As artificial intelligence (AI) technology progresses, the energy demands of training complex models have surged, raising widespread concerns about associated carbon emissions. This rapid growth is fueled by global demand across industries and academia, leading to exponential increases in computing power that carry significant environmental consequences. Given these challenges, in-depth research is essential to fully understand AI's carbon footprint and develop strategies for mitigating its environmental impact. In a view (DOI: 10.1007/s11783-024-1918-y) by ...

Tsukuba, Japan—Students often appear for high-stakes tests that hold significant weight in determining their futures. One such examination, the Common Test for University Admissions, currently allows examinees using braille an extended examination time of 1.5 times the standard duration. However, with the recent increase in complex questions and questions involving charts and diagrams in such tests, it is necessary to review whether the current accommodations remain adequate. The researchers assessed the validity of the current time extension for examination questions containing complex tables by measuring the time required to read the text and complex tables. The results showed that ...

5G wireless communication services have rapidly expanded worldwide, leveraging millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies in the 24 GHz to 71 GHz range (referred to as frequency range 2, or FR2). Looking ahead, Beyond 5G and 6G services, projected to offer ultra-fast connectivity exceeding 100 Gbit/s, are expected to be introduced in the 2030s. Frequencies in the 150-GHz to 300-GHz range are being considered as potential candidates for these future networks. However, critical components such as radio-wave absorbers, essential for packaging and modularization, still need to be developed. These absorbers play a key role in reducing ...

The transformer-based semantic segmentation approaches, which divide the image into different regions by sliding windows and model the relation inside each window, have achieved outstanding success. However, since the relation modeling between windows was not the primary emphasis of previous work, it was not fully utilized. To solve the problems, a research team led by Zizhang Wu published their new research on 15 October 2024 in Frontiers of Computer Science co-published by Higher Education Press and Springer ...

TUCSON, Ariz., November 7, 2024 — Critical Path Institute® (C-Path) today announced key leadership appointments: Diane Stephenson, Ph.D., has been promoted to Vice President of Neurology, and Nadine Tatton, Ph.D., has been welcomed as the new Executive Director of C-Path’s Critical Path for Alzheimer’s Disease (CPAD) Consortium. With over 30 years of specialized research in neuroscience and drug development and having served as the Executive Director of the Critical Path for Parkinson’s Consortium (CPP) for nearly 15 years, Dr. Stephenson has been an extraordinary partner in advancing our understanding ...

First-of-its-kind analysis of US national data reveals significant disparities in individual well-being as measured by lifespan, education, and income.  White males make up largest share of the group with lowest well-being while American Indian and Alaska Native individuals, and Black males, face the most significant challenges to overall well-being.   Populations at the lowest levels of well-being across the US are especially concentrated in the Deep South, Appalachia, and the Rust Belt.  The ...

Exercise-only programmes help cut the severity of the ‘baby blues’ and the risk of major clinical depression in new mums, finds a pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. But at least 80 weekly minutes of moderate intensity exercise, such as brisk walking, water aerobics, stationary cycling, and resistance training with bands, weights, or body weight are needed to achieve the effects, the findings show. Maternal depression and anxiety are relatively common after giving birth and associated with reduced self-care and compromised infant caregiving and bonding, ...

Changes in the make-up of the gut microbiome are linked to the onset of clinically evident rheumatoid arthritis in those at risk of the disease because of genetic, environmental, or immunological factors, suggests research published online in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.   It’s not clear if this instability is a cause or consequence of disease development, emphasise the researchers, but the findings might nevertheless help to identify those at risk as well as paving the way for preventive and personalised treatment strategies, they suggest. Previously published research consistently shows an unfavourable imbalance in ...

Changes in the gut microbiome before rheumatoid arthritis is developed could provide a window of opportunity for preventative treatments, new research suggests. Bacteria associated with inflammation is found in the gut in higher amounts roughly ten months before patients develop clinical rheumatoid arthritis, a longitudinal study by Leeds researchers has found.  Affecting more than half a million people in the UK, rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that causes swelling, pain and stiffness in the ...

A new study has exposed for the first time how inhabitants of the smallest countries globally, contributing least to climate change, already bear the brunt of its devastating consequences and the burden is likely to worsen. The research, led by the University of Bristol, showed on average nearly one in five people (20%) in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) – totalling some 8.5million – are now exposed to coastal and inland flooding. For three of the 57 countries concentrated in the Pacific, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, ...

An independent review, Uniting the UK’s Health Data: A Huge Opportunity for Society, published today (8 November 2024), has found that complexities and inefficiencies are impeding the use of the UK’s rich sources of health data to improve people’s health and lives. Researchers and analysts frequently have to wait many months – or even years – to securely access health data to improve care and for vital research into diseases like dementia, cancer and heart disease. Led by Professor ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the National Cancer Act, launching a nationwide effort to combat the disease. Eighty-seven years later, despite significant progress, cancer treatment often falls short, with 50 to 80 percent of patients not responding to treatment and more than 600,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States. What if clinicians could predict the success of any cancer treatment, ensuring each patient receives the most effective care? The challenge lies in the diverse nature of the disease. There are hundreds of different types of cancers, characterized by the specific type of cell from which they originate. Even patients ...

Picture this: You’re at a bar when someone starts hitting shamelessly on your spouse or significant other, who doesn’t flirt back. As the scene unfolds, your base instincts kick in—annoyance, anger, jealousy—followed by a heightened sexual desire for your partner. You’re ready to reclaim the attention that should be rightfully yours, correct? Not necessarily, according to a new study in the Journal of Sex Research by researchers at Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel, and ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A study at Mayo Clinic suggests that an hourglass-shaped stent could improve blood flow and ease severe and reoccurring chest pain in people with microvascular disease. Of 30 participants in a phase 2 clinical trial, 76% saw improvement in their day-to-day life. For example, some participants who reported not being able to walk around the block or up a flight of stairs without chest pain were able to do these ordinary physical activities at the end of a 120-day period. Clinical measures of blood flow related to the microvasculature of the heart significantly improved during ...

As mobile-money services were growing at a rapid clip in the developing world 10 years ago, University of Florida computer scientists and cybersecurity experts Kevin Butler and Patrick Traynor were early sentinels, raising concerns about the lack of security that could lead to real problems for the user.  In a 2014 study, the two professors from UF’s Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, uncovered security vulnerabilities of mobile cash apps, especially in the Global South, where such technologies were becoming essential in the absence of robust banking systems.  “Our early work uncovered ...

http://newsroom.heart.org/news/oklahoma-state-basketball-team-joins-the-nation-of-lifesavers?preview=8409af5e5a5f3127f6aec7e122cc9673STILLWATER, Okla., October 28, 2024 — The Oklahoma State University (OSU) men’s basketball team participated in an American Heart Association Hands-Only CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training to learn the correct rate and depth of CPR compressions to be confident and capable when faced with a cardiac emergency. Learning Hands-Only CPR is the skill needed to join the Association’s Nation of Lifesavers™ movement, which is focused on doubling survival rates ...

Facebook and Instagram can boost wildlife conservation efforts through public awareness and engagement, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Communication. The findings based on the caracal – a wild cat native to Africa with distinctive tufted ears – demonstrate how social media can harness support for the predators, which some farmers shoot and poison.    Results show that the mammal’s similarity to a domestic feline has attracted thousands of followers to internet feeds about caracal conservation. ...

Xiaoguang Dong, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is leading a team of researchers that has developed a system of artificial cilia capable of monitoring mucus conditions in human airways to better detect infection, airway obstruction, or the severity of diseases like Cystic Fibrosis (CF), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) and lung cancer. The research was published in the November 4 issue of PNAS in the article, “Sensory Artificial Cilia for In Situ Monitoring of Airway Physiological Properties.” In their paper, the researchers noted that continuously ...

The 2023 blaze in Lahaina, Hawaii, which claimed more than 100 lives and burned 6,500 acres of land across Maui, is a tragic example of how rapid wildfire spread can make effective response efforts impossible, resulting in the loss of life and property. What if technology could help people detect wildfires earlier? The solution could already be in your pocket: a mobile phone. USC computer science researchers have developed a new crowdsourcing system that dramatically slashes wildfire mapping time from hours to seconds using a network of low-cost mobile phones mounted on properties in high fire threat areas. In computer simulations, the system, FireLoc, detected blazes igniting ...

Reconstruction of historical seasonal influenza patterns and individual lifetime infection histories in humans based on antibody profiles   ##### In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology:   http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002864 Article Title: Reconstructed influenza A/H3N2 infection histories reveal variation in incidence and antibody dynamics over the life course Author Countries: United Kingdom, China, United States Funding: see manuscript END ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 19:00 GMT / 14:00 US EASTERN TIME THURSDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2024 Increased capabilities for genomic surveillance have offered new insights into global viral evolution; Seasonal flu showed a ‘remarkable’ bounce back to pre-pandemic levels once international air travel resumed; Regions with fewer COVID-19 restrictions were associated with sustained flu virus transmission. Seasonal influenza epidemics impose substantial burdens on healthcare systems and cause >5 million hospitalizations of adults each year. The current approach to influenza vaccine development requires comprehensive surveillance ...

Named after the two-faced Roman god Janus to reflect its dual-purpose design, researchers present a novel membrane system – a Janus channel of membranes (JCM) – capable of simultaneously separating oil and water from complex emulsions. The system addresses a critical challenge for sustainable water and oil reclamation across various industries. Separating oil and water from complex mixtures is essential for many scientific and industrial applications, such as wastewater treatment and biological sorting. Membrane ...

Although travel restrictions and social measures during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic global drop in seasonal influenza cases, certain influenza lineages in specific regions kept the virus circulating and evolving, according to a new study. This was true in tropical areas with fewer travel restrictions, for example, including South and West Asia. The spread of seasonal influenza is closely tied to social behavior, particularly air travel, and to the periodic evolution of new virus strains that evade immunity from prior infections or vaccinations. In 2020, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) introduced to combat COVID-19 – such as ...

Disruptions between the brain’s master circadian clock and the liver’s internal clock, communicated via the hepatic afferent vagal nerve (HVAN), can lead to unhealthy eating patterns and increased weight gain, according to a new study in mice. The findings identify the neural link as a potential therapeutic target for obesity and metabolic dysfunction related to circadian disruption. In mammals, circadian rhythms are controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) – a small part of the brain’s hypothalamus that regulates the body’s circadian rhythms. This cycle triggers a feedback loop involving key clock genes that keep ...

“Wet dog shakes” – a common reflex behavior shared among many hairy mammals and designed to expel water and irritants from their coats – happens when particular mechanoreceptors are activated, researchers studying mice report. Many furry mammals engage in rapid body twists known as "wet dog shakes" to effectively remove water from their fur, as well as to eliminate irritants like tangles or parasites, particularly in areas on the neck and back that are largely unreachable by self-grooming or licking. However, despite the commonality of this behavior ...