Tag Archives: philadelphia

Smartphone users value their privacy and are willing to pay for it, CU-Boulder economists find

Average smartphone users are willing to pay up to $5 extra for a typical application—or “app”—that won’t monitor their locations, contact lists and other personal information, a study conducted by two economists at the University of Colorado Boulder has found.

The researchers believe theirs is the first economic study to gauge the monetary value smartphone users place on privacy. That value is measured in consumers’ “willingness to pay” for five different kinds of digital anonymity. (more…)

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New book by UCLA historian traces role of gender in 1992 Los Angeles riots

White policemen pulling a black man from a car and viciously beating him. Black male rioters erupting after the officers are acquitted of assault and excessive force charges. Black male rioters pulling a white man from his truck and viciously beating him. Men of color looting stores. Gun-toting male shopkeepers poised on rooftops to protect their businesses.

So many of the indelible images of the 1992 Los Angeles riots feature men, especially black and white men. But there was also a women’s story behind the so-called Rodney King riots, and it is considerably more important and ethnically nuanced than the one that lingers in the public imagination, a UCLA historian argues in a new book. (more…)

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Adolescents Under Pressure to Speak ‘Properly’

As adolescents transition to adulthood, the pressure to meet adult expectations – such as speaking properly – may be greater than expected, according to a new study by a Michigan State University researcher.

Suzanne Evans Wagner, assistant professor of linguistics in the College of Arts and Letters, has proven for the first time that language changes with age in addition to community pressures. And, surprisingly, college and post-high school ambitions play a huge role. (more…)

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Getting the Most out of Soybeans

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Soybeans are one of the largest commodity crops in the world.

They also are starting to play a major role in reducing our carbon footprint, providing improved environmental performance and replacing finite, non-renewable resources such as oil.

And this is where Ramani Narayan comes in. (more…)

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Clergy can fight HIV on faith-friendly terms

In the United States, where blacks bear a disproportionate burden of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, black religious institutions could help turn the tide. In a new study in PLoS ONE based on dozens of interviews and focus groups with 38 of Philadelphia’s most influential black clergy, physicians and public health researchers find that traditional barriers to preaching about HIV prevention could give way to faith-friendly messages about getting tested and staying on treatment.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The public health community has long struggled with how best to reduce HIV infection rates among black Americans, which is seven times that of whites. In a new paper in the journal PLoS ONE, a team of physicians and public health researchers report that African-American clergy say they are ready to join the fight against the disease by focusing on HIV testing, treatment, and social justice, a strategy that is compatible with religious teaching. (more…)

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Constantine Gatsonis: Better Triage for Chest Pains

In a study in The New England Journal of Medicine, authors including biostatisticians from Brown report that coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) is a safe way to screen patients coming to the ER with chest pains who are not at high risk for acute coronary syndrome. Patients who got CCTA and tested negative were more likely to be discharged home and spend less time at the hospital.

Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA), a technology for diagnostic imaging of the heart, is a safe way to assess whether patients whose risk of heart attack is not high need to be hospitalized when they arrive at the emergency room complaining of chest pains. Brown biostatisticians led by Constantine Gatsonis are part of a team of researchers who report that finding in The New England Journal of Medicine and at the American College of Cardiology Conference March 26. (more…)

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Take Fear Head on, Actor Tom Hanks Tells Yale Seniors

How Yale’s newest graduates make their imprint on the world and on history will be determined by how well they handle fear and inspire faith, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks told the seniors in his Class Day address on May 22.

In the ceremony on the Old Campus, Hanks urged the soon-to-be graduates to begin their future by coming to the aid of the U.S. veterans of the Iran and Afghan wars, whose “faith in themselves is shadowed by the fear of not knowing what is expected of them next,” he said. (more…)

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