TY - JOUR A1 - Xu, Xun A1 - Nie, Yan A1 - Wang, Weiwei A1 - Ma, Nan A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Periodic thermomechanical modulation of toll-like receptor expression and distribution in mesenchymal stromal cells JF - MRS communications / a publication of the Materials Research Society N2 - Toll-like receptor (TLR) can trigger an immune response against virus including SARS-CoV-2. TLR expression/distribution is varying in mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) depending on their culture environments. Here, to explore the effect of periodic thermomechanical cues on TLRs, thermally controlled shape-memory polymer sheets with programmable actuation capacity were created. The proportion of MSCs expressing SARS-CoV-2-associated TLRs was increased upon stimulation. The TLR4/7 colocalization was promoted and retained in the endoplasmic reticula. The TLR redistribution was driven by myosin-mediated F-actin assembly. These results highlight the potential of boosting the immunity for combating COVID-19 via thermomechanical preconditioning of MSCs. KW - Actuation KW - Antiviral KW - Biomaterial KW - COVID-19 KW - Shape memory Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-021-00049-5 SN - 2159-6867 VL - 11 IS - 4 SP - 425 EP - 431 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneidemesser, Erika von A1 - Sibiya, Bheki A1 - Caseiro, Alexandre A1 - Butler, Tim A1 - Lawrence, Mark A1 - Leitao, Joana A1 - Lupaşcu, Aura A1 - Salvador, Pedro T1 - Learning from the COVID-19 lockdown in Berlin BT - Observations and modelling to support understanding policies to reduce NO2 JF - Atmospheric environment: X N2 - Urban air pollution is a substantial threat to human health. Traffic emissions remain a large contributor to air pollution in urban areas. The mobility restrictions put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic provided a large-scale real-world experiment that allows for the evaluation of changes in traffic emissions and the corresponding changes in air quality. Here we use observational data, as well as modelling, to analyse changes in nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter resulting from the COVID-19 restrictions at the height of the lockdown period in Spring of 2020. Accounting for the influence of meteorology on air quality, we found that reduction of ca. 30-50 % in traffic counts, dominated by changes in passenger cars, corresponded to reductions in median observed nitrogen dioxide concentrations of ca. 40 % (traffic and urban background locations) and a ca. 22 % increase in ozone (urban background locations) during weekdays. Lesser reductions in nitrogen dioxide concentrations were observed at urban background stations at weekends, and no change in ozone was observed. The modelled reductions in median nitrogen dioxide at urban background locations were smaller than the observed reductions and the change was not significant. The model results showed no significant change in ozone on weekdays or weekends. The lack of a simulated weekday/weekend effect is consistent with previous work suggesting that NOx emissions from traffic could be significantly underestimated in European cities by models. These results indicate the potential for improvements in air quality due to policies for reducing traffic, along with the scale of reductions that would be needed to result in meaningful changes in air quality if a transition to sustainable mobility is to be seriously considered. They also confirm once more the highly relevant role of traffic for air quality in urban areas. KW - Urban areas KW - Air pollution KW - Emissions KW - COVID-19 KW - Nitrogen dioxide KW - Ozone KW - Europe Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2021.100122 SN - 2590-1621 VL - 12 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graeber, Daniel A1 - Kritikos, Alexander A1 - Seebauer, Johannes T1 - COVID-19 BT - a crisis of the female self-employed JF - Journal of population economics N2 - We investigate how the economic consequences of the pandemic and the government-mandated measures to contain its spread affect the self-employed — particularly women — in Germany. For our analysis, we use representative, real-time survey data in which respondents were asked about their situation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings indicate that among the self-employed, who generally face a higher likelihood of income losses due to COVID-19 than employees, women are about one-third more likely to experience income losses than their male counterparts. We do not find a comparable gender gap among employees. Our results further suggest that the gender gap among the self-employed is largely explained by the fact that women disproportionately work in industries that are more severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis of potential mechanisms reveals that women are significantly more likely to be impacted by government-imposed restrictions, e.g., the regulation of opening hours. We conclude that future policy measures intending to mitigate the consequences of such shocks should account for this considerable variation in economic hardship. KW - self-employed KW - COVID-19 KW - income KW - gender KW - representative real-time survey data KW - decomposition methods Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-021-00849-y SN - 0933-1433 SN - 1432-1475 VL - 34 IS - 4 SP - 1141 EP - 1187 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Steinmayr, Ricarda A1 - Lazarides, Rebecca A1 - Weidinger, Anne Franziska A1 - Christiansen, Hanna T1 - Teaching and learning during the first COVID-19 school lockdown: Realization and associations with parent-perceived students' academic outcomes BT - a study and preliminary overview BT - eine empirische Studie und ein erster Literaturüberblick JF - Zeitschrift für pädagogische Psychologie N2 - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all schools in Germany were locked down for several months in 2020. How schools realized teaching during the school lockdown greatly varied from school to school. N = 2,647 parents participated in an online survey and rated the following activities of teachers in mathematics, language arts (German), English, and science / biology during the school lockdown: frequency of sending task assignments, task solutions and requesting for solutions, giving task-related feedback, grading tasks, providing lessons per videoconference, and communicating via telecommunication tools with students and / or parents. Parents also reported student academic outcomes during the school lockdown (child's learning motivation, competent and independent learning, learning progress). Parents further reported student characteristics and social background variables: child's negative emotionality, school engagement, mathematical and language competencies, and child's social and cultural capital. Data were separately analyzed for elementary and secondary schools. In both samples, frequency of student-teacher communication was associated with all academic outcomes, except for learning progress in elementary school. Frequency of parent-teacher communication was associated with motivation and learning progress, but not with competent and independent learning, in both samples. Other distant teaching activities were differentially related to students' academic outcomes in elementary vs. secondary school. School engagement explained most additional variance in all students' outcomes during the school lockdown. Parent's highest school leaving certificate incrementally predicted students' motivation, and competent and independent learning in secondary school, as well as learning progress in elementary school. The variable "child has own bedroom" additionally explained variance in students' competent and independent learning during the school lockdown in both samples. Thus, both teaching activities during the school lockdown as well as children's characteristics and social background were independently important for students' motivation, competent and independent learning, and learning progress. Results are discussed with regard to their practical implications for realizing distant teaching. N2 - Aufgrund der COVID-19-Pandemie waren alle Schulen in Deutschland in 2020 für mehrere Monate geschlossen. Wie die einzelnen Schulen den Fernunterricht realisierten, variierte stark zwischen den Schulen. N = 2,647 Eltern nahmen an einer Online-Befragung teil und schätzten die folgenden Aktivitäten der Mathematik-, Deutsch-, Englisch-, und Sachunterricht-/Biologielehrkraft im Fernunterricht ein: Häufigkeit, mit der Aufgaben und Lösungen geschickt, Lösungen des Kindes angefordert, Feedback zu den Lösungen des Kindes gegeben, Aufgaben benotet, Unterricht per Videokonferenz abgehalten und mit dem Kind bzw. den Eltern via Telefon o.Ä. kommuniziert wurde. Außerdem schätzten die Eltern die schulischen Outcomes ihres Kindes während des Fernunterrichts ein (d.h. Motivation, kompetentes und selbstständiges Lernverhalten und den Lernfortschritt). Schließlich machten die Eltern Angaben zu den folgenden Eigenschaften und soziodemografischen Merkmalen ihres Kindes: negative Emotionalität, schulisches Engagement, mathematische und sprachliche Kompetenzen, soziales und kulturelles Kapital. Die Daten wurden separat für Grund- und weiterführenden Schulen ausgewertet. In beiden Stichproben war die Schülerinnen und Schüler-Lehrkraft-Kommunikation mit allen Schülerinnen und Schüleroutcomes assoziiert, außer mit dem Lernfortschritt in der Grundschule. Die Häufigkeit der Eltern-Lehrkraft-Kommunikation war in beiden Stichproben mit der Motivation und dem Lernfortschritt, jedoch nicht mit dem kompetenten und selbstständigen Lernverhalten assoziiert. Die Bedeutung weiterer Lehraktivitäten im Fernunterricht unterschied sich zwischen Grund- und weiterführender Schule. Das schulische Engagement der Kinder erklärte die meiste zusätzliche Varianz in den Schülerinnen und Schüleroutcomes im Fernunterricht. Der höchste Schulabschluss der Eltern erklärte inkrementell Varianz in der Schülerinnen und Schülermotivation und in dem kompetenten und selbstständigen Lernverhalten an der weiterführenden Schule sowie im Lernfortschritt an der Grundschule. Ein eigenes Kinderzimmer erklärte in beiden Stichproben zusätzlich Varianz im kompetenten und selbstständigen Lernverhalten während des Fernunterrichts. Also waren die Lehraktivitäten während des Fernunterrichts, die Eigenschaften der Schülerinnen und Schüler und der soziale Hintergrund unabhängig voneinander wichtig für Motivation, kompetentes und selbstständiges Lernverhalten und Lernfortschritt während des Fernunterrichts. Die Ergebnisse werden in Bezug auf ihre praktischen Implikationen für die Realisierung von Fernunterricht diskutiert. T2 - Lehren und Lernen während des ersten COVID-19-Schullockdowns: Realisierung und Zusammenhänge mit den durch Eltern eingeschätzten leistungsrelevanten Merkmalen von Schülerinnen und Schülern KW - COVID-19 KW - distant teaching KW - teaching quality KW - motivation KW - academic KW - competencies KW - COVID-19-Pandemie KW - Fernunterricht KW - Instruktionsqualität KW - Motivation KW - schulische Kompetenzen Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1024/1010-0652/a000306 SN - 1010-0652 SN - 1664-2910 VL - 35 IS - 2-3 SP - 85 EP - 106 PB - Hogrefe Verlag CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - große Deters, Fenne A1 - Meier, Tabea A1 - Milek, Anne A1 - Horn, Andrea B. T1 - Self-focused and other-focused health concerns as predictors of the uptake of corona contact tracing apps BT - Empirical Study JF - Journal of medical internet research N2 - Background: Corona contact tracing apps are a novel and promising measure to reduce the spread of COVID-19. They can help to balance the need to maintain normal life and economic activities as much as possible while still avoiding exponentially growing case numbers. However, a majority of citizens need to be willing to install such an app for it to be effective. Hence, knowledge about drivers for app uptake is crucial. Objective: This study aimed to add to our understanding of underlying psychological factors motivating app uptake. More specifically, we investigated the role of concern for one's own health and concern to unknowingly infect others. Methods: A two-wave survey with 346 German-speaking participants from Switzerland and Germany was conducted. We measured the uptake of two decentralized contact tracing apps officially launched by governments (Corona-Warn-App, Germany; SwissCovid, Switzerland), as well as concerns regarding COVID-19 and control variables. Results: Controlling for demographic variables and general attitudes toward the government and the pandemic, logistic regression analysis showed a significant effect of self-focused concerns (odds ratio [OR] 1.64, P=.002). Meanwhile, concern of unknowingly infecting others did not contribute significantly to the prediction of app uptake over and above concern for one's own health (OR 1.01, P=.92). Longitudinal analyses replicated this pattern and showed no support for the possibility that app uptake provokes changes in levels of concern. Testing for a curvilinear relationship, there was no evidence that "too much" concern leads to defensive reactions and reduces app uptake. Conclusions: As one of the first studies to assess the installation of already launched corona tracing apps, this study extends our knowledge of the motivational landscape of app uptake. Based on this, practical implications for communication strategies and app design are discussed. KW - COVID-19 KW - corona contact tracing app KW - digital proximity tracing KW - preventive behavior KW - health concern KW - prosocial motivation KW - public health KW - risk perception KW - eHealth KW - Corona-Warn-App KW - SwissCovid KW - contact tracing app KW - contact tracing Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2196/29268 SN - 1438-8871 VL - 23 IS - 8 PB - Centre of Global eHealth Innovation CY - Toronto ER - TY - JOUR A1 - AbuJarour, Safa'a A1 - Ajjan, Haya A1 - Fedorowicz, Jane A1 - Owens, Dawn T1 - How working from home during COVID-19 affects academic productivity JF - Communications of the Association for Information Systems : CAIS N2 - The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has forced most academics to work from home. This sudden venue change can affect academics' productivity and exacerbate the challenges that confront universities as they face an uncertain future. In this paper, we identify factors that influence academics' productivity while working from home during the mandate to self-isolate. From analyzing results from a global survey we conducted, we found that both personal and technology-related factors affect an individual's attitude toward working from home and productivity. Our results should prove valuable to university administrators to better address the work-life challenges that academics face. KW - work from home KW - academic KW - COVID-19 KW - productivity KW - WFH KW - technology KW - usefulness KW - family-work conflict Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17705/1CAIS.04808 SN - 1529-3181 VL - 48 SP - 55 EP - 64 PB - Association for Information Systems CY - New York, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Bouckaert, Geert A1 - Galli, Davide A1 - Reiter, Renate A1 - van Hecke, Steven T1 - Opportunity management of the COVID-19 pandemic BT - testing the crisis from a global perspective JF - International review of administrative sciences N2 - This article provides a conceptual framework for the analysis of COVID-19 crisis governance in the first half of 2020 from a cross-country comparative perspective. It focuses on the issue of opportunity management, that is, how the crisis was used by relevant actors of distinctly different administrative cultures as a window of opportunity. We started from an overall interest in the factors that have influenced the national politics of crisis management to answer the question of whether and how political and administrative actors in various countries have used the crisis as an opportunity to facilitate, accelerate or prevent changes in institutional settings. The objective is to study the institutional settings and governance structures, (alleged) solutions and remedies, and constellations of actors and preferences that have influenced the mode of crisis and opportunity management. Finally, the article summarizes some major comparative findings drawn from the country studies of this Special Issue, focusing on similarities and differences in crisis responses and patterns of opportunity management. KW - administrative culture KW - comparison KW - COVID-19 KW - crisis management KW - governance KW - opportunity management KW - pandemic KW - window of opportunity Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852321992102 SN - 0020-8523 SN - 1461-7226 VL - 87 IS - 3 SP - 497 EP - 517 PB - Sage CY - Los Angeles, California ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chan, Lili A1 - Jaladanki, Suraj K. A1 - Somani, Sulaiman A1 - Paranjpe, Ishan A1 - Kumar, Arvind A1 - Zhao, Shan A1 - Kaufman, Lewis A1 - Leisman, Staci A1 - Sharma, Shuchita A1 - He, John Cijiang A1 - Murphy, Barbara A1 - Fayad, Zahi A. A1 - Levin, Matthew A. A1 - Böttinger, Erwin A1 - Charney, Alexander W. A1 - Glicksberg, Benjamin A1 - Coca, Steven G. A1 - Nadkarni, Girish N. T1 - Outcomes of patients on maintenance dialysis hospitalized with COVID-19 JF - Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN KW - chronic dialysis KW - COVID-19 KW - end-stage kidney disease Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.12360720 SN - 1555-9041 SN - 1555-905X VL - 16 IS - 3 SP - 452 EP - 455 PB - American Society of Nephrology CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chan, Lili A1 - Chaudhary, Kumardeep A1 - Saha, Aparna A1 - Chauhan, Kinsuk A1 - Vaid, Akhil A1 - Zhao, Shan A1 - Paranjpe, Ishan A1 - Somani, Sulaiman A1 - Richter, Felix A1 - Miotto, Riccardo A1 - Lala, Anuradha A1 - Kia, Arash A1 - Timsina, Prem A1 - Li, Li A1 - Freeman, Robert A1 - Chen, Rong A1 - Narula, Jagat A1 - Just, Allan C. A1 - Horowitz, Carol A1 - Fayad, Zahi A1 - Cordon-Cardo, Carlos A1 - Schadt, Eric A1 - Levin, Matthew A. A1 - Reich, David L. A1 - Fuster, Valentin A1 - Murphy, Barbara A1 - He, John C. A1 - Charney, Alexander W. A1 - Böttinger, Erwin A1 - Glicksberg, Benjamin A1 - Coca, Steven G. A1 - Nadkarni, Girish N. T1 - AKI in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 JF - Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN N2 - Background: Early reports indicate that AKI is common among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and associatedwith worse outcomes. However, AKI among hospitalized patients with COVID19 in the United States is not well described. Methods: This retrospective, observational study involved a review of data from electronic health records of patients aged >= 18 years with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted to the Mount Sinai Health System from February 27 to May 30, 2020. We describe the frequency of AKI and dialysis requirement, AKI recovery, and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with mortality. Results: Of 3993 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, AKI occurred in 1835 (46%) patients; 347 (19%) of the patientswith AKI required dialysis. The proportionswith stages 1, 2, or 3 AKIwere 39%, 19%, and 42%, respectively. A total of 976 (24%) patients were admitted to intensive care, and 745 (76%) experienced AKI. Of the 435 patients with AKI and urine studies, 84% had proteinuria, 81% had hematuria, and 60% had leukocyturia. Independent predictors of severe AKI were CKD, men, and higher serum potassium at admission. In-hospital mortality was 50% among patients with AKI versus 8% among those without AKI (aOR, 9.2; 95% confidence interval, 7.5 to 11.3). Of survivors with AKI who were discharged, 35% had not recovered to baseline kidney function by the time of discharge. An additional 28 of 77 (36%) patients who had not recovered kidney function at discharge did so on posthospital follow-up. Conclusions: AKI is common among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and is associated with high mortality. Of all patients with AKI, only 30% survived with recovery of kidney function by the time of discharge. KW - acute renal failure KW - clinical nephrology KW - dialysis KW - COVID-19 Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1681/ASN.2020050615 SN - 1046-6673 SN - 1533-3450 VL - 32 IS - 1 SP - 151 EP - 160 PB - American Society of Nephrology CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hecke, Steven van A1 - Fuhr, Harald A1 - Wolfs, Wouter T1 - The politics of crisis management by regional and international organizations in fighting against a global pandemic BT - the member states at a crossroads JF - International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration N2 - Despite new challenges like climate change and digitalization, global and regional organizations recently went through turbulent times due to a lack of support from several of their member states. Next to this crisis of multilateralism, the COVID-19 pandemic now seems to question the added value of international organizations for addressing global governance issues more specifically. This article analyses this double challenge that several organizations are facing and compares their ways of managing the crisis by looking at their institutional and political context, their governance structure, and their behaviour during the pandemic until June 2020. More specifically, it will explain the different and fragmented responses of the World Health Organization, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund/World Bank. With the aim of understanding the old and new problems that these international organizations are trying to solve, this article argues that the level of autonomy vis-a-vis the member states is crucial for understanding the politics of crisis management.
Points for practitioners
As intergovernmental bodies, international organizations require authorization by their member states. Since they also need funding for their operations, different degrees of autonomy also matter for reacting to emerging challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The potential for international organizations is limited, though through proactive and bold initiatives, they can seize the opportunity of the crisis and partly overcome institutional and political constraints. KW - autonomy KW - COVID-19 KW - crisis management KW - European Union KW - International KW - Monetary Fund KW - international organizations KW - multilateralism KW - World Bank KW - World Health Organization Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852320984516 SN - 0020-8523 SN - 1461-7226 VL - 87 IS - 3 SP - 672 EP - 690 PB - Sage CY - Los Angeles, Calif. [u.a.] ER -