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Creating noise oases in open-plan workspaces
Michael J. Berens Interior Design, Furnishings & FixturesSound masking systems, sound-absorbing ceiling tiles and panels, and enclosed pods are just some of the ways designers have attempted to combat the high levels of noise that plague open-plan workspaces. For their part, employees have resorted to wearing headphones or using white noise machines to block out unwanted ambient sound. None of these strategies has proven to be wholly effective. New technologies, however, may offer a more satisfactory solution.
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The effects of loneliness on our hearts
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareIt is well-known that our hearts often respond to our emotional state. For example, broken heart syndrome, also known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy or takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is a recently recognized heart problem. Symptoms of broken heart syndrome can look like those of a heart attack. But a broken heart may not be the only emotional stressor that affects our hearts. Loneliness may also be bad for the heart and may even lead to premature death.
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Why I started reading storybooks to my older students
Sheilamary Koch EducationWhen I was a preschool teacher, reading to my students daily was a requirement for the school’s ELL program — well-supported by a bin of illustrated storybooks in the classroom. But as I began teaching progressively higher grade levels, the amount I read to them progressively decreased. By the time I was teaching ninth-graders, the storybook bin had disappeared from the classroom and I’d stopped reading story books to my students all together — except for one time.
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Is there a market solution to the feral hog problem?
John McAdams Recreation & LeisureTexans have been struggling with the feral hog problem in the state for years now, and it’s pretty clear that traditional hunting and trapping methods aren’t enough to contain their growth. What if, instead of using poison (regardless of whether it’s warfarin- or sodium nitrite-based) to control hog numbers, there was a market-based solution to the problem? That's what some researchers from Texas A&M University-Galveston are trying to do with invasive numbers of lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Automated robotic device draws blood, performs analysis
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareResearchers from Rutgers have developed an automated blood drawing and testing device that promises quick results. Speeding up blood testing could potentially improve hospital workflow and allow practitioners to spend more time treating patients. The research team published a description of their fully automated device online in the journal TECHNOLOGY. "This device represents the holy grail in blood testing technology," said Martin L. Yarmush, senior author of the study, in a press release.
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The importance of career and tech education in today’s schools
Brian Stack EducationOn the afternoon of their certificate ceremony from the Seacoast School of Technology in Exeter, New Hampshire, a couple hundred soon-to-be Career and Technical Education (CTE) graduates from my high school as well as some of the surrounding high schools filed into the school cafeteria for what they thought was a pizza party and a raffle drawing for a new pair of workboots from the local Timberland corporate office. This was a follow-up to the survey that Timberland gave students a month earlier, asking for their shoe sizes. What happened next shocked not only the students, but also the teachers and administrators of the CTE school.
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Why Facebook might not be the go-to news source anymore
Emma Fitzpatrick CommunicationsWake up. Roll over. Look at Facebook. See your friends. Read the news. For many, it’s a morning ritual. In fact, 46 percent of Americans look at their smartphone when they first wake up, according to a 2017 Report Linker survey. Up until now, Facebook has been the one-stop-shop for all the info you need before you get out of bed: the weather, friendly faces and the latest news stories. But, this year, the times are changing.
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Research shows that physicians could be better served by EHRs
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationSixty-three percent of physicians say electronic health records (EHRs) have led to improved patient care, and 66 percent are at least somewhat satisfied with their current systems. However, a large portion see room for improvement, translating to 59 percent who think EHRs need a complete overhaul; 40 percent who think there are more challenges with EHRs than benefits; and only 18 percent saying they are "very satisfied" with their current systems, a new report by Stanford Medicine points out.
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Reducing the need for corticosteroids in treating severe asthma
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareSevere asthma includes up to 20 percent of asthma patients who have frequent and severe symptoms despite aggressive therapy with anti-inflammatory and other controller medications. Current treatments for severe asthma often include high doses of corticosteroids, such as prednisone, to control exacerbations. Reducing the need for corticosteroids with alternative treatments is preferable because these medications are associated with serious side effects from prolonged use, including multi-organ toxicities and immunosuppression.
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Beauty products increasingly turn focus to the skin’s microbiome
Cherie Buziak Science & TechnologyA growing area of scientific research in skin health is the skin’s microbiome. For the most part, the beauty industry has been able to easily define new technologies in their personal care products and how they benefit skin at a cosmetic level. However, the skin’s microbiome is a bit more complex, and this ecosystem is still being studied. The findings are proving to be more interesting and intriguing than how cosmetic technologies have been discovered and introduced in the past.
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