'Virtual nature' experiences reduce stress in prisons

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

 

IMAGE: A PROJECTOR SHOWS NATURE IMAGERY ON THE WALL OF A PRISON. view more 

CREDIT: BENJ DRUMMOND

Before you read any more, find a picture of a natural setting or play a sound of a natural habitat. Here’s a YouTube video with both, if you need it. A few minutes should be enough.

You’ve just had a “virtual nature experience.” How do you feel? If you felt less stress, you’re not alone. The experience might even feel like it transports you to a different place.

For people who are in jails or prisons, experiencing nature virtually is usually their only option. A new study from University of Utah researchers finds that exposure to nature imagery or nature sounds decreased physiological signs of stress in the incarcerated, and spurred their interest in learning more about the habitats they experienced. The researchers also found that, in general, people didn’t strongly prefer visual to auditory nature experiences.

The findings from the study, published in Ecopsychology, could be put to use to benefit the physical and mental health of the incarcerated, says Nalini Nadkarni of the School of Biological Sciences.

“Findings from this study provide also help us understand how providing nature or nature imagery might be beneficial for other nature-deprived populations,” she says.

Virtual nature

For nearly 20 years, Nadkarni has been bringing science and nature into prisons, to people who have little to no contact with what she and her colleagues call the “the non-built green and blue parts of our world.” In multiple facilities at multiple levels of the correctional system, she’s found people that are curious and eager to learn all they can about the natural world.

One of her efforts, at the Snake River Correctional Facility, is called the “Blue Room,” a room in a maximum security facility where people in solitary confinement are able to watch videos showing natural environments. Previous work showed that the people who watched the videos reported more positive moods and committed fewer violent infractions. The Blue Room was even named one of 2014’s top 25 innovations by Time magazine.

For the new study, Nadkarni and her colleagues including Sara Yeo, associate professor in the College of Humanities and James Ruff, associate instructor in the School of Biological Sciences, met with 71 men in medium or minimum security blocks in the Salt Lake County Jail. After a survey about their opinions on science and nature, the participants viewed and listened to three-minute segments of video and audio of four different nature habitats: forests, mountains, oceans and streams. The researchers call these sessions “virtual nature experiences.”

The researchers monitored the participants’ stress level throughout with two measures: salivary cortisol, which responds to changes in stress within minutes, and galvanic skin response, which measures unconscious changes in skin electrical properties related to emotional states.

The participants reported feeling less stressed after the virtual nature experiences, and the physiological measurements backed that up. Nature exposure measurably decreased their stress.

Audio/visual

The researchers had expected that the sights of nature would produce a stronger stress-reducing effect than the sounds, but found that that wasn’t always the case. “We learned that both visual and auditory stimuli evoked positive responses,” Nadkarni says, “but that these responses were mixed – some of the respondents articulated a stronger preference and exhibited stronger physiological responses to auditory versus visual responses.”

The researchers also noted that videos produced a more variable response overall than audio, meaning that different video habitats produced different stress-relieving responses, whereas responses to different audio habitats were largely constant. When asked to rate the different segments, the participants rated highest the videos of streams and lakes, videos of ocean and beaches and sounds of streams, followed by videos of mountains.

Eager to learn

At the end of the experiment, the researchers asked participants how interested they might be in taking a biology or ecology course to learn more about the habitats they’d seen and heard. Overall, they were more interested in learning about nature after the experience. Yeo, who studies science communication, says this result is encouraging, as people who are incarcerated not only have limited access to nature but may have had limited exposure to science before their incarceration.

“And so it’s really hopeful to think that one can see these changes even among groups that are not necessarily selecting science, or that we maybe don’t think of as having an affinity for science,” she says. “It’s still important for us to try to share experiences with science, even in places where we normally wouldn’t.”

Ruff adds that helping people in prisons reduce their stress may help them later successfully re-enter society.

“Decreasing their stress while incarcerated,” he says, “through low cost-methods like exposure to nature imagery, could allow them to better focus on their educational, mental health and job training needs leading to better outcomes. What this study does is begin to fine-tune what aspects of nature imagery optimally reduces stress.”

Nadkarni hopes the results can be applied to people in other institutional or nature-deprived environments, such as residential treatment center, senior assisted living centers, or even windowless cubicles for office workers.

“Our work leads to future studies of the effects of virtual nature in such habitats,” she says.

###

Find the full study here.

Other co-authors on this study included Tierney M. Thys of the California Academy of Sciences, Allison Anholt of the University of Newfoundland, and Jeff Treviño of California State University, Monterey Bay.

The Prison Education Project

This isn’t the only effort by the U to improve the lives of incarcerated people in Utah. The U’s Prison Education Project works to advance educational equity in prisons. Inspired by a 2016 Honors College course and directed by Educational Leadership and Policy associate professor Erin Castro, the project launched at Draper prison in 2017. Project researchers participated in a recent study to survey the educational opportunities available in prisons and examined the barriers to accessing higher education while in prison, including facility rules against online classes and completing paperwork for financial aid. The project is working to develop a comprehensive state-wide strategy to prison higher education that will expand access and pathways to completion. Learn more about the Prison Education Project here.

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JOURNAL

Ecopsychology

DOI

10.1089/eco.2020.0043

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Providing Virtual Nature Experiences to Incarcerated Men Reduces Stress and Increases Interest in the Environment

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

9-Jun-2021

 

MRIs on crop roots open new doors for agriculture

Scientists examine plant roots to make improvements, enhance water-use efficiency

Grant and Award Announcement

TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE COMMUNICATIONS

A team of scientists led by Texas A&M AgriLife is taking a page from the medical imaging world and using MRI to examine crop roots in a quest to develop crops with stronger and deeper root systems.

Nithya Rajan, Ph.D., stands with the low-field MRI rhizotron in the greenhouse at Texas A&M University. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Laura McKenzie)

The team from Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Harvard Medical School, ABQMR Inc. and Soil Health Institute developed a novel MRI-based root phenotyping system to nondestructively acquire high-resolution images of plant roots growing in soil and established the Texas A&M Roots Lab to further develop this technology as a new tool for assessing crop root traits.

The “Field-Deployable Magnetic Resonance Imaging Rhizotron for Modeling and Enhancing Root Growth and Biogeochemical Function” is a part of the Rhizosphere Observations Optimizing Terrestrial Sequestration, ROOTS, program funded through U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program.

Nithya Rajan, Ph.D., AgriLife Research crop physiologist/agroecologist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Bryan-College Station, is leading this multidisciplinary project team.

“We are applying this technology to see if we can sense roots growing in agricultural soils and characterize them,” she said. “To date, imaging roots in soil has been challenging because the soil is complex, with solids, moisture and roots. We just want to image the roots.”

We need to develop crop root systems that store more carbon in soil. In addition, deeper root systems can take up more water from soil profiles, increasing crop drought resilience.

John Mullet, Ph.D., biochemist and Perry L. Adkisson Chair in Agricultural Biology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

From concept to applications, in sorghum and beyond

The project was initially funded for three years with a $4.6 million grant. The second phase of funding was approved this year at $4.4 million.

 

Will Wheeler, post-doctoral researcher with Texas A&M AgriLife Research, is lowering sorghum plants into the MRI rhizotron for root imaging. Steve Altobelli from ABQMR is on the right. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Nithya Rajan)

“In the first phase, we developed the proof of concept and initial prototypes, and in the second phase we developed a low-field MRI rhizotron for high throughput imaging and applications in a wide variety of crops in addition to energy sorghum,” Rajan said.

Also on the team with AgriLife Research are Bill Rooney, Ph.D., sorghum breeder and Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for Plant Breeding and International Crop Improvement in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, and John Mullet, Ph.D., biochemist and Perry L. Adkisson Chair in Agricultural Biology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.

Rooney and Mullet are using the MRI system to advance bioenergy sorghum genetics. Brock Weers, Ph.D., and Will Wheeler, Ph.D., are support scientists working with the AgriLife Research team.

“We need to develop crop root systems that store more carbon in soil,” Mullet said. “In addition, deeper root systems can take up more water from soil profiles, increasing crop drought resilience.”

From a crop improvement perspective, Rooney added, this technology is essential to effectively screen crop germplasm for specific genotypes with enhanced root systems.

Getting to the root of the matter, without disturbing the soil

A 3D Image of the sorghum root system generated using the low-field MRI rhizotron. (Photo provided by ABQMR Inc.)

Using MRI allows researchers to gather root images without damaging plants, unlike traditional methods such as trenching, soil coring and root excavation, Rajan said.

The AgriLife Research team is working with ABQMR Inc., a group of MRI scientists in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who are involved in designing and building the system.

“With low magnetic fields, MRI can be used to image roots in natural soils,” said Hilary Fabich, Ph.D., president of ABQMR. “The low magnetic fields also mean there is less of a safety risk working with the sensor in an agricultural setting.”

Using “machine learning” to see through the noise

Matt Rosen, Ph.D., is the co-principal investigator of the project. He is director of the Low-field MRI and Hyperpolarized Media Laboratory and co-director of the Center for Machine Learning at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Harvard. Rosen and his team bring their experience with both low-field MRI physics and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence techniques to the project.

MRI 3D seGmentation and Analysis for Root Description — MIDGARD — software rendering of MRI sorghum root image. (Image provided by Bragi Sveinsson)

The Rosen lab pioneered the use of deep learning for processing MRI data. Neha Koonjoo, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Rosen lab, has been leveraging the AUTOMAP — Automated TransfOrm by Manifold Approximation — deep learning-based image reconstruction approach to reduce the influence of environmental noise in root MRI images. Her approach was described in a recent research article.  

Bragi Sveinsson, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow working with Rosen, developed the first prototype of a software named “MIDGARD” — MRI 3D seGmentation and Analysis for Root Description — for extracting quantitative root trait information from MRI images of roots.

The team plans to release MIDGARD as an open-source software after further testing.

“Using MIDGARD, we can extract quantitative root trait information, and this data will be used for selection of ideal plant characteristics,” Rosen said. “In the future, MIDGARD will also have the ability to three-dimensionally image soil water content, a key property that drives root growth and exploration.”

Technology to market

Technology-to-market activities of this project are led by Cristine Morgan, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Soil Health Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and principal investigator of the first phase of the project when she was at Texas A&M. To foster collaborations with industry partners, the Soil Health Institute established the company Intact Data Services.

“I am excited to translate this technology for phenotyping at scale, as well as the ability to use MRI to 3D-image soil water intact,” Morgan said.

###

Media Inquiries to Laura Muntean, laura.muntean@ag.tamu.edu, 6012481891

Written by Kay Ledbetter, 806-547-0002, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu

 

SwRI, UTSA collaborate on a novel process to produce low carbon fuels

Project will develop catalyst formulations to create cleaner, more cost-effective fuels

Grant and Award Announcement

SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUT

SAN ANTONIO — Aug. 3, 2021 — Southwest Research Institute and The University of Texas at San Antonio are collaborating to combine two catalytic processes into a single reactor, with the overall goal of recycling carbon from CO2 to produce low-cost hydrocarbon fuels. The work, led by Dr. Grant Seuser of SwRI’s Powertrain Engineering Division and Dr. Gary Jacobs of UTSA’s College of Engineering, is supported by a $125,000 grant from the Connecting through Research Partnerships (Connect) Program.

Greenhouse gas emissions are expected to increase by about 17% by 2040 as a result of increasing energy and transportation needs in the developing world.

“We’re facing a lack of renewable fuels and the technology to deliver cleaner power generation,” Seuser said. “We’re seeing a rise in battery-powered passenger vehicles, but the high power demands of the aviation, locomotive, shipping, and long-haul trucking industries will continue to require energy-dense hydrocarbons for the foreseeable future.”

Seuser and Jacobs propose using a process called carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation to produce cleaner renewable liquid hydrocarbon fuels for transportation. To accomplish this, they plan to build a single reactor capable of performing two chemical processes in one step. The first will react hydrogen with CO2 to make carbon monoxide (CO) and the second will convert the CO and hydrogen, a blend known as synthesis gas or syngas, into liquid hydrocarbon fuel by a catalytic process known as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

“Fischer-Tropsch synthesis was discovered in Germany about a century ago and is still used in places like South Africa and Quatar to convert coal and natural gas into liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Plant capacities ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of barrels of fuel per day. It will be an interesting challenge to integrate this catalytic technology into a process that uses CO2 in the feed,” Jacobs said.

Additionally, the process the SwRI-UTSA team is developing will be able to utilize CO2 captured at fossil fuel-fired power plants that would otherwise be sequestered underground or emitted into the atmosphere.

“Combining the functionality of these two catalytic processes, reverse water-gas shift and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, into a single reactor would simplify the process and increase its economic viability,” Jacobs said.

The effort will also explore novel catalyst formations aimed at combining reverse water-gas shift and Fischer Tropsch synthesis functions, which Jacobs will create and characterize at UTSA. Seuser will use the catalysts in a SwRI reactor to assess their industrial viability.

“Reducing the complexity of converting CO2 into hydrocarbon fuels would have a big impact,” Seuser said. “Finding a way to produce low-carbon fuels and maintain our current energy infrastructure is critical to avoid further increases in Earth’s temperature.”

SwRI’s Executive Office and UTSA’s Office of the Vice President for Research, Economic Development, and Knowledge Enterprise sponsor the Connect program, which offers grant opportunities to enhance greater scientific collaboration between the two institutions.

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/emissions/catalyst-formulation.

 

The graveyard never lies

New Study Shows which Countries have Underreported their COVID-19 Deaths and the Extent of their Deception

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

For the past year and a half, many of our decisions regarding whether it is safe to fly to country X or to vacation in country Y have been based a given country’s reported COVID-19 deaths.  These stats give the public a sense of how successful—or unsuccessful—that country has been at containing the spread of the coronavirus and its variant offspring.  However, not all countries have been playing fair.  Several have underreported their numbers, either deliberately or due to faulty testing capacities.

Now, two young researchers, one from Israel and one from Germany, have teamed up to set the record straight.  Instead of relying on countries’ published COVID-19 death rates, they created the World Mortality Dataset, the largest existing collection of overall mortality data, to uncover the true rate of COVID-19 deaths in more than 100 countries.  They published their findings in eLife journal.

In any given period of time, a certain number of people die due to a variety of reasons: old age, illness, violence, traffic accidents and more.  These deaths are commonly known as “expected deaths”.  Researchers use this data to predict the number of expected deaths in coming months and years.  However, pandemics, wars, natural and manmade disasters cause additional deaths, above and beyond the expected.  These are known as “excess deaths”. 

To calculate a given country’s true COVID-19 death toll, Ariel Karlinsky, a graduate student at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)’s economics Department and Dmitry Kobak from Germany’s Tübingen University collected mortality data from 103 countries.  “We gathered mortality data to answer a number of questions,” Karlinsky shared. “We wanted to find out whether the pandemic caused excess deaths in the countries we covered and, if so, to what extent.”

To do so, the team compared the number of overall “known deaths” during the COVID pandemic with the number of overall deaths from previous years.  In this way, they were able to determine the likely number of excess deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  “Even though the number of excess deaths does not exactly equal the mortality rate from COVID-19 infections, for many countries it is the most objective indicator of their pandemic death toll,” Karlinsky explained. 

For example, several Latin American countries, namely Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru underreported their COVID-19 deaths, even though the number of excess deaths sustained during the pandemic period was over 50% higher than the number of expected deaths. According to Karlinsky and Kobak’s World Mortality Dataset, Bolivia’s true number of COVID deaths is likely 2.5 times higher than they reported—36,000 deaths instead of 15,000. In Ecuador, it’s 2.9 times higher—64,000 deaths instead of the 22,000 reported, while in Mexico, the figure is 2.1 times higher—471,000 instead of the 221,000 pandemic deaths that were reported. 

However, Peru stood out from the bunch.  They originally underreported their COVID-19 deaths—claiming only 69,000 deaths when in reality that figure was closer to 185,000.  After an outcry by public health officials, Peru’s health ministry made amends.  They audited all deaths during the pandemic period and resubmitted COVID-19 death stats to the World Health Organization that more accurately reflect the true number of excess deaths caused by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, other countries have obstinately continued to underreport their COVID-19 deaths.  The true number of pandemic deaths sustained by Russia is likely 4 times higher than reported—551,000 deaths instead of 135,000.  In Belarus that number is 14.5 times higher—5,700 deaths, instead of 392, and in Uzbekistan 29 times higher—21,500 deaths, instead of the 740 reported.  Tajikistan wins the underreporting prize with a COVID-19 death rate that is whopping 100-times higher than reported—9,000 deaths, instead of 90. 

The former Soviet Union is not alone in vastly underreporting its COVID-19 deaths.  According to the Karlinsky-Kobak study, Nicaragua’s true number of pandemic deaths is 50 times higher than reported—7,000 coronavirus deaths instead of the 137 reported.  However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Australia and New Zealand’s death rate during the pandemic was actually lower than previous periods.  This is likely due to their virus-containment efforts, which included border closures, social distancing and mask-wearing which decreased their overall number of deaths during the pandemic period. 

Among European nations, the team found that many countries faithfully reported their pandemic deaths.  Per 100,000 people, the United Kingdom suffered 159 deaths, France 110, Switzerland 100.  The Czech Republic suffered 320 pandemic deaths and Poland 310.  Denmark and Norway were unique in that they experienced no excess mortality during the pandemic.  The United States had 194 excess deaths per 100,000 persons.

“Our results present a comprehensive picture of the impact of COVID-19,” Kobak shared.  “We hope these findings—and their methodology –will lead to a better understanding of the pandemic and highlight the importance of open-source and fast mortality reporting.”

In the Middle East, Israel’s excess deaths during the coronavirus pandemic were actually smaller than their reported figures—5,000 instead of 6,400, as reported.  This is likely due to a decrease in the overall number of deaths from non-COVID 19 respiratory infections during the winter months.  At 58 excess deaths per 100,000 persons, Israel fared better than its neighboring countries (which provided overall mortality data).  Egypt’s excess deaths were 13 times higher than reported—196,000 instead of 15,000, Iran’s were 2.15 times higher—115,000 COVID-19 deaths instead of 54,000, and Lebanon’s figures were 1.23 times higher than reported—9,000 deaths instead of 7,300. 

When analyzing the overall figures, Karlinsky shared his hope, “that our dataset will be a valuable asset for public health officials looking to assess the risks and benefits of a given pandemic-containment measure.  Kobak and I are constantly expanding our dataset and will continue to track excess mortality around the world for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

---

DOI

10.7554/eLife.69336

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Tracking excess mortality across countries during the COVID-19 pandemic with the World Mortality Dataset

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Aug-2021

 

Study tracks global death toll of COVID-19 pandemic

Using the World Mortality Dataset, the largest existing collection of mortality data, researchers have tracked the impact of COVID-19 across more than 100 countries.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ELIFE

New insight on the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has been published in the open-access eLife journal.

Comparing the impact of COVID-19 between countries or during a given period of time is challenging because reported numbers of cases and deaths can be affected by testing capacity and reporting policy. The current study provides a more accurate picture of the effects of COVID-19 than using these numbers, and may improve our understanding of this and future pandemics.

In any given period of time, a certain number of people die due to many particular reasons, such as old age, illness, violence, traffic accidents and more. Researchers are able to predict the number of deaths from these causes over coming months or years, known as expected deaths, using the same information gathered from previous months and years. However, pandemics, conflicts, and natural and man-made disasters cause additional deaths above and beyond those expected, which are known as ‘excess deaths’.

“Measuring excess deaths allows us to quantify, monitor and track pandemics such as COVID-19 in a way that goes above testing and reporting capacity and policy,” says Ariel Karlinsky, a graduate  student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, and co-author alongside research scientist Dmitry Kobak, from Tübingen University, Germany. “However, until now, there has been no global, frequently updated repository of mortality data across countries.”

To fill this gap, Karlinsky and Kobak collected weekly, monthly or quarterly mortality data from 103 countries and territories, which they have made openly available as the World Mortality Dataset. They then used the data to work out the number of excess deaths in each country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We used our data to answer a number of questions,” Karlinsky explains. “Specifically, we wanted to find out whether the pandemic caused excess deaths in the countries we covered and, if so, to what extent. We were also curious to see whether the numbers of excess deaths were matched across countries.”

Their analyses showed that, in several of the countries worst affected by COVID-19 – namely Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Mexico – excess deaths were more than 50% above the expected annual mortality rate, or above 400 excess deaths per 100,000 people as in Peru, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia. At the same time, in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, mortality during the pandemic was below the usual level, which the authors suggest is likely due to social distancing measures reducing the number of deaths caused by other infections besides COVID-19.

Furthermore, the researchers found that while many countries have been reporting their COVID-19 death rates accurately, some including Nicaragua, Belarus, Egypt and Uzbekistan have underreported these numbers by more than 10 times.

“Together, our results present a comprehensive picture of the impact of COVID-19, which we hope will contribute to better understanding of the pandemic and assessing the success of different mitigation strategies,” Kobak concludes. “The work also highlights the importance of open and rapid mortality reporting for monitoring the effects of COVID-19. We hope that our dataset will provide a valuable resource to help other investigators answer their own questions about the pandemic. We are constantly expanding our dataset and will continue to track excess mortality around the world.”

##

Media contacts

Emily Packer, Media Relations Manager

eLife

e.packer@elifesciences.org

+44 (0)1223 855373

Tali Aronsky, International Media Director

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 

taliaron@savion.huji.ac.il

+972-55-666-4371

About eLife

eLife is a non-profit organisation created by funders and led by researchers. Our mission is to accelerate discovery by operating a platform for research communication that encourages and recognises the most responsible behaviours. We aim to publish work of the highest standards and importance in all areas of biology and medicine, including Epidemiology and Global Health, while exploring creative new ways to improve how research is assessed and published. eLife receives financial support and strategic guidance from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Max Planck Society and Wellcome. Learn more at https://elifesciences.org/about.

To read the latest Epidemiology and Global Health research published in eLife, visit https://elifesciences.org/subjects/epidemiology-global-health.

About Hebrew University

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) is Israel's leading academic and research institution, serving 24,000 students from 80 countries. Founded in 1918 by visionaries including Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, HU is ranked among the world's 100 leading universities. To date, HU faculty and alumni have won eight Nobel Prizes, one Fields Medal and one Abel Prize. For more information, visit http://new.huji.ac.il/en. 

About the University of Tübingen

Innovative. Interdisciplinary. International. These have been our guiding principles in research and teaching since our founding in 1477. Tübingen’s success in the German government’s Excellence programs since 2012 have placed it among the most outstanding universities in Germany. The University is also well-placed in international higher education rankings.

More than 4,500 scientists and academics work at the University of Tübingen. We invest more than 200 million euros annually in a wide variety of research projects. As a comprehensive research university, Tübingen has solid foundations in the Sciences and Life Sciences as well as in the Humanities and Social Sciences. We have special strength due to our close collaboration with many non-university research institutions in our region and with notable universities around the world.

With more than 200 subjects on offer, the University of Tübingen gives prospective students a wide range of choices. A sharp focus on research is a major drawcard for Master’s students and doctoral candidates. The University not only trains our future experts and leaders; it is living up to its responsibility for the world of tomorrow.

---

DOI

10.7554/eLife.69336

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

ARTICLE TITLE

Tracking excess mortality across countries during the COVID-19 pandemic with the World Mortality Dataset

 

Digital marketing improves product recall compliance, providing a new tool to enhance consumer safety

News from the Journal of Marketing

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Researchers from The Pennsylvania State University and the University of South Carolina published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines a digital marketing campaign’s impact on improving low consumer recall completion rates.

The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Regulating Product Recall Compliance in the Digital Age: Evidence from the ‘Safe Cars Save Lives’ Campaign” and is authored by Sotires Pagiavlas, Kartik Kalaignanam, Manpreet Gill, and Paul D. Bliese.

There were 786 automotive recalls in the United States in 2020 alone, affecting close to 32 million vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the U.S. automobile industry’s regulator, estimates that 40 percent of recalled vehicles on the road are unrepaired, creating a critical public safety issue. In 2014, concerns regarding automotive product recalls peaked, as defective Takata airbag inflators led to fatalities and hundreds of drivers being injured. The debacle’s scope led to a record-breaking 63 million vehicles recalled in 2014 and 51 million in 2015 in the U.S.

Against this backdrop, this study focuses on a digital marketing campaign the NHTSA launched in January of 2016 to improve low consumer recall completion rates in the wake of mounting challenges. The “Safe Cars Save Lives” campaign was a nationwide digital marketing campaign that sought to push consumers to use the NHTSA’s recall lookup webpage. It used both paid search and online display advertisements to encourage consumers to check for open recalls using the webpage and then fix defective vehicles quickly.
 
The research team finds that the “Safe Cars Save Lives” campaign increased the number of vehicles fixed, on average, by 20,712 per non-airbag-related recall above what was to be expected without the digital marketing campaign in the first four calendar quarters it was active. The positive impact of the campaign was even greater for airbag inflator-related recalls. This finding is economically meaningful because improving recall compliance in the automobile industry has been shown to reduce the number of accidents on the road and thereby lower the economic costs of vehicle accidents. Even though the automobile industry receives considerable media attention, getting consumers to pay attention to recall notifications is challenging. The study provides evidence that a lack of available relevant information is a significant contributing factor to low consumer recall compliance, an issue that the “Safe Cars Save Lives” campaign addressed directly.
 
Second, the study finds that media coverage of a recall by the popular press improved the effectiveness of the digital marketing campaign. Although recent work notes that manufacturers view greater media coverage of a recall as damaging to their brands’ financial health, Pagiavlas says that “We found that media coverage contributed to improving safety outcomes by increasing the effectiveness of the digital marketing. In other words, the digital marketing campaign was more impactful for recall campaigns that received greater media coverage, suggesting that these two media formats can work synergistically to improve consumer recall compliance.”
 
Third, the digital marketing campaign’s positive impact on consumer recall compliance was even stronger when recalled vehicles were older. According to J.D. Power, just 44% of vehicles manufactured between 2003 and 2007 had their defects remedied, drastically below the recall completion percentage of 73% for vehicles of model years between 2013 and 2017. Federal and industry leaders have cited improving compliance among owners of older vehicles as one of four key topic areas to address moving forward. As Kalaignanam says, “The digital marketing campaign’s effectiveness on owners of older vehicles further suggests that regulators’ use of digital tools to facilitate consumer access to relevant information could improve compliance.” 
 
Finally, our findings caution regulators to be mindful of the time inconvenience consumers face in repairing their defective vehicles as a serious impediment to their recall compliance. While the campaign was effective at improving compliance, its impact was lower for recall campaigns with defective components that required more time to repair. Although consumers often do not cite the time needed to complete a repair as the most important factor in deciding whether to remedy safety defects, as Gill explains, “Our findings suggest that time-related inconvenience is a serious obstacle to achieving consumer compliance.”
 
These findings should enable regulatory agencies to make more compelling cases for financial resources devoted to digital marketing initiatives seeking to improve consumer recall compliance. Providing consumers with relevant information in an easy-to-access way can increase their awareness of important recall-related issues and ultimately contribute to improved compliance. Bliese states that “Improved recall compliance can thereby reduce the number of accidents and deaths stemming from unaddressed product recalls.”

Full article and author contact information available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242921102301

About the Journal of Marketing 

The Journal of Marketing develops and disseminates knowledge about real-world marketing questions useful to scholars, educators, managers, policy makers, consumers, and other societal stakeholders around the world. Published by the American Marketing Association since its founding in 1936, JM has played a significant role in shaping the content and boundaries of the marketing discipline. Christine Moorman (T. Austin Finch, Sr. Professor of Business Administration at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University) serves as the current Editor in Chief.
https://www.ama.org/jm

About the American Marketing Association (AMA) 

As the largest chapter-based marketing association in the world, the AMA is trusted by marketing and sales professionals to help them discover what is coming next in the industry. The AMA has a community of local chapters in more than 70 cities and 350 college campuses throughout North America. The AMA is home to award-winning content, PCM® professional certification, premiere academic journals, and industry-leading training events and conferences.
https://www.ama.org

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JOURNAL

Journal of Marketing

DOI

10.1177/0022242921102301

ARTICLE TITLE

Regulating Product Recall Compliance in the Digital Age: Evidence from the “Safe Cars Save Lives” Campaign

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-May-2021

 

Disadvantaged people may support social hierarchies and inequality to benefit their group

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE POLISH ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

 

IMAGE: AS LONG AS STATUS POSITIONS BETWEEN SOCIAL GROUPS APPEAR UNSTABLE AND THUS, REVERSIBLE, PEOPLE IDENTIFIED WITH A LOWER SOCIAL-STATUS GROUP MAY FEEL INCLINED TO REINFORCE THEIR SUPPORT FOR HIERARCHICAL RELATIONS AND INEQUALITY. view more 

CREDIT: JEREMY BISHOP ON UNSPLASH

As long as status positions between social groups are perceived as unstable and thus, reversible, people who identified with a lower social-status group may feel inclined to reinforce their support for hierarchical relations and inequality between groups. By doing so, the group is indeed turning to a long-term strategy where they may engage in collective actions to eventually take over the position, power and resources of the current domineering party.   

With their findings, published in the peer-reviewed scholarly journal Social Psychological Bulletin, the research team, led by Dr Catarina L. Carvalho (University of Porto, Portugal), provides the first evidence that the endorsement of ideologies that promote hierarchically structured relationships between groups may actually serve as the stepping stone for lower-status groups up the social ladder. Their work presents a new perspective on what motivates disadvantaged groups to support such ideologies and highlight the importance of including ideological processes in collective action research.

All in all, people in lower status groups may engage in actions to achieve a more advantageous position in the status hierarchy motivated by different concerns. On one hand, such efforts could be aimed at promoting equality between all social groups, for example the civil rights movements. On the other hand, they may feel motivated to compete with another relevant group with higher status in an attempt to claim more power and resources for their group, to the detriment of the opposition. This is the case in sports, university rankings and political elections. Yet, while the former strategy seeks to close the gaps between the parties, the latter effectively legitimates the existing hierarchical social system and status differentials between groups.

In order to test whether members of low-status groups would indeed increase their support for group-based hierarchies and inequality as a strategy to guarantee the legitimacy of their future advantage over the current dominating party, the researchers conducted a survey with 113 first-year university psychology students attending a Portuguese University. The participants were told that they were taking part in a study on different styles of cognitive processing: Inductive and Deductive thinking. 

Firstly, the students filled in (bogus) cognitive inventory, supposedly to determine their cognitive processing style. At the end of the task, they received (false) feedback about their thinking style, where all participants were categorised as Deductive thinkers. Then, they learned that, allegedly based on previous studies, Deductive Thinkers (their group) occupied a lower (vs. higher, depending on the experimental condition) occupational status in everyday life. However, additional information was provided pointing out the lack of certainty and replicability of those results. 

Then, the participants answered to some control measures, followed by the main measurements meant to assess their social dominance orientation - that is, their support for group-based hierarchies and inequality - and their motivation to get involved in collective actions, including signing petitions and engaging in protests, aimed at promoting the success of Deductive thinkers or against any injustice towards Deductive thinkers.

“In sum, when social competition is favoured, low-status group members may intend to establish and maintain hierarchically structured intergroup relations not only because it serves a palliative function for them, but also because they believe it is possible for their group to achieve a higher status in the existing status hierarchy,” explain the authors of the study. 

“However, advances in the status hierarchy and improvement in group status will only be possible if the hierarchical system remains (i.e., maintenance of groups status differentials where one group has more power and prestige than the others) but with an unstable character.”

Lead author Dr Catarina L. Carvalho provides further context:

“This study was developed as part of my PhD project that aimed to explore the idea that, the hope for future ingroup high-status motivation can lead members of low-status group to endorse hierarchy-enhancing ideologies (i.e., SDO) on behalf of ingroup's interests. This idea challenges previous research and theoretical assumptions stating that members of low-status groups support hierarchical social systems because they feel negatively about their group membership or because it may help them to deal and cope with their disadvantaged position. Thus, from this perspective, SDO endorsement is expected to go against these groups’ interests.”

“Indeed, our results seem to confirm our predictions and expectations that SDO endorsement, among low-status group members, can represent an ideological strategy to maintain the existing hierarchical social system to guarantee a legitimate future advancement of the ingroup within the prevailing status hierarchy, offering a new perspective on why members of low-status group endorse hierarchy-enhancing ideologies.”

Research article:

Carvalho, C. L., Pinto, I. R., Costa-Lopes, R., Paéz, D., & Marques, J. M. (2021). Support for Group-Based Inequality Among Members of Low-Status Groups as an Ingroup Status-Enhancement Strategy. Social Psychological Bulletin, 16(2), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.32872/spb.5451

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JOURNAL

Social Psychological Bulletin

DOI

10.32872/spb.5451

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Support for Group-Based Inequality Among Members of Low-Status Groups as an Ingroup Status-Enhancement Strategy

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

29-Jul-2021

 

In rural America, religious attendance and norms reduce compassion for people who use opioids

A new study found that religious individuals in Appalachian and Midwestern states were more likely to support punitive drug policies.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Estimates suggest that 1.7 million people in the United States suffer from opioid-related substance abuse disorders and approximately 50,000 people die each year from an opioid-related overdose.

The opioid epidemic is a widespread crisis, but rural areas—particularly those in Appalachian and Midwestern states—have been the hardest hit. However, many individuals in those same states do not support policies scientifically proven to help, like medically aided treatment and syringe exchanges.

A new study from the Social Action Lab at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication found that individuals in rural areas of Appalachia and the Midwest who regularly attend religious services were more likely to support punitive drug policies and less likely to support policies that aid people who use drugs. They were also more likely to support the same policies as those they perceived their religious leaders supported, whether punitive or supportive. The findings suggest that religious leaders, if persuaded of the benefits of policies that aid people with a substance use disorder, could influence the general population’s opinion toward those measures.

“Many religious communities have either disapproved of or overtly repudiated protective drug policies, like medication-assisted treatment, retail access to syringes, or syringe exchange programs,” says Dolores Albarracín, Alexandra Heyman Nash University Professor and Director of the Social Action Lab. “This is largely because they interpret substance use as a moral failure rather than a disease and see these kinds of programs as enabling drug use. Our study supports this hypothesis, but it also indicates that religious leaders could be mobilized to support protective and efficacious drug policy to curb the opioid epidemic.”

Albarracín and her co-authors surveyed more than 3,000 people from 14 states, including Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Participants were asked questions about their own alcohol and drug use; their attitudes toward alcohol and drug use, social support, public policy, and mental health; and attitudes and resources within their communities. They were also asked about their religious affiliation, their religious-service attendance, and their religious leaders’ attitudes about drug use and public policy.

The researchers found that while religious affiliation had no impact on either protective or punitive policy attitudes, a respondent’s likelihood to support punishment and incarceration for people who use drugs increased with the frequency with which they attended religious services. However, if an individual’s religious leaders supported protective policies, they were more likely to also support protective policies.

“Ending the opioid epidemic requires finding ways to help religious communities become more open to protective policies that are scientifically shown to be more effective at supporting people using drugs,” says Albarracín. “Our study suggests that incorporating religious leaders into those efforts and developing an agenda that incorporates religious values in a way that increases compassion may go a long way in reducing the harm of drug use in rural areas in the United States.”

The study, entitled “The Associations of Religious Affiliation, Religious Service Attendance, and Religious Leader Norm with Support for Protective versus Punitive Drug Policies: A Look at the States Affected by the Rural Opioid Epidemic in the United States,” was published today in the Journal of Rural Mental Health. In addition to Albarracín, authors include Marta Durantini, a senior investigator at the Annenberg Public Policy Center; and the Grid for the Reduction of Vulnerability, a consortium of agencies from counties in the affected areas.

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DOI

10.1037/rmh0000188

ARTICLE TITLE

The Associations of Religious Affiliation, Religious Service Attendance, and Religious Leader Norm with Support for Protective versus Punitive Drug Policies: A Look at the States Affected by the Rural Opioid Epidemic in the United States