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RAND was at the forefront of early computing and data science. In the 1950s, we built computers to improve researchers' analytic and modeling capabilities. We also developed data communications technologies that were forerunners of the internet. Today, RAND experts recommend policies and best practices to support safe and secure technological innovation and adoption.

Report

Machine Learning Can Detect Online Conspiracy Theories

Apr 29, 2021

As social media platforms work to prevent malicious or harmful uses of their services, an improved model of machine-learning technology can detect and understand conspiracy theory language. Insights from this modeling effort can help counter the effects of online conspiracies.
Commentary

How the Military Might Expand Its Cyber Skills

Apr 22, 2021

The U.S. military will need to improve its software fluency if it wants to be dominant on the battlefields of the future. Ensuring that future leaders in the military develop cyber skills and the ability to interface with technical experts may be increasingly important.

Topics in Focus:

Explore Cyber and Data Sciences

Journal Article

Clinician Perspectives on Methadone Service Delivery and the Use of Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

To explore the impact of the pandemic and accompanying policy changes on service delivery, we asked OTP clinicians about changes in care patterns and perceptions of impacts on access and quality.

May 5, 2021
Report

Insights from the Bin Laden Archive: Inventory of research and knowledge and initial assessment and characterisation of the Bin Laden Archive

The authors present an inventory of current knowledge on Al Qa'ida and of completed and ongoing research on the Bin Laden Archive. They also describe their initial assessment and characterisation of the Bin Laden Archive.

May 5, 2021
Report

Did Experience with Digital Instructional Materials Help Teachers Implement Remote Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Researchers examine teachers' use of digital materials during the 2019–2020 school year, whether digital materials connected to main curricula, and how the use of digital materials before the pandemic connected to teaching during school closures.

May 4, 2021
Journal Article

Assessment of Variation in Electronic Health Record Capabilities and Reported Clinical Quality Performance in Ambulatory Care Clinics, 2014–2017

Between 2014 and 2017, clinics with EHRs having greater capabilities had better quality measures than other clinics, but clinics that gained EHR capabilities during this time had smaller increases in quality that were not statistically significant.

May 4, 2021
Essay

China's Disappeared Uyghurs: What Satellite Images Reveal

At least one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have vanished into a sprawling network of camps and prisons in China's far west. Satellite images show brightly lit compounds, wall after wall of barbed wire, and a sudden rush to build what appear to be fortified preschools.

Apr 29, 2021
Report

Russia and China: Superspreaders of Malign and Subversive Information on COVID-19

Both Russia and China targeted Americans with malign and subversive information campaigns related to the pandemic. What can these campaigns teach us about future information operations from Moscow and Beijing?

Apr 29, 2021
Journal Article

Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial of a Text Messaging-Based Intervention for Smoking Cessation Among Young People Experiencing Homelessness

This is the first study to evaluate the feasibility of using a text messaging-based intervention (TMI) for behavior change with 18–25 year olds experiencing homelessness, and the first to test a TMI to provide ongoing support for smoking cessation.

Apr 28, 2021
Commentary

The Importance of Gathering Evidence of Edtech Impact

Given the increased reliance on technology to support learning, now may be a good time for educational technology companies to start thinking more seriously about the data they collect and how they use it.

Apr 27, 2021
Journal Article

Best Practices and Lessons Learned from Community Engagement and Data Collection Strategies in Post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico

This paper examines community engagement and data collection strategies conducted in post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico, to assess how outreach approaches elicit different perceptions about disaster recovery and to identify best practices.

Apr 27, 2021
Report

Talent Management for U.S. Department of Defense Knowledge Workers: What Does RAND Corporation Research Tell Us?

A synthesis of results from RAND Corporation research on the U.S. Department of Defense's talent management of knowledge workers features areas for improvement and ways for the department to proactively approach talent management.

Apr 26, 2021
Dissertation

Dissemination of Vaccine Misinformation on Twitter and Its Countermeasures

Employs state-of-the-art machine learning models to collect the first dataset of vaccine misinformation from Twitter disseminated from January 2018 to April 2019 and proposes plausible actions.

Apr 21, 2021
Commentary

No Patient Left Behind: Considering Equitable Distribution of Telehealth

The pandemic has revealed telemedicine's potential to improve health care delivery and access. Telemedicine could help reach patients who would normally be excluded or alienated by the traditional structure of the health system.

Apr 20, 2021
Commentary

Unconventional Supply Network Operations: A New Frontier in Global Competition

The technological advances of recent decades that have made supply networks drastically more efficient, valuable, and essential to every element of our daily lives have also created a highly interdependent, largely unsecured portfolio of potential attack surfaces.

Apr 19, 2021
Commentary

The Intelligence Community's Deadly Bias Toward Classified Sources

Even when relevant data is publicly available, U.S. intelligence analysts are not including it in their analytic products during their routine course of business. This willful ignorance of publicly available information is hurting U.S. national security.

Apr 12, 2021
Commentary

Satellite Internet Services—Fostering the Dictator's Dilemma?

The ability to provide relatively low cost internet access outside of government control is both a challenge for authoritarian states and an opportunity for democracies. What are low-altitude, low-latency satellites and why are authoritarian states so concerned?

Apr 12, 2021
Report

Army Analytic Capabilities: A Case Study Within Army Contracting Command and Its Implications

The U.S. Army lacks access to modern, commonplace analytical data management tools, and its data are locked away in siloed and proprietary databases. To solve these two challenges, the authors found an effective, efficient, and quick path forward.

Apr 12, 2021
Journal Article

Low-Value Proton Pump Inhibitor Prescriptions Among Older Adults at a Large Academic Health System

Older adults are particularly vulnerable to complications from proton pump inhibitor drugs. We sought to characterize the prevalence of potentially low-value PPI prescriptions among older adults to inform a quality improvement intervention.

Apr 9, 2021
Research Brief

Improving Behavioral Health Care for Remote Service Members: Three Key Priorities

Service members who are geographically remote from a military treatment facility may face unique challenges accessing high-quality behavioral health care. RAND research identified three key priority areas for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Apr 5, 2021

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RAND Topic:
Cyber and Data Sciences

Topic Synonyms:
Computer and Information Science and Technology;
Computer Science;
Computer Technology;
Computing;
Informatics;
Information Science;
Information Technology;
IS;
IST;
IT

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