Detecting threats beyond the limits of human, sensor sight

Sandia-developed software system finds, tracks moving objects as small as a pixel

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DOE/SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES

 

IMAGE: ROBERT ANDERSON, LEFT, AND TIAN MA DEVELOPED A NEW, PATENTED SOFTWARE SYSTEM AT SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES THAT GIVES REMOTE SENSING EQUIPMENT LIKE SATELLITES, DRONES AND SECURITY CAMERAS A MAJOR PERFORMANCE BOOST IN DETECTING SMALL MOVING OBJECTS FROM FAR AWAY. view more 

CREDIT: BRET LATTER

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Remember what it’s like to twirl a sparkler on a summer night? Hold it still and the fire crackles and sparks but twirl it around and the light blurs into a line tracing each whirl and jag you make.

A new patented software system developed at Sandia National Laboratories can find the curves of motion in streaming video and images from satellites, drones and far-range security cameras and turn them into signals to find and track moving objects as small as one pixel. The developers say this system can enhance the performance of any remote sensing application.

“Being able to track each pixel from a distance matters, and it is an ongoing and challenging problem,” said Tian Ma, a computer scientist and co-developer of the system. “For physical security surveillance systems, for example, the farther out you can detect a possible threat, the more time you have to prepare and respond. Often the biggest challenge is the simple fact that when objects are located far away from the sensors, their size naturally appears to be much smaller. Sensor sensitivity diminishes as the distance from the target increases.”

Ma and Robert Anderson started working on the Multi-frame Moving Object Detection System in 2015 as a Sandia Laboratory Directed Research and Development project. A paper about MMODS was recently published in Sensors.

Detecting one moving pixel in a sea of 10 million

The ability to detect objects through remote sensing systems is typically limited to what can be seen in a single video frame, whereas MMODS uses a new, multiframe method to detect small objects in low visibility conditions, Ma said. At a computer station, image streams from various sensors flow in, and MMODS processes the data with an image filter frame by frame in real time. An algorithm finds movement in the video frames and matches it into target signals that can be correlated and then integrated across a set of video frame sequences.

This process improves the signal-to-noise ratio or overall image quality because the moving target’s signal can be correlated over time and increases steadily, whereas movement from background noise like wind is filtered out because it moves randomly and is not correlated.

Before MMODS was deployed for remote sensing enhancement, Ma and Anderson demonstrated its effectiveness on simulated data with target objects as small as one pixel with a signal-to-noise ratio close to 1:1, meaning there is no distinction between signal and noise.

These objects would normally be undetectable to both human eyes and sensors. The baseline detector system achieved a 30% chance of detecting a moving object. When MMODS was added to that system, it had a 90% chance of detection without increasing the rate of false alarms.

In another demonstration, the researchers used MMODS to detect moving objects from live data collected with a remote camera at the peak of Sandia Mountain. Without prior knowledge of Albuquerque’s roads, MMODS detected vehicles moving throughout the city.

“Given that a modern video camera has about 10 million pixels, being able to detect and track one pixel at a time is a major advance in computer vision technology,” Ma said. “MMODS has been proven to improve modern detection sensitivity by 200 to 500% and works for fast- and slow-moving objects, even in poor visibility conditions.”

MMODS graphic (IMAGE)

DOE/SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES

Sandia National Laboratories’ Multi-frame Moving Object Detection System makes it possible for remote sensors to detect small moving objects that would normally be unseeable to both sensors and human eyes.

This image shows how running streaming data through Sandia National Laboratories’ Multi-frame Moving Object Detection System makes objects that are otherwise unseeable possible to detect and track.

CREDIT

Eric Lundin

JOURNAL

Sensors

DOI

10.3390/s23063314 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Remote Sensing Low Signal-to-Noise-Ratio Target Detection Enhancement

 

New theory better explains how the brain stores memories

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE

How useful a memory is for future situations determines where it resides in the brain, according to a new theory proposed by researchers at HHMI"s Janelia Research Campus and collaborators at UCL.

The theory offers a new way of understanding systems consolidation, a process that transfers certain memories from the hippocampus – where they are initially stored – to the neocortex -- where they reside long term.

Under the classical view of systems consolidation, all memories move from the hippocampus to the neocortex over time. But this view doesn’t always hold up; research shows some memories permanently reside in the hippocampus and are never transferred to the neocortex.

In recent years, psychologists proposed theories to explain this more complicated view of systems consolidation, but no one has yet figured out mathematically what determines whether a memory stays in the hippocampus or whether it is consolidated in the neocortex.

Now, Janelia researchers are putting forward a new, quantitative view of systems consolidation to help resolve this longstanding problem, proposing a mathematical neural network theory in which memories consolidate to the neocortex only if they improve generalization.

Generalizations are constructed from the reliable and predictable components of memories, enabling us to apply them to other situations. We can generalize certain features of memories to help us understand the world, like the fact that canyons predict the presence of water.

This is different from episodic memories -- detailed recollections of the past that have unique features, like an individual memory we have of hiking to a particular canyon and coming upon a body of water.

Under this view, consolidation doesn’t copy memories from one area of the brain to another but rather creates a new memory that is a generalization of previous memories. The amount that a memory can be generalized – not its age -- determines whether it is consolidated or remains in the hippocampus.

The researchers used neural networks to show how the amount of consolidation varies based on how much of a memory is generalizable. They were able to reproduce previous experimental patterns that couldn’t be explained by the classical view of systems consolidation.

The next step is to test the theory with experiments to see if it can predict how much a memory will be consolidated. Another important direction will be to test the authors’ models of how the brain might distinguish between predictable and unpredictable components of memories to regulate consolidation. Uncovering how memory works can help researchers better understand an integral part of cognition, potentially benefitting human health and artificial intelligence.

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JOURNAL

Nature Neuroscience

DOI

10.1038/s41593-023-01382-9 

ARTICLE TITLE

Organizing memories for generalization in complementary learning systems

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Jul-2023

 

Effects of formulated diets on muscle quality and fiber characteristics of largemouth bass

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KEAI COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD.

 

IMAGE: COMPARISON OF AMINO ACID CONTENT BETWEEN FORMULATED DIETS GROUP (FDG) AND FORAGE FISH GROUP (FFG) view more 

CREDIT: ZAIXUAN ZHONG, JIAJIA FAN, HUANHUAN SU, HUAPING ZHU, DONGMEI MA

The largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is a perciform species native to the United States. It was introduced to China in 1983 and has since become extensively cultivated worldwide as a commercially valuable fish. In China alone, annual production levels of largemouth bass have exceeded 470,000 tons.

In traditional commercial aquaculture practices, largemouth bass has historically been cultured using forage fish. However, there has been a shift towards the use of formulated diets to reduce reliance on bait fish and lower production costs. Nonetheless, the impact of these formulated diets on the nutritional content and muscle quality of largemouth bass, as well as the underlying mechanisms involved, remains unclear.

In a recent publication in the KeAi journal Reproduction and Breeding, a team of Chinese researchers in the field of genetic breeding have shed light on the impact of replacing forage fish with formulated diets on largemouth bass. The study highlighted significant changes in muscle quality and fiber characteristics as a result of this dietary shift.

"Our findings indicate that although largemouth bass fed with formulated diets exhibited a lower rate of weight gain, they displayed a notable increase in crude protein content within their muscle tissues, as determined through compositional evaluation,” shares Dongmei Ma, corresponding author of the study.

Through a comparative analysis of transcriptomes specifically constructed for muscle tissues, the researchers successfully identified pathways that showed significant enrichment in amino acid metabolism.

The study revealed through microsection observation that largemouth bass fed with formulated diets exhibited a larger diameter of muscle fibers compared to those fed with forage fish. "The alteration in fiber characteristics could be attributed to the upregulation of pathways associated with muscle development and an increased expression level of genes encoding collagen, fibronectin, and laminin. These factors promote the proliferation of myoblasts and collagen fibrillogenesis.” Explains Ma.

The study contributes valuable insights into the understanding of muscle fiber changes and provides potential avenues for optimizing the nutritional aspects and meat quality of largemouth bass.

###

Contact the author: Dongmei Ma, Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, China. mdm@prfri.ac.cn

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

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JOURNAL

Reproduction and Breeding

DOI

10.1016/j.repbre.2023.04.002 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Proximate compositions evaluation, histology and transcriptome analysis revealed the effects of formulated diets on muscle quality in Micropterus salmoides

 

Food size matters

Discovering Daphnia's ability to change phenotype in response to predators

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KYOTO UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: DEFENSE STRATEGIES OF DAPHNIA OF DIFFERENT BODY SIZE: NORMAL (LEFT), DEFENSIVE MORPHOLOGY (RIGHT) WITH MAGNIFIED VIEW view more 

CREDIT: KYOTOU/HIDEYUKI DOI/MARIKO NAGANO

Kyoto, Japan -- Life for the common water flea Daphnia must be tough. As a favorite meal choice for aquatic predators, they may need to make some creative morphological or behavioral changes for survival.

By modifying their body shape, size, and reproduction, Daphnia has demonstrated adaptive resilience.  However, while Daphnia is a model species for studying phenotypic plasticity, the precise relationship between the prey's body size and their predator's size preference has not been established.

Now, a group including two universities in Kyoto has determined that prey size and risk of predation are strongly related to the medium-sized Daphnia -- a small, planktonic crustacean -- targeted by aquatic insects and fish.

"This phenotypic plasticity has been shown to be expressed by a variety of factors, including predator type, predator mode, and density," says corresponding author Mariko Nagano of the Kyoto University of Advanced Science.

The two predator types of Daphnia are typically Chaoborus larvae -- also known as phantom midge -- which prefer smaller prey, and fish, which prefer larger prey as they tend to hunt visually.

Collaborating in the study, Toyama Prefectural University and Kyung See University jointly conducted the team's meta-analysis of experiments on phenotypic plasticity. Results from the team's collective effort suggested that medium-sized Daphnia would likely be the most vulnerable to predation among its genus by both predator types and therefore have the most defensive strategies.

The meta-analysis also suggests that the larval predators impose a greater influence on Daphnia's morphological change than do fish.

Overall, the small and medium-sized Daphnia expressed the highest degree of predator-induced plasticity, which the team found was more evident in small Daphnia than would be expected from size-selective predation.

"The body size of Daphnia is a key trait influencing its plasticity expression and evolution," concludes co-author Hideyuki Doi of Kyoto University's Graduate School of Informatics.

###

The paper "Predator-induced plasticity in relation to prey body size: A meta-analysis of Daphnia experiments" appeared on 8 June 2023 in Freshwater Biology, with doi: 10.1111/fwb.14108

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 undergraduate and graduate levels complements several research centers, 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

Freshwater Biology

DOI

10.1111/fwb.14108 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Predator-induced plasticity in relation to prey body size: A meta-analysis of Daphnia experiments

 

Draining 401(k) accounts when changing jobs: the hidden time bomb undermining retirement savings

New research says 41.4% cash out, and employers are asleep at the wheel

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE FOR OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND THE MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

Key Takeaways:

• At job separation, 41.4% of employees cash out 401(k) savings, most draining their entire accounts.
• Cashing out increases with the proportion of the 401(k) balance contributed by employers. The “account composition effect” is most likely driven by behavioral rather than economic explanations.
• The cash-out option was presented to terminating employees in a salient way, unintentionally nudging them to withdraw their 401(k) savings.

 

BALTIMORE, MD, July 17, 2023 – When researchers set out to study 401(k) retirement savings accumulation, they found that thousands of studies of retirement savings accumulation ignored the surprisingly high rate of departing employees who cash out retirement savings at job separation. This is concerning because, statistically, everyone will likely change jobs multiple times before retirement.

The study, “Cashing Out Retirement Savings at Job Separation,” is authored by Yanwen Wang of the University of British Columbia, Muxin Zhai of Texas State University and John Lynch, Jr., of the University of Colorado Boulder.

“Our findings are eye-opening for any employer and for any employee,” says Wang. “We found that 41.4% of employees who separate from an employer with a 401(k) matching contribution withdraw savings when they leave the firm, and 85% of those cash out completely. This means that instead of keeping that money in savings for retirement, they’ve opted to take the money for other short-term consumption. Only in the U.S. do the rules make this so easy. When people cash out, they are back at square 1, with no more savings than they had when they started the job. They set themselves back years in the ability to accumulate enough savings for a comfortable retirement.”

In the study, the authors looked at a data set from 2014 to 2016 of 162,360 employees who left employers that were covered by 28 retirement plans.  

“Keep in mind that when a departing employee in America taps 401(k) savings prior to the age of 55, they must pay a 10% penalty in addition to income taxes,” says Zhai. “This means that people are losing an extra pile of their money on the way out the door by accepting a 10% penalty in the process.”

Through their research, the team found evidence that a large component of cashing out is driven by psychology, not need. If cashing out was driven by need, it should not depend on whether the money in one’s 401(k) account came from the employer or employee. The team found that the bigger the proportion of the balance contributed by the employer, the more employees treated it like a windfall that is legitimate to spend. The researchers call this the “account composition effect.” The tendency prompts terminating employees to overlook the penalty and tax consequences of early withdrawals and liquidate their 401(k) savings when leaving a position.  

As to why this is happening, the authors said that both psychology and administrative factors are at play.

“Employers have not seen cashing out as a pressing issue,” says Lynch. “Presumably, firms that offer more generous matches care about the well-being of their employees in retirement and after they are no longer with the firm. But most firms have a blind spot about what happens at job termination and offer no financial advice to departing employees. Instead, firms delegate all communication to partner financial services firms that administer their plans. Unfortunately, these plans simply send dry letters to employees telling them their options. That’s when the account composition ironically partially undermines the benefits a more generous employer match offers.”

“The way the plans are administered makes taking a check the path of least resistance for many employees,” says Wang. “There is more bureaucratic paperwork to roll savings over into an independent retirement savings account or their next employer’s retirement savings program. If departing employees now think of that check as a windfall rather than hard-earned retirement security when the employer contributed more, [they] are less likely to endure the hassle to dutifully roll those moneys over. Our work suggests that if firms could deter departing employees from suddenly eyeing their hard-won savings as a free money windfall, those higher employer match rates would generate the full benefit intended to help the employee retire comfortably. Employees would not have to work many extra years to make up for the compounded value of the savings they cashed out because it was the easiest thing to do in the moment.

“While employers mean well and have every reason to believe they are helping employees prepare for retirement through a 401(k) match, they may in fact be unintentionally nudging employees to cash out when they eventually separate from that employer if they do not take that final step to provide better advice when employees eventually leave.”

 

Link to Study

 

About INFORMS and Marketing Science

Marketing Science is a premier peer-reviewed scholarly marketing journal focused on research using quantitative approaches to study all aspects of the interface between consumers and firms. It is published by INFORMS, the leading international association for the decision and data sciences. More information is available at www.informs.org or @informs.

 

# # #

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JOURNAL

Marketing Science

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

“Cashing Out Retirement Savings at Job Separation”

 

Can prehabilitation improve inflammatory biomarkers in American Indian cancer patients?

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA HEALTH SCIENCES

A University of Arizona Cancer Center researcher was awarded a $1.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions in American Indian patients with obesity-related solid tumor cancers who are preparing for surgery.

According to principal investigator Jennifer Erdrich, MD, MPH, there are 13 cancer subtypes linked to obesity that account for 40% of all cancers diagnosed annually in the United States.

American Indian and Alaska Native populations are more than 1.5 times more likely to be obese than the general population and have some of the lowest cancer survival rates in the nation. Many factors influence this elevated risk including poverty, nontraditional foods, related adverse social determinants of health and physical inactivity.

Dr. Erdrich, UArizona Cancer Center member, assistant professor in the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson’s Department of Surgery and surgical oncologist in the Division of General Surgery said, “There has recently been a paradigm shift where we are interested in how we can improve the health of patients prior to surgery so the shock of recovery is not as great.”

Earlier studies have shown that using preoperative time to improve patients’ health has shown significant results in cancer patients with obesity-related inflammation. This will be the first study to focus on American Indian populations.

“There is a short window of opportunity, about three weeks, when these preoperative measures could improve inflammatory biomarkers in American Indian cancer patients and potentially improve patient outcomes,” said Dr. Erdrich, who provides general surgical oncology care to tribal populations throughout southern Arizona and specializes in melanoma, sarcoma and breast cancers.

Her project, “Nutrition and Exercise Prehabilitation Intervention on Inflammatory Biomarkers in American Indian Cancer Patients,” will finalize, adapt and implement a prehabilitation translational clinical trial for American Indian patients with obesity-related solid tumor cancers who are preparing for surgery. She said that most importantly, the study does not delay care for patients.

Dr. Erdrich, a descendant of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, developed a clinical and research interest in serving tribal populations after witnessing disparities in Native American health care, especially in the areas of surgical care and cancer treatment.

“The research being done at the Cancer Center has the potential to help Indigenous people living not only in southern Arizona, but all over the United States,” said UArizona Cancer Center Director Joann Sweasy, PhD. “We’re fortunate to have such a talented scientist as Dr. Erdrich on our team; it’s important to invest in researchers like her. They’re the innovators that will lead the next generation.”

The NCI Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (K08) given to Dr. Erdrich provides support and protected time to postdoctoral and non-tenured junior clinician-scientists who are practicing clinicians in the United States for intensive mentored research and career development activities in basic, translational and patient-oriented cancer-focused research.

This study is funded by the National Cancer Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, under award no. 1K08CA276137-01A1.

 

Close contact within households may not influence COVID-19 transmission

A study measuring the impact of close contact on SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission within South African households suggests that being in proximity to someone with the virus may not influence the likelihood of becoming infected.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ELIFE

Scientists measuring the frequency and duration of face-to-face interactions between household members have found that close contact had no impact on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The findings, published today in eLife, suggest that airborne transmission may play a larger role in spreading infection in the household and highlights the importance of other preventive factors such as ventilation.

SARS-CoV-2 is spread mainly through droplet-mediated and airborne transmission, and households are a focal point for transmission of the virus.

“Mobility and contact data have shown that the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as face masks and social distancing led to a reduction in community contacts and in the opportunity for infection,” says lead author Jackie Kleynhans, Epidemiologist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) in Johannesburg, South Africa. “However, the role of contact patterns in the household in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is still unknown.”

To obtain data on contact patterns within the household, Kleynhans and the team used devices that broadcast and receive radio frequency waves to measure the frequency and duration of close-proximity, face-to-face contact. Such approaches have been used previously to collect contact data within schools, workplaces and hospitals – and specifically for SARS-CoV-2 to investigate the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions on cruise ships.

The researchers enrolled 88 adults aged 18 years who had a positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 alongside their 252 household contacts. All participants wore the proximity sensors and provided regular nasal swabs and details on symptoms and healthcare seeking over a period of two weeks. The team also recorded factors such as household size and the number of rooms used for sleeping, alongside personal characteristics such as underlying illness, demographics, education and whether the person with COVID-19 was sleeping in a room with another household member.

Most of the household participants lived in a house with three to five members. Nearly half (49%) lived in a home with only one to two rooms used for sleeping, and a third lived in crowded houses with more than two people per sleeping room.

On average, household members were in close proximity with each other for a maximum of 18 minutes each day (although some were in close proximity for up to 45 minutes), and the average number of times household members were in close proximity each day was 26 (ranging from 10–58) for an average duration of 0.7 minutes. Children younger than 12 years and adults between 35 and 59 years had the highest duration of daily contact, and children aged 5–17 years had the highest average duration and frequency of close contact.

When the data was controlled for the participants’ age and virus variant, it suggested that female contacts were more than twice as likely to contract the virus, and people with a higher viral load were 10 times more likely to be infected. However, the authors were surprised to find that there was no association between the frequency or duration of close contact between household members and the likelihood of contracting COVID-19.

They speculate that this may suggest the virus is predominantly transmitted in the air, especially in poorly ventilated and crowded households, rather than in droplets that might be transferred when in close face-to-face contact. “It was also interesting that teenagers and adults were at the highest infection risk, but children aged 5–17 had the highest contact frequency,” Kleynhans says.

The authors acknowledge a number of limitations of their study. For example, due to the nature of its design, they would have missed the period when the first case of COVID-19 among the participants was most infectious, just before the onset of symptoms. The close‐range contact patterns measured during the study may have been different after the household members were aware of the first case – leading to reduced contact – and again once secondary cases were informed of their infection status, leading to increased contact.

“While recognising the limitations, our work does not suggest an association between close-proximity contacts and SARS-CoV-2 transmission in South African households. Nevertheless, we’ve provided high-resolution contact data that can be used in future transmission models for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens,” concludes senior author Stefano Tempia, Senior Epidemiologist at the NICD and Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. ”If aerosol transmission plays a more important role than droplet-mediated transmission, then ventilation within households should be considered in future studies. Our findings also emphasise the important role that increased ventilation may play in reducing secondary transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in households.”

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eLife transforms research communication to create a future where a diverse, global community of scientists and researchers produces open and trusted results for the benefit of all. Independent, not-for-profit and supported by funders, we improve the way science is practised and shared. In support of our goal, we have launched a new publishing model that ends the accept/reject decision after peer review. Instead, papers invited for review will be published as a Reviewed Preprint that contains public peer reviews and an eLife assessment. We also continue to publish research that was accepted after peer review as part of our traditional process. eLife receives financial support and strategic guidance from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Max Planck Society and Wellcome. Learn more at https://elifesciences.org/about.

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JOURNAL

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.84753 

ARTICLE TITLE

Association of close-range contact patterns with SARS-CoV-2: a household transmission study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-Jul-2023

 

Renowned Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung and Virologist David Ho initiate Global Pandemic Research Alliance

Business Announcement

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

 

IMAGE: PROFESSOR YUEN KWOK-YUNG, PROFESSOR DAVID HO AND DEAN OF MEDICINE PROFESSOR LAU CHAK-SING view more 

CREDIT: THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Acclaimed Columbia University virologist Professor David Ho and The University of Hong Kong (HKU) microbiologist Professor Kwok-yung Yuen are teaming up to create a global alliance for conducting research in emerging infectious diseases.

“We are looking forward to deeper collaboration with HKU and several leading institutions in the world by setting up a ‘Pandemic Research Alliance'", said Professor Ho, who is visiting Hong Kong after spending a week in mainland China. Professor Ho currently holds the positions of Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia University.

Other partners in discussion include Tsinghua University and Doherty Institute/University of Melbourne. Professor Ho stated that the alliance will pursue “a comprehensive set of research initiatives on surveillance, diagnostics, antiviral drugs & monoclonal antibodies, viral evolution and resistance to therapeutics, antibody engineering, vaccine development and pathogenesis.” The alliance is expected to focus on respiratory viruses that can be directly transmitted person to person.

"Many emerging infectious diseases start at the Pacific Rim. It’s very important to have a cross Pacific alliance. In case another pandemic comes, we could perform much better. I do believe that the alliance can play a very important role," Professor Yuen remarked.

“I feel very excited about this initiative, which will undoubtedly break new grounds in scientific research and save lives. By harnessing the combined expertise of distinguished institutions globally, we aim to create transformative solutions to protect the wellbeing of humanity,” said Professor Xiang Zhang, HKU President and Vice-Chancellor. 

Professor Ho is amongst the first scientists to discover HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and to unravel the dynamics of this virus in infected persons. He is also the first scientist to demonstrate the efficacy of cocktail antiretroviral treatment for AIDS, now capable of achieving a near normal lifespan for a previously incurable disease.

Professors Ho and Yuen first collaborated in 2003 on the use of small molecule inhibitors and recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara against the SARS coronavirus.

Following his first successful collaboration with HKU’s Department of Microbiology, Professor Ho founded the AIDS Institute at HKU to conduct basic and applied research that facilitates the understanding of AIDS pathogenesis and the development of effective AIDS vaccines. The many years of collaboration have resulted in technological breakthroughs on B and T cell immunity, leading to the discoveries of broadly neutralizing antibodies and potent vaccines against HIV. Professor Zhiwei Chen, Director of the AIDS Institute and Professor of Microbiology at HKUMed, who is a key member of the team, said that these discoveries are undergoing phase 1 or 2 clinical trials.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the HKU and Columbia research groups published eight collaborative articles on SARS-CoV-2 in leading scientific journals, including three articles in Nature, one in Immunity, and one in Science Translational Medicine. The pandemic research alliance will be built on top of this solid foundation of international collaboration.

 

Researchers find sleep delays more prevalent in countries of particular culture than others​

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE KOREA ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KAIST)

 

IMAGE: PHOTO. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, SUNGKYU PARK OF KANGWON NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, SOUTH KOREA; ASSEM ZHUNIS OF KAIST AND IBS, SOUTH KOREA; MARIOS CONSTANTINIDES OF NOKIA BELL LABS, UK; LUCA MARIA AIELLO OF THE IT UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN, DENMARK; DANIELE QUERCIA OF NOKIA BELL LABS AND KING'S COLLEGE LONDON, UK; AND MEEYOUNG CHA OF IBS AND KAIST, SOUTH KOREA view more 

CREDIT: DATA SCIENCE GROUP AT THE IBS PIONEER RESEARCH CENTER FOR MATHEMATICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCES

Sleep has a huge impact on health, well-being and productivity, but how long and how well people sleep these days has not been accurately reported. Previous research on how much and how well we sleep has mostly relied on self-reports or was confined within the data from the unnatural environments of the sleep laboratories.

 

So, the questions remained: Is the amount and quality of sleep purely a personal choice? Could they be independent from social factors such as culture and geography?

 

 

< From left to right, Sungkyu Park of Kangwon National University, South Korea; Assem Zhunis of KAIST and IBS, South Korea; Marios Constantinides of Nokia Bell Labs, UK; Luca Maria Aiello of the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Daniele Quercia of Nokia Bell Labs and King's College London, UK; and Meeyoung Cha of IBS and KAIST, South Korea >

 

A new study led by researchers at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Nokia Bell Labs in the United Kingdom investigated the cultural and individual factors that influence sleep. In contrast to previous studies that relied on surveys or controlled experiments at labs, the team used commercially available smartwatches for extensive data collection, analyzing 52 million logs collected over a four-year period from 30,082 individuals in 11 countries. These people wore Nokia smartwatches, which allowed the team to investigate country-specific sleep patterns based on the digital logs from the devices.

 

 

< Figure comparing survey and smartwatch logs on average sleep-time, wake-time, and sleep durations. Digital logs consistently recorded delayed hours of wake- and sleep-time, resulting in shorter sleep durations. >

 

Digital logs collected from the smartwatches revealed discrepancies in wake-up times and sleep-times, sometimes by tens of minutes to an hour, from the data previously collected from self-report assessments. The average sleep-time overall was calculated to be around midnight, and the average wake-up time was 7:42 AM. The team discovered, however, that individuals' sleep is heavily linked to their geographical location and cultural factors. While wake-up times were similar, sleep-time varied by country. Individuals in higher GDP countries had more records of delayed bedtime. Those in collectivist culture, compared to individualist culture, also showed more records of delayed bedtime. Among the studied countries, Japan had the shortest total sleep duration, averaging a duration of under 7 hours, while Finland had the longest, averaging 8 hours.

 

Researchers calculated essential sleep metrics used in clinical studies, such as sleep efficiency, sleep duration, and overslept hours on weekends, to analyze the extensive sleep patterns. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), they further condensed these metrics into two major sleep dimensions representing sleep quality and quantity. A cross-country comparison revealed that societal factors account for 55% of the variation in sleep quality and 63% of the variation in sleep quantity.

 

Countries with a higher individualism index (IDV), which placed greater emphasis on individual achievements and relationships, had significantly longer sleep durations, which could be attributed to such societies having a norm of going to bed early. Spain and Japan, on the other hand, had the bedtime scheduled at the latest hours despite having the highest collectivism scores (low IDV). The study also discovered a moderate relationship between a higher uncertainty avoidance index (UAI), which measures implementation of general laws and regulation in daily lives of regular citizens, and better sleep quality.

 

Researchers also investigated how physical activity can affect sleep quantity and quality to see if individuals can counterbalance cultural influences through personal interventions. They discovered that increasing daily activity can improve sleep quality in terms of shortened time needed in falling asleep and waking up. Individuals who exercise more, however, did not sleep longer. The effect of exercise differed by country, with more pronounced effects observed in some countries, such as the United States and Finland. Interestingly, in Japan, no obvious effect of exercise could be observed. These findings suggest that the relationship between daily activity and sleep may differ by country and that different exercise regimens may be more effective in different cultures. 

 

This research published on the Scientific Reports by the international journal, Nature, sheds light on the influence of social factors on sleep. (Paper Title "Social dimensions impact individual sleep quantity and quality" Article number: 9681) 

 

One of the co-authors, Daniele Quercia, commented: “Excessive work schedules, long working hours, and late bedtime in high-income countries and social engagement due to high collectivism may cause bedtimes to be delayed.”

 

Commenting on the research, the first author Shaun Sungkyu Park said, "While it is intriguing to see that a society can play a role in determining the quantity and quality of an individual's sleep with large-scale data, the significance of this study is that it quantitatively shows that even within the same culture (country), individual efforts such as daily exercise can have a positive impact on sleep quantity and quality."

 

"Sleep not only has a great impact on one’s well-being but it is also known to be associated with health issues such as obesity and dementia," said the lead author, Meeyoung Cha. "In order to ensure adequate sleep and improve sleep quality in an aging society, not only individual efforts but also a social support must be provided to work together," she said. The research team will contribute to the development of the high-tech sleep industry by making a code that easily calculates the sleep indicators developed in this study available free of charge, as well as providing the benchmark data for various types of sleep research to follow.

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-36762-5 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Social dimensions impact individual sleep quantity and quality