An embarrassment of riches

Greater fat stores and cholesterol increase with brain volume, but beyond a certain point they are associated with faster brain aging

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA

 

IMAGE: THE DAY'S CATCH view more 

CREDIT: MICHAEL GURVEN

Among Indigenous, rural non-industrial populations inhabiting the tropical forests of lowland Bolivia, researchers report, there appears to be an optimal balance between levels of food consumption and exercise that maximizes healthy brain aging and reduces the risk of disease.

“We hypothesize that energy gain from food intake was positively associated with late life brain health in the physically active, food-limited world of our ancestors, but that obesity and other manifestations of a Western lifestyle now lead to greater cognitive aging and dementia in middle and older ages,” said UC Santa Barbara professor of anthropology Michael Gurven, a senior co-author on a study that published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For this paper, the researchers collaborated with the Tsimané and Mosetén tribes, two Indigenous populations that live along tributaries of the Amazon River that flow through lowland Bolivia. In comparison to urban post-industrialized populations, these groups have less reliable access to food and have to exert a lot of effort to get it. They also have less access to modern health care. Meanwhile, people in wealthy countries have largely grown accustomed to eating more and exercising less — habits that are associated with decreased brain volumes and faster cognitive decline.

“We set out to compare rates of brain aging between U.S. and European populations, and two Indigenous Bolivian populations: the Tsimané, who have very low rates of heart disease and minimal dementia, and the Mosetén, who are culturally similar to the Tsimané but whose lifestyle has shifted away from subsistence,” said Gurven, who co-directs the Tsimané Health and Life History Project, a two-decade NIH-funded longitudinal study of health and aging.

The researchers enrolled 1,165 Tsimané and Mosetén adults, aged 40–94 years, and provided them transportation from their remote villages to the closest hospital with a CT scanner. They then used methods developed by study co-author Andrei Irimia, an assistant professor in the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, to accurately measure brain volume from the CT scans. They also measured the participants’ body mass index, blood pressure, total blood cholesterol and other biomarkers of cardiometabolic health.

“We found the fastest brain aging in the U.S. and European cohorts,” Gurven said. “It was slowest in Tsimané and intermediate in Mosetén.” Rates of brain atrophy, or brain shrinking, are correlated with cognitive decline and risks of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. In addition to less brain atrophy, the researchers found improved cardiovascular health in the Indigenous groups compared to industrialized populations in the U.S. and Europe.

The environment of limited food availability plays a role in the brain and cardiovascular fitness of nonindustrial societies, according to Irimia, in that “humans historically spent a lot of time exercising out of necessity to find food and their brain aging profiles reflected this lifestyle.”

Studying the Mosetén population illuminated key findings: as a “sister” population to the Tsimané, they share similar languages, ancestral history and agrarian lifestyle. However, the Mosetén have more exposure to modern technology, medicine, infrastructure and education. Based on the researchers’ results, according to Gurven, “the Mosetén’s lifestyle is more vulnerable to the chronic diseases of aging than among the Tsimane, but less so than in post-industrialized countries.”

Among the Tsimané, BMI, adiposity and higher levels of “bad” cholesterol were associated with bigger brain volumes for age. This, however, may be due to individuals being more muscular, on average, than individuals in industrialized countries who have comparable BMIs. Only at the highest levels of BMI, adiposity and cholesterol — closer to the levels more typically observed in the U.S. — was brain volume compromised.

“Our analyses suggest that ‘too much of a good thing,’ or what we call the ‘embarrassment of riches,’ seems to be what’s going on,” Gurven explained. “Greater adiposity, blood cholesterol and other indicators of nutrient intake increase with brain volume, but only up to a point — a ‘sweet spot.’ Not too little and not too much. Beyond the sweet spot, higher levels of adiposity and cholesterol are associated with a smaller brain volume — faster brain aging. That’s consistent with our current environment being mismatched to our evolved biology.”

Co-author Hillard Kaplan, an anthropologist at Chapman University and a co-director of the Tsimané Health and Life History Project, agrees. “During our evolutionary past, more food and less calories spent in getting it resulted in improved health, well-being and ultimately higher reproductive success,” he said. “This evolutionary history selected for psychological and physiological traits that made us desire extra food and less physical work, and with industrialization, those traits led us to overshoot the mark.”

According to Gurven, the study implications carry a hint of optimism. “The same active lifestyle that leads to a healthy heart seems to also lead to a healthy brain, and well into your 70s,” he said. “If people like the Tsimané and Mosetén have found a manageable life-long balance to stave off dementia, then there’s hope for the rest of us.”

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2205448120 

ARTICLE TITLE

Brain volume, energy balance, and cardiovascular health in two nonindustrial South American populations

How road rage really affects your driving – and the self-driving cars of the future

New research by the University of Warwick has identified characteristics of aggressive driving – which impact both road users and the transition to self-driving cars of the future.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

New research by the University of Warwick has identified characteristics of aggressive driving – which impact both road users and the transition to self-driving cars of the future.

In the first study to systematically identify aggressive driving behaviours, scientists have measured the changes in driving that occur in an aggressive state. Aggressive drivers drive faster and with more mistakes than non-aggressive drivers – putting other road users at risk and posing a challenge to researchers working on self-driving car technology.

The research comes as a leading Detective Chief Superintendent, Andy Cox, warns of the perils of such driving – warning that the four-five deaths on UK roads daily are “predominantly caused by dangerous and reckless drivers”.

The study categorised aggressive driving behaviours and showed the key aspects of this dangerous driving style. Published in Accident Analysis and Prevention, it reported key findings:

• Aggressive drivers have a 5km/h mean faster speed than non-aggressive drivers;
• Aggressive drivers also exhibit more mistakes than control groups – such as not indicating when changing lanes;
• Aggressive driving is categorised as any driving behaviour that intentionally endangers others psychologically, physically, or both.

Lead author of the study Zhizhuo Su, PhD student, at the Institutes of Digital Healthcare and Intelligent Vehicles, WMG at the University of Warwick, said: “While it’s unethical to let aggressive drivers loose on the roads, participants were asked to recall angry memories, putting them in an aggressive state, while performing a driving simulation. These were compared to a control group, who weren’t feeling aggressive.

“This research is significant because, as the era of autonomous vehicles approaches, road traffic will be a mix of both autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles, driven by people that may engaged in aggressive driving. This is the first study to characterise aggressive driving behaviour quantitatively in a systematic way, which may help the autonomous vehicles identify potential aggressive driving in the surrounding environment."

Roger Woodman, Assistant Professor at WMG and co-author of the study, added: “Over the last few decades, road safety policies, infrastructure changes, and improved vehicle safety have significantly reduced road casualties. However, human error, which is often a result of aggressive driving, remains a leading cause of crashes. To make driving safer, our research focuses on methods for understanding the state of the driver, to identify risky driving behaviours, through the use of driver monitoring systems (DMS). This will enable the driver to be alerted when they are at an increased risk of an accident and allow the vehicle to deploy calming methods, such as altering the cabin noise level, playing relaxing music, or ultimately reducing the speed of the vehicle.”

Dept Chief Superintendent Andy Cox, NPCC lead for fatal crash investigation and OCU Commander at the Metropolitan Police, added: ‘In the UK, on average between four-five people die every single day in a road crash. This widespread devastation is predominantly caused by dangerous and reckless drivers. Having met many bereaved families who live with the lifelong heartache of prematurely losing a loved one in such a violent manner, I recognise the need to instigate substantial change across the road safety sphere; which includes driving culture, standards and legislative options.

“Those drivers who choose to commit road crimes such as aggressive driving, intimidating other sensible and safe road users – should recognise the risk they pose to themselves and others, and frankly the law should remember that a driving licence is assigned after a person demonstrates themselves to be safe and earns the right to drive. We should seek to maintain high standards and ensure the system sees the right to drive as a privilege rather than an entitlement. Currently I think the balance favours the individual rather than the law abiding collective.”

Read the full paper here.

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DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2023.106972 

Engineered plants produce sex perfume to trick pests and replace pesticides

Peer-Reviewed Publication

EARLHAM INSTITUTE

By using precision gene engineering techniques, researchers at the Earlham Institute in Norwich have been able to turn tobacco plants into solar-powered factories for moth sex pheromones. 

Critically, they’ve shown how the production of these molecules can be efficiently managed so as not to hamper normal plant growth. 

Pheromones are complex chemicals produced and released by an organism as a means of communication. They allow members of the same species to send signals, which includes letting others know they’re looking for love.

Farmers can hang pheromone dispersers among their crops to mimic the signals of female insects, trapping or distracting the males from finding a mate. Some of these molecules can be produced by chemical processes but chemical synthesis is often expensive and creates toxic byproducts. 

Dr Nicola Patron, who led this new research and heads the Synthetic Biology Group at the Earlham Institute, uses cutting-edge science to get plants to produce these valuable natural products. 

Synthetic biology applies engineering principles to the building blocks of life, DNA. By creating genetic modules with the instructions to build new molecules, Dr Patron and her group can turn a plant such as tobacco into a factory that only needs sunlight and water. 

“Synthetic biology can allow us to engineer plants to make a lot more of something they already produced, or we can provide the genetic instructions that allow them to build new biological molecules, such as medicines or these pheromones,” said Dr Patron.

In this latest work, the team worked with scientists at the Plant Molecular and Cell Biology Institute in Valencia to engineer a species of tobacco, Nicotiana benthamiana, to produce moth sex pheromones. The same plant has previously been engineered to produce ebola antibodies and even coronavirus-like particles for use in Covid vaccines.

The Group built new sequences of DNA in the lab to mimic the moth genes and introduced a few molecular switches to precisely regulate their expression, which effectively turns the manufacturing process on and off.

An important component of the new research was the ability to fine tune the production of the pheromones, as coercing plants to continuously build these molecules has its drawbacks. 

“As we increase the efficiency, too much energy is diverted away from normal growth and development,” explained Dr Patron. 

“The plants are producing a lot of pheromone but they’re not able to grow very large, which essentially reduces the capacity of our production line. Our new research provides a way to regulate gene expression with much more subtlety.”

In the lab, the team set about testing and refining the control of genes responsible for producing the mix of specific molecules that mimic the sex pheromones of moth species, including navel orangeworm and cotton bollworm moths.

They showed that copper sulphate could be used to finely tune the activity of the genes, allowing them to control both the timing and level of gene expression. This is particularly important as copper sulphate is a cheap and readily-available compound already approved for use in agriculture.

They were even able to carefully control the production of different pheromone components, allowing them to tweak the cocktail to better suit specific moth species.

“We’ve shown we can control the levels of expression of each gene relative to the others,” said Dr Patron. “This allows us to control the ratio of products that are made. 

“Getting that recipe right is particularly important for moth pheromones as they’re often a blend of two or three molecules in specific ratios. Our collaborators in Spain are now extracting the plant-made pheromones and testing them in dispensers to see how well they compare to female moths.”

The team hope their work will pave the way to routinely using plants to produce a wide range of valuable natural products.

“A major advantage of using plants is that it can be far more expensive to build complex molecules using chemical processes,” said Dr Patron. “Plants produce an array of useful molecules already so we’re able to use the latest techniques to adapt and refine the existing machinery.

“In the future, we may see greenhouses full of plant factories - providing a greener, cheaper and more sustainable way to manufacture complex molecules.”

The research is part of the SUSPHIRE project, which received support from ERACoBiotech funded by the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

ENDS

Notes to Editor

'Tunable control of insect pheromone biosynthesis in Nicotiana benthamiana' is published in the journal Plant Biotechnology.

The plants in this research are not designed for consumption or field growth. The intention of this project has been for biosynthesised pheromones to be extracted from plants grown in a contained environment, with the extracts used in the same way as chemically synthesised pheromone products. The biosynthesised pheromones are not volatile or released into the air by the plant.

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JOURNAL

Plant Biotechnology

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Tunable control of insect pheromone biosynthesis in Nicotiana benthamiana

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Apr-2023

A novel biorefinery process with material and energy circulation by reusing by-products

Designing a process that maximizes the effective use of biomass resources

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: THE CONCEPTUAL DIAGRAM OF THIS STUDY view more 

CREDIT: RYU UKAWA-SATO, TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

The research team of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) has designed and developed a novel recycling process for producing biomass-derived chemicals by reusing the by-products of the target product. In this study, the research team demonstrated a self-sustaining process that minimizes the usage of external utilities in the chemical process by numerical simulations. This achievement has significantly contributed to energy conservation by reusing by-products, which had been disposed of in the conventional process in the chemical process to ensure profitability. In addition, while previous processes were designed on a large scale, this study was designed with a biomass supply feasible in all regions. This is a completely different approach from conventional processes. With this achievement, we can significantly reduce petroleum usage in chemical processes to establish a recycling-oriented society in the future. In addition, for regional revitalization, it is expected to create a chemical industry for local production for local consumption using agricultural and forestry waste in mountainous regions.

The results have been published in Chemical Engineering Research and Design on March 1st, 2022.

Biomass is the renewable carbon resource that can replace fossil resources in chemical production. Among the biomass-derived chemicals, levulinic acid (LA) is attracting attention as a platform chemical because it can be synthesized from cellulose, which makes up about 50% of woody biomass, and is a precursor for a wide range of substances from pharmaceuticals to bio-fuels. Conventional LA production processes from biomass are large-scale processes with an annual biomass supply of more than 120,000 tonnes, and had challenges in effectively utilizing all biomass resources.

In response, this research team has developed a process that minimizes the supply of external utilities by reusing by-products produced during the production of LA from biomass as much as possible while still being able to supply all of the required energy from the combustion of by-products. Specifically, by reusing the by-product formic acid as a catalyst, using a chemical called furfural obtained from biomass as an extraction solvent to purify LA, and combusting the solid by-products, the total process energy was reduced and supplied by itself. Furthermore, it was found that the excess solid by-products could be effectively utilized for building materials and other purposes. We also found that using river water could provide all the cooling needed. The amount of river water is less than 0.12% of the minimum annual volume flow in the middle reaches of the Naka River in Tochigi Prefecture, located in a rural area of Japan.

Regarding economics, the minimum selling price of LA produced by this process was $9.59 per kilogram, which was higher than the market price of $7.17 per kilogram. The reason is due to the fact that this process allows for thin profit margins to some extent, which is an advantage of large-scale processes, and also because no separation and purification of by-products are performed. According to the above points, it can be said that the results of this research indicate that this process can be fully implemented in society for a locally produced and consumed chemical industry using agricultural and forestry waste in mountainous regions.

Credit:  Chihiro Fushimi/TUAT

###

This work was supported by the Doctoral Program for World-leading Innovative & Smart Education of Tokyo university of Agriculture and Technology (WISE Program of TUAT): "Excellent Leader Development for Super Smart Society by New Industry Creation and Diversity" granted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan.

For more information about the Fushimi laboratory, please visit https://web.tuat.ac.jp/~cfushimi/index_e.html

 

Original publication

Design and Techno–Economic Analysis of Levulinic Acid Production Process from Biomass by Using Co-product Formic Acid as a Catalyst with Minimal Waste Generation
Ryu Ukawa-Sato, Nanami Hirano, Chihiro Fushimi
Chemical Engineering Research and Design 192, 389-401, 2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2023.02.046

 

About Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT)

TUAT is a distinguished university in Japan dedicated to science and technology. TUAT focuses on agriculture and engineering that form the foundation of industry, and promotes education and research fields that incorporate them. Boasting a history of over 140 years since our founding in 1874, TUAT continues to take on new challenges boldly and steadily promote fields. With high ethics, TUAT fulfills social responsibility in the capacity of transmitting science and technology information towards the construction of a sustainable society where both human beings and nature can thrive in a symbiotic relationship. For more information, please visit http://www.tuat.ac.jp/en/.

 

Contact

Chihiro Fushimi, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, TUAT, Japan
cfushimi@cc.tuat.ac.jp

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JOURNAL

Chemical Engineering Research and Design

DOI

10.1016/j.cherd.2023.02.046 

ARTICLE TITLE

Design and Techno–Economic Analysis of Levulinic Acid Production Process from Biomass by Using Co-product Formic Acid as a Catalyst with Minimal Waste Generation

LED imaging visually confirms oral suction device efficacy in droplet and aerosol reduction

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOHOKU UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: REDUCTION OF AEROSOL DROPLET DISPERSION BY THE COMBINATION OF INTRA-ORAL SUCTION (IOS) AND EXTRA-ORAL SUCTION (EOS). view more 

CREDIT: 2023 JAPAN PROSTHODONTIC SOCIETY

Many infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, are known to spread through aerosols and droplets suspended in the air. Therefore, it is necessary to fully understand the hazards of aerosols and droplets presented during dental treatment.

Using a dental air turbine and a mannequin, researchers at Tohoku University recreated the droplets and aerosols that occur during dental procedures. The key is the high-sensitivity camera and high-intensity LED light source, which allowed for high-quality images of the droplet spreading during the simulated procedure, which was previously difficult to do in real-time without dye. Then, extra-oral suction (EOS) and intra-oral suction (IOS) were used to determine how well these oral suction devices work. Using these techniques, the researchers reduced droplet and aerosol spread within the air by 97.8% when both EOS and IOS were used, and a 92.1% reduction using IOS alone.

The researchers published their results on February 22 in the Journal of Prosthodontic Research.

"Since the droplets and aerosols ("spray" and "mist") generated during dental treatment contain bacteria and viruses derived from saliva and blood, elucidation of their spreading and diffusion dynamics is required from the perspective of COVID-19 prevention," said Jun Watanabe, author and researcher at Tohoku University. And saliva is not the only component that can aerosolize and cause issues either. Different materials can produce different aerosols; silicon, calcium, potassium, and zinc have been recorded in air samples from dental clinics. Inhalation of fine dust, mainly silica, can lead to respiratory issues in frequently exposed individuals. Understanding the spread and diffusion of such particles in the air is a key step in successfully protecting individuals from potentially harmful diseases that can be spread through airborne droplets.

It's also worth noting that the work being done on the patient can alter the directionality or spread of the droplets. For example, researchers found that treatments for cavities on the anterior teeth are the most likely to be associated with droplet spreading. Furthermore, the correct placement of the oral suction devices is important, with the most effective positioning of the EOS device found to be about 10 centimeters away from the patient's mouth at a 0º angle.

"Analysis in various clinical situations is expected to elucidate the dynamics of dental treatment-derived droplets and aerosols and lead to the establishment of new dental treatment protocols, the development of air purification equipment, and the development of a cleaner and safer dental care environment," said Hiroyasu Kanetaka, author and researcher at the Liaison Center for Innovative Dentistry at Tohoku University.

While this study confirmed the effectiveness of IOS and EOS at reducing droplets in the air during dental treatment, some limitations will require future testing. The mannequin could not simulate breathing or exhalation, which may produce differing results. Moreover, the mannequin's lack of accurate lip and tongue morphology could also have impacted some results. Further investigations using a patient model will be required to clarify the efficacy of these oral suction devices.

Video 1 [VIDEO] 

A video demonstrating the R¥reduction of aerosol droplet dispersion by the combination of intra-oral suction (IOS) and extra-oral suction (EOS)

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JOURNAL

Journal of Prosthodontic Research

DOI

10.2186/jpr.JPR_D_23_00013 

New technology for dramatic reduction of daily odors

KIST developed an annealing activated carbon that improves the adsorption efficiency of nitrogen-containing odorous compounds by up to 38 times, The multidentate adsorption mechanism of nitrogen-containing odorous gases such as ammonia was revealed for th

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: ADSORPTION MECHANISMS OF HEAT-DRIED ACTIVATED CARBON AND ADSORPTION PERFORMANCE OF NITROGEN-CONTAINING ODOROUS COMPOUNDS view more 

CREDIT: KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Odorous gases, which are unpleasant and strongly irritating to the eyes, nose, and respiratory tract, are ubiquitous in facilities such as septic tanks, sewage systems, livestock farms, and waste disposal plants. These gases exert a negative impact on the human body as well as the surrounding environment, thus numerous ways have been developed to eliminate them. Typical odor removal methods use activated carbon as an adsorbent. However, activated carbon has low recyclability, making it difficult to remove the sources of complex odorous gases for reuse.

A research team led by Dr. Jiwon Lee and Youngtak Oh of the Sustainable Environment Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Seok-Yeol Yoon) announced that they developed an activated carbon manufacturing technology that dramatically improves the removal of four representative nitrogen-containing odorous compounds (NOCs) from air: ammonia, ethylamine, dimethylamine, and trimethylamine. Not only did the research team improve the adsorption efficiency of activated carbon for removing odor substances, but they have also discovered the adsorption mechanism between adsorbents and odorous gases, making it possible to develop a wider variety of adsorbents for complex odor substances.

The research team was able to precisely control the degree of surface oxidation to increase the adsorption efficiency of NOCs through an thermal annealing process after oxidizing the activated carbon with nitric acid. They found that the most oxidized heat-treated activated carbon could increase the removal efficiency of odor substances by up to 38 times compared to conventional activated carbon. For the first time, the researchers revealed that the oxygen atoms on the surface of oxidized activated carbon form strong hydrogen bonds with the amines in nitrogen-containing odor molecules. This finding reflects the principle of optimizing the adsorption effect of NOCs by increasing the degree of oxidation so that more hydrogen bonds can be formed with amines on the surface of activated carbon. Furthermore, the research team also demonstrated that unlike typical gas reactions, the interaction between the adsorbent and odor substances was primarily influenced by the number of hydrogen bonds, rather than proton affinity.

Furthermore, thermally dried activated carbon(TDAC) was found increase selectivity for trimethylamine by more than 13 times. This result represents a substantial improvement, as trimethylamine has the lowest adsorption efficiency among conventional NOCs. Trimethylamine, a designated odor substance regulated by law in Korea, is a typical source of odors in agriculture, landfills, and sewage and waste water treatment plants. In particular, the heat-dried activated carbon has an average recyclability of 93.8% for trimethylamine, showing high economic efficiency compared to the 63% recyclability of conventional activated carbon.

"By identifying the adsorption mechanism of odorous gases, we can develop materials that are specialized for removing specific gases, and heat-dried activated carbon, which undergoes an oxidation process, is relatively simple to produce and can be reused. Thus, it can be applied as a material for purification devices such as filters and masks,” claimed Dr. Jiwon Lee of KIST.

  

DFT calculation result and nitrogen-containing odorous compound selectivity of heat-dried activated carboN

CREDIT

Korea Institute of Science and Technology

KIST was established in 1966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea. KIST now strives to solve national and social challenges and secure growth engines through leading and innovative research. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://eng.kist.re.kr/

This research was conducted through the KIST Major Projects supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the results were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production (IF: 11.072, top 8.423% in JCR), an international journal in the environmental science field.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Cleaner Production

DOI

10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.136261 

ARTICLE TITLE

Adsorption Enhancement of Hazardous Odor Gas using Controlled Thermal Oxidation of Activated Carbon

New Study Suggests Cold Imagery Creates Perception of Newness in Advertisements

Researchers from Japan show that ads with imagery conveying a feeling of coldness can positively influence consumer behavior and perception about a product

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SOPHIA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: ALTHOUGH COLDNESS OFTEN HAS A NEGATIVE CONNOTATION, SCIENTISTS HAVE RECENTLY SHOWN THAT COLD IMAGERY IN VISUAL ADS CAN HELP CONVEY AN IDEA OF "NEWNESS" IN A MARKETED PRODUCT. view more 

CREDIT: TAKU TOGAWA FROM SOPHIA UNIVERSITY, JAPAN

In visual advertisements, the imagery that accompanies the actual pictures of a product is extremely important. Multiple studies and surveys have shown that these images can help evoke specific feelings and communicate key brand- or product-related concepts to consumers. For example, showing accompanying images of lush nature in an ad can instill an idea of "greenness" or "eco-friendliness." While many different consumer perceptions have been analyzed thoroughly, few studies have focused on how the idea of "newness" can be better communicated to consumers, which is defined as the extent to which a product is perceived as new, innovative, or creative.

To address this knowledge gap, a research team led by Associate Professor Taku Togawa from Sophia University, Japan, investigated whether newness can be conveyed in a rather unexpected way: using cold imagery. “Coldness often has a negative connotation; for example, people regularly use expressions such as “She gave me the cold shoulder” or “His comment froze me in place.” Indeed, consumer researchers have shown that warm temperatures increase consumers’ evaluation and purchase intention for a given product more than cold temperatures,” explains Assoc. Prof. Togawa, “However, our study sought to prove that, in the context of advertising for new products, coldness is not always a negative factor in consumer behavior.” This work was co-authored by Dr. Hiroaki Ishii from Aoyama Gakuin University, Dr. Jaewoo Park from Chuo University, and Rajat Roy from Bond University, and their paper was made available online on March 1 2023 and published in Volume 160 in May 2023 in the Journal of Business Research.

First, the researchers considered the psychological mechanisms of newness perception using construal level theory (CLT). In short, CLT is a social psychological theory that states that the way people construe or interpret an object depends on the "psychological distance" between them and the object. When an object is psychologically distant, people tend to perceive it in more abstract and general terms, focusing on its broader features and meaning.

Based on a previous finding that the perception of coldness can increase a subject’s psychological distance to an event or object, Assoc. Prof. Togawa and colleagues theorized that cold imagery could be leveraged to enhance the perception of newness for a product. Put simply, by amplifying the psychological distance to a product using cold imagery, the consumer’s perceived ambiguity about that product will increase, which in turn will cause them to identify it as "novel" and engage their curiosity.

The team verified various aspects of their hypothesis by conducting four different experiments. In each, an online survey was sent to over a hundred participants, which were shown fake product ads with accompanying "cold" or "warm" imagery. For example, one ad for a car either had an accompanying photograph of a snowy landscape or a sunny green field.

The first experiment confirmed that coldness was indeed statistically associated with a higher perception of newness in the survey participants. Meanwhile, the answers in the second experiment verified that coldness led to a higher psychological distance, and therefore higher perceived ambiguity and newness. The third experiment showed that using cold imagery was effective at increasing perceived newness for modern-looking products, but not for antique-style products. Finally, the fourth experiment indicated that the perceived newness enhanced by cold imagery improved the consumer’s evaluation of the advertised product, but only when they were hypothetically planning to buy it in the distant future rather than in the short term.

Taken together, these findings provide much insight about how coldness can be effectively leveraged in visual advertising. “Our results will contribute to building a theoretical framework explaining how newness perception is communicated through advertising,” highlights Assoc. Prof. Togawa, “We believe marketers may be able to communicate product newness more easily, quickly, and inexpensively by using background imagery related to coldness in their advertisements rather than altering the style and features of the product itself, which is costly.”

With any luck, further insight into this topic will help marketers fully employ the power of coldness to get their message across!

 

Reference

【Title of original paper】The temperature of newness: How vision–temperature correspondence in advertising influences newness perception and product evaluation

【DOI】10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113801

【Journal】Journal of Business Research

【Authors】Taku Togawa1, Hiroaki Ishii2, Jaewoo Park3, Rajat Roy4

【Affiliations】1Sophia University, Faculty of Economics, Department of Management,2Aoyama Gakuin University, School of Business, Department of Marketing, 3Chuo University, Faculty of Commerce, Department of Marketing and Trade, 4Bond University, Bond Business School

 

About Sophia University

Established as a private Jesuit affiliated university in 1913, Sophia University is one of the most prestigious universities located in the heart of Tokyo, Japan.  Imparting education through 29 departments in 9 faculties and 25 majors in 10 graduate schools, Sophia hosts more than 13,000 students from around the world.

Conceived with the spirit of “For Others, With Others,” Sophia University truly values internationality and neighborliness, and believes in education and research that go beyond national, linguistic, and academic boundaries. Sophia emphasizes on the need for multidisciplinary and fusion research to find solutions for the most pressing global issues like climate change, poverty, conflict, and violence. Over the course of the last century, Sophia has made dedicated efforts to hone future-ready graduates who can contribute their talents and learnings for the benefit of others, and pave the way for a sustainable future while “Bringing the World Together.”

Website: https://www.sophia.ac.jp/eng/

 

About Associate Professor Taku Togawa from Sophia University, Japan

Dr. Taku Togawa received a Ph.D. in Marketing from Waseda University in 2018. He joined the Department of Management at Sophia University as an Associate Professor in April 2020. He mainly conducts experimental studies in consumer behavior, focusing on how and when sensory inputs from marketing tools influence consumers' perceptions, evaluations, and consumption behavior. His works have been featured in top-tier journals, such as the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Motivation Science, and Food Quality and Preference. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing & Distribution, JSMD Review, and Japan Marketing Journal.

 

Funding information

This study was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, grant number: 19K01943).

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JOURNAL

Journal of Business Research

DOI

10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113801 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The temperature of newness: How vision–temperature correspondence in advertising influences newness perception and product evaluation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Apr-2023

Solar cells charging forward

Realizing the potential of creating silicon-based photovoltaics at room temperature

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KYOTO UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF PEDOT:PSS SOLAR CELL view more 

CREDIT: KYOTOU/KATSUAKI TANABE

Kyoto, Japan -- Ongoing challenges in solar cell production may partly explain why non-renewable energy resources -- such as coal, oil, and natural gas -- have overshadowed current optoelectronic devices. 

Now, researchers at Kyoto University may have found an environmentally friendlier solution with enhanced performance, utilizing PEDOT:PSS/silicon heterojunction solar cells. This hybrid type is made of organic-inorganic material, which could potentially ease the production process compared to conventional silicon-only solar cells.

"We wanted to avoid manufacturing solar cells in vacuums and high-temperature processes, which require large and expensive equipment and a great amount of time," explains lead author Katsuaki Tanabe. 

Anticipating a challenge, the team set out to fabricate solar cells from silicon wafers under only ambient temperature and pressure conditions. However, their efforts proved to yield worthy results after optimizing process conditions for the wafers.

These polished wafers were first diced into 8-mm square pieces and coated with PEDOT:PSS aqueous solution and silver electrodes, in a variety of sequences.

"Our approach enabled us to achieve improved production speed at lower cost and with a power generation efficiency above 10%," remarks the author.

Tanabe's team posits that this new, more efficient production process may lead to large-scale diffusion of photovoltaic power generation. This system could see wider utility in various settings, such as in education or in developing economies.

"Next, we will focus on optimizing impurities and additive concentrations in our production, as well as other structural innovations," concludes Tanabe.

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The paper "An all ambient, room-temperature processed solar cell from a bare silicon wafer" appeared on 14 March 2023 in PNAS Nexus, with doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad067

Contact: Katsuaki Tanabe, Associate Professor/tanabe@cheme.kyoto-u.ac.jp

About Kyoto University

Kyoto University is one of Japan and Asia's premier research institutions, founded in 1897 and responsible for producing numerous Nobel laureates and winners of other prestigious international prizes. A broad curriculum across the arts and sciences at both undergraduate and graduate levels is complemented by numerous research centers, as well as facilities and offices around Japan and the world. For more information, please see: http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en

 

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JOURNAL

PNAS Nexus

DOI

10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad067 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

An all ambient, room-temperature processed solar cell from a bare silicon wafer