Friday, June 26, 2020

Role-play shows which expectant dads will thrive as new fathers

Interaction with doll predicts parenting quality, study finds

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A five-minute role-play done with men before the birth of their first child predicted the quality of their parenting after the baby arrived, a new study showed.

Researchers videotaped 182 expectant fathers during the third trimester of their partners' pregnancy, observing how the men interacted with a doll that they were told represented the baby they were about to have.

Ratings given to the fathers on their levels of "intuitive parenting" while playing with the doll predicted how well they were rated on parenting quality nine months after their baby was born.

"We were able to detect the capacity for positive parenting in these men before they even became fathers," said lead study author Lauren Altenburger, who began the work as a doctoral student at The Ohio State University.

Altenburger is now an assistant professor of human development and family studies at Pennsylvania State University-Shenango, where the study was completed.

The intuitive parenting skills measured as the men interacted with the doll included talking directly to the face of the "baby," using baby talk and smiling, and showing concern for the baby's well-being.

The good news is that the intuitive parenting skills measured in this study can be taught, said Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State.

"We can help expectant fathers learn these parenting skills," said Schoppe-Sullivan, who is a senior research associate on the board of the Council on Contemporary Families. "Not all parents start out knowing how to do these things, but they can be shown how."

The research was published online June 22, 2020 in the Journal of Family Psychology.

The couples in the study were participating in the New Parents Project, a long-term study co-led by Schoppe-Sullivan that is investigating how dual-earner couples adjust to becoming parents for the first time.

Researchers visited the couples' homes during the third trimester of the woman's pregnancy.

The procedure using dolls was developed by researchers in Switzerland, but has rarely been used in the United States.

"It may seem silly to have adults play with dolls, but it is actually pretty easy for them to do," Altenburger said.

"The birth is right around the corner, so they are already thinking about what it is going to be like. They took the role playing seriously."

The doll they used was custom-made and consisted of a footed infant sleeper sewn shut with 7-8 pounds of rice inside to make its weight similar to a newborn. A doll's head made of green fabric was sewn onto the footed sleeper.

In the videotaped procedure, an assistant playing the role of a nurse presented the "baby" to the parents.

"We were looking for how natural fathers acted with the baby. Did they hold it properly, smile at it and do things like gently pinching the baby's foot or other positive behaviors that many people just instinctively do with babies," Schoppe-Sullivan said.

Trained assistants viewed the videotape and rated the fathers on their level of intuitive parenting behaviors.

Nine months after the birth of the baby, the fathers' parenting quality was assessed by a different team of research assistants who watched the fathers try to teach their babies to play with either a shape sorter or stacking rings.

The assistants rated how well the fathers paid attention and responded to their child, how engaged they were, and their expression of positive feelings.

"Those dads who were rated as showing more intuitive parenting skills with the doll a year earlier tended to have a more positive interaction with their real child," Altenburger said.

This was true even after taking into account several other factors that could affect how well fathers did at parenting their infant, such as the men's personality traits, their co-parenting relationship with the child's mother and the child's temperament.

Findings showed that dads who showed more high-quality parenting skills when their baby was 9 months old also tended to score higher on tests of two personality traits.

One trait was being open to new experiences, which is obviously helpful for dads becoming parents for the first time.

The other trait was conscientiousness, which is being careful and diligent with your responsibilities.

The researchers found that a good co-parenting relationship between the mother and father - how they worked together to raise their child - also predicted better parenting quality in dads. Co-parenting relationship quality was observed between mothers, fathers, and their 3-month-old baby.

The child's temperament was not related to fathers' parenting quality in this study. But the researchers said this should be interpreted with caution, because temperament was reported by fathers at a single time point.

The New Parents Project involves couples in which both partners have jobs and are mostly white and well-educated, Schoppe-Sullivan said, so the results may not apply in the same way to all fathers.

The researchers said the results could help health care professionals and others who work with expectant couples to identify and help fathers who may need extra help learning their role as a parent.

"Although it is called 'intuitive parenting,' it isn't really intuitive for everyone. We need to work with fathers to make sure they know how to be the best fathers they can be," Schoppe-Sullivan said.

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The New Parents Project was funded by the National Science Foundation, with additional support from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Contact: Lauren Altenburger, lqa5222@psu.edu
Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, schoppe-sullivan.1@osu.edu

Written by Jeff Grabmeier, 614-292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu

Deep drone acrobatics

UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH

IMAGE: A QUADROTOR PERFORMS A MATTY FLIP. view more

CREDIT: ELIA KAUFMANN

Since the dawn of flight, pilots have used acrobatic maneuvers to test the limits of their airplanes. The same goes for flying drones: Professional pilots often gage the limits of their drones and measure their level of mastery by flying such maneuvers in competitions

Greater efficiency, full speed

Working together with microprocessor company Intel, a team of researchers at the University of Zurich has now developed a quadrotor helicopter, or quadcopter, that can learn to fly acrobatic maneuvers. While a power loop or a barrel role might not be needed in conventional drone operations, a drone capable of performing such maneuvers is likely to be much more efficient. It can be pushed to its physical limits, make full use of its agility and speed, and cover more distance within its battery life.

The researchers have developed a navigation algorithm that enables drones to autonomously perform various maneuvers - using nothing more than onboard sensor measurements. To demonstrate the efficiency of their algorithm, the researchers flew maneuvers such as a power loop, a barrel roll or a matty flip, during which the drone is subject to very high thrust and extreme angular acceleration. "This navigation is another step towards integrating autonomous drones in our daily lives," says Davide Scaramuzza, robotics professor and head of the robotics and perception group at the University of Zurich.

Trained in simulation

At the core of the novel algorithm lies an artificial neural network that combines input from the onboard camera and sensors and translates this information directly into control commands. The neural network is trained exclusively through simulated acrobatic maneuvers. This has several advantages: Maneuvers can easily be simulated through reference trajectories and do not require expensive demonstrations by a human pilot. Training can scale to a large number of diverse maneuvers and does not pose any physical risk to the quadcopter.

Only a few hours of simulation training are enough and the quadcopter is ready for use, without requiring additional fine-tuning using real data. The algorithm uses abstraction of the sensory input from the simulations and transfers it to the physical world. "Our algorithm learns how to perform acrobatic maneuvers that are challenging even for the best human pilots," says Scaramuzza.

Fast drones for fast missions

However, the researchers acknowledge that human pilots are still better than autonomous drones. "Human pilots can quickly process unexpected situations and changes in the surroundings, and are faster to adjust," says Scaramuzza. Nevertheless, the robotics professor is convinced that drones used for search and rescue missions or for delivery services will benefit from being able to cover long distances quickly and efficiently.

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Gear treated with 'forever chemicals' poses risk to firefighters

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME

Firefighters face occupational hazards on a daily basis. Now, new research shows they face additional risk just by gearing up.

Fabric used for firefighter turnout gear tested positive for the presence of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), according to the study published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, led by Graham Peaslee, professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame. Peaslee embarked on a more extensive study, after initial tests on gear samples showed significantly high levels of fluorine.

"When we ran our initial tests, the fluorine content was so high, there was little question as to whether or not we'd find PFAS in a larger sample of gear," said Peaslee. "Our primary concern -- as is always the case when it comes to these particular chemicals -- became how much of it is coming off the gear and getting into the environment?"

Peaslee's team tested more than 30 samples of used and unused personal protective equipment (PPE) from six specialty textile manufacturers in the United States and found them to be treated extensively with PFAS or constructed with fluoropolymers, a type of PFAS used to make textiles oil and water resistant.

Firefighter's PPE or "turnout gear" is comprised of three layers -- a thermal layer, worn closest to the skin, covered by a moisture barrier designed for water resistance and the outer shell. Peaslee and his team found high concentrations of fluorine on the moisture barrier and outer shell. Some of these chemicals have the ability to migrate off treated surfaces and materials, meaning the PFAS in the moisture barrier and outer shell PPE could potentially contaminate the thermal layer and come in direct contact with skin.

"If they touch the gear, it gets on their hands, and if they go fight a fire and they put the gear on and take it off and then go eat and don't wash hands, it could transfer hand to mouth," said Peaslee. "And if you're sweating and you have sweat pores, could some of these chemicals come off on the thermal layer and get into the skin? The answer is probably." Peaslee's study is the first to identify this potential source of PFAS exposure in firefighting PPE and argues that more studies are needed.

Known as "forever chemicals" PFAS have been found in fast food wrappers and containers, nonstick cookware, child car seats and firefighting foams. The use of PFAS-based foam fire suppressants has been linked to the contamination of drinking water systems, leading the United States Department of Defense to switch to an environmentally safer alternative foam before 2023. In a previous study, co-authored by Peaslee, researchers found the chemicals accumulate in the body after entering the bloodstream, and PFAS have been linked to four of the top eight cancers which have been found more commonly in firefighters including testicular cancer, mesothelioma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and prostate cancer.

The study also presented evidence of the potential hazard of these chemicals in PPE in two other ways. Dust samples taken from a PPE distribution facility in one fire district also tested positive for fluorine, consistent with the ability of these chemicals to shed off the gear onto other surfaces. The team also observed fluorine transfer from the outer shell onto gloved hands upon handling, proving that this could be an exposure source from PFAS to firefighters.

"Further work needs to be done to assess the extent of this risk to firefighters," said Peaslee, an affiliated member of the Eck Institute for Global Health and the Environmental Change Initiative. "But until this risk is estimated, operational steps can be taken to minimize occupational exposure to these PFAS while still using the PPE to keep the firefighters safe on the job." Peaslee suggests that the long-term solution would be to find a healthier alternative to PFAS which can provide equivalent water resistance to the gear.

This is just the latest study in a building collection of literature highlighting the danger and persistence of PFAS in contamination of the environment and threat to public health.

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Co-authors of the study include Nicholas Caterisano, Alec Gonzales, Seryeong Lee, Matthew Roddy, Meghanne E. Tighe and John T. Wilkinson, also at Notre Dame; Simon Mills of Envirolab Group and Krystle Mitchell of the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service. Research was conducted at Notre Dame's Nuclear Science Laboratory.

Research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the Last Call Foundation.

Read more about Peaslee's research on the presence of PFAS in turnout gear at: http://www.fightingfor.nd.edu/2019/fighting-to-protect-the-brave/.

Marching for change: 2017 Women's March met with mostly positive support online

Penn State research found the event drew little negative commentary on Twitter, despite some controversy

PENN STATE

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Large protest events can be divisive, spurring an outpouring of both support and opposition. But new Penn State research found that the 2017 Women's March, which championed goals in support of women and human rights, was met with mostly positive support on social media, with relatively few negative messages.

In an analysis of all geolocated tweets in the continental U.S. on the day of the march, the researchers found that not only were tweets about the march generally positive, but they were actually more positive than other geolocated tweets -- those that have an attached location -- on that day. Tweets about the march rose to a peak of 12% of all geolocated tweets on that day.

Diane Felmlee, professor of sociology, said research into understanding how social justice issues are reflected in social media continues to be relevant given the current protests championing racial justice happening across the country.

"The U.S. has a long history of protest movements, from Colonial times through Civil Rights and Vietnam War protests," Felmlee said. "Recently, however, protests are accompanied by corresponding online reactions in real-time. Furthermore, controversy regarding Twitter's recent move to increase its labeling of tweets that are misleading, glorify violence, or could cause harm, makes studying links between social media and events that advocate social causes especially important."

According to the researcher's, the Women's March -- which took place on January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump -- was at the time the largest single-day protest in American history. More than 4 million people, about 1.3% of the nation's population, participated.

But despite the widespread support and participation, Felmlee said the March also spurred some controversy from certain political and activist groups.

"The Women's March of 2017 was an inspiring, historic event, and my coauthors and I wanted to capture public sentiment before, during, and after it occurred," Felmlee said. "My own research focuses on sexist and racist online harassment, and we were concerned that a backlash toward the March could erupt into extensive, aggressive, harmful messaging on social media."

For the study, the researchers used the Twitter Streaming Application Programming Interface to collect all geolocated tweets in the continental U.S. from Jan. 20 to 22, 2017, that referenced the Women's March and its sister marches. They analyzed the content of the tweets to rank them on how positive or negative they were.

The researchers found that from Jan. 20 to 22, 3.1% of all tweets in the study contained a term about the Women's March. On the day of the March -- Jan. 21 -- more than 40,000 users tweeted more than 64,000 geotagged messages about the Women's March. These tweets made up 2.6% of all tweets.

According to the researchers, while the majority of messages were positive, they did find negative ones. Negative sentiment was mostly tweeted from seven metropolitan areas in Alabama, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington. However, these tweets made up a small portion of tweets.

Felmlee said she was happy to find few aggressive and bullying tweets that targeted the March or its participants.

"The widespread, largely supportive and positive nature of messages across the continental U.S. was significant," Felmlee said. "I was particularly surprised by these generally supportive reactions to the March, especially given the political divides in our country, and the all too common occurrence of sexist and racist online harassment and abuse."

Additionally, Felmlee said the results -- recently published in PLoS ONE -- give insights into how social media fits into social movements and pushes for change.

"The physical and online worlds are linked -- social movement rallies can be effective tools to gain online public support for social justice causes," Felmlee said. "This is why some governments shut down social media during protests. More positively, it is why so many agencies and organizations use social media to disseminate information."

Justine I. Blanford, associate teaching professor of geography; Stephen A. Matthews, professor of sociology, anthropology, demography, and geography; and Alan M. MacEachren, professor of geography and information science and technology, also coauthored this work.

The Penn State Social Science Research Institute and the Population Research Institute helped support this research.

School nurses key to safe school reopening

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF NURSING

PHILADELPHIA (June 24, 2020) - Sudden school closures in the United States were undertaken to reduce COVID-19 transmission this spring. Those closures were not typical, and how and when schools reopen will create a set of new norms, with unique stressors for students, families, school personnel, and communities.

The challenges of reopening are not easy, and there will be a need to maintain systematic quality control in the face of prescribed approaches changing rapidly. In an editorial in The Journal of School Nursing, Catherine C. McDonald, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) and a Senior Fellow with the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, addresses a number of challenges that will likely need to be met and how school nurses are positioned to keep children healthy, safe, and ready to learn.

"There is hope that in fall 2020, schools will be well on their way to reopening. No matter the scenario, we know that school nurses will be ready to lead in the steps to keep their schools healthy," writes McDonald. "School nurses will take on COVID-19 specific roles in advising, planning, and implementation. They are key to student health, safety, and success, and at this time, their role could not be more important."

The editorial, "Reopening Schools in the Time of Pandemic: Look to the School Nurses," has been published online first and is set for publication in the upcoming August issue as well.

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About the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is one of the world's leading schools of nursing. For the fifth year in a row, it is ranked the #1 nursing school in the world by QS University and is consistently ranked highly in the U.S. News & World Report annual list of best graduate schools. Penn Nursing is currently ranked # 1 in funding from the National Institutes of Health, among other schools of nursing, for the third consecutive year. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through innovation in research, education, and practice. Follow Penn Nursing on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, & Instagram.

Disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on socially vulnerable communities

New paper explores what factors contributed to risk, especially in minority and non-English speaking communities

BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL

In a research letter published in The Journal of General Internal Medicine on COVID-19, Ishani Ganguli, MD, MPH, a physician researcher in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women's Hospital and colleagues Rohan Khazanchi (University of Nebraska Medical Center student) and Evan Beiter (Harvard Medical School student) analyzed COVID-19 case and death rates at the county level looking at what factors contributed to risk. Using data compiled by The New York Times from health agency reports, the authors found that COVID-19 has disproportionately affected socially vulnerable communities, especially minority and non-English speaking ones. The team based its evaluation on the CDC's validated Social Vulnerability Index.

The findings emphasize the need for standardized collection of sociodemographic characteristics and targeted interventions, the authors conclude. Key points are outlined below:

Risk was driven by minority status and English language proficiency in both rural and urban counties.
Compared with those in the least vulnerable counties, people in the most vulnerable counties had 1.63-fold greater risk of COVID-19 diagnosis and 1.73-fold greater risk of death.
When considering only race, ethnicity and English language proficiency variables, people in the most vulnerable counties had 4.94-fold and 4.74-fold greater risks of COVID-19 diagnosis and death, respectively.
In urban areas, poverty, unemployment, crowded housing, and vehicle access were also associated with increased COVID-19 diagnosis and death.

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Feed additive reduces enteric methane emissions in dairy cows

Research in the Journal of Dairy Science® studies dose-response effect of methane inhibitor in dairy cows

ELSEVIER

After a 14-day adjustment period, cows received the base TMR mixed with a placebo or one of six treatment doses of 3-NOP ranging from 40 to 200 mg of 3-NOP/kg of feed. Dose levels were chosen based on previous research at this laboratory as well as studies conducted in beef cattle. The scientists hypothesized that within the range of application rates studied, 3-NOP would decrease enteric methane emissions without affecting dry matter intake or lactational performance of the cows.

The inclusion of 3-NOP in the TMR quadratically decreased daily enteric methane emissions by 22 to 40 percent in lactating dairy cows, with an average reduction of 31 percent. In this experiment, 3-NOP had no effect on dry matter intake or milk yield but linearly increased milk fat concentration and yield.

"We can determine by calculation that the decrease in daily enteric methane emissions would have increased the availability of feed digestible energy," said lead investigator Alexander Hristov, PhD, Department of Animal Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. "The reduction in emitted methane with 3-NOP would represent, in theory, additional energy for lactation that could potentially be used for productive purposes."

The results of this study suggest that 3-NOP is a promising feed additive for reducing enteric methane emissions, while maintaining lactational performance in dairy cows and potentially increasing milk fat yield.

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Agricultural conservation schemes not enough to protect Britain's rarest butterflies

UNIVERSITY OF YORK

IMAGE: A WILDFLOWER-SOWN SET-ASIDE STRIP MANAGED THROUGH AN AGRI-ENVIRONMENT SCHEME AGREEMENT. view more

CREDIT: KATIE THREADGILL

Conservation management around the margins of agriculture fail to protect butterfly species at greatest risk from the intensification of farming, a new study says.

The research, from the University of York, says the subsidised schemes are likely to help common, more mobile grassland species like the Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus) or the Meadow brown (Maniola jurtina) but not rarer species like the Duke of Burgundy (Hamearis lucina) or the Dingy skipper (Erynnis tages).

Agri-environment schemes financially reward farmers managing land in ways which aim to reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture. Common options include setting aside small areas of land out of production, including leaving grassland strips at the edges of agricultural fields.

The study examined whether these strips helped support insects including grassland butterfly populations. It used ecological models to look at whether the schemes improved butterfly survival locally and also if set aside land helped species expand their range and move across landscapes. This expansion is important so that species can move in response to climate change.

Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus), a common grassland species of the type predicted to benefit from agri-environment schemesKatie Threadgill, PhD student from the Department of Biology said: "These kind of set aside schemes help mobile, common butterfly species move across landscapes but they do not help all species.

"The greatest benefits were seen in species which were either highly mobile or which live in high densities. High density species which could travel further were already successful expanders regardless of set-asides although expansion rates were still improved when set-asides were added. Overall, set-aside strips did increase rates of range expansion across landscapes by up to 100% for some species but they did not boost long term butterfly survival locally.

Prof Jane Hill, who co-supervised the project added: "Small-scale set-asides have the potential to improve connectivity, which will help some species move to cope with climate change, and connect up habitat patches for others."

The study concluded that set-asides are unlikely to benefit low dispersal, low density species which are probably at greatest risk from agricultural intensification.

Katie Threadgill added: "Our results suggest that small set-aside strips alone are not an appropriate solution for preventing extinctions in the long term, but can provide other benefits"

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The paper, "Agri-environment conservation set-asides have co-benefits for connectivity" is published in Ecography

Sledge dogs are closely related to 9,500-year-old 'ancient dog'

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES

Dogs play an important role in human life all over the world - whether as a family member or as a working animal. But where the dog comes from and how old various groups of dogs are is still a bit of a mystery.

Now, light has been shed on the origin of the sledge dog. In a new study published in SCIENCE, researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, show that the sledge dog is both older and has adapted to the Arctic much earlier than thought. The research was conducted in collaboration with the University of Greenland and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Barcelona.

'We have extracted DNA from a 9,500-year-old dog from the Siberian island of Zhokhov, which the dog is named after. Based on that DNA we have sequenced the oldest complete dog genome to date, and the results show an extremely early diversification of dogs into types of sledge dogs', says one of the two first authors of the study, PhD student Mikkel Sinding, the Globe Institute.

Until now, it has been the common belief that the 9,500-year-old Siberian dog, Zhokhov, was a kind of ancient dog - one of the earliest domesticated dogs and a version of the common origin of all dogs. But according to the new study, modern sledge dogs such as the Siberian Husky, the Alaskan Malamute and the Greenland sledge dog share the major part of their genome with Zhokhov.

'This means that modern sledge dogs and Zhokhov had the same common origin in Siberia more than 9,500 years ago. Until now, we have thought that sledge dogs were only 2-3,000 years old', says the other first author, Associate Professor Shyam Gopalakrishnan, Globe Institute.

The Original Sledge Dog

To learn more about the origins of the sledge dog, researchers have further sequenced genomes of a 33,000-year-old Siberian wolf and ten modern Greenlandic sledge dogs. They have compared these genomes to genomes of dogs and wolves from around the world.

'We can see that the modern sledge dogs have most of their genomes in common with Zhokhov. So, they are more closely related to this ancient dog than to other dogs and wolves. But not just that - we can see traces of crossbreeding with wolves such as the 33,000-year-old Siberian wolf - but not with modern wolves. It further emphasises that the origin of the modern sledge dog goes back much further than we had thought', says Mikkel Sinding.

The modern sledge dogs have more genetic overlap with other modern dog breeds than Zhokhov has, but the studies do not show us where or when this occurred. Nevertheless, among modern sledge dogs, the Greenland sledge dogs stands out and has the least overlap with other dogs, meaning that the Greenland sledge dog is probably the most original sledge dog in the world.

Common Features with Inuit and Polar Bears

In addition to advancing the common understanding of the origin of sledge dogs, the new study also teaches the researchers more about the differences between sledge dogs and other dogs. Sledge dogs do not have the same genetic adaptations to a sugar and starch rich diet that other dogs have. On the other hand, they have adaptations to high-fat diets, with mechanisms that are similar to those described for polar bears and Arctic people.

'This emphasises that sledge dogs and Arctic people have worked and adapted together for more than 9,500 years. We can also see that they have adaptations that are probably linked to improved oxygen uptake, which makes sense in relation to sledding and give the sledding tradition ancient roots', says Shyam Gopalakrishnan.

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Climate extremes will cause forest changes

UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG

IMAGE: PREMATURE LEAF SENESCENCE OF A BEECH TREE DURING THE 2018 EVENT, FOLLOWED BY LACKING LEAF FLUSHING AND CANOPY DIEBACK IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR. view more

CREDIT: (PHOTOS: ANSGAR KAHMEN / UNIVERSITY OF BASEL)

Until now, 2003 was considered as the driest and hottest year since the beginning of instrumental climate recording. This record can now be considered obsolete: "The past five years were among the warmest in Central Europe since record, and 2018 was the most extreme one," says Professor Bernhard Schuldt from Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany.

The average temperature from April to October 2018 was on average 3.3 degrees Celsius above the long-term average and 1.2 degrees higher than in 2003, Schuldt and a research team report in the journal Basic and Applied Ecology. This had dramatic consequences for the forests in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Water transport through the wood collapses

"At such temperatures, our Central European vegetation reaches its limits," says the JMU professor. Together with other researchers from Germany and Switzerland, the plant ecologist was able to confirm with physiological measurements: When it is too hot, the tree simply loses too much water via its surface. As a result, the negative tension in the wood's conducting tissue becomes too steep, which ultimately leads to hydraulic failure interrupting the water transport.

Already during the course of the summer, severe drought-related stress symptoms were observed in most ecologically and economically important tree species, including widespread leaf discoloration and premature lead shedding.

Spruce and beech trees most affected

Moreover, unexpectedly strong drought-legacy effects were detected in 2019: many broad-leaved trees did not unfold their leaves - they had died. Others that survived the 2018 event where not able to withstand the following drought in 2019, or became increasingly susceptible to infestation with bark beetles or fungi.

"Spruce was most severely affected, mainly because this mountainous species has been planted outside its natural habitat in Central Europe," explains Schuldt. "Unexpected was, however, the extent to which beech trees were affected. Here in Northern Bavaria, I have seen several stands with complete dieback, especially on sites with shallow soil". Until this event, beech has been considered as "future tree species", even though its drought tolerance has been controversially discussed since the hot drought in 2003.

This year's climatic condition in spring again started too warm and too dry. "Now in June 2020 we have fortunately received high amounts of rainfall," the Würzburg professor is pleased to report. This has mitigated the situation, but the water deficit in the deeper soil layers has certainly not been recharged. Therefore, he assumes that affected trees will continue to die-off in the coming years due to legacy effects.

Dead old-growth beech trees in the forest of the University of Würzburg in the Steigerwald, 2019

Mixed forests with drought-stress resistant tree species are needed

So what should one do? "I think that extreme drought and heat events will become more frequent in near future due to climate change," says the JMU scientist. At least locally, forests will therefore have to be restructured. Mixed forests with tree species that are as drought-resistant as possible are needed. "However, we still have to identify what species combination is best suited, also from an ecological and economic perspective. This is going to take some time."

Monitoring forests with Earth observation data

More data are needed to manage this forest conversion as good as possible. "Although damages to our forests are obvious, it is difficult to quantify them at high temporal and spatial resolution."

Therefore, remote monitoring systems are needed to support ground-based measures. Remotely sensed airborne or satellite earth observation data with high temporal and spatial resolution will enable us to track individual tree dieback and provide these data to the scientific community. "In the US, such systems are operating in given regions, but they are currently lacking for Central Europe. We will not be able to monitor forest health from the ground at larger scales."

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Scientists modelled natural rock arcades

SKOLKOVO INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SKOLTECH)

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS FROM RUSSIA AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC PERFORMED NUMERICAL MODELLING OF NATURAL ROCK ARCADES USING A MATHEMATICAL MODEL THAT DESCRIBES A SUCCESSION OF ARCHES FORMING AS A RESULT OF WEATHERING... view more

CREDIT: PAVEL ODINEV / SKOLTECH

Researchers from Russia and the Czech Republic performed numerical modelling of natural rock arcades using a mathematical model that describes a succession of arches forming as a result of weathering and then turning into rock pillars without human involvement, despite their striking resemblance to architectural arcades. The results of the study were published in the journal Geomorphology.

An architectural arcade is a succession of arches of the same shape and size, each supported by pillars. The Romans widely used arcades in aqueducts, viaducts, circuses, and amphitheaters, while in the Middle Ages, English and Italian architects used them in cathedrals and open galleries. Arcades are an architectural landmark of Bologna in Italy. Interestingly, similar structures can be found in nature, as testimony to rock evolution through the ages, driven by weathering and erosion.

A group of scientists from the Skoltech Center for Design, Manufacturing and Materials (CDMM) and Charles University (Czech Republic) modelled the processes leading to the formation of rock arcades due to erosion. The study used the rock erosion mechanism described earlier by the Czech and Skoltech scientists who had found that erosion in rock (sandstone, granite, quartzite, tuff, etc.) occurs in low-stress areas. It was shown that arcades appear in areas with discontinuities, such as cracks or thin layers of softer rock.

"In non-uniform rock, erosion causes the stress to shift from one part of the rock to another, forming regular high-pressure areas. As erosion continues, arches appear along the rock surface and the adjacent neighboring high-pressure areas connect to form an arcade," explains Alexander Safonov, an assistant professor at Skoltech.

The study showed that as the erosion front moves deeper into the rock, several rows of arcades are formed inside. A decrease in the rock's total weight due to erosion reduces the loads on individual arches, which can lead to partial erosion of the arcades and their evolution into colonnades.

The model describes sandstone arcades and pillars in the Czech Republic (Bohemian Paradise) and the United States (Arches National Park)) as well as arches and columns in coastal areas.

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Examining media coverage of protests worldwide

Study reveals how type and location of protest influence coverage shared on social media

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

As anti-racism solidarity protests continue around the world, new research suggests mainstream media have a tendency to focus on the violence and spectacle of a protest rather than the substance. That mentality and approach need to change according to Summer Harlow, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Houston Jack J. Valenti School of Communication.

"How journalists cover protests and social movements matters because the more delegitimizing the coverage is the less likely the public is to support it," said Harlow, lead author of the study published online in the Journal of Journalism Studies. "Reporters should focus on the real issues, not just the violence you see on television or read about in newspapers between police and protestors or the inconvenience to bystanders. It hurts a movement's ability to be successful."

Harlow and co-authors Danielle Kilgo at the University of Minnesota; Ramón Salaverría at University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain; and Victor García-Perdomo at the University of La Sabana in Bogotá, Colombia, examined the way protests are covered across mainstream, alternative and digital-only media outlets. The team analyzed more than 1,400 news articles in English and Spanish from 2015 spanning the globe related to human rights/justice, anti-government/corruption and socio-economic issues, among others. The articles had been shared on Twitter and Facebook allowing the researchers to consider the correlation between story characteristics and social media user engagement.

The researchers found the type of protest, location of protest and type of media outlet were significantly related to whether these stories stuck to the protest paradigm - a pattern of negative coverage of protests, especially when the events are anti-status quo, that demonizes protesters and marginalizes their causes.

"This goes back to traditional journalistic practices and values. If you are a journalist on a deadline, you rely on official sources such as law enforcement for information. As a result, protestors are seen as less credible and the reason why they are so upset gets lost in the coverage," explained Harlow, whose body of research centers on how news media cover protests and the relationship between journalists and activists.

Previous research shows news coverage that follows the paradigm uses four frames, three of which delegitimize the root of the cause: riot, a focus on the violence; confrontation, a focus on clashes between protestors and police; spectacle, a focus on the drama or emotions; and debate - a media frame that legitimizes viewpoints and demands by emphasizing the reasons for the protest.

In applying this framing to stories shared on social media, the study reveals articles published about socio-economic and human rights/justice protests in Europe, for example, focused less on confrontation and more on the debate. In Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, social media users leaned more towards the spectacle with a tendency to highlight the drama, oddity and circus of protests in these regions.

Harlow, who will teach a course about media and social justice this fall, says recent protests in the United States over the killing of George Floyd and in support of Black Lives Matter, offer opportunities for all media outlets to improve their coverage.

"George Floyd represents this moment where journalists can take what they've been doing all this time and change it," she said. "There's been this collective wake-up call among journalists who are now questioning the way it's always been done, and that maybe they haven't been doing it the right way."

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CAT LADIES
Welfare concerns highlighted over 'institutional hoarding' of cats

SAGE

IMAGE: THE RISK OF CHRONIC UPPER RESPIRATORY INFECTION APPEARS TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER FOR CATS IN INSTITUTIONAL HOARDING SETTINGS, AS SHOWN BY THIS INDIVIDUAL RESCUED BY THE TORONTO HUMANE SOCIETY. view more

CREDIT: COURTESY OF LINDA JACOBSON/TORONTO HUMANE SOCIETY

The compulsive hoarding of animals is a poorly understood psychiatric disorder in people. Characterised by failure to provide minimum standards of care, it can result in malnourishment, uncontrolled breeding, overcrowding and neglect. Typically there is denial of this failure and its impact on the animals and people involved. Even less well understood is the growing trend of 'institutional hoarding' by organisations masquerading to the public as legitimate shelters or rescue centres. A new epidemiological study by Dr Linda Jacobson, of the Toronto Humane Society (THS), and shelter medicine colleagues at Ontario Veterinary College and JVR Shelter Strategies, California, shows that there are significant welfare concerns for hoarded cats not just from the home environment but from institutional settings also.1

While animal hoarding is recognised to encompass a continuum of harm and severity, attention from the scientific community has mostly focused on large-scale cases and/or those involving legal seizure of animals and prosecutions. Comparatively little attention has been directed at smaller-scale cases, particularly those associated with a collaborative approach and voluntary relinquishment of animals.

Published this month in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, Dr Jacobson's study looked at 371 hoarded cats relinquished over a three-year period to the THS, an adoption guaranteed ('no-kill') shelter with a full-service veterinary hospital. Groups of cats ranged from 10 to 77 in number, with nine groups originating from home environments (designated non-institutional hoarding) and three from rescues (designated institutional hoarding). The majority of cats (95%) were surrendered voluntarily, many with the assistance of a community intermediary who was able to provide a navigable pathway between the animal hoarders and the THS.

The authors documented a range of conditions typical for hoarded cats. Almost 90% of cats were unneutered and 18% of females of breeding age were pregnant. Upper respiratory infection (URI), skin disease, ear mites and oral disease (gingivitis) were found in the largest number of groups. URI, which is associated with stress and overcrowding in cats, was the most common medical condition (38%) overall, followed by skin disease (30%). Notably, the risk of URI, and particularly chronic URI, was significantly greater for institutional hoarding compared with non-institutional hoarding settings.

As part of their study, the authors also analysed outcomes between hoarded and non-hoarded cats. Interestingly, they found similar adoption rates among their sample of 371 hoarded cats and a separate cohort of over 6000 non-hoarded cats that had been surrendered to the THS during the study period. In fact, the hoarded cats had a shorter maximum length of stay in the shelter than the non-hoarded cats. This reflects the fact that most of the hoarded cats were young and most of their medical conditions were curable or manageable, versus the complex medical or behavioural conditions among some non-hoarded cats. This finding, say the authors, underlines a shift in the expectations and abilities of shelters to successfully manage and rehome hoarded cats.

The study concludes that there is a need for a greater focus on institutional hoarding, and also points to the role that can be played by colony cat caregivers and other community intermediaries as an alternative to the legal seizure of animals in hoarding cases. Commenting, Dr Jacobson says: 'The "seize and euthanize" model is outdated and can often be successfully replaced by a least harms model.' This might help to reduce some of the unintended negative consequences associated with the traditional approach, such as delayed response times, stress for the animals and owners and overwhelming costs.

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Reference

1 Jacobson LS, Giacinti JA and Robertson JV. Medical conditions and outcomes in 371 hoarded cats from 14 sources: a retrospective study (2011¬-2014). J Feline Med Surg 2020; 22: 484-491. Free to read at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1098612X19854808

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