Harvard Working Paper suggests that occupational licensing reduces competition and fails to improve consumer satisfaction; More on the health-care robot that automates needle insertion for blood draws and fluid delivery; Glassware in Japan dates to Persian dynasty between years 226 and 551; Study in Finland finds that pet dogs are surprisingly anxious and stressed; and a Steem photo-essay with original nature-photography from Bangladesh
Note
*** Due to scheduling conflicts, it is likely that there will be no post in this series tomorrow (March 8, 2020). ***
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First posted on my Steem blog: SteemIt, SteemPeak*, StemGeeks.
- Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing - In the working paper, Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing, Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin, Bradley Larsen, and Erik Brynjolfsson find that more stringent occupational licensing laws restrict competition but don't lead to an increase in consumer satisfaction. The authors researched this conclusion by studying online review ratings for residential home services and comparing outcomes for work done by people with and without site-verified licensing. They further confirmed the finding with an independent consumer survey.
- Robot Uses Artificial Intelligence and Imaging to Draw Blood - Previously covered in Curating the Internet: Science and technology digest for February 25, 2020, here's more about the device from New Robot Does Superior Job Sampling Blood and Deep Learning Robotic Guidance for Autonomous Vascular Access. The tabletop device uses artificial intelligence (AI) and sensors based on infrared and ultrasound imaging in order to insert needles or catheters that can be used for blood draws and fluid delivery, and it accomplishes the tasks as skillfully as expert humans. This opens the door for professional healthcare workers to devote their time to more challenging and less mundane activities. Senior author, Martin L. Yarmush summarizes the project by saying, "Using volunteers, models, and animals, our team showed that the device can accurately pinpoint blood vessels, improving success rates and procedure times compared with expert health care professionals, especially with difficult to access blood vessels." Additionally, the device can be modified to draw blood in rodents, which is a task that is important for scientific research. Finally, it can be part of a fully automatic process to draw blood and pass it along for downstream analysis. The article notes that, "The lead author is Alvin Chen and co-authors are Max L. Balter and Timothy J. Maguire, who all earned doctorates at Rutgers under the supervision of Yarmush."
- Glassware found on Okinoshima island came from ancient Persia - In a March 1 announcement, researchers at the Okinoshima island World Heritage site, described finding a fragment of glass from a bowl that originally came from "ancient Persia during the Sassanian dynasty (226-651)". The 5.6 centimeter fragment's age was determined by X-Ray imaging, which dated it to the 5th through 7th centuries. By comparing the characteristics to known samples, the glass was determined to share characteristics with other cut glass from the Sassanian dynasty. In particular, a distinguishing characteristic was the way that the molten glass had been mixed with ashes of plants. In conclusion, the article said,
Makiko Fukushima, curator of Munakata Taisha Shinpokan museum, said: “We were able to gain very precious insight into where the unearthed items were created, the route used to bring them to Japan and the degree of influence of those involved in the ceremonies where such glassware was used.”
-h/t archaeology.org - Dogs Are Surprisingly Stressed and Anxious, Study Finds - Research published on March 5th in Scientific Reports suggests that 72% of pet dogs exhibit anxiety behaviors such as fear of strangers or sensitivity to noise, and the severity of symptoms varies across breeeds. The researchers stuided 13,715 dogs of 264 breeds, including 200 mixed-breed dogs. The data came from online questionnaires that were completed by dog-owners in Finland. The article goes on to note that surveys that rely on self-reporting are often viewed with a skeptical eye, but that previous studies suggest that these methods “measure dog behavior accurately and that dog personality questionnaires are as reliable or even slightly more reliable than human personality questionnaires”. -h/t RealClear Science
- Steem @deepu7: The restless dragonfly and butterfly || Behind The Photo Contest, Edition #7 - This post is an entry in the @behindthephoto contest on the Steem blockchain. It contains original close-up nature photography of dragonflies, butterflies, bees and flowers in Bangladesh. The post describing the contest is here. (A 10% beneficiary setting has been applied to this post for @deepu7.)
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