Category Archives: Human Behavior

Human Behavior

Trump clings to bogus claim that he saved 2.2 million Americans from death by COVID-19 – Yahoo Sports

For months, President Trump has pushed the idea that he and his administration have saved the lives of potentially 2.2 million people during the pandemic, a claim based on an early estimate by British researchers on the deaths that could result if the U.S. government and its citizens did absolutely nothing to respond to COVID-19.

While the president regularly tosses out that claim in an effort to defend his administrations handling of the pandemic that has so far killed more than 212,000 Americans, on Thursday he found a way to turn it against former Vice President Joe Biden, who continues to build on his lead over the president in most polls.

Trump based his argument on a comparison to the epidemic of H1N1 swine flu in 2009, when Biden was vice president. Approximately 60 million Americans contracted the virus that year and around 12,500 died.

If he were in charge, perhaps 2.2 million people would have died from this much more lethal disease! Trump wrote.

The single biggest problem with Trump tossing out the grim 2.2 million estimate is the rather preposterous idea that Americans, or citizens of any other nation, would not seek to change their behavior at all even though hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens were dying around them.

In fact, the Imperial College of London authors noted as much when they released their report on March 16.

In the (unlikely) absence of any control measures or spontaneous changes in individual behavior, we would expect a peak in mortality (death rates) to occur after approximately 3 months. In such scenarios, given an estimated R0 [reproduction number] of 2.4, we predict 81% of the [Great Britain] and U.S. populations would be infected over the course of the epidemic, the report stated, adding, In total, in an unmitigated epidemic, we would predict approximately 510,000 deaths in G.B., and 2.2 million in the U.S., not accounting for negative effects of health systems being overwhelmed by mortality.

President Trump arrives at the White House Monday after receiving treatment for COVID-19 coronavirus at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/Washington Post via Getty Images)

While the report and its staggering hypothetical death figures are reported to have helped convince Trump of the seriousness of the threat of the pandemic, the presidents misappropriation of its findings are telling.

In a piece posted to the Cato Institutes website, economist Alan Reynolds notes that in the model researchers used, the reproduction rate is not a constant, but a variable that depends on many other things. The biggest variable, as has been seen over the past nine months, is how human behavior can affect the spread of the virus.

The worst-case Imperial College estimate of 2.2 million deaths if everyone does nothing did not simply mean no government lockdowns, as a March 31 White House graph with two curves implied. It meant nobody avoids crowded elevators, or wears face masks, washes their hands more often, or buys gloves or hand sanitizer. Everyone does literally nothing to avoid danger, Reynolds wrote.

Trump, of course, left coronavirus restrictions up to state governors, and for months has pushed them to be lifted, so he is in a poor position to claim credit for deaths prevented by such measures. What the president most often takes credit for in terms of saving American lives, however, is his implementation of a partial travel ban that prevented most, but not all, travel from China to the U.S.

By closing up, we saved millions potentially millions of lives, Trump said in July. It could be 2 to 3 million lives.

As the Wall Street Journal noted on Thursday, by the time the ban went into effect, the virus had already begun spreading rapidly in the U.S., especially in California and New York.

Whether Trump could have stopped the spread of COVID-19 by acting quicker is debatable, but asserting that he somehow saved more than 2 million American lives is pure fiction. So far, the pandemic has so far claimed just over 1 million lives worldwide. Thats likely because people, and sometimes governments, actually take action when they suspect they are at risk of death.

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Trump clings to bogus claim that he saved 2.2 million Americans from death by COVID-19 - Yahoo Sports

Human Behavior

Why its hard to put a price tag on plans like the Green New Deal – Marketplace

Climate change has fueled natural disasters around the country, with wildfires ravaging the West Coast and increasingly more powerful hurricanes touching down on the Gulf Coast. But how much are politicians willing to spend combating it?

One proposal in particular thats been the subject of scrutiny by Republicans is the Green New Deal. The ambitious plan aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, add millions of new jobs and provide universal health care, among other goals. It was put forth as a resolution in 2019 by Democratic House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts. In the past, Ocasio-Cortez has put the price tag for her proposal at $10 trillion.

But during the presidential debates last week, President Donald Trump claimed that the Green New Deal would cost $100 trillion a figure refuted by climate experts and think tanks. And during Wednesdays debates, Vice President Mike Pence criticized Bidens climate plans, stating that We dont need a $2 trillion Green New Deal. (Bidens climate proposal is, however, not the GND and is far less sweeping. It doesnt include, for example, universal health care.)

The amount Trump cited was generously rounded up from a calculation done by the American Action Forum, a conservative group that estimated the deals price tag could reach between $51 trillion and $93 trillion based on health care, food security and green housing costs.

Kira McDonald, a senior fellow at Data for Progress, said attaching any cost estimate to the Green New Deal should be taken with several grains of salt and in most cases add up to deliberate obfuscation.

James Goodwin, a senior policy analyst with the Center for Progressive Reform, said that one of the flaws with the American Action Forums estimate is that it didnt take into account the benefits. While theres a cost to spending more money on, say, clean energy, that also buys electricity, better public health outcomes and a sustainable climate.

A 2017 report from the Government Accountability Office found that climate change has already cost U.S. taxpayers $350 billion over the past decade, which includes disaster assistance from flooding and storms.

The fundamental tenet, you could say, of the Green New Deal is to challenge the common notion that theres this inherent tension between cleaning up the environment on one hand, and promoting a strong economy on the other, Goodwin said.

He said you cant put a clear price tag on the proposal because its more of a vision. Like Goodwin, McDonald said its more fair to think of the GND as a brand or strategy.

Amy Sinden, a professor at Temple Law School, said the cost of not doing the Green New Deal, or a similarly large-scale effort to combat the climate crisis, would be catastrophic.

Its like saying we shouldnt spend money to fend off an asteroid thats barreling toward earth threatening to destroy the planet because its too expensive, she said.

Since the original document for the GND came out, more detailed plans have been released. McDonald worked on estimates for a bill called the Green New Deal for Public Housing, which was introduced by Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Data for Progress found that spending up to $172 billion over 10 years would create roughly 241,000 jobs across the country, reduce annual carbon emissions and reduce public housing energy bills, among other benefits. That money is roughly the same amount the government spent to bail out American International Group, the finance and insurance corporation, during the Great Recession.

David Keiser, an associate professor of resource economics at the University of Massachusetts, has studied the cost and benefit estimates of federal environmental policies such as the Clean Water Act and the Clean Water Rule.

The Clean Water Act is aimed at improving surface waters, which Keiser said might lead to improved recreational opportunities and improved amenities. But he noted that oftentimes, benefits like these are difficult to measure because they might affect things that arent bought and sold in markets.

Youre not necessarily walking down the street and buying an opportunity to recreate in a clean lake or a river, he explained. So oftentimes economists use a variety of different methods to try to recover the implicit values of those things.

Those methods might include observations of actual human behavior, and what those actions reveal about how much people value something.

U.S. federal agencies, with some exceptions, have to calculate the cost and benefits of economically significant regulations they issue (those that have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more) under an executive order signed by President Bill Clinton.

Clintons order is built off a 1981 rule issued by President Ronald Reagan, who called for the benefits of a regulation to outweigh the potential costs to society. Opponents at the time viewed the requirement as an attempt to assign values to things that are unquantifiable and deregulate business and industry.

Although President Clintons rule had similar requirements, one difference is that it calls for the benefits of a regulation to justify the costs, not outweigh it.

Paula Worthington, a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago, said Clintons rule is when the U.S. started to develop a regular set of processes and protocols around cost-benefit analysis.

Worthington said that a cost-benefit analysis can provide a structured way of looking at the impacts of a proposal, although it doesnt give you the answer.

You dont say at the end, Well, clearly the benefits outweigh the costs, so lets do it, or the other way around, she said Well-done, high-quality cost benefit analyses are closer to science, than to magic and poetry. But they still contain a lot of elements, where the analyst makes choices about what to consider and what not to consider. The most important thing when youre producing a cost-benefit analysis is to be transparent and clear about your assumptions and your choices.

Goodwin, a critic of cost-benefit analysis, wrote that it ends up favoring industry interests to the exclusion of public protections. This methodology, he argues, is a major roadblock for programs like the Green New Deal.

In June, the Environmental Protection Agency released a proposal of how major clean air rules are written by changing the way costs and benefits are analyzed. The proposal would focus only on the economic impact of a rule without taking into account possible benefits like public health.

While a plan to combat climate change could end up costing trillions, climate change itself has and will end up costing lives. According to the World Health Organization, climate change is expected to cause an additional 250,000 deaths per year between 2030 and 2050.

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Human Behavior

How Jill Lepore Discovered the Early Days of Data Mining for Public Manipulation – Observer

In the final weeks leading up the presidential election, one tendency would be to avoid all media related to politics. While older generations enjoyed morning and evening papers or television network news, todays preferred information platforms such as Twitter and Facebook inherently overwhelm the user with an excess of content that drives one to addiction or retreat. Is it possible to develop an ability to digest the news with some distance?

Having found myself reaching news saturation recently, I picked up Jill Lepores National Book Award longlisted nonfiction bookIf Then to think around these issues without submitting myself to constant news alerts. The book concentrates on the origins and impact of Simulmatics Corporation, a long forgotten company. Founded in 1959, Simulmatics was the brainchild of a flimflam man named Ed Greenfield whose false academic pedigree would have been sniffed out in minutes today. A white liberal, Greenfield hoped to bring his dream of a people machine to aid presidential politics. This was the time of bigger and better computer engineering as well as emerging fields of behavioral science.

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Greenfield was an ideas man and needed others to execute his vision. He found a partner in a political scientist named Ithiel de Sola Pool. Together they embarked upon work that began with a successful involvement with John F. Kennedys 1960 presidential campaign and ended in Saigon with a doomed project aiding the American Department of Defense. Drawing from collected data, they utilized computer programming in order to predict outcomes based on if then questions. Take a look at social networking sites as well as Amazon, Google, or Cambridge Analytica and youll find their original blueprints in Simulmatics. For a company that only existed for just over a decade, what it set into motion by harnessing rapidly evolving technology and a commitment to nascent behavioral science was profound.

But it begs the question, how did Lepore connect the dots? In correspondence with the Observer via email, Lepore notes, Most of the books Ive written began in an archive. I find something, and then I get curious, so I look some more, and then I feel a strange compulsion to write about what Ive found. Her curiosity has led to books on the history of Wonder Woman, Benjamin Franklins sister Jane Franklin, as well as a study of slavery in 18th century Manhattan. This book began in the Ithiel de Sola Pool Papers at MIT. The collection is about two hundred boxes, mostly unprocessed, which is both a pain (because its hard to find things in an unprocessed collection) and fun (because when you find stuff you can be pretty sure no one else has found them before you).

This enthusiasm for detail and discovery is what transforms material that some would have considered dry fact into a vibrant narrative. Personal lives surface, certainly, but its more that Lepore has a steady sense of when to bring in cultural anchors such as Eugene Burdick, the political scientist who became a bestselling novelist, in addition to the domestic disputes such as the unstable marriages that plagued the company men.

And it was largely men who dominated this field. Over the course of reading the book, the lack of women in the proverbial room became uncomfortable and then claustrophobic. One could say this was another time, but it doesnt take away from the fact that behavioral science came into popularity during a time in which, culturally speaking, working women were discouraged to do more than execute programming tasks or serve as secretaries.

Lepore interestingly considers the wife of Bill McPhee, a mathematical sociologist recruited by Greenfield to work on a computer that would simulate voting behavior. Minnow Emery McPhee came from a family of accomplished women. Her mother attended Bryn Mawr College and her aunt was a professor of childhood development. Marriage to Bill derailed Minnows hopes of pursuing a career similar to her aunt. After mentioning another data collector, Betty Friedan, whose landmark book The Feminine Mystique originated in a set of interviews conducted with her Smith College classmates, Lepore notes that Minnow McPhee was all too aware of the crisis Friedan observed. However, Lepore goes further, stating in the book, There was a bigger problem, too. And it didnt have a name either. It had to do with knowledge itself. In the 1950s, when womens work was not work, womens knowledge was not knowledge. This had a disastrous effect on the two new fields of knowledge that this era produced: behavioral science and artificial intelligence.

Its unsurprising that these fields excluded women from the start, but it speaks to the ingrained arrogance that dominates the tech industry today. With great subtlety, Lepore raises these issues in the book with direct, but not incendiary, intention. Again, her commitment to archival work proves important. I was so grateful to have access to an incredibly rich archive of Minnow McPhees letters, which her granddaughter has lovingly collected and transcribed and annotated, she told Observer. It was just incredible. So often its so difficult to tell those domestic stories. It would be far too easy to let these histories slide into the melodrama of Mad Men. Lepores tight grip of pacing keeps these narratives tethered to the themes and actions at the center of the book.

She continues, I was also able to interview many of the children of the Simulmatics scientists, which was wonderful. [But it was] Minnow McPhees correspondence, in particular, that allowed me to help the reader gain a view of this world as it was lived by women and children, not as it was imagined by behavioral and computer scientists. The very sad and troubling irony [is that] these men were trying to build machines and create an artificial intelligence to understand and predict human behavior when they were ignoring and failing to understand their wives and children. When asked if she felt this exclusion continues today, Lepore affirms, Yes, its absolutely, entirely still with us.

Not only does Lepore touch upon the exclusion of women from workspaces, she also explores the ways in which this emerging technology crossed paths with the civil rights movement and anti-war movements of the moment. Desperate to keep his company afloat, Greenfield and Pool took Simulmatics to Vietnam in an equally doomed effort to read and then change the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese. This association with the American Department of Defense haunted Pool for the remainder of his career, despite his oracle work predicting the rise of social networks and the role of the Internet. These flawed men clung to emotional blind spots that prevented their operation from adapting in a way that would offer a more complete study of the subjects they hoped to fully understand.

At the close of the book, Lepore quotes the Google and Uber car designer Anthony Levandowski who in 2018 discredits the study of history. What already happened doesnt matter, he says dismissively. You dont need to know history to build on what they made. In technology, all that matters is tomorrow. Like any good historian, Lepore smells the lie in that statement and adds, The invention of the future has a history, decades old, dilapidated. Simulmatics is a cautionary tale, a timeworn fable, a story of yesterday. Because tomorrow is not all that matters.

Its reassuring to see Lepores context, but so is the manner in which she exposes the bloated words of snake oil salesmen such as this. When asked if Lepore felt that the industry would become subject to government regulation, she responded, Oh yes, regulation of this industry and even dismantlement of many of these companies is inevitable. Itll take time. But it will happen. If Then is an unnerving book that chronicles the birth of modern media and data manipulation. This prescient book is a warning for emerging behavioral studies and big technology. Lepore underscores the fact that history keeps the score.

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How Jill Lepore Discovered the Early Days of Data Mining for Public Manipulation - Observer

Human Behavior

Gravyty Launches Gravyty Guard the First Data Security Solution Built to Protect Donor Data at Nonprofit Organizations – PRNewswire

BOSTON, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Gravyty, the market-defining leader of artificial intelligence (AI) for Social Good, today announced Gravyty Guard, the first data security technology focused on the human layer of security and specifically designed to protect the most sensitive donor data at nonprofit organizations from intentional and unintentional data breaches. The announcement comes in direct response to the worst year for nonprofit data security, with thousands of nonprofit organizations announcing data breaches and millions of donor data records compromised. Gravyty Guard protects nonprofit organizations and their well-intentioned employees from unintentional and malicious data breaches and provides the first solution to secure organizations' most sensitive data.

Over the past six months, remote work has redefined how workforces' access and share donor data, creating new and alarming security vulnerabilities for nonprofit organizations, particularly through well-intentioned employees who have authorized access to their organization's data. In fact, 85%of data breaches occur as a result of inadvertent actions. As data sets grow exponentially and organizations become more data-driven, these vulnerabilities are only projected to get worse. The most prominent risks now become well-intentioned employees who make mistakes with their organizations' data.

"Nonprofit organizations find themselves in the crosshairs of being data-driven and needing to protect their most sensitive donor data. In the past, we've relied on policy to provide security assurances, but 2020 has proven that we need more, and it has to start at the most vulnerable level -- the human layer," explained Adam Martel, co-founder and CEO, Gravyty. "With Gravyty's deep understanding of the nonprofit sector and human behavior in advancement, we realized that we could expand our AI platform so nonprofits can address the security challenge that will define this decade, protecting against fraud and data breaches with world-class technology."

By understanding human behaviors unique to the nonprofit fundraising space, Gravyty uses advanced technologies to train models, deploy proactive alerts, and provide detailed, flexible reporting to protect employees from being the source -- maliciously or accidentally -- of the next donor data security breach. Known as human-layer security, the technologies behind Gravyty Guard proactively alert fundraisers to potential data breaches and provide steps to remediate data risks. These protections include threats such as:

Email InfiltrationPhishing, spear phishing, and other email infiltration attacks attempt to trick humans into scenarios that allow hackers to extract sensitive donor data through ransomware, trojan malware, and other methods. An estimated 135 million of these attacks are attempted every day. Historically focused on the for-profit sector, the nonprofit sector has only recently become a target for bad actors. Gravyty Guard is flexible, configuring to the specific needs of any organization to alert and protect fundraisers from these attacks.

Data ExfiltrationExfiltration happens when employees use email, text messages, messaging apps, thumb drives, cloud apps, and other vehicles to transfer data to places it should never be, without authorization. The most common data exfiltration occurs when an employee forwards a work email to their personal account. 75% of IT leaders say employees intentionally put an organization's data at risk through exfiltration methods. Gravyty Guard allows nonprofit organizations to select compliance frameworks that apply to their business -- GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, or otherwise -- and alerts managers when a fundraiser is about to create a vulnerability.

Anomalous BehaviorIT security is often highly effective at monitoring networks for abnormal traffic. However, we can't say the same about tracking abnormalities in human behavior. More than 70% of people have mistakenly sent personally identifiable information (PII) or business-sensitive data to the wrong email recipient, creating a data breach. The source of these breaches could be as small as trusting auto-suggest to fill in an email address or a typo. Gravyty Guard uses AI to monitor security anomalies at the human-layer, alerting fundraisers when something doesn't line up about the data within their message and the recipients to whom it's being sent.

"The last 30 years in security have been defined by protecting networks and devices. Now, bad actors have turned their attention to new vulnerabilities -- an organization's employees," said Rich Palmer, co-founder and CTO, Gravyty. "As the leader in AI technology for the nonprofit sector, addressing human-layer security is a natural progression for Gravyty because frontline fundraisers access sensitive donor data every day. We'll empower nonprofit organizations to ensure their employees don't make mistakes that cause donor data breaches."

Gravyty Guard is available immediately in beta and will be released in full to the entire nonprofit community in early 2021. The three best ways to learn more about Gravyty Guard are to:

About GravytyGravyty is the market-defining leader of artificial intelligence (AI) for Social Good. We exist so the nonprofit sector can evolve to transform what's possible through philanthropy. Our AI platform focuses on fundraiser efficiency and donor data security. Gravyty automates the most time-consuming processes that get in the way of fundraisers doing the work they love -- developing and cultivating relationships with donors. By empowering fundraisers to efficiently personalize outreach, build new relationships faster, steward and deepen existing relationships, and keep donor data safe, our customers expand their workforces without making new hires and increase revenue from giving. Visit http://www.gravyty.com to learn more.

Media Contact:Kevin Leahy833.472.8989[emailprotected]

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Gravyty | Fundraising software | Community engagement software

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Human Behavior

Yes, There Is a Place for Sugar in Your Diet – Dance Magazine

Given the hype around sugar's unhealthy consequences, it might as well be wrapped in a layer of yellow "Caution" tape. But many dancers still cannot kick the strong cravings for their favorite sweet indulgences. How can dancers manage this urge without fear? Why the Body Craves Sugar

Whether it comes from whole-grain bread or a sundae, sugar is a derivative of carbohydrates. These are your body's preferred fuel not just for dancing but also for your brain, nervous system and red blood cells. When you're low on energy, hormones are released to signal that it's time for a replenishment. This translates into hunger, and if you're choosing a no-carb or low-carb diet, those signals are bound to grow stronger and cause you to crave sweeter, more energy-dense carbohydrate-based foods.

An overwhelming amount of fear surrounds sugar. Some feel that it's addictive and think, "Once I start, I won't stop." But research displaying any potential for sugar addiction is limited to animal studies that cannot parallel human behavior. In fact, there's a stronger link between overall food restriction and overeating.

Sugar in and of itself is not the reason why you might overeat. Rather, denying yourself the sweet stuff is the very driver of overdoing it in the long run, due to the body's biological need for carbs and the mind's psychological desire to want what it thinks it cannot have.

Be wary of low-sugar versions of your favorite dessert. These can often leave you mentally unsatisfied and physically low on the very carbohydrates your body needs for energy.

There are instances when sugary foods might not serve your dancing. Insulin, a hormone that moves sugar away from your blood and into your working muscles, is released in response to your food intake. Eating an excessive amount of sugar can lead to high levels of insulin, which soon leads to a major drop in energy.

If you're feeling tired and sluggish midway into your class, it could be a sign that you need to scale back on your pre-dancing sugar load. Save that chocolate bar for afterward.

The FDA defines "added sugars" as those added to foods during processing to help improve flavor, texture and shelf life. Added sugars can inadvertently sneak into your day. Though not thought of as sweet, condiments, soups, dressings and marinades often have them.

Check the ingredient lists to identify highly refined sugars like high fructose corn syrup, which has been associated with increased levels of inflammation. Choose foods that are instead sweetened with less-refined sources:

To make sweets part of a healthy lifestyle, honor your body's need for sugar as a source of energy. When cravings arise, embrace them as a sign that you actually need the dose of carbs. To avoid the potential of overdoing it, satisfy your sweet tooth mindfully: Power down the screens, portion your servings and use utensils. This helps to create an eating experience, which allows you to better tune in to feelings of satisfaction and fullness.

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Human Behavior

Pope: Pandemic revealed world’s false securities, lack of cooperation – Arlington Catholic Herald

VATICAN CITY -- In facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the efforts of the scientific community can serve as an example for the world on the importance of working together for the common good, Pope Francis said.

In a message sent Oct. 7 to participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the pope said that the pandemic "brought to light not only our false securities, but also the inability of the world's countries to work together."

The academy's assembly, on the other hand, "brings together a number of different scientific disciplines" and "offers an example of how the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis should be addressed through coordinated efforts in the service of the entire human family," he said.

The Oct. 7-9 virtual event, titled "Science and Survival," focused on the coronavirus, as well as the "connections between large-scale risks for life on this planet and opportunities of science to address them," the pontifical academy's website stated.

Members of the academy also planned to address the "root causes and prevention of 'zoonotic diseases,'" that is, "infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites that spread from animals to humans."

"Food-related animal production systems may need reshaping to reduce the risks of zoonotic breeding grounds," the website stated.

"We also need to know more about the psychological foundations of human behavior in situations of collective stress, in order to decide on appropriate governance strategies in crises," it said.

In his message, the pope said that COVID-19 not only affects people's health, but also "the entire social, economic and spiritual fabric of society, paralyzing human relationships, work, manufacturing, trade and even many spiritual activities."

It also has had a major impact on education, he added, in that great numbers of children are unable to return to school, thus risking an "increase in child labor, exploitation, abuse and malnutrition."

On a broader scale, he said, "being unable to see a person's face and considering other people as potential carriers of the virus is a terrible metaphor of a global social crisis that must be of concern to all who have the future of humanity at heart."

The coronavirus pandemic, along with other issues such as global warming and the loss of biodiversity, he said, are calls for humanity "to rethink its course, to repent and to undertake an ecological conversion."

The pope said the pandemic has also highlighted the plight of the poor who "cry out for equitable solutions on the part of government and all decision-makers."

"Health care systems, for example, need to become much more inclusive and accessible to the disadvantaged and those living in low-income countries. If anyone should be given preference, let it be the neediest and most vulnerable among us," Pope Francis said.

"How wonderful it would be if the growth of scientific and technological innovation could come along with more equality and social inclusion," the pope said, quoting his recently published encyclical, "Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship."

"How wonderful would it be, even as we discover faraway planets, to rediscover the needs of the brothers and sisters who orbit around us!" he said.

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Human Behavior

Two Penn Med professors win total of $8 million in grants from National Institutes of Health – The Daily Pennsylvanian

The Perelman School of Medicine's Brian Litt (left) and Gregory Corder (right) were awarded Directors Awards from the National Institutes of Health.

The National Institutes of Health awarded its Director's Awards, which include a combined $8 million in research grants to two professors at Penns Perelman School of Medicine.

Brian Litt, a professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and bioengineering, and Gregory Corder, an assistant professor of neuroscience and psychiatry, are two of this year's 85 recipients, Penn Medicine News reported.

The awards are part of the NIH Common Fund's "High-Risk, High Reward Research Program," which aims to "fuel research endeavors that are more open-ended and could have a broader effect on scientific understanding than traditional research." Corder was awarded the New Innovator Award, receiving $2.4 million to investigate the mechanisms of chronic pain, and Litt was awarded the Pioneer Award for $5.6 million which will support his novel neurodevice research.

Litt is working to develop autonomous neurodevices, or "implanted machines that can question, record, and combine learning algorithms based on neurological signals and feedback to act and alter human behavior on the fly," Penn Medicine News reported.

For patients with epilepsy, the devices would predict and prevent seizures. In Parkinson's patients, implants would communicate with patients to improve mobility, reduce tremors, and enhance responsiveness.

Corder plans to use the grant to "identify which parts of the brain are important for pain perception and which circuits impact pain relief from opioids," Penn Medicine News reported.

In the wake of widespread opioid addiction that has increased over the past decade, this research can pave the way for effective pain-relief treatment without the addictive properties of opioids.

We currently have a limited understanding of the neural pathways in the brain that contribute to pain, which has been a significant barrier for treating pain efficiently, without negative side effects," Corder told Penn Medicine News. "But, if we can identify and understand these circuits, we can then try to rewrite the neural code of pain.

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Two Penn Med professors win total of $8 million in grants from National Institutes of Health - The Daily Pennsylvanian

Human Behavior

Film Review: ‘The One and Only Ivan’ Inspires Animal Activism – Graphic

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The One and Only Ivan shares a true, enlightening tale that highlights the empathic aspect of animals and is relevant to the growing understanding of the sentient nature of animals. The movie based on the book by the same name by Katherine Applegate tells the story of Ivan, a silverback gorilla, with a Disney twist.

Directed by Thea Sharrock, the film first became available for streaming on Disney+ on Aug 1. The movies all-star cast, including Sam Rockwell as the voice of Ivan, Danny DeVito as the voice of Bob, and Angelina Jolie as the voice of Stella, elevates the overall quality of the film.

Bob, a stray dog the gorilla takes in, proves to be Ivans best friend. Ivans many interactions with the other animals in the film highlight his gentle nature.

Ivan and Bob talk after hours in Ivan's cage at the circus. Ivan dreamt of being free.

The real silverback gorilla the movie is based on, also named Ivan, was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1962. He was captured the same year, and at 2 years old, he was sold to private owners in the U.S. Ruben and Lois Johnston raised Ivan in a home with two boys of their own.

The film doesnt depict this beginning and instead starts by showing a grown Ivan in a circus cage. A single owner of the circus replaces the Johnston family. Its a movie that inspires viewers to step outside themselves and consider life from the perspective of a cage. It showcases the animals personalities through CGI effects, giving the animals visible emotion.

The film illustrates the beauty of childhood innocence, the power of a dream and the undeniable intelligence of these animals. Drawing on the childhood innocence theme, Ivan paints a forest-like setting on the glass wall of his circus display. He paints it because a little girl, Julia, told him she draws things as she wants them to be instead of as they are.

The intricate thought process of Ivan throughout the film, especially when he takes the advice of Julia, shows a Hollywood version of the emotional nature of animals. Animals comprehend a lot of human behavior, and their actions often emulate that understanding, which is emphasized in this scene.

The real Ivan grew up like a human child for 37 months before he became too rambunctious for his environment. He caused about $17,000 worth of damage to the Johnstons home. They decided that he would be moved to a cage in the B&I shopping center in Tacoma, Wash.

The silverback gorilla then spent 27 years in a 14 x 14 cement cell without any kind of socialization with other animals. He never stepped foot outside or touched real grass for his entire residence at the shopping center.

Ivans gentle personality and sharp intellect inspired a nation to rally for better living conditions for the gorilla. Local animal welfare groups successfully campaigned for his release to a more suitable environment, which occurred in 1994 when he was placed at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

The movie also depicts a nation that rallied behind Ivans release, which began with Julia pleading to the public via a news anchor at the circus.

The first zoo didnt have adequate space for Ivan, so he was transferred permanently to Zoo Atlanta in Atlanta, Ga. Ivan spent the last 18 years of his life there an environment that was far more conducive to his species because release back into the wild was unrealistic due to how he grew up.

Many major news sources, including The New York Times, covered Ivans story. People Magazine also published a story on him, which helped further the campaign for his release. Headlines and protests that illustrated the nation-wide plea for him were shown in the film.

Today, animal rights activists try to prevent stories like this from ever occurring again. Animal welfare groups continue to pursue the best possible conditions for exotic animals in captivity. Animals, however, are still considered zoo attractions and confined in cages. The fight for their freedom is far from over.

The film ended with Ivans release to the zoo where Julia visited him with Ivans best friend, Bob, who became her pet dog. It ends on an uplifting and hopeful note, advocating for more humane treatment of animals.

The film is available to stream exclusively on Disney+. Its expected release date to other streaming services is unknown.

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Follow the Graphic on Twitter: @PeppGraphic

Contact Christin Karr via Twitter: @Christin_Karr or by email: christin.karr@pepperdine.edu

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Film Review: 'The One and Only Ivan' Inspires Animal Activism - Graphic

Human Behavior

Shine On – Thrive Global

With a quick snap of a cloth on leather, Mr. Levert Johnson, has been accustomed to shining shoes for the past 30 years atSt. Louis International Lambert Airport. Then, hunched over, he carefully touched the soles with a toothbrush and polish. He listened to politicians, ministers, educators, doctors, dignitaries, economists from all over the world humans. What did they all have in common? What wisdom did Mr. Johnson extract from his daily interactions by inviting his clients on his chair?

Levert loved talking sports. Basketball is his favorite. If people chose to talk a little deeper, he was willing to lend a listening ear.

People closest to the problem, are the closest to the solution, says Mr. Johnson. We can apply this truth of wisdom to anything in life.

Today, the once-ubiquitous shoeshine professional has nearly vanished from the airport, hotel lobbeys, barbershops and American popular culture. The handful of men who continue shining shoes are finding ways to do so within their own homes as rent is high and business has gone down severely due to the economy and this years pandemic.

Levert was raised by a single mother of seven children who taught him to do his best each and every day regardless of how he would be treated. Leverts best paying clients typically were ones who did not want to talk. He could read clients body language very well. Some came just to talk to him directly about work, life, politics, etc. One client even brought his son with him to get some additional life advice. Some just wanted protected time to read and sit in silence. The dynamics of each client brought a greater appreciation and understanding to human behavior in Leverts eyes.

In terms of money, Levert says, It all boils down to how bad you want it. His mother taught him to be independent. He started working at the age of 13 and then enlisted in theArmy. He never wanted to be dependent on anyone because he knows nothing is free in life. As a Veteran, loyalty, duty, respect, honor, personal courage and selfless service were always part of his core.

Life is a great big playground. You have to stop and think. Think about the consequences versus the what if? The consequences are greater than being in the moment. Some people get to play the game; while others are quickly replaced. Stop and think. Stop and think. Find a playground that will help you grow and remember, life is not fair.

You have to show. Words no longer mean anything. In Leverts days, a handshake or a good word was a covenant. Nowadays, he sees things have changed drastically. Trust is difficult and the pace of life has gone into overdrive this has left many unaware of their surroundings and of the importance of creating deep relationships and building a strong community. He remembers growing up with little, but still, he had a community that somehow made each day meaningful.

In terms of work, once you become good at what you do, you will love what you do, Levert laments thinking back. He loved shining shoes. He loved interacting with people. He loved listening, pausing and appreciating the blessings in life he was able to recognize each and every day. Levert loves to learn from other people. Each person who comes into your life has a message that you can learn from if you stay alert. He had difficulty with negative self-talk growing up, but he realized, its all mind over matter.

Levert definitely has his opinions on shoes. Quality gives you confidence and this is a value Levert keeps dearly within him. Regardless of the situation, he still provides the best quality possible in whatever task he delivers. This keeps him confident, positive, and hopeful for better days ahead.

Levert considers himself a slow-learner. He did not know the alphabet until he was fifteen. He taught himself because he wanted to read. He loved art, but his natural talents were not utilized in school. Rather, he was discouraged; and so his artistic drawing talent was rediscovered further in life. He still remembers the names of his teacher, Ms. Davis, who told him he was foolish for wanting to draw. You have to have the desire and focus on yourself,Levert shares. Levert wishes he focused on himself, but had many responsibilities and barriers that didnt allow him to pursue the desires he had within him.

Levert worked with many people. He believes all people are good, but everyone has a story behind their face. He never tried to get too close to people. He set respectful boundaries because if he got too involved, people would take advantage of his kindness. He believes in the value of a human being and doing for others as he would like others to do for him.

Do the best you can each day. Do people right. If you see someone in need of help, help them. Do it not to look good; do it because you were chosen to help that person. You never know when you may be in that position one day. Growing up in a large household of seven children and being placed right in the middle, he did not grow up with the luxuries in life. He often remembers being hungry, but his mother did whatever possible to take care of all of them.

Levert keeps shining shoes from his home right now as he awaits and hopes for a turnaround when business and travel increase. In the meantime, he continues to do the best he can. He came to the St. Patrick Center to work on improving his skillsets. He signed up for the Job Readiness Training program which allows clients to create a resume, develop interviewing skills and find out what skillsets may be transferable and upskilled to other sectors of employment. Levert understands the importance of being part of a healthy community system. He completed the training program and now works for the BEST crew. Levert looks forward to shining brightly in the future, but most importantly, taking the good with the bad.

You have to look the part if youre going to do the business, Levert shares. Levert shows up every morning toSt. Patrick Center, polishing his own skillsets and setting the standard of making the best of each and every day moving forward.

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Shine On - Thrive Global

Human Behavior

Expert: How geotagged content is used in research – Newswise

Newswise BUFFALO, N.Y. In a recent commentary published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, University at Buffalo geographic information science expert Yingjie Hu and colleague Ruo-Qian Wang wrote about how Twitters decision to remove users ability to tag the precise locations of Tweets might affect research in disaster response, public health and other areas.

The authors concluded that the change may not have a pivotal impact on studies that rely on this kind of content, as a large proportion of precisely geotagged posts in three Twitter datasets they examined originated from third-party apps like Instagram (the datasets were originally collected for other studies examining peoples reaction to extreme weather events). The researchers also noted that Twitter still allows for less precise geotagging, enabling users to tag places such as a restaurant, a park, a city or a country, as opposed to a precise latitude and longitude.

Nevertheless, the recent change raises a number of issues that scientists must consider, Hu and Wang said in their Sept. 7 piece.

From a privacy protection perspective, Twitters decision reflects the concerns of society in general on privacy issues. Researchers should increase our awareness of the potential privacy and safety issues that may exist in our data and research practice and should follow relevant guidelines, such as those from institutional review boards (IRBs), to protect the privacy of individuals, according to Hu, PhD, an assistant professor of geography in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, and Wang, PhD, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Rutgers University-New Brunswick School of Engineering, writing in Nature Human Behavior.

In an interview, Hu explained how geotagged social media content can enable valuable research.

After a major disaster, such as an earthquake or a hurricane, geotagged information can provide firsthand information about the situation on the ground, Hu said. Even before first responders arrive at those locations, information posted directly by the people from the disaster-affected area can inform disaster response.

Another application for geotagged content is in public health. From geotagged tweets, we can know what people are talking about and from which locations, and we can further identify the geographic areas where people are talking about flu, cough, or other health-related keywords. In political science, geotagged posts can provide some understanding of peoples political opinions in different geographic locations, or of how people are reacting to new government policies.

As scientists conduct this type of research, Hu believes its vital not only for researchers like himself to think about privacy and ways to safeguard data, but for app developers and corporations to do the same. One important step involves transparency. He argues that its important for companies to make it clear to users how their data may be used. And that goes for both social media platforms that allow people to geotag posts, and for apps that engage in location-tracking, he says.

I think it will be good if individuals can have more information and get a better understanding of how their data are collected, Hu said.

Ultimately, he added, If we can provide good privacy protection measures on location data, we can use those data for many applications that benefit our society, such as in disaster response, public health, transportation modeling and other areas.

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Expert: How geotagged content is used in research - Newswise