NIKE SUES COMPANY THAT MADE LIL NAS X’S SATAN SHOES

Aleia Woods

Published: March 29, 2021

MSCHF / Lil Nas X via YouTuTWEET

NIKE SUES DESIGNER OVER LIL NAS X ‘SATAN SHOES’

UPDATE (March 29):

On Monday afternoon, a rep for Nike confirmed the lawsuit against MSCHF to XXL.

"Nike filed a trademark infringement and dilution complaint against MSCHF today related to the Satan Shoes," the statement reads. "We don’t have any further details to share on pending legal matters. However, we can tell you we do not have a relationship with Lil Nas X or MSCHF. The Satan Shoes were produced without Nike’s approval or authorization, and Nike is in no way connected with this project."

ORIGINAL STORY:

Nike is standing their ground against Lil Nas X's recently released collaboration of a Satan-themed Nike Air Max 97 sneaker with Brooklyn, N.Y.-based art collective MSCHF, which appears in the rapper's controversial new "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" video. The billion-dollar shoe brand is reportedly filing a lawsuit against MSCHF for misleading buyers into thinking Nike approved the shoe when it was actually a customization done by the art company and Nas X.

According to a report from TMZ on Monday (March 29), Nike claims that they didn't authorize the reworked sneaker Lil Nas X dropped in conjunction with MSCHF to accompany the release of his single "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)," which arrived last Friday (March 26). Nike reportedly says they are "in no way connected with this project." The sneakers appear in the video being worn by the Satan actor, which can be seen beginning at the 2:27-mark of the visual.

Nike is suing MSCHF for trademark infringement because their signature Swoosh logo is featured on the Satan-inspired shoe. The company is seeking damages and wants all sales from the shoe to be blocked from Lil Nas X.

The sneaker conglomerate also notes that MSCHF buys shoes from Nike, modifies them to fit their own brand and resells for much higher than Nike's initial retail price.

Read More: Nike Sues Company That Made Lil Nas X's Satan Shoes - XXL | https://www.xxlmag.com/nike-sues-lil-nas-x-satan-shoes-lawsuit/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

NIKE SUES DESIGNER OVER LIL NAS X ‘SATAN SHOES’

BY ETHAN SHANFELD
March 29, 2021 

The rapper has become embroiled in a novel skirmish in the sneaker wars.

MSCHF/MEGA

Lil Nas X is dancing with the devil (both literally and figuratively) after the release of his fiery “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video and limited edition “Satan Shoes,” Sportico sister publication Variety reports.

The hip-hop superstar who broke records with his country-infused hit Old Town Road is stirring controversy after promoting his new sneakers, a collaboration with MSCHF, which feature Satanic imagery, a Bible verse and a drop of real human blood.

The shoes were made using Nike Air Max 97s, but the sportswear giant has said they do not endorse them, filing a lawsuit against MSCHF for trademark infringement. Nike claims that the “unauthorized” sneaker has caused confusion amongst customers, many of whom believe that the company is promoting Satanism.

“Nike files this lawsuit to maintain control of its brand, to protect its intellectual property, and to clear the confusion and dilution in the marketplace by setting the record straight—Nike has not and does not approve or authorize MSCHF’s customized Satan Shoes,” the suit reads.

The red and black kicks include a pentagram, the “Devil’s Star,” and an inscription of “Luke 10:18,” the Bible passage that reads, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” The air bubble at the sole of the shoe contains about two fluid ounces of red ink and a drop of human blood, supplied by people who work at MSCHF. The packaging includes drawings of the Devil walking up to Jesus. All 666 pairs of the rapper’s Satan Shoes, listed at $1,018, sold out in under a minute.

“People already demonize who I am,” Lil Nas X said in a new interview with Complex. “I’m gonna make the best of it.”

Immediately after news broke of the hell-raising sneakers, several prominent politicians, religious figures and celebrities voiced concern and outrage.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem wrote on Twitter, “We are in a fight for the soul of our nation. We need to fight hard. And we need to fight smart. We have to win.”

Rapper Joyner Lucas raised concern about Lil Nas X’s young fanbase being exposed to the controversial music video and shoes.

Pro basketball player Nick Young also took to Twitter, writing, “My kids will never play Old Town Road again,” and saying that he is “debating about wearing Nike.”

Lil Nas X has fought back, defending his music and sneaker release as art and calling people out for hypocrisy in their anger. See the artist’s tweets below:

An organic material for the next generation of HVAC technologies

Texas A&M researchers have enhanced the dehumidification efficiency of a polymer that could help develop more energy-efficient systems with a smaller carbon footprint

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

Research News

    SHARE

 PRINT  E-MAIL

IMAGE: DEHUMIDIFIERS WITH ENHANCED POLYIMIDE MEMBRANES (WHITE DISC) WILL BE ENERGY EFFICIENT WITH A SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT. view more 

CREDIT: DHARMESH PATEL/TEXAS A&M ENGINEERING

On sultry summer afternoons, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems provide much-needed relief from the harsh heat and humidity. These systems, which often come with dehumidifiers, are currently not energy efficient, guzzling around 76% of the electricity in commercial and residential buildings.

In a new study, Texas A&M University researchers have described an organic material, called polyimides, that uses less energy to dry air. Furthermore, the researchers said polyimide-based dehumidifiers can bring down the price of HVAC systems, which currently cost thousands of dollars.

"In this study, we took an existing and rather robust polymer and then improved its dehumidification efficiency," said Hae-Kwon Jeong, McFerrin Professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. "These polymer-based membranes, we think, will help develop the next generation of HVAC and dehumidifier technologies that are not just more efficient than current systems but also have a smaller carbon footprint."

The results of the study are described in the Journal of Membrane Science.

Dehumidifiers remove moisture from the air to a comfortable level of dryness, thereby improving air quality and eliminating dust mites, among other useful functions. The most commonly available dehumidifiers use refrigerants. These chemicals dehumidify by cooling the air and reducing its ability to carry water. However, despite their popularity, refrigerants are a source of greenhouse gases, a major culprit for global warming.

As an alternative material for dehumidification, naturally occurring materials known as zeolites have been widely considered for their drying action. Unlike refrigerants, zeolites are desiccants that can absorb moisture within their water-attractive or hydrophilic pores. Although these inorganic materials are green and have excellent dehumidification properties, zeolite-based dehumidifiers pose challenges of their own.

"Scaling up is a big problem with zeolite membranes," Jeong said. "First, zeolites are expensive to synthesize. Another issue comes from the mechanical properties of zeolites. They are weak and need really good supporting structures, which are quite expensive, driving up the overall cost."

Jeong and his team turned to a cost-effective organic material called polyimides that are well-known for their high rigidity and tolerance for heat and chemicals. At the molecular level, the basic unit of these high-performance polymers are repeating, ring-shaped imide groups connected together in long chains. Jeong said the attractive forces between the imides gives the polymer its characteristic strength and thus an advantage over mechanically weak zeolites. But the dehumidification properties of the polyimide material needed enhancement.

The researchers first created a film by carefully applying polyimide molecules on a few nanometers-wide alumina platforms. Next, they put this film in a highly concentrated sodium hydroxide solution, triggering a chemical process called hydrolysis. The reaction caused the imide molecular groups to break and become hydrophilic. When viewed under a high-powered microscope, the researchers uncovered that the hydrolysis reactions lead to the formation of water-attractive percolation channels or highways within the polyimide material.

When Jeong's team tested their enhanced material for dehumidification, they found that their polyimide membrane was very permeable to water molecules. In other words, the membrane was capable of extracting excess moisture from the air by trapping them in the percolation channels. The researchers noted that these membranes could be operated continuously without the need for regeneration since the trapped water molecules leave from the other side by a vacuum pump that is installed within a standard dehumidifier.

Jeong said his team carefully designed their experiments to partial hydrolysis wherein a controlled number of imide groups become hydrophilic.

"The strength of polyimides comes from their intermolecular forces between their chains," Jeong said. "If too many imides are hydrolyzed, then we are left with weak material. On the other hand, if the hydrolysis is too low, the material won't be effective at dehumidification."

Although polyimide membranes have shown great promise in their potential use in dehumidification, Jeong said their performance still lags behind zeolite membranes.

"This is a new approach to improve the property of a polymer for dehumidification and a lot more optimizations need to be done in order to further enhance the performance of this membrane," Jeong said. "But another key factor for engineering applications is it has to be cheap, especially if you want the technology to be reasonably affordable for homeowners. We are not there yet but are certainly taking strides in that direction."

###

Sunghwan Park in the chemical engineering department also contributed to this study.

This research is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Qatar National Research Fund.

Why subsistence consumers need marketplace literacy

News from the Journal of Marketing

AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Research News

 

Researchers from Loyola Marymount University, San Diego State University, Indian Institute of Management, and Iowa State University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines how effective marketplace participation by subsistence consumers requires knowledge and skills that relate to what, how, and why to participate.

The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled "Marketplace Literacy as a Pathway to a Better World: Evidence from Field Experiments in Low-Access Subsistence Marketplaces" and is authored by Madhu Viswanathan, Nita Umashankar, Arun Sreekumar, and Ashley Goreczny.

Success for marketers looking to emerging markets for growth is inextricably linked to the wellbeing of the hundreds of millions of subsistence consumers and microentrepreneurs who face poor infrastructure, material resource constraints, and low literacy. Such markets are some of the fastest growing in the world, with nearly $5 trillion of consumption spending annually. As a result, many multinational companies (e.g., Proctor & Gamble, Nokia, Unilever) market products to subsistence consumers.

Unique to subsistence marketplaces is that micro-entrepreneurship serves as a primary source of livelihood, and consumers' purchasing power depends on their microenterprise success. A primary disconnect between marketers' engagement in such markets and subsistence consumers' demand for their products, however, is the latter's inability to participate in marketplaces effectively and beneficially.

Beneficial marketplace participation involves consumers making optimal decisions and generating income by creating value for others through micro-entrepreneurship. With low marketplace participation and suboptimal decision making, firms may sell substandard products rather than high-quality and valuable products. Moreover, firms might not partner with local entrepreneurs, which is an important strategy for market entry in emerging markets.

Viswanathan explains that "Our research demonstrates that subsistence consumers' effective and beneficial marketplace participation requires not only material resources, such as access to capital, but also marketplace literacy--the knowledge and skills that enable marketplace participation both as a consumer and as an entrepreneur." Umashankar adds that "Marketplace literacy causes an increase in psychological wellbeing and consumer outcomes related to wellbeing like consumer confidence and decision-making ability, especially for subsistence consumers with lower marketplace access. It also causes an increase in entrepreneurial outcomes related to wellbeing, such as starting a microenterprise, for those with higher marketplace access."

The research provides insights for public policy makers, development efforts, and companies' corporate social responsibility initiatives. First, subsistence consumers play a significant role in mainstream marketing research since they represent a sizable proportion of consumers globally and function in extreme conditions that challenge the theories developed for resource-rich consumers and markets. Second, marketplace literacy offers a pathway to a better world for subsistence consumers. This pathway is fundamentally about literacy in a marketing domain, which encompasses buyers, sellers, and their interactions. Third, marketplace access is an important contextual factor that should be considered when exploring marketing phenomena across income levels. Fourth, marketplace literacy is a critical form of literacy, in addition to consumer and financial literacy, that should be cultivated. Fifth, marketplace literacy interventions should be implemented to help subsistence consumers overcome their lack of marketplace access and allow them to engage in entrepreneurship.

Even brief programs (4 to 12 hours) with rudimentary methods can aid the development of marketplace literacy and generate substantive outcomes. Such programs can be customized for different audiences (e.g., women vs. men) and occupations (farmers vs. artists) and can have their causal impact assessed. Lessons can be reinforced through short clips on web-based smartphone applications (e.g., WhatsApp, which has widespread adoption, even in rural areas of developing economies) or through text messages.

Given that multinational firms engage in corporate social responsibility initiatives to build stakeholder engagement, policymakers should hold marketers accountable for playing a central role in engendering marketplace literacy. This can be achieved through consumer and entrepreneur protection agencies, subsidies, and metrics that reward firms adhering to such standards. Sreekumar says that "We recommend that the United Nations include marketplace literacy explicitly in its sustainable development goals to build consumer and entrepreneurial knowledge and skills."

###

Full article and author contact information available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242921998385

About the Journal of Marketing

The Journal of Marketing develops and disseminates knowledge about real-world marketing questions useful to scholars, educators, managers, policy makers, consumers, and other societal stakeholders around the world. Published by the American Marketing Association since its founding in 1936, JM has played a significant role in shaping the content and boundaries of the marketing discipline. Christine Moorman (T. Austin Finch, Sr. Professor of Business Administration at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University) serves as the current Editor in Chief.
https://www.ama.org/jm

About the American Marketing Association (AMA)

As the largest chapter-based marketing association in the world, the AMA is trusted by marketing and sales professionals to help them discover what is coming next in the industry. The AMA has a community of local chapters in more than 70 cities and 350 college campuses throughout North America. The AMA is home to award-winning content, PCM® professional certification, premiere academic journals, and industry-leading training events and conferences.
https://www.ama.org

Study: Insights from two reopened schools during the COVID-19 pandemic

SANTA FE INSTITUTE

Research News 

Since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, parents, teachers, and school administrators have faced difficult questions regarding when and how to safely reopen for in-person learning. During the 2020-2021 fall semester, school districts around the United States navigated their reopening plans -- many opting for exclusively online learning or hybrid models -- with little data on how SARS-CoV-2 spreads among children or how in-person learning would impact transmission in the schools' communities. A new study in The Journal of School Health joins a growing body of evidence that, with appropriate measures, there are ways for schools to safely reopen.

In this study, scientists analyzed data from two large, independent k-12 schools that re-opened for in-person learning last fall. The results suggest that, with robust universal testing and mitigation measures, in-school transmission can remain low even as the surrounding community transmission rates rise.

The two schools in this study, one located in the southeastern United States and the other in the Mid-Atlantic, both conducted regular testing of all students and staff and required mitigation measures like mask-wearing, social distancing, and ventilation and air filtering. When positive cases were detected, the schools and local health authorities did contact tracing to determine how the person was likely exposed.

Throughout the semester, both schools saw cases, but the rate of transmission was 0.5 or lower. "Because each infection causes less than one additional infection on average, an infection doesn't spread much within the school," says Santa Fe Institute Professor Michael Lachmann, who co-authored the study with Santa Fe Institute External Professor Lauren Ancel Meyers (University of Texas at Austin), Darria Long Gillespie, Stephen C Redd, and Jonathan M Zenilman. "If we could get a rate of 0.5 in the community, that would be amazing -- we would be rid of COVID already."

In addition, neither school observed any instance where a teacher was infected by a student or vice versa. While in-school transmission did occur, 72% of those cases in one school were associated with non-mask-wearing. No outbreaks at either school occurred from in-school transmission when mitigation measures were being followed. However, testing revealed a spike in cases at the start of the school year and following fall break -- times when the students were out of school -- and one school had an outbreak following an out-of-school football party.

So, is it safe to reopen schools, and to do so before all teachers are vaccinated?

"While that depends on your definition of 'safe,' this study says that if you implement all these measures, including testing, there won't be big outbreaks in schools," says Lachmann. "But the key here is testing. If you implement all these measures, testing allows you to see when things go wrong."

Still, there are several caveats. The new, more contagious, variants will likely require schools to be extra vigilant to avoid outbreaks. Also, both schools in this study had the resources to conduct regular testing. "Given that both schools are well-resourced, with a population that likely has a lower burden of chronic disease and better access to medical care, the exact consequence of these introductions in less well-resourced communities is not known," write the authors in the study. "There is a critical need for educational and public health support of rapid expansion of school-based testing capacity and the resources required if communities are to return to in-person education."

Kumon or Montessori? It may depend on your politics, according to new study of 8,500 parents

RICE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

HOUSTON - (March 30, 2021) - Whether parents prefer a conformance-oriented or independence-oriented supplemental education program for their children depends on political ideology, according to a study of more than 8,500 American parents by a research team from Rice University and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

"Conservative parents have a higher need for structure, which drives their preference for conformance-oriented programs," said study co-author Vikas Mittal, a professor of marketing at Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business. "Many parents are surprised to learn that their political identity can affect the educational choices they make for their children."

Supplemental education programs include private tutoring, test preparation support and educational books and materials as well as online educational support services. The global market for private tutoring services is forecasted to reach $260.7 billion by 2024, and the U.S. market for tutoring is reported to be more than $8.9 billion a year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 100,000 businesses in the private education services industry. Supplemental education program brands are among the top 500 franchises in Entrepreneur magazine's 2020 rankings, and they include popular providers such as Kumon (ranked No. 12), Mathnasium (No. 29) and Huntington Learning Center (No. 39).

For over five decades, education psychologists have utilized two pedagogical orientations --conformance orientation and independence orientation. A conformance orientation is more standardized and guided, emphasizing lecture-based content delivery, knowledge and memorization, frequent use of homework assignments, standardized examinations with relative evaluation and classroom attendance discipline and rules. In contrast, an independence orientation features discussion-based seminars and student-led presentations, an emphasis on ideas rather than facts, use of multimodal interaction instead of books, and highly variable and unstructured class routines. The two approaches do not differ in terms of topics covered in the curriculum or the specific qualities to be imparted to students.

The research team asked parents about their preferences for different programs framed as conformance- or independence-oriented. In five studies of more than 8,500 parents, conservative parents preferred education programs that were framed as conformance-oriented, while liberal parents preferred independence-oriented education programs. This differential preference emerged for different measures of parents' political identity: their party affiliation, self-reported political leaning and whether they watch Fox or CNN/MSNBC for news.

"By understanding the underlying motivations behind parents' preferences, educational programs' appeal to parents can be substantially enhanced," Mittal said. "Supplemental tutoring will be a major expenditure and investment for parents grappling with their child's academic performance in the post-pandemic era. Informal conversations show parents gearing up to supplement school-based education with tutoring. Despite this, very little research exists about the factors that affect parents' preference for and utilization of supplemental education."

Mittal cautioned that these results do not speak to ultimate student performance. "This study only speaks to parents' preferences but does not study ultimate student achievement," he said.

###

The paper, "Political Identity and Preference for Supplemental Educational Programs," which is forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing Research, was co-authored by professor Jihye Jung of UTSA. It can be downloaded at https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437211004252.

To schedule an interview with Mittal or to request a copy of the study, contact Jeff Falk, director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

Related materials:

Mittal bio: https://business.rice.edu/person/vikas-mittal

Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business: http://business.rice.edu

'GROWING' AIRPLANE FUESALGE 

Materials scientists use frontal polymerization to mimic biology, reimagine manufacturing

BECKMAN INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Research News

 

IMAGE: AN OPTICAL IMAGE OF THE SURFACE SHOWS RIDGES GENERATED SPONTANEOUSLY DURING FREE-SURFACE FRONTAL POLYMERIZATION OF DICYCLOPENTADIENE. THE SAMPLES ARE IMAGED UNDER UV LIGHT TO ENHANCE VISUALIZATION. view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE COURTESY THE AUTONOMOUS MATERIALS SYSTEMS GROUP, BECKMAN INSTITUTE

A simple plastic water bottle isn't so simple when it comes to the traditional manufacturing process. To appear in its final form, it has to go through a multi-step journey of synthetic procedure, casting, and molding. But what if materials scientists could tap into the same biological mechanisms that create the ridges on our fingertips or the spots on a cheetah in order to manufacture something like a water bottle?

A research paper titled "Spontaneous Patterning during Frontal Polymerization" was published in the American Chemical Society's Central Science journal, a research tipping point into how material scientists can use biological truths to manufacture materials in a more sustainable way.

Evan M. Lloyd, a Ph.D. graduate of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Elizabeth Feinberg, a former postdoctoral research associate with the Department of Chemistry, led the project seeking answers on how to fabricate functionally useful patterns in ways inspired by developmental biology. While at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, they were both members of the Autonomous Materials Systems Group.

"When you build a house, you have to build every room in the house. But when you're making a body, nobody's putting the arms and the legs in the right place --it just happens," Feinberg said. "We wanted to know if we could do things more like nature, rather than how we typically do it ourselves."

In general, complex patterns integral to the structure and function of biological materials arise spontaneously during morphogenesis, or a biological process that causes a cell, tissue, or organism to develop its shape. In sharp contrast, functional patterns in synthetic materials are typically created through multistep manufacturing processes, making it difficult to change how materials are patterned.

"It's very hard to get patterns into materials but throughout biology, we see patterns with a large number of uses, from mechanical performance to camouflage," Lloyd said. "We wanted to see if we could look at ways that patterns could emerge spontaneously."

Step one for the researchers was to use a relatively new manufacturing technique known as frontal polymerization, a reaction-thermal diffusion system, which utilizes the diffusion of heat to promote chemical reactions. Under certain conditions, the chemical reaction produces regions with varying degrees of heat. The team took advantage of these properties to change polymer microstructure and mechanical properties, and subsequently fine-tuned the reactions based on the applications of heat.

"We can incorporate alternative chemistry that is thermally sensitive within that temperature difference regime to generate changes in color, morphology, mechanical property," Lloyd said. "It's really all about how we can translate changes in reaction temperature and see lasting material properties."

The result achieved in this paper is essentially the varying stiffness of materials, explained faculty author and Beckman Institute Director Jeff Moore, a Swanlund Endowed Chair of chemistry.

"The research was made possible by interdisciplinary collaboration. The team brought together chemists, materials scientists, and computational modelers," Moore said. "The diversity of thinking helped us realize a vision for polymer fabrication that may someday be important in manufacturing."

Nancy Sottos, Swanlund Endowed Chair and head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Philippe Geubelle, Bliss Professor of aerospace engineering, also collaborated on the paper.

Manufacturing materials created with this method could be implemented on a large scale within a few decades, Feinberg predicts, imagining these materials could be used in mundane, everyday items like desks, or in massive products like windmills or airplanes. But due to the nature of these reactions, the result is monumental in creating sustainable manufacturing production.

"When you cure a polymer, you have to thermally cure it at 100 degrees or more, and it has to bake for hours. That takes a lot of energy," Feinberg said.

When it comes to wind turbine blades or an airplane fuselage, massive amounts of energy must be applied to reach a suitable end result.

"But here, because the way frontal polymerization works, you apply energy to just one small spot and it propagates or releases the latent energy in the chemical precursor," she said. "It requires a lot less energy to get it going."

Additionally, by looking toward a future of multi-functional materials, it's also possible to reduce the number of single-use materials needed, Lloyd explained.

"The research is just the start of a more sustainable approach to manufacturing," Lloyd said. "As we become better as materials scientists, we want to start pushing towards more sustainable manufacturing processes. And so by eliminating the need for these multi step processes to get to this final form, we can improve the efficiency of manufacturing itself."

###

ACS Central Science is one of the flagstone journals for publishing interdisciplinary work.

"This project was really imagined by Scott White," Feinberg added. White was an aerospace engineering professor and mentor to both Lloyd and Feinberg who died in 2018. He was a pioneer of self-healing materials and one of the researchers who conceived the original idea for this project. "Finishing this project and having a beautiful outcome of it feels like a memorial to him in a lot of ways. There's this human component to it and it was really important to see this through, not just from a technical and curiosity perspective, but because it was important to him."

Editor's note: The paper "Spontaneous Patterning during Frontal Polymerization" can be found at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acscentsci.1c00110.

Top business leaders share lessons from the Covid crisis in new report

CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY

Research News

Most businesses were ill-prepared to deal with the pandemic and muddled though the challenges stemming from it, according to a report published today.

Resilience reimagined: a practical guide for organisations was produced by Cranfield University, in partnership with the National Preparedness Commission (NPC) and Deloitte. The report presents insights from business leaders from a range of sectors and makes seven recommendations for organisations on how to become more resilient, drawing on lessons from past 12 months.

Cranfield University's Professor David Denyer and Mike Sutliff conducted in-depth interviews and four focus groups with more than 50 C-suite level people (boards, senior executives, policymakers, and resilience directors) from FTSE 100 companies, multi-nationals and major national infrastructure organisations, many of them household names.

The report warns we are entering a new period of uncertainty and change, with an ever-increasing possibility that things will go wrong. It sought answers from leading figures about how resilience can be developed, who does it well and what other businesses can learn from them.

It also outlines practical steps necessary to strengthen resilience for long-term success and makes recommendations to business leaders on what more they can do to help their organisations to develop the ability to cope.

Cranfield's research found that the organisations that coped best with the pandemic had already been doing the following three things:

• They understood what was most important to their customers and therefore what were the most essential things to continue to deliver as the crisis unfolded.
• If something went wrong, they knew what the thresholds of tolerable impacts to the customer/user were and had examined in advance alternative ways of delivering those outcomes that mattered the most.
• They had relentlessly stress tested for possible disruption without worrying about what type of threat they might have to face - a cyberattack or a pandemic - learning how to cope when under pressure from challenges that might not be foreseeable or imaginable.

Professor David Denyer, Professor of Leadership and Organisational Change at Cranfield University, said: "We do not know what shape the next crisis will take but we can take proactive action to prepare.

"Businesses and organisations need to seize the learnings from this crisis and develop the agility to cope with the next. Whether it is another pandemic, another financial crisis or threats from a cyber attack or climate change, the risks are multiple and complex but the capabilities of readiness, responsiveness, recoverability and regeneration, the 4Rs, are ones that can be ingrained.

"One of the reasons the financial sector coped better than most during the pandemic was that it had taken on the lessons from the 2008 crash. By going through that crisis, these organisations had stress-tested, they knew their tolerances and what an acceptable level of failure was to them and their customers.

"Our research, in partnership with the National Preparedness Commission and Deloitte, gives organisations vital practical steps to reimagine the way they think about resilience and respond to future crises."

Lord Toby Harris, Chair of the National Preparedness Commission, said:
"The last year has been like no other for most business organisations, but some coped and responded much better than others. We asked Cranfield University to look at why this was and what the lessons are for the future.

The Government wants to build a whole-of-society approach to resilience, so that every business, every organisation and every individual can play their part in making sure that as a nation we can withstand any future crisis. This means changing organisational cultures to foster an active and agile response to events and this report highlights some of what is needed to make this a reality."

Rick Cudworth, Partner at Deloitte said: "Dealing with complex events requires flexibility and creativity; dealing with future uncertainty requires the ability to change course and adapt rapidly. This report clearly shows that resilience is about much more than well-rehearsed plans. This is a fundamental change in thinking, which requires senior leaders to make strategic choices, balancing control, agility, efficiency and innovation. It is great to see leaders pointing to resilience being central to a new 'social contract' for responsible business.

"By adopting the seven practices in this report organisations will be able to build stronger resilience and be better positioned to thrive going forward."

###

Environmental antimicrobial resistance driven by poorly managed urban wastewater

NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

Researchers from Newcastle University, UK, working with colleagues at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) in Thailand and the Institute of Urban Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, analysed samples of water and sediment taken from aquaculture ponds and nearby canals at five locations in central Thailand's coastal region.

The research, which was part-funded by an institutional links grant awarded by the Newton Fund via the British Council, and which has been published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, found that the highest prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes was in water from the Hua Krabue canal, originating in Bangkok. Faecal pollution markers were also high in these samples.

In comparison, they found a low number of AMR genes in all of the water and sediment samples collected from the aquaculture ponds.

Aquaculture is the fastest growing animal food production sector globally, and over 91% of global aquaculture is now produced in Asia. The worldwide increase in demand for farmed fish, shrimp and other shellfish has led to the widespread use of antibiotics in aquaculture, and there have been concerns that this is driving environmental AMR, threatening global food production systems.

In recent years, the Thai government has introduced measures aimed at tackling AMR in aquaculture including reducing the amount of antibiotics used in the industry and routinely monitoring antibiotic residues in aquaculture produce.

Dr David Werner, from Newcastle University, said: "We found no evidence that aquaculture is driving environmental AMR. In fact, the data suggests that small-scale aquaculture farmers are complying with Thai government One Health policies to reduce antimicrobial use in aquaculture.

"Wide and regular monitoring of environmental antibiotic resistance with high-throughput diagnostic tools can identify pollution hot-spots and sources to pinpoint the most effective countermeasures. This study provides a further line of evidence for the importance of safely managed sanitation for combatting antibiotic resistance. Currently only around half of total domestic wastewater in Thailand is treated, and our findings have identified an urgent need to improve urban sanitation in the country's coastal aquaculture region, for the protection of global food production systems."

The global spread of AMR is one of the greatest health threats to human, animal and environmental health. Without effective sanitation and adequate treatment of wastewater, bacteria can evolve quickly, increasing resistance to antibiotic medicines.

This has led to fears that so-called superbugs - bacteria that are resistant to all antibiotics - will compromise our ability to combat many new biological infections.

Reducing the spread of AMR is a World Health Organization (WHO) top five priority, and guidance published by the WHO in 2020 provides a framework for countries to create their own national action plans that suit their own particular regional setting. The guidance included contributions from Professor David Graham, also from Newcastle University, and reflects growing evidence, including research by Professor Graham, which suggests that the spread of AMR will not be solved by prudent antibiotic use alone and that environmental factors may be of equal or greater importance.

Professor Graham, who was also part of the team involved with this aquaculture study, said: "The only way we are going to win the fight against antibiotic resistance is to understand and act on all of the pathways that accelerate its spread. Although the types and drivers of resistance are diverse and vary by region and country, there are common roots to its spread - excess antibiotic use, pollution, poor water quality, and poor sanitation.

"This new work is crucial because it exemplifies how inadequate sanitation can affect the food supply, and may be among the strongest drivers of AMR spread."

The work in Thailand is just one example of how experts from Newcastle University are working with scientists from countries including China, Malaysia, India, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Nepal to track down the sources of waterborne hazards in rivers and their associated food production systems. By working together to carry out comprehensive water quality assessments, they are helping to address the global health challenges of safe water, safe food, and controlling AMR and infectious disease.

###

This research was mainly funded by an Institutional Links grant between Newcastle University and King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), awarded by the Newton Fund via the British Council, and by the Office of Higher Education Commission (OHEC), Thailand. Additional support was provided by UK Research and Innovation.

Read more about how researchers at Newcastle University are developing solutions for water challenges globally https://www.ncl.ac.uk/globalchallenges/water/#projects

Land-based learning reconnects Indigenous youth to their cultures, says Elizabeth Fast

A 4-day retreat emphasizing knowledge-sharing, survival skills, ceremony and inclusivity builds a sense of belonging

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: ELIZABETH FAST: "THERE IS A REAL SENSE OF LOSS AND GRIEF FROM LOSING TRADITIONS. WE WERE SEEING A LOT OF INTEREST IN RELEARNING AND RECLAIMING THEM. " view more 

CREDIT: CONCORDIA UNIVERSITRY

Indigenous traditions often place land at the centre of their cultures. However, with more than half of Canada's Indigenous population now living in urban areas and Indigenous communities struggling to overcome legacies of colonialism defined by assimilation and land theft, that connection is getting frayed.

Elizabeth Fast, an associate professor of applied human sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Science, wanted to help Indigenous youth reconnect with their cultures in safe and accessible ways. Along with a youth advisory group composed of Indigenous youth (some of whom are also students), she has been organizing a series of land-based learning retreats revolving around Indigenous traditions and ceremonies.

The first, held in July 2018, is the subject of a new paper published in the International Journal of Indigenous Health.

"The youth participants found the retreat extremely nourishing," Fast says. "It provided many opportunities they've never had before to spend more time with Elders and Knowledge Holders to learn more about ceremonies and to connect with land-based learning. We explicitly created a cultural safety framework that welcomed different levels of connections with one's identity, including gender and sexuality."

The Restoring Our Roots project has since evolved into a five-year Land As Our Teacher participatory action research project exploring the ways land-based pedagogies benefit Indigenous youth.

Once-banned cultural practices now out in the open

Restoring Our Roots would not have been possible without input from the project's youth advisory committee, many of whom also participated in the program. By helping to develop the framework, pedagogical content, ethics and other aspects of the four-day retreat, they were able to come up with programming that was educational, culturally appropriate and inclusive.

Over the course of the retreat, the participants were mentored by Elders and worked with artists, community leaders, storytellers and other young people who guided them through activities meant to help them (re)connect to their Indigeneity. These included cultural workshops, arts-based activities, ceremonies, sweat lodges, medicines and storytelling sessions. All of it was centered around relationship with the land.

"Our ancestors grew up learning from and on the land. It was a way of life and still is for some," Fast says. "But for many Indigenous people, even those living in communities, it is less so because many of our cultural practices and ceremonies were banned. There is a real sense of loss and grief from losing those traditions. We were seeing a lot of interest in relearning and reclaiming them."

Land-based learning includes ways that Indigenous communities survive as peoples as well, such as hunting, fishing, gathering medicines, tanning hides and building fires and shelters, Fast explains.

Belonging for all

She adds that the retreat specifically made space for LGBTQ and Two-Spirit youth hoping to reconnect to their heritage -- a group often cut off or separated from their wider communities.

"Many of these youth have moved away from ceremony or accessing land-based learning because they might feel the impact of colonization around gender and sexual identity norms even more," she says. "If they feel they are going to experience transphobia or homophobia, they might just assimilate and move away from their cultures or communities."

Fast is now organizing a queer-only retreat for Indigenous youth this summer, despite the overall positivity and inclusion seen in past retreats.

"I think the sense of belonging is very important for Indigenous youth, especially for those who have felt disconnected for many reasons," she concludes. "It increases their courage to reconnect and can lead to some healing of intergenerational trauma. It also can be a foundation for deeper and better relationships with the land and help them get away from their technology-heavy lives to provide an experience many of them never had before."

###