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How Should Remote Workers Cope with Isolation?
With unprecedented numbers of workers quarantined and working from home, a chief complaint being voiced by many is how to deal with its isolating effects. What can be done to minimize the feelings of isolation and to maintain work relationships during this crisis? Timothy Golden, a professor in the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is a leading expert on remote work, telework, telecommuting, and virtual teams. With dozens of published research articles during more than 20 years of research in this field, his most recent article on telecommuting was just published in the "Journal of Vocational Behavior." “People working from home should be proactive if they want to avoid feeling isolated, so that they not only feel better but also maintain their work productivity. We know from research and experience that there are important activities that can be done to help solve remote work’s potential for isolation.” Golden is available to discuss what steps workers can take to help avoid remote work’s isolating effects.
Public health crises such as COVID-19 — in which people may feel powerless and receive conflicting information — can lead to a flare-up of unsafe religious sentiments, says Baylor University epidemiologist Jeff Levin, Ph.D., who cites past persecution of religious and ethnic minorities who were blamed unfairly for spreading disease. While some possibly unreliable projections about COVID-19 are being spread, containment — and common sense — are key, Levin says. In addition, research shows that maintaining one’s spiritual life can help people remain strong in the face of health challenges and encourage them to reach out to help others. Levin is University Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, director of the Program on Religion and Population Health in Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion and adjunct professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. He recently lectured at Duke about the COVID-19 outbreak, on infectious disease pandemics in general and on religious dimensions of the present crisis. In this Q&A, he speaks about these issues. Q. What do you feel is the most important message that needs to get out about the coronavirus outbreak? LEVIN: There are still folks out there saying, “Ah, this is nothing” or “It's all hype.” I'm not that guy. This is very serious. Still, I believe that some misinformation is getting out there that's scaring people, and that's not a helpful thing. I have some concerns about how the facts and nuances of this outbreak have been communicated to the public. In the past few weeks, the news and internet and social media have been inundated with some very alarming projections, some of which in my opinion may be off perhaps by an order of magnitude. This is due in part to mistaken calculations being made by people, including M.D.s who don't understand the parameters of disease transmission or the concepts that epidemiologists use to track outbreaks. This also includes some government officials who are miscommunicating issues regarding risk, pathogenesis and prognosis, and this information is then being picked up by the media and projected out to the general public. Suddenly, even laypeople people are throwing around very technical epidemiologic jargon — exposure, infectivity, case fatality, herd immunity, transmission, incubation period, flattening the curve — without knowing exactly what these words mean or how they’re used, and some faulty messages are getting out. There’s a pressing need for responsible public voices who can help separate the signal from the noise, but those voices seem to be scarce. But regardless, whatever the projections are — good, bad, or ugly — so much hinges on containment. If we manage that properly, such as through all the good advice we’ve been given about social distancing, washing our hands, disinfecting surfaces and so on, we'll get through this with minimal — a relative term — casualties. If we ignore this advice, things can go south in a hurry. It only takes one clinical case getting loose in the community to create a secondary outbreak. Noncompliance can easily create an army of “Typhoid Marys” in communities across the country. In any outbreak due to any pathogenic agent, such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, there are things we can do, one, to break the chain of transmission and, two, to minimize the damage to ourselves. There’s a public health response and a personal response. The public health effort is focused on how to limit exposure and transmission, which is exactly what needs to happen. There are policies that we should follow as far as our own behavior and social interactions and as far as the environment we live in where the virus is circulating. We’ve all become familiar with what these things are. But there’s the other side of the coin. In epidemiologic terms, exposure does not imply infectivity. Not everyone who is exposed to the virus will become infected. Infectivity in turn does not imply pathogenicity. Not everyone who is infected, who receives a positive test, will become a clinical case, will become sick. And finally, not everyone who comes down with COVID-19 and manifests signs and symptoms of disease will have a virulent enough case that will require intensive medical care or hospitalization, and only a minority of those will lose their life. Most, we believe, will recover just fine. So the folks who are at risk of a very serious outcome are a subset of a subset of a subset of folks who are exposed to the virus. The problem right now is that we don’t have a definitive grasp on these percentages. So we all need to do everything that we can not just to limit exposure and transmission but to strengthen ourselves to withstand the natural course of infection and disease. Epidemiologists call this “host resistance.” Q. What can we do to strengthen our resistance to the infection and the disease? How does faith figure into this? LEVIN: We know from decades of research that so many things that we can do in our daily lives can help us to withstand and recover from illness. We can eat right — avoid junk food and overeating and consuming toxins. We should avoid smoking and abusing alcohol, we need to get enough sleep and manage our stress, we need to get some exercise and fresh air. We all know all of this, but in difficult times it’s easy to fall into inaction and depression, which itself can depress the immune system and impair our ability to stay healthy or to recover. One of the important things that we can do, and decades of research support this, is to maintain continuity in our spiritual life. Studies show that people with a strong ongoing faith commitment can marshal an ability to remain resilient and deal with stress and even have better medical outcomes. There is a longstanding research literature on the physical and mental health benefits of hope and optimism and positive attitudes, including in the context of one’s spiritual life, and including due to the tangible and emotional support that faith and being a part of faith communities give us. Faith matters. But this isn’t a magic bullet, and I want to be careful about overstating things. Folks who expect that by being a diligent Christian or Jew, believing in God, going to religious services — in person or online — showing strong faith, studying Scriptures regularly, that by doing all this somehow a pathogenic agent won’t enter their body or won’t cause signs or symptoms of disease — I think they’re laboring under some false expectations. They’re asking belief or faith to do things that are very difficult for me to envision. Maybe that’s just the scientist in me talking, although I too am a person of faith. On the other hand, our faith can indeed be part of keeping us strong and helping us to recover. But we ought to combine expressions of faith with careful efforts to limit our exposure and contain the outbreak, and to wisely seek medical care if we start to not feel well. The Bible encourages us with verses like “put on the full armor of God,” but at the same time if you stand out in the pouring rain you can’t sanely expect not to get rained on. Q. Will this outbreak lead to a resurgence of religious belief? Are there examples of this from history? LEVIN: Yes, there are, but not necessarily in a positive way. Times of crisis like this, especially when people feel powerless and are receiving conflicting information, can lead to a dangerous flare-up of unwholesome religious sentiments, including scapegoating. Look at the Black Plague of the 14th century. From a third to over one half of Europe perished, and the one constant in every country affected by the epidemic, besides the millions of bodies piling up, was a consistent and organized effort to massacre Jews, who were blamed for the disease. Lest we think those days are behind us, look at how we responded to the brief Ebola crisis in the U.S. in 2014, which ramped up hatred toward Mexican immigrants. Or consider the present outbreak, and the terrible animosity directed at Asian Americans. We aren’t immune to this kind of behavior, especially when we feel a sense of dread or hopelessness or a sense that our prayers to God have failed and that we are receiving a divine chastisement or punishment. It’s easy then to lash out and try to identify a “demonic” source for our travail and try to seek vengeance. There is also precedent for waves of apocalypticism, fear that the end of the world is nigh. We saw this during the 1918 influenza pandemic, and it gave rise to much of the end-times thinking that persists to the present day. So faith can sustain us, even benefit us physiologically, but it can also embitter us and make us do evil or drive us to become obsessed or crazy. Q. Are there other more positive ways that faith or spirituality come into play here? LEVIN: Sure, I can think of a few. There’s a bioethical dimension. Our faith traditions remind us of our obligations to others, especially those in grave need who lack the requisite material or social resources to care for themselves. This outbreak is a social-justice teaching moment for us as a society, and along with the medical and public health dimensions there are profound lessons in moral theology to learn and act on. Will we slip into a xenophobic fear-based response, self-absorbed with our own personal needs, or will we use this time, this enforced vacation for so many of us, to reach out to those in need? I have strong opinions about this. We have been given an opportunity to be selfless and act lovingly toward others, to represent the best of what faith has to offer. Or we can choose to reinforce the most selfish and hateful and ungodly aspects of what humans are capable of. This is a choice facing every one of us. There’s also a pastoral dimension here. Each of us, not just clergy or healthcare chaplains or pastoral counselors, has a role to play in offering consolation and reassurance to our fellow brothers and sisters. And also real, tangible assistance. Our family is Jewish, and we’re reminded in Exodus that we’ve been called to be “a nation of priests.” I think the same can be said for all of us, in our respective communities. We can also be thought of as a nation, or a community, of pastors. And in that role there is much for us to do. We can be a source of accurate information to counter the insidious memes circulating on social media. We can organize our neighbors and fellow congregants to provide help to people and families who need it. We can become leaders in our faith communities to help maintain study, prayer and worship activities while we are unable to attend church or synagogue. We can love and support those who are suffering and remind them of God’s love for us. These messages matter. Maybe it’s not realistic to expect them to cause a virus to not take hold or to become less virulent, but they can strengthen our ability to recover from this outbreak, both individually and as a community of people. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.
Photos and videos of empty grocery store shelves where toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer and more would typically be stocked have circulated after people responded to COVID-19 fears with panic buying, or bulk buying. Some stores are enforcing quantity limits on certain items and asking people to leave stock for the next person, explaining that their supply chain has not been disrupted. During a time of stress and uncertainty, how do we ease our fears and avoid a counter-productive and potentially selfish bulk-buying response? Baylor University’s Jim Roberts, Ph.D., The Ben H. Williams Professor of Marketing in the Hankamer School of Business, is an internationally recognized expert on consumer behavior and the effects of consumerism and technology on individual happiness. During a brief Q&A, he gave insight to how panic buying content on social media can actually reinforce fear and gave advice on reducing anxiety. Q: Do you see a connection here between consumerism and safety or perceived safety? A: Yes, we call it mortality salience. When we are reminded of our own mortality, we search out products that give us comfort. We naturally buy more when we are threatened. We often seek comfort in our spending particularly in times like these. Some products have practical value, but a shopping cart full of toilet paper is addressing some deeper existential fears as well. Q: There have been a lot of photos floating around online of empty shelves in grocery stores. Is social media affecting panic buying? A: The media benefits from creating hysteria — more people watch and listen when they are frightened. There is something called the availability bias that can explain why we are so fearful. We view things that we have been recently exposed to as more prevalent than they really are. Q: How can people navigate social media during this time in a healthy way? A: Step away from it. Cut back on media exposure and distract yourself by trying to ease others’ burdens. If you turn off your TV and avoid social media you will reduce your anxiety level. Take the emphasis off yourself and you will reap psychological benefits. ABOUT JIM ROBERTS, PH.D. Jim Roberts, Ph.D., The Ben H. Williams Professor of Marketing in Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business, is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on consumer behavior and has been quoted extensively in the media. He has appeared on CBS’ Early Show, ABC’s World News Tonight, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s The Today Show. He has been quoted and/or featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, National Public Radio, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Glamour and U.S. News and World Report, among many other newspapers, magazines, websites and television outlets. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 18,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY At Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business, integrity stands shoulder-to-shoulder with analytic and strategic strengths. The School’s top-ranked programs combine rigorous classroom learning, hands-on experience in the real world, a solid foundation in Christian values and a global outlook. Making up approximately 25 percent of the University’s total enrollment, undergraduate students choose from 16 major areas of study. Graduate students choose from full-time, executive or online MBA or other specialized master’s programs, and Ph.D. programs in Information Systems, Entrepreneurship or Health Services Research. The Business School also has campuses located in Austin and Dallas, Texas. Visit www.baylor.edu/business and follow on Twitter at twitter.com/Baylor_Business.
How Can Businesses Prepare for Coronavirus? Get Ready to Telecommute.
With the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning of coronavirus outbreaks in America, businesses will be looking for ways to maintain productivity and a healthy work force. Telecommuting will be one of the best options for companies to explore, according to Timothy Golden, a professor in the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Golden is available to discuss what steps businesses should take – and which common errors they should avoid – to successfully implement telecommuting policies “Businesses will need to prepare for their employees to work remotely as a telecommuter. They will need to know how to do this, what are best practices, how to avoid pitfalls among many other considerations,” Golden said. Golden is a leading expert in the field of telecommuting, telework, and the relationship between technology and managerial behavior. His most recent article on telecommuting was just published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior.
Baylor University Marketing Professor Jim Roberts, Ph.D., has been studying consumer behavior and spending habits for decades. He is recognized internationally for his research and commentary on the subject. He said the consumer response during the current coronavirus pandemic -- evidenced by the frequent image of empty shelves of essentials -- is concerning and advises shoppers to refocus their actions on the good of the community. “This crisis is an ethical litmus test. I strongly suggest that people not horde essentials, but that they buy only enough for the near future. I am deeply disappointed when I see shoppers with carts full of water, Purell, toilet paper, etc. Essentially, they are saying, ‘Every man for himself,’ instead of, ‘What can we do to survive this crisis together?’ Working with each other always leads to better results. The Golden Rule should dictate at times like these as well as every day of our lives.” ABOUT JIM ROBERTS, PH.D. Jim Roberts, Ph.D., The Ben H. Williams Professor of Marketing in Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business, is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on consumer behavior and has been quoted extensively in the media. He has appeared on CBS’ Early Show, ABC’s World News Tonight, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s The Today Show. He has been quoted and/or featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, National Public Radio, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Glamour and U.S. News and World Report, among many other newspapers, magazines, websites and television outlets.
Recognizable companies including Google, Twitter and Eli Lilly all are encouraging their employees to work at home to prevent spread of the coronavirus. Research on the benefits and drawbacks of “working from home is still in its infancy, but researchers have generally found that telecommuting can function as a double-edged sword, said Erik Gonzalez-Mulé, assistant professor of organizational behavior and human resources at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. “On the one hand, telecommuting can increase productivity because it enhances employees’ feelings of control and autonomy. With the freedom to choose when and how to do their work, employees generally experience greater motivation and satisfaction,” Gonzalez-Mulé. “Of course, there is a caveat here, in that managers should take care to maintain the same performance management systems they use for ‘in-residence’ employees, such as setting specific goals, ‘checking in’ on goal progress, using regular performance evaluations, and the like. “The idea is to communicate to employees that, as long as the work gets done -- which managers can assess with performance management systems -- they can choose when and how to do it,” he added. “On the other hand, recent studies show that telecommuting can increase feelings of isolation. This is because telecommuting workers have significantly less face-to-face contact with their manager and colleagues, which can lead telecommuters to feel alone and socially disconnected. One way to ameliorate these effects is to use technologies that involve virtual face-to-face contact, like Zoom or Skype, or to have at least some ‘real’ face-to-face contact, such as some meetings that are conducted in-person.”
FAU Experts Available to Speak on Coronavirus and its Impact Worldwide
Coronavirus has now earned global attention and Florida Atlantic University experts are available to speak with media about the impact of coronavirus on areas related to this worldwide epidemic, including hospitality, tourism, employment sick leave, and politics. If you are a journalist covering the progress of this virus and how it is impacting various sectors and segments of society – then let us help with your stories, questions and ongoing coverage. LeaAnne DeRigne, Ph.D., MSW, associate professor in FAU’s Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work LeaAnne DeRigne is an expert on paid sick leave and its impact on the health and financial security of individuals, families and public health in general. Her recent research on the importance of paid sick leave benefits has received wide press coverage,and has been cited around the country by policy makers, lobbyists, and advocates pushing cities and states to mandate sick leave coverage. Key findings from the study, which are representative of the nation, showed that regardless of income, age, race, occupation, full-time or part-time work status, health status or health insurance coverage, workers without paid sick leave were three times more likely to delay medical care than were workers with paid sick leave. She also conducts research on other workplace benefits such as flexible work, vacation time and pensions. Peter Ricci, clinical associate professor and director of the Department of Marketing and Hospitality Management in FAU’s College of Business Peter Ricci is a hospitality industry veteran with more than 20 years of managerial experience in segments including food service, lodging, incentive travel, and destination marketing. While filling the role of hotel general manager for almost a decade, Ricci served as a part-time educator before entering academia full time as both a clinical associate professor and administrator. Kevin Wagner, Ph.D., professor and chair of FAU’s Department of Political Science in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Kevin Wagner’s research and teaching interests include presidential and judicial politics, political behavior and legislative behavior. He is also a research fellow of the FAU Business and Economics Polling Initiative (BEPI). Wagner has lectured extensively on American politics and has served as an expert in many leading newspapers including the New York Times, Boston Globe, New York Newsday, the Dallas Morning News, and the Miami Herald. He has been featured as the political analyst for CBS 12 in West Palm Beach and on national television including NBC’s “Today.” All of the experts listed above are ready and available to speak with media. To arrange an interview simply click on an expert’s profile or email Lisa Metcalf at lmetcalf@fau.edu.
Does the height of a person really matter? In America, if you are running for office, it might. Augusta’s Dr. Gregg Murray was on CNN this weekend discussing how height can play an advantage in American politics. Murray does confirm how a candidate’s height (or perception of) does make a difference in the minds of voters. "Yes, there does seem to be some sort of relationship between an elected leader's height and how her or she is perceived, "says Murray. Here’s the segment: As the long road to November winds and weaves along the campaign trail, there are going to be many, many different factors that candidates look to capitalize on to gobble up every available vote. And if you are a journalist covering the election – that’s where our media-ready experts can help. Dr. Gregg R. Murray, professor of political science at Augusta University, is available to talk about the upcoming election and all aspects surrounding each campaign. Murray’s research focuses on political behavior and psychology with specific interests in voter mobilization and turnout. He is also executive director of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences.
After New Hampshire - What’s next for Bernie and is it time for Biden to bail?
As we all know, you can’t win a presidential primary with only two states, but you sure can lose one. And after a long summer and fall of campaigning, the results from Iowa and New Hampshire are revealing the frontrunners of who will most likely lead the Democrats in the quest to unseat President Donald Trump. Coming into the New Hampshire primary, Augusta’s Dr. Gregg Murray offered this insight, “It looks like Sanders is comfortably in the lead, which is not surprising given he comes from a neighboring state. Mayor Pete is surprisingly staying strong and Klobuchar is hanging in there. Other than Sanders, this is not the leader board that most people would have expected before the start of the primary season. Biden and Warren, who many people not too long ago would have thought would be making strong showings, are surprisingly a good distance back in the pack.” But now that the first crucial two states have been heard and the primaries shift focus toward South Carolina and Nevada – what’s next? Joe Biden is ‘all in’ on South Carolina, but after two abysmal showings, is it enough? Amy Klobuchar seems to be surging – can she capitalize on that momentum? And, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are neck and neck – what will it take for one to emerge as the frontrunner? As the next phase of primaries approach – there’s a lot to cover, and that’s where our experts can help. Dr. Gregg R. Murray, professor of political science at Augusta University, is available to talk about the current race to lead the DNC. Murray’s research focuses on political behavior and psychology with specific interests in voter mobilization and turnout. He is also executive director of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences.
Ants and plants, a mutually beneficial relationship
Ant-plant interactions are really common in nature, and while people might most often picture ants as carrying pieces of leaves cut from tropical plants, ant behavior in the Midwest is less appreciated. Moni Berg-Binder, Ph.D., associate professor of biology at Saint Mary’s University, finds ant mediated seed dispersal, called myrmecochory, fascinating and says that the temperate deciduous forests here in North America have many examples of plants that engage with the native plant community. “In myrmecochory, these plants, often spring ephemerals, which are early blooming spring plants, produce seeds with a nutritious structure that sticks off the seed called an elaiosome,” she said. “Typically what happens is the seeds fall to the ground which is called primary dispersal. The Ants forage and find the seeds on the ground and then pick up seeds and carry them to their nest. This is secondary dispersal. Then, once they get the seeds into their nests, those seeds are brought to places where developing larvae eat the elaiosome. But the seed is unharmed.” From there, she said the seeds are then deposited in a chamber inside of their nests or they may take the seeds and put them in a refuse pile or a garbage dump just outside the nest. Ants, apparently, keep a very clean nest. And oftentimes the ground soil around ant activity, is elevated in organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorous, possibly moisture — all really good things for plants and essentially the same thing as fertilizer. So the seed flourishes. “It’s a beautiful example of mutualism,” she said. “The seed is taken and has effectively been planted inside this nest with nature’s fertilizer. The win from the ant perspective is that they received food.” Dr. Berg-Binder and her students have focused their research on a plant called bloodroot. Local ants disperse the seeds of bloodroot. Dr. Berg-Binder became interested in plant interactions while in graduate school when she became intrigued by the win-win scenario of mutualism. For her graduate work, she had been interested in conservation and how invasive species are introduced to a natural area where they did not typically belong. These invasive species can engage in mutualism with native species. She said there is much more studying to be done on the relationship native ants have with both native plants and invasive plants. Are ants helping the invasive species become more invasive? “They’re a great study system, and I find them really fascinating,” she said. Are you looking to know more about invasive species or ant and plant interactions? Or, are you a journalist covering this topic and looking to book an interview? That’s where we can help. To book an interview with Dr. Moni Berg-Binder, simply click below to access her contact information. Connect with: Moni Berg-Binder, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Biology Expertise: Invasive plant species and native plants; ecology and animal-plant interactions View profile https://expertfile.com/experts/moni.bergbinderphd/moni-bergbinder-phd
