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Owners of electric multicookers may be able to add another use to its list of functions, as it can sanitize N95 respirator masks, say researchers. This could enable wearers to safely reuse limited supplies of the respirator masks originally intended to be one-time-use items. The study published in the journal ‘Environmental Science and Technology Letters’ found 50 minutes of dry heat in an electric cooker such as a rice cooker or Instant Pot, decontaminated N95 respirator masks inside and out, while maintaining their filtration and fit.

COVID 19 has caused unprecedented havoc in the world and disrupted lives, livelihood, business, enterprise, and economy. Supply chain disruption and inadequate response from the industry have been the causes of concern across the globe. On this background, National Institute of Industrial Engineering organized a webinar on "Supply Chain Resilience and Need for Stress-Tests" by Professor David Simchi-Levi, a globally acclaimed scientist on Supply Chain Management and Logistics. Professor Simchi-Levi, Professor of Engineering Systems at MIT and Head of the MIT Data Science Lab, is also Fellow of INFORMS and Editor-in-Chief of Management Science and Journal of Operations Research.

Some investors are taking advantage of a once-obscure indicator of a company’s financial prospects: job postings. According to research published in the July issue of the journal Management Science, changes in the number of a company’s online job postings are a leading indicator of changes in that company’s future performance. The relationship is stronger when the job postings likely represent the addition of new employees rather than the replacement of people leaving the company, the researchers found.

Can U.S. consumers trust Amazon.com? Jeff Bezos, the company’s CEO, said in his opening statement at a House antitrust hearing last week that “80% of Americans have a favorable impression of Amazon overall, according to leading independent polls.” Americans trust only their doctors and the military more than Amazon to “do the right thing,” he added. Given the public concerns over counterfeit and unsafe products sold by third-party sellers, however, Amazon needs to develop and execute a comprehensive plan to protect its consumers. 

A new study concludes that opening clinics dedicated specifically to treating influenza can limit the number of people infected and help to “flatten the curve,” or reduce the peak prevalence rate. While the work focused on influenza, the findings are relevant for policymakers seeking ways to reduce impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.