Method for predicting hazard distance after CO₂ leakage based on full-size burst test and concentration diffusion modeling

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

 

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Graphical Abstract

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Credit: Yifei Wang, et al.

Carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCUS) is an important technology for meeting global carbon emission reduction targets. The development of CO2 transportation, as a link in the CCUS industry chain, is crucial for CCUS projects.

The supercritical or dense phase is widely recognized as the optimal phase state for carbon dioxide (CO2) transport. Therefore, it is of great value and significance to ensure the safe and efficient transportation of CO2 in this phase state.

In a study published in the KeAi journal Journal of Pipeline Science and Engineering, the PipeChina Group from China conducted the first full-size CO2 pipeline burst fracture test in China to evaluate the pipeline's fracture arrest performance.

“CO2 leaks caused by pipeline breaks can have more serious consequences than property damage,” says lead author Prof. Yuxing Li from the Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Storage and Transportation Safety in Shandong Province, China University of Petroleum (East China)“ Due to the positive throttling effect of CO2 and the toxicity of high concentrations of CO2, it can frostbite or even cause asphyxiation of plants and animals near the leakage area. Therefore, it is meaningful to study the leakage characteristics of supercritical/concentrated-phase CO2 and predict its potential hazard distance.”

The team first carried out four sets of full-size burst tests with different initial conditions to clarify the effect of initial conditions on the CO2 concentration in the near and far field of leakage. The researchers then verified the CO2 concentration diffusion model through the measured concentration data, on the basis of which the CO2 hazard distance calculation model was proposed.

“There are large temperature and pressure differences between the start and end points of industrial-grade CO2 pipelines, and leakage at any location of the pipeline will lead to different leakage consequences,” shares Li. “Meanwhile, the relative distance between the leakage point and the cut-off valve will affect the CO2 leakage characteristics and thus the delineation of the hazard distance.”

Taking into account these factors, it is therefore difficult to predict the hazard distance due to leakage at different locations. To that end, the team proposed a PSO-BP neural network to predict the hazard distance for leaks at any location, which is consistent with the results of the CO2 concentration diffusion model but with greatly reduced computational demands.

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Contact the author: Yuxing Li, Shandong Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Storage and Transportation Safety, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, Shandong 266580, China. E-mail address: liyx@upc.edu.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 200 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

Journal of Pipeline Science and Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.jpse.2024.100248 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Supercritical/dense-phase CO2 pipeline leakage diffusion experiment and hazard distance prediction method

 

New method to measure 5G radiation from mobile phones and base stations

Exposure to RF-EMF from mobile phone base station increases with increasing population density

Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

A team of researchers from Project GOLIAT has developed and applied a new protocol to measure exposure to mobile phone radiation, in particular from 5G. The researchers measured radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) levels during three different scenarios: when the mobile device is in flight mode (non-user), when the mobile phone is used intensively by either downloading or uploading data. The study demonstrates that e.

The research was conducted in Switzerland, one of the first countries in Europe to roll out 5G networks on a large scale. The results have now been published in Environmental Research and provide relevant data for epidemiological research, risk management and risk communication.

Methods

To measure the RF-EMF levels emitted by devices and base stations, the study team selected two cities (Zurich and Basel) and three rural villages (Hergiswil, Willisau, and Dagmersellen). In each, they defined different microenvironments or areas with different uses, such as residential or industrial areas, schools, public parks or public transport. The researchers measured exposure by wearing a backpack with a personal exposimeter and a mobile device equipped with a sensor and software to track the power emitted by the phone.

Results

In total, more than 30,000 data points were analysed. When using the mobile phone in flight mode scenario, RF-EMF exposure mainly comes from mobile phone base stations. The researchers found that exposure levels increased with increasing population density. The average for rural villages was 0.17 milliwatts per square metre (mW/m²), while the average for cities was 0.33 mW/m² for Basel and 0.48 mW/m² for Zurich. "The highest levels were found in urban business areas and public transport, which were still more than a hundred times below the international guideline values.", says Martin Röösli, researcher at the Swiss TPH and last author of the study.

In the scenario where maximum data download was triggered (the researcher's phone was set to download large files), the radiation increased significantly to an average of 6-7 mW/m². The authors attribute this increase partly to beamforming, a technique associated with 5G base stations that directs signals more efficiently to the user, leading to higher exposure levels when downloading data. The exposure was overall higher in the two cities likely due to the higher number of 5G base stations.

Finally, the scenario where highest RF-EMF levels were registered was the maximum data upload scenario, where the researcher's mobile phone was set to constantly upload large files. The average exposure was around 16 mW/m² in the cities and almost twice as high in the villages (29 mW/m²). In this scenario, the biggest source of radiation was the phone sending the data, and exposure was significantly higher in villages, due to the lower density of base stations, which reduces signal quality and forces devices to use more power to send data.

"We have to keep in mind that in our study the phone was about 30 cm away from the measuring device, which means that our results might underestimate the real exposure. A mobile phone user will held the phone closer to the body and thus the exposure to RF-EMF could be up to 10 times higher," says Adriana Fernandes Veludo, researcher at the Swiss TPH and first author of the study.

"In summary, this study shows that environmental exposure is lower when base station density is low. However, in such a situation, the emission from mobile phones is by orders of magnitude higher" says Adriana Fernandes Veludo. “This has the paradoxical consequence that a typical mobile phone user is more exposed to RF-EMF in areas with low base station density.”

This is the first study of its kind to provide significant data on 5G levels in the environment and from the own phone. The measurements will now be carried out twice within 3 years in nine more European countries, allowing potential changes in population exposure to be monitored as 5G is rolled out.

Reference

Veludo, A.F., Stroobandt, B., Van Bladel, H., Sandoval-Diez, N., Guxens M., Joseph, W., Röösli, M., Exploring RF-EMF levels in Swiss microenvironments: An evaluation of environmental and auto-induced downlink and uplink exposure in the era of 5G, Environmental Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.120550.

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Journal

Environmental Research

DOI

10.1016/j.envres.2024.120550 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Exploring RF-EMF levels in Swiss microenvironments: An evaluation of environmental and auto-induced downlink and uplink exposure in the era of 5G

 

Ants vs. humans: Putting group smarts to the test

Cooperation worked better for ants than for humans in a Weizmann Institute experiment

Weizmann Institute of Science

Anyone who has dealt with ants in the kitchen knows that ants are highly social creatures; it’s rare to see one alone. Humans are social creatures too, even if some of us enjoy solitude. Ants and humans are also the only creatures in nature that consistently cooperate while transporting large loads that greatly exceed their own dimensions. Prof. Ofer Feinerman and his team at the Weizmann Institute of Science used this shared trait to conduct a fascinating evolutionary competition that asks the question: Who will be better at maneuvering a large load through a maze? The surprising results, being published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), shed new light on group decision making, as well as on the pros and cons of cooperation versus going it alone.

To enable a comparison between two such disparate species, the research team led by Tabea Dreyer created a real-life version of the “piano movers puzzle,” a classical computational problem from the fields of motion planning and robotics that deals with possible ways of moving an unusually shaped object – say, a piano – from point A to point B in a complex environment. Instead of a piano, the participants were given a large T-shaped object that they had to maneuver across a rectangular space divided into three chambers connected by two narrow slits.

The researchers created two sets of mazes that differed only in size, to match the dimensions of ants and humans, as well as groups of different size. Recruiting study participants was easier in the case of humans, who volunteered simply because they were asked to participate, and probably because they liked the idea of a competition. Ants, on the other hand, are far from competitive. They joined because they were misled into thinking that the heavy load was a juicy edible morsel that they were transporting into their nest.

The ants chosen to compete against Homo sapiens were Paratrechina longicornis. They are called this because of their long antennae, though they are sometimes referred to as “crazy ants” for their tendency to dash around. This familiar species of black ant, about 3 mm long, is common around the world. In Israel they are particularly prevalent along the coast and in the south of the country.

"Forming groups did not expand the cognitive abilities of humans. The famous ‘wisdom of the crowd’ that’s become so popular in the age of social networks didn’t come to the fore in our experiments"

The ants tackled the maze challenge in three combinations: a single ant, a small group of about seven ants and a large group of about 80. Humans handled the task in three parallel combinations: a single person, a small group of six to nine individuals and a large group of 26. To make the comparison as meaningful as possible, groups of humans were in some cases instructed to avoid communicating through speaking or gestures, even wearing surgical masks and sunglasses to conceal their mouths and eyes. In addition, human participants were told to hold the load only by the handles that simulated the way in which it is held by ants. The handles contained meters that measured the pulling force applied by each person throughout the attempt. The researchers repeated the experiment numerous times for each combination, then meticulously analyzed the videos and all the advanced tracking data while using computer simulations and various physics models.

Unsurprisingly, the cognitive abilities of humans gave them an edge in the individual challenge, in which they resorted to calculated, strategic planning, easily outperforming the ants. In the group challenge, however, the picture was completely different, especially for the larger groups. Not only did groups of ants perform better than individual ants, but in some cases they did better than humans. Groups of ants acted together in a calculated and strategic manner, exhibiting collective memory that helped them persist in a particular direction of motion and avoid repeated mistakes. Humans, on the contrary, failed to significantly improve their performance when acting in groups. When communication between group members was restricted to resemble that of ants, their performance even dropped compared to that of individuals. They tended to opt for “greedy” solutions – which seemed attractive in the short term but were not beneficial in the long term – and, according to the researchers, opted for the lowest common denominator.

“An ant colony is actually a family,” Feinerman says. “All the ants in the nest are sisters, and they have common interests. It’s a tightly knit society in which cooperation greatly outweighs competition. That’s why an ant colony is sometimes referred to as a super-organism, sort of a living body composed of multiple ‘cells’ that cooperate with one another. Our findings validate this vision. We’ve shown that ants acting as a group are smarter, that for them the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In contrast, forming groups did not expand the cognitive abilities of humans. The famous ‘wisdom of the crowd’ that’s become so popular in the age of social networks didn’t come to the fore in our experiments.”

Science Numbers

There are about 15,000 ant species on Earth, all living in large colonies. About 1 percent of these species cooperate in transporting heavy loads.

Despite all the challenges of human cooperation, several authors successfully joined forces in this study. They included Dr. Ehud Fonio from Feinerman’s group in Weizmann’s Physics of Complex Systems Department, Prof. Nir Gov of Weizmann’s Chemical and Biological Physics Department and Dr. Amir Haluts, then a PhD student supervised by Gov and Prof. Amos Korman of the University of Haifa.

Prof. Ofer Feinerman is the incumbent of the Henry J. Leir Professorial Chair. The Tom Beck Research Fellow Chair in Physics of Complex Systems supports a staff scientist in Prof. Feinerman’s lab.

 

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2414274121 

Article Title

Comparing cooperative geometric puzzle solving in ants versus humans

 

Africa: Better roads promote greater dietary diversity

A study carried out at the University of Bonn demonstrates the importance of good access to regional markets

University of Bonn

 

image: 

Rural households in Africa often grow lots of different types of crops on their smallholdings.

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Credit: Photo: Matin Qaim/Uni Bonn

A balanced diet is important for reducing hunger and malnutrition. Researchers thus advocate that small farmers in low- and middle-income countries should try to produce as many different foods as possible for their own consumption. However, a new study is now questioning this recommendation to some extent. It suggests that good access to regional markets is more important than farmers growing a large diversity of crops on their own smallholding. Better-functioning markets increase the variety of foods available locally, which benefits the population as a whole. The results are being published in the journal Nature Food.

An unbalanced diet is bad for your health, but many people have a lack of variety on their plates, especially in poorer countries. This is true in particular for small-farm households, which make up the majority of the malnourished population worldwide. One possible solution to this problem is for these farmers to grow as many different foods as possible for their own consumption. But how effective is this measure, and are there possibly better alternatives?

To answer this question, researchers at the University of Bonn unearthed a comprehensive treasure trove of data. They analyzed surveys of almost 90,000 households in Africa, most of whom were smallholders. The data was collected between 2008 and 2022 in Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. “Among other things, the surveys provided insights into the number of crops the farmers cultivated and the number of animal species they kept,” explains Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn. “In addition, the data contained information on the types of food being consumed in each household.”

Greater diversity on farmer’s fields only has a minor effect

The analysis demonstrated that farmers who produced a more diverse range of crops and animals on their farms did indeed have a more balanced diet as a result. “However, this only had a small effect,” says ZEF researcher Dr. Thanh Tung Nguyen, who carried out the study together with Qaim. “Small-scale agricultural production in Africa tends to be highly diverse anyway. Ensuring good access to local and regional markets is more important than further improving the diversity on every single farm. These markets not only allow farmers to sell their surplus food but also enable them to purchase those foods that they are lacking.”

Indeed, an analysis of the foods consumed by farm households showed that markets are in most cases already more important today for a healthy diet than the farmer’s own food production. On average, own production accounted for only around one third of the foods consumed in the farm households analyzed. The nearer the households were to a local market, the more their diets were enriched with purchased foods. This was true for all six of the countries covered by the research. “The study showed that access to local and regional markets is vitally important for a good quality diet,” emphasizes Nguyen. However, there is still a lack of suitable infrastructure in many areas. The roads to the market are often so bad that the journey takes a long time and some of the products spoil or get damaged on the way.

Diversity in the region is more important than diversity on every single field

The researchers recommend that the focus should not only be placed on improving diversity on farmer's fields but above all on improving infrastructure and thus giving people better access to markets. If the range of products grown by an individual farmer is too diverse, this could even be disadvantageous because each crop has its own needs and requires special expertise. “It is better to focus on those crops that flourish particularly well in the local conditions and then sell any surplus food,” explains Nguyen. At the same time, it definitely makes sense to diversify the crops to a certain extent both from an environmental perspective and to reduce the risks for farmers.

“However, it is certainly not necessary for every small farm to grow all of the products they need for a healthy diet themselves,” says Matin Qaim, who is also a member of the transdisciplinary research area (TRA) “Sustainable Futures” and the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence. “It is sufficient when a large enough range of foods is produced across the region as a whole because then local households can purchase food diversity at markets.” Trading food in this way enables a division of labor and is thus not only an important tool for improving people’s diets but also helps to promote economic development overall.

Funding:
The study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Rural households in Africa often grow lots of different types of crops on their smallholdings.

Credit

Photo: S. Koppmair/Uni Bonn

Journal

Nature Food

DOI

10.1038/s43016-024-01096-6 

Article Title

Local and regional food production diversity are positively associated with household dietary diversity in rural Africa

Article Publication Date

2-Jan-2025

 

How does a hula hoop master gravity? Mathematicians prove that shape matters

Findings point to ways to better harness energy, improve robotics

New York University

 

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Successful hula hooping requires a body type with the right slope and curvature.

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Credit: NYU’s Applied Mathematics Lab

Hula hooping is so commonplace that we may overlook some interesting questions it raises: “What keeps a hula hoop up against gravity?” and “Are some body types better for hula hooping than others?” A team of mathematicians explored and answered these questions with findings that also point to new ways to better harness energy and improve robotic positioners. 

The results are the first to explain the physics and mathematics of hula hooping.

“We were specifically interested in what kinds of body motions and shapes could successfully hold the hoop up and what physical requirements and restrictions are involved,” explains Leif Ristroph, an associate professor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the senior author of the paper, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

To answer these questions, the researchers replicated, in miniature, hula hooping in NYU’s Applied Mathematics Laboratory. They tested different shapes and motions in a series of experiments on robotic hula hoopers using 3D-printed bodies of different shapes (e.g., cylinders, cones, hourglass shapes) to represent human forms at one-tenth the size. These shapes were driven to gyrate by a motor, replicating the motions we take when hula hooping. Hoops approximately 6 inches in diameter were launched on these bodies, with high-speed video capturing the movements.

The results showed that the exact form of the gyration motion or the cross-section shape of the body (circle versus ellipse) wasn’t a factor in hula hooping. 

“In all cases, good twirling motions of the hoop around the body could be set up without any special effort,” Ristroph explains. 

However, keeping a hoop elevated against gravity for a significant period of time was more difficult, requiring a special “body type”—one with a sloping surface as “hips” to provide the proper angle for pushing up the hoop and a curvy form as a “waist” to hold the hoop in place. 

“People come in many different body types—some who have these slope and curvature traits in their hips and waist and some who don’t,” notes Ristroph. “Our results might explain why some people are natural hoopers and others seem to have to work extra hard.”

The paper’s authors conducted mathematical modeling of these dynamics to derive formulas that explained the results—calculations that could be used for other purposes.

“We were surprised that an activity as popular, fun, and healthy as hula hooping wasn’t understood even at a basic physics level,” says Ristroph. “As we made progress on the research, we realized that the math and physics involved are very subtle, and the knowledge gained could be useful in inspiring engineering innovations, harvesting energy from vibrations, and improving in robotic positioners and movers used in industrial processing and manufacturing.”

The paper’s other authors were Olivia Pomerenk, an NYU doctoral student, and Xintong Zhu, an NYU undergraduate at the time of the study.

The work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DMS-1847955). 

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 High-speed video experiment [VIDEO] | 

This movie is taken from high-speed video of the experiments on a robotic hula hooper, whose hourglass form holds the hoop up and in place.

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2411588121 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Article Title

Geometrically modulated contact forces enable hula hoop levitation

 

Psychedelic drug therapy may address mental health concerns in people with cancer and addiction

NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine

One or two doses of psilocybin, a compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, may improve the mental health of cancer patients when accompanied by psychotherapy, a new report suggests. A second new study found that treatment with psilocybin resulted in lasting, positive personality changes in patients with alcohol use disorder.

The first report’s findings were published online Oct. 7 in the journal Nature Mental Health, and the second published online Jan. 1 in a special edition of The American Journal of Psychiatry focused on psilocybin research.

In the first study, a team of experts at NYU Langone Health found that psilocybin accompanied by psychotherapy significantly reduced anxiety, depression, obsessive thoughts, anger toward others, and physical symptoms associated with psychological distress, with improvements lasting up to six months.

“Our findings suggest that the mental health benefits of psilocybin therapy for cancer patients may reach far beyond what we have previously understood,” said study lead author Petros Petridis, MD, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

The study also concluded that the mood-altering psilocybin did not appear to cause any lasting paranoia, psychosis, or deep feelings of fear (phobia). As a result, their analysis adds to the mounting body of evidence that psilocybin can be safely administered under close medical supervision, says study senior author Stephen Ross, MD. Ross is a clinical professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and serves as an associate director of its Center for Psychedelic Medicine.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from two previous clinical trials that used psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to address anxiety and depression in 79 men and women with cancer. In the trials, about half of the participants initially received a large dose of psilocybin while the rest were given either vitamin B3 or a tiny dose of the psychedelic drug as a placebo. Neither the researchers nor the patients were told which medication they were given.

After six or seven weeks, depending on the trial, the groups switched treatments. Psychotherapy preceded and followed each dosing session, and the participants completed a questionnaire about mental health symptoms at the beginning of the study and six months after the second dosing.

In the second new study, another team, led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, found that psilocybin therapy may also improve mental health for those with alcohol use disorder. Compared to patients receiving a placebo, those treated with psilocybin were found to be significantly less impulsive, depressed, and vulnerable than they were prior to the therapy. At the same time, these patients grew more “open,” or more accepting of their thoughts and emotions. These changes were observed seven months after the participants received their second dose of psilocybin.

This analysis examined personality changes in men and women participating in a previous clinical trial that used psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to treat alcohol dependence. During the trial, participants randomly received two doses of either psilocybin or an antihistamine placebo, receiving psychotherapy before and after each dosing session. The authors tested 83 of the patients using a standard personality assessment before psychotherapy began and again eight months after the first dose of study medication.

“Since impulsiveness has long been linked to both excessive drinking and relapse after treatment, the personality changes brought about by psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may help those recovering from alcohol dependence remain resilient to internal and external stressors known to trigger relapse,” said study lead author Broc Pagni, PhD. Pagni is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Notably, the findings also showed that men were more likely to experience a boost of positive emotions while women were more likely to see an increase in openness. However, further research is needed to understand the reasons behind these differences or what they might mean for any given patient, says study senior author Michael Bogenschutz, MD.

Bogenschutz, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the director of its Center for Psychedelic Medicine, adds that the study authors next plan to explore whether the personality changes observed in the current investigation may also occur in psilocybin trials for opioid-use disorder.

Bogenschutz cautions that in both studies, most participants were able to correctly guess whether they had received psilocybin or a placebo.

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring compound derived from fungi with mind-altering qualities similar to those of LSD and mescaline. Most study participants experience profound alterations in perception, emotions, and sense of self, often including experiences that are felt to be of great personal and spiritual significance. Because the drug raises blood pressure and heart rate and can cause incapacitating and sometimes overwhelming psychological effects, researchers caution that it should only be used in controlled settings and in conjunction with medical and psychological evaluation and careful preparation.

Funding for the study in Nature Mental Health was provided by National Institutes of Health grants UL1TR000038 and T32DA007250. Further funding support was provided by the Heffter Research Institute, the RiverStyx Foundation, the Betsy Gordon Foundation, the Fetzer Institute, the Usona Institute, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Carey and Claudia Turnbull, W. Linton, R. Barnhart, A. Altschul, K. Fitzsimmons, the McCormick Family, G. Goldsmith, and E. Malievskaia. Funding for the study in The American Journal of Psychiatry was provided by the Heffter Research Institute and individual donations from Carey and Claudia Turnbull, Dr. Efrem Nulman, Rodrigo Niño, and Cody Swift.

In addition to Petridis, Ross, Pagni, and Bogenschutz, other NYU Langone researchers involved in the studies are Richard Zeifman, PhD; Brennan Carrithers, MD; Noam Goldway, PhD; and Kelley O’Donnell, MD, PhD. Other coinvestigators include Jack Grinband, PhD, and Connor Kinslow, MD, at Columbia University in New York City; Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, PhD, at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.; Roland Griffiths, PhD, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.; Sarah Mennenga, PhD, at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.; and Snehal Bhatt, MD, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M.

Pagni and Zeifman receive support from the NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program, funded by MindMed. Bogenschutz has received research funding from Tilray Canada, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies PBC, B. More Inc., the Heffter Research Institute, the Turnbull Family Foundation, the Fournier Family Foundation, Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation, Robert Linton, and the Riverstyx Foundation. He also serves or has served on the Advisory Board of Ajna Labs LLC, Journey Colab, and Bright Minds Biosciences, Inc., and is a named inventor on patent applications relating to the use of psilocybin for alcohol use disorder but has waived all rights and has no prospect of financial benefit. Ross is the director of NYU Langone Health’s Center for Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program, which is funded by MindMed. Ross also receives or has received grant support for clinical research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Cancer Institute, Heffter Research Institute, Usona Institute, Council on Spiritual Practices, Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies, and Reset Pharma. He is also listed as a coinventor on patent applications related to the use of psilocybin to treat 1) psychiatric and existential distress in cancer and 2) suicidality. These patent applications were filed by NYU Grossman School of Medicine and licensed by Reset Pharmaceuticals. Ross has waived all rights in relation to these patent applications and has no prospect of financial gain related to any future commercialization efforts related to these patents. The terms and conditions of all of these relationships are being managed by NYU Langone Health.

Media Inquiries:
Shira Polan
Phone: 212-404-4279
shira.polan@nyulangone.org

 

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Journal

American Journal of Psychiatry

DOI

10.1176/appi.ajp.20230887 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Multidimensional Personality Changes Following Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy in Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder: Results From a Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

Article Publication Date

1-Jan-2025

COI Statement

Pagni and Zeifman receive support from the NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program, funded by MindMed. Bogenschutz has received research funding from Tilray Canada, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies PBC, B. More Inc., the Heffter Research Institute, the Turnbull Family Foundation, the Fournier Family Foundation, Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation, Robert Linton, and the Riverstyx Foundation. He also serves or has served on the Advisory Board of Ajna Labs LLC, Journey Colab, and Bright Minds Biosciences, Inc., and is a named inventor on patent applications relating to the use of psilocybin for alcohol use disorder but has waived all rights and has no prospect of financial benefit. Ross is the director of NYU Langone Health’s Center for Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program, which is funded by MindMed. Ross also receives or has received grant support for clinical research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Cancer Institute, Heffter Research Institute, Usona Institute, Council on Spiritual Practices, Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies, and Reset Pharma. He is also listed as a coinventor on patent applications related to the use of psilocybin to treat 1) psychiatric and existential distress in cancer and 2) suicidality. These patent applications were filed by NYU Grossman School of Medicine and licensed by Reset Pharmaceuticals. Ross has waived all rights in relation to these patent applications and has no prospect of financial gain related to any future commercialization efforts related to these patents. The terms and conditions of all of these relationships are being managed by NYU Langone Health.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for psychedelics

 

Too many men or too few women?—new study finds how the gender gap is framed affects perceptions of it

Research shows subtle changes in news coverage may influence both attitudes and action among women—when it comes to politics, but not business

New York University

To many, Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss in the 2024 presidential election was a sobering reminder of a larger and continuous gender gap across leadership positions in not only government, but also in business, higher education, and the military. A majority of Americans recognize the inadequacy of female representation in leadership, and the news media often portray women’s underrepresentation in these roles—but it nonetheless persists. 

Recognizing that news coverage may have influence in forming attitudes and in driving action, a team of psychology researchers examined, through a series of experiments, whether reframing this gender gap in terms of “men’s overrepresentation”—rather than as “women’s underrepresentation”—would have an impact on perceptions of the issue and on motivations to address it.

Its findings showed that framing the gap as “men’s overrepresentation”—as opposed to “women’s underrepresentation”—in political leadership elicited more anger at the disparity among women and increased perceptions that the gap is unjust. Moreover, the results showed that anger at the disparity leads women to take action to address it. 

“While most Americans acknowledge that gender diversity in leadership is important, framing the gender gap as women’s underrepresentation may desensitize the public,” says Emily Balcetis, an associate professor of psychology at New York University and an author of the paper, which appears in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. “For many, taking the same statistics, like that 29% of Congress is female, but reframing the issue as men’s overrepresentation, by saying instead that 71% of Congress is male, elicits stronger emotional responses and spurs people to do something to increase access to leadership for men and women.”

However, the researchers add that the men’s overrepresentation framing had some limitations. One, its impact did not apply to business leadership among both men and women and, two, among men, this messaging did not increase anger at the disparity. 

Nonetheless, the study’s authors, who also included NYU Psychology Professor Madeline Heilman, see the overall findings as a way to address a long-standing issue.

“Our society benefits when we have women as well as men as leaders in politics and business,” observes Rachel Godsil, a professor at Rutgers Law School, co-founder of Perception Institute, and one of the paper’s authors. “It is crucial that we can all be confident that no one is shut out of leadership positions because of their gender.”

Method

In a series of experimental studies, participants read mock news articles that were based on real-world data on the gender gap in politics and in business. The articles were manipulated to adopt different frames: the gap was couched as either women’s underrepresentation or men’s overrepresentation, with the underlying facts remaining constant.

The experiments then measured the participants’ responses under each condition. These included expressed anger at the gender gap in business and politics as well as willingness to support a piece of federal legislation—Women’s Global Empowerment, Development, and Prosperity Act of 2020—which was moving through congressional committees in the Senate at the time of the study. Participants also had the option of writing a letter to their congressional representative indicating their reaction to the bill, with the researchers tracking whether or not these letters supported or opposed the legislation. 

The researchers also measured participants’ stated willingness to address this leadership gap more broadly—by writing social-media posts, by taking action despite material or relationship costs (e.g., taking action that could harm future job prospects), or by donating to programs aimed at confronting this discrepancy. In addition, participants had an opportunity to read an article reporting on strategies to reduce gender disparity in leadership—a methodological element designed to gauge interest in this issue.

Results

The mock stories that framed the gender gap as men’s overrepresentation in political leadership elicited more anger at the disparity among women—but not among men—than did those that framed the gap as women’s underrepresentation. However, this effect was not found among either women or men for business leadership stories. 

In addition, women’s anger at the disparity—regardless of how the gap was framed in the mock news stories—was associated with several behaviors. These included participants spending more time reading stories on how to change the status quo, writing stronger letters to their congressional representative supporting proposed legislation addressing gender disparity, and a stronger expressed desire to donate to gender-bias reduction programs.

“Framing the gender gap in politics as due to men’s advantages—in this case, men’s overrepresentation—as opposed to women’s disadvantages—their underrepresentation—not only affects how women view this concern, but also prompts action to combat it,” concludes lead author Usman Liaquat, an NYU doctoral student at the time of the study and now at Cornell University.

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Journal

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

DOI

10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104709 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Women underrepresented or men overrepresented? Framing influences women's affective and behavioral responses to gender gap in political leadership