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Public Release: 10-Feb-2012
New drugs schedule makes horse racing a sure thing QUT professor of biosciences, Martin Sillence, said the new research pinpointed the length of time it took for 18 of the most commonly used therapeutic drugs to work their way out of a horse's system, providing greater certainty for horse owners, trainers and vets. "Because horses are prohibited from racing with any trace of drugs in their system, the administration of therapeutic drugs to horses in need of care has been a risky business," professor Sillence said. Contact: Rose Trapnell Public Release: 9-Feb-2012
Storm warning: Financial tsunami heading this way Dror Kenett and professor Eshel Ben-Jacob of Tel Aviv University recently devised a financial market "seismograph" that can measure the interconnections between stock markets across the globe. Their research has the potential to serve as an early warning system and provide measures to manage and mitigate the spread of financial crisis. Contact: George Hunka Public Release: 9-Feb-2012
Model analyzes shape-memory alloys for use in earthquake-resistant structures Recent earthquake damage has exposed the vulnerability of existing structures to strong ground movement. At Georgia Tech, researchers are analyzing shape-memory alloys for their potential use in constructing seismic-resistant structures. Contact: Abby Robinson Public Release: 9-Feb-2012
Fighting crimes against biodiversity Invasive species which have the potential to destroy biodiversity and influence global change could be tracked and controlled in the same way as wanted criminals, according to new research from Queen Mary, University of London. Contact: Sian Halkyard Public Release: 8-Feb-2012
Barriers to the use of fingerprint evidence in court is unlocked by statistical model Fingerprints that are potential key pieces of evidence in court currently are not being considered due to shortcomings in the way this evidence is reported. Now, a statistical model has been developed that enables the weight of fingerprint evidence to be expressed in quantitative terms, paving the way for its full inclusion in the process of identifying criminals, according to a report that will be published in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Contact: Barbara Kennedy Public Release: 8-Feb-2012
Utilizing risk-adjustment strategies to navigate an equitable road toward health-care reform Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health examine why health reform could lead to favorable or adverse risk selection across health plans. The article reviews provisions within the Affordable Care Act legislation and discusses key risk-adjustment implementation issues for states establishing health insurance exchanges. Results from a simulation using data from 5 million insured persons show how risk-adjusted transfer payments will be essential to help minimize selection bias across participating health plans. Contact: Tim Parsons Public Release: 8-Feb-2012
Statistical model unlocks barriers to use of fingerprint evidence in court Potentially key fingerprint evidence is currently not being considered due to shortcomings in the way it is reported, according to a report published today in Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association. Researchers involved in the study have devised a statistical model to enable the weight of fingerprint evidence to be quantified, paving the way for its full inclusion in the criminal identification process. Contact: Jennifer Beal Public Release: 8-Feb-2012
'Explorers,' who embrace the uncertainty of choices, use specific part of cortex As they try to find the best reward among options, some people explore based on how uncertain they are about the outcome of the options. Those who employ that thought process, unlike people who use other strategies, uniquely harness the computational power of the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, a new study finds. Contact: David Orenstein Public Release: 7-Feb-2012
Warning! Collision imminent! Researchers at The Neuro and the University of Maryland have figured out the mathematical calculations that specific neurons employ in order to inform us of our distance from an object and the 3-D velocities of moving objects and surfaces relative to ourselves. Contact: Anita Kar Public Release: 6-Feb-2012
Odds of living a very long life lower than formerly predicted The chances to reach extreme old age are much lower than previously thought, new research shows. Research just published by a team of demographers at the social science research organization NORC at the University of Chicago contradicts a long-held belief that the mortality rate of Americans flattens out above age 80. It also explains why there are only half as many people in the US age 100 and above than the Census Bureau has predicted. Contact: William Harms Public Release: 3-Feb-2012
NYU Courant researchers weigh methods to more accurately measure genome sequencing Researchers at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences evaluate some current methods to sequence individual genomes -- a study that serves as a "stress test" of the efficacy of these practices. Contact: James Devitt Public Release: 2-Feb-2012
Hand counts of votes may cause errors, says new Rice University study Hand counting of votes in postelection audit or recount procedures can result in error rates of up to two percent, according to a new study from Rice University and Clemson University. Contact: David Ruth Public Release: 2-Feb-2012
Predicting system crashes in nature and society The researchers present a mathematical methodology that uses easily obtainable information to providing early warning of crashes in natural or societal systems such as fisheries or economies. Contact: Dr. Steven J. Lade Public Release: 1-Feb-2012
A new system of stereo cameras detects pedestrians from within the car A team of German researchers, with the help of a lecturer at the University of Alcalá, has developed a system that locates pedestrians in front of the vehicle using artificial vision. Soon to be integrated into the top-of-the-range Mercedes vehicles, the device includes two cameras and a unit that process information supplied in real time by all image points. Contact: SINC Public Release: 1-Feb-2012
Wireless power could revolutionize highway transportation, Stanford researchers say A Stanford University research team has designed a high-efficiency charging system that uses magnetic fields to wirelessly transmit large electric currents between metal coils placed several feet apart. The long-term goal of the research is to develop an all-electric highway that wirelessly charges cars and trucks as they cruise down the road. Contact: Mark Shwartz Public Release: 31-Jan-2012
Built to withstand almost anything Thanks to Homeland Security's Science & Technology Directorate, communities can fortify today's critical structures -- and design tomorrow's -- to absorb blows and remain open if assaulted by extreme earth, wind, water, fire, or man. Contact: John Verrico Public Release: 31-Jan-2012
From opening thunder to closing whimper Thanks to lightning-fast software from Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, calculating bomb blast shockwaves in urban canyons is now possible. Contact: John Verrico Public Release: 31-Jan-2012
Risk-based passenger screening could make air travel safer A study by Illinois researchers demonstrates that intensive screening of all airline passengers actually makes the system less secure by overtaxing security resources, while risk-based methods increase overall security. The researchers developed three algorithms dealing with risk uncertainty in the passenger population. Then, they ran simulations to demonstrate how their algorithms could estimate risk in the overall passenger population and how errors in this estimation procedure can be mitigated to reduce the risk to the overall system. Contact: Liz Ahlberg Public Release: 31-Jan-2012
Study: Vast majority of EU citizens are marginalized by dominance of English language A new study finds nearly two-thirds of the European Union's 500 million people are linguistically disenfranchised because they don't speak English, the EU's dominant official language. Historically, political regimes have mandated single languages for efficiency or social control. But limiting linguistic diversity can backfire, says economist Shlomo Weber, Southern Methodist University, study co-author. Weber and economist Victor Ginsburgh, Free University of Brussels, present a methodology that quantifies the costs and the benefits of reducing diversity. Contact: Margaret Allen Public Release: 30-Jan-2012
Oxygen molecule survives to enormously high pressures Using computer simulations, a RUB researcher has shown that the oxygen molecule is stable up to pressures of 1.9 terapascal, which is about nineteen million times higher than atmosphere pressure. Above that, it polymerizes, i.e. builds larger molecules or structures. In cooperation with colleagues from University College London, the University of Cambridge, and the National Research Council of Canada, the researcher also reports that the behavior of oxygen with increasing pressure is very complicated. Contact: Dr. Jian Sun Public Release: 26-Jan-2012
Notre Dame researchers publish new findings on aging pediatric bruises A multi-university research group which includes several University of Notre Dame faculty and graduate students, has recently published a paper detailing new work on the analysis and dating of human bruises. The research, which is funded by the Gerber Foundation, will have particular application to pediatric medicine, as bruise age is often key evidence in child abuse cases. Contact: Mark Alber Public Release: 25-Jan-2012
Aiding cancer therapy by mathematically modeling tumor-immune interactions A paper published last month in the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics proposes a differential equation model to describe tumor-immune interactions. Contact: Karthika Muthukumaraswamy Public Release: 25-Jan-2012
Mathematics confirm the chaos of the Spanish labor market Unemployment time series in Spain behave in a chaotic way according to a study at the University of Seville. Such chaos demonstrates the complex and unpredictable nature of the Spanish labor market in the long run. However, short-term patterns can be predicted using complex mathematical models. Contact: SINC Public Release: 25-Jan-2012
Optimal basketball shooting rate proposed based on mathematical model NBA players may be too conservative with their shots, according to a comparison with a theoretical model describing shot selection reported Jan. 25 in the online journal PLoS ONE. Contact: Yael Franco Public Release: 24-Jan-2012
The evolution of division of labor Division of labor is not only a defining feature of human societies but is also omnipresent among the building blocks of biological organisms and is considered a major theme of evolution. Theoretical Biologists Claus Rueffler and Joachim Hermisson from Vienna University in collaboration with Guenter P. Wagner from Yale University identified necessary conditions under which division of labor is favored by natural selection. The results of their study are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Contact: Claus Rueffler |