Cosmic hand hitting a wall

HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS

Research News

 

IMAGE: ASTRONOMERS ESTIMATE THAT LIGHT FROM THE SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION REACHED EARTH ABOUT 1,700 YEARS AGO, OR WHEN THE MAYAN EMPIRE WAS FLOURISHING AND THE JIN DYNASTY RULED CHINA. HOWEVER, BY COSMIC... view more 

CREDIT: NASA/SAO/NCSU/BORKOWSKI ET AL.

Motions of a remarkable cosmic structure have been measured for the first time, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The blast wave and debris from an exploded star are seen moving away from the explosion site and colliding with a wall of surrounding gas.

Astronomers estimate that light from the supernova explosion reached Earth about 1,700 years ago, or when the Mayan empire was flourishing and the Jin dynasty ruled China. However, by cosmic standards the supernova remnant formed by the explosion, called MSH 15-52, is one of the youngest in the Milky Way galaxy. The explosion also created an ultra-dense, magnetized star called a pulsar, which then blew a bubble of energetic particles, an X-ray-emitting nebula.

Since the explosion the supernova remnant - made of debris from the shattered star, plus the explosion's blast wave - and the X-ray nebula have been changing as they expand outward into space. Notably, the supernova remnant and X-ray nebula now resemble the shape of fingers and a palm.

Previously, astronomers had released a full Chandra view of the "hand," as shown in the main graphic. A new study is now reporting how quickly the supernova remnant associated with the hand is moving, as it strikes a cloud of gas called RCW 89. The inner edge of this cloud forms a gas wall located about 35 light-years from the center of the explosion.

To track the motion the team used Chandra data from 2004, 2008, and then a combined image from observations taken in late 2017 and early 2018. These three epochs are shown in the inset of the main graphic.

The rectangle (fixed in space) highlights the motion of the explosion's blast wave, which is located near one of the fingertips. This feature is moving at almost 9 million miles per hour. The fixed squares enclose clumps of magnesium and neon that likely formed in the star before it exploded and shot into space once the star blew up. Some of this explosion debris is moving at even faster speeds of more than 11 million miles per hour. A color version of the 2018 image shows the fingers in blue and green and the clumps of magnesium and neon in red and yellow.

While these are startling high speeds, they actually represent a slowing down of the remnant. Researchers estimate that to reach the farthest edge of RCW 89, material would have to travel on average at almost 30 million miles per hour. This estimate is based on the age of the supernova remnant and the distance between the center of the explosion and RCW 89. This difference in speed implies that the material has passed through a low-density cavity of gas and then been significantly decelerated by running into RCW 89.

The exploded star likely lost part or all of its outer layer of hydrogen gas in a wind, forming such a cavity, before exploding, as did the star that exploded to form the well-known supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), which is much younger at an age of about 350 years. About 30% of massive stars that collapse to form supernovas are of this type. The clumps of debris seen in the 1,700-year-old supernova remnant could be older versions of those seen in Cas A at optical wavelengths in terms of their initial speeds and densities. This means that these two objects may have the same underlying source for their explosions, which is likely related to how stars with stripped hydrogen layers explode. However, astronomers do not understand the details of this yet and will continue to study this possibility.

A paper describing these results appeared in the June 1, 2020, issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters, and a preprint is available online. The authors of the study are Kazimierz Borkowski, Stephen Reynolds, and William Miltich, all of North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

###

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

Recycling next-generation solar panels fosters green planet

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Research News

ITHACA, N.Y. - Tossing worn-out solar panels into landfills may soon become electronics waste history.

Designing a recycling strategy for a new, forthcoming generation of photovoltaic solar cells - made from metal halide perovskites, a family of crystalline materials with structures like the natural mineral calcium titanate - will add a stronger dose of environmental friendliness to a green industry, according to Cornell University-led research published June 24 in Nature Sustainability.

The paper shows substantial benefits to recycling perovskite solar panels, though they are still in the commercial development stage, said Fengqi You, the Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Energy Systems Engineering in the College of Engineering.

"When perovskite solar panels reach the end of their useful life, how do we deal with this kind of electronic waste?" said You, also a faculty fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. "It is a new class of materials. By properly recycling it, we could potentially reduce its already low carbon footprint.

"As scientists design solar cells, they look at performance," You said. "They seek to know energy conversion efficiency and stability, and often neglect designing for recycling."

Last year, You and his laboratory found that photovoltaic wafers in solar panels containing all-perovskite structures outperform photovoltaic cells made from state-of-the-art crystalline silicon, and the perovskite-silicon tandem - with cells stacked like pancakes to better absorb light - perform exceptionally well.

Perovskite photovoltaic wafers offer a faster return on the initial energy investment than silicon-based solar panels because all-perovskite solar cells consume less energy in the manufacturing process.

Recycling them enhances their sustainability, as the recycled perovskite solar cells could bring 72.6% lower primary energy consumption and a 71.2% reduction in carbon footprint, according to the paper, "Life Cycle Assessment of Recycling Strategies for Perovskite Photovoltaic Modules," co-authored by Xueyu Tian, a doctoral student at Cornell Systems Engineering, and Samuel D. Stranks of the University of Cambridge.

"Lowering the energy needed to produce the cells indicates a significant reduction of energy payback and greenhouse gas emissions," said Tian.

The best recycled perovskite cell architecture could see an energy payback time of about one month, with a carbon footprint as low as 13.4 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent output per kilowatt hour of electricity produced. Without recycling, the energy payback time and carbon footprint of new perovskite solar cells show a range of 70 days to 13 months, and 27.5 to 158.0 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent throughout their life cycles.

Today's market-leading silicon photovoltaic cells can expect an energy payback period of 1.3 to 2.4 years, with an initial carbon footprint between 22.1 and 38.1 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per kilowatt hour output.

"Recycling makes perovskites outcompete all other rivals," Tian said.

Informed state and federal policies, along with recycling infrastructure development strategies, can further mitigate the environmental impacts in making photovoltaic solar cells.

Said You: "The real value of an effective green perovskite solar panel industry may rely on a recycling program."

###

The National Science Foundation supported this research.

 

Artificial intelligence breakthrough gives longer advance warning of ozone issues

University of Houston research team finds 'holy grail' of air quality forecasting

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

Research News

 

IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON PROFESSOR YUNSOO CHOI AND DOCTORAL STUDENT ALQAMAH SAYEED STUDY ATMOSPHERIC DATA. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

Ozone levels in the earth's troposphere (the lowest level of our atmosphere) can now be forecasted with accuracy up to two weeks in advance, a remarkable improvement over current systems that can accurately predict ozone levels only three days ahead. The new artificial intelligence system developed in the University of Houston's Air Quality Forecasting and Modeling Lab could lead to improved ways to control high ozone problems and even contribute to solutions for climate change issues.

"This was very challenging. Nobody had done this previously. I believe we are the first to try to forecast surface ozone levels two weeks in advance," said Yunsoo Choi, professor of atmospheric chemistry and AI deep learning at UH's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The findings are published online in the scientific journal, Scientific Reports-Nature.

Ozone, a colorless gas, is helpful in the right place and amount. As a part of the earth's stratosphere ("the ozone layer"), it protects by filtering out UV radiation from the sun. But when there are high concentrations of ozone near earth's surface, it is toxic to lungs and hearts.

"Ozone is a secondary pollutant, and it can affect humans in a bad way," explained doctoral student Alqamah Sayeed, a researcher in Choi's lab and the first author of the research paper. Exposure can lead to throat irritation, trouble breathing, asthma, even respiratory damage. Some people are especially susceptible, including the very young, the elderly and the chronically ill.

Ozone levels have become a frequent part of daily weather reports. But unlike weather forecasts, which can be reasonably accurate up to 14 days ahead, ozone levels have been predicted only two or three days in advance - until this breakthrough.

The vast improvement in forecasting is only one part of the story of this new research. The other is how the team made it happen. Conventional forecasting uses a numerical model, which means the research is based on equations for the movement of gasses and fluids in the atmosphere.

The limitations were obvious to Choi and his team. The numerical process is slow, making results expensive to obtain, and accuracy is limited. "Accuracy with the numerical model starts to drop after the first three days," Choi said.

The research team used a unique loss function in developing the machine learning algorithm. A loss function helps in optimization of the AI model by mapping decision to their associated costs. In this project, researchers used index of agreement, known as IOA, as the loss function for the AI model over conventional loss functions. IOA is a mathematical comparison of gaps between what is expected and how things actually turn out.

In other words, team members added historical ozone data to the trials as they gradually refined the program's reactions. The combination of the numerical model and the IOA as the loss function eventually enabled the AI algorithm to accurately predict outcomes of real-life ozone conditions by recognizing what happened before in similar situations. It is much like how human memory is built.

"Think about a young boy who sees a cup of hot tea on a table and tries to touch it out of curiosity. The moment the child touches the cup, he realizes it is hot and shouldn't be touched directly. Through that experience, the child has trained his mind," Sayeed said. "In a very basic sense, it is the same with AI. You provide input, the computer gives you output. Over many repetitions and corrections, the process is refined over time, and the AI program comes to 'know' how to react to conditions that have been presented before. On a basic level, artificial intelligence develops in the same way that the child learned not to be in such a hurry to grab the next cup of hot tea."

In the lab, the team used four to five years of ozone data in what Sayeed described as "an evolving process" of teaching the AI system to recognize ozone conditions and estimate the forecasts, getting better over time.

"Applying deep learning to air quality and weather forecasting is like searching for the holy grail, just like in the movies," said Choi, who is a big fan of action plots. "In the lab, we went through some difficult times for a few years. There is a process. Finally, we've grasped the holy grail. This system works. The AI model 'understands' how to forecast. Despite the years of work, it somehow still feels like a surprise to me, even today."

Before success in the laboratory can lead to real-world service, many commercial steps are ahead in before the world can benefit from the discovery.

"If you know the future - air quality in this case - you can do a lot of things for the community. This can be very critical for this planet. Who knows? Perhaps we can figure out how to resolve the climate change issue. The future may go beyond weather forecasting and ozone forecasting. This could help make the planet secure," said Choi.

Sounds like a happy ending for any good action story.

###

 

Making citizen science inclusive will require more than rebranding

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

Scientists need to focus on tangible efforts to boost equity, diversity and inclusion in citizen science, researchers from North Carolina State University argued in a new perspective.

Published in the journal Science, the perspective is a response to a debate about rebranding "citizen science," the movement to use crowdsourced data collection, analysis or design in research. Researchers said that while the motivation for rebranding is in response to a real concern, there will be a cost to it, and efforts to make projects more inclusive should go deeper than that. Their recommendations speak to a broader discussion about how to ensure science is responsive to the needs of a diverse audience.

"At its heart, citizen science is a system of knowledge production that doesn't block entry based on credentials," said first author Caren Cooper, associate professor of forestry and environmental resources at NC State. "Those of us in citizen science have been saying 'science is for everyone, you don't need a degree or special training.' But, the sad irony is that it hasn't been for everyone. The overwhelming majority of participants resemble their academic counterparts, who are often white, affluent and have advanced degrees. We want to take the good intentions that are driving rebranding, and commit to long-term, sustained efforts to reimagine an inclusive citizen science."

The term "citizen science" was coined in the 1990s, researchers said, to describe science led by institutions that use volunteers to collect data. It has evolved to encompass many types of projects with public involvement in design, leadership or data collection and analysis. As a "citizen science campus," there are projects underway at NC State in which undergraduates, faculty, staff and the general public can help collect data. Examples include projects that rely on volunteers to help figure out the microbial content of sourdough bread or detect the presence of lead pipes in homes around the state.

In an effort to resolve concerns that the term is exclusionary to people who do not have citizenship status in a given nation, some organizations have moved toward using the term "community science," among other names. But researchers said community science is a distinct and existing research movement led and designed by communities, rather than institutions, to address environmental or social justice problems.

"It's a huge dis to community science to flippantly change the name like it isn't already being utilized, and could be considered disrespectful to people who are doing this work and have been for many years," said co-author Zakiya Leggett, assistant professor of forestry and environmental resources. "If you have a citizen science project, but you advertise it as 'community science,' it does a disservice to both practices."

In addition, there is a cost to losing the term "citizen science," they said, since the term has gained momentum globally. In the United States, the term is used in a federal law authorizing the government to include volunteers in scientific research irrespective of their credentials and citizenship status.

"There is a lot of work that has gone toward incorporating 'citizen science' as a part of policy, as well as being accepted into mainstream science," said co-author Madhusudan Katti, associate professor of forestry and environmental resources at NC State. "The name has been caught up in politicization of citizenship and nationalist politics, and rebranding is a little bit reactive. The concern is genuine, but the fix is not deep enough. Renaming something doesn't make it different from what it's been all along."

The researchers argued for strategic planning to advance accessibility, justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in citizen science.

"One approach that could work for citizen science is 'centering in the margins.' That can include centering research agendas based on the areas that are underserved by science," Cooper said.

Other tactics could involve ensuring there are diverse perspectives in project leadership, or overcoming economic barriers to participation. They also said there is a need for funding to support science that addresses interests, concerns and needs of people who have historically or are currently underserved by science.

They said rebranding, if needed, should only happen if it is called for as part of a broader strategic plan. They also said rebranding efforts should refrain from co-opting existing terminology, avoid exporting issues in the United States to the rest of the world, and identify terminology to help further clarify distinctions for different types of projects.

"We wanted the fact that diversity and inclusion in citizen science remains elusive to serve as a canary in the coal mine to the rest of the scientific community - it takes far more than words and good intentions to be inclusive," Cooper said. "We can learn from community science without co-opting it. We need to figure this out without expecting quick-fix solutions, because those can do more harm than good."

###

The perspective, "Inclusion in citizen science: The conundrum of rebranding," was published online in Science. In addition to Cooper, Katti and Leggett, other authors included Chris L. Hawn, Lincoln R. Larson, Julia K. Parrish, Gillian Bowser, Darlene Cavalier, Robert R. Dunn, Mordechai (Muki) Haklay, Kaberia Kar Gupta, Na'Taki Osborne Jelks, Valerie A. Johnson, Omega R. Wilson and Sacoby Wilson. Researchers reported funding from the National Science Foundation, through grant No. 1713562, to Cooper and Larson.

Research shows Alaska infrastructure at risk of earlier failure

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS

Research News

 

IMAGE: THIS ILLUSTRATION FROM THE ARTICLE SHOWS THE LOCATION OF TEMPERATURE SENSORS AT THE DALTON HIGHWAY RESEARCH SITE. view more 

CREDIT: DRONE PHOTO BY SORAYA KAISER; ILLUSTRATION DISTRIBUTED UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS 4.0 INTERNATIONAL

Roads, bridges, pipelines and other types of infrastructure in Alaska and elsewhere in the Arctic will deteriorate faster than expected due to a failure by planners to account for the structures' impact on adjacent permafrost, according to research by a University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute permafrost expert and others.

The researchers say planners must account for the sideward repercussions of their projects in addition to the usual projection of the direct top-down effects.

The finding was presented in a May 31 paper in The Cryosphere, a publication of the European Geosciences Union.

UAF Geophysical Institute geophysics professor Vladimir Romanovsky is among the 13 authors of the paper. Principal researcher for the project is Thomas Schneider von Deimling of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany.

The research focused on a portion of the Dalton Highway on Alaska's North Slope about 10 miles south of the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. Sensors monitored the temperature at seven locations, three to the west of the highway and four on the east.

The researchers found that top-down thawing isn't confined to the area beneath the road surface. They found instead that thawing spreads outward, leading to destabilization of the embankment and subgrade and that it is caused by the formation of taliks -- areas of ground that have thawed and remains unfrozen year-round -- under a roadway's toe, the prepared zone at the base of the embankment and abutting the natural terrain.

The result, the authors write, is an accelerating thaw rate and earlier than anticipated road failure -- and a warning that other types of Arctic infrastructure such as pipelines, fuel storage tanks and airports will fail sooner than projected.

The fieldwork and subsequent computer modeling of a gravel road built on continuous permafrost found that a slow and gradual thaw will lead to an accelerated "and likely irreversible permafrost degradation" and that "road failure is inevitable once a critical level of ground warming has been reached" absent extensive ground-cooling measures, the authors write.

The authors write that their findings show a shortcoming in other infrastructure risk assessment methods, which fail to adequately capture changes in permafrost and don't analyze the interaction between the infrastructure and the adjacent ground.

Those shortcomings make current estimates of infrastructure failure dates inaccurate.

"You cannot make blank decisions when you're dealing with permafrost," said Romanovsky, a longtime permafrost researcher. "You always have to be more specific about the region, about the amount of ice in permafrost and about the infrastructure itself. And when you take all of this into consideration -- and climate change -- you can make a much more educated decision."

The research will prove more beneficial in the planning of new roads than in the maintenance of existing roads, for which little can be done to change their initial construction. The research will, however, give transportation managers a better idea of when existing roads are likely to fail, Romanovsky said.

"The Department of Transportation can, using these results, understand how much they have to plan to spend to keep roads in good condition," he said. "They have a good idea in the near term, but they don't know what to expect, say, 10 years from now when the permafrost will be even more vulnerable than it is right now and how this thawing process will continue."

The authors conclude by saying it is "crucial to consider climate change effects when planning and constructing infrastructure on permafrost as a transition from a stable to a highly unstable state can well occur within the infrastructure's service lifetime (about 30 years)."

They add that their focus on the Dalton Highway illustrates that "such a transition can even occur in the coming decade for infrastructure built on continuous permafrost that displays cold and relatively stable conditions today."

###

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Vladimir Romanovsky, University of Alaska Geophysical Institute, veromanovsky@alaska.edu.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Images from the research paper are available with this press release online at http://www.gi.alaska.edu. The research paper is available at https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2451/2021/#abstract

CAPTION

This diagram models half a road in cross-section from the road center to the adjacent tundra. The graphic illustrates the subdivision into four structural units (road center, shoulder, toe and tundra). The grayish area with black dots represents the road embankment. The light blue shading indicates potential maximum snow height. The dark blue area illustrates ponding next to the road.

CREDIT

Image distributed under Creative Commons 4.0 International

 

The quiet of pandemic-era lockdowns allowed some pumas to venture closer to urban areas

Tracking data show how pumas in California's Santa Cruz Mountains responded to regional shelter-in-place orders

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA CRUZ

Research News

 

IMAGE: A TRAIL CAMERA SHOWS A PUMA RESTING IN THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA. MOUNTAIN LIONS IN THIS REGION NORMALLY AVOID URBAN AREAS OUT OF FEAR OF HUMANS. view more 

CREDIT: SANTA CRUZ PUMA PROJECT

New research from the University of California, Santa Cruz shows how regional shelter-in-place orders during the coronavirus pandemic emboldened local pumas to use habitats they would normally avoid out of fear of humans. This study, published in the journal Current Biology, is part of a growing wave of research working to formally document the types of unusual changes to wildlife movements and behaviors that people around the world reported during pandemic lockdowns.

Golden jackals, for example, were spotted foraging in broad daylight in urban Tel Aviv, Israel, and mountain lions were seen strolling through downtown Santiago, Chile. Urban environments had suddenly become quiet and empty as shelter-in-place orders brought human movement to a grinding halt--an effect some researchers have called the "anthropause." Wildlife seemed to be taking advantage. The new study shows this was certainly true for pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Researchers were able to clearly connect changes in the cats' habitat use with reduced human mobility during shelter-in-place orders.

Chris Wilmers, an environmental studies professor at UC Santa Cruz, led this research. Wilmers is the principal investigator for the Santa Cruz Puma Project, and he has been studying local mountain lion populations for over a decade. In particular, his research uses data from GPS tracking collars placed on wild pumas to show how fear of humans affects mountain lion behavior and ecology. When the pandemic hit, his team was already tracking data from several collared cats, and he recognized a unique research opportunity.

"When the shelter-in-place orders started, it was immediately clear that things were very different," Wilmers said. "You'd go outside and there were very few cars. Entire neighborhoods were completely quiet. So we wondered how this might affect the mountain lion population. Would they respond this quickly to reduced human presence?"

To answer that question, the team analyzed about two years worth of mountain lion tracking data for a set of six collared cats to see where the pumas roamed and what types of habitats they used. Researchers compared these tracks with the distribution of housing density and the geographic boundaries of the "urban edge," which indicates where vehicle and pedestrian traffic is heightened. During regional shelter-in-place orders, they found that cats were significantly more likely to move into or closer to the urban edge. And these changes happened rapidly: within days or weeks of the beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns.

In an effort to hone in on the cause of this change, the team ruled out any influence of natural factors--like topography, vegetation cover, or distance to the nearest water source--that might affect the cats' choice of habitats. They also compared year-over-year tracking data to show that seasonal variability wasn't affecting the results. Pumas do have a strong preference for habitats with lower housing density, but this factor did not change significantly during the study period. The key difference that appeared to be driving the trend of mountain lions moving into urban areas was reduced human mobility during the pandemic.

After regional shelter-in-place orders went into effect on March 17, 2020, local human mobility declined more than 50 percent, according to Apple mobility data, which show the number of navigation requests for driving and walking trips received through Apple Maps. During this time period, when people confined themselves in their homes, the data showed a strong relationship between declining levels of human mobility and pumas' increased willingness to venture closer to or into urban areas.

"We found that they totally relaxed their fear of the urban edge," Wilmers said. "It's not that they weren't scared of cities; they were still scared, but only of high housing density, not the extra impact of human mobility. If you take all the car trips and pedestrian trips and human mobility out of it, then, all of a sudden, mountain lions don't fear the city as much."

Wilmers says this finding helps to build understanding of the unique impacts of human mobility on wildlife. Conservation efforts often focus on the ways that humans are destroying habitats--through development and pollution, for example--but the mere presence of people moving across a landscape also takes a toll on animals that fear humans. And this too is a conservation challenge.

"It's important because our mobility just keeps increasing," Wilmers explained. "In the early part of the 20th century, we got cars, and that really increased our mobility. Now we have things like ride-sharing apps, mountain bikes, and electric bikes, and these are all ways that we're becoming more and more mobile across more types of landscapes. It's an important thing to think about as we try to conserve and manage ecosystems."

Another key point this research illustrates is that fear, or the removal of a source of fear, can bring about rapid changes in animal behavior that ripple out through ecosystems. Ecologists call this concept the "landscape of fear." And the pandemic showed just how integrated into this landscape humans really are. People are usually the ones exerting the influence of fear upon other animals, but there are some things that even we fear.

"Humans have always been the top dog in landscapes of fear, but this study shows that those influences of humans can be reversed relatively quickly by a pathogen, particularly a pandemic-causing pathogen," Wilmers said. "It's interesting from a theoretical perspective, and it's also important in a practical sense because it shows that, not only are pandemics going to have major health consequences for people, but there are also going to be important ecological impacts."

###

 

Vegetation growth in Northern Hemisphere stunted by water constraints in warming climate

Shift may reduce plants' ability to absorb atmospheric CO2, increasing greenhouse gasses

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE DEGRADED VEGETATION IN THE HORQIN SAND LAND IN INNER MONGOLIA, CHINA view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO COURTESY LIXIN WANG, IUPUI

INDIANAPOLIS -- A first-of-its-kind large-scale study of vegetation growth in the Northern Hemisphere over the past 30 years has found that vegetation is becoming increasingly water-limited as global temperatures increase.

The results are significant since vegetation is one of the biggest factors when it comes to controlling water and carbon cycling across Earth, which influences global temperatures. The work by IUPUI and Indiana University Bloomington researchers Wenzhe Jiao, , Qing Chang and Honglang Wang was published in the journal Nature Communications on June 18.

"Without water, living things struggle to survive, including plants," said Lixin Wang, senior author of the study and an associate professor of earth sciences at the School of Science at IUPUI. His ecohydrology group led the study. "Changes in vegetation response to water availability can result in significant shifts of climate-carbon interaction."

Honglang Wang is an assistant professor of statistics at the School of Science at IUPUI. Wenzhe Jiao, the first author, and Qing Chang are Ph.D. students at IUPUI and IU Bloomington, respectively.

This multidisciplinary research between the School of Science at IUPUI, the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Bloomington and two other universities began three years ago to determine vegetation constraints on a global scale. Until now, it was largely unknown, despite the growing interest in predicting global and regional trends in vegetation growth in response to climate change.

"Global temperature and the concentration of atmospheric CO2, or carbon dioxide, have been increasing," Lixin Wang said. These changes are expected to cause increased atmospheric water demand, more frequent extreme hot days, and drought events. All these factors indicate that vegetation growth may have suffered more and more water stress under a warming climate.

"However, quantifying the changes in vegetation constraints at large spatial and temporal scales is challenging," he said.

To overcome this obstacle, the researchers used satellite remote sensing data and meteorology data covering large spatial scales from 1982 to 2015.

"We developed our own metrics to indicate water constraints and then examined the changes in the metrics," Jiao said. "The study is quite computationally extensive since we examined the relationship between vegetation growth and water deficit at each grid cell over the whole extratropical Northern Hemisphere -- 604,800 data points each year -- over more than 30 years."

The data analysis provided strong evidence of a widespread, significant increase in water vegetation constraint in the Northern Hemisphere over the studied period. Some regions, like the Great Plains in the United States, were comparatively worse than others.

Until recently, elevated carbon in the atmosphere increased plant growth, which has the benefit of removing more carbon from the atmosphere. However, this study reveals a cause for concern.

"Increasing water constraints on vegetation productivity may drive a shift from a period of increasing land carbon sink strength to a period in which climate change is reducing land carbon sink strength," Lixin Wang said.

In other words, the warming climate is increasing water constraints, reversing the earlier trend of stronger vegetation carbon uptake.

"Our research shows that increasing water constraints will likely limit continuous vegetation growth, thus slowing down the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by plants," Jiao said.

"The results emphasize the need for actions that could slow down CO2 emissions," Lixin Wang said. "Without that, water constraints impacting plant growth -- and the weakening of vegetation's ability to removal of CO2 from the atmosphere -- are unlikely to slow."

CAPTION

The saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) of the Sonoran Desert in the Southwest United States

CREDIT

Photo courtesy Lixin Wang, IUPUI

Additional researchers on the study were William K. Smith at the University of Arizona and Paolo D'Odorico at the University of California. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation.

IU Research

IU's world-class researchers have driven innovation and creative initiatives that matter for 200 years. From curing testicular cancer to collaborating with NASA to search for life on Mars, IU has earned its reputation as a world-class research institution. Supported by $854 million last year from federal, foundation, and other external support, IU researchers are building collaborations and uncovering new solutions that improve lives in Indiana and around the globe.

CAPTION

For the entire study period, the vertical axis of the color legend is the trend of correlation coefficient for the 30 five-year moving windows. No color indicates unvegetated regions. Chartreuse stands for vegetation water surplus regions where surplus has been decreasing; navy indicates regions that have been experiencing an increase in water surplus; magenta is for water deficit regions that have been seeing an increase in water deficit; and regions colored yellow are characterized by water deficit and a decrease in water deficit.

CREDIT

Image by Lixin Wang et. al., IUPUI

Burnout is a widespread reality in today's NHS

Current NHS workforce plans are "a smart looking car minus the engine"

BMJ

Research News

 

Burnout is a widespread reality in today's NHS

Current NHS workforce plans are "a smart looking car minus the engine"

An editorial published by The BMJ today raises important concerns about the health and wellbeing of the NHS workforce after a parliamentary report found "burnout is a widespread reality in today's NHS."

Commenting on the report, Suzie Bailey of the King's Fund says: "Excessive workloads need to be dealt with at every level of the health and care system."

She suggests that ineffective workforce planning is partly to blame, citing evidence given to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee by Professor Michael West of The King's Fund, who characterised current NHS workforce plans as "a smart looking car minus the engine."

Bailey points to the 2020 NHS staff survey showing that 44% of staff reported feeling unwell owing to work related stress - the highest level since 2016 - and reported high levels of bullying, harassment, and discrimination experienced by ethnic minority staff.

"Improving staff health and wellbeing is therefore far from being a "nice to have," it is a moral, social, and economic priority," she writes. "The focus must be on tackling the root causes of stress, not on interventions that seek only to manage or mitigate it."

It is encouraging that the committee's recommendations emphasised the importance of compassionate leadership in improving workplace culture, she says, and has called for Health Education England to publish independent annual workforce projections.

But she questions plans to place new workforce responsibilities on integrated care systems (local partnerships designed to help join up health and care services).

Will the health and social care committee's report improve outcomes, she asks?

In part, it will depend on whether multiple leaders across the health and care system can maintain the current momentum behind workforce and workplace transformation, she explains.

She notes that progress is already being made, but says effective workforce planning and purposeful culture change "will require sustained political leadership as well as long term investment at a level commensurate with the urgent need for improvement."

###

Externally peer reviewed? No
Evidence type: Editorial; Opinion
Subject: NHS workforce planning

Rude behavior at work not an epidemic, new study shows

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

Research News

    SHARE

 PRINT  E-MAIL

IMAGE: SHANNON TAYLOR, AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLOIRDA AND CO-AUTHOR OF THE REPORT SAYS WORKPLACE MISTREATMENT IS HARMFUL AND WIDESPREAD, IT HAS OFTEN BEEN CALLED... view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

Rude behavior at work has come to be expected, like donuts in the breakroom. Two decades of research on employee relationships shows that 98 percent of employees experience rude behavior at work, but now a new study suggests a large majority of workplace relationships are not characterized by rudeness. Isolated incidents of rude behavior at work, although somewhat common, do not point to widespread incivility between employees and their colleagues, according to a new UCF study.

"Because prior research suggests workplace mistreatment is harmful and widespread, it is often called an epidemic, but our findings show that rude behavior is less like the flu and more like cholera," says Shannon Taylor, an associate professor of management and co-author of the report. "It is still harmful, but far less common, and outbreaks are often traced to a single source - much like a contaminated water pump."

While the study was conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor says his team's findings are just as applicable to remote work environments. Collaborating remotely presents a variety of challenges that can lead to miscommunication and misinterpretation.

"As employees return to work on-site, our study suggests developing and maintaining good relationships with co-workers is important now more than ever," Taylor says.

The study, co-authored by UCF doctoral student Lauren Locklear, was published this month in the Journal of Applied Psychology. The project takes a closer look at the influence of workplace relationships on disrespectful behavior in the office.

The study examined rude behavior among restaurant, manufacturing, and office workers. Researchers found that while most employees experience rudeness at work, these experiences came from a small number of co-workers. Although 70% of employees experienced rudeness at work, only 16 percent of workplace relationships were characterized by rude behavior.

An employee's individual personality, position and other traits are major factors in determining the level of incivility present in a given workplace. Across all study groups, researchers found that unique relationships between colleagues have just as strong an influence in determining whether workers will be rude to one another.

"Even if one employee is a jerk to everyone and their co-worker is the office punching bag, there is still something about their unique relationship that explains how well they get along together," Taylor says. "Most people do experience rude behavior, but most of their relationships are not characterized by rudeness."

Behavioral expectations and workplace culture also play a key role in influencing employee mistreatment. But an employee's perceptions about how their colleagues should treat each other have a stronger impact on rude behavior than an employee's perceptions about how their colleagues actually treat each other.

"Employees' beliefs about what is 'right and wrong' at work have a big impact on what happens on the job," says Locklear. "Employers should ensure there are strong norms for respect and civility in the workplace. Having a zero-tolerance policy for these rude behaviors is key to stopping mistreatment in its tracks."

Being clear and encouraging positive interactions will be key, the study's authors say.

"Our prior work shows gratitude and appreciation are important aspects to fostering positive employee relationships and decreasing negative workplace behavior," Locklear says. "Expressing these positive behaviors will be essential in determining how smoothly we return to in-person work environments."

CAPTION

An employee's individual personality, position and other traits are major factors in determining the level of incivility present in a given workplace, says UCF doctoral student and co-author Lauren Locklear.

CREDIT

University of Central Florida

Other study authors include: Donald H. Kluemper, an associate professor in University of Illinois at Chicago's Department of Managerial Studies, and Xinxin Lu, a Ph.D. student at University of Illinois at Chicago's Department of Managerial Studies.