It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Long-term exposure to air pollution puts teenagers at risk of heart disease
Long-term exposure to air pollution can increase the risk of high blood pressure in teenagers, a new study has found.
The review, published recently in Current Problems in Cardiology, by researchers from King’s College London, looked at eight studies with 15,000 adolescents – children aged twelve and over. Five of these studies were conducted in Europe, whereas previous reviews have included many China-based studies where pollution levels are higher.
High blood pressure during childhood and adolescence is a risk factor for hypertension and heart disease in adulthood. When blood pressure gets too high, it becomes hypertension which causes heart attacks and strokes.
The review found twelve-year-olds and older adolescents have higher diastolic blood pressure when they experience long-term exposure, such as living in a highly polluted area, to fine particulate air pollution, known as PM2.5 and PM10. Particulate matter is often expelled by car exhausts, wood smoke or combustion in the construction and manufacturing industries. Pollution is a structural determinant of health. Children who live in deprived areas are more exposed to high pollution levels. Reducing pollution is key to overcome health inequalities.
The effect of air pollution on heart disease and strokes in adults is well documented, but studies in children shown inconsistent results. While the quality of these studies was low, this review shows a considerable association between air pollution and a rise in blood pressure among adolescents. It supports previous evidence of a disproportionate impact of pollution on BP of adolescents who are overweight or obese. The review also investigated short-term exposure to pollution and its impact, but no association was found.
Lead author Professor Seeromanie Harding from King’s College London said: “We observed significant associations in adolescents aged twelve for diastolic blood pressure, the part of blood pressure which rises most often in children or adolescents, and long-term exposures to pollution. Reducing environmental pollution is an urgent public health priority to protect our children’s futures. It is critical to have high quality studies which include assessments by gender, socio-economic circumstances and weight status, to track children’s exposure to pollution and prevent an adverse impact on their health.”
IMAGE: ABOVE, THE FORCE MEASUREMENTS IN THE BRONCHI. AFTER THE ADMINISTRATION OF ANANDAMIDE, THE TENSION DECREASES. BELOW LEFT, A HISTOLOGICAL SECTION OF A MOUSE LUNG WITH CENTRAL BRONCHUS AND BELOW RIGHT, HUMAN BRONCHIAL MUSCLE CELLS WITH RED IMMUNOSTAINING AGAINST FAAH, THE CELL NUCLEI ARE STAINED BLUE.view more
Bronchial tubes dilated by the body’s own cannabinoids
Obstructive lung diseases are the third most common cause of death worldwide. They include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which affects many smokers, as well as bronchial asthma. During an asthma attack, the bronchial tubes contract so violently that it is no longer possible to exhale – and this can be life-threatening. “Asthma is an inflammatory process, but what is fatal is the constriction of the bronchial tubes,” explains Annika Simon, lead author of the study. “This is why we are very much interested in the regulation of this constriction.”
In a previous study, the researchers had likewise focused on the body’s own cannabinoid system, specifically on its effect in the blood vessels of the lungs. The best known endogenous cannabinoid is anandamide. “Since our results show that anandamide dilates the bronchial tubes, we wanted to understand the exact mechanism behind it,” explains Daniela Wenzel.
Enzyme degrades cannabinoid
It quickly emerged that the two best-known receptors for anandamide (CB1 and CB2) are irrelevant for this regulation. Therefore, there must be an alternative signalling pathway through which the messenger substance anandamide acts on the bronchial tubes.
Daniela Wenzel and her team showed that this alternative pathway uses an enzyme called fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). FAAH degrades anandamide, producing e.g. arachidonic acid, which in turn is converted to prostaglandin E2. “We know that prostaglandin E2 can dilate the bronchial tubes,” points out Annika Simon. Prostaglandin E2 acts via certain receptors and leads to an increase in the messenger substance cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate). “It is precisely this, the increase in cAMP, that is targeted by well-established inhalation medications against asthma,” says Daniela Wenzel. So, the goal is the same, but the path is different.
Anandamide deficiency in asthma
Wenzel and her team gradually deciphered the signalling pathway. They revealed that the enzyme FAAH is located both in the smooth muscle of the bronchial tubes and in the ciliated epithelium. The increase in cAMP after anandamide administration could be detected both in the mouse model and in human bronchial cells. In order to find out whether anandamide could also works in asthma patients, the team used a disease model in mice where certain substances can be used to create artificial asthma. In these animals, too, the administration of anandamide led to a widening of the bronchial tubes. “This means that asthma doesn’t result in resistance to anandamide,” explains Daniela Wenzel. Moreover, the researchers found that asthmatic animals have less anandamide and other endocannabinoids in their bronchial system than healthy animals. “Therefore, it’s possible that this anandamide deficiency is one of the causes of bronchial asthma,” concludes Daniela Wenzel.
The discovery of the new signalling pathway could also open up new possibilities for intervening in the disease process. “But there’s still a long way to go, and it will certainly take several years,” stresses Daniela Wenzel. She expressly warns patients not to undertake experiments with cannabis plants. “We can’t draw any direct conclusions regarding plant cannabinoids from the findings on endogenous cannabinoids. Exactly which other ingredients are found in cannabis plants besides the known cannabinoids is entirely unclear. Plus, the plants sometimes contain harmful substances.” Nevertheless, the findings of this study are already pointing towards a better understanding of the body’s own cannabinoid system, which could lead to new treatment options for lung diseases in a few years’ time.
IMAGE: ANCIENT SEAWATER POCKETS TRAPPED IN AN IRON PYRITE FRAMBOID, SHOWN HERE, OFFER A NEW SOURCE OF CLUES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN VANISHED OCEANS AND OUR OWN.view more
CREDIT: (PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL GREGORY | UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO; COLOR ADDED BY CORTLAND JOHNSON | PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY)
RICHLAND, Wash.—Trapped for millennia, the tiniest liquid remnants of an ancient inland sea have now been revealed. The surprising discovery of seawater sealed in what is now North America for 390 million years opens up a new avenue for understanding how oceans change and adapt with the changing climate. The method may also be useful in understanding how hydrogen can be safely stored underground and transported for use as a carbon-free fuel source.
“We discovered we can actually dig out information from these mineral features that could help inform geologic studies, such as the seawater chemistry from ancient times,” said Sandra Taylor, first author of the study and a scientist at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Many types of minerals and gems contain small pockets of trapped liquid. Indeed, some gemstones are prized for their light-catching bubbles of liquid trapped within. What’s different in this study is that scientists were able to reveal what was inside the tiniest water pockets, using advanced microscopy and chemical analyses.
The findings of the study confirmed that the water trapped inside the rock fit the chemistry profile of the ancient inland saltwater sea that once occupied upstate New York, where the rock originated. During the Middle Devonian period, this inland sea stretched from present day Michigan to Ontario, Canada. It harbored a coral reef to rival Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Sea scorpions the size of a pickup truck patrolled waters that harbored now-extinct creatures like trilobites, and the earliest examples of horseshoe crabs.
But eventually the climate changed, and along with that change, most of the creatures and the sea itself disappeared, leaving behind only fossil remains embedded in sediments that eventually became the pyrite rock sample used in the current experiment.
Clues to an ancient climate and to climate change
Scientists use rock samples as evidence to piece together how the climate has changed over the long span of geologic time.
“We use mineral deposits to estimate the temperature of the ancient oceans,” said Gregory, a geologist at the University of Toronto, and one of the study leaders. But there are relatively few useful examples in the geological record.
“Salt deposits from trapped seawater [halite] are relatively rare in the rock record, so there are millions of years missing in the records and what we currently know is based on a few localities where there is halite found,” Gregory said. By contrast, pyrite is found everywhere. “Sampling with this technique could open up millions of years of the geologic record and lead to new understanding of changing climate.”
Seawater surprise
The research team was trying to understand another environmental issue—toxic arsenic leaching from rock—when they noticed the tiny defects. Scientists describe the appearance of these particular pyrite minerals as framboids—derived from the French word for raspberry—because they look like clusters of raspberry segments under the microscope.
“We looked at these samples through the electron microscope first, and we saw these kind of mini bubbles or mini features within the framboid and wondered what they were,” Taylor said.
Using the precise and sensitive detection techniques of atom probe tomography and mass spectrometry—which can detect minuscule amounts of elements or impurities in minerals—the team worked out that the bubbles indeed contained water and their salt chemistry matched that of ancient seas.
From ancient sea to modern energy storage
These types of studies also have the potential to provide interesting insights into how to safely store hydrogen or other gases underground.
“Hydrogen is being explored as a low-carbon fuel source for various energy applications. This requires being able to safely retrieve and store large-amounts of hydrogen in underground geologic reservoirs. So it’s important to understand how hydrogen interacts with rocks,” said Taylor. “Atom probe tomography is one of the few techniques where you can not only measure atoms of hydrogen, but you can actually see where it goes in the mineral. This study suggests that tiny defects in minerals might be potential traps for hydrogen. So by using this technique we could figure out what’s going on at the atomic level, which would then help in evaluating and optimizing strategies for hydrogen storage in the subsurface.”
This research was conducted at EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a DOE Office of Science user facility at PNNL. Lyons and Gregory applied to use the facility through a competitive application process. The research was also supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Ancient seawater pockets offer a new source of clues that could help us better understand how oceans are affected by climate change. A collaborative research team discovered nanoscale seawater pockets hidden in iron pyrite from upstate New York. This technique could open up a whole new chapter in climate science and potentially help identify subsurface locations to safely store hydrogen for carbon-free energy.
CREDIT
(Video by Sara Levine | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Dating apps are now an entrenched part of American social life, but there’s work to do to ensure users’ safety. New research suggests that violent sexual predators are using dating apps as hunting grounds for vulnerable victims.
In the largest study of its kind, a Brigham Young University nursing team analyzed Utah sexual assault victims’ medical exam charts from 2017 to 2020. They found that 14% of the 1,968 rapes committed by acquaintances occurred during an initial meetup arranged through a dating app. Those cases stood out in disturbing ways: victims with mental illnesses and other vulnerabilities were targeted, and the attacks were significantly more violent.
“What we found is incredibly concerning,” said BYU nursing professor Julie Valentine. “We’d started to see an increase of victims reporting being raped after meeting someone on a dating app, and we wanted to know if rapes facilitated through dating apps differed from other acquaintance rapes. They are indeed very different.”
Prior research shows that individuals with a mental illness are already more likely to be sexually assaulted. In the study, 47% of the victims of acquaintance rape that was unrelated to dating apps disclosed a mental illness. Among those assaulted during a first meeting set up through an app, the number was much higher still, with 60% disclosing a mental illness.
“In a dating app, people can shape themselves however they want to appeal to vulnerable victims. Those with mental illnesses like depression may be more susceptible to a predator who might, for example, flatter them profusely and persuade them to meet in person,” Valentine said.
College students were also more likely to be victims of dating-app-facilitated assaults, and male victims were nearly twice as common among app-related assaults as among other acquaintance assaults.
Troublingly, the perpetrators in dating-app-facilitated rapes seemed to be unusually violent. The attacks produced more victim injuries than other acquaintance rapes; one quarter of the victims had breast injuries, for example. Additionally, about 33% of the victims reported being strangled during the assault, while 22% of victims who were not meeting perpetrators for the first time through an app reported strangulation.
Dating apps are fertile ground for predators in part because there are few means for potential victims to screen possible partners.
“It used to be that people would meet through mutual friends or at work or school, and there was a degree of vetting that went in place before dating. Dating apps have completely taken away that process,” Valentine said.
The current safety measure in dating apps — a written set of guidelines for safe dating — is inadequate because it places the burden of safety on potential victims, the researchers argue. Victims might blame themselves for being swayed by a predator to not follow the guidelines to the letter, and their self-blame could dissuade them from reporting the assault. Instead, the authors recommend that dating app companies improve their safety standards.
“Dating app companies can increase artificial intelligence to identify perpetrators, have stricter identification requirements for users, run criminal history searches at no extra charge and connect with other companies to ensure that perpetrators aren’t just jumping from one app to another. They can also improve ways for victims to report assaults and provide more support services for victims,” Valentine suggested.
These changes may be on the horizon. The BYU team has collaborated with dating app companies and legislators to draft a Utah House bill sponsored by Representative Angela Romero, “Online Dating Safety Requirements,” to improve safety in dating apps. They believe the bill has a good chance of passing during the next legislative session and hope other states will follow their example.
“What I don’t want people to take from the study is that we shouldn’t use dating apps — they’re the number-one way that happy couples meet. We want to preserve that but increase the safety,” Valentine concluded.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Mobile devices that use Bluetooth are vulnerable to a glitch that could allow attackers to track a user’s location, a new study has found.
The research revolves around Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a type of Bluetooth that uses less energy when compared to Bluetooth Classic (an earlier generation of Bluetooth). On smartwatches and smartphones, billions of people rely on this type of wireless communication for all types of activities, ranging from entertainment and sports to retail and health care.
Yet due to a design flaw in Bluetooth’s protocol, users’ privacy could be at risk, said Yue Zhang, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in computer science and engineering at The Ohio State University. Zhang recently presented the findings at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (ACM CCS 2022). The study also received a “best paper” honorable mention at the conference.
Zhang and his adviser, Zhiqiang Lin, professor of computer science and engineering at Ohio State, proved the threat by testing over 50 market-available Bluetooth devices as well as four BLE development boards. They reported the flaw to major stakeholders in the Bluetooth industry, including Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) (the organization that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards), hardware vendors such as Texas Instruments and Nordic, and operating systems providers such as Google, Apple and Microsoft. Google rated their findings as a high-severity design flaw and gave the researchers a bug bounty award.
But the good news is that Zhang and Lin also developed a potential solution to the problem that they successfully tested.
Bluetooth devices have what are called MAC addresses – a string of random numbers that uniquely identify them on a network. About once every 20 milliseconds an idle BLE device sends out a signal advertising its MAC address to other nearby devices that it could connect with.
The study identifies a flaw that could allow attackers to observe how these devices interact with the network, and then either passively or actively collect and analyze the data to break a user’s privacy.
“This is a new finding that nobody has ever noticed before,” said Zhang. “We show that by broadcasting a MAC address to the device’s location, an attacker may not physically be able to see you, but they would know that you’re in the area.”
One of the reasons researchers are concerned about such a scenario is because a captured MAC address could be deployed in what is called a replay attack, which may allow the attacker to monitor the user’s behaviors, track where the user has been in the past or even figure out the real-time location of the user.
“Bluetooth SIG was certainly made aware of the MAC address tracking threat, and to protect devices from being tracked by bad actors, a solution called MAC address randomization has been used since 2010,” said Lin.
Later in 2014, Bluetooth introduced a new feature called the “allowlist” which only allows approved devices to be connected, and prevents private devices from accessing unknown ones. But according to the study, this allowlist feature actually introduces a side channel for device tracking.
Zhang and Lin proved the new tracking threat is real by creating a novel attack strategy they called Bluetooth Address Tracking (BAT). The researchers used a customized smartphone to hack into more than 50 Bluetooth gadgets – most of them their own devices – and showed that by using BAT attacks, an attacker could still link and replay a victim’s data, even with frequent MAC randomization.
As of yet, BAT attacks are undefeated, but the team did create a prototype of a defensive countermeasure. Called Securing Address for BLE (SABLE), their solution involves adding an unpredictable sequence number, essentially a timestamp, to the randomized address to ensure that each MAC address can only be used once to prevent the replay attack. The study noted it was successfully able to stop attackers from linking up to the victim’s devices.
The results of their experiment showed that SABLE only slightly affects battery consumption and overall device performance, but Lin hopes to use the new attack and its countermeasure to raise awareness in the community. “The lesson learned from this study is that when you add new features to existing designs, you should revisit previous assumptions to check whether they still hold.”
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation.
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN - THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
IMAGE: IN ADDITION TO WATER, THE ICY ASTEROIDS ALSO BROUGHT BIOLOGICALLY RELEVANT MOLECULES SUCH AS AMINO ACIDS TO THE RED PLANET. AMINO ACIDS ARE USED WHEN DNA AND RNA FORM BASES THAT CONTAIN EVERYTHING A CELL NEEDS.view more
CREDIT: NASA
Mars is called the red planet. But once, it was actually blue and covered in water, bringing us closer to finding out if Mars had ever harboured life.
Most researchers agree that there has been water on Mars, but just how much water is still debated.
Now a study from the University of Copenhagen shows that some 4.5 billion years ago, there was enough water for the entire planet to be covered in a 300-metre-deep ocean.
“At this time, Mars was bombarded with asteroids filled with ice. It happened in the first 100 million years of the planet's evolution. Another interesting angle is that the asteroids also carried organic molecules that are biologically important for life,” says Professor Martin Bizzarro from the Centre for Star and Planet Formation.
In addition to water, the icy asteroids also brought biologically relevant molecules such as amino acids to the Red Planet. Amino acids are used when DNA and RNA form bases that contain everything a cell needs.
The study was published in the renowned journal Science Advances.
Mars may have had the conditions for life before Earth
The new study indicates that the oceans that covered the entire planet in water were at least 300 metres deep. They may have been up to one kilometre deep. In comparison, there is actually very little water on Earth, explains Martin Bizzarro.
“This happened within Mars’s first 100 million years. After this period, something catastrophic happened for potential life on Earth. It is believed that there was a gigantic collision between the Earth and another Mars-sized planet. It was an energetic collision that formed the Earth-Moon system and, as the same time, wiped out all potential life on Earth,” says Martin Bizzarro.
Therefore, the researchers have really strong evidence that conditions allowing the emergence of life were present on Mars long before Earth.
Billion-year-old meteorite
It was by means of a meteorite that is billions of years old that the researchers have been able to look into Mars’s past history. The meteorite was once part of Mars’s original crust and offers a unique insight into what happened at the time when the solar system was formed.
The whole secret is hiding in the way Mars’s surface has been created – and of which the meteorite was once a part – because it is a surface that does not move. On Earth it is opposite. The tectonic plates are in perpetual motion and recycled in the planet’s interior.
“Plate tectonics on Earth erased all evidence of what happened in the first 500 million years of our planet’s history. The plates constantly move and are recycled back and destroyed into the interior of our planet. In contrast, Mars does not have plate tectonics such that planet’s surface preserves a record of the earliest history of the planet,” explains Martin Bizzarro.
A new study has revealed the potential for sensory deterrents to reduce marine megafauna bycatch in fisheries.
The Newcastle University research suggests that sensory deterrents can work in some circumstances and may be part of the solution to reduce bycatch.
Sensory deterrents are designed to provide sensory cues for marine megafauna (marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, sharks and rays) to avert their contact with fishing gear, whilst maintaining target catch quantity and quality.
There are several types of sensory technologies designed to reduce bycatch, including acoustic sound devices, using alternative bait type (for example using fish bait instead of squid), using water hose or cannon for deterrent, the use of lights and magnets, and changes to standard gear colour, such as lines and nets.
Multiple technologies were found effective at reducing bycatch in some studies, yet ineffective at reducing bycatch in others. LED lights were the only technology to date found successful in trials across all marine megafauna groups. However, they had also led to increased bycatch in some seabird and elasmobranch (shark and ray) species.
Publishing their findings in the journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, the authors argue that sensory deterrents can help reduce bycatch in some circumstances. However, variable results, caused by environmental factors and differences in species biology, make generalisations difficult. Further problems include the cost of equipment and potential for unintended broader environmental harm.
Sol Lucas, PhD student at the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, said: “Variability in study results highlights the importance that scientists and policymakers must consider all available evidence when designing bycatch reduction plans for fisheries. This study collates evidence of the use of sensory deterrents in fisheries, contributing to these decision-making processes.”
The authors reviewed available research (116 studies) testing the sensory deterrents to reduce fisheries bycatch (incidental or accidental catch) of multiple marine megafauna species. All available literature on sensory deterrents in peer-reviewed journals were assessed and the study found that the efficacy of available technologies was variable.
Professor Per Berggren, Chair of Marine Megafauna Conservation at the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, added: “Most of the technologies that we reviewed are immature and the potential ecological impacts are poorly understood. Further research is required to understand the long-term efficacy and impacts of sensory deterrents. Reducing bycatch of marine megafauna is critical, due to their importance for ecosystem health and for the communities that depend on fisheries for income and food security.”
The study’s authors conclude that it is likely multiple measures will be needed to address bycatch in most fisheries (including time-area closures, gear changes and catch limits). They suggest that bycatch mitigation programmes should be made on a case-by-case basis, tailored to the needs of each fishery, species and local community needs.
Reference
Lucas, S., Berggren, P. A systematic review of sensory deterrents for bycatch mitigation of marine megafauna. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-022-09736-5
IMAGE: MANY ONLINE SHOPPERS HAVE BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO FREE AND LENIENT RETURN POLICIES, BUT THAT MAY CHANGE AS RETAILERS LOOK TO OFFSET RISING COSTS. NEW RESEARCH INDICATES RETAILERS WHO ROLL OUT TARGETED POLICIES MAY HAVE BETTER SUCCESS.view more
CREDIT: PHOTO BY RACHEL CRAMER/IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY.
AMES, IA – This holiday season is expected to set another record for online sales, according to the National Retail Federation. But if consumer habits mirror previous years, 20% to 30% of the merchandise will be returned. It’s a big financial hit and logistical challenge for retailers that cover all the shipping, sorting and processing.
“Supply chain managers are really good at moving things to the customer. They’re not as good at bringing things back in because it’s a jumbled, disorganized flow back into the company for a product that they may not be able to resell,” said Robert Overstreet, assistant professor of supply chain management at Iowa State University.
To slow the backward flow and offset costs, retailers are increasingly adopting stricter return policies. Some are shortening the return window; others are adding processing fees or scrapping free shipping altogether.
The risk with this approach, Overstreet says, is backlash from customers. He points to L.L. Bean as an example. The company ranked 16th among U.S. RepTrack’s 100 Most Reputable Companies in 2017 but fell out completely the next year after changing its return policy. L.L. Bean reduced its lifetime replacement guarantee to a year-long return window and required customers to show a receipt.
Overstreet and his co-authors say in a newly published study that consumers are more likely to shop elsewhere if they view a return policy change as unfair or breaking a promise. They’re also more likely to complain to friends and family. But retailers may be able to retain customers and protect their reputations if they specifically target “serial returners” with the policy change.
Serial returners include people who order multiple sizes, colors or models of a product to choose one and send the rest back. Last year, a Narvar study found that more than half of online shoppers in the U.S. buy more than they intend to keep. Another shopping behavior that’s contributed to the growth in returns is known as wardrobing or retail borrowing. Someone buys something for short-term use (e.g., a bassinet for a newborn, speakers for a one-time event) and sends it back before the return window closes.
"With higher costs this year and increasing volumes of excess inventory, many retail giants are considering revamping their return policies,” said Overstreet. “Change is coming. But how they implement and communicate those changes will matter.”
Targeted vs. generalized
The researchers designed a vignette experiment featuring ABCmart, a fictionalized clothing retailer with an online presence and physical stores in all medium-to-large U.S. cities. Over 460 participants were asked to imagine they were loyal customers of ABCmart and planning to return a recent online purchase.
Half of the participants were told the company was shortening its return window for all customers (i.e., a generalized policy.) The other half were told the shorter return window would affect only consumers who have abused the return policy (i.e., a targeted policy for serial returners.) Participants were told that they learned about the new policy because it was either 1.) widely covered on television, radio, and social media (i.e., high-intensity communication) or 2.) posted on ABCmart’s website and within their retail stores (i.e., low-intensity communication).
The researchers found that the participants were significantly more likely to speak negatively about ABCmart when the policy change was generalized. Further, that negative word of mouth was significantly related to customer intentions to switch to a different website.
In another survey, 100 participants were asked about their thoughts about generalized versus targeted policy changes. When the return policy change was targeted, 44% of the participants expressed positive emotions, while only 13% expressed negative emotions. The other 43% were neutral.
Those on the positive side of the spectrum often made comments about fairness. For example: “I would feel proud of the company for taking action against people who try to cheat the system.”
“Respondents largely understood that cheaters were increasing the price paid by everyone,” said Overstreet.
Thirty-five percent of the participants in the targeted policy group also indicated they would talk about the policy change with friends and family. However, they said these comments would be neutral or positive. Only one participant indicated switching to another company when the returns policy change was targeted.
However, when the return policy change was generalized, 64% of the participants expressed negative emotions, while only 2% expressed positive emotions. The other 34% were neutral. Nearly half of the participants indicated they would speak negatively about the change to family and friends (45%) and shop at another store (42%).
Retailer communication
Both showed the way the policy change was communicated to participants also mattered. Low-intensity communication for a targeted policy change led to the best outcome.
“The majority of customers are not going to be affected by a policy change that targets serial returners, so there’s no benefit to wide-scale communications. Only offenders will be upset, not the whole group,” Overstreet explained.
Pat Daugherty and Russell Laczniak, emeritus professors of supply chain management and marketing, respectively; and Tyler Morgan, assistant professor of supply chain management at Auburn University, contributed to the paper published in the Journal of Business Research. The research was funded by multiple grants from the Ivy College of Business.
Overstreet and Daugherty are working with a Ph.D. candidate at Iowa State to develop a risk framework for returns management that includes recommended mitigation strategies.
