TY - JOUR A1 - Bersalli, Germán A1 - Tröndle, Tim A1 - Heckmann, Leon A1 - Lilliestam, Johan T1 - Economic crises as critical junctures for policy and structural changes towards decarbonization BT - the cases of Spain and Germany JF - Climate policy N2 - Crises may act as tipping points for decarbonization pathways by triggering structural economic change or offering windows of opportunity for policy change. We investigate both types of effects of the global financial and COVID-19 crises on decarbonization in Spain and Germany through a quantitative Kaya-decomposition analysis of CO2 emissions and through a qualitative review of climate and energy policy changes. We show that the global financial crisis resulted in a critical juncture for Spanish CO2 emissions due to the combined effects of the deep economic recession and crisis-induced structural change, resulting in reductions in carbon and energy intensities and shifts in the economic structure. However, the crisis also resulted in a rollback of renewable energy policy, halting progress in the transition to green electricity. The impacts were less pronounced in Germany, where pre-existing decarbonization and policy trends continued after the crisis. Recovery packages had modest effects, primarily due to their temporary nature and the limited share of climate-related spending. The direct short-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on CO2 emissions were more substantial in Spain than in Germany. The policy responses in both countries sought to align short-term economic recovery with the long-term climate change goals of decarbonization, but it is too soon to observe their lasting effects. Our findings show that crises can affect structural change and support decarbonization but suggest that such effects depend on pre-existing trends, the severity of the crisis and political manoeuvring during the crisis. KW - COVID-19 KW - climate policy KW - decarbonization KW - structural change KW - economic crisis KW - green recovery Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2301750 SN - 1469-3062 SN - 1752-7457 VL - 24 IS - 3 SP - 410 EP - 427 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London ER - 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 - 2159-6859 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 - Li, Jianghong A1 - Bünning, Mareike A1 - Kaiser, Till A1 - Hipp, Lena T1 - Who suffered most? BT - parental stress and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany JF - Journal of family research N2 - Objective: This study examines gender and socioeconomic inequalities in parental psychological wellbeing (parenting stress and psychological distress) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Background: The dramatic shift of childcare and schooling responsibility from formal institutions to private households during the pandemic has put families under enormous stress and raised concerns about caregivers' health and wellbeing. Despite the overwhelming media attention to families’ wellbeing, to date limited research has examined parenting stress and parental psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in Germany. Method: We analyzed four waves of panel data (N= 1,771) from an opt-in online survey, which was conducted between March 2020 and April 2021. Multivariable OLS regressions were used to estimate variations in the pandemic's effects on parenting stress and psychological distress by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Results: Overall, levels of parenting stress and psychological distress increased during the pandemic. During the first and third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers, parents with children younger than 11 years, parents with two or more children, parents working from home as well as parents with financial insecurity experienced higher parenting stress than other sociodemographic groups. Moreover, women, respondents with lower incomes, single parents, and parents with younger children experienced higher levels of psychological distress than other groups. Conclusion: Gender and socioeconomic inequalities in parents' psychological wellbeing increased among the study participants during the pandemic. KW - COVID-19 KW - parenting stress KW - gender inequality KW - mental health KW - psychological distress KW - Germany KW - children Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.20377/jfr-704 SN - 2699-2337 VL - 34 IS - 1 SP - 281 EP - 309 PB - University of Bamberg Press CY - Bamberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Agarwal, Saloni A1 - Warmt, Christian A1 - Henkel, Jörg A1 - Schrick, Livia A1 - Nitsche, Andreas A1 - Bier, Frank Fabian T1 - Lateral flow-based nucleic acid detection of SARS-CoV-2 using enzymatic incorporation of biotin-labeled dUTP for POCT use JF - Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry : a merger of Fresenius' journal of analytical chemistry, Analusis and Quimica analitica N2 - The degree of detrimental effects inflicted on mankind by the COVID-19 pandemic increased the need to develop ASSURED (Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User-friendly, Rapid and Robust, Equipment-free, and Deliverable) POCT (point of care testing) to overcome the current and any future pandemics. Much effort in research and development is currently advancing the progress to overcome the diagnostic pressure built up by emerging new pathogens. LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification) is a well-researched isothermal technique for specific nucleic acid amplification which can be combined with a highly sensitive immunochromatographic readout via lateral flow assays (LFA). Here we discuss LAMP-LFA robustness, sensitivity, and specificity for SARS-CoV-2 N-gene detection in cDNA and clinical swab-extracted RNA samples. The LFA readout is designed to produce highly specific results by incorporation of biotin and FITC labels to 11-dUTP and LF (loop forming forward) primer, respectively. The LAMP-LFA assay was established using cDNA for N-gene with an accuracy of 95.65%. To validate the study, 82 SARS-CoV-2-positive RNA samples were tested. Reverse transcriptase (RT)-LAMP-LFA was positive for the RNA samples with an accuracy of 81.66%; SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA was detected by RT-LAMP-LFA for as low as CT-33. Our method reduced the detection time to 15 min and indicates therefore that RT-LAMP in combination with LFA represents a promising nucleic acid biosensing POCT platform that combines with smartphone based semi-quantitative data analysis. KW - Point of care testing (POCT) KW - Lateral flow assay (LFA) KW - COVID-19 KW - Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP); KW - SARS-CoV-2 N-gene Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-03880-4 SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 414 IS - 10 SP - 3177 EP - 3186 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jafarnezhadgero, Amir Ali A1 - Noroozi, Raha A1 - Fakhri, Ehsan A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Oliveira, Anderson Souza T1 - The Impact of COVID-19 and muscle fatigue on cardiorespiratory fitness and running kinetics in female recreational runners JF - Frontiers in physiology N2 - Background: There is evidence that fully recovered COVID-19 patients usually resume physical exercise, but do not perform at the same intensity level performed prior to infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 infection and recovery as well as muscle fatigue on cardiorespiratory fitness and running biomechanics in female recreational runners. Methods: Twenty-eight females were divided into a group of hospitalized and recovered COVID-19 patients (COV, n = 14, at least 14 days following recovery) and a group of healthy age-matched controls (CTR, n = 14). Ground reaction forces from stepping on a force plate while barefoot overground running at 3.3 m/s was measured before and after a fatiguing protocol. The fatigue protocol consisted of incrementally increasing running speed until reaching a score of 13 on the 6-20 Borg scale, followed by steady-state running until exhaustion. The effects of group and fatigue were assessed for steady-state running duration, steady-state running speed, ground contact time, vertical instantaneous loading rate and peak propulsion force. Results: COV runners completed only 56% of the running time achieved by the CTR (p < 0.0001), and at a 26% slower steady-state running speed (p < 0.0001). There were fatigue-related reductions in loading rate (p = 0.004) without group differences. Increased ground contact time (p = 0.002) and reduced peak propulsion force (p = 0.005) were found for COV when compared to CTR. Conclusion: Our results suggest that female runners who recovered from COVID-19 showed compromised running endurance and altered running kinetics in the form of longer stance periods and weaker propulsion forces. More research is needed in this area using larger sample sizes to confirm our study findings. KW - hospitalization KW - running mechanics KW - ground reaction forces KW - virus KW - infection KW - COVID-19 Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.942589 SN - 1664-042X VL - 13 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne 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 -