMEN. view more 

CREDIT: MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC., PUBLISHERS

In a study of more than 10,600 adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19, women had significantly lower odds than men of in-hospital mortality. They also had fewer admissions to the intensive care unit and less need for mechanical ventilation. Women also had significantly lower odds of major adverse events, including acute cardiac injury, acute kidney injury, and venous thromboembolism, according to an article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Women's Health. Click here to read the article now.

"This comprehensive analysis is the largest study to date that directly assesses the impact of sex on COVID-19 outcomes," stated Rachel-Maria Brown, MD, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, and coauthors. "Our study strongly demonstrates female sex to be associated with lower odds of in-hospital outcomes, major adverse effects and all-cause mortality as compared to male sex after controlling for confounding variables." The authors propose some of the protective factors that may contribute to these findings.

In the accompanying editorial entitled "Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Sex Disparities," Annabelle Santos Volgman, MD, Rush University Medical Center, and coauthors, suggest various mechanisms by which female sex may confer a protective advantage against COVID-19 infection. One advantage may be the extra X chromosome, which carries multiple genes responsible for innate and adaptive immunity.

Volgman and coauthors emphasize that "although women have less mortality risk with COVID-19, we need to exercise caution not to send a message to deliver subpar care to women with COVID-19 or decrease measures to prevent their infection. Our evolving knowledge should not reduce attention paid to women admitted for COVID-19."

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Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R24AG064191, R01LM012836, R01 NR018443. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About the Journal

Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Society for Women's Health Research.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research. 

 

Commercial video games could help treat mental illness

Playing video games may provide low-cost, easy access, effective and stigma-free support

LERO

Research News

 

Ireland, June 17 2021: Popular video games have the potential to provide low-cost, easy access, effective and stigma-free support for some mental health issues, researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, have found.

The team at Lero, a world leader in connected-health research, said video games could be used where conventional therapies are not available because of cost or location, or as an addition to traditional therapeutic treatments for depression or anxiety.

Lero researcher Dr Mark Campbell said there is mounting scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of commercial video games to improve mental health outcomes after the team reviewed existing academic research on the impact of video games on mental health issues, particularly depression and anxiety.

"It is worth considering commercial video games as a potential alternative option for the improvement of various aspects of mental health globally," he added.

Dr Campbell led a team attached to University of Limerick's Health Research Institute and Physical Education & Sport Sciences department to publish their latest research paper Gaming your mental health: A narrative review on mitigating depression and anxiety symptoms via commercial video games in academic journal JMIR Serious Games.

Dr Campbell said commercial video games are freely available or available for a one-time relative low cost and there are an estimated 2.7 billion video gamers worldwide.

"The overall accessibility and pervasiveness of commercial video games within modern society positions them as an invaluable means of reaching individuals with mental health disorders, irrespective of age and sex, and with limited access to mental health care, particularly relevant during the current COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

Lead author on the paper Magdalena Kowal of Lero and UL said their research was in the context of the financial and healthcare service burden of mental illness, affecting more than 14% of the world's population, with a significant proportion of people with mental health problems not receiving treatment.

"There is a heightened demand for accessible and cost-effective methods that prevent and facilitate coping with mental health illness. This demand has become exacerbated following the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent increase in mental health disorders, depression and anxiety in particular," she said.

Magdalena Kowal said commercially available Virtual Reality (VR) video games have great potential in treating mental health issues also.

"These are well-suited for the implementation of cognitive behavioural techniques for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders in the future. Given the immersive nature of VR technology and the controllability of the virtual environment, it could be particularly well-suited for use in exposure therapy," she added.

Pandemic adolescent mental health study reveals turnaround finding

LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

Young people with poor mental health took a turn for the better during the pandemic but those with good mental health saw a considerable decline, new research reveals.

The first nationally representative evidence regarding the diverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health in the UK was led by researchers at Lancaster University working with the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Adolescents (aged 10 to 16) with better than average mental health before the pandemic experienced an increase in their emotional and conduct problems, hyperactivity, and problems interacting with their peers and friends, but a decrease in their prosocial tendencies such as being caring and willing to share and help others during the pandemic.

In contrast, adolescents with lower than average mental health pre-pandemic experienced opposite changes, possibly, says the research, because more time at home under parental supervision prevented behaviour such as fighting or bullying.

Published today in the 'Journal of Adolescent Health', the official journal of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, the study also flags considerable disparities in the impact across social, demographic, and economic groups.

Young people from vulnerable one-parent, one-child, and less well-off families experienced a much greater mental health decline during COVID than before.

And those living in one-parent households experienced a sharper decline in social wellbeing which was reflected in a greater increase in problems interacting with peers and friends as well as feeling lonely.

The presence of other children in the household helped protect the teenagers from the pandemic's adverse impact on their emotional and social wellbeing.

The pandemic's impact on adolescent mental health also varied with parents' socioeconomic positions. Young people with high-earning parents experienced a bigger reduction in conduct problems and a smaller increase in hyperactivity and problems interacting with their peers and friends, compared with those in low-income families.

The research also found, while adolescents are unlikely to contract COVID-19 or become severely ill as a result of catching the coronavirus, family members' COVID-19 symptoms and illness took their toll on adolescents' social wellbeing.

The study suggests the linked self-isolation, social distancing and stigmas might make them susceptible to being bullied and socially marginalised.

The findings, says the study, underline the need to go beyond a one-size-fits-all approach and adopt tailored mental health support for adolescents and targeted measures to mitigate inequalities in the mental health impact of the pandemic.

The research 'COVID-19 and Adolescent Mental Health in the UK' was carried out by Sociologists Dr Yang Hu, of Lancaster University, and Dr Yue Qian at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

They analysed data from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded Understanding Society COVID-19 Survey--a sample comprising 886 adolescents aged 10 to 16, who were surveyed both before and during the pandemic.

The research fills a gap in research examining adolescents' mental health compared with growing research on the impact of adults' mental health.

"Adolescents are at a critical stage of their lives and the detrimental impact of the pandemic on their mental health can undermine their immediate wellbeing and harm their long-term development," said Dr Hu.

"It is clear from our findings that efforts should be made to mitigate the mental health impact of the pandemic on children and adolescents - an issue that has not yet been featured in key public health and policy conversations."

Dr Qian said: "Our findings urge policymakers to mitigate disparities in the pandemic's impact on adolescent mental health, interrogate how these disparities are rooted in pre-pandemic socioeconomic inequalities, and intervene in future inequalities that may arise."

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AI system-on-chip runs on solar power

SWISS CENTER FOR ELECTRONICS AND MICROTECHNOLOGY - CSEM

 VIDEO: CSEM ENGINEERS HAVE DEVELOPED AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT THAT CAN CARRY OUT COMPLICATED ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS LIKE FACE, VOICE AND GESTURE RECOGNITION AND CARDIAC MONITORING. POWERED BY EITHER A TINY BATTERY OR... view more 

CREDIT: CSEM

AI is used in an array of extremely useful applications, such as predicting a machine's lifetime through its vibrations, monitoring the cardiac activity of patients and incorporating facial recognition capabilities into video surveillance systems. The downside is that AI-based technology generally requires a lot of power and, in most cases, must be permanently connected to the cloud, raising issues related to data protection, IT security and energy use.

CSEM engineers may have found a way to get around those issues, thanks to a new system-on-chip they have developed. It runs on a tiny battery or a small solar cell and executes AI operations at the edge - i.e., locally on the chip rather than in the cloud. What's more, their system is fully modular and can be tailored to any application where real-time signal and image processing is required, especially when sensitive data are involved. The engineers will present their device at the prestigious 2021 VLSI Circuits Symposium in Kyoto this June.

The CSEM system-on-chip works through an entirely new signal processing architecture that minimizes the amount of power needed. It consists of an ASIC chip with a RISC-V processor (also developed at CSEM) and two tightly coupled machine-learning accelerators: one for face detection, for example, and one for classification. The first is a binary decision tree (BDT) engine that can perform simple tasks but cannot carry out recognition operations.

"When our system is used in facial recognition applications, for example, the first accelerator will answer preliminary questions like: Are there people in the images? And if so, are their faces visible?" says Stéphane Emery, head of system-on-chip research at CSEM. "If our system is used in voice recognition, the first accelerator will determine whether noise is present and if that noise corresponds to human voices. But it can't make out specific voices or words - that's where the second accelerator comes in."

CAPTION

the system runs on a tiny battery or a small solar cell and executes AI operations at the edge - i.e., locally on the chip rather than in the cloud.

CREDIT

CSEM

The second accelerator is a convolutional neural network (CNN) engine that can perform these more complicated tasks - recognizing individual faces and detecting specific words - but it also consumes more energy. This two-tiered data processing approach drastically reduces the system's power requirement, since most of the time only the first accelerator is running.

As part of their research, the engineers enhanced the performance of the accelerators themselves, making them adaptable to any application where time-based signal and image processing is needed. "Our system works in basically the same way regardless of the application," says Emery. "We just have to reconfigure the various layers of our CNN engine."

The CSEM innovation opens the door to an entirely new generation of devices with processors that can run independently for over a year. It also sharply reduces the installation and maintenance costs for such devices, and enables them to be used in places where it would be hard to change the battery.

CAPTION

the integrated circuit can carry out complicated artificial-intelligence operations like face, voice and gesture recognition and cardiac monitoring.

CREDIT

CSEM