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Facebook Use by Organizations During Crises Helps Public Image, MU Study Finds

By Guest PostSeptember 9, 2013Technologybokyung kim, crisis management, facebook posts, facebook use, organization, popular website, public relations, seoyeon hong, social networking site, tool, university of missouri

PR professionals can improve public attitudes by communicating through Facebook during times of crisis

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Social networking sites have become incredibly popular in recent years, with Facebook now ranking as the third most popular website in the U.S. With so many people spending so much time on Facebook, public relations professionals are using the site more and more to communicate to the public. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Journalism have found that posting public relations information on Facebook during a time of crisis can improve the overall image of the organization that is experiencing the crisis.

Seoyeon Hong, a doctoral candidate in the MU School of Journalism, along with co-author Bokyung Kim, a professor at Rowan University and former doctoral student at MU, created two fictional universities and gave participants news stories about organizational crises each university was experiencing. After the participants read the news stories, she measured their attitudes about each university and how severe they thought the crisis was. She then showed the participants Facebook posts from the universities’ main Facebook accounts which gave additional information and messages directly from the universities. Hong then measured the participants’ attitudes a second time and found that following the Facebook posts, attitudes toward the universities were significantly more positive than before participants read the posts. She also found that participants felt the crises were less severe following the Facebook posts. Hong believes these findings show the positive impact Facebook can make in crisis management efforts. (more…)

From Mentee to Mentor, Berkeley Lab’s Education Programs Inspire Scientists

By Guest PostSeptember 9, 2013Education, Scienceadvanced light source, austin, bacteriaphage virology, bay area, berkeley lab, bioprospecting project, csee program, cxro, earth sciences division, education programs, environmental sample, fusion research division, georgia, mary singer, mentee, mentor, microbiology, seno rekawa, sri lanka, tamas torok, university of texas, university of wisconsin

Question: “What did you do this summer?” Answer: “I built the Advanced Light Source.”

It’s the rare undergraduate who can say they spent their vacation building a third-generation synchrotron, but that’s exactly what Seno Rekawa did in the summer of 1991 as an intern at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It was an auspicious start to his career. Less than five years later, he was working as a full-time engineer at Berkeley Lab and now is a regular mentor to budding high school and college engineers.

Berkeley Lab’s Center for Science and Engineering Education (CSEE), with its range of internship offerings, helps to fulfill one of the Lab’s mandates, which is to inspire and prepare this country’s next generation of scientists, engineers and technicians. This year more than 70 current and recent college students and almost 20 high school and college instructors participated in a CSEE program, working with Berkeley Lab researchers on science projects spanning from cancer research to cosmology to biofuels. (more…)

Rettung des Regenwaldes in Paraguay – Schutz vor Abholzung wird verlängert

By Guest PostSeptember 9, 2013Environment, Natureargentinien, atlantischen regenwald, brasilien, martina fleckenstein, null abholzung, oekosysteme, paraguay, regenwald, rettung des regenwaldes, wwf, wwf deutschland, zero deforestation law

Es ist ein Riesenerfolg für den WWF: Paraguay hat sein “Zero Deforestation Law” verlängert – ein Gesetz, das den Regenwald vor der Abholzung schützen soll. Es war Rettung in letzter Minute, beinahe wäre das Abholzungsverbot Ende 2013 ausgelaufen. Dabei handelt es sich hier um einen der am meisten bedrohten Regenwälder der Welt.

Bis 2004 hatte Paraguay die höchste Abholzungsrate in Amerika und die zweithöchste der ganzen Welt. Fast sieben Millionen Hektar Regenwald wurden vernichtet, bis die Regierung das “Zero Deforestation Law” einführte. “Null Abholzung” ist der umgangssprachliche Name für das Gesetz, und der Name ist – beinahe – Programm: Seit der Einführung ist die Vernichtung des Atlantischen Regenwalds in Paraguay um 90 Prozent zurückgegangen. Der WWF hat entscheidend dazu beigetragen, dass der wertvolle Schutz des Regenwaldes in Paraguay verlängert worden ist. (more…)

Experts Team Up on Tsunami Resilience in California

By Guest PostSeptember 8, 2013Environmentalaskan peninsula, cabrillo marine aquarium, california, california coast, crescent city harbor, environmental impact, great earthquake, knowledge, lucy jones, nuclear power plants, pan pacific tsunami, property in california, safrr tsunami scenario, tohoku oki tsunami, tsunami resilience, U.S. Geological Survey

While scientists can’t predict when a great earthquake producing a pan-Pacific tsunami will occur, thanks to new tools being developed by federal and state officials, scientists can now offer more accurate insight into the likely impacts when tsunamis occur. This knowledge can lead officials and the public to reduce the risk of the future tsunamis that will impact California.

What are the potential economic impacts? Which marinas could be destroyed? Who needs to be prepared for evacuations? A newly published report looks at these factors and more. (more…)

Nice genes! What makes you genetically compatible with your partner?

By Guest PostSeptember 8, 2013Scienceankylosing spondylitis, anthony nolan trust, australia, auto immune disease, bbc breakfast, compatibility gene, DNA, eastern europe, Europe, genetic make up, hiv, human genes, India, penguin, problems in pregnancy, professor daniel davis, second world war, swiss zoologist, uk charity, wife katie

Professor Daniel Davis and his wife Katie’s experience is documented in The Compatibility Gene, published by Penguin, which discusses how our crucial compatibility genes may influence finding a life partner as well as our health and individuality.

Professor Davis said: “We each possess a similar set of around 25,000 human genes. Some of our genes vary from person to person, like those that give us a particular eye or hair colour. But my book is about the few genes – our compatibility genes – that vary the most between each of us. First and foremost these are immune system genes; they control how we combat disease. But recent research shows that they may be even more important than we once thought – there is evidence that they can influence how our brains are wired, how attractive we are, even how likely we are to reproduce.’’ (more…)

Spacecraft measures changes in direction of solar system’s interstellar winds

By Guest PostSeptember 8, 2013Scienceinterstellar boundary, interstellar cloud, interstellar medium, interstellar wind, interstellar wind direction

Data from NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft reveal that neutral interstellar atoms are flowing into the solar system from a different direction than previously observed. (more…)

Risiko Tagebau – Dorf von Erdrutsch bedroht

By Guest PostSeptember 8, 2013Environmentauskohlung des tagebaus, braunkohletagebau, dammbruch, dorf lieske, erdrutsch, gefahr einer rutschung, geologe, gerald neubauer, Greenpeace, lbgr, ralf krupp, risiko tagebau, sedlitzer see, Vattenfall, welzow sued

Ein neues Greenpeace-Gutachten unterstreicht das Risiko eines Erdrutsches durch den neu geplanten Tagebau Welzow-Süd II. Durch den geplanten Braunkohletagebau Welzow-Süd II drohen massive Erdrutsche sowie ein Dammbruch.

Dies weist Greenpeace durch eine neue Studie nach. Die Gefahr einer katastrophalen Rutschung durch den von Vattenfall geplanten Tagebau bedroht insbesondere das Dorf Lieske. Der Ort würde künftig auf einem bis zu 600 Meter schmalen Damm zwischen dem Sedlitzer See und dem tieferliegenden geplanten Tagebau liegen. Ein Leck an der unterirdischen Dichtwand zwischen See und Tagebau könnte Teile des Damms und damit des Dorfs abrutschen lassen. Das belegt ein von Greenpeace in Auftrag gegebenes Gutachten des Geologen Dr. Ralf Krupp. “Der Sicherheitsabstand zwischen Tagebau und Sedlitzer See ist viel zu gering. Der neue Tagebau gefährdet Leib und Leben der Anwohner und Bergleute im Tagebau”, sagt Gerald Neubauer, Energie-Experte von Greenpeace. (more…)

Prehistoric climate change

By Guest PostSeptember 7, 2013Environmentextraterrestrial impact, geologic time, microspherules, prehistoric climate change, younger dryas period

Cosmic crash in Canada may have caused global climate shift 12,900 years ago

A dramatic global climate shift may be linked to the impact of an asteroid or comet in Quebec, according to researchers from the University of Delaware, Dartmouth College and Elizabeth City State University. (more…)

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