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As Washington University in St. Louis researchers and physicians join the fight to halt COVID-19s proliferation across the globe, our staff, students, doctors and alumni are working tirelessly to care for the St. Louis community we call home.

From the physicians on the frontlines to the researchers tracking the virus to the faculty members who are helping businesses and nonprofits stay afloat, our community is showing up every day with compassion, commitment and ingenuity, said Chancellor Andrew D. Martin. I am especially moved by the can-do spirit of our students who have launched organizations to tutor local students, deliver meals, provide child care and reach out to isolated seniors.

Caring for the sick, caring for one another

Washington Universitys effort to help the St. Louis community starts with the more than 1,700 primary care and specialist physicians of the School of Medicine. Many already are treating confirmed cases of COVID-19 while others are volunteering to take on new clinical roles as cases continue to mount.

We surveyed our faculty members and the response was breathtaking, with more than 700 faculty members willing to step outside their regular areas of practice to help where they are most needed, said David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and the George and Carol Bauer Dean of the School of Medicine. Since then, he added, even more members of the faculty have stepped up, volunteering to potentially cover different units in the hospital, ambulatory clinics and/or the emergency department when needed.

Scores of students on the Washington University Medical Campus have mobilized to support their faculty mentors. They are reviewing emerging academic research on COVID-19 to save care providers valuable time; managing a coronavirus email hotline; and providing child care to health-care workers. They also have manufactured more than 1,600 face shields and soon will deliver meals to infected and at-risk community members through St. Louis Food Angels, an affiliate of Sling Health.

Haley Sherburne, a first-year medical student interested in pediatrics, is among the 170 students who have volunteered to provide child care.

Im just beginning my journey as a clinician and cannot actively participate in the treatment of those affected by COVID-19, said Sherburne, whose child-care experience includes working with terminally ill children as well as those with cognitive and physical disabilities. But I can help health-care workers serve the urgent needs of our patients, knowing that their children are safe and cared for by capable and compassionate volunteers.

The Danforth Campus Charles F. Knight Executive Education and Conference Center, which isnt open to regular guests at this time, is providing rooms and meals tohealth-care providers who dont want to return home between shifts, either to avoid the risk of spreading the virus to their families or due to travel distance.

One guest told us that he had been basically living in his garage to protect a child with an underlying health issue, said Peter Arscott, the general manager. These doctors and nurses are making incredible sacrifices to help our community. Were just grateful we can give back a little.

Supporting our local economy

Washington University also is finding ways to support the local economy as businesses shutter and jobs disappear. First and foremost, university leaders have kept all of the universitys 16,500 employees and contractors on the payroll and honored the contracts of all nonsalaried undergraduate, graduate and contract workers.

We understood that many businesses in our region would be forced to lay off workers and that those job cuts would ripple across the local economy, said Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor and chief administrative officer. We continue to do all we can to support our employees and their families.

University faculty also are reaching out to help local organizations. For instance, Brown School faculty and staff are providing free professional development opportunities to local nonprofits.

In addition, the university donated $100,000 to the St. Louis Community Foundation, including $50,000 for the Regional Response Fund in support of local nonprofit organizations delivering services to people affected by the virus; and another $50,000 for the Gateway Resiliency Fund, which provides short-term monetary relief to employees and owners of businesses that are affected by closures and other circumstances related to COVID-19.

And Peter Boumgarden, professor of practice, strategy and organizations at Olin Business School, is helping restaurant owners understand the federal stimulus package.

And then there are the burgers. Washington University is purchasing more than 1,500 meals every week from gastro pubs, sandwich shops and ethnic eateries in the Delmar Loop and Central West End for employees at the School of Medicine, Facilities, Information Technology and the Washington University Police Department.

St. Louis restaurants are among the best in the nation, and were doing our part to help them survive one to-go order at a time, said Jodie Lloyd, senior analyst in the executive vice chancellor for administrations office.

Keeping our community safe

When Washington University infectious disease and public health experts speak, regional leaders listen, especially Chancellor Martin. Washington University was among the first local institutions to institute remote working in mid-March and implement strict social distancing policies for those employees still deployed on campus.

The universitys Institute for Public Health also has been a vital resource for local officials as they try to make data-informed decisions about the regions health. Researchers have developed a model to forecast the growth of cases and are studying the possible impacts of shelter-in-place policies on individuals vulnerable to domestic violence.

In addition, the Center for Community Health Partnership and Research is working with the St. Louis Department of Health, Immigrant Service Providers Network and BJC HealthCare to help immigrants understand and cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Christopher Prater, MD, assistant professor of medicine and of pediatrics, said many immigrants have witnessed epidemics in their home countries to which St. Louisans can only now relate.

It is very likely that their fear may be escalated because they have seen the disastrous effects of outbreaks in settings of limited medical resources, said Prater, who has been a primary care physician for St. Louis immigrants and refugees for three years. We cannot forget that many of our immigrant neighbors have seen deaths from diarrhea outbreaks, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and measles.

But worse yet, Prater said, they have perhaps seen loved ones die from pneumonia and lower respiratory tract infections, a leading cause of death globally, and the very reason why COVID-19 is causing mortality in 2020 in even the most heavily resourced medical systems.

Helping where needed

Washington University senior Han Ju Seo cant treat COVID-19 patients or model the spread of the virus or write a big check to a local food pantry. But she can operate a sewing machine. So Seo bought fabric and thread and got to work sewing 1,000 masks for the St. Louis community.

There was a moment when I decided that I could either eat ice cream and be sad that graduation was canceled or I could do something to help, said Seo, who is majoring in psychology in Arts & Sciences. Seo said she was inspired by studies in positive psychology with Tim Bono, a lecturer in psychological and brain sciences and an assistant dean in Arts & Sciences.

Seo is just one of many students and alumni who have stepped up to serve the St. Louis community. Other students are helping St. Louis children as well as food-insecure and isolated seniors.

Lily Xu, a senior studying biomedical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, and Alex Hu, a senior studying chemistry in Arts & Sciences, leveraged their experience with the Campus Y to launch Learning Lodge, which is offering online tutoring to local elementary and high school students. So far, some 70 Washington University undergraduates have joined their effort.

St. Louis-based alumni businesses also are serving local students. Varsity Tutors, founded by alumnus Chuck Cohn (BSBA 08), launched a new service called Virtual School Day, which offers more than 20 hours of live, online classes across a variety of core subjects for K-12 students. And Gateway to the Great Outdoors (GGO), founded by WashU alumni Nadav Sprague (AB 17, MPH 20) and Ben Aiken (AB 16), is providing free education kits consisting of urban agriculture and art-in-nature lesson plans.

And Harsh Moolani, who graduated in December with a degree in neuroscience in Arts & Sciences, is currently training 190 volunteers, including 80 Washington University students, through his platform Students to Seniors to conduct virtual visits via phone and computer tablets with residents of Friendship Village of Chesterfield, Sunrise of Chesterfield and Tower Grove Manor.

As an undergraduate, Moolani founded Create Circles, a nonprofit organization that strives to reduce social isolation and cognitive decay by pairing young volunteers with older adults in long-term care facilities to produce creative projects such as articles, videos and podcasts.

We must protect the health and safety of older adults, but we must also guard their humanity and dignity, Moolani said. When you cant eat with others, when everyone who you are in contact with is wearing a mask, when you cant visit with your family and loved ones that takes an enormous toll.

Moolani tells his volunteers not to think of themselves as do-gooders offering companionship, but as pupils gaining wisdom and perspective.

I encourage our volunteers to ask for advice and learn about their experiences, Moolani said. We live in a culture where our older adults are not valued, but now, more than ever, we all can benefit from their wisdom.

Kristina Sauerwein, senior medical science writer, and Kelly Wiese Niemeyer, Record editor, contributed to this report.

WashU Response to COVID-19Visit coronavirus.wustl.edu for the latest information about WashU updates and policies. See all stories related to COVID-19.

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Washington University comes together to support the St. Louis community - Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom

If you're looking to become a software engineer or it's an idea you've tossed around half-seriously, there may be no better time than now to take the leap. It's one of the fastest-growing, most in-demand roles already. And in the midst of the pandemic, between the extra hours you likely have in your day, and the added value of possessing a skill that can be utilized from anywhere in the world, remotely, it's not hard to see the benefit of diving in.

The Complete Introduction to Software Engineering Bundle is beginner-friendly, yet comprehensive. Over 24 hours, 13 courses, and 219 lessons, you'll learn the basics of programming, app development, electronics, and SEO to name a few.

Areas covered include Java, Ruby, Perl, Rust, the powerful JavaScript engine NodeJS, JavaScript framework library AngularJS, Google Go (the open-source language developed at Google to simplify programming tasks), an introduction to electronics for makers, building Private Blog Networks, making your first mobile app with PhoneGap dev framework, Lua programming for game modding, scripting, or library writing, building user interfaces with React Native, developing interactive sites that adapt to any device, and more.

Each course is created by an expert developer and a trained mentor in that area of expertise. And the entire bundle is produced by EDUmobile Academy, which was founded by Vishal Lamba, a mathematics and computer science graduate with experience in multiple areas of digital design, mobile development and design, web technologies and digital marketing. These are high-quality video training courses that offer real education. Take a look at what students are saying:

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This Complete Introduction to Software Engineering Bundle truly covers all you need to get started on a new career path and is available now at a savings of 95% for $59.99.

Hackers tried to break into the World Health Organization earlier in March, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, Reuters reports. Security experts blame an advanced cyber-espionage hacker group known as DarkHotel. A senior agency official says the WHO has been facing a more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Additional $15M will go to third parties and nonprofits

The death toll in Italys coronavirus outbreak today passed 1,000. Schools throughout Italy are completely shut down, which is reportedly driving a surge in internet traffic as bored kids forced to stay indoors turn to online games.

Whether youre looking to create perfect portraits or amazing artwork, if your medium is digital, you know you absolutely must have Photoshop to do your best making. So if youve been putting off really mastering the various techniques, tools, and styles it offers for your craft, now is a great time to make it happen. []

There are few things more satisfying than the clickety-clack of an old keyboard. So old, in fact, that its really more of a typewriter sound and feel than that of a keyboard. But if you want to enjoy the benefits of both, check out this Rymek Retro Bluetooth 3.0 Mechanical Keyboard. Bringing you an impressive []

There are plenty of productive ways to spend time while stuck indoors. While its undoubtedly fun to binge all 15 seasons of Supernatural or sink days of playtime into an Overwatch campaign, learning something new is definitely a more meaningful and long-term beneficial use of open hours. And if youre going to invest time in []

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Looking to become a software engineer? Then you need to check out this all-in-one training - Boing Boing

Fliss Gibbons is ready to return to WSL action whenever that might be.

The Albion left-back has been adapting to the challenges posed by the coronavirus shutdown.

Similar to the mens squad, Hope Powells team have been given the equipment they need to keep fit at home.

They train as a group via Zoom video link and do their own thing in the afternoon.

For Gibbons, that means going out to a suitably lonely field near her home and doing her own work.

The usual group training is on hold indefinitely, as is the WSL season itself with no certainty as to when or if it will be completed.

Powell is taking the approach of not expecting or predicting anything and being ready to adapt to whatever happens.

Gibbons will do similarly as the absences goes on.

Albions players are not in the same financial bracket as many of the mens Premier League stars who have been posting on social media.

Gibbins said: I dont have a luxury swimming pool or a home gym.

But you have just got to make the most of a bad situation.

I have some equipment which I can make work for an upper body and lower body gym session.

Gym sessions are quite easily adaptable and they seem to be in fashion at the moment.

So many people are posting home workouts and sofa workouts and all sorts of things.

The access to that sort of thing is okay.

In regards to going out on the pitch, Im quite lucky in being able to go out in a remote area where I dont get probably within 20 metres of anyone else.

I can take cones with me and complete sessions as best I can.

I think it is just about being flexible and being able to work around the boundaries.

It is a bit of a makeshift gym session but I am still getting out of it what I need to Whatever the coaches are asking me to do, I am managing to complete it.

Gibbons is keen to keep a structure to her day.

She said: Its a really confusing time for everyone, isnt it?

Everyones going to have ups and downs, good days and bad days I feel quite lucky in the situation I am in and I feel like I still have a structure to my day which involves being in contact with people at football.

I plan my day the night before.

Four days a week we join in with an online gym session we all do together.

That takes up most of the morning.

In the afternoon I often have a gym session.

Gibbons has not had to dip into the wealth of vintage football being shown on television and online as yet.

She said: I havent watched any of it but I have seen there are a few older games.

I know there is a version of Match Of The Day on a Saturday night which I think I might have to get into when I really start missing football!

But staying in contact with the girls is my way of staying attached to the game.

Albions players are proud of the team spirit they have engendered.

Gibbons is happy that will not diminish during their weeks apart.

She added: There is a lot going on with our Whatsapp group, probably even more so than when we see each other every day!

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No luxury gyms - but Albion ace is ready for this challenge - The Argus

Thomasnet.com is the number one sourcing platform to connect buyers of industrial products and services with suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors across the United States and Canada. While it's a useful tool for buyers to find suppliers, it is also a valuable advertising tool that helps suppliers sell more, increase revenue, and improve their marketing efforts.

We've gathered the top 10 best company profiles on the east coast from the Thomas Network to show you the elements that make up a top profile in order to grow your manufacturing business.

Continental Steel & Tube Co., is a distributor of metal products, metals, and alloys located in Fort Lauderdale, FL and is one of the top ranked company profiles when searching for "Steel" suppliers on Thomasnet.com.

Something that immediately stands out with this profile is that it showcases a featured white paper specific to their industry called, "Comparing Steel Plate Grades." This is a perfect example of how Continental Steel & Tube Co. is utilizing a content marketing strategy to fulfill their lead generation efforts.

Adhesive & Equipment is a manufacturer and distributor of hot metal adhesive equipment and parts located in Winder, GA and is a top ranking company profile when searching for "Printed Circuit Boards" suppliers on Thomasnet.com.

Adhesive & Equipment's company profile not only includes detailed text-based information, but also incorporated a multi-media element by adding a company overview video to its profile. This company overview video gives a quick explanation of what the company offers, it's applications and contact details. In fact, 65% of executives visit a company's website after viewing a video. By utilizing video advertising, Adhesive & Equipment increases it's chances to get specified by buyers.

Engage Your Prospects With Video Advertising

Thomas offers video content production for FREE for OEMs, Distributors, and Service Companies

Action Pak, Inc. provides contract packaging and filling for food and non-food products, located in Bristol, PA. We rank it as a top company profile because of the quality certifications it lists.

A question we always ask our industrial customers is what makes them stand out from their competitors. Certifications can be a great unique selling proposition when buyers are deciding between different suppliers. Adding certifications to your company profile like Action Pak, Inc. has done can give your business the competitive edge it needs to make the shortlist.

Quality Support, LLC is a custom manufacturer of packaging material, wood products and components located in Scottdale, PA. This company profile ranks in the top 10 on the east coast for its detailed capabilities section on Thomasnet.com.

Showcasing what your company can do by listing its capabilities seems like a no brainer, right? Often, we see this vital element missing when businesses are bidding on contracts. Quality Support clearly lists all that it offers on its company profile including things like custom packaging, crating, and industrial lumber services. By providing detailed information like this to potential buyers, it gives them a clear understanding of what you can offer them.

AP&T North America, Inc. is a manufacturer of automation equipments, systems and hydraulic presses that continuously pushes out news related updates landing their company profile in the top ten on the east coast.

Press Releases and news updates not only help manufacturers and industrial businesses boost brand awareness, but they can also drive credibility and sales. AP&T North America's company profile includes several detailed press releases about product launches, training programs, environmental capabilities topics that their customers are interested in and can persuade new prospects to do business with them.

Exhemplary Life is a manufacturer of hemp products such as tinctures, balms, soaps and extracts located in Glenshaw, PA. This manufacturer makes the top ten for listing its diversity status now that more stakeholders and policy makers are seeking out minority-owned, disadvantaged and small businesses.

More and more businesses are adding supplier diversity status to their Thomasnet.com company profiles, and for good reason. Diversity programs are evolving from a nice-to-have to a must-have for many U.S. companies and it's having a lasting impact on supply chain.

American Crane is a manufacturer of standard and custom cranes, hoists, and other material handling equipment located in Douglassville, PA. This women-owned manufacturer is the epitome of what constitutes as a top Thomasnet.com companyprofile.

Each section of American Crane's profile is jam packed with various types of content written and offered with one persona type in mind... their buyer. This supplier not only takes advantage of Thomasnet.com advertising solutions, but also partners with Thomas Marketing Services for all their marketing efforts like content marketing, SEO, paid advertising and more.

Karen Norheim, President, American Crane

Mil-Spec Packaging of GA, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of standard and custom packaging products located in Macon, GA and lands on the list for its extensive and detailed product catalog on Thomasnet.com.

There are many advantages of having an online product catalog for both manufacturers and buyers. It allows suppliers to effectively market their product offerings and reduce the strain of customer service efforts while providing buyers the ability to easily search for products and then select those exact products that meet their project requirements.

In today's digital world, a product catalog is no longer a "nice-to-have" it's an absolute necessity. Mil-Spec Packaging streamlines it's digital product information strategy with the use of Thomas Navigator which manages and syndicates your data in one platform.

Free eBook to help you get started with your online product catalog.

Strouse is a distributor and converter of pressure sensitive tapes, adhesives and film located in Westminster, MD and uses display advertising in its Thomasnet.com company profile.

Display ads are a popular form of paid advertising that companies can implement on their company profiles just as Strouse has done. This kind of advertising is extremely effective and reaches more than 90% of people who surf the internet.

The display advertisement that Strouse uses was creatively designed with animation versus a static image. This is more engaging and will catch the eye of buyers.

Suggested Read: Display vs. Search vs. Social Ads vs. PPC In Paid Advertising

CS Unitec, Inc. is a manufacturer of lubricants including water soluble lubricants, cutting oils, pastes, pressurized coolant bottles, and more located in Norwalk, CT. This top company profile nailed the additional information section by providing extensive product information with videos, catalog PDFs, and more.

Engineers and procurement professionals want to know how their products will be made, and what kind of machinery will be used to fulfill their project requirements. The detailed product information that CS Unitec displays on it's company profile is informative, explicit and doesn't leave buyers questioning.

Start bringing in more online RFQs with a free company profile on Thomasnet.com just as these manufacturers and industrial companies did click here to create your profile.

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The Top 10 Best Thomasnet.com Company Profiles In The East Coast - ThomasNet News

The sports and fitness industry is a healthy sector that is also experiencing some major changes. There are new playing fields and new challenges that require new marketing and communications strategies. But how marketing and communications are changing for the sports and fitness industry? Here are the 10 hottest topics that professionals need to know about.

The interest in sport and fitness has been on the rise for several years, with no hint at stopping, in all areas of the world.Cities are filled with crowded gyms and swimming pools, with people jogging, cycling, or participating in some form of exercise or as an audience to an increasingly wide and diverse range of sporting events.In this sector, the digital world is also rapidly expanding with dedicated apps, wearable networked devices, and a growing space on social networks, forums, influencers, and then the first experiments in virtual or augmented reality. Moreover, sports today has a more diversified audienceby gender, interests, and age groupsthan ever before.

But lets go beyond pure impressions and look at some data.

The majority of indicators in this sector will confirm this trend. Thats not all: this growth is associated with a great turmoil, a period of dramatic change in the sector, which started a few years ago and will continue to bear fruit for a very long time. It is a permanent revolution that has been triggered, above all, by the advent of digital.

In short: those who deal with marketing and communications in the sector must start from this awareness, to turn these challenges into opportunities. In this post, we will identify 10 hot topics influencing the sports sector, points of reference that every good marketer should keep in mind.

Lets start our overview from this awareness: the advent of digital, with Digital Transformation, has revolutionized the marketing of all sectors. The sports sector is no exception.

This points to the growing importance of AdSense, indexing and SEO, data collection and analysis, online shops, fitness apps, but also wearable devices, social networks, influencers, and eSports.

This is not a complete list, and some of these topics will be discussed in the following points. However, lets focus on this point: marketing in the sports sector today means digital marketing. And it will be more and more so.

Another consequence of digital is the loss of meaning of many traditional boundaries. For example, Italian soccer is no longer seen only in Italy (but increasingly in Asia, for example). The American NFL championship has more and more fans in Europe, the NBA is gaining an increasing number of fans in India and so on.

There are many examples; whats important is to learn how to deal with this varied and globalized target. Knowing how to intercept it, with actions as tailor-made as possible, means being able to seize huge opportunities.

As we mentioned above, in sports, the audience is increasingly diverse. In this sense, the most conspicuous novelty is the growth of female fans.

For decades, the sports industry revolved almost entirely around a male target, but this is no longer the case. All of the brands in the sector have noticed this (check out the She Moves Mountains campaign by North Face, for example).

There is no digital marketing and communication without social media marketing, and this is all the more so for sports brands.

In fact, social media is often the first point of contact between brand and customer; it is one of the most important places where the voice, identity, recognition, and reputation of companies in the sector are formed. This is where most of the engagement is played out. But they are also channels in which a slip can be amplified in an uncontrolled and dangerous way.

Furthermore, social is the ecosystem where large and small influencers move, which have become central to the world of sport and fitness.

In short, the field of social networks in the Sport Industry, alone, could deserve an in-depth post of its own. Stay tuned.

If we take an in-depth look at the digital revolution, we can see that it translates above all into a huge and unprecedented availability of data, which has become the real treasure of companies and marketers alike.

But why is data so fundamental? For a very simple reason: data allows you to get to know your audience, in its varied composition: characteristics, recurring behaviors, the customer journey, habits, preferences, potential desires.

We have seen above how the target of the Sport Industry is increasingly diversified: thats why data analysis, in this sector, is even more valuable than for others.However, its not enough to collect a huge amount of data; you need to know how to interpret the data in the most profound, intelligent and functional way.

The real point of arrival, in this sense, is personalized marketing, with its perspective of one-to-one dialog.

Lets get more specific.Smartphone owners across the world number about 3.5 billion (source). In 2018, mobile traffic was 52.2% of the total. Daily mobile internet usage has increased by 504% since 2011 (source).

For marketers, this means only one thing: digital marketing strategies must be as omnichannel as possible, and must be designed from mobile.

Heres a significant figure, coming directly from Google: the average smartphone user spends 50 minutes on apps dedicated to the world of sport and fitness (source).

According to a recent survey, sales of wearable products will reach $95 million by 2021. We are talking about wearable digital devices, such as smartwatches, smart clothing, pedometers, and other devices designed specifically for the sports sector, for training, or more generally, for health.

Needless to say, here too there are interesting (and innovative) marketing opportunities, as well as data collection, in an increasingly personalized perspective.

The big brands in the sector are moving decisively in this direction. One example is Nike, with its smart shoes (see here for more details).

eSports are the electronic sports, such as competitive video games. This is a sector that is in powerful growth, a market segment of one and a half billion dollars, with a number of fans that, by 2021, will exceed 250 million (source). Even more importantly, these are mainly young people.

This is a trend to keep in mind, with enormous marketing potential.

No, lets not talk science fiction. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are gaining more and more space in sports marketing and communication, also because of the reduction of their costs.

A concrete example of application? The possibility to virtually try on basketball shoes, before purchasing them, with the help of smart glasses, or even a simple smartphone.

Needless to say, the potential in this field has yet to be explored.

In the previous point, we addressed the frontiers of marketing in the sector. But there is a word that is becoming increasingly important. We are talking about the responsibility that a company must show that it has on a social, environmental, and ethical level.

It is customers themselves who are asking for it. According to a study conducted by Nielsen, as many as 66% of consumers are ready to pay even more to reward those brands that are committed to having a positive social and environmental impact. Clearly, this responsibility must also be communicated in the right way!

So: more and more digital, an increasingly diverse audience, ever more accurate personalization.These are the areas where companies in the Sports industry will face their biggest challenges and opportunities.

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How marketing and communications are changing for the sports industry - Doxee