Digital Gems

The worst problems are in the neighborhoods that aren’t gentrifying.

The new multifamily buildings in your neighborhood actually slow displacement.

The company is still figuring out which colleges will be part of the program, which rolls out in January, but Amazon may be imposing a yearly maximum of $5,250 per employee.

The science of decision making can help us understand the process we use to identify and choose alternatives and to produce a final choice.

In this brief, William Frey recaps the year's immigration trends and examines alternative Census Bureau projections that reinforce the crucial role immigration will play in future population growth.

Methodology reminders, including some important updates: I go by FULLY vaccinated residents only (defined as 2 doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine). I base my percentages on the total population, as opposed to adults only or those over 11 years old. For most states + DC I use the daily data from the Centers for Disease Control, but there are some where the CDC is either missing county-level data entirely or where the CDC data is less than 90% complete at the county level. Therefore: For Hawaii, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia, I'm using data from the COVID Act Now Risk & Vaccine Tracker database. For Colorado, Georgia, New Mexico and Texas, I'm using their COVID vaccine dashboards set up by the state health departments. For California, I'm using the CDC data for most counties and the state health dept. dashboard data for the 8 small counties which the CDC isn't allowed to post data for. For Massachusetts, I'm using the CDC data for most counties but am now using the official Massachusetts Health Dept. weekly data report for Barnstable, Dukes & Nantucket counties, which the CDC only has partial data for.

Gilbert N. Michaels, of West Los Angeles, Calif., preyed on tens of thousands of small businesses and charities by overcharging them for toner they didn’t need, federal prosecutors said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many people to suffer from emotional distress. Previous studies suggest that women process and express affective experiences, such as fear, with a greater intensity compared to men. We administered an online survey to a sample of participants in the United States that measures fear of COVID-19, perceptions about health and financial risks, and preventative measures taken. Despite the empirical fact that men are more likely to experience adverse health consequences from COVID-19, women report greater fear and more negative expectations about health-related consequences of COVID-19 than men. However, women are more optimistic than men regarding the financial consequences of the pandemic. Women also report more negative emotional experiences generally during the pandemic, particularly in situations where other people or the government take actions that make matters worse. Though women report taking more preventative measures than men in response to the pandemic, gender differences in behavior are reduced after controlling for fear. These results shed light on how differences in emotional experiences of the pandemic may inform policy interventions.

Tokyo University of Science official website. Information about Media at TUS.

An Alameda County judge ruled that UC Berkeley must study the impacts of its enrollment growth before it expands any further.

The collective action by student residential staff is a significant escalation with the University just over a week before frosh are set to arrive on campus.

Much of the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) discussion revolves around futuristic dreams of both utopia and dystopia. From extreme to extreme, the promises range from solutions to global climate …

Veronica Wu serves on the board of VF Corporation, one of the world's biggest apparel companies.

SurveyMonkey delivers People Powered Data to organizations around the world. From simple surveys to advanced feedback solutions and enterprise offerings, SurveyMonkey products work for any use case or budget

On Android at least

A team of security researchers has published details this week about a suite of 16 vulnerabilities collectively known as BrakTooth that impact the Bluetooth software stack that ships with System-on-Chip (SoC) boards from several popular vendors.

WhatsApp assures users that no one can see their messages — but the company has an extensive monitoring operation and regularly shares personal information with prosecutors.

Background: Population age structure may confound the comparison of age at cancer diagnosis across racial/ethnic groups. We compared age at cancer diagnosis for U.S. Hispanics, a population that is younger on average, and non-Hispanic whites (NHW), before and after adjustment for the age structure of the source population. Methods: We used Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data from 18 U.S. regions in 2015 for 34 cancer sites to calculate crude and adjusted (using age- and sex-specific weights) mean ages at diagnosis. Differences in age at diagnosis comparing Hispanics to NHWs ( δ ) were assessed using independent sample t tests. Results: Crude mean ages at diagnosis were lower among Hispanic males and females for all sites combined and for most cancer sites. After age-adjustment, Hispanic (vs. NHW) males remained younger on average at diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia [ δ = −6.1; 95% confidence interval (CI), −8.1 to −4.1 years], testicular cancer ( δ =−4.7; 95% CI, −5.4 to −4.0), Kaposi sarcoma ( δ =−3.6; 95% CI,−6.3 to −0.8), mesothelioma ( δ =−3.0; 95% CI,−4.3 to −1.7), and anal cancer ( δ =−2.4; 95% CI, −3.9 to −0.8), and older at diagnosis of gallbladder cancer (δ = +3.8; 95% CI, 1.8 to 5.7) and Hodgkin's lymphoma ( δ = +7.5; 95% CI, 5.7 to 9.4), and Hispanic (vs. NHW) females remained younger at diagnosis of mesothelioma ( δ = −3.7; 95% CI, −6.7 to −0.7) and gallbladder cancer ( δ = −3.0; 95% CI, −4.3 to −1.7) and older at diagnosis of skin cancer ( δ = +3.8; 95% CI, 3.1 to 4.5), cervical cancer ( δ = +4.1; 95% CI, 3.3 to 4.8), and Hodgkin's lymphoma ( δ = +7.0; 95% CI, 5.0 to 9.1). Conclusions: On average, Hispanics are diagnosed with cancer at younger ages than NHWs; however, for many cancers these differences reflect the younger age structure in Hispanics. Impact: Population age structure should be considered when comparing age at cancer diagnosis across racial/ethnic groups.

New research by sociologist Andrew Cherlin suggests a historic shift away from the traditional marriage-then-baby continuum among college-educated moms

Check car prices and values when buying and selling new or used vehicles. Find expert reviews and ratings, explore latest car news, get an Instant Cash Offer, and 5-Year Cost to Own information on KBB.com.

The western mega-drought has dried up alarming new sections of some of the largest lakes of the southwest, satellite comparisons show.

The data isn’t reliable for some studies, researchers say.

[July 20, 2021] Our work was recently covered by the New York Times here. You can also find a technical preprint here.