Performance and Early Results from the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) Imaging Spectroscopy Mission

The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) acquires new observations of the Earth from a state-of-the-art, optically fast F/1.8 visible to short wavelength infrared imaging spectrometer with high signal-to-noise ratio and excellent spectroscopic uniformity. EMIT was launched to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 14, 2022 local time. The EMIT instrument is the latest in a series of more than 30 imaging spectrometers and testbeds developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, beginning with the Airborne Imaging Spectrometer that first flew in 1982. EMIT's science objectives use the spectral signatures of minerals observed across the Earth's arid and semi-arid lands containing dust sources to update the soil composition of advanced Earth System Models (ESMs) to better understand and reduce uncertainties in mineral dust aerosol radiative forcing at the local, regional, and global scale, now and in the future. EMIT has begun to collect and deliver high-quality mineral composition determinations for the arid land regions of our planet. Over 1 billion high-quality mineral determinations are expected over the course of the one-year nominal science mission. Currently, detailed knowledge of the composition of the Earth's mineral dust source regions is uncertain and traced to less than 5,000 surface sample mineralogical analyses. The development of the EMIT imaging spectrometer instrumentation was completed successfully, despite the severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The EMIT Science Data System is complete and running with the full set of algorithms required. These tested algorithms are open source and will be made available to the broader community. These include calibration to measured radiance, atmospheric correction to surface reflectance, mineral composition determination, aggregation to ESM resolution, and ESM runs to address the science objectives. In this paper, the instrument characteristics, ground calibration, in-orbit performance, and early science results are reported. © 2023 IEEE.

SARS-CoV-2 Infection Increases the Gene Expression Profile for Alzheimer's Disease Risk

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global outbreak of coronavirus, an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). One in five adults who have had COVID-19 in the past was still experiencing any one of the symptoms of long COVID like headache, brain fog, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Up to 30% of individuals with mild to severe infection show diverse neurological symptoms, including dementias. Hence, it is very much important to characterize the neurotropism and neurovirulence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This helps us understand the mechanisms involved in initiating inflammation in the brain, further leading to the development of earlyonset Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRDs). In our brain gene expression analysis, we found that severe COVID-19 patients showed increased expression of innate immune response genes and genes that are implicated in AD pathogenesis. To study the infection-induced ADRDs, we used a mouse-adapted strain of the SARS-CoV-2 (MA10) virus to infect mice of different age groups (3, 6, and 20 Months). In this study, we found that aged mice showed evidence of viral neurotropism, prolonged viral infection, increased expression of tau aggregator FKBP51, interferoninducible gene Ifi204, and complement genes like C4 and C5AR1. Brain histopathology also showed the AD signature including tau-phosphorylation, tau-oligomerization, and alpha-synuclein expression in aged MA10-infected mice. The results from gene expression profiling of SARS-CoV-2 infected and AD brains and studies with MA10 aged mice show that COVID-19 infection increases the risk of AD in the aged population. Furthermore, this study helps us to understand the crucial molecular markers that are regulated during COVID infection that could act as major players in developing ADRDs. Future studies will be involved in understanding the molecular mechanisms of ADRD in response to COVID infection and developing novel therapies targeting AD.

The Nasa Earth Venture Instrument, Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (Emit)

The NASA Earth Venture Instrument mission, Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation ( EMIT), is planned for launch to the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket in May of 2022. EMIT's science objectives are to reduce uncertainty in the direct radiative forcing effect of mineral dust in the Earth system today and assess future changes in the effect under a range of climate scenarios. The development of the EMIT imaging spectrometer instrumentation and other systems has proceeded successfully despite the severe impacts of the COVID pandemic. The status and plans for the imaging spectrometer, calibration, ground system, in-orbit checkout, and prime science measurement observation phase are reported.

In-person versus virtual administration of the American College of Rheumatology gold standard cognitive battery in systemic lupus erythematosus: Are they interchangeable?

OBJECTIVE: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many research studies were adapted, including our longitudinal study examining cognitive impairment (CI) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Cognitive testing was switched from in-person to virtual. This analysis aimed to determine if the administration method (in-person vs. virtual) of the ACR-neuropsychological battery (ACR-NB) affected participant cognitive performance and classification. METHODS: Data from our multi-visit, SLE CI study included demographic, clinical, and psychiatric characteristics, and the modified ACR-NB. Three analyses were undertaken for cognitive performance: (1) all visits, (2) non-CI group visits only and (3) intra-individual comparisons. A retrospective preferences questionnaire was given to participants who completed the ACR-NB both in-person and virtually. RESULTS: We analysed 328 SLE participants who had 801 visits (696 in-person and 105 virtual). Demographic, clinical, and psychiatric characteristics were comparable except for ethnicity, anxiety and disease-related damage. Across all three comparisons, six tests were consistently statistically significantly different. CI classification changed in 11/71 (15%) participants. 45% of participants preferred the virtual administration method and 33% preferred in-person. CONCLUSIONS: Of the 19 tests in the ACR-NB, we identified one or more problems with eight (42%) tests when moving from in-person to virtual administration. As the use of virtual cognitive testing will likely increase, these issues need to be addressed - potentially by validating a virtual version of the ACR-NB. Until then, caution must be taken when directly comparing virtual to in-person test results. If future studies use a mixed administration approach, this should be accounted for during analysis.

Methane emissions decline from reduced oil, natural gas, and refinery production during COVID-19d

In the summer of 2020, the AVIRIS-NG airborne imaging spectrometer surveyed California's Southern San Joaquin Valley and the South Bay (Los Angeles County) to identify anthropogenic methane (CH4) point source plumes, estimate emission rates, and attribute sources to both facilities and emission sectors. These flights were designed to revisit regions previously surveyed by the 2016-2017 California Methane Survey and to assess the socioeconomic responses of COVID-19 on emissions across multiple sectors. For regions flown by both the California Methane Survey and the California COVID campaigns, total CH4 point source emissions from the energy and oil & natural gas sectors were 34.8% lower during the summer 2020 flights, however, emission trends varied across sector. For the energy sector, there was a 28.2% decrease driven by reductions in refinery emissions consistent with a drop in production, which was offset in part with increases from powerplants. For the oil & natural gas sector, CH4 emissions declined 34.2% and significant variability was observed at the oilfield scale. Emissions declined for all but the Buena Vista and Cymric fields with an observed positive relationship between production and emissions. In addition to characterizing the short-term impact of COVID-19 on CH4 emissions, this study demonstrates the broader potential of remote sensing with sufficient sensitivity, spatial resolution, and spatio-temporal completeness to quantify changes in CH4 emissions at the scale of key sectors and facilities. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Digital Realism Creative Works

‘Dolphins in the Reservoir' is an interactive recombinant work of moving images, text and sound. It confronts the many social challenges we face through the subjective, contradictory and often uncanny experiences of individuals. Thematically it passes through challenges to health, the environment, and fast-eroding democracy;our attempts to educate order out of chaos;philosophical and scientific ways of thinking about consciousness;and possible futures, including the rise of AI. Its recurrent dolphin theme transmutes many of these ideas.Saturated with media, the individual experiences a multimodal montage of the imaginal and mundane, the institutional and vernacular, the dystopian and utopian.. Juxtaposed and multilayered, the text, images and sound employ polysemy and synaesthesia while the interface evokes a murky, liminal realm. ‘Dolphins' is structured in six distinct cycles, which repeat with variation. A single cycle of the work grows from isolated media fragments towards a dense plurality and diversity. V/users can drive the piece with clicks, and they can drag to rearrange elements. Three preformed musical sources juxtapose acoustic and digitally transformed sound, including sonified Covid-19 wave statistics. ‘Dolphins' features trumpet by internationally renowned soloist John Wallace, our collaborator in (austra)LYSIS, the creative ensemble of which all three authors are part. © 2022, Digital Realism Creative works. All rights reserved.

Assessing Public Confidence Towards COVID-19 Vaccines Through Social Media Insights Leveraged Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques

Introduction. In areas where public confidence is low and there is a lack of understanding around behaviors, such as COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, there is a need to explore novel sources of evidence. When leveraged using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, social media data may offer rich insights into public concerns around vaccination. Currently, sources of 'soft-intelligence' are underutilized by policy makers, health technology assessment (HTA) and other public health research agencies. In this work, we used an AI platform to rapidly detect and analyze key barriers to vaccine uptake from a sample of geo-located tweets. Methods. An AI-based tool was deployed using a robust search strategy to capture tweets associated with COVID-19 vaccination, posted from users in London, United Kingdom. The tool's algorithm automatically clustered tweets based on key topics of discussion and sentiment. Tweets contained within the 12 most populated topics with negative sentiment were extracted. The extracted tweets were mapped to one of six pre-determined themes (safety, mistrust, underrepresentation, complacency, ineffectiveness, and access) informed using the World Health Organization's 3Cs vaccine hesitancy model. All collated tweets were anonymized. Results. We identified 91,473 tweets posted between 30 November 2020 and 15 August 2021.Asample of 913 tweets were extracted from the twelve negative topic clusters. Of these, 302 tweets were coded to a vaccine hesitancy theme. 'Safety' (29%) and 'mistrust' (23%) were the most commonly coded themes;the least commonly coded was 'under-representation' (3%). Within the main themes, adverse reactions, inadequate assessment, and rushed development of the vaccines as key findings. Our analysis also revealed widespread sharing of misinformation. Conclusions. Using an AI-based text analytics tool, we were able to rapidly assess public confidence in COVID-19 vaccination and identify key barriers to uptake from a corpus of geo-located tweets. Our findings support a growing body of evidence and confidence surrounding the use of AI tools to efficiently analyze early sources of soft-intelligence evidence in public health research.

COVID-19 VACCINES: ADVERSE EVENTS FOLLOWING IMMUNISATION

Patients rely on healthcare providers as their most credible and frequent source of vaccine information. It is therefore crucial that healthcare providers are informed and have evidence-based, objective and clear guidance on vaccine efficacy and specific adverse events following immunisation (AEFI). Reported serious AEFIs are extremely rare for the COVID-19 vaccines. This article discusses the main AEFIs attributed to COVID-19 vaccines, including neurological complications of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and acute transverse myelitis (ATM), thrombosis;cardiac complications, including myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiomyopathy;and allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis, urticaria and skin rashes. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the risks;however, it is important that healthcare providers are aware of the risks and know how to recognise and manage them.

Creating a collaborative cross-institutional culture to support STEM women of color and women with family responsibilities at four midwestern research institutions

NSF ADVANCE has been instrumental in supporting institutional practices leading to the increased representation of women in STEM. However, research suggests institutional culture and practices evolve slowly, and much progress remains to create a collaborative and supportive work environment where women scientists, mathematicians, and engineers can thrive, particularly those with intersectional identities, including women of color and women with caregiving responsibilities. A partnership of four midwestern research universities joined together in late 2019 to adapt, design, implement, and assess the impact of a coordinated suite of programs intended to enhance the career success of women and underrepresented STEM faculty. The programs promote mentoring, male advocacy, and informed and intentional leadership as integral to campus culture, and foster community and cross-institutional data-based collaboration. This paper summarizes the programs designed and implemented to improve retention and job satisfaction of women in STEM fields with a focus on the intersectionalities of women of color and women with family responsibilities, including navigating the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, by creating support networks for these faculty. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

FOLIC ACID and METHOTREXATE USE and THEIR ASSOCIATION with COVID-19 DIAGNOSIS and MORTALITY: AN ANALYSIS from the UK BIOBANK

Background: Folate metabolism is implicated in SARS-CoV-2 infectivity (Ref). Objectives: To determine if methotrexate (an antifolate) or folic acid prescription were associated with a lowered and increased risk, respectively, for COVID-19 diagnosis or mortality in a large population-based cohort (UK Biobank). Methods: Data from 380,380 UK Biobank participants with general practice prescription data were used. Criteria for COVID-19 diagnosis were 1) a positive SARS-CoV-2 test and/or 2) ICD-10 code for confrmed COVID-19 (U07.1) or probable COVID-19 (U07.2) in hospital records, or death records. This defnition identifed 26,003 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 of whom 820 were known to have died from COVID-19. Logistic regression statistical models were adjusted for age group (4 categories), sex, ethnicity, Townsend deprivation index, BMI, smoking status, presence of rheumatoid arthritis, sickle cell disease, use of anti-convulsants, statins and iron supplements. Results: Compared with people prescribed neither folic acid nor methotrexate, people prescribed folic acid supplementation had increased risk of diagnosis of COVID-19 (OR 1.51 [1.42;1.61]). The prescription of methotrexate with or without folic acid was not associated with COVID-19 diagnosis (P≥0.18). Compared with people prescribed neither folic acid nor methotrexate, people prescribed folic acid supplementation had an increased risk of death after a diagnosis of COVID-19 (OR 2.64 [2.15;3.24]) in a fully adjusted model. The prescription of methotrex-ate in combination with folic acid was not associated with an increased risk for death after a diagnosis of COVID-19 (1.07 [0.57;1.98]). (Table 1) Conclusion: We report increased risk for COVID-19 diagnosis and COV-ID-19-related death for people prescribed folic acid supplementation. The prescription and use of supplemental folic acid may confer risk of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as the risk of death resulting from COVID-19. Our results also suggest that methotrexate might attenuate an increased risk for COVID-19 diagnosis and death conferred by folic acid.

Facilitated Online Video Interviewing with Older People with Advancing Frailty: A Novel Approach to Co-Production

Background/aims: The voices of older people with advancing frailty (OPWF) are less often heard in research, made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person video interviews with this population about their care needs were adapted to a facilitated online video design. This paper assesses whether this design can support older people's participation in and co-production of research. Methods: Video-recorded interviews (N=10) were undertaken October- November 2020 with multi-actor(a-d) involvement, where a cliniciana facilitated interviews from the OPWF'sb home with the research teamc interviewing remotely via Zoom. Unpaid carersd (N=5) sometimes supported interview participation. Ages ranged from 70-99, 6 men, 4 women, with no internet access (N=5) or family facilitated internet access (N=5), and Clinical Frailty Scores of 6 (N=5), 7 (N=4), or 8 (N=1). Results: Multi-actor involvement led to less structured encounters than planned and more intuitive, co-produced, and situationally led interviews. Those interviewed felt that they had more opportunities to speak about things that were important to them, often expressing anger in feeling isolated and forgotten during the pandemic. The clinician described the benefit of the time given to the encounter, of the different conversations arising from a non- “routine” visit, and reflected on the different roles they held in supporting the participant by checking their understanding, helping to pace the interview, support silences, and provide emotional support following interviews. Conclusions: Innovating research design during the pandemic to enhance older people's voices is challenging within normative expectations of funding and ethics bodies, yet, with less in-person research, presents opportunities to trial novel co-productive approaches to involve older people. This novel approach highlights challenges and opportunities for remotely co-producing research with OPWF, with high costs and skill-set requirements as barriers but rich data and open conversations as rewards.

Tourists and tour operators as citizen scientists: potential and challenges

Wildlife tour operators often visit natural habitats regularly and remote ones less often. Academic researchers and their students often do not have the budget to do so, or to send research assistants. Keepers in wildlife parks and zoos and ecolodge managers often have the opportunity to observe animals almost daily, but may lack the time to sit and watch for many hours. There would appear to be much scope for tour operations and their tourists to participate in citizen science. There are already numerous examples, from day-trippers photographing whale tails on cruises to help monitor migratory individuals, to experiences such as 'Wildlife of the Mongolian Steppes', a two-week citizen science excursion run by the Earthwatch Institute and Denver Zoo to collect data on Mongolian wildlife in cooperation with local researchers. Potential and actual problems of using tourists and tour operators as citizen scientists have been voiced, but there are ways of overcoming at least some of them. Tour operators looking for ways of engaging domestic tourists now that Covid-19 lockdown prevents many international visits may consider the potential for incorporating citizen science activities that offer their guests a food learning experience, a sense of achievement and perhaps a closer look at some species than would normally be possible.

Experiences of providers and simulated patients with using a novel proning and repositioning device

INTRODUCTION/HYPOTHESIS: Proning critically ill patients presents risk to both patient and healthcare provider. In response to challenges with proning COVID-19 patients, the Apparatus and Method for Moving a Patient (AMMP) device was developed to facilitate the proning of patients while minimizing risk to the patient or the healthcare team. Using healthy participants as patient volunteers, this study sought to determine if the AMMP makes it easier, quicker, and safer to prone patients compared to using the standard approach. METHODS: In this preclinical feasibility study, healthy participants were recruited to participate as patient volunteers at 2 ICUs in Nova Scotia (QEII Health Sciences Centre, Cape Breton Regional Hospital). Education on how to use the AMMP was provided prior to performing the movements. Healthcare providers in the ICUs including physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists used the AMMP to move participants from supine to prone and vice versa, up/ down and/or to lateral position. Paper-based surveys were administered to patient volunteers and healthcare providers upon completion of the movements. RESULTS: In all, 10 patient volunteers and 23 healthcare providers completed surveys. The majority of volunteers were aged 18-35 years (7/10;70%) and weighed 61-90 kg (6/10;60%). None of the volunteers reported being injured while being repositioned using the AMMP, and none of the providers reported any strain or injury to a volunteer or to a team member. Among providers, 91.3% (21/23) felt the AMMP was easy to apply to patients, 100% (23/23) found it easy to adjust strap length, and 100% (23/23) found it was easy to remove after the movement was completed. Compared to prone positioning using the standard approach, 100% (23/23) providers felt that using the AMMP was safer for the healthcare team and 96% (22/23) felt it was safer for the patient. All providers (23/23;100%) agreed physical demands were reduced using the AMMP, and 96% (22/23) agreed it took less time to complete prone positioning and required fewer providers to prone and reposition the patient volunteers. CONCLUSIONS: Volunteers felt comfortable and secure being proned and repositioned in the AMMP. Healthcare providers in the ICU found the AMMP easier to use and less physically demanding compared to their standard approach to proning.

Older people with severe frailty talking about their palliative care needs: An interview and survey study during the covid-19 pandemic

Background: Older people with severe frailty (OPWF) are an unrepresented group in receiving palliative care (PC). Aim: A modified e-Delphi study nested in a wider mixed method study aimed to understand the most important PC needs for community-residing OPWF. Methods: The views of OPWF were collected by video-recorded interviews (N=10) and open questions in a facilitated survey (N=10), undertaken October-November 2020. OPWF's ages ranged from 70-99, 11 men, 9 women, living in owned, rented or sheltered accommodation, with Clinical Frailty Scores of 6 (N=8), 7 (N=9) and 8 (N=3). 9 of these participants have now died. Data was analysed using the 5 domains of PC need: physical, psychological, spiritual, practical and social. Results: Meeting care needs was challenging across all domains. Acute physical needs were responded to, yet important longer-term needs, e.g. mental well-being, rehabilitation, and managing long-term conditions were harder to address. The pandemic caused or worsened distress and anger about being housebound, loss of social contact, increased loneliness and feeling ignored. Access to health and social care was a struggle for OPWF, where previously received services were withdrawn and lack of resources and exposure to telehealth put a high reliance on families to facilitate virtual consultations. OPWF relied on unpaid carers to coordinate and deliver care, which intensified when health deteriorated. Carers vividly detailed the strain and unsustainability of this provision. Conclusions: Post-Covid learning must take account of the impact on this less-often heard PC population. Prolonged loneliness and reduced activity will have significant consequences for physical and mental health and wellbeing. Unpaid carers are vital to the provision of personalised care to OPWF, they need to be listened to and resourced in their caring work, and to have their own needs assessed and addressed. Funder: HEE/NIHR UK.

Measuring the housing sector's contribution to GDP in emerging market countries

Purpose This paper aims to document the economic importance of the housing sector, as measured by its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP), which is not fully recognized. In response to the joint economic and health crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an opportunity for emerging market countries to develop and implement inclusive housing strategies that stimulate the economy and improve community health outcomes. However, so far housing does not feature prominently in the recovery plans of many emerging market countries. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses national account data and informal housing estimates for 11 emerging market economies to estimate the contribution of housing investments and housing services to the GDP of these countries. Findings This paper finds that the combined contribution of housing investments and housing services represents between 6.9% and 18.5% of GDP, averaging 13.1% in the countries with information about both. This puts the housing sector roughly on par with other key sectors such as manufacturing. In addition, if the informal housing sector is undercounted in the official national account figures used in this analysis by 50% or 100%, for example, then the true averages of housing investments and housing services' contribution to GDP would increase to 14.3% or 16.1% of GDP, respectively. Research limitations/implications Further efforts to improve data collection about housing investments and consumption, particularly imputed rent for owner occupiers and informal activity require national government to conduct regular household and housing surveys. Researcher can help make these surveys more robust and leverage new data sources such as scraped housing price and rent data to complement traditional surveys. Better data are needed in order to capture housing contribution to the economy. Practical implications The size of the housing sector and its impact in terms of employment and community resilience indicate the potential of inclusive housing investments to both serve short-term economic stimulus and increase long-term community resilience. Originality/value The role of housing in the economy is often limited to housing investment, despite the importance of housing services and well-documented methodologies to include them. This analysis highlights the importance of housing to the economy of emerging market countries (in addition to all the non-GDP related impact of housing on welfare) and indicate data limitation that need to be addressed to further strengthen the case for focusing on housing as part of economic recovery plans.

To wear, or not to wear, that is the question: Observing mask usage at a university during the COVID-19 pandemic

RATIONALE: Correct mask usage is an important mitigation measure against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Despite requiring mask usage and other mitigation measures for students, staff, and faculty, a large university experienced a rapid increase in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases within the two weeks of opening in August 2020. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of mask usage at the university. METHODS: For seven weeks during October 5-November 22, eight trained observers conducted weekly observations of mask usage at two sites per week. A total of 18 on-campus and 4 near-campus locations served as observation sites, including student centers, libraries, classroom buildings, dormitories, student dining, transportation sites, nearcampus apartment buildings, a grocery store, and a football stadium. An observation period lasted until 40 observations per site were made or one hour elapsed, whichever occurred first. Observations occurred at different times on multiple days of the week from a fixed location at each site. Observers monitored mask usage of either every 3rd or every 10th person depending upon person-density, selecting only one sampling strategy per observation period. For each observed person, observers recorded whether a mask was worn, and for those wearing masks, if the mask was worn correctly (i.e., mouth and nose covered) and type of mask worn (i.e., cloth, surgical, N-95-type, gaiter, other). Percentage of persons wearing masks and percentage wearing masks correctly was calculated and communicated weekly to the university. RESULTS: The study included a total of 3,144 observations (mean = 449 per week [range: 389-510]). The mean weekly percentage of persons wearing masks was 83.9% (range = 79.6%-88.3%). Among the 2,637 people observed wearing masks, the mean weekly percentage wearing them correctly was 86.0% (range = 84.0% to 90.4%). The mean weekly percentage wearing masks varied by site type and ranged from 78.7% at transportation sites to 91.0% at library sites. Mask types observed were cloth (62.4%), surgical (30.5%), neck gaiter (5.8%), and N-95-type (1.1%). CONCLUSION: Approximately 7 in 10 persons observed were wearing a mask and wearing it correctly. Observed persons most often wore cloth masks and observed mask usage varied by site type. Conducting observational studies using standardized methodology can provide rapid information about mask wearing in a population. Such information can inform additional efforts at a university that experienced a COVID-19 outbreak to help improve compliance with correct mask wearing, one effective mitigation strategy against SARS-CoV-2 transmission.