Author Archives: Guest Post

Chinese Government and Businesses Continue to Embrace IBM Smarter Computing

*National Bureau of Statistics, Guizhou Provincial Health Department, and Guizhou Mobile leverage IBM optimized systems and cloud technology*

BEIJING and ARMONK, – 06 Sep 2011: IBM announced this week the continued adoption of its smarter computing systems, software, and services across China’s private and public sectors.

IBM is working with the China National Bureau of Statistics, Guizhou Provincial Health Department and Guizhou Mobile to help each build more advanced IT environments based on IBM’s optimized system architecture, data and analytics integration, and cloud computing capabilities. Through these smarter computing initiatives, each organization will improve their operational efficiencies and end-user services. (more…)

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Trust in Your Neighbors Could Benefit Your Health, MU Study Shows

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Here’s an easy way to improve your health: trust your neighbors.  A new study from the University of Missouri shows that increasing trust in neighbors is associated with better self-reported health.

“I examined the idea of ‘relative position,’ or where one fits into the income distribution in their local community, as it applies to both trust of neighbors and self-rated health,” said Eileen Bjornstrom, an assistant professor of sociology in the MU College of Arts and Science.  “Because human beings engage in interpersonal comparisons in order to gauge individual characteristics, it has been suggested that a low relative position, or feeling that you are below another person financially, leads to stress and negative emotions such as shame, hostility and distrust, and that health suffers as a consequence. While most people aren’t aware of how trust impacts them, results indicated that trust was a factor in a person’s overall health.” (more…)

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Re-emergence of Salmon in The Thames ‘Not From Restocking’ Say Exeter Academics

*The recent returns of Atlantic salmon in the Thames are more likely to be a result of fish straying from nearby rivers rather than a consequence of expensive restocking efforts, according to new research by the University of Exeter.*

A team of University of Exeter bio-scientists, in collaboration with the Environment Agency, Westcountry Rivers Trust and Oviedo University, Spain, have been collecting genetic data from returning fish, which suggests that habitat restoration was more effective than re-introductions. The findings will be published in the journal ‘Biological Conservation’.

Lessons from the study could be applied to other rivers across the UK according to the co-author of the paper Dr Jamie Stevens, Associate Professor of Molecular Systematics at the University of Exeter. Dr Stevens says: “Traditionally, people – such as river owners and anglers – have wanted big fish swimming up their rivers. The easiest way to ensure this quickly has been to restock those rivers with exogenous fish (from outside the river system).” (more…)

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Large Weight Gains Most Likely for Men After Divorce, Women After Marriage

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Both marriage and divorce can act as “weight shocks,” leading people to add a few extra pounds – especially among those over age 30 – according to a new study.

But when it comes to large weight gains, the effects of marital transitions are quite different for men than they are for women.

For men, the risk of a large weight gain increased most prominently after a divorce.  But for women, the risk of a large weight gain was most likely after marriage. (more…)

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UA Study: Financial Education Creates Positive ‘Snowball Effect’

*According to a UA study, cumulative education leads to more financial knowledge and more positive financial behaviors.*

New research from the University of Arizona shows that high school and college students who are exposed to cumulative financial education show an increase in financial knowledge, which in turn drives increasingly responsible financial behavior as they become young adults.

In fact, researchers at the UA Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences documented a “snowball effect” that these early efforts exponentially increase the likelihood that students will pursue more financial education as time goes on, including informal learning through books, magazines and seminars. (more…)

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The Brittleness of Aging Bones – More than a Loss of Bone Mass

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Show How Loss of Bone Quality Also a Major Factor*

It is a well-established fact that as we grow older our bones become more brittle and prone to fracturing. It is also well established that loss of mass is a major reason for older bones fracturing more readily than younger bones, hence medical treatments have focused on slowing down this loss. However, new research from scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) shows that at microscopic dimensions, the age-related loss of bone quality can be every bit as important as the loss of quantity in the susceptibility of bone to fracturing. (more…)

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