New material could hold key to reducing energy consumption in computers and electronics

University of Minnesota researchers create thin film of unique semimetal for the first time

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

 

IMAGE: A UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TWIN CITIES TEAM HAS, FOR THE FIRST TIME, SYNTHESIZED A THIN FILM OF A UNIQUE TOPOLOGICAL SEMIMETAL MATERIAL THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE MORE POWER AND MEMORY STORAGE IN COMPUTER CHIPS WHILE USING SIGNIFICANTLY LESS ENERGY. view more 

CREDIT: ISTOCK

A University of Minnesota Twin Cities team has, for the first time, synthesized a thin film of a unique topological semimetal material that has the potential to generate more computing power and memory storage while using significantly less energy. The researchers were also able to closely study the material, leading to some important findings about the physics behind its unique properties.

The study is published in Nature Communications, a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers the natural sciences and engineering.

As evidenced by the United States’ recent CHIPS and Science Act, there is a growing need to increase semiconductor manufacturing and support research that goes into developing the materials that power electronic devices everywhere. While traditional semiconductors are the technology behind most of today’s computer chips, scientists and engineers are always looking for new materials that can generate more power with less energy to make electronics better, smaller, and more efficient.

One such candidate for these new and improved computer chips is a class of quantum materials called topological semimetals. The electrons in these materials behave in different ways, giving the materials unique properties that typical insulators and metals used in electronic devices do not have. For this reason, they are being explored for use in spintronic devices, an alternative to traditional semiconductor devices that leverage the spin of electrons rather than the electrical charge to store data and process information.

In this new study, an interdisciplinary team of University of Minnesota researchers were able to successfully synthesize such a material as a thin film—and prove that it has the potential for high performance with low energy consumption.

“This research shows for the first time that you can transition from a weak topological insulator to a topological semimetal using a magnetic doping strategy,” said Jian-Ping Wang, a senior author of the paper and a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Robert F. Hartmann Chair in the University of Minnesota Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “We’re looking for ways to extend the lifetimes for our electrical devices and at the same time lower the energy consumption, and we’re trying to do that in non-traditional, out-of-the-box ways.”

Researchers have been working on topological materials for years, but the University of Minnesota team is the first to use a patented, industry-compatible sputtering process to create this semimetal in a thin film format. Because their process is industry compatible, Wang said, the technology can be more easily adopted and used for manufacturing real-world devices.  

“Every day in our lives, we use electronic devices, from our cell phones to dishwashers to microwaves. They all use chips. Everything consumes energy,” said Andre Mkhoyan, a senior author of the paper and Ray D. and Mary T. Johnson Chair and Professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. “The question is, how do we minimize that energy consumption? This research is a step in that direction. We are coming up with a new class of materials with similar or often better performance, but using much less energy.”

Because the researchers fabricated such a high-quality material, they were also able to closely analyze its properties and what makes it so unique.

“One of the main contributions of this work from a physics point of view is that we were able to study some of this material’s most fundamental properties,” said Tony Low, a senior author of the paper and the Paul Palmberg Associate Professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Normally, when you apply a magnetic field, the longitudinal resistance of a material will increase, but in this particular topological material, we have predicted that it would decrease. We were able to corroborate our theory to the measured transport data and confirm that there is indeed a negative resistance.”

Low, Mkhoyan, and Wang have been working together for more than a decade on topological materials for next generation electronic devices and systems—this research wouldn’t have been possible without combining their respective expertise in theory and computation, material growth and characterization, and device fabrication.

“It not only takes an inspiring vision but also great patience across the four disciplines and a dedicated group of team members to work on such an important but challenging topic, which will potentially enable the transition of the technology from lab to industry,” Wang said.

In addition to Low, Mkhoyan, and Wang, the research team included University of Minnesota Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering researchers Delin Zhang, Wei Jiang, Onri Benally, Zach Cresswell, Yihong Fan, Yang Lv, and Przemyslaw Swatek; Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science researcher Hwanhui Yun; Department of Physics and Astronomy researcher Thomas Peterson; and University of Minnesota Characterization Facility researchers Guichuan Yu and Javier Barriocanal.

This research is supported by SMART, one of seven centers of nCORE, a Semiconductor Research Corporation program, sponsored by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). T.P. and D.Z. were partly supported by ASCENT, one of six centers of JUMP, a Semiconductor Research Corporation program that is sponsored by MARCO and DARPA. This work was partially supported by the University of Minnesota’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program under award number DMR-2011401 (Seed). Parts of this work were carried out in the Characterization Facility of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, which receives partial support from the National Science Foundation through the MRSEC (Award NumberDMR-2011401). Portions of this work were conducted in the Minnesota Nano Center, which is supported by the NSF Nano Coordinated Infrastructure Network (NNCI) under Award Number ECCS-2025124.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-39408-2 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

ARTICLE TITLE

Robust negative longitudinal magnetoresistance and spin–orbit torque in sputtered Pt3Sn and Pt3SnxFe1-x topological semimetal

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

12-Jul-2023

UN chief says the world is in a new era marked by the highest major power competition in decades



UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the world’s nations Thursday that the post-Cold War period is over and the world is moving toward a new multipolar era already marked by the highest level of geopolitical tensions and major power competition in decades.

He warned that these divisions are undermining the cornerstone of the United Nations – having all countries work together to solve global challenges.

The U.N. chief ticked off a host of challenges — more complex and deadly conflicts, re-emerging concerns about possible nuclear war, growing inequalities within and between countries, widespread terrorism, the climate emergency, mounting distrust in public institutions, and human rights under attack globally “including a pernicious pushback against women’s rights.”

The secretary-general said Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has made it even more difficult to address these challenges. And without naming Russia he clearly criticized it, saying if every country fulfilled its obligations under the U.N. Charter -- which include respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations – “the right to peace would be guaranteed.”

Guterres presented his grim view of the world in a policy paper outlining his “New Agenda for Peace” to diplomats from the U.N.’s 193 member states. It is the U.N.’s attempt to address the new threats, he said.

The U.N. chief stressed the critical importance of preserving multilateralism, saying: “In our fractured, troubled world, it is incumbent upon states to preserve our universal institution, in which they have a stake.”

“The time to act is not when the divisions and fractures have engulfed us," he said. "The time to act is now.”

The original Agenda for Peace was presented by then U.N. secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1992 following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the end of its Cold War with the United States. It welcomed the end of “hostility and distrust” between the superpowers and outlined how the U.N. could step up its work on preventive diplomacy, peacekeeping and peacebuilding.

Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group, said this vision “of an activist, interventionist U.N.” has been its underlying policy for the past three decades. But he said Guterres’ “New Agenda for Peace” stresses that “the driving force for a new multilateralism must be diplomacy.”

In an analysis of the new agenda, Gowan said it focuses on what member nations need to do, and on multilateral cooperation in an increasingly fragmented and unequal world “in which Guterres believes that the U.N. must adapt to facilitating international cooperation, not aim to lead it.”

One of the key areas this proposed new approach is evident is in the secretary-general’s views on the U.N.’s far-flung peacekeeping operations, especially following the Security Council’s vote on June 30 to immediately end its more than 15,000-strong mission in Mali as demanded by the country’s military junta which has brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group to help fight an Islamic insurgency.

Guterres told diplomats that while peacekeepers have saved millions of lives, “longstanding unresolved conflicts, driven by complex domestic, geopolitical and transnational factors, and a persistent mismatch between mandates and resources, have exposed its limitations.” Put bluntly, he said, “peacekeeping operations cannot succeed when there is no peace to keep.”

His proposed peace agenda urges nations to move toward “nimble, adaptable” peacekeeping models with exit strategies, and to support “peace enforcement action by regional and sub-regional organizations,” mandated by the Security Council, paid for by U.N. member states, and backed by political efforts to promote peace.

“There is no continent in greater need of this new generation of peace enforcement missions than Africa,” Guterres said.

The “New Agenda for Peace” is one of several policy papers the secretary-general is urging all countries to consider before the Summit of the Future he has called in September 2024, where the U.N. hopes a new vision for the coming years reflecting the world today that preserves multilateralism will be adopted.

After Guterres’ presentation, many countries voiced initial reactions to the proposed agenda with generally strong support from the European Union and others. But Egypt said some proposals are too ambitious and Russia warned against interference in internal affairs and objecting to the agenda's emphasis on human rights and calling its approach to climate controversial.

Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press

Inside The Anti-High Fashion Show Making Puerto Rico’s Style Scene More Inclusive

Story by Frances Solá-Santiago •  Refinery29 -Tuesday

The sun almost set in Caguas, a town in Central Puerto Rico, when the second annual Paseo Pasarela, a fashion show highlighting local designers, began. But while a typical runway would involve seating assignments, sponsored goodie bags, and elaborate venues, the setting for this fashion show is more representative of the aftermath of a decades-long financial crisis and consecutive natural disasters in Puerto Rico: A makeshift runway in the center of town’s plaza, surrounded by permanently closed storefronts (like El Telar, the textile shop my mom and I used to visit every Saturday when I was growing) and abandoned buildings — relics of a once-booming town.

“It’s so difficult to be a fashion designer in Puerto Rico right now,” says Cristina Nuñez, founder of Paseo Pasarela. “Costs are skyrocketing and we can only do so much.”


Inside The Anti-High Fashion Show Making Puerto Rico’s Style Scene More Inclusive Provided by Refinery29

As the sun waved goodbye in Caguas, I saw upcycled pieces styled in an androgynous aesthetic, from designer Crystal Vélez’s brand Crystla. Lechat Costumier, designed by Daniela Fabrizi, showcased genderless and modular pants with peeking boxers, paired with feather tops and tiny bikinis. Bon Múdez presented a collection that commented on cultural appropriation and colonialism in Puerto Rico’s history that ended with a top-and-skirt combo that resembled the island’s flag.

But it wasn’t just about the clothes. The show also featured a diverse set of models, most notably trans model, rapper, and makeup artist Gabriel Josué. Designers also made statements via their music choices, which varied from “Fuega” by rising Puerto Rican rapper RaiNao — a sultry track that features the sound of the güiro, an autochthonous percussion instrument — to “Donde nadie más respira” by ILe, a politically-charged song that narrates how colonialism is hurting Puerto Ricans.

Since 2019, Paseo Pasarela has given a platform to local fashion designers, providing an annual show to display their collections. It’s also opening the doors for attendees to enjoy fashion, no matter their background, class, or connections; anyone could show up at the town’s plaza to see the show that’s free of fancy dress codes or VIP seating. Afterward, people could stop by the Paseo Pasarela bazaar to shop from the designers featured, giving customers the opportunity to learn more about talent that’s often overlooked even on the island. “It’s very important to me to have that level of accessibility,” says Nuñez.



The idea for an all-are-welcome runway event started when Nuñez was studying fashion design at the Universidad del Turabo, where she worked on a capstone project that proposed a fashion show focused on sustainability and inclusivity. (To qualify for Paseo Pasarela, designers must work within streetwear or ready-to-wear and focus on inclusivity and sustainability.)

“Fashion was one of the pioneering industries in Puerto Rico, and it has [since] decayed for political and economic reasons,” she says. “I realized there was a need for a space for emerging designers and innovative ideas.” Driven by that, she also wanted to create a space that was different from the gatekeeping fashion events she had worked in years before: “I never felt comfortable, I was looked down upon.” Furthermore, Nuñez says that the styles weren’t reflective of the everyday wardrobes of most people. “It was prom dresses, gala dresses, and I just felt like that wasn’t my reality,” she says. “[I thought,] How can we take local fashion to a more creative ready-to-wear level?”




By hosting Paseo Pasarela, Nuñez is widening the visibility for designers that have likewise felt excluded from fashion spaces and often lack the resources to put together a fashion show. So far, Paseo Pasarela’s judging panel has evaluated the works of over 100 designers, choosing 20 to showcase at the event. While the lineup focuses on emerging talent, it has also invited more established Puerto Rican designers to participate, including Amanda Forastieri, a Supima Award-winning designer; Nasheli Juliana, a Philadelphia-based former contestant on Netflix’s Next in Fashion; and Héctor Omar, a once-Project Runway contestant.

With the success of its two first installments, Nuñez says that her goal is to take the show on a tour around the island. “Our mission is to democratize fashion and to take it out of the metro area,” she says. But, ultimately, it’s about creating opportunities and sharing resources for designers to be able to work in Puerto Rico: “I want to establish a community that can back itself.”

Kamala Harris Addresses Florida's New Mandate to Teach About Slavery's 'Benefit': 'An Attempt to Gaslight Us'

Story by Daniel S. Levine •  PEOPLE- Yesterday 

The vice president called the Florida Board of Education's new academic standard on how to teach slavery an "insult"


Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Vice President Kamala Harris.© Provided by People

Vice President Kamala Harris called the Florida Board of Education's newly approved guidelines on how to teach slavery an "attempt to gaslight us" as the new academic standard requires middle schools to teach Florida students that enslaved people "developed skills" that "could be applied for their personal benefit."

"Speaking of our children, extremists pass book bans to prevent them from learning our true history – book bans in this year of our Lord 2023," Harris, 58, said in a speech at Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.'s 56th national convention in Indianapolis Thursday. "And while they do this, check it out, they push forward revisionist history."

"Just yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery," Harris continued. "They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it."



Paras Griffin/Getty Vice President Kamala Harris.© Provided by People

Related: Florida Middle Schoolers Will Now Be Taught That Slavery Had ‘Personal Benefit’ for Enslaved People

The academic standards were approved on Wednesday in response to Florida's 2022 "Stop WOKE Act," which requires race to be taught in "an objective manner" that does not "indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view."

The new guidelines state that middle school teachers must now teach students about "the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation)."

There is also a guideline directing educators to teach high schoolers about "acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans" when discussing Reconstruction after the Civil War. This standard lists the 1920 Ocoee Massacre, in which over 30 African Americans were killed by a White mob while trying to vote, as an example.

Related video: Kamala Harris claims her ‘goddaughter’s friends' are basing college choices on state abortion laws (FOX News)  View on Watch

After the State Board of Education adopted the new standards, the Florida Education Association, a statewide teachers' union, called the changes a "big step backward for a state that has required teaching African American history since 1994."

"How can our students ever be equipped for the future if they don't have a full, honest picture of where we've come from? Florida's students deserve a world-class education that equips them to be successful adults who can help heal our nation's divisions rather than deepen them," FEA president Andrew Spar wrote in a press release.

Elementary school students will also be asked to "identify" Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, Zora Neale Hurston, and other famous African Americans without being taught their "histories and struggles," the union wrote.


SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.© Provided by People

"Evidently in an attempt to protect students from wokeness, these new standards will make sure that, through the fourth grade, elementary school students' knowledge of African American history doesn't extend beyond being able to know who a famous African American is when they see them," the release states.

The new standards were approved months after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration rejected a new Advanced Placement course on African American history in January. It is the College Board's first new class since 2014.

Related: Vice President Kamala Harris Becomes First Woman to Deliver Commencement Address at West Point

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In a letter, the Florida Department of Education Office of Articulation said the course "lacks educational value and is contrary to Florida law," adding that, "In the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion."

DeSantis, who began his 2024 presidential campaign in May, has also sought to reshape educational policy in the Sunshine State through the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law. The "Parental Rights in Education" bill took effect in July 2022 and bans discussion of certain LGBTQ+ topics in public schools, including gender identity and sexual orientation.

Spain’s far-right Vox party is targeting women’s rights. It may end up kingmaker in Sunday’s election

Story by Jack Guy • CNN 

Spain’s far-right Vox party looks set to continue its meteoric rise in Sunday’s general election, and it aims to use its growing influence to roll back decades of progress in women’s rights by blocking abortion access, repealing legislation on gender-based violence and shutting down the ministry of equality.

The party, which only formed a decade ago, may become a political kingmaker and a member of Spain’s next coalition government following the vote, according to opinion polls.

Feminist activists are concerned that it would try to rewind the clock to a time when Spanish women had very limited rights, with one campaigner telling CNN that Vox entering the national government would mean “going back 40 or 50 years at a stroke.”

Following a trend that is gathering pace across Europe, Spain is expected to swing to the right on Sunday after several years of left-wing rule. An average of the final opinion polls compiled by Reuters on July 17 forecast that the conservative Popular Party (PP) will win around 140 seats out of 350 in the legislature, and need to form a coalition to govern.

Teaming up with Vox, which is projected to receive 36 seats, would give a right-wing coalition a slim working majority.



Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at a campaign rally in Spanish capital Madrid on July 6. - Paul Hanna/Bloomberg/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
How we got here

Current Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced snap parliamentary elections after the ruling coalition of his Socialist party (PSOE) and left-wing partners suffered major setbacks in May’s regional and local elections.

The PP made huge gains, defeating incumbent coalition members in numerous key regional and city governments, setting the stage and tone for Sunday’s election.

Entering into coalition with Vox would be controversial for the nominally center-right PP. Yet the party has already agreed deals to govern with support from Vox in various regional administrations in recent years despite criticism that it was helping to legitimize far-right policies.

Vox was founded in 2013 and has rapidly increased in popularity. In 2018, it became the first far-right party to win seats in a regional government since the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. In 2019, it became the third-biggest party in Spain’s national Congress of Deputies.

Polls indicate that the party is projected to gain fewer seats in this vote than the last election, but if it makes it into the governing coalition it would mark a new stage in Vox’s rise from upstart outsider party to insurgent political force.

According to Paloma Román Marugan, professor of political science at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), the party’s platform centers on a hardline stance on illegal immigration, a desire to maintain the territorial integrity of Spain in the face of independence movements from regions such as Catalonia, and opposition to what it calls gender ideology.



Demonstrators protest a Vox event in Gijon on June 27.

- Xuan Cueto/Europa Press/Getty Images

Election pledges

In its manifesto, Vox promises to reduce regional autonomy, replace autonomous regional police forces – such as the Mossos d’Esquadra in Catalonia – with the national Guardia Civil, and impose tougher sentences on rapists and pedophiles, as well as rolling back a law guaranteeing equality for LGBTQ people, which was only published in March 2023.

The Vox manifesto also states that it will work for the “elimination of all gender legislation.” It wants to shut down the ministry of equality, which has come under attack from Spain’s right-wing parties since it was created in 2008 to implement policies on gender equality, and which party leader Santiago Abascal has claimed is full of “psychopaths.”

Instead, Vox wants to replace that with a family ministry, which would be responsible for promoting higher birth rates and a “traditional,” narrow vision of family life.

Its manifesto also proposes repealing a series of laws introduced in recent decades which aim to enshrine women’s rights, such as access to abortions or providing better protection against gender-based violence.

For example, Vox wants to get rid of the gender violence law and replace it with one “which protects every possible victim of violence in a domestic setting.”

That proposal reflects the party’s denial that gender-based violence exists, activists told CNN. Meanwhile, more than 1,200 Spanish women have been killed by current or former partners since 2003, according to data from the equality ministry. Demonstrations calling for better protection for women have attracted crowds of thousands in recent years and campaigners say that Vox’s proposed change in legislation would only endanger women further.

Many also wonder about the long-term effects of the PP, one of Spain’s historically largest political parties, entering into an alliance with such a group.

“The PP supposedly doesn’t share these policies, but it appears that it is choosing to sacrifice these advances in rights in order to get into power,” said Román.

“It’s a bit worrying for the country that it (the PP) is capable of saying that in order to be in government it is willing to give up ground on issues that really weren’t even up for debate in Spanish society, we had turned that page.”

Vox did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. The PP responded but only to refer CNN to interviews given by party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo on the campaign trail.


Attendees at a Vox campaign meeting on July 15.

 - Oscar del Pozo/AFP/Getty Images

‘A very dangerous confrontation in Spanish society’

Laura Nuño Gómez, a political scientist, feminist activist and professor at King Juan Carlos University in Madrid, explains that while this kind of adverse reaction to the redistribution of power in society can be seen in many countries, the situation in Spain is exacerbated by the pace of change since the end of the Franco dictatorship, under which women’s rights were severely limited.

Just 10 years after the end of the dictatorship Spain joined the European Economic Community, a precursor to the European Union, and had to make wholesale changes in order to meet the requirements of the organization in terms of equality, said Nuño.

“As progress has been faster, the opposition to gender equality policies has also been more intense and animated,” she said.

This reaction is partly explained by the perception that these policies are unnecessary as women have already achieved equality, and partly due to a persistent attitude that inequality between men and women is “part of a sort of natural societal order,” said Nuño.

“Vox talks a lot about gender ideology, but the real gender ideology is theirs, according to which men and women are essentially different and have a different social purpose,” she added.

If the party were to come into government it could severely impact the lives of Spanish women, said Nuño.

“I fear that they would try to implant their sexist ideas and, in some areas, such as sexual and reproductive rights and freedoms, there would be a counter-reform of unthinkable proportions,” she said.



Election posters in Ronda on July 7.

 - Jon Nazca/Reuters

Izaskun Gutiérrez Vecilla, a social worker at the Asociación Clara Campoamor, a feminist NGO which works to defend women’s rights, said that if Vox formed part of the national government it could mean “going back 40 or 50 years at a stroke, when crimes of gender-based violence were a private matter that were meant to stay behind closed doors.”

Vox, and Abascal, are clear as to their intentions for the country, leaving no doubt in Gutiérrez’s mind as to what is at stake on Sunday.

Two terms summarize Vox’ policies towards women, she said: “Denial, of gender-based violence, and destruction, of everything that the women of this country have achieved in recent decades.”

While the scale of Vox’s influence on a future government remains to be decided, the party has already shown what it is capable of, said Gutiérrez.

In local administrations where it has gained influence, Vox has been able to end equality initiatives and censure cultural events, she said.

Activists are deeply concerned about what the party’s success, and Sunday’s election result, might mean for the future of Spain.

“We have been able to see that they intend to implement a series of reactionary policies that bring about more sexism, more homophobia, more racism in our country, as well as a very dangerous confrontation in Spanish society,” said Gutiérrez.

 

Analysis shows rise and fall of angry, fearful tweets with passage and implementation of Philadelphia beverage tax

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

Tweets about the 2017 Philadelphia beverage tax that showed high levels of anger and fear prior to the tax were replaced by more favorable sentiments years later, according to an analysis by researchers. The researchers used the controversial tax on non-alcoholic sweetened beverages to track the social media platform's potential for measuring public reaction to health policies.

Researchers found Twitter posts about the tax shifted from anger to acceptance, reflecting factors such as media coverage, lawsuits challenging it, and the eventual health and economic benefits of the funds. Published in the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, the findings illustrate how Twitter can be used to influence public opinion when a policy is introduced, and later, to research the public's reaction to it.

“There is a crucial need to more dynamically understand how everyday people experience a health policy,” says Shahmir Ali, lead author and postdoctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore, who completed the research while a doctoral student at the NYU School of Global Public Health. “Analyzing social media data can be a uniquely cost-effective, and comprehensive way to glean some of these insights, which has been made easier with the 2021 roll out of the Twitter program for academics to analyze large amounts of historic Twitter data.”

For their analysis, the authors used the Academic Twitter Application Programming Interface to evaluate 45,891 tweets related to the Philadelphia beverage tax from 2016, before the tax, until 2019, two years after its implementation. Using tools that analyze text for positive, negative, and neutral sentiment, they examined tweets related to the tax and categorized the sentiment of the tweets, their timing, and the location of the tweeter (in and around the Philadelphia area).

Initially, lawsuits from businesses to prevent the tax and related media coverage led to negative sentiment. But tweets indicating positive sentiments increased in 2018 when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the tax, and published analyses revealed how the tax successfully helped reduce sales of sugary beverages. Additionally, the authors found a higher concentration of negative tweets in the suburbs near Philadelphia than in the New Jersey and Delaware suburbs, likely driven by Pennsylvanians being more affected by the tax.

“For policy makers, insights from this Twitter data can help pinpoint who important conversation-makers are on policies like the Philadelphia beverage tax and how to prepare for, or leverage, their influence on these policy discussions,” says Ali. “However, we must remember that not everyone is on social media, and sentiment analysis through emotional lexicons comes with its own limitations. Thus, findings from this type of Twitter data can set the foundation for more in-depth public opinion evaluations.”

“There have been many sweetened beverage taxes implemented in the country and around the globe. Collecting sentiments around each tax can inform local contextual differences. This information analyzed together with the tax’s impact on consumer purchase or consumption behavior can shed light on the how and why a tax succeeded or even failed to do what it intended to do,” says Angela Trude, a study co-author and assistant professor of nutrition and food studies at NYU Steinhardt.

The authors say that despite challenges in using social media for research purposes, the free access to Twitter API was valuable to students and scientists interested in online behaviors.

“There are some signs that Twitter may end access to its free data, and if it does, the transparent and equal access to the data will end too, and we will have to be creative in ways to leverage social media data for the public good,” says Trude.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Public Health Management and Practice

DOI

10.1097/PHH.0000000000001804 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Leveraging Multiyear, Geospatial Social Media Data for Health Policy Evaluations: Lessons From the Philadelphia Beverage Tax

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Jul-2023

Alberta no longer angriest province, survey says

Story by The Canadian Press • 8h ago

Albertans were a little less angry in June than in March.

According to the Rage Index, a survey from Pollera Strategic Insights, 51 per cent of Albertans surveyed were angry or annoyed over topics like government, the economy, finances, changes in Canadian society, and stories in the news.

The survey, conducted June 7-13, showed a six-point drop in Albertans' ire since the last survey in March.

In March, Alberta held the title of the angriest province, with 57 per cent of those surveyed feeling moderately angry or annoyed.

There were 301 Albertans interviewed for the June survey with a margin of error of 5.6 per cent out of a total of 3,000 randomly selected adult Canadians, compared to 500 Albertans interviewed in March.

Canadians have been surveyed six times since August 2022, and are always asked the question, “What emotion best describes how you feel when you think about each of the following?”

The six topics covered include the federal government, your provincial government, the Canadian economy, your personal financial situation, changes happening in Canada, and the latest stories in the news.

Ontario held the title of the angriest province in June, with 52 per cent of Ontarians surveyed feeling angry. Quebec was the least angry or annoyed province, with only 42 per cent of Quebecers surveyed feeling angry.


Overall, Canadians were less angry in June than in spring and winter. In June, 49 per cent of Canadians were angry, while in March, 51 per cent of Canadians were angry and 54 per cent in December.

Women were angrier than men about every topic except the federal government. Of the women surveyed, 46 per cent were moderately angry or annoyed with the federal government, while 47 per cent of men felt the same way.

The "latest stories in the news" was the topic that caused the most ire in both men and women. Of those survey 62 per cent of women and 54 per cent of men were annoyed or moderately angry with the news.

Millennials and Gen Xers seemed to be the group feeling the most amount of financial pressure. The economy and personal finance caused those aged 35 to 49 the most amount of grief, with 58 per cent reporting being moderately angry or annoyed with the economy and 47 per cent reporting feeling angry and annoyed about their personal financial situation. Seniors were the least angry or annoyed with the economy at 47 per cent. Seniors were also less angry or annoyed with their own personal financial situation with only 19 per cent feeling a bit miffed.

Conservative voters were the most annoyed and angry Canadians, with a rage index of 61 per cent. Issues that ticked off conservatives the most included the federal government with 79 per cent surveyed feeling angry, the types of changes happening in Canada had 74 per cent of conservatives feeling angry or annoyed, and the Canadian economy got on the nerves of 68 per cent of conservative voters.

People's Party of Canada members were the second-angriest group, with a rage index of 57 per cent, while New Democratic Party voters were the third-angriest group with 55 per cent feeling annoyed or angry. Liberal voters were the least angry of the bunch, with a rage index of 31 per cent.

Reports of Chinese interference was the issue that made the most Canadians angry, at 63 per cent of people surveyed reporting anger or annoyance.

Despite the June 13 win by the Las Vegas Golden Knights, only 12 per cent of those surveyed felt angry about the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

Jessica Nelson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, St. Albert Gazette

Missing for decades, a stolen 15th-century letter from Christopher Columbus heads home to Italy

The United States has returned a stolen 15th-century letter by Christopher Columbus to Italy, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Wednesday.

Written in Latin, it is one of some 30 surviving first editions of the explorer’s letter announcing his discoveries on the American continent to Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1493. The monarchs funded Columbus’ New World voyage.

The item is believed to be a version stolen from the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, Italy, in the 1980s. It was found in the possession of a private collector in the United States.

Announcing the discovery in 2020, ICE and the US Attorney’s Office of Delaware said that the collector had unsuspectingly acquired the letter from a rare book dealer in 2003. Authorities have not released further details on how the letter was stolen or came to be in the dealer’s possessions.

Copies of the letter are extremely rare and highly valued by collectors and historians.

The version returned to Italy this week is known as a Plannck I edition. It is named after Stephan Plannck, a prominent printer who published two editions of the letter more than 500 years ago.



The letter went missing from the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, Italy, in the 1980s. 

- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement© Provided by CNN

When the document was first recovered in 2020 the US attorney’s office said it was valued at more than $1.3 million.

“This is the fourth original edition of this letter stolen over the past decades and we could not be happier to return it,” said Patrick J. Lechleitner Deputy Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a statement.

Other stolen copies include one that US authorities sent back to a library in Vatican City in 2018, and another returned to the Library of Catalonia in Spain.

In 2016, the US returned an eight-page copy that had been taken from a library in Florence, Italy, and donated to the US Library of Congress.

The return of the letter to Italy is part of broader efforts by the United States to repatriate stolen objects.

ICE says it has returned more than 20,000 objects to more than 40 countries and institutions since 2007. They include art looted by Nazis, Egyptian sarcophagi, French paintings, Italian sculptures, Mongolian and Chinese dinosaur fossils, and even human remains.

CNN’s Harmeet Kaur contributed to this report.

SPACE
A Mysterious Light Has Been Blinking in Space Every 21 Minutes for 35 Years

Story by Jackie Appel • 

A mysterious light has been blinking in space every 21 minutes for 35 years–and scientists have no idea what it is. What could it be?

© DrPixel - Getty Images

Scientists have discovered a mysterious pulsating light—and they don’t know what it could be.

It pulses at a rate of about once every 21 minutes, and has been doing so since at least 1988.
It doesn’t nicely fit the description of any of the pulsating space objects we know of, so researchers are still trying to figure out what this object might be.

Some things in the universe shine with a constant, life-sustaining light. Some beam with the light of other sources. Some flash in a large explosion, never to be seen again. And some pulse. Like a ticking—or, rather, flashing—clock, some energy sources in the universe hit us with beam after beam of photons, lighting up and darkening on a very set schedule.

There’s actually a fair few types of objects that do this. But scientists recently discovered one particular source of flashing light has already proven especially puzzling. It blinks about once every 21 minutes, and according to archival data, it’s been doing that at least since 1988.

It’s called GPM J1839–10, and we don’t know what it is.

Usually, if you spot a pulsing object, your first instinct would be to identify it as a pulsar. Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars with strong magnetic fields that generate radio jets at the magnetic poles. If their poles aren’t pointed directly at Earth, we will only see those radio jets when they spin around to hit us, causing an incredibly consistent pulse.

But in addition to the, well, pulsing, the key to identifying a pulsar is the timing. Pulsars spin incredibly fast—some hit us with their radio beams once a millisecond, and the longest pulse out way about once a minute. And they kind of can’t go slower than that. The rapid spin that makes them “blink” also powers the radio jets of the star. If they slow down, the jets die off completely (researchers actually call it the “pulsar death line”). So, the chances of us spotting a pulsar with a 21-minute pulse interval is incredibly small.

There are other options, but those don’t fit great either. It could be a magnetar (another kind of neutron star that is prone to bursts of activity), but they usually produce X-rays along with their radio bursts, and the last one we found with a pulse interval like this stopped emitting after about three years. GPM J1839–10 doesn’t seem to be producing X-rays, and it’s been emitting for three and a half decades.

Or, it could be what’s called a magnetized white dwarf. It’s also a long shot, as we’ve never seen a white dwarf give off super-bright radio emission (let alone bursts) before. But because white dwarfs are so much bigger in mass than neutron stars, they would take longer to spin around, and could achieve a rotation rate like the one observed from GPM J1839–10.

Researchers aren’t fully ready to give up on any of these ideas yet, no matter how long-shot they may be, largely because they don’t have a nicely fitting alternative. Further investigations will likely be needed to determine what exactly this thing is, and the observations needed to examine this things aren’t exactly easy to get.

It may be a while until we solve the mystery of GPM J1839–10. Until we do, it’ll just keep pulsing away, taunting scientists with the promise of answers to big questions.

Houston, we have a solution

The sun can repair solar cell defects in the vacuum of space

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN EXCITON SCIENCE

 

IMAGE: ANITA HO-BAILLIE AND SHI TANG WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES WHILE EXAMINING PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELL PROTOTYPES view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Australian researchers have demonstrated that perovskite solar cells damaged by proton radiation in low-earth orbit can recover up to 100% of their original efficiency via annealing in thermal vacuum.

This is achieved through careful design of the hole transport material (HTM), which is used to transport photo-generated positive charges to the electrode in the cell. 

The multidisciplinary project is the first to use thermal admittance spectroscopy (TAS) and deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) to study the defects in proton-irradiated and thermal-vacuum recovered perovskite solar cells (PSCs). It is also the first study to use ultrathin sapphire substrates with the high power-to-weight ratios suitable for commercial applications.

The results have been published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials and are available here.

Light-weight PSCs are a strong candidate for powering low-cost space hardware thanks to their low manufacturing cost, high efficiency and radiation hardness. 

All previous proton irradiation studies of PSCs took place on heavier substrates thicker than 1mm. Here, to take advantage of high power-to-weight ratios, ultrathin radiation resistant and optically transparent sapphire substrates of 0.175mm were used by a team based at the University of Sydney. The project was led by Professor Anita Ho-Baillie, who is also an Associate Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science.

The cells were exposed to rapid scanning pencil beam of seven mega-electron-volts (MeV) protons using the high energy heavy ion microprobe at the Centre for Accelerator Science (CAS) at ANSTO, mimicking the proton radiation exposure that the solar cell panels would undergo while orbiting the earth on a satellite in low-earth orbit (LEO) for tens to hundreds of years.

It was found that the type of cells featuring a popular HTM and a popular dopant within its HTM are less radiation tolerant than their rivals. The HTM in question is the compound 2,2',7,7'-Tetrakis[N,N-di(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]-9,9'-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD), while the dopant is lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI).

Through chemical analysis, the team found that fluorine diffusion from the LiTFSI induced by proton radiation introduces defects to the surface of the perovskite photo-absorber, which could lead to cell degradation and efficiency losses over time.

“Thanks to the support provided by Exciton Science, we were able to acquire the deep-level transient spectroscopy capability to study the defect behavior in the cells,” lead author Dr. Shi Tang said.

The team was able to ascertain that cells free of Spiro-OMeTAD and free of LiTFSI did not experience fluorine diffusion related damage, and degradation caused by proton-radiation could be reversed by heat treatment in vacuum. These radiation-resistant cells had either Poly[bis(4-phenyl) (2,5,6-trimethylphenyl) (PTAA) or a combination of PTAA and 2,7-Dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (C8BTBT) as the hole transport material, with tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (TPFB) as the dopant.

“We hope that the insights generated by this work will help future efforts in developing low-cost light-weight solar cells for future space applications,” Professor Ho-Baillie said.

---

JOURNAL

Advanced Energy Materials

DOI

10.1002/aenm.202300506 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Effect of Hole Transport Materials and Their Dopants on the Stability and Recoverability of Perovskite Solar Cells on Very Thin Substrates after 7 MeV Proton Irradiation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

Why does Sweden allow Quran burnings? Like much of West, it has no blasphemy laws



STOCKHOLM (AP) — A recent string of public desecrations of the Quran by a handful of anti-Islam activists in Sweden has sparked an angry reaction in Muslim countries and raised questions – including in Sweden – about why such acts are allowed.

In the latest such incident, an Iraqi living in Sweden on Thursday stomped on and kicked Islam’s holy book in a two-man rally outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm. The protest was authorized by Swedish police, who kept a handful of agitated counterdemonstrators at a safe distance.

The same Iraqi man burned a Quran outside a Stockholm mosque last month in a similar protest that was approved by police. And at the start of the year, a far-right activist from Denmark carried out a similar stunt outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.

Here’s a look at how Swedish authorities have been dealing with these acts.

IS DESECRATING THE QURAN ALLOWED IN SWEDEN?

There is no law in Sweden specifically prohibiting the burning or desecration of the Quran or other religious texts. Like many Western countries, Sweden doesn’t have any blasphemy laws.

It wasn’t always that way. As late as the 19th century, blasphemy was considered a serious crime in Sweden, punishable by death. But blasphemy laws were gradually relaxed as Sweden became increasingly secularized. The last such law was taken off the books in 1970.

CAN SWEDISH AUTHORITES STOP SUCH ACTS?

Many Muslim countries have called on the Swedish government to stop protesters from burning the Quran. But in Sweden it is up to police, not the government, to decide whether to authorize demonstrations or public gatherings.

The freedom of speech is protected under the Swedish constitution. Police need to cite specific grounds to deny a permit for a demonstration or public gathering, such as risks to public safety.

Stockholm police did just that in February when they denied two applications for Quran-burning protests, citing assessments from the Swedish Security Service that such acts could increase the risk of terror attacks against Sweden. But a court later overturned those decisions, saying police need to cite more concrete threats to ban a public gathering.

Related video: Another Quran Burning in Sweden? Violent Protests Rage Outside Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. Watch (Times Now)   Duration 2:21   View on Watch

CAN QURAN-BURNING BE CONSIDERED HATE SPEECH?

Sweden’s hate speech law prohibits incitement against groups of people based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Some say burning the Quran constitutes incitement against Muslims and should therefore be considered as hate speech. Others say such acts are targeting the religion of Islam rather than practitioners of the faith, and that criticism of religion must be covered by freedom of speech, even when some consider it offensive.

Seeking guidance from the justice system, Swedish police have filed preliminary hate crime charges against the man who burned the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm in June and desecrated Islam’s holy book again on Thursday. It’s now up to prosecutors to decide whether to formally indict him.

ARE SWEDISH AUTHORITIES SINGLING OUT MUSLIMS AND THE QURAN?

Some Muslims in Sweden who were deeply hurt by recent Quran burnings questioned whether Swedish police would allow the desecration of holy books from other religions.

One Muslim man apparently decided to put that to the test and applied for permission to stage a protest last Saturday outside the Israeli Embassy in which he said he intended to burn the Torah and the Bible.

Though Israeli government officials and Jewish groups condemned the planned act and called on Swedish authorities to stop it, police approved the man’s request. However, once at the scene the man backed away from his plans, saying that as a Muslim he was against the burning of all religious books.

HOW IS BLASPHEMY VIEWED IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD?

Blasphemy is criminalized in many countries. A Pew Research Center analysis found that 79 countries and territories out of the 198 studied had laws or policies on the books in 2019 that banned blasphemy, defined as “speech or actions considered to be contemptuous of God or of people or objects considered sacred.” In at least seven countries - Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia - it carried a potential death sentence.

In the Middle East and North Africa, 18 of the 20 countries studied had laws criminalizing blasphemy, although not in most cases punishable by death.

In Iraq, publicly insulting a symbol or a person that is held sacred, revered, or respected by a religious sect is a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.

Likewise in religiously diverse Lebanon, where sectarian divisions helped fuel a brutal 15-year civil war from 1975 to 1990, any act “intended to or resulting in” provoking “sectarian strife” is a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.

In the United States, under the freedom of speech protections in the First Amendment of the Constitution, it’s not illegal to burn copies of the Quran or other holy books.

For example, authorities were appalled by Florida pastor Terry Jones’ threat in 2010 to burn a copy of the Quran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but were unable to take legal action. Jones didn’t go through with that plan, but he led a Quran-burning in Florida the next year.

___ Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, and David Crary in New York contributed to this report.

Karl Ritter, The Associated Press