Author Archives: Guest Post

comScore Releases February 2011 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

RESTON, VA, March 11, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in February with 65.4 percent of searches conducted. 

U.S. Explicit Core Search 

Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in February with 65.4 percent market share, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 16.1 percent and Microsoft sites with 13.6 percent (up 0.5 percentage points). Ask Network accounted for 3.2 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.7 percent.  (more…)

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More Reasons to Be Nice: It’s Less Work for Everyone

A polite act shows respect. But a new study of a common etiquette—holding a door for someone—suggests that courtesy may have a more practical, though unconscious, shared motivation: to reduce the work for those involved. The research, by Joseph P. Santamaria and David A. Rosenbaum of Pennsylvania State University, is the first to combine two fields of study ordinarily considered unrelated: altruism and motor control. It is to be published in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

“The way etiquette has been viewed by Emily Post—that you’re being proper by following social codes—is undoubtedly part of it,” said psychology professor Rosenbaum. “Our insight is there is another contributor: the mental representation of other people’s physical effort. Substantial research in the field of motor control shows that people are good at estimating how much effort they and others expend,” Rosenbaum continued. “We realized that this concept could be extended to a shared-effort model of politeness.” (more…)

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Color View from Orbit Shows Mars Rover Beside Crater

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has nearly completed its three-month examination of a crater informally named “Santa Maria,” but before the rover resumes its overland trek, an orbiting camera has provided a color image of Opportunity beside Santa Maria.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired the image on March 1, while Opportunity was extending its robotic arm to take close-up photos of a rock called “Ruiz Garcia.” From orbit, the tracks Opportunity made as it approached the crater from the west are clearly visible. Santa Maria crater is about 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter. (more…)

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Researchers Discover New Wintering Grounds for Humpback Whales Using Sound

Researchers at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), an organized research unit in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology have made a remarkable new discovery.

In the thick of whale season, researchers from HIMB and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shed new light on the wintering grounds of the humpback whale. The primary breeding ground for the North Pacific was always thought to be the main Hawaiian Islands. However, a new study has shown that these grounds extend all the way throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago and into the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), also known as Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM).  (more…)

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Main Culprit of Deadly Russian Heat Wave? Natural Variability

WASHINGTON — The deadly Russian heat wave of 2010 was due to a natural atmospheric phenomenon often associated with weather extremes, according to a new study. And while the scientists could not attribute the intensity of this particular heat wave to climate change, they found that extreme heat waves are likely to become increasingly frequent in the region in coming decades.

The research team drew from scientific observations and computer climate models to evaluate the possible roles of natural and human-caused climate influences on the severity of the heat wave. The study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. (more…)

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Perfect Buns: Imaging System Controls Baking Process on Production Line to Improve Sandwich Bun Quality

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) may possess the secret to baking perfect buns every time. Its researchers have developed a production-line system that automatically inspects the quality of sandwich buns exiting the oven and adjusts oven temperatures if it detects unacceptable buns.
    
“We have closed the loop between the quality inspection of buns and the oven controls to meet the specifications required by food service and fast food customers,” said GTRI senior research engineer Douglas Britton. “By creating a more accurate, uniform and faster assessment process, we are able to minimize waste and lost product.” (more…)

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7 of 10 Indian Web Users Watch Online Video in a Month

YouTube Accounts for Nearly Half of All Videos Viewed in India

comScore to Host Complimentary Webinar “The Rise of Online Video in India” on March 10

Mumbai, India, March 9, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its latest study on online video viewing in India based on data from its comScore Video Metrix service, which was launched in India earlier this year. The report found that 30.2 million online users in India watched online video in January 2011, representing 72 percent of the total online population. The report also found that Google Sites led the market as the top video property, driven mainly by viewership at YouTube.com. These findings and others will be presented via live webinar, The Rise of Online Video in India, on March 10.
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