Tag Archives: assessment

New Technique Offers Rapid Assessment of Radiation Exposure

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique that allows them to assess radiation exposure in about an hour using an insulator material found in most modern electronics. The technique can be used to triage medical cases in the event of a radiological disaster. (more…)

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Assessing Regional Earthquake Risk and Hazards in the Age of Exascale

Berkeley Lab researchers lead development of a workflow to accurately predict ground movement and its impact on structures

With emerging exascale supercomputers, researchers will soon be able to accurately simulate the ground motions of regional earthquakes quickly and in unprecedented detail, as well as predict how these movements will impact energy infrastructure—from the electric grid to local power plants—and scientific research facilities. (more…)

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Breast screening: The new high-tech, simpler approach

In two years, 3D screening has picked up more early cancers than mammography while cutting down on the number of callbacks. One radiologist calls it “a game changer.”

October 2013) No woman wants to get a call that her radiologist has found a suspicious image on her mammogram, and then learn that she might need a biopsy—only to find out it was all a false alarm. Now, thanks to new technology, fewer women will get those calls.

Digital breast tomosynthesis, or 3-D mammography, is transforming breast screening by significantly reducing callbacks while picking up more cancers, and eliminating some of the fear and anxiety many women experience. All women who visit the Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven for mammography are now getting tomosynthesis over plain 2D mammography, says Liane Philpotts, MD, chief of breast imaging for the Breast Center. (more…)

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The New Face of Mining: Women Carving Out a Place in Surging Industry

The UA department of mining and geological engineering, one of only 14 U.S. schools offering mining engineering degrees and only a handful with its own student mine, is dedicated to helping fill the industry pipeline, and that includes ensuring female engineers continue to gain ground in a surging industry.

They roam the remotest corners of the world, scale the highest mountains and descend deep into the Earth.

They go places few women have ever gone. They are not afraid of getting dirty, or of much else for that matter, certainly not adversity or a good challenge. And they know, better than most, how and when to take a joke. (more…)

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Born to Lead? Leadership Can be an Inherited Trait, Study Finds

Genetic differences are significantly associated with the likelihood that people take on managerial responsibilities, according to new research from UCL (University College London).

The study, published online in Leadership Quarterly, is the first to identify a specific DNA sequence associated with the tendency for individuals to occupy a leadership position. Using a large twin sample, the international research team, which included academics from Harvard, NYU, and the University of California, estimate that a quarter of the observed variation in leadership behaviour between individuals can be explained by genes passed down from their parents. (more…)

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Want Better Employees? Get Somebody Else To Rate Their Personalities, Suggests New Study.

TORONTO, ON – Businesses will get more accurate assessments of potential and current employees if they do away with self-rated personality tests and ask those being assessed to find someone else to rate them, suggest results from a new study.

Previous job performance studies have shown that outsiders are best at rating an individual’s personality in terms of how they work on the job. But observers in these studies have always been co-workers. (more…)

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UCLA Research Makes Possible Rapid Assessment of Plant Drought Tolerance

UCLA life scientists, working with colleagues in China, have discovered a new method to quickly assess plants’ drought tolerance. The method works for many diverse species growing around the world. The research, published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, may revolutionize the ability to survey plant species for their ability to withstand drought, said senior author Lawren Sack, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.

“This method can be applied rapidly and reliably for diverse species across ecosystems worldwide,” he said of the federally funded research by the National Science Foundation. (more…)

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to Lead Expedition to Measure Radioactive Contaminants in the Pacific Ocean

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will lead the first international, multidisciplinary assessment of the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the Pacific Ocean off the Fukushima nuclear power plant—a research effort funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

“This project will address fundamental questions about the impact of this release of radiation to the ocean, and in the process enhance international collaboration and sharing of scientific data,” said Vicki Chandler, Chief Program Officer, Science at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. “It is our hope that through this adverse event, we can increase our current knowledge about various natural and man-made sources of radioactivity in the ocean, and how they might ultimately impact ocean life and health around the world.” (more…)

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