Technology
press releases.

Technology11 Jul 2024

IoT sensors tattle on stores that neglect promo displays

Whether it’s a pharmacy, a supermarket, or a clothier, when you walk into a retail store in the U.S., you are sure to encounter a flashy promotional display featuring products from a specific brand. It’s a marketing strategy that’s been proved to be highly effective at boosting sales. Brands carefully plan display campaigns, signing contracts with retailers that specify when to install the exhibits and for how long. They often provide financial incentives to encourage compliance. But a new study from Ashish ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

UCF launches inaugural mentorship, scholarship initiative for students in AI

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j4zjqI21Gs Faculty in UCF’s College of Sciences and College of Engineering and Computer Science are preparing incoming students to keep pace with the emerging multidisciplinary field of artificial intelligence. A team of five faculty, led by UCF’s Center for Research in Computer Vision (CRCV), recently received a U.S. National Science Foundation grant totaling nearly $2.5 million over five years to serve as resources to uplift bright yet low-income or struggling ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

Ultrasound technology can be used to boost mindfulness, study finds

One of the intriguing abilities of the human mind is daydreaming, where the mind wanders off into spontaneous thoughts, fantasies and scenarios, often without conscious effort, allowing creativity and reflection to flow freely. In a new study published in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience, University of Arizona researchers used low-intensity ultrasound technology to noninvasively alter a brain region associated with activities such as daydreaming, recalling memories and envisioning the future. They found that the technique can ultimately enhance mindfulness, marking a major advancement in the field ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

Stratospheric air intrusions drive new particle formation in the upper troposphere

New atmospheric particles form when stratospheric air intrudes into the troposphere below, according to a new study, revealing a previously unrecognized mechanism for new particle formation (NPF) in the upper troposphere. The finding suggests that NPF in these regions aloft occurs frequently and over large geographic regions, representing an important source of particles in the free troposphere. Aerosol particles smaller than one micron in diameter are abundant in the troposphere, the lowest layer of ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

Learning dance moves could help humanoid robots work better with humans

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have trained a humanoid robot to effortlessly learn and perform a variety of expressive movements, including simple dance routines and gestures like waving, high-fiving and hugging, all while maintaining a steady gait on diverse terrains. The enhanced expressiveness and agility of this humanoid robot pave the way for improving human-robot interactions in settings such as factory assembly lines, hospitals and homes, where robots could safely operate alongside humans or even replace them in hazardous environments like laboratories or disaster sites. “Through expressive and more human-like ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

Long-term outcomes of self-fit vs audiologist-fit hearing aids

About The Study: This comparative effectiveness research study demonstrated that self-fit over-the-counter hearing aids can offer comparable long-term benefits to audiologist-fit hearing aids for individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Karina C. De Sousa, Ph.D., email karina.swanepoel@up.ac.za. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2024.1825) Editor’s Note: Please ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

Biological science helps fuel the future of electric air travel

– By William Ferguson When it comes to figuring out why electric aircraft batteries lose power over time, one typically wouldn’t think to turn to a decades-old approach biologists use to study the structure and function of components in living organisms. However, it turns out that omics, a field that helped scientists unravel the secrets of the human genome, could also soon play a key role in making carbon-free air travel a reality. In a new study in the journal Joule, a team of researchers led ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

How risk-averse are humans when interacting with robots?

How do people like to interact with robots when navigating a crowded environment? And what algorithms should roboticists use to program robots to interact with humans? These are the questions that a team of mechanical engineers and computer scientists at the University of California San Diego sought to answer in a study presented recently at the ICRA 2024 conference in Japan. “To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating robots that infer human perception of risk for intelligent decision-making in everyday settings,” said Aamodh Suresh, first author of the study, who earned his Ph.D. in the research group of Professor Sonia Martinez Diaz ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

Movement sensors show promise in identifying horses at injury risk

PULLMAN, Wash. – A small 3-ounce sensor capable of recording 2,400 data points of movement in just one second being tested and refined by researchers at Washington State University could be key in reducing the number of injuries to racehorses. Led by Dr. Warwick Bayly in WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, researchers used the biometric sensors, developed by the company StrideSAFE, to track thoroughbreds as they raced and trained at some of the top racetracks in the country. Using collected data, the team was able to identify miniscule stride changes associated with increased risk ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

Study: Algorithms used by universities to predict student success may be racially biased

Washington, July 11, 2024—Predictive algorithms commonly used by colleges and universities to determine whether students will be successful may be racially biased against Black and Hispanic students, according to new research published today in AERA Open, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. The study—conducted by Denisa Gándara (University of Texas at Austin), Hadis Anahideh (University of Illinois Chicago), Matthew Ison (Northern Illinois University), and Lorenzo Picchiarini (University of Illinois Chicago)—found ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

With spin centers, quantum computing takes a step forward

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Quantum computing, which uses the laws of quantum mechanics, can solve pressing problems in a broad range of fields, from medicine to machine learning, that are too complex for classical computers. Quantum simulators are devices made of interacting quantum units that can be programmed to simulate complex models of the physical world. Scientists can then obtain information about these models, and, by extension, about the real world, by varying the interactions in a controlled way and measuring the resulting behavior of the quantum simulators. In a paper published in Physical Review B, a UC Riverside-led research team ...

Read the release

Technology11 Jul 2024

AI Chatbots have shown they have an ‘empathy gap’ that children are likely to miss

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have frequently shown signs of an “empathy gap” that puts young users at risk of distress or harm, raising the urgent need for “child-safe AI”, according to a study. The research, by a University of Cambridge academic, Dr Nomisha Kurian, urges developers and policy actors to prioritise approaches to AI design that take greater account of children’s needs. It provides evidence that children are particularly susceptible to treating chatbots as lifelike, quasi-human confidantes, ...

Read the release

Technology10 Jul 2024

Machine learning models could enable earlier identification of at-risk children, aiding social workers and potentially improving outcomes, per Danish study of more than 100,000 children

Machine learning models could enable earlier identification of at-risk children, aiding social workers and potentially improving outcomes, per Danish study of more than 100,000 children ### Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0305974 Article Title: Predictive risk modeling for child maltreatment detection and enhanced decision-making: Evidence from Danish administrative data Author Countries: Denmark, France Funding: Funding for this project was ...

Read the release

Technology10 Jul 2024

Bringing quantum tools to high school classrooms

More than 70 high school students and science teachers gathered at Young Middle School in Arlington this summer to learn about quantum information science (QIS). The annual workshop and camp are part of a national pilot program called Quantum for All led by Karen Jo Matsler, assistant professor in practice and master teacher in the UTeach program at The University of Texas at Arlington. “Just the word ‘quantum’ scares people, which is why many teachers and school administrators ...

Read the release

Technology10 Jul 2024

Antiferromagnetic phase transition observed in fermionic Hubbard quantum simulator

In a study published online in Nature, a research team led by Prof. PAN Jianwei, Prof. CHEN Yuao, and Prof. YAO Xingcan from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has, for the first time, observed the antiferromagnetic phase transition within a large-scale quantum simulator of the fermionic Hubbard model (FHM). This study highlights the advantages of quantum simulation. It marks an important first step towards obtaining the low-temperature phase diagram of the FHM and understanding the role of quantum magnetism in the mechanism of high-temperature ...

Read the release

Technology10 Jul 2024

Does air pollution affect lupus risk?

New research published in Arthritis & Rheumatology indicates that chronic exposure to air pollutants may increase the risk of developing lupus, an autoimmune disease that affects multiple organs. For the study, investigators analyzed data on 459,815 participants from the UK Biobank. A total of 399 lupus cases were identified during a median follow-up of 11.77 years. Air pollutant exposure was linked with a greater likelihood of developing lupus. Individuals with a high genetic risk and high air pollution exposure had the highest risk of developing ...

Read the release

Technology9 Jul 2024

AI can support humanitarian organizations in situations of armed conflict or crisis - but they should understand the potential risks, study warns

AI can help humanitarians gain crucial insights to better monitor and anticipate risks, such as a conflict outbreak or escalation. But deploying systems in this context is not without risks for those affected, a new study warns. Humanitarian organisations have been increasingly using digital technologies and the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend. AI-supported disaster mapping was used in Mozambique to speed up emergency response, and AI systems were used to predict food crisis and rolled out by the World Bank across twenty-one countries. But the study warns some uses of AI may expose people to additional harms and present significant ...

Read the release

Technology9 Jul 2024

MIT researchers introduce generative AI for databases

CAMBRIDGE, MA — A new tool makes it easier for database users to perform complicated statistical analyses of tabular data without the need to know what is going on behind the scenes. GenSQL, a generative AI system for databases, could help users make predictions, detect anomalies, guess missing values, fix errors, or generate synthetic data with just a few keystrokes. For instance, if the system were used to analyze medical data from a patient who has always had high blood pressure, it could catch a blood pressure reading that ...

Read the release

Technology9 Jul 2024

New method could yield fast, cross-country quantum network

Quantum computers offer powerful ways to improve cybersecurity, communications, and data processing, among other fields. To realize these full benefits, however, multiple quantum computers need to be connected to build quantum networks or a quantum internet. Scientists have struggled to come up with practical methods of building such networks, which must transmit quantum information over long distances. Now, researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) have proposed a new approach — building long quantum channels using vacuum sealed tubes ...

Read the release

Technology9 Jul 2024

Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and cerebral palsy

About The Study: In this large cohort study of singleton full term births in Canada, prenatal ambient PM2.5 exposure was associated with an increased risk of cerebral palsy in offspring. Further studies are needed to explore this association and its potential biological pathways, which could advance the identification of environmental risk factors of cerebral palsy in early life. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Carmen Messerlian, Ph.D., email cmesser@hsph.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

Read the release

Technology9 Jul 2024

CMU, Meta announce research collaboration aimed at making computer-based tasks and gaming accessible to people with different motor abilities via wearable sensing technology

PITTSBURGH - As part of a larger commitment to developing equitable technology, Carnegie Mellon University and Meta announce a collaborative project to make computer-based tasks accessible to more people. This project focuses on using wearable sensing technology to enable people with different motor abilities to perform everyday tasks and enjoy gaming in digital and mixed reality environments. Meta’s research in electromyography uses sensors placed on the skin to measure the electrical signals the user generates through muscles in their wrist, which are translated into input signals for various devices. While Meta has already ...

Read the release

Technology9 Jul 2024

Detecting defects in tomorrow’s technology

Silicon computer chips have served us well for more than half a century. The tiniest features on chips currently sold are approximately 3 nanometers — a startlingly small size given that a human hair is roughly 80,000 nanometers wide. Reducing the size of features on chips will help us meet our endless need for more memory and processing power in the palm of our hand. But the limit of what can be achieved with standard materials and processes is near. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) are applying their expertise in ...

Read the release

Technology9 Jul 2024

Digital self-harm surges among U.S. teens from 2016 to 2021

Adolescents worldwide have embraced social media and online platforms for self-expression and to explore their identity. This freedom, however, can lead to risky behaviors, especially with limited adult supervision. For example, digital self-harm is a recent, emerging trend where individuals anonymously post or share hurtful content about themselves online. This behavior can be mistaken for mistreatment by others, yet the perpetrator and victim are the same person. First identified in 2010, digital self-harm has not received the same amount of scholarly scrutiny as other forms of self-directed abuse and has not been widely addressed by adults ...

Read the release

Technology9 Jul 2024

Water stored under artificial turf could make cities cooler and safer to play in

For those living in cities, space to play sports outside can be a scarcity. Recently, natural grass in parks or public sports courts has often been replaced with more durable artificial turf to allow heavy consecutive use. There are, however, downsides to this practice, both for people and for cities as a whole. Now, scientists in the Netherlands have set out to change that by integrating a subsurface water storage and capillary irrigation system under artificial turf sports fields. “Here we show that including a subsurface water storage and capillary ...

Read the release

Technology9 Jul 2024

Innovative, highly accurate AI model can estimate lung function just by using chest x-rays

If there is one medical exam that everyone in the world has taken, it’s a chest x-ray. Clinicians can use radiographs to tell if someone has tuberculosis, lung cancer, or other diseases, but they can’t use them to tell if the lungs are functioning well. Until now, that is. In findings published in The Lancet Digital Health, a research group led by Associate Professor Daiju Ueda and Professor Yukio Miki at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Medicine has developed an artificial intelligence model that can estimate lung function from chest radiographs with high accuracy. Conventionally, ...

Read the release