Tag: economics
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University at Buffalo to Close Shale Research Center
The president of University at Buffalo in New York closed an industry-funded research institute doing studies on shale gas. Satish Tripathi announced the decision to close the Shale Resources and Society Institute yesterday in an open letter to the university community. In the letter, Tripathi said the university’s geographic proximity to large shale deposits holding…
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More U.S. Primary Doctors Using Electronic Health Records
A greater percentage of primary care doctors in the U.S. now use electronic medical records in their practices, according to an international survey by the Commonwealth Fund, but lag in other indicators of affordability and administrative time. The survey findings were reported online today in the journal Health Affairs. The research team, led by Commonwealth…
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University Project Aims to Cut Nursing Home Hospitalizations
A new project at University of Missouri school of nursing aims to cut avoidable hospitalizations among nursing home residents. The study, led by nursing professor Marilyn Rantz is funded by a four-year $15 million grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.…
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Life Sciences Can Generate Start-Ups, With a Little Help
A case study of innovation in the life sciences in San Francisco shows academic researchers, with the right kind of support, can generate a high number of start-up companies producing new products for the marketplace. The study focuses on the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) and its entrepreneurial programs, which appears in this week’s…
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Americans Use More Gas and Renewables, Less Coal in 2011
Americans used less energy overall in 2011 than in 2010 due mainly to reductions in the amount of energy wasted, along with natural gas and renewable sources increasing, and coal declining. The findings were published in an annual accounting of national energy supply and demand by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, based on data from the…
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Consortium to Develop Northeast U.S. Biofuels Supply Chains
Pennsylvania State University in University Park will lead a consortium of institutions, national labs, and companies to develop biofuel production and supply chain demonstration projects in the U.S. Northeast. The $10 million, five-year project is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. The Northeast Woody/Warm-season Biomass Consortium, or NEWBio, will…
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Grant to Fund Study of Cyber Crime Economics, Networks
Computer scientists at University of California in San Diego, University of California in Berkeley, and George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia received a National Science Foundation grant to better understand the economics and network dynamics of cyber crime. The five-year, $10 million study will investigate economic motivations and social interactions among cyber criminals, as well…
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Report: U.S. Health Care Needs to Adopt Learning Culture
A new report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), part of the National Academies of Science, says the U.S. health care system pays too much for outcomes that fall short on quality, but can learn from other industries to continuously improve the quality of care at lower cost. The committee that prepared the report for…
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University Prof. Develops Lightweight Pipeline Material
A University of Arizona engineering professor designed a new, lightweight underground pipe material, with a company he founded taking the invention, as well as the innovative manufacturing methods, to market. Mo Ehsani, Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at Arizona (pictured left), will discuss the new pipe material next week at American Society of Civil Engineers…
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Color Codes, Eye-Level Positions Boost Healthy Food Choices
A hospital’s program encouraging more healthful cafeteria food choices through color-coded labels and the positioning of items in display cases was found successful across all categories of employees. A team from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, led by Harvard University public health professor Douglas Levy, published a study of the program online in the American…