people – Page 7

How White Co-Workers And Managers Can Support Black People And Be An Antidote To Systemic Racism

3Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

How White Co-Workers And Managers Can Support Black People And Be An Antidote To Systemic Racism

President Joe Biden committed the U.S. government to racial equity by issuing four executive orders on Jan. 26 that seek to curb systemic racism. In the orders, he cited the killing of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked months of protests and prompted many U.S. companies to likewise commit themselves – and hundreds of billions of dollars – to helping Black Americans overcome institutional discrimination. Shortly after the protests began last year, we hosted a panel that addressed this very topic. Held on Juneteenth, the webinar featured four Black women – including one of us – who poignantly shared their own frequent encounters with racial bias in job interviews, shopping for clothes and even working with their peers. A common question we got from the predominantly white audience was so...

If They Know Many Others Are Already Doing It People Become Less Likely To Contribute To A Virtual Public Good Like Wikipedia Or Waze

1Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

If They Know Many Others Are Already Doing It People Become Less Likely To Contribute To A Virtual Public Good Like Wikipedia Or Waze

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea While people tend to contribute more to a virtual public good if they see others doing the same, this effect reverses if they become aware too many people are participating, according to research that I conducted over the summer. Public goods are things that many people share. They can be physical, such as highways, clean air and blood banks, or virtual, like a free online encyclopedia or mobile traffic app. Combining methods from geography, urban planning and big-data analysis, my co-authors and I studied millions of postings by users of a mobile navigation app called Waze, in which users voluntarily post traffic-related updates and road conditions in real time. All users of the app benefit as more of them f...

More Than Half Of People Using Medical Cannabis For Pain Experience Weed Withdrawal Symptoms

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

More Than Half Of People Using Medical Cannabis For Pain Experience Weed Withdrawal Symptoms

In stark contrast to the overblown fears portrayed during decades past, these days, most people think cannabis is relatively harmless. While weed is indeed less dangerous than some other drugs, it is not without risks. CC BY-ND In a study published Jan. 5, my colleagues and I found that 59% percent of people using medical cannabis for chronic pain experienced moderate to severe withdrawal symptoms if they stopped ingesting weed for hours or days. Most states in the U.S. have legalized cannabis for medical purposes and 15 have legalized it for recreational use. More people are using cannabis, especially older adults, and the perceived harms from weed use are steadily decreasing. While many people report therapeutic benefits or enjoy recreational use of cannabis, it is important peo...

Persuading People To Get Vaccinated Will Be The Next Major Hurdle To Ending The Pandemic

29Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Persuading People To Get Vaccinated Will Be The Next Major Hurdle To Ending The Pandemic

Today, more Americans hope to receive a COVID-19 vaccine than current vaccine supply will allow. Consequently, although President Joe Biden’s initial promise to dole out 100 million vaccine doses in 100 days would require a ramp-up in vaccine allocation, some consider the promise to be insufficient to meet current levels of demand and put the pandemic’s spread into decline. The current mismatch between vaccine demand and supply, however, may be short-lived. Despite concerns about lagging vaccine allocation for front-line health care workers and other vulnerable groups, health experts are optimistic that public demand for a COVID-19 vaccine will remain high in coming months as more vaccine doses become available. While it is clear that many political leaders expect public demand for a cor...

People Who Attacked The US Capitol Building Are Being Track Down By Law Enforcement Using Technology

20Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

People Who Attacked The US Capitol Building Are Being Track Down By Law Enforcement Using Technology

After rioters flooded the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, there was an immediate call for those who overran officers on the scene and swarmed the House and Senate floors, as well as congressional members’ personal offices, to be identified, arrested and prosecuted. The coordinated law enforcement response to this incident is massive. As researchers who study criminal justice, we see that law enforcement agencies are accessing large amounts of information via technological sources to investigate the attack on the U.S. Capitol building. High-definition security cameras, facial recognition technology, location services acquired from cellphones and third-party apps, and accessing archival evidence on social media are all used to identify perpetrators of crimes and tie them to specific places...

Black People Are 3 Times More Likely To Experience Pulse Oximeter Errors

4Apr

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HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

Black People Are 3 Times More Likely To Experience Pulse Oximeter Errors

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have purchased small devices called pulse oximeters for use in their home – based on well-intentioned recommendations from health care providers and the media. Pulse oximeters are devices, usually placed on a person’s finger, used to noninvasively measure oxygen levels in the blood. Clinics and hospitals, for example, use them regularly to screen newborns for heart defects after birth. Yet pulse oximeter measurements are imperfect, particularly for Black patients. Our recent paper demonstrated that Black patients were three times more likely than white patients to have low oxygen levels that were missed by pulse oximeters. That could translate into as many as 1 in 10 inaccurate readings among Blacks. We are ICU physicians and internists with expe...

As The Climate Warms Two-Thirds Of Earth’s Land Is On Pace To Lose Water – That’s A Problem For The People, Crops And Forests

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

As The Climate Warms Two-Thirds Of Earth’s Land Is On Pace To Lose Water – That’s A Problem For The People, Crops And Forests

The world watched with a sense of dread in 2018 as Cape Town, South Africa, counted down the days until the city would run out of water. The region’s surface reservoirs were going dry amid its worst drought on record, and the public countdown was a plea for help. By drastically cutting their water use, Cape Town residents and farmers were able to push back “Day Zero” until the rain came, but the close call showed just how precarious water security can be. California also faced severe water restrictions during its recent multiyear drought. And Mexico City is now facing water restrictions after a year with little rain. There are growing concerns that many regions of the world will face water crises like these in the coming decades as rising temperatures exacerbate drought conditions. Unde...

In Order To Stop The Coronavirus How Many People Need To Get COVID-19 Vaccine?

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

In Order To Stop The Coronavirus How Many People Need To Get COVID-19 Vaccine?

It has been clear for a while that, at least in the U.S., the only way out of the coronavirus pandemic will be through vaccination. The rapid deployment of coronavirus vaccines is underway, but how many people need to be vaccinated in order to control this pandemic? I am a computational biologist who uses data and computer models to answer biological question at the University of Connecticut. I have been tracking my state’s COVID-19 epidemic with a computer model to help forecast the number of hospitalizations at the University of Connecticut’s John Dempsey Hospital. This type of computer model and the underlying theory can also be used to calculate the vaccination rates needed to break the chain of transmission of the coronavirus. My estimate is that for the entire U.S., roughly 70% of ...

Long-Standing Ban On Pell Grants To People In Prison Lifted By Congress

23Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

Long-Standing Ban On Pell Grants To People In Prison Lifted By Congress

When Congress decided in 1994 to ban federal student aid for people behind bars, it was part of a wider political agenda to “get tough on crime” – even though crime rates had begun to fall in the 1990s. The number of people behind bars grew, but, without access to federal student aid, higher education programs in America’s correctional facilities dwindled. On Dec. 21, 2020, Congress moved to lift the long-standing ban on federal student aid – specifically, the Pell grant – for those who are incarcerated. The decision comes after a long push for prison reforms that included calls for a greater emphasis on rehabilitation, reducing prison populations and making prison sentences less harsh. $1.4 trillion The measure is part of a US$1.4 trillion government spending bill for 2021 that is attac...

They’ve Fascinated People Around The World For Ages But Mermaids Aren’t Real

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

They’ve Fascinated People Around The World For Ages But Mermaids Aren’t Real

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Are mermaids real? – Verona, age 9, Owensboro, Kentucky Mermaids – underwater creatures that are half fish and half human – do not exist except in people’s imaginations. Scientists who study the ocean for the United States have investigated their possible existence and say no evidence of mermaids has ever been found. You might wonder why government scientists looked into this question. There are many stories about mermaids on TV, the internet and in magazines that pretend to be real science news. They try to fool people into believing mermaids are real, without any true evidence. This is called “cryptoscience” or “cryptozoology,” but...