Statistics show that urgent care facilities represent one of the fastest-growing segments in American medical care, with about 9,300 clinics operating nationwide. In fact, the Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA) estimates that about 1,300 of those clinics opened up just in the past eight years.

So, what’s fueling the rapid growth of urgent care in the United States? According to Shaun Ginter, an UCAOA board member, “More American are seeking care in an on-demand, convenience-focused environment. Urgent care centers cater to busy lifestyles and the needs of patients.”

Unlike traditional doctors’ offices, urgent care facilities are usually open during evenings and on weekends, and appointments are not necessary. Wait times are also a lot shorter at urgent care centers than at hospital emergency rooms. But it’s not just all about convenience. It’s about cost as well.

Ginter cites controlling rising health care costs as a major factor in the rise of the urgent care industry. Whereas an ER visit might cost around $1,354, the average urgent care visit costs only $150. This is critical for the roughly 35.7 million people in the U.S. without healthcare insurance, as ER visits often cost them even more.

“There’s an inherently high cost with a hospital ER,” he said. “They have very high-cost and highly qualified people and are typically designed as a trauma setting. We’re not staffing with trauma surgeons and heart doctors. In hospital systems, everything is fully integrated and designed for life-or-death situations.”

Urgent care centers, on the other hand, are designed for conditions that need immediate medical attention without being potentially fatal. For instance, urgent care is ideal for treating burns, animal bites and stings, infections, fevers, strep throat, allergic reactions, sprains and dislocations, and deep cuts and abrasions.

A patient suffering from heart attack symptoms, stroke symptoms, major trauma, severe abdominal pain, uncontrolled bleeding, or severe vomiting should seek medical help at an ER where a surgeon and other specialists are on staff.

Urgent care services have increased and expanded drastically around the world since they first began in the 1970s, and medical professionals do not expect the trend to slow down any time soon.

A recent report from FraudLogix claims that online ad fraud activity was found to be highest in certain Google and Microsoft web browsers.

The report states that nearly 50% of the total ad impressions served to Internet Explorer and 20.5% of ad impressions served to Google Chrome were to “non-human” or “bot” traffic.

FraudLogix reportedly studied 135 million individual online ad impressions for a one-week span in July of 2016, analyzed the browsers, and tracked the ads its technology determined were delivered to “non-human” traffic. In addition, it was noted that fraudsters are able to infect browsers with malware and force them to load specific pages in order to manipulate them for financial gain.

These statistics can spell trouble for advertisers, as they can easily be paying for online ads that are never actually seen by real humans. Since marketers in the U.S. are projected to spend nearly $24 billion on online display advertising this year alone, the outcome of this study could have a big impact on how budgets are structured and the effectiveness of online advertising.

Understandably, both Microsoft and Google have questioned the report’s findings, stating that it isn’t possible to accurately measure fraud at the browser level. The use of bots and malware can often produce “fake” traffic that cannot be attributed to a certain browser. Therefore, these findings may be wildly inaccurate.

In addition, the percentage of potential ad fraud may be highest for Google Chrome and Internet Explorer solely because of their widespread usage. Other browsers may also be vulnerable to online ad fraud, but simply aren’t used as often and are therefore not as attractive to fraudsters.

Other browsers studied included Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Fewer than 5% of ad impressions delivered to these browsers were determined to be fraudulent by the report.

The most recent versions of Google Chrome have seemed to address these vulnerability issues, and the company has been seen to take steps to prevent instances of online ad fraud. Although one version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, 11.0, has been discontinued, it is still technically supported by the company and received the highest overall percentage of fake traffic in the study.

In order for marketers to continue to view online advertisements as a viable, attractive option, these vulnerabilities must be continued to be addressed and improved upon. Although the reach of online ads is potentially endless, companies need to be secure in the knowledge that these ads are being seen by real human beings and not bots.

In a well-made car, brakes typically last up to 50,000 miles. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for recent models of America’s top-selling vehicle, the Ford F-150. At least 25 complaints have been reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) alleging sudden brake failure in 2015 and 2016 Ford F-150 pickup trucks.

Last May, a recall was announced for 271,000 model year 2013 and 2014 F-150 pickups because the master cylinders could potentially leak brake fluid, which would cause the brakes to fail. Now, in light of the recent complaints, U.S. safety regulators are investigating whether the recall should be expanded to include newer model years. It should be noted that the 2015 and 2016 models use the same engine that caused problems in the earlier models.

One Florida man told NHTSA that the brakes on his truck failed while he was driving along the Florida Turnpike. As he tried to slow down, the brake pedal hit the floor and the truck continued at 70 miles per hour towards stopped traffic. Fortunately, the driver knew enough to put the truck into neutral and swerve to the side of the road. When he took the truck to the dealership, a mechanic told the owner that the master brake cylinder was failing, and that the company was aware of this common issue.

“Why is there not a recall?” he wrote in his complaint. “I could have killed somebody.”

Other owners of 2015 and 2016 F-150 models have reported similar experiences. Some drivers say that their brake failures were accompanied by warning lights and tones, while others did not get any sort of warning at all. Fortunately, there have been no accidents or injuries.

Ford has announced that they are fully cooperating with the investigation.

“We continuously evaluate our processes for potential improvements and when the data indicates a safety recall is needed, we move quickly on behalf of our customers,” said Ford spokesperson Mike Levine in a statement.

Photo attribution: By Tuner tom (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Speaking through an interpreter for the deaf, Dawn Marie Fucile recalled the horrors of her three-year abusive relationship. Her ex-boyfriend, who is also deaf, pushed her down, hit her, and threw her at their coffee table. It’s only by sheer luck that she missed it “by an inch,” she says.

Unfortunately, the reality of domestic abuse within the deaf community is that it’s startlingly common. A recent study from the Rochester Institute of Technology showed that individuals in the deaf community are 1.5 times more likely than hearing individuals to become victims of relationship violence.

The eight-year study surveyed college students at RIT, home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The study was one of the first to examine the relationship between relationship violence and the deaf community. Relationship violence includes physical and psychological abuse within domestic relationships, as well as sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Partner violence is already an overwhelming problem in the United States. Every year, approximately 4.8 million women experience physical violence by an intimate partner. However, not only are women in the deaf community more likely to suffer physical abuse, they also have a more difficult time reporting their assaults.

According to the CEO of Cleveland’s Domestic Violence & Child Advocacy Center, the fact that deaf and hard of hearing victims lack easy access to education or communication services presents a big problem. Once Dawn Marie Fucile finally gathered the courage to contact police after her boyfriend assaulted her, she became frustrated with police who assumed she couldn’t understand them or communicate at all.

Fortunately, a recent federal grant has supplied the Cleveland Police Department and the domestic violence center with iPads that can remotely connect with interpreters for the deaf and hard of hearing. Officers can now bring these iPads with them on calls, which is particularly helpful given Cleveland’s tight-knit deaf community. In addition, police officers in Parma, Ohio have implemented a text messaging service to communicate with deaf individuals. Both Parma and Cleveland police utilize live interpreters for in-depth interviews.

Although Fucile’s ex-boyfriend has since been tried and convicted, police departments across the nation still have a long way to go in order to provide reporting services specifically for deaf individuals. Fucile says the use of technology is “a step in the right direction,” and urges domestic violence victims to be unafraid to ask for help. One can only hope that there will be a nation-wide push for police squads across the country to use similar technologies in order to protect the particularly vulnerable people in the deaf community.

The population of South Mississippi is about to grow significantly as RV enthusiasts from across the country begin their annual migration south for winter, bringing business to the area’s restaurants, casinos, and local RV parks. In fact, the RV industry has an estimated $269 million economic impact on Mississippi.

“About the first of October the snowbirds start coming through,” said resident James Lee. His family owns Indian Point Campground in Gautier, which spans 186 acres and has 200 sites, 36 cabins, two swimming pools, and access to deep water all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. According to Lee, the RV park is fully occupied for the majority of the year.

The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) estimates that across the country, there are as many as 30 million RV enthusiasts. According to a 2011 study, the typical RV owner is 48 years old, married, and has an annual household income around $62,000. However, in South Mississippi in early October, nearly 100% of RV campers are seniors. RV park owners say that the older crowd is drawn to the area because of low prices, casinos, and the vast natural landscape ideal for fishing and bird-watching.

“What we like about it is the people we meet,” said Carlie Fears, an RV owner who traveled to Mississippi from Missouri with her husband and two English bulldogs.

At the Gulf Haven Campground on the Mississippi coast, there are plenty of activities for seniors to enjoy — Saturdays are movie night, Monday is game night, Wednesdays they hold a potluck dinner. The park offers exercise programs and craft projects, and the local senior center is directly behind the campgrounds.

According to Wesley Stinchcomb, the general manager of the Camping World retailer in Biloxi, low gas prices have helped keep the RV industry consistent. Then again, he noted, people who own RVs aren’t all that worried about gas mileage.

An RVIA report revealed that gas prices would have to quadruple for RVers to lose their economic advantage over alternative methods of travel.