Tag Archives: project

Database Tracks Toxic Side Effects of Pharmaceuticals

By Guest PostDecember 22, 2013Environment, Healthahmed enayetallah, allan peter davis, chemical toxicity, comparative toxicogenomics database, ctd, daniela sciaky, database, environmental science, gene testing patients, hypertension, jean lay, kelley lennon hopkins, kidney failure, liver disease, north Carolina, novel prediction, pfizer, pharmaceuticals, phenotype module, prediction, project, seizures, state university, thomas wiegers, toxic endpoints, toxic side effects

Sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease. Pharmaceutical drugs are known for their potential side effects, and an important aspect of personalized medicine is to tailor therapies to individuals to reduce the chances of adverse events. Now researchers from North Carolina State University have updated an extensive toxicology database so that it can be used to track information about therapeutic drugs and their unintentional toxic effects.

“Environmental science actually shares a common goal with drug makers: to improve the prediction of chemical toxicity,” says Dr. Allan Peter Davis, lead author of a paper on the work and the biocuration project manager of the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) in NC State’s Department of Biological Sciences. (more…)

Photojournalists discuss their project on a ‘sacrificial city’

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2013Mediaamerican public, brett carlsen, city in america, juan madrid, kickstarter campaign, life in flint, michigan, photojournalists, poynter fellowship, project, rit, sacrificial city, third world country

There’s a city in America that looks like a third-world country, according to photojournalists Brett Carlsen and Juan Madrid, who in a recent campus talk shared their hope that a project they have undertaken will inspire the American public to start talking about it.

In a Poynter Fellowship-sponsored classroom lecture at the School of Art, Carlsen and Madrid discussed their ongoing collaboration documenting life in Flint, Michigan. (more…)

Monitoring concrete

By Guest PostMay 4, 2013Sciencealkali silica reaction, asr, asr affected concrete, asr damage, chemical, concrete, construction material, cracking, deldot, DNA, dry environments, Environment, environmental engineering, environmental stressors, harsh environment, internal chemical reactions, julie maresca, kinds of microbes, microbiology, monitoring concrete, non destructive methodology, nutrient requirements, ph, physical stresses, potassium, project, salt concentrations, silica minerals, sodium, temperature fluctuations, thomas schumacher, university of delaware

UD professors study microbes as potential biomarkers for damaged concrete

Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world. However, many concrete roadways and bridges crack due to internal chemical reactions, temperature fluctuations or external chemical and physical stresses.

One internal chemical reaction is the Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) that destroys the concrete from within. (more…)

IBM Taps Big Data to Help Solve Water Challenges Across South Africa

By Guest PostMarch 22, 2013Technologyandroid, big data challenge, california, city of tshwane, creekwatch, Facebook, ibm, kgosientso ramokgopa, leak hot spot, map, project, roadmap, san josé, smarter public safety, sms, South Africa, south african households, tshwane executive mayor, Twitter, water distribution system, waterwatchers, world water day

“WaterWatchers,” a new mobile app, harnesses the power of crowdsourcing

Johannesburg, South Africa – 22 Mar 2013: IBM marks World Water Day with the launch of a crowdsoucing project to help capture, share and analyze information about the water distribution system in South Africa. The project, called “WaterWatchers,” is driven by a new mobile phone application and SMS capability that will enable South African citizens to report water leaks, faulty water pipes and general conditions of water canals. Every update will provide vital data points to an aggregated “WaterWatchers” report to create a single view of the issues challenging South Africa’s water distribution system.

The free app, which is currently available for Android and available for download at www.ibmwaterwatchers.co.za, and the SMS capability* together provide an easy way for anyone to collect and report issues on local waterways and pipes to a centralized portal. After taking a photo and answering three simple questions about the particular water canal or pipe, the data is uploaded in real-time to a central database. After 30 days, the data will be analyzed and aggregated into a meaningful “leak hot spot” map for South Africa. (more…)

‘Costs of War’ Project: Iraq War: 190,000 lives, $2.2 trillion

By Guest PostMarch 16, 2013Politicsafghanistan, boston university, brown university, catherine lutz, costs of war, democratic governance, international studies, Iraq, iraq reconstruction, iraq refugee crisis, iraq war, iraqi women, neta c crawford, Pakistan, political science, president eisenhower, project, security, trillion, united nations, us invasion, us military, violence, war in iraq, watson institute

More than 190,000 people have been killed in the 10 years since the war in Iraq began. The war will cost the U.S. $2.2 trillion, including substantial costs for veterans care through 2053, far exceeding the initial government estimate of $50 to $60 billion, according to a new report by scholars with the “Costs of War” project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. The 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq is March 19, 2013.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Ten years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003, researchers have released the first comprehensive analysis of direct and indirect human and economic costs of the war that followed. According to the report, the war has killed at least 190,000 people, including men and women in uniform, contractors, and civilians and will cost the United States $2.2 trillion — a figure that far exceeds the initial 2002 estimates by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget of $50 to $60 billion. (more…)

A Better Walk to a Brighter Future for Tanzania’s Youngest

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2013Education, Generalaga khan foundation, brighter future, dar es salaam, diane ruonavaara, gabrielle kleber, jeff riedinger, michigan state university, milola, milola children, new york, ngwenya, own vision, project, sub village, tag philanthropic foundation, Tanzania, tanzanian children, university

In January, 60 young Tanzanian children began attending school for the first time, thanks to a project led by Michigan State University.

MSU and its partners in the Tanzanian Partnership Program built a new school on 100 acres donated by two village elders in a sub-village of Milola known as Ngwenya. Construction funds were provided by the TAG Philanthropic Foundation, based in New York. (more…)

Student’s Curiosity Produces Ecological Buzz

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2013Environment, Natureabout publishing papers, aerial imagery, cape cod, ecology, Environment, experimental ecologist, geographic information systems, geology class, gis assisted analysis, gis technology, great depression era, historical aerial photography, jon witman, mark bertness, marsh grass, mosquito populations, open curriculum, outdoors, plague, postdoc, project, provocative research, recreational fishing, salt marsh habitats, salt marshes, sesarma crabs, sesarma reticulatum crab, spartina alterniflora, students at brown, tyler coverdale

Students studying what they love is a well-established principle at Brown. For Tyler Coverdale, that meant the outdoors, the environment, and, ultimately, some provocative research on Cape Cod salt marshes through GIS-assisted analysis of historical aerial photography. He loves it.

Tyler Coverdale’s newly published study in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment on the collapse of salt marsh habitats along Cape Cod tells an intriguing, if unfortunate, tale of how three different human activities spanning 70 years finally added up to a problem that no one anticipated. The story of how he made the discovery — which is generating some buzz in ecology — while a Brown undergraduate is a tale of happier serendipities. (more…)

IBM Social Sentiment Index Predicts New Retail Trend in the Making

By Guest PostJanuary 14, 2013Technology19th century, advanced analytics, analysis, birth, blogs, convention, cultural domains, cultural meme, Facebook, fantasy, fashion, fiction, gothic machinery, hg wells, ibm, ibm predict, industrialized civilization, jules verne, message boards, national, news sources, nikola tesla, project, retail federation, retail industry, retro futuristic style, science fiction, sentiment analysis, social media sites, social sentiment index, steampunk, sub genre, trend, trevor davis, Twitter, us department stores, victorian society, visual arts

Analytics points to the “Birth of a Trend,” steampunk aesthetic to pervade pop culture in 2013

ARMONK, N.Y. – 14 Jan 2013: National Retail Federation Convention – Based on an analysis of more than a half million public posts on message boards, blogs, social media sites and news sources, IBM predicts that ‘steampunk,’ a sub-genre inspired by the clothing, technology and social mores of Victorian society, will be a major trend to bubble up, and take hold, of the retail industry. Major fashion labels, accessories providers and jewelry makers are expected to integrate a steampunk aesthetic into their designs in the coming year.

Measuring public sentiment can help retail chief marketing officers customize incentives and services to be more in tune with what customers are asking for, using data to tailor their offerings to address fast-moving trends and real-time customer needs. (more…)