Thinking Allowed

medical / technology / education / art / flub

showing posts for 'ni'

Psychology of panic buying

I've been fascinated by the psychology of panic buying and it is clearly an area for future research. It has an enormous impact on delivery infrastructure and I wonder if anyone has been tracking the data of the causes and the impact in the current fuel 'crisis'. A systematic review from last year identified...
Source: nih.gov

New WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines aim to save millions of lives from air pollution

"Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health, alongside climate change. New guidelines provide clear evidence of the damage air pollution inflicts on human health, at even lower concentrations than previously understood." "Global assessments of ambient air pollution alone...
Source: who.int

The Impact of Mask Distribution and Promotion on Mask Uptake and COVID-19 in Bangladesh

A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that face masks can protect against COVID-19. There is, however, limited rigorous evidence on the extent to which mask-wearing is effective in reducing COVID-19 in a real-life situation with imperfect and inconsistent mask use. In Bangladesh, researchers...
Source: poverty-action.org

This is the real story of the Afghan biometric databases abandoned to the Taliban – MIT Technology Review


Source: technologyreview.com

Development and validation of teacher and student questionnaires measuring inhibitors of curriculum viability - BMC Medical

Background Curriculum viability is determined by the degree to which quality standards have or have not been met, and by the inhibitors that affect attainment of those standards. The literature reports many ways to evaluate whether a curriculum reaches its quality standards, but less attention is paid...
Source: biomedcentral.com

OpenAI's Codex Translates Everyday Language Into Computer Code

The company believes its Codex machine learning algorithm is the next step in programming—a sidekick for coders to speed up the work and ease the drudgery.
Source: singularityhub.com

U.S. employers get religion with vaccine mandates

As coronavirus infections rise again, U.S. companies mandating vaccinations are confronting an uncomfortable question rarely asked by an employer - what is an employee's religious belief?
Source: reuters.com

New WHO toolkit promotes inclusion of people with dementia in society

“Towards a dementia-inclusive society: WHO toolkit for dementia-friendly initiatives”, launched today, is WHO’s latest response for establishing and scaling-up dementia-friendly initiatives globally. The toolkit helps countries raise public awareness and understanding of dementia to support people...
Source: who.int

Canada blocks proposed Rocky Mountain coal mine on environmental grounds

Canada on Friday formally blocked a proposal to build a steelmaking coal mine in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, citing what it said would be the significant environmental damage.
Source: reuters.com

Covid Disguises Chronic Scarcity of Workers for U.K. Recovery

“The acute labor shortage because of self isolation is masking the systemic challenge for businesses struggling to recruit after Brexit.”
Source: bloomberg.com

Clinically contextualised ECG interpretation: the impact of prior clinical exposure and case vignettes on ECG diagnostic

Does teaching ECGs with a clinical vignette improve training? Not greatly ... but having seen a condition previously (and presumably the ECG that went with it) is probably best. The researchers concluded that "ECG training should therefore not rely on experiential learning alone, but instead be supplemented...
Source: biomedcentral.com

Investors overseeing $14 trln call for vote on company climate plans

Investors managing $14 trillion in assets on Friday said they wanted all companies to set a climate transition plan and allow them to vote on it, ahead of next year's season for annual general meetings.
Source: reuters.com

Gout and 'Podagra' in medieval Cambridge, England - PubMed International journal of paleopathology.

"The high prevalence rate of gout in the friary is at least partly explained by the consumption of alcohol and purine-rich diets by the friars and the wealthy townsfolk. Medieval medical texts from Cambridge show that gout (known as podagra) was sometimes treated with medications made from the root of...
Source: nih.gov

How global conferences are using tech to stay in business

"Moving events online kept the industry going during the pandemic and now they're here to stay." Notable mentions of the conferences Collision, Web Summit, and RISE, and the speed networking software Mingle. "[T]he Distance Learning Association's Thomas Capone says that the future of meetings and events...
Source: bbc.com

Pegasus: Spyware sold to governments 'targets activists'

Israeli tech firm NSO denies media reports that its software has been sold to authoritarian regimes. The Android and iOS spyware can apparently see photographs and contacts, log everything that is typed, and turn on the camera and microphone.
Source: bbc.com

Can Money Buy Happiness? A Review of New Data

Everyone knows the adage “money can’t buy happiness,” although few of us seem to believe it. The best-known theory on this topic is that money actually can buy happiness, but only up to a point. This comes from a study by two Nobel Laureates, Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton (2010), which found...
Source: givingwhatwecan.org

Blended learning is brighter, broader, and here to stay - eCampus News

Blended learning has transformed higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, and institutions should continue to leverage its benefits.
Source: ecampusnews.com

England's 'freedom day' marred by soaring cases and isolation chaos

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'freedom day' ending over a year of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in England was marred on Monday by surging infections, warnings of supermarket shortages and his own forced self-isolation.
Source: reuters.com

Clubhouse And Education

"New App Has Exciting Potential For Today’s Educators | Emerging Education Technologies" I've used Clubhouse for a couple of months and it certainly provides the opportunity for communities to come together and invite expert speakers. It is refreshing in that it doesn't have screen time and you can...
Source: emergingedtech.com

US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

A cyber-security firm says it believes the Russia-linked REvil ransomware gang is responsible.
Source: bbc.com