Introducing a protocol for using robotic pets in memory care

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

 

IMAGE: A JOY FOR ALL COMPANION CAT view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO AND VIDEO ASSETS SHOULD BE CREDITED TO JOY FOR ALL COMPANION PETS/ AGELESS INNOVATION.

You might think it was a typical therapy session at a long-term care facility. In a quiet room, a therapist sets down a pet carrier, brings out a cat, and sets it on a resident’s lap. As the resident gently strokes the cat’s fur, it purrs, and the therapist asks the resident questions about their childhood pets, accessing long-ago memories.

The resident’s enjoyment of the session and the benefit for their well-being is real. But the animal is not. It’s a robotic pet with synthetic fur and programmed movements and sounds. But researchers are finding that robotic pets can be useful in therapy, without some of the disadvantages and unpredictability of real animals.

In a paper published in the Canadian Journal of Recreation Therapy, University of Utah researcher Rhonda Nelson and graduate student Rebecca Westenskow developed a protocol for using robotic pets with older adults with dementia. The protocol uses a low-cost robotic pet, establishes ideal session lengths, and identifies common participant responses to the pets to aid in future research.

“Our protocol had questions like: Would you like to scratch the dog behind his ears? Would you like to pet him? Would you like to brush him?” says Nelson, an assistant professor in the Department of Occupational and Recreational Therapies. “And then we were evaluating how people responded to those different cues so that we could then provide some guidelines to people on how to have the most beneficial actions with these animals.”

An affordable robotic pet

Nelson has watched the development of robotic pets for the past decade, intrigued by the potential to use them therapeutically in long-term and geriatric care settings. But until recently the price was prohibitive. “Having been a therapist myself and training our students to work as therapists, I’m very aware that most facilities would never be able to purchase them.”

But with the introduction of Ageless Innovation‘s Joy For All Companion pets in 2015, priced at under $150, widespread use of robotic pets as therapy “animals” seemed within reach. Robotic pets can get around many of the risks and drawbacks of live animals in long-term care settings. Many facilities don’t allow personal pets because of allergies, the potential for bites or scratches and other reasons.

Researchers have already begun to study how people with dementia interact with robotic pets, Nelson notes, but haven’t yet developed a unified protocol to give, say, assisted living staff a plan to gain the most benefit from the pets’ use through directed interaction.

“There was very little information on what people were doing with the pets,” Nelson says. “So without that guidance, it’s just a toy. And what do you do with it?”

Observing interactions

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers met with five people between 82 and 87 years old living in long-term care facilities who experienced severe cognitive impairment. In two sessions of 30 minutes each, the researchers brought out either a robotic dog or a cat (participants’ choice) in a pet carrier.

“Many participants leaned toward the [robotic pet] as it was taken out of the pet carrier,” the researchers noted, “then instinctively reached for it and began petting, rubbing or scratching the pet when first introduced.”

Throughout the session, the researchers asked questions, both about the participants’ experiences with past pets and about interacting with the current robotic pet. “Did they have dogs or cats?” Nelson says, giving examples of typical questions. “What were their names? Did they keep them indoors or outdoors? What types of food did they eat?”

The researchers carefully observed the responses of the participants to the pets. The robotic pets moved and made sounds, which Nelson says helped the participants engage with them.

“When the dog would bark they would say things like, ‘Oh, are you trying to tell me something?’” she says. “Or they would comment on the cat purring and would say things like, ‘Wow, you must really be happy! I feel you purring.’ One of the activities that people responded to the most was brushing the animals.”

In one case, though, the session proceeded in silence. The participant had difficulty communicating their thoughts but stayed focused on the robotic dog throughout. By the end of the session, the participant seemed to develop a connection with the robotic animal, saying “I like that dog. When he likes me.”

Nelson is often asked if the participants with cognitive decline understand that the robotic pets are not alive. In this study, she says, they all seemed aware that it was not a live animal.

“Interestingly enough one of our participants was a retired veterinarian,” she says. “So I was very intrigued to see how he would interact with it.” He chose to have both the robotic dog and cat on his lap at the same time. “We would never tell somebody that it was live if they asked. We would be honest with them. We usually introduce it as ‘Would you like to hold my dog’ and people react to it or respond to it in a way that’s meaningful for them.”

Initial recommendations

Unfortunately, data collection was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the researchers were able to draw some conclusions.

All of the participants enjoyed the activity, with several saying they liked it “very much.” One participant didn’t like the sounds the pet made, which was easily remedied by turning off the sound—not an option for a live animal.

The questions that spurred the most response related to personal reminiscences and directions for interacting with the pet.

A common, yet unprompted behavior, the researchers’ report, was communication with the pet. “Several participants used comments, sounds, specific inflections and facial expressions spontaneously with the pets,” the researchers wrote. “Some participants imitated the animal sounds made by the [pet] and repositioned the pet to look at its face or make eye contact.”

Although more research is needed to determine the optimal session length, the researchers noted that the 30-minute sessions in the study were sufficient. Nelson also hopes to explore how people with varying levels of cognitive decline respond to the pets, as well as how they can be used in a group setting.

The study found that the most meaningful interactions and the most enjoyable experiences came when the participant self-directed the session.

“In recreational therapy, we always talk about providing person-centered care,” Nelson says. So it’s not really about what I think about an activity. If somebody enjoys it and it brings happiness to them, then it’s really about what they think about it.”

Why does interacting with robotic pets provide such an enjoyable experience?

“People in long-term care facilities are in a position where everybody provides care to them,” Nelson says, “and to be in the role where you are nurturing something else, or you are the caregiver I think is also psychologically very comforting for people to feel like, even though they know that it’s not live, they’re the person who’s giving love and compassion to something, and it’s responding.”

Find the full study here.

---

DOI

10.18666/CJRT-2022-V1-I1-11452 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Evaluation of a Robotic Pet Intervention Protocol for Older Adults with Dementia

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Jul-2022

Thousands flee feuding Taliban in Afghanistan’s north

While the June fighting lasted only a few days, the United Nations says it displaced at least 27,000 people — almost all of them Hazara. (AFP)
Short Url


https://arab.news/6sam3
Updated 22 July 2022
AFP
July 22, 202209:40
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Ethnicity, religious sectarianism and a battle for a lump of Balkhab’s lucrative coal resources are at the heart of the fighting


DUZDANCHISMA, Afghanistan: When fighting erupted between Taliban forces and a breakaway group led by one of their former commanders in northern Afghanistan last month, Zahra and her family fled to the mountains.
For days they walked across the rocky terrain, unsure what lay ahead or when they might return to their home Sar-e Pol province’s Balkhab district, where the clashes erupted.
“We didn’t want to get trapped ... we all might have been killed,” said Zahra, 35, asking to use a pseudonym for security reasons.
Zahra’s family is among thousands that fled conflict between the Taliban and fighters loyal to Mahdi Mujahid, the group’s former intelligence chief for Bamiyan.
Ethnicity, religious sectarianism and a battle for a lump of Balkhab’s lucrative coal resources are at the heart of the fighting.
“All these factors are working together in driving the conflict,” Australia-based political analyst Nematullah Bizhan said.
Mujahid, a Shiite Hazara, joined the mostly Sunni and Pashtun Taliban in 2019, and was appointed to his post soon after the hard-line Islamists seized power in August last year.
Afghanistan’s Shiite Hazaras have faced persecution for decades, with the Taliban accused of abuses against the community when they first ruled from 1996 to 2001.
They are also the target of attacks by the Daesh group, which considers them heretics.
Mujahid’s appointment was initially seen as supporting the Taliban’s claim of being more inclusive to non-Pashtuns, but he soon fell foul of the leadership.
The group routinely denies reports of infighting in its ranks, but in June local media said Mujahid split with the Taliban leadership when Kabul sought greater control over the coal business.
Balkhab is home to several coal mines and demand has soared in recent months with Pakistan — in the grip of an energy crisis partly caused by rising oil prices — stepping up imports to fuel power plants.
Local Taliban commanders were known to “tax” trucks on their way to Pakistan — as officials in the previous government did before them — but when Mujahid resisted Kabul’s efforts to rein in the practice, they sacked him.
“Balkhab has a long history of resisting the government,” analyst Bizhan said, adding the region also fought strongly against the Taliban during their first reign.
While the June fighting lasted only a few days, the United Nations says it displaced at least 27,000 people — almost all of them Hazara.
The result is a humanitarian crisis that aid agencies are now struggling to deal with.
“We used to sleep thirsty on empty stomachs and wake up in the morning and start walking again,” said Zahra, whose family walked for nearly a fortnight before finding shelter in a village mosque in Bamiyan.
“Everyone was sick.”
The family of Barat Ali Subhani, another resident of Balkhab, has taken refuge in the same mosque.
“We didn’t have anything with us. We just left in clothes we were wearing,” Subhani said.
His seven-member family — including five children — walked for four days before a shepherd led them to the mosque.
“He saved us,” Subhani said.
“We had nothing. We thought that we will probably die.”
In the town of Duzdanchishma in Bamiyan, Najiba Mirzae has spent days treating those who fled Balkhab.
Many are pregnant women suffering from diarrhea, nausea and respiratory ailments caught while traveling through the mountains, said Mirzae, head of a local hospital.
Several UN aid agencies have tried to respond, but have not managed to reach all those displaced as many are still in the mountains.
“We couldn’t reach the area even after walking for five and half hours because the mules were unable to pass,” said Noryalai, who led a UNICEF team on one mercy mission.
In Balkhab, Mujahid and his followers have fled into the mountains, according to defense ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarizmi, and fighting has stopped.
But rights group Amnesty International accused Taliban forces of carrying out summary executions of civilians there — a charge denied by Kabul.
“People are scared, which is why they are still in the mountains,” one man said, asking for anonymity.

CRIMINAL CAPITALISM; GRAVE ROBBER

Ancient artifacts seized from US billionaire among 142 looted items returned to Italy

Oscar Holland - Yesterday 

New York officials have returned stolen antiquities worth nearly $14 million to Italy, including dozens of artifacts seized from US billionaire Michael Steinhardt.

Over a third of the 142 items handed back at a ceremony Wednesday had previously belonged to the former hedge fund manager, who was once among the world’s most prominent collectors of ancient art, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

Among the repatriated artifacts was a 2,000-year-old fresco depicting a young Hercules strangling a snake. Worth an estimated $1 million, it was looted from an archaeological site near Italy’s Mount Vesuvius in 1995.


Over a third of the 142 items belonged to former hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt. - Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Later that year, Steinhardt purchased the work without seeing evidence of its ownership history, according to investigators. A further 47 objects from his collection were among the returned items.

In a statement, Italy’s consul general in New York, Fabrizio Di Michele, said the restitution was “very important for our country.”

The announcement follows a years-long investigation into Steinhardt, who avoided charges after he surrendered 180 artifacts, worth an estimated $70 million, and agreed to what officials called an “unprecedented” lifetime ban on acquiring antiquities.

In recent months, objects from his collection – ranging from statues and sculptures, to gold masks, bowls and ceremonial vessels – have been returned countries including Iraq, Israel and Turkey.


© Provided by CNNAncient artifacts seized from US billionaire among 142 looted items returned to ItalyThe "Ercolano Fresco," dating back to 50 C.E., was among the items repatriated. - Manhattan District Attorney

Among them was a $1.2 million marble statue of a veiled woman’s head, which was repatriated to Libya in January. A helmet thought to have belonged to Alexander the Great’s father, Philip of Macedon, was meanwhile handed back to Bulgaria. In February, 47 items from Steinhardt’s collection were returned to Greece, including a rare statue valued at $14 million.

The investigation looked at more than 1,000 antiquities linked to Steinhardt since at least 1987. Authorities found that he had possessed looted artifacts that had been smuggled out of 11 countries by 12 criminal networks.

Italy's consul general in New York said the restitution was "very important for our country." - Manhattan District Attorney's Office

Upon the investigation’s conclusion in December, Manhattan’s then-District Attorney, Cy Vance, Jr., said that Steinhardt had “displayed a rapacious appetite for plundered artifacts without concern for the legality of his actions, the legitimacy of the pieces he bought and sold, or the grievous cultural damage he wrought across the globe.”

In a statement provided to CNN at the time, Steinhardt’s lawyers, Andrew J. Levander and Theodore V. Wells Jr., said that their client was pleased that the investigation had concluded without any charges “and that items wrongfully taken by others will be returned to their native countries.”

They maintained that “many” of the dealers Steinhardt bought stolen artifacts from had “made specific representations as to the dealers’ lawful title to the items, and to their alleged provenance,” adding: “To the extent these representations were false, Mr. Steinhardt has reserved his rights to seek recompense from the dealers involved.”

Of the other 94 items returned to Italy Wednesday, 60 had been recovered from Royal-Athena Galleries, a now-defunct New York gallery founded by late antiquities dealer and forgery expert Jerome M. Eisenberg. The District Attorney’s office did not suggest any wrongdoing on the part of Eisenberg or Royal-Athena Galleries, which it thanked for “assistance and cooperation” in the investigation.

The other 34 objects were related to “other ongoing investigations.”

Top image: Some of the looted artifacts returned to Italy by New York officials.

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RUSSIAN ANTI-SEMITISM

Russia officially calls for «dissolution» of Jewish Agency operations in the country

Russian authorities on Thursday officially called for the "dissolution" of the Jewish Agency's offices in the country, filing an appeal to that effect with the Moscow district court, according to a court spokesman quoted by Russian media.


© Provided by News 360File - File image of a flag of Israel. - Jesús Hellín - Europa Press

This represents a major step forward in Russia's campaign against the Israeli quasi-governmental organization, which facilitates and encourages Jewish immigration to Israel.

Moscow's action against the organization that oversees immigration to Israel is seen as retaliation for Israel's stance on the Ukrainian war, while the agency has said its activities continue for now.

"The court received a lawsuit filed by the main department of the Justice Ministry in Moscow requesting the dissolution of the Jewish agency," the court has explained in a statement picked up by the Russian news agency.

Ekaterina Buravtsova, a spokeswoman for the Basmany court in Moscow, has been quoted by Russian agencies as saying that the request was made after legal violations, without providing further details, Interfax news agency has picked up.

"As we have previously stated, we do not make any comments during the course of the legal procedure," she has stated organization, as reported by 'The Times of Israel' newspaper.

In this regard, the Jewish Agency, which is responsible for facilitating and encouraging Jewish immigration to Israel, received a letter last month from the Russian authorities in which they made a series of difficult demands - to which the organization had no intention of agreeing - and threatened legal consequences if these demands were not met.

 RENT GOUGING IS INFLATIONARY

"I Felt Devastated And Powerless" — This Woman's Story Of Her Landlord Trying To Raise Her Rent An Extra $700 Proves It's Becoming Impossible To Live Anywhere Right Now

Wed, July 20, 2022 

If you're a fellow adult trying to make their way in the world, then you've probably noticed that everything seems to be getting more and more expensive these days. With inflation in the US reaching 9.1% (the highest it's been in 40 years), people are doing whatever they can to cut costs, and it's starting to feel impossible just to live right now.

Tbs

Grace James, an actor, writer, and comedian living in New York City — specifically South Williamsburg, also known as Los Sures — experienced this firsthand when she received an email from her landlord letting her know that upon renewing her lease, they'd be increasing her rent by a whopping $700 a month. Yes, you read that right: SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. Their reasoning? "It's what the apartment's worth."

@justgracejames / Via tiktok.com

Grace, who moved into her apartment in August 2021 and was originally paying $2500 per month, took her experience to TikTok, where she shared some photos of her apartment building, repeating her landlord's message, "It's what the apartment's worth" over and over.

@justgracejames / Via tiktok.com

Clearly, no significant "updates" were made to justify raising the monthly rent by such a huge amount.

@justgracejames / Via tiktok.com

In fact, Grace's landlord may be just taking advantage of the rental situation in New York City right now (which, btw, does NOT make it right). New York has always been one of the most expensive cities in the US, and despite thousands of people leaving the city during the height of the pandemic in 2020, rental prices continue to surge now more than ever. In fact, the median rent in Manhattan reached $4,000 in May 2022, while median rent in Brooklyn reached $3,250, which is 18% more than last year.

@justgracejames / Via tiktok.com

BuzzFeed reached out to Grace, who said that she felt "devastated and powerless" when she received the email from her landlord. "Several of my neighbors are long-term residents, which led me to think and hope that our property managers cared about retaining good tenants. I’d been naïve to the reality of how faceless we are to those who own our buildings. I told my friends, 'I wish our landlords could see us scrambling to figure out what we’re going to do. I wish they could see how a single piece of mail turned our lives upside down.'"

"Personally speaking, I believe the business of housing has gone too far. We’re seeing towns get taken over by short-term rentals such as Airbnb and Vrbo. We’re seeing developers with no personal ties to a neighborhood put up buildings with no thought for the community. And they can do this because they have the money."

"The result has been the depersonalization of an incredibly intimate experience: home."

Grace decided to share her story on TikTok because she'd heard about the same kind of increases happening across the city and knew others would be able to relate. In the comments, plenty of people pointed out the sheer callousness (and ridiculousness) of the situation.

@justgracejames / Via tiktok.com

@justgracejames / Via tiktok.com

"I think a lot of people have felt pretty powerless to do anything about it," Grace told BuzzFeed. "We’re just individuals, whereas many of these rental companies are major corporations with lawyers and copious resources. It’s a bit of a David and Goliath dynamic."

@justgracejames / Via tiktok.com

To get some help with her rent situation, Grace said she contacted Southside United HDFC - Los Sures, a community organizing group that advocates for tenants' rights in the South Williamsburg area. After ordering the rental history for her unit, they discovered that Grace's apartment was actually rent-stabilized, and her landlord couldn't legally raise the rent $700 per month like they claimed. Grace then filed a DHCR overcharge complaint against the rent increase.

A24

Lulu Kirtchuk, a representative for Southside United HFDC - Los Sures, spoke to BuzzFeed and explained that Grace's story is just one of many in their neighborhood, mostly due to the gentrification that's been happening in the area. "South Williamsburg, more communally known as Los Sures, is originally an immigrant, Hispanic-based neighborhood. As we know, Williamsburg has become one of the most rapidly gentrified neighborhoods in New York City, essentially ground zero other than maybe the Lower East Side (also originally Puerto Rican). North Williamsburg, as we can see now, is almost completely developed, equipped with Whole Foods, CorePower Yoga, and buildings that cover the skyline. South Williamsburg is slowly but surely on its way to becoming its neighbor."

Ucg / UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

"What we’re seeing in Los Sures is an uprise of 'transplants' moving into rent-stabilized units without knowing what rent-stabilized units are," Lulu told BuzzFeed. "Therefore, the landlord kicks out low-income tenants who are able to pay the rent-stabilized rent, and they move in tenants (usually white) who will pay a rent double than what it’s supposed to be without checking. It’s all kinds of discrimination, whether racial or economic. This then leads to rent-stabilized units, which are only supposed to go up by very small increments (1%-5%), becoming the equivalent to market rate apartments, which have absolutely no regulations and can be raised by any amount."

CBS

"These apartments are not de-stabilized, but rather the issue tends to be that transplants do not actually need these apartments, so they move out after a couple of years rather than staying and advocating for fair rent for themselves and the next tenant. And so the cycle continues, the rent goes up an exorbitant amount, and low-income tenants and transplants move out alike."

ABC

Grace's story fits into this cycle, according to Lulu, but the difference is that she reached out to learn more about her and her neighbors' rights. In New York, "No one can file anything against [the landlord] or report it other than the tenant in the unit that is being taken advantage of. So, unfortunately — what a lot of advocates and activists have tried to change — the onus has yet to be lifted off the tenants, and put on the government, or anybody other than individuals who are renting, for them to prosecute their landlords."

Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images

Although this situation is beyond frustrating, it's not isolated to New York City. Across the US, rental prices continue to rise, and millions of Americans are feeling the strain. According to a report from Redfin, the median monthly asking rent surpassed $2,000 for the first time ever in May 2022. Grace told BuzzFeed that she received comments on her TikTok from people in rural areas experiencing the exact same thing she was dealing with. "It makes you wonder — who is the housing market for? Who is this system working for?"

BusàPhotography / Getty Images

Despite the help she received from Southside United, Grace ultimately decided to leave her apartment and move back to Texas to be closer to family. "I’ve wrestled with my disappointment in not being able to stay and fight, but I take comfort knowing how many more people are aware of their rights just by way of having seen my video. I also plan to talk to everyone in my building about my increase so they’re prepared and have the resources they need to unionize."

When asked what she thinks needs to change in order to prevent something like this from happening in the future, Grace responded, "While I don’t have the perfect regulatory plan drawn up just yet, I do believe housing is a human right and I’d like to see more protections for the individual — the individual renter and the individual mortgage holder, because I recognize mortgage inflation is a huge part of the problem."

"Your biggest asset — in times of challenge and regarding the overall quality of your life — is the strength of your community," she concluded. "Form a tenant’s union with the neighbors in your building so your landlords and property management companies know you are a united front. Get to know your neighbors and support each other in the good and the bad. And if you’re moved by this story, consider donating to or volunteering with your local community organizers. We have more power than we think."

You can follow Grace's journey on TikTok and Instagram. For more information on New York City tenant advocacy, check out Southside United HDFC - Los Sures and Housing Justice for All. And to learn more about rental and housing laws in your state, click here.

One Medical: Why Amazon's acquiring this health care company for $3.9 billion

Alexandra Garfinkle

·Senior Reporter

Thu, July 21, 2022 

Amazon (AMZN) announced today that it would acquire subscription health care provider One Medical for $3.9 billion.

The deal marks one of Amazon's most high-profile pushes into health care to date. So, why One Medical? To start, One Medical — which was founded in 2007 and focuses on so-called concierge primary care — was on the market. The company had reportedly been fielding takeover interest from giants like CVS (CVS).

One Medical's $199 annual subscription offers 24/7 access to telehealth services, same-day appointments, and an app. The company had 188 U.S. locations and more than 750,000 members, as of a May filing. The company's focus is on primary care and boasts virtually no wait times, and in its IPO filing expressed interest in moving into behavioral health. The Carlyle Group has been one of One Medical's key investors, and is reportedly set to exit after Amazon's acquisition.

One Medical, whose parent company 1Life Healthcare trades under the ticker ONEM, went public in 2020. The company's shares, as of close Wednesday, were down about 44% year to date. However, as of this morning, One Medical's shares have skyrocketed in the wake of the news of the Amazon deal, up nearly 70% in midday trading.

Physician John Jones, D.O. tests administrative assistant Morgan Bassin for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at One Medical in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. June 17, 2020. One Medical employees receive testing every two weeks. REUTERS/Courtney Pedroza

One Medical, should the deal close, will also be one of Amazon's biggest acquisitions ever, surpassed only by MGM and Whole Foods — which clocked in at $8.45 billion and $13.7 billion, respectively.

Amazon's health care moves (so far)

Amazon's efforts to expand its footprint in health care stretch back a few years, and some initiatives have been more successful than others.

In 2018, the company bought online pharmacy PillPack and used that deal to launch "Amazon Pharmacy" the following year. Amazon also partnered with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway on a health care initiative called Haven, which shuttered somewhat ignominiously last year.

Still Big Tech's push into health care has persisted. Apple (AAPL) just published a report outlining its moves into health care, and how it plans to build on its health features — from sleep monitoring to step-tracking — and what its partnerships with medical institutions entail.

Allie Garfinkle is a senior tech reporter at Yahoo Finance. Find her on twitter @agarfinks.

Chinese headphone maker in Dongguan shuts down, intensifying country's woes in manufacturing, cross-border e-commerce

Thu, July 21, 2022 

A major Bluetooth headphone maker, Dongguan Koppo Electronics Co, has decided to shut down for good and dismiss all its workers, becoming the latest casualty of the economic headwinds, supply chain disruptions and trading woes that have hit China's manufacturing heartland.

Koppo Electronics, which has operated its factory in the city of Dongguan in southern Guangdong province for 12 years, said it was ceasing operations partly because "a number of cross-border e-commerce clients have failed to make due payments", according to a notice seen by the Post.

"Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, global economic and trade flows have seen unprecedented disruptions," the notice said. "The company has been hit by delayed payments by a number of cross-border merchants, and a huge amount of finished goods are stockpiling in the warehouse."

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.


Koppo Electronics is expected to lay off 100 workers, according to a report on Wednesday by Chinese digital media Jiemian News. At its peak, the company had more than 1,000 workers and produced about 400,000 headphones a month.

A production line inside the factory of Dongguan Koppo Electronics Co, a major Bluetooth headphone maker in China. 

"The company has been making losses in recent years and it's difficult to continue the operation," the notice said. "The sudden outbreak of [the Ukraine] war has dealt another heavy blow to the company's business and the market situation is just grim."

Phone calls to Koppo Electronics went unanswered on Wednesday.

Its collapse comes on the heels of a number of high-profile factory closures in the Pearl River Delta, which has raised concerns about China losing its competitive edge in manufacturing and major role in global supply chains.

Trouble in China's manufacturing heartland has the potential to ripple through the wider economy. The export sector provides jobs for 180 million people, or more than a third of the country's 530 million non-farming jobs, according to data from China's Ministry of Commerce.

The demise of Koppo Electronics also reflects more signs of trouble for the "Made in China, Sold on Amazon" community, following the US e-commerce firm's extensive crackdown that removed thousands of Chinese sellers from the platform since last year.

One of the company's biggest clients to miss payments was Shenzhen-based cross-border consumer electronics firm Sunvalley, a large seller of Chinese-made gadgets on Amazon, according to the report by Jiemian News, which cited major Koppo Electronics shareholder Wei Yongning.

That Amazon vendor's accounts were frozen last year by the US e-commerce giant for failure to comply with the online platform's rules, which led to its failure to pay Koppo Electronics for the products it ordered, the Jiemian News report said.

Sunvalley and its parent company, Guangdong SACA Precision Manufacturing Co, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The "Made in China, sold on Amazon" community faces a gloomy future after years of rapid growth. 

In June last year, Amazon banned the sale of three popular product lines under Sunvalley - RAVPower power banks, Taotronics earphones and VAVA cameras - for attempts made by the seller to solicit positive customer reviews. Last October, three more of the company's gadget brands - Anjou, Sable and Hootoo - were removed online by Amazon.

A total of 367 Amazon online stores operated by Sunvalley were suspended by the platform in 2021, accounting for 70 per cent of all of the Chinese firm's accounts, according to the annual report of parent SACA. It said more than 32 million yuan (US$4.74 million) of Sunvalley funds were frozen by Amazon.

Shenzhen-listed SACA's cross-border e-commerce sales for 2021 were nearly halved because of Amazon's crackdown, which led to a 1.52 billion yuan loss in the period, according to its annual report. Koppo Electronics was one of the top suppliers for Sunvalley, the company's filing showed.

When Amazon started to clamp down on fake reviews last year, the US platform shut 3,000 online merchant accounts backed by about 600 Chinese brands, damaging the operations of the "Made in China, Sold on Amazon" community.

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Black woman says Target rejected her for a job, until she applied as 'Tori' under a different race


A Black woman says Target rejected her for a job, until she applied as 'Tori' under a different race

Lindsay Dodgson,Yoonji Han
Thu, July 21, 2022 at 7:42 AM·5 min read


Target has been sued multiple times over allegations of racial discrimination in hiring.John Minchillo/ASSOCIATED PRESS

In a viral TikTok video, Naturi Greene says she was rejected by Target for a job.

But when she changed her name to "Tori" and listed her ethnicity as "mixed race," she heard back.

Target has been sued multiple times over allegations of racial discrimination in hiring.

After being rejected from a job at Target multiple times over the past few years, Naturi Greene decided to try a different approach. She joked to her boyfriend, who had also been denied, that if they changed their names and race on their applications, they would have gotten the job.

To test her theory, Greene, a Black woman from Charlotte, North Carolina, changed her name to "Tori" and listed her ethnicity as "mixed race." After multiple rejections as Naturi, Target offered "Tori" a job interview.

"I'm not sure how it can be proved to be discrimination," Greene told Insider. "But as a person of color in America, I can't help but to think that is the reason."

Greene posted her story on TikTok, where, as of July 20, it has been viewed nearly 264,000 times. She showed Insider screenshots of her application forms from May 18 and July 3, 2022, the first using "Naturi," which was rejected, and the second "Tori," which was accepted.

@lilbby_torii I always wondered if i l changed my name and race would i get hired..we got the answer ! I used the exact same application and applied to the same store but my name and race was changed. #racist #fyp #target ♬ original sound - cvmgvzzler

"After looking into this claim, we found that the two applications were filed several weeks apart and the store was not hiring at the time the application was rejected," Target spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo told Insider.

According to the reference on the email exchange Greene showed Insider, there was a live job listing for a "Guest Advocate." There was also no mention of the store not hiring in the rejection email Greene received. Target did not respond to a request for comment on why the job was posted online if the company was not hiring at the time.

Greene told Insider the job she applied for was present in the "search jobs" section of the website.

"It's hard to believe the store was not hiring at the time if the position was still available to apply for on the website," she said.
Target has been sued multiple times for allegedly discriminatory hiring practices

Target has previously faced multiple claims of discriminatory hiring practices, which have resulted in legal settlements and vows to change their hiring procedures. More than 20 years ago, Kalisha White, who is Black, suspected her application for a job at a Target in Wisconsin was being ignored because of her race. She sent in another one under another name, Sarah Brucker — and scored an interview, even though the fake resume was less credentialed than White's.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that enforces civil rights laws involving hiring practices, sued Target on behalf of White and three other Black job applicants, resulting in a $510,000 settlement.

In 2015, Target also paid a $2.8 million fee and agreed to change its job applicant tracking system after the EEOC found it was screening candidates based on race and sex. Then, just a few years later, it paid $3.74 million to settle claims that its background criminal checks discriminated against thousands of Black and Latino applicants.

Target has maintained in the settlements that it had not committed any wrongdoing, but said it would review its screening and hiring practices.

There's a 'penalty' for job applicants with 'Black-sounding' names

Studies have shown that despite a recent boom in diversity initiatives, job applicants with "Black-sounding" names are less likely to hear back from employers.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago recently found that after sending 83,000 fictitious job applications to more than 100 Fortune 500 companies — half with traditionally white-sounding names and the other half with distinctively Black-sounding names — applicants with "Black names" were contacted 10% fewer times.

"The penalty is real," Evan Rose, a researcher at the University of Chicago and one of the study's co-authors, told Insider.

The study also found that customer-facing industries, like retail, were systematically less likely to contact applicants with distinguishable names. How the company organizes hiring internally can have an impact as well: Companies where the decision-maker is a local branch manager tend to discriminate more, whereas those with a centralized hiring representative are less likely to do so.

"What our paper established is that this problem hasn't gone away. But some firms seem to have figured out a way not to discriminate like this. The fact that some differ gives us hope that there is a way to address these discrepancies," Rose said.
Other creators shared similar stories of discrimination

Greene said people have been sharing their own experiences of discrimination with her since she posted her video, which she believes is indicative of a larger problem in hiring.

"It's many jobs that seem to be discriminatory," she said. "People have generally been supportive simply because they have been through the same thing."

In March this year, other creators shared similar stories of discrimination when applying for jobs. TikToker Journee, said she was denied an interview for a job so she reapplied saying she was caucasian. She said she got a call the next day. Fellow TikToker Gina Banks said she finally received an offer to interview after five years of rejections from one company, but only when she applied as a white woman.

Greene said after her experience, she has no interest in attending the interview with Target.

"I don't want to work anywhere where I couldn't get hired for the person I am," she said. "I would just like to see people of all races treated equally and have access to the same opportunities."

IN CANADA YOU CANNOT ASK RACE/ETHNICITY,

AGE OR MEDICAL QUESTIONS ON JOB APPLICATIONS