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Tag: analysis

  • We’re getting better at wildlife conservation, AI study of scientific abstracts suggests

    We’re getting better at wildlife conservation, AI study of scientific abstracts suggests

    Researchers are using a kind of machine learning known as sentiment analysis to assess the successes and failures of wildlife conservation over time. In their study, appearing March 19 in Patterns—a new open access data science journal from Cell Press—the researchers assessed the abstracts of more than 4,000 studies of species reintroduction across four decades and found that, generally speaking, we’re getting better and better at reintroducing species to the wild. They say that machine learning could be used in this field and others to identify the best techniques and solutions from among the ever-growing volume of scientific research.

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    https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-wildlife-ai-scientific-abstracts.html

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  • Analysis suggests UK still not doing enough to prevent covid-19 deaths

    Analysis suggests UK still not doing enough to prevent covid-19 deaths

    To really reduce the potential coronavirus death toll, modelling suggests that the UK needs to bring in stricter social distancing and perhaps close schools
    Analysis suggests UK still not doing enough to prevent covid-19 deaths
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    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237755-analysis-suggests-uk-still-not-doing-enough-to-prevent-covid-19-deaths/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home

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  • Analysis reveals photovoltaic systems in U.S. operating as expected

    Analysis reveals photovoltaic systems in U.S. operating as expected

    The vast majority of solar panels are living up to expectations for energy production after five years, according to a new analysis of 100,000 photovoltaic (PV) systems across the United States.

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    https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-analysis-reveals-photovoltaic.html

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  • AI-powered shoes unlock the secrets of your sole

    AI-powered shoes unlock the secrets of your sole

    Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have developed an AI-powered, smart insole that instantly turns any shoe into a portable gait-analysis laboratory.

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    https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-ai-powered-secrets-sole.html

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  • Every Arabica coffee plant may come from a single common ancestor

    Every Arabica coffee plant may come from a single common ancestor

    Genetic analysis suggests all Arabica coffee plants are descended from a single common ancestor, and this lack of genetic diversity makes them vulnerable to extinction
    Every Arabica coffee plant may come from a single common ancestor
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    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237296-every-arabica-coffee-plant-may-come-from-a-single-common-ancestor/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home

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  • The unmet need for social context in family planning

    The unmet need for social context in family planning

    New evidence on the relationship between sexual health and social context finds a strong association between gender equality, education and family planning

    Twenty-five years ago, two global events – the International Conference on Population and Development and the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing – formally recognized that women’s health and reproductive choices cannot be separated from the social context of their lives.

    Now, researchers have created a dataset which brings together national surveys from 74 countries, representing 3 million women. For the first time, it allows them to describe trends in demand/use of modern contraceptives alongside social and economic indicators.

    The data is published in The Lancet Global Health and is authored by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the World Health Organization.

    It shows that, over time, women are more likely to have their demand for modern contraception met in countries where gender equality and their educational opportunities improve.

    Gender equality and education increases access to modern contraception

    Trends in sexual activity and demand for use and use of modern contraceptive methods in 74 countries: a retrospective analysis of nationally representative surveys finds that met need for modern contraception is strongly correlated with positive shifts in social structures.
    For every 0.1-point increase in a country’s gender development index, it found a 6.7% rise in women who were sexually active and did not want to conceive. Of those women, an additional 13.5% used modern methods to prevent a pregnancy.

    Expectations of every girl’s right to education also made a difference. Each extra year in schooling is linked to an increase of 2.3% in demand, and a 4.7% increase in use of modern contraceptive methods.

    “This study shows how every woman must negotiate her reproductive autonomy within the social framework in which she lives, responding to barriers and opportunities as they emerge,” says Dr Lale Say, one of the authors of the study and Unit Head at WHO and HRP.

    “Gender equality is both a precondition and a driving force for securing women’s reproductive health and rights – as well as the sustainable development targets, which are our best chance for delivering health and well-being for all.”

    Global trends reveal new challenges in family planning

    Overall, the data reinforce global trends: more time spent sexually-active and single, postponement of parenthood, and the near-universal desire for smaller families.

    The study also highlights where action is needed at country-level to avoid family planning services falling behind demand.

    Out of the 74 countries analyzed, 42 showed an increase in demand for contraception. Only 37 countries show an increase in use of a modern method to prevent pregnancy.

    Although unmet need for contraception declined in 34 countries, it increased in 14 countries. Significantly more progress is needed, and faster, to ensure each girl and woman is able to access the sexual and reproductive health services she needs.

    Barriers and solutions to reproductive health and rights

    Gender equality can affect contraceptive use in many ways. From the personal and political degree to which women are free to choose their sexual activity, to accessing family planning services it can also shape any power imbalances within personal relationships. This study supports recent efforts by WHO to adopt a broader, integrated concept of sexual and reproductive health – and to translate it into a framework for policy and practice.

    The authors argue that family planning targets in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will not be met without a profound shift: from focus on ‘access to contraception’, to broader aspects of sexual health and social context.

    Since reproductive health and women’s empowerment are intertwined, trends in contraceptive use can also reveal progress towards another global target: progress towards gender equality.

     

    The unmet need for social context in family planning
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    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/10-03-2020-the-unmet-need-for-social-context-in-family-planning

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  • Analysis: Android has more vulnerabilities than Windows 10

    Analysis: Android has more vulnerabilities than Windows 10

    Although Windows 10 users are used to complaining about bugs and upgrades, they may be surprised to learn that Android and Linux have more vulnerabilities.

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  • LSU professor relaunches fake news and disinformation resource website

    LSU professor relaunches fake news and disinformation resource website

    LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication professor Leonard Apcar is relaunching a website designed to aggregate news, analysis and research about fake news and disinformation for students, academics and citizens to defend themselves against misinformation.

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  • Data centers use less energy than you think

    Data centers use less energy than you think

    If the world is using more and more data, then it must be using more and more energy, right? Not so, says a comprehensive new analysis.

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  • The economic cost of female genital mutilation

    The economic cost of female genital mutilation

    An interactive data tool launched by WHO reveals for the first time the current and future financial cost of health care for women living with conditions caused by female genital mutilation (FGM).

    The total costs amount to USD 1.4 billion annually.

    fgm-cost-thumbnail

    The FGM Cost Calculator is being launched on this year’s International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM. This new tool shows that if FGM were abandoned now the associated savings
    in health costs would be more than 60% by 2050. This data, available for 27 of the 30 countries where FGM is practiced, will strengthen the economic argument of community activists, policy makers, programme planners and donors working to end this
    human rights violation.

    Q&As on the FGM Cost Calculator
    Access the FGM Cost Calculator

    A human rights violation with economic costs

    FGM includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. More than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where FGM is concentrated.
    [1] An extreme form of gender discrimination, it is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women: including the right to health, security and physical integrity and the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman
    or degrading treatment.

    FGM has no health benefits and causes only harm. Women and girls who are subjected to FGM are at risk of both short- and long-term negative health consequences – including for their physical, sexual, mental, and social well-being.

    The direct financial cost of treating the negative health complications caused by FGM can span generations, starting as early as childbirth. This puts a significant economic burden on health systems and national budgets, especially in countries with rates
    of FGM greater than 10%.

    Until now, there have been limited data on the financial costs associated with FGM, making it hard to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of programmes and policies that can prevent FGM by 2030 – a global priority in the Sustainable Development Agenda.
    The new WHO Cost Calculator now provides an economic argument which can be used by those advocating for an end to FGM.

    Calculating health care costs of FGM

    Users of the new FGM Cost Calculator can choose a country and identify current costs of treating health conditions caused by FGM. Since the tool is interactive, it produces bespoke graphs showing the potential amount of money saved if FGM is prevented
    by a selected percentage.

    If no action is taken to prevent FGM, it is estimated that related health costs will soar by 50% by 2050, as populations grow and as more girls undergo the procedure.

    How it works

    The FGM Cost Calculator combines data on health risk associated with FGM, health costs and national FGM prevalence to analyze the economic impact on national health services of treating the consequences of these harmful practices.

    Health risk data were taken from a WHO database created for this analysis, pooling all available information from systematic reviews of health consequences of FGM. The following categories were used, each with a biological link to FGM: gynaecological,
    obstetric, urological, mental and sexual, as well as the immediate health complications that can result following the cutting.

    To be included in the calculator, a health condition needed to show evidence of increased risk when comparing women with and without FGM. It also needed to have a treatment which could be implemented and costed in the health sector.

    Health costs were calculated from the WHO One Health Tool and other data. The financial burden of treating selected health conditions was calculated at a national level.

    A strong case for investment in preventing FGM

    Rates of FGM have declined over the past 30 years, but not fast enough to keep up with population growth. If trends continue, the number of girls and women undergoing FGM will rise significantly in the next 15 years, in turn raising national health care
    costs of caring for them.

    Additional resources are urgently needed to scale up interventions that can prevent FGM in the future and reduce health complications.

    By providing quantifiable numbers on the cost of treating health conditions directly linked to FGM, for the first time, the FGM Cost Calculator can be a crucial tool in building an investment case for a future where no girl or woman is cut.

    [1] Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Global Concern, UNICEF, New York, 2016
    The economic cost of female genital mutilation
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    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/06-02-2020-economic-cost-of-female-genital-mutilation

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