Experts Matter. Find Yours.
Connect for media, speaking, professional opportunities & more.
300 million tonnes of rice straw are burned after harvest in Asia every year Aston University will be contributing to new international project to unlock renewable energy potential Its researchers will lead on calculating the greenhouse gas emissions savings of new systems. Aston University researchers are helping to make rice straw processing in India and the Philippines less environmentally damaging. The University will be contributing to a new international collaboration, the Renewable, Inclusive Carbon-negative Energy (RICE) project, funded by Innovate UK Energy Catalyst programme to unlock renewable energy for rice farmers. Already the University has worked with UK company Straw Innovations in the Philippines and now the two are expanding their collaboration to benefit more of the continent. Aston University working with UK company Straw Innovations and Indian enterprise, Takachar Rice straw is a crop waste byproduct and each year across Asia 300 million tonnes of it go up in smoke when burnt after harvest. This releases emissions and air pollutants that triple risks of increased respiratory diseases and accelerate climate change. India and the Philippines are the world’s second and eighth largest rice producers respectively and together they produce 130 million tonnes of both rice and straw per year. Aston University and Straw Innovations and will be collaborating with an Indian award winning small and medium sized enterprise, Takachar. The firm has developed small scale, low-cost, portable equipment which can convert agricultural waste on-site into higher value bioproducts such as fertilizer blends, chemicals and biofuels. "The company will develop a super-sized version which is 10 times bigger than their current device, make it adaptable to rice mills, and will send it to Straw Innovations, so the two firms can test out different business models for farmer adoption/benefit. Straw Innovations will also send their machines from the Philippines to India mid-project and the two countries will test out different business models for farmer adoption/benefit. And for the first time they will tap into the heat produced in the waste process to dry rice, instead of using diesel or kerosene. University researchers will lead on assessing the sustainability of the project, calculating the greenhouse gas emissions savings of the new systems introduced by Straw Innovations and Takachar. Sustainability expert Dr Mirjam Röder will also engage with the farming community and rural stakeholders to quantify how the systems can increase farmer incomes, equality of opportunity, food security and decarbonisation benefits, whilst highlighting any trade-offs. Dr Röder who is based at Aston University’s Energy & Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI) said: “Environmentally, rice produces 48% of all global crop emissions, due to methane from flooded fields. This is halved when the straw is removed and reduced further when its carbon is stored in biochar. We are aiming for carbon negative which means removing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere or sequestering more CO₂ than is emitted. “Our new research leads on from our rice straw bio gas hub project with Straw Innovations, SEARCA and Koolmill and we’re pleased to be building further relationships with new partners in India. In January Biomass and Bioenergy published a paper about the topic written by Dr Röder, the director of EBRI Professor Patricia Thornley and Craig Jamieson of Straw Innovations called The greenhouse gas performance and climate change mitigation potential from rice straw biogas as a pathway to the UN sustainable development goals. Craig Jamieson from Straw Innovations said "We’ve been pioneering rice straw work with the team at Aston University for the past seven years. We're delighted to continue that strong partnership and widen it to include Takachar in this new project. “Takachar is a leader in making biochar from crop residues and our partnership with them is very strategic. We look forward to combining our new improved straw harvesting technology with their scaled-up biochar production. It will be a step change, creating a new, more efficient system for carbon negative energy and soil improvement for rural communities across Asia." Vidyut Mohan who founded Takachar said: “We are excited to partner with Aston University and Straw Innovations. “Our combined solutions can significantly move the needle in reducing crop residue collection costs and biochar production costs for carbon removal." Notes to Editors Rice straw is a crop waste byproduct and each year across Asia 300 million tonnes of it go up in smoke when burnt after harvest https://tinyurl.com/2afjhhsj To read The greenhouse gas performance and climate change mitigation potential from rice straw biogas as a pathway to the UN sustainable development goals visit https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0961953424000254, Biomass and Bioenergy Volume 182, March 2024, 107072 Mirjam Röder and Patricia Thornley Energy & Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI), College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET, United Kingdom Craig Jamieson Straw Innovations Ltd., Lawes Open Innovation Hub, Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden, HERTS, AL5 2JQ, United Kingdom https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2024.107072 About Aston University For over a century, Aston University’s enduring purpose has been to make our world a better place through education, research and innovation, by enabling our students to succeed in work and life, and by supporting our communities to thrive economically, socially and culturally. Aston University’s history has been intertwined with the history of Birmingham, a remarkable city that once was the heartland of the Industrial Revolution and the manufacturing powerhouse of the world. Born out of the First Industrial Revolution, Aston University has a proud and distinct heritage dating back to our formation as the School of Metallurgy in 1875, the first UK College of Technology in 1951, gaining university status by Royal Charter in 1966, and becoming The Guardian University of the Year in 2020. Building on our outstanding past, we are now defining our place and role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (and beyond) within a rapidly changing world. For media inquiries in relation to this release, contact Nicola Jones, Press and Communications Manager, on (+44) 7825 342091 or email: n.jones6@aston.ac.uk
This Is a Critical Moment: Delaware Must Not Go Backward in Health Equity
The proposed Delaware House Bill 350 is well-intended but would have terrible consequences for Delaware’s most vulnerable populations. There is a better way. By LeRoi S. Hicks, M.D., MPH, FACP As a Black physician who has dedicated his 25-year career to understanding and addressing health equity, I am deeply concerned about Delaware’s proposed House Bill 350, which aims to address rising health care costs by establishing a body of political appointees that would oversee the budgets of Delaware’s nonprofit hospitals. While the goal of bending the cost curve in health care may be well-intentioned, this bill will have horrific consequences for Delaware’s most vulnerable populations, including Black people, Hispanic people and other groups that have been traditionally underserved in health care. We can and must work together to solve this problem and provide the right care, in the right place, at the right time. A tale of two cities To borrow a phrase from Charles Dickens, Delaware, like much of America, is a tale of two cities. The experience of life—including a healthy, safe environment and access to good-quality health care—is vastly different depending on where you live and your demographic background. In the city of Wilmington, for example, ZIP codes that are just a few miles apart represent more than 20 years difference in life expectancy. This is not OK—it’s a sign that we have serious structural problems in our communities that are causing harm to people and making their lives shorter. Importantly, chopping $360 million out of Delaware’s hospital budgets, as House Bill 350 would do in year one, is not going to help this problem—it’s going to make it worse. And in doing so, it would ultimately make health care in Delaware more expensive—not less expensive. The key to lowering health care costs is to improve quality, access and equity Data show that about 5% of patients in the United States account for more than 50% of all health care costs. These are primarily patients who have complex and poorly managed chronic conditions that cause them to end up in the most expensive care settings—hospitals, operating rooms, emergency departments. The key to driving down health care costs is to improve quality and equity so that everyone is supported in achieving their best health, and these high users of the most expensive kinds of care are better supported in managing their health conditions such as diabetes or heart failure in the appropriate way. In doing so, they prevent the need for costly emergency or “rescue” care. Let’s do more—not less—of what we already know works Health care is not a one-size-fits-all industry. The delivery of care for patients across a diverse population requires multiple interventions at the same time. These interventions are designed not only to improve the quality of care but also to close the gap in terms of health care disparities. That’s important, because when we improve care and outcomes for the most vulnerable populations, we tend to get things right for everyone. One type of intervention is about doing exactly the right things for a patient based on the evidence of what will help—and doing nothing extra that will cause harm or generate additional costs without providing additional benefit. An example of this might be ensuring that every patient who has a heart attack gets a certain drug called a beta blocker right after their heart attack, and they receive clear guidance and support on the actions they must take to reduce their risk of a second heart attack, such as regular exercise and good nutrition. The second type of intervention is for the highest-risk populations. These are patients who live in poor communities where there are no gyms and no grocery stores, and people commonly have challenges with transportation and lack of access to resources that makes it difficult—sometimes impossible—to follow their plan for follow-up care. They lack access to high-nutrient food that reduces their risk of a second heart attack. They also live in areas where there are fewer health care providers compared to more affluent areas. These interventions tend to be very intensive and do not generate income for health systems; in fact, they require significant non-reimbursed investment, but they are necessary to keep our most vulnerable patients healthy. The medical community has developed interventions for these populations that are proven to work. A local example is the Delaware Food Pharmacy program, which connects at-risk patients with healthy food and supports their ability to prepare it. The program helps patients improve their overall health and effectively manage their chronic conditions so they can prevent an adverse event that would put them back in the hospital or emergency department. When we work together, we succeed We’ve seen incredible examples of how this work can be successful right here in Delaware. Delaware was the first state in the country to eliminate a racial disparity in colorectal cancer, and we did this by expanding cancer services, including making it easy for vulnerable people to get preventive cancer care and screenings. This is an incredible success story that continues to this day, and it was the result of thoughtful, detail-oriented partnerships among the state and the health care community. The work continues as we collaborate to reduce the impact and mortality of breast cancer in our state. Unfortunately, these kinds of interventions are the first thing to go when health care budgets get slashed, because they don’t generate revenue and are not self-sustaining. These kinds of activities need to be funded—either through grants or an external funder, or by the hospitals and health care systems. By narrowly focusing on cost, we risk losing the progress we have made Delaware House Bill 350, as it’s proposed, would cause harm in two ways: First, it would compromise our ability to invest in these kinds of interventions that work. Second, it increases the risk that higher-cost health services and programs that are disproportionately needed by people in vulnerable communities could become no longer available in Delaware. In states where the government has intervened in the name of cutting costs, like Vermont and Massachusetts, we see the consequences–less quality and reduced equitable access to much-needed services. House Bill 350 will widen the gap between those who have means and those who are more vulnerable. These changes will lead to increased disease burden on these populations. They will end up in the emergency room more and hospitalized more, which is by far the most expensive kind of care. That’s not what anyone wants—and it’s the opposite of what this bill was intended to accomplish. At this moment, in Delaware, we have an opportunity to put our state on a sustainable path to better health for all Delawareans. House Bill 350 is not that path. However, the discussion that House Bill 350 has started is something that we can build on by bringing together the stakeholders we need to collaborate with to solve these complicated problems. That includes Delaware’s government and legislators, the hospitals and health centers, the insurance, pharmacy and medical device industries, and most importantly, patients and the doctors who care for them. LeRoi Hicks, M.D., is the campus executive director for ChristianaCare, Wilmington Campus.
Innovative EEG Brain Monitoring Program Provides Optimal Care for Critically Ill Patients
ChristianaCare has launched an innovative electroencephalogram (EEG) brain monitoring program that represents a significant leap forward in the diagnosis and management of neurological conditions. The easy-to-use EEG program is the first of its kind that can be performed at the bedside to measure the electrical activity of the brain, providing a vital sign for brain function to help diagnose seizures more quickly. ChristianaCare is the first hospital system in Delaware to use the Ceribell point-of-care EEG monitoring system, which can reduce the time it takes to diagnose certain neurological conditions from hours to mere minutes. Using the system, clinicians have immediate access to EEG information so they can triage at-risk patients in just five minutes and monitor patients for treatment optimization. “With this new program, our team of expert clinicians will have the diagnostic information they need to provide high-risk patients with the right care at the right time, ensuring the best outcomes for our patients and their families,” said Kim Gannon, M.D., Ph.D., service line leader for Neurosciences at ChristianaCare. New technology detects ‘silent seizures’ Critically ill patients are at high risk of harmful brain electrical discharges called seizures. Some of these patients experience a type of “silent seizure” with no noticeable symptoms (non-convulsive) that can only be detected using EEG. If prolonged, non-convulsive seizures can lead to permanent brain injury and higher risk of morbidity and mortality. Demonstration of EEG device on patient at ChristianaCare Newark Campus. As a result, guidelines from the Neurocritical Care Society recommend EEG should be initiated within 15-60 minutes when these seizures are suspected. Meeting these guidelines has proven difficult due to the limitations of conventional EEG systems, which were not designed for use in emergency situations. Even top academic centers that have 24/7 EEG capabilities may experience wait times of four hours or more for conventional equipment. When relying on clinical judgement alone while waiting for these conventional EEG systems, diagnostic accuracy has been shown to be only slightly better than chance (65%). The value of this new technology for patients is that it provides accurate results quickly so that the care team can intervene early. “The neuroscience and critical care teams at ChristianaCare believe that ‘time is brain’ not only applies to stroke but also when dealing with seizure,” Gannon said. Gannon is referring to the fact that for every minute that passes when someone is having a stroke, 1.9 million brain cells are lost, increasing the chance of disability or death. That same kind of speed and urgency can now more easily be brought to bear for patients when a seizure is suspected. “This monitoring system is easy to use and can be set up in about five minutes,” said Richard Choi, D.O., medical director of the Neurocritical Care Unit at Christiana Hospital. “It consists of a simple headband, pocket-sized recorder with intuitive software and an on-line portal for remote viewing. Using the system, we can review EEG data, assess response to treatment and optimize care, all in real-time.” Neurosciences at ChristianaCare ChristianaCare’s multidisciplinary neurosciences team provides comprehensive and advanced care for neurologic illnesses across the acute and ambulatory settings. As the largest and most comprehensive neurology practice in Delaware with more than 55,000 patient visits last year, ambulatory subspecialties include stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, movement disorders, neuromuscular disorders, headaches/migraines, pediatric neurology and Botox specialists. The inpatient team of experts includes neurosurgeons, neurointerventional surgeons, neurocritical care physicians and vascular neurologists. The Newark Campus serves as the only comprehensive stroke center in the state and includes the only Epilepsy Monitoring Unit in Delaware.
Researcher develops microrobots to battle cancer with unique precision
Magnetic robots that can target cancer cells are nothing new. But the patented microrobots developed by the University of Delaware's Sambeeta Das can be guided with a magnetic field to deliver medication to cells – or to destroy infectious cells, such as cancer – inside the body. To mark the launch of National Inventors Month, Das, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, shared her journey toward invention. Q: Tell us about your patented invention on microrobots for cancer research. What problem were you trying to solve? Das: One of the biggest issues with cancer research is the ability to target cancer cells without harming healthy cells. Cancer cells are sneaky, and they have evolved ways of hiding from the body’s immune cells. A big part of our research focuses on targeting, specifically precision targeting. We want to be able to target a single cell in a mass of cells, whether that is a single cell in a mass of cancer cells or whether it is a single abnormal cell surrounded by healthy cells. To do this, we use magnetic microrobots that can be driven inside the body by magnetic fields to a particular cell location. Magnetic fields are biocompatible, meaning they are not harmful to biological tissues, and our microrobots are very small, around 20 microns, which is about the size of a single bacteria cell. We can load our microrobots with various drugs and modify their surface in such a way that when the robots come in contact with the cells we are targeting, they can kill the target cell or perform some other function. Q: How is this solution unique? Das: Other people have made magnetic microrobots, but our system is unique since it allows us to do automatic targeting with a lot of precision. For example, a person operating our microrobots can just point to a cell and our system will drive the microrobot there. Additionally, the instrument we have made and patented is an all-in-one portable device that can be used anywhere. We don’t need a separate microscope, camera or software, it is all built in and very user friendly. Anyone can use it. This makes it super portable, which means quick solutions for health practitioners. In addition, poor and resource challenged areas can also be accessed with this portable solution. Q: What drives you toward invention? Das: I like to solve problems, and I like seeing something come together from nothing. I am very interested in problems that affect human health and longevity, particularly those that affect the common person. Q: How do you approach solving a problem, and whose support has been critical along the way? Das: One thing I have realized is that it is imperative to ask the right question to solve a problem. You must really get to the core of the issue. The second thing is to always keep the end user in mind. So, it’s kind of a two-pronged approach—looking from both ends of the problem. For support, I would say my team members and my collaborators. Their support has been invaluable in helping me solve the problems that I want to solve. In fact, my graduate students keep a running list of crazy ideas that they have come up with. It helps us look at problems in a unique way and come up with innovative solutions. Q: Not every invention makes it. How do you deal with failure? Das: The way that I start working on a problem is to assume that whatever we do, we are going to fail. I always tell my students that their first couple of experiments or designs will always fail. But failure is essential because it will teach you what not to do. And knowing what not to do is sometimes the critical part of the invention process. The failures inform us about the ways of not doing something which means now there is another way of doing something. Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received? Das: The best career advice I’ve ever received is that there is always another way. If you run into roadblocks there is always another answer, there is always another opportunity. So we just need to keep going and trying new and crazy ideas. Q: How are inventive minds created – is it innate or can it be developed? How do you encourage innovation among your students? Das: That’s an interesting question and honestly, I am not sure. I do believe in what Edison said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” He is a known inventor, so I would go with his interpretation on this. As for my students, I give them lots of freedom. I think freedom is essential in encouraging innovation. The freedom to come up with crazy ideas without anyone saying that won't work and the freedom to fail—multiple times. Das is available for interviews to talk about her microrobots and other projects at UD. To reach her, visit her profile and click the "contact" button.
What Families Need to Know about How to Safely Store Firearms at Home
Guns have been identified as the leading cause of death for children in the United States, making ongoing discussions about firearm safety especially important. Kerri Raissian, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Connecticut, and Jennifer Necci Dineen, associate director of the ARMS Center for Gun Injury Prevention, recently co-authored an very important piece for The Conversation titled detailing what families need to know about safely storing firearms at home. There were 2,571 children age 1 to 17 who died in shootings in the U.S. in 2021, 68% more than the 1,531 that occurred in 2000. To help reduce the number of firearm-related deaths and injuries among children, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in January 2024 called upon school and district administrators to talk with parents and guardians about safe firearm storage practices. As experts on the safe storage of firearms – and as leaders of the University of Connecticut’s ARMS Center for Gun Injury Prevention – we often get questions about the best ways to keep guns out of the hands of children. We offer the following tips: 1: Safely store all of your firearms 2. Don’t assume you can hide your guns 3. Store ammunition separately 4. Learn to talk about firearm safety 5. Know the law 6. Invest in a quality safe and/or locking device The full piece is available here from The Conversation. Kerri Raissian is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut, director of the University of Connecticut's UConn’s Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship (ARMS) in Gun Violence Prevention, and co-director of the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) Gun Violence Prevention Research Interest Group. Her research focuses on child and family policy, with an emphasis on understanding how policies affect fertility, family formation, and family violence. She is available to speak to media about this important topic - simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.
Municipalities around the world have invested significant resources to develop connected smart cities that use the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve sustainability, safety and efficiency. With this increased demand for IoT experience, the VCU College of Engineering formed the OpenCyberCity testbed in 2022. The 1:12 scale model city provides a realistic, small-scale cityscape where students and researchers can experiment with new and existing smart city technology. Sherif Abdelwahed, Ph.D., electrical and computer engineering professor, is director of OpenCyberCity. He recently answered some questions about new developments within the testbed. The OpenCyberCity is a smart city testbed, but are there any real-life cities that one could call a smart city? Several real-life locales are considered smart cities due to their extensive use of technology and data-driven initiatives to optimize infrastructure and services. Dubai is one of the most notable. They have implemented smart transportation systems, buildings and artificial intelligence to transform the city’s operations and make them more efficient. Other reputable smart cities include Singapore and Seoul, which utilize smart energy management, smart transportation and comprehensive data analytics for improved urban planning and services. Seoul, in particular, has an initiative with smart grids and connected street lights, which VCU Engineering’s own OpenCyberCity test bed is working to implement. How does the OpenCyberCity address privacy? With so much technology related to monitoring, how are individual citizens protected from these technologies? Privacy is a major concern for smart cities and it is one of the main research directions for VCU Engineering’s OpenCyberCity. We are developing several techniques to prevent unwanted surveillance of personal information. Sensitive data is protected by solid protocols and access restrictions that only allow authorized users to view the data. Our aim is to find a reasonable middle ground between technological progress and privacy rights, staying within legal and ethical bounds. Some techniques to address privacy concerns include: Data Anonymization: This makes it difficult to trace back information to individual identities. Within the testbed, we will evaluate how to protect individual privacy while maintaining data utility and assess the impact on data quality. Secure Data Storage and Transmission: Encrypt data to protect it from unauthorized access. In the smart city testbed, these access control mechanisms will be implemented within the testbed’s infrastructure. We will also test different data handling processes and access control models to determine their ability to safeguard sensitive data. Privacy Impact Assessments: Regularly evaluate potential privacy risks of new smart city projects in order to mitigate them and ensure the ethical handling of data by those with access. Policy and Regulation Development: Data and insights generated from OpenCyberCity experiments can inform the development of cybersecurity policies and regulations for smart cities. How is the College of Engineering’s OpenCyberCity test bed different from similar programs at other institutions? While other universities have similar smart-city-style programs, each has their own specialty. The VCU College of Engineering’s OpenCyberCity test bed focuses on real-world contexts, creating a physical space where new technologies, infrastructure, energy-efficient transportation and other smart city services can be tested in a controlled environment. Our lab monitors real-time data and develops smart buildings, smart hospitals and smart manufacturing buildings to enhance the city’s technologies. Recent additions to the OpenCyberCity allow for expanded research opportunities like: Advanced Manufacturing: Students can apply advanced manufacturing techniques in a controlled environment. They can also test new materials, processes and automation technologies to improve efficiency and product quality. Energy Efficiency Testing: Environmental engineers and sustainability experts can evaluate energy consumption patterns within the smart manufacturing unit to implement energy-saving measures and assess their impact on sustainability. Production Optimization: Manufacturers can use real-time data from the smart manufacturing unit to optimize production schedules, minimize downtime and reduce waste. Predictive maintenance algorithms also help prevent equipment breakdowns. Education and Training: Hands-on experience with state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies helps train the workforce of the future. Integration with Smart City Services: Data generated by the manufacturing unit can be integrated with smart city services. For example, production data can inform supply chain management and energy consumption data can contribute to overall city energy efficiency initiatives. How has the OpenCyberCity changed in the last year? Is the main focus still data security? What started with research examining, analyzing and evaluating the security of next-generation (NextG) applications, smart city operations and medical devices has expanded. Data security is now only one aspect of OpenCyberCity. Its scope has grown to encompass more expansive facets of cybersecurity like automation and data analytics in the domain of smart manufacturing systems. The implementation of a smart manufacturing system in 2023 is something students really enjoy. Thanks to the vendor we used, undergraduate students had the option to develop functionality for various features of the manufacturing plant. Graduate students were also able to research communications protocols and cybersecurity within the smart manufacturing system. What does the smart manufacturing system entail and what kind of work is occurring within that system? An automated system is there for students to work with. Robot arms, microcontrollers, conveyor belts, ramps, cameras and blocks to represent cargo form an environment that emulates a real manufacturing setting. We’re currently brainstorming an expansion of the smart manufacturing system in collaboration with the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI). We plan to set up two building models, one for manufacturing and one for distribution, linked by a sky bridge conveyor system that moves items between the locations. Students work to leverage convolutional neural networks that use images to facilitate machine learning. When paired with the advanced cameras, it forms a computer vision system that can accurately place blocks in a variety of lighting conditions, which can be a challenge for other systems. By having to optimize the communication protocols that command the smart manufacturing system’s robotic arms, students also get a sense for real-world constraints . The Raspberry Pi that functions as the controller for the system is limited in power, so finding efficiencies that also enable stability and precision with the arms is key. Is there an aspect of cybersecurity for these automated systems? Yes. Devices, sensors and communication networks integral to the IoT found in smart manufacturing systems and smart cities generate and share vast amounts of data. This makes them vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. Some of the issues we look to address include: Data Privacy: Smart systems collect and process vast amounts of data, including personal and sensitive information. Protecting this data from unauthorized access and breaches is a top priority. Device Vulnerabilities: Many IoT devices used in smart systems have limited computational resources and may not receive regular security updates, making them vulnerable to exploitation. Interconnectedness: The interconnected nature of smart city components increases the attack surface. A breach in one system can potentially compromise the entire network. Malware and Ransomware: Smart systems are susceptible to malware and ransomware attacks, which can disrupt services and extort organizations for financial gain. Insider Threats: Employees with malicious intent or negligence can pose significant risks to cybersecurity. Potential solutions to these problems include data encryption, frequent software updates, network segmentation with strict access controls, real-time intrusion detection (with automated responses to detected threats), strong user authentication methods, security training for users and the development of well-designed incident response plans.
Tales of Christmas Past: Preserving Your Family History During the Holidays
Baylor’s Institute for Oral History shares seven simple best practices to get the conversation started (Credit: FG Trade Latin/Getty Images Collection E+) During past family Christmas gatherings, many of us remember when older relatives regaled everyone with tales about their fascinating life stories, firsthand experiences as an eyewitness to history or simply sharing how favorite family traditions started. So how do you preserve those precious family memories during the holidays? Baylor University oral historians Stephen Sloan and Adrienne Cain Darough have recorded and preserved the oral history memoirs of thousands of individuals through their work with Baylor’s renowned Institute for Oral History, home of the national Oral History Association. Together, the historians share seven simple best practices to help family members begin oral history conversations that enrich recollections of the past and capture your family memories. “The holiday season brings about the opportunity to spend time with family members, especially those you may not be able to see on a frequent basis,” Cain Darough said. “This presents the perfect opportunity to conduct oral histories to capture the stories and experiences of your family and loved ones, to learn more about them, the history of your family, traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation and more.” Seven best practices for preserving your family’s oral history 1. Ask first! Make sure your family member wants their story to be documented or recorded. That is the first – and most important – question to ask, said Adrienne Cain Darough, M.L.S., assistant director and senior lecturer with the Institute for Oral History. Ask first. “Many oral historians have run into the spot where someone says, ‘Oh, my grandpa would be great for that topic,’ and you get there and it's, ‘Grandpa does not want to talk to you.’ So first, make sure they want their story recorded,” she said. 2. Determine the type of recording equipment you want to use. Decide if you want to record your interview with an audio recorder or use a video recording device. It all depends on your needs and comfort level with the technology. For family members who are unable to travel this holiday season, you can include them by capturing their stories using a remote recording platform like Zoom, which became a vital tool for oral historians when COVID struck in 2020. Helpful resources from Baylor’s Institute for Oral History include: How to choose the right digital recorder Oral History at a Distance webinar on the dynamics of conducting remote oral history interviews Remote Interviewing Resources guide (Oral History Association) 3. Research your family member’s life and their timeline to help you formulate your questions. Recording a family member’s oral history is more than just putting down a recorder in front of them and saying, “Talk.” If you’re recording an oral history over Christmas with a family member, are there specific things that you want to know that are related to the holiday? For example, what was Christmas morning like for them as a child? How did your favorite family traditions start? What is their favorite holiday dish? (Maybe they could even share the recipe. “You can finally learn why Nana’s banana pudding doesn’t even have bananas in it,” Cain Darough said.) “Doing your research to try to form those questions will help you get around the reluctance to talk sometimes,” Cain Darough added. “The favorite thing that I love to hear is, ‘Oh, I don't have much to say,’ or ‘I'm not that important.’ And then you sit down with them, and you listen to their stories, and your mind is just blown by the things that they've seen and experienced.” 4. Start with the basics: “Where are you from?” When Baylor oral historians conduct an interview, they generally begin with some life history of the subject, providing important context for historians. “Ask questions early on that are easy for them to answer: a little bit of the backstory, a little bit of where they're from, where they grew up,” said Stephen Sloan, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Oral History, executive director of Oral History Association and professor of history at Baylor. “I want to understand the lens through which they experienced events, and the only way I can do that is, who was this? What was formative in their life growing up? Who spoke into who they were? What did they learn? Where did they go? What did they do? Those are the sorts of things that I would be exploring early in the interview.” One of the questions Cain Darough enjoys asking is, “What did you want to be when you grew up?” “You want to give them something that's very easy and comfortable to talk about,” Cain Darough said. “What was your favorite subject in school, just to see if that was something that continued on in their life. If there's a certain hobby or something that you know that they're affiliated with, when did you learn about that? Tell me more. What's your interest with this? And then they'll get to talking.” 5. Ask open-ended questions – without making any assumptions. With oral history, it is important that you don’t go into the interview with a specific agenda or try to lead anyone to a certain conclusion. “We can do this very subtly by assuming information, but you can't assume anything about their experience with the topic,’” Sloan said. “If we assume information, it could be very far from how they encountered whatever event that may have been. Allow them to relate the ways in which they lived these experiences.” 6. Listen closely. Listening is an important facet of gathering oral history. But historians say you are not only listening for what they're saying, you're also listening for what they're not saying. “Are there things that are being skipped around?” Cain Darough said. “For example, sometimes when you're talking to veterans about their combat experience, it may be the first time that they're reliving or retelling these stories. They need time, and you just have to be prepared for that.” 7. Be patient. It might take your subject some time to warm up to the conversation. “If you're talking to someone who is 80, 90 or even 100, that's a lot of memories that they have to go through, so patience is important,” Cain Darough said.
Research: Add space salad to the risks astronauts face
University of Delaware researchers grew lettuce under conditions that imitated the weightless environment aboard the International Space Station and found those plants were actually more prone to infections from Salmonella. It’s been more than three years since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration made space-grown lettuce an item on the menu for astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Alongside their space diet staples of flour tortillas and powdered coffee, astronauts can munch on a salad, grown from control chambers aboard the ISS that account for the ideal temperature, amount of water and light that plants need to mature. But as the UD researchers discovered, there is a problem. The International Space Station has a lot of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Many of these disease-causing microbes at the ISS are very aggressive and can easily colonize the tissue of lettuce and other plants. Once people eat lettuce that’s been overrun by E. coli or Salmonella, they can get sick. With billions of dollars poured into space exploration each year by NASA and private companies like SpaceX, some researchers are concerned that a foodborne illness outbreak aboard the International Space Station could derail a mission. In the new study by UD's team, published in Scientific Reports and in npj Microgravity, researchers grew lettuce in a weightless environment similar to that found at the International Space Station. Plants are masters of sensing gravity, and they use roots to find it. The plants grown at UD were exposed to simulated microgravity by rotation. The researchers found those plants under the manufactured microgravity were actually more prone to infections from Salmonella, a human pathogen. Stomata, the tiny pores in leaves and stems that plants use to breathe, normally close to defend a plant when it senses a stressor, like bacteria, nearby, said Noah Totsline, an alumnus of UD’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences who finished his graduate program in December. When the researchers added bacteria to lettuce under their microgravity simulation, they found the leafy greens opened their stomata wide instead of closing them. “The fact that they were remaining open when we were presenting them with what would appear to be a stress was really unexpected,” Totsline said. Totsline, the lead author of both papers, worked with plant biology professor Harsh Bais as well as microbial food safety professor Kali Kniel and Chandran Sabanayagam of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute. The research team used a device called a clinostat to rotate plants at the speed of a rotisserie chicken on a spinner. “In effect, the plant would not know which way was up or down,” Totsline said. “We were kind of confusing their response to gravity.” Additionally, Bais and other UD researchers have shown the usage of a helper bacteria called B. subtilis UD1022 in promoting plant growth and fitness against pathogens or other stressors such as drought. They added the UD1022 to the microgravity simulation that on Earth can protect plants against Salmonella, thinking it might help the plants fend off Salmonella in microgravity. Instead, they found the bacterium actually failed to protect plants in space-like conditions, which could stem from the bacteria’s inability to trigger a biochemical response that would force a plant to close its stomata. “The failure of UD1022 to close stomata under simulated microgravity is both surprising and interesting and opens another can of worms,” Bais said. “I suspect the ability of UD1022 to negate the stomata closure under microgravity simulation may overwhelm the plant and make the plant and UD1022 unable to communicate with each other, helping Salmonella invade a plant.” To contact researchers from the team, visit the profiles for Bais or Kniel and click on the contact button.
Cold and winter weather is about to settle in and CAA South Central Ontario (CAA SCO), Toronto Police Service (TPS), Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and the Ontario Government want to know: are you winter ready? The four organizations have joined forces to help inform Ontarians that now is the time to get your winter tires installed, check your car battery and stock your car with an emergency kit with all the essentials needed for the winter months. “Our weather can be unpredictable, especially in the winter. It’s important to think ahead and prepare before driving conditions become hazardous,” says Nadia Matos, Manager External Communications, CAA SCO. “It all comes down to safety and there’s no time like the present to ensure you and your car are properly equipped.” TPS, OPP and the Ontario Government are also reinforcing the importance of driver behaviour. "The safety of Ontario’s roads is always a top priority, and we are continuing to work closely with our road safety partners to promote safe driving habits this winter season,” says Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation. “Road safety is everyone’s responsibility, so when you’re heading out, always remember to slow down and drive according to weather and road conditions. Together, we can keep Ontario’s roads and highways safe for everyone this winter.” “Winter driving can be stressful. Motorists need to be alert at all times when on the road, even in the most routine circumstances like driving to and from work,” says Police Constable Sean Shapiro, Toronto Police Service. “That includes slowing down and driving according to weather conditions and ensuring you give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination.” This year motorists also need to be aware of new amendments to the Highway Traffic Act. “It is now illegal to pass snowplows working side by side on Ontario highways. Only pass a snowplow if the lane is completely clear of any part of the plow, including its blade,” says Sargeant Kerry Schmidt, Ontario Provincial Police. Offenders may face a fine ranging from $150 to $1,000. This winter, before heading out on the road motorists can download and use the 511 app to check the weather and road conditions before they leave home. The 511 app can be found at 511on.ca or in the app store on your mobile device. Motorists should also refer to some other tips to help make their winter drive a safer one: Keep your gas tank at least half full at all times. Cold weather causes condensation in the system, which can lead to fuel-line freeze-up and can prevent your car from starting. Remove excess snow from your car before driving off. Any snow left on the roof might slide down onto the windshield and obstruct your vision. Keep your wiper fluid full. Keep extra fluid in your trunk. Make sure it’s rated for -40℃. Pack a fully stocked emergency kit. The kit should include a flashlight and extra batteries, warning devices (e.g., flares, reflective vests/strips), a first aid kit, blankets, jumper cables, non-perishable food and water plus a phone charger. Be sure to also keep an ice scraper, small shovel and snow brush handy in your car at all times.
Promoting your expertise just got easier with a host of new platform features. Well the world’s best platform for Expertise Marketing just got even better! We’ve just released the latest release of ExpertFile and it’s huge. Our newly designed, mobile-ready platform provides the most intuitive, collaborative solution for creating, managing, and showcasing your experts and insights. Whether you are managing content directly on your website or promoting it through one of our powerful distribution channels like our expertfile.com search engine used by leading media outlets, you will find a lot of great new features packed into this release. With a host of new and enhanced features, streamlined workflows and more advanced analytics we’ve made showcasing your expertise, capturing valuable inquiries, and tracking your results easier than ever. You will see some exciting improvements that enable you to create highly customizable, searchable directories and media-rich profiles and content features to sharing valuable expert insights with detailed Posts and Q&A. Built for marketing and communications professionals and compatible with your current systems we continue to take the burden out of managing your expert content, and eliminate the need for ongoing, costly or time-consuming IT projects. The following highlights some of the great new features and functionality that can be found across the platform. We hope you take a moment to explore the new ExpertFile. And please let us know what you think! Cheers, Robert ------------ Robert Carter Co-Founder & VP Product | ExpertFile A Quick Tour of What's New with the ExpertFile Platform Home Screen Experience the power of the ExpertFile Platform from the moment you log in. The *NEW* Home Screen is your gateway to a wealth of essential information related to your account, key analytics, recent activities and more. With intuitive menus and a new universal search bar for easy discovery, the Home tab is your jumping off point for effortlessly exploring all your expert content and quickly connecting with valuable inquiries. Our refined layout features clear tab structures, quick action buttons and links making it a breeze to create and manage your experts and their insights, whether creating detailed media-rich profiles, insightful posts, Q&A or other featured content. Plus, gain valuable insights and optimize your expertise marketing strategy with convenient access to resource links and tools to grow your online presence both on your website, through Google or by one of our powerful distribution channels. New Home Screen features include: Quick action buttons to access all frequent activities Universal search capabilities for all your expert content User/license overview Analytics summary Recent content & login activity People Tab Manage your experts and your team through the People tab. Quickly add users and create captivating mobile-ready profiles that showcase their knowledge and thought-provoking content. Effortlessly update experts profiles using our user-friendly inline editor or take advantage of bulk actions to make changes across your entire team. Easily create and assign your experts to categories and tags enhancing discovery and building of custom directories and featured content. Transition profiles seamlessly from drafts to public visibility, or establish private password-protected viewing for exclusive restricted access directories and targeted profile outreach. Build the perfect support network. Manage your experts, their content, and inquiries with ease, while collaborating with diverse teams. With unlimited admins and agent users, we allow for more efficient management and better visibility across your entire roster of experts or within specific groups of experts. Easily add users from a diverse range of departments such as marketing communications, digital, research, analyst relations, and more to help maintain fresh and engaging expert content and ensure you never miss valuable inquiries. Assign agents to make edits or handle inquiries on an expert or multiple experts behalf. Extend your reach with access to leading tools for leveraging your experts, including easy export functionality and variety of integrations options for your website and with external platforms. New People Tab features include: New user setup enhancements Streamlined profile status options Advanced filtering capabilities People specific activity log Post Tab The Post tab is the starting point for sharing your organization’s insights on current news, trending topics and more by creating shareable Posts that connect back to your experts. Interactive and mobile-ready, Posts let you quickly deliver expert, SEO friendly content to your audiences on any device at any time. Quick links allow you to create drafts including using our new AI Brainstorming feature to help generate ideas and initial drafts. For more interaction with your expert Posts streamline content discovery and expand your content distribution capabilities by tagging your Posts. Whether you choose to publish immediately or schedule for future release, you have the flexibility to align your content with breaking news, important announcements, cyclical trends or your marketing calendar. Finally increase the power of Posts by assigning individual experts to each post to better connect your insights to your experts, driving more profiles views and valuable inquiries. New Post Tab features include: Quick create button with AI brainstorming Advanced filtering capabilities Bulk action management options Connected “experts” visibility Enhanced tag management Post specific activity log Q&A Tab The Q&A tab makes leveraging the power of Q&A easy. Deliver insights through expert curated Q&A, either with a single question and answer from an expert or organization, or allow for multiple experts to provide a variety of answers. By connecting your answer to your experts, you’ll drive profile views and capture valuable inquiries. Streamline content discovery and expand your content distribution capabilities by tagging your Q&A. New Q&A Tab features include: Quick create button Advanced filtering capabilities Bulk action management options Connected “experts” visibility Enhanced tag management Q&A specific activity log Analytics Tab Track your performance with the customizable features of the new Analytics Tab. Access current metrics across all important areas from your people to Posts, Q&A and inquiries. Define your view by type and time period. Quickly export your monthly PDF reports or create custom exports to allow for detailed reporting that matches your organization’s reporting cycles. Easily export all your metrics to create additional reports in other systems you currently use. New Analytics Tab features Include Content-type specific reporting Date range filtering Customizable graphing capabilities Enhanced data exports Downloadable monthly reports Bulk actions & Filtering Inquiries Tab The Inquiries tab provides access to all the capabilities you need for viewing, managing and responding to your opportunities. The layout lets you quickly understand the nature of your incoming inquiries whether they’re related to media, speaking, research, customer/business requests and more. Quickly view key details of all incoming inquiries including time-sensitive requests that require immediate follow-up. Activate only the type of inquiries you’re looking to receive through our inquiry type setup. At the same time keep unwanted messages away from your experts with our AI Quarantine function that monitors all your incoming inquiries and proactively blocks messages that can be reviewed later. Ensure total visibility with our mailing list functionality that enables inquiries to be seen by type beyond the specific setup for each expert. New Inquiry Tab features include: Enhanced AI Quarantine protection Organization wide blocking Network level blocking Enhanced inquiry filtering Inquiry specific activity log Settings The new Settings section provides easier more intuitive access to a wide variety of account customizations and system settings to tailor your implementation. This includes access to integration options from Custom API to Embeds and our WordPress plugin. New Settings Section features Include Enhanced brand management capabilities Improved asset uploader Refined layout New “Customer Success” resources
