Technology
press releases.

Technology13 Nov 2023

Appropriate statin prescriptions increase sixfold with automated referrals

PHILADELPHIA— The odds of prescribing the appropriate dose of statins—a medicine used to lower “bad” cholesterol levels—increased sixfold when automated referrals were made to pharmacy services, instead of relying on traditional prescribing methods, according to researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. More than 90 million people in the U.S. use statins, making it one of the most prescribed medications in the county. Despite their effectiveness in lowering cholesterol levels and the risk of cardiovascular ...

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Technology13 Nov 2023

AI faces look more real than actual human face

White faces generated by artificial intelligence (AI) now appear more real than human faces, according to new research led by experts at The Australian National University (ANU). In the study, more people thought AI-generated white faces were human than the faces of real people. The same wasn’t true for images of people of colour. The reason for the discrepancy is that AI algorithms are trained disproportionately on white faces, Dr Amy Dawel, the senior author of the paper, said. “If white AI faces are consistently perceived as more realistic, this technology could have serious implications for people of colour by ultimately reinforcing ...

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Technology12 Nov 2023

Gailen Marshall installed as ACAAI President

ANAHEIM, Calif. (November 12, 2023) – Allergist Gailen Marshall, MD, PhD, of Jackson, MS, was installed as president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) at the ACAAI Annual Scientific Meeting on November 12 in Anaheim, Calif. Allergist James Tracy, DO, of Omaha, NE, was elected ACAAI president-elect. Other newly elected ACAAI officers are Cherie Zachary, MD, Eagan, MN as vice president and Kelly Maples, MD, Norfolk, VA as treasurer. Regents elected for three-year terms include Aikaterini Anagnostou, MD, MSc, PhD, Houston, Texas, Brian T. Kelly, MD, MA, Omaha, Nebraska and Mervat Nassef, MD, New York, New ...

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Technology11 Nov 2023

Unraveling anxiety: The roles of virtual reality, companionship, and infantile amnesia

WASHINGTON — Innovative experimental approaches with human participants and animal models point to the effects of fear and stress on the brain — and suggest ways to ameliorate these impacts. The findings will be presented on Monday, November 13, 12:45–1:45 p.m. at Neuroscience 2023, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health. Fear and anxiety are normal, healthy emotional responses to some stimuli; however, there ...

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Technology10 Nov 2023

Are consumers ready for robots to show up at their doorstep?

With Amazon aiming to make 10,000 deliveries with drones in Europe this year and Walmart planning to expand its drone delivery services to an additional 60,000 homes this year in the states, companies are investing more research and development funding into drone delivery, But are consumers ready to accept this change as the new normal? Northwestern University’s Mobility and Behavior Lab, led by Amanda Stathopoulos, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, wanted to know if consumers were ready for robots to replace delivery drivers, in the form ...

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Technology10 Nov 2023

A catalyst for change: New research aims to design atomically efficient and selective catalysts

Most of us understand that electrical engineering and mechanical engineering play a key role in running our washing machines or our computers. But did you know that more than 80 percent of the products we use every day, such as fertilizers, cosmetics, fragrances, rubber and more, require some sort of chemical catalyst while being manufactured? Catalysts are like turbochargers for chemical reactions. Until now, the process of designing a catalyst for chemical reactions has been mostly trial ...

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Technology10 Nov 2023

Stable and efficient robotic artificial muscles built upon new material combinations

Actuators, which convert electrical energy into motion or force, play a pivotal role in daily life, albeit often going unnoticed. Soft material-based actuators, in particular, have gained scientific attention in recent years due to their lightweight, quiet operation, and biodegradability. A straightforward approach to creating soft actuators involves employing multi-material structures, such as "pockets" made of flexible plastic films filled with oils and coated with conductive plastics. When subjected to electrical activation, the film displaces the fluid and contracts the pocket, similar to a biological muscle. This system ...

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Technology9 Nov 2023

How to use AI for discovery — without leading science astray

Over the past decade, AI has permeated nearly every corner of science: Machine learning models have been used to predict protein structures, estimate the fraction of the Amazon rainforest that has been lost to deforestation and even classify faraway galaxies that might be home to exoplanets. But while AI can be used to speed scientific discovery — helping researchers make predictions about phenomena that may be difficult or costly to study in the real world — it can also lead scientists astray. In the same way that chatbots sometimes “hallucinate,” ...

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Technology9 Nov 2023

Ultrafast lasers on ultra-tiny chips

Lasers have become relatively commonplace in everyday life, but they have many uses outside of providing light shows at raves and scanning barcodes on groceries. Lasers are also of great importance in telecommunications and computing as well as biology, chemistry, and physics research. In those latter applications, lasers that can emit extremely short pulses—those on the order of one-trillionth of a second (one picosecond) or shorter—are especially useful. Using lasers operating on such small timescales, researchers can study physical and chemical ...

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Technology9 Nov 2023

Shrinking a mode-locked laser to the size of an optical chip

Setting out to improve a technology that usually requires bulky, bench-top equipment, Quishi Guo and colleagues have shrunk a mode-locked laser (MLL) to the size of an optical chip with an integrated nanophotonic platform. The results show promise for developing ultrafast nanophotonic systems for a wide range of applications. Mode-locked lasers (MLLs) can produce coherent ultrashort pulses of light at extremely fast speeds – on the order of picoseconds and femtoseconds. These devices have enabled numerous technologies in photonics, including extreme nonlinear optics, two-photon microscopy, ...

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Technology9 Nov 2023

New URI lab developing adaptive technology, secures National Science Foundation grant

New URI lab developing adaptive technology, secures National Science Foundation grant Reza Abiri and Yalda Shahriari receive National Science Foundation award totaling $460,000 for work to improve stroke patient rehabilitation Passing by Reza Abiri’s office at the University of Rhode Island, one might suspect him of nursing a serious coffee habit. A colorful collection of various mugs and cups dot his office, and though he is friendly enough to likely welcome any visitors stopping by to chat, the cups serve a larger purpose. Abiri and Yalda Shahriari, professors in ...

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Technology9 Nov 2023

UTSA MATRIX AI Consortium receives $2 million to make AI more efficient

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $2 million grant through its Emerging Frontiers in Research Initiatives (EFRI) program to investigators at the UTSA MATRIX AI Consortium for Human Well-Being for research that will help bridge the gap between human brain processing efficiency and the limitations of current artificial intelligence (AI) models. This endeavor seeks to create a new form of AI that rapidly learns, adapts to and operates in uncertain conditions, all while effectively addressing ...

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Technology9 Nov 2023

Incheon National University researchers push the limits of gas sensing technology

The world has become increasingly industrialized over the past few centuries, bringing all sorts of technology and conveniences to the masses. However, workers in industrial environments are often at the risk of exposure to many dangerous gases, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Inhaling this gas can lead to serious respiratory diseases like asthma and bronchitis, and severely compromise the health of industrial workers. Constant monitoring of NO2 levels is thus needed to ensure a safe workplace. To help with this, many types of selective gas sensors have been developed using different ...

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Technology9 Nov 2023

AI algorithm developed to measure muscle development, provide growth chart for children

Leveraging artificial intelligence and the largest pediatric brain MRI dataset to date, researchers have now developed a growth chart for tracking muscle mass in growing children. The new study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, found that their artificial intelligence-based tool is the first to offer a standardized, accurate, and reliable way to assess and track indicators of muscle mass on routine MRI. Their results were published today in Nature Communications. “Pediatric cancer patients often struggle with low ...

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Technology8 Nov 2023

With new grant, RPI works to shrink microchips, expand semiconductor workforce

Transistors — the tiny on-off switches inside microchips — have gotten smaller and smaller over the years, increasing computing power and enabling smaller devices. During that time, the copper wires that connect these switches have likewise shrunk. However, smaller, thinner wires create a big problem, said Daniel Gall, professor of materials science and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “The job of the wire is to conduct electrons — electricity. Imagine a wire as a crowded hallway that the electrons have to get through. The narrower the hallway, the more the electrons bump into things and scatter. We call that resistance,” Gall ...

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Technology8 Nov 2023

A digital detox may not improve wellbeing: social media users who reduced their use for a week saw decreases in positive emotions as well as in negative ones

A digital detox may not improve wellbeing: social media users who reduced their use for a week saw decreases in positive emotions as well as in negative ones ### Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0293467 Article Title: Restricting social networking site use for one week produces varied effects on mood but does not increase explicit or implicit desires to use SNSs: Findings from an ecological momentary assessment study Author Countries: UK Funding: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research ...

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Technology8 Nov 2023

Identifying a silicon transporter to improve the yield of rice

Silicon (Si) is abundant in terrestrial environments and accounts for 0.1% to 10% of a plant’s dry weight. Certain plant species show high levels of Si accumulation, and research has identified high Si accumulation as a protective mechanism against abiotic (drought, cold, heat) and biotic stressors (living organisms). Oryza sativa (rice) can store Si to the tune of 10% of the dry weight of shoots (stem, leaves, flowers), and Si is vital for stable grain production. High degree of Si deposition is believed to mitigate against damage caused ...

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Technology8 Nov 2023

Virtual/augmented reality playkit eases kids’ and parents’ anxieties ahead of MRI scan

Giving children a virtual/augmented (mixed) reality playkit to use ahead of an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan seems to ease both their and their parents’ anxieties about this procedure, suggest preliminary findings published in the open access journal BMJ Innovations. Reducing the need to put a child to sleep, because of the noise and time required to keep still while in the MRI tunnel, could not only boost patient safety, but also cut costs and waiting times, suggest the researchers. MRI has emerged as an important diagnostic tool in children’s healthcare because of the high quality images produced and lower radiation ...

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Technology7 Nov 2023

Researchers say AI model accurately identifies, predicts joint damage in hand X-rays

ATLANTA — New research at ACR Convergence 2023, the American College of Rheumatology’s (ACR) annual meeting, shows that a deep learning system could accurately identify and predict joint space narrowing and erosions in hand radiographs of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (Abstract #0745). Radiographs are the most commonly used imaging technique for detecting and monitoring RA in the hand. Radiologists frequently use the well-validated Sharp/van der Heidje (SvH) method to evaluate joint space ...

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Technology7 Nov 2023

Would you buy soap from an AI-powered robot dog?

It’s not “Take Your Dog to Work Day,” but Associate Professor of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Mark Yi-Cheon Yim has an adorable pup on his desk at UMass Lowell’s Pulichino Tong Business Center. As Yim pats the top of the dog’s head, its ears lift, its tail wags and it yelps in delight. When Yim scratches under its chin, the dog appears to smile as its head sways in appreciation. For a moment, you almost forget that the dog – a Sony aibo, which has been around for 24 years (168 dog years) and retails for $2,900 – is an artificial ...

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Technology7 Nov 2023

Princeton introduces new Ph.D. program at intersection of quantum physics and information theory

Princeton University has launched a new Ph.D. program in Quantum Science and Engineering (QSE), providing graduate training in an emerging discipline at the intersection of quantum physics and information theory. This new field of quantum information science has broad implications and may enable fundamentally new technology, including new types of computers that can solve currently intractable problems, communication channels guaranteed secure by the laws of physics, and sensors that offer unprecedented sensitivity and spatial resolution. Applications from prospective students are due December 15 for an incoming ...

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Technology7 Nov 2023

Africa’s dangerous air pollution levels are a global problem, says new research

A new report in Nature Geoscience has brought to light the challenge of air pollution levels in Africa and why international action is needed to combat it. Over the last 50 years African nations have suffered from rapidly deteriorating air quality, making their cities some of the most polluted in the world. Particulate matter concentration levels are now five to ten levels greater than that recommended by the World Health Organisation, with the situation predicted to worsen as populations grow and industrialization accelerates. However, far too little has been ...

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Technology6 Nov 2023

Deploying sensor nets to measure ocean CO2 and pH from the surface to the depths

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, in collaboration with the National Energy Technology Laboratory, are among 11 projects in eight states selected to receive a combined $36 million to accelerate the development of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) capture and storage technologies. The funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is part of the ARPA-E Sensing Exports of Anthropogenic Carbon Through Ocean ...

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Technology6 Nov 2023

Lightening the load: Beckman researchers develop autonomous electrochemistry robot

Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology developed an automated laboratory robot to run complex electrochemical experiments and analyze data. With affordability and accessibility in mind, the researchers collaboratively created a benchtop robot that rapidly performs electrochemistry. Aptly named the Electrolab, this instrument greatly reduces the effort and time needed for electrochemical studies by automating many basic and repetitive laboratory tasks. The Electrolab can be used to explore energy storage materials and chemical reactions that promote the use of alternative ...

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Technology6 Nov 2023

CEC researchers to receive funding for study aimed at broadening students' mindset for ethical and responsible cybersecurity in AI

Aditya Johri, Professor, Information Sciences and Technology; Khondkar Islam, Professor, Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies, Information Sciences and Technology; and Vivian Motti, Associate Professor, Information Sciences and Technology, are set to receive $299,486 from the National Science Foundation for the project: "EAGER: Education DCL: An Embedded Case Study Approach for Broadening Students' Mindset for Ethical and Responsible Cybersecurity in AI." Using prior research on situated learning and perspectival thinking, the project team will create a series of four ...

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