BALTIMORE, MD, May 24, 2025 – Most anti-human trafficking efforts focus on breaking up sex sales; however, new research in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management is turning its attention to where trafficking truly begins – recruitment. Using machine learning to analyze millions of online ads, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have uncovered patterns that link deceptive job offers to sex trafficking networks. By mapping the connections between recruitment and sales locations, the study reveals a hidden supply chain – one that can now be exposed and interrupted earlier in the trafficking process.
Drugs being explicitly developed to treat rare diseases are getting more expensive.
Old technology is behind the recent ongoing delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport, but newer technology will be an important part of the solution.
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As you have probably noticed, Malaysia is under a movement control order (MCO) right now, which is basically an order for most people to stay at home and avoid unnecessary contact with other people.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday said that the US could become the new center of the coronavirus pandemic, a prediction that every day looks closer to coming true. As of Thursday, the US was only 6,219 infections behind China’s total: China had reported 81,285 infections, while the US had 75,066.
It’s not a matter of if, but when.
That’s what disease experts are saying about a second wave of coronavirus cases, even as governments and health systems across this country are overwhelmed by a still-rising first wave of patients requiring hospital care. But the likelihood is getting more attention across the world, as other countries that are further along in their disease progression start to see the end of their initial wave of Covid-19 cases and, along with low numbers, begin loosening restrictions on movement and gatherings.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought medical supply chains into the spotlight. There has been a national shortage of testing kits, and at least one drug is already unavailable because of the outbreak, though it hasn’t been publicly named.
The COVID-19 crisis may be unfolding on an unprecedented scale, but to U-M engineering associate professor Siqian Shen, its web of logistical puzzles seems eerily familiar. Where to put testing centers, which public facilities to close, and how to allocate ICU beds and design medical triage processes are the kinds of problems that industrial operations researchers like her have been solving for decades. She believes models that are saving businesses money today could be used to save lives tomorrow.
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