Tag Archives: analysis

Argentina Ranks First in Worldwide Desktop Social Networking Engagement at Nearly 10 Hours per Visitor Each Month

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2012Technologyalejandro fosk, analysis, Argentina, ask, brazil, Chile, Comscore, Facebook, hi5, latin america, leading social network, level of engagement, linkedIn, market, Mexico, peru, slideshare, social networking activity, social networking markets, tumblr

Analysis of Social Networking in Latin America Shows LinkedIn Grabbing #2 Position with35 Million Monthly Visitors

Santiago, Chile, December 20, 2012 – comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an analysis of social networking activity in Latin America, which found that Argentina and Brazil led as the most engaged social networking markets worldwide with visitors spending an average of near 10 hours on social networking sites in November 2012. The study also found that LinkedIn, which has grown strongly in the past year due to both organic growth and the acquisition of Slideshare.net, is now the second most visited social network in Latin America. (more…)

Exhaustive Family Tree for Birds Shows Recent, Rapid Diversification

By Guest PostNovember 9, 2012Natureanalysis, arne mooers, avian diversity, basic hypotheses, behavioral innovation, biodiversity expert, bird species, birds, bumblebees, canada, diversification rate, dna data, earth, eurasia, evolution, evolutionary history, extinction, family tree, fossil, g h thomas, geographic context, geographic space, geographical information, global phylogenies, global picture, habitats, islands, j b joy, k hartmann, life, mainlands, north american, simon fraser university, south america, Space, tasmania, time, tropical species, tunafish, walter jetz, western hemisphere, yale, zeitgeist

A Yale-led scientific team has produced the most comprehensive family tree for birds to date, connecting all living bird species — nearly 10,000 in total — and revealing surprising new details about their evolutionary history and its geographic context.

Analysis of the family tree shows when and where birds diversified — and that birds’ diversification rate has increased over the last 50 million years, challenging the conventional wisdom of biodiversity experts.

“It’s the first time that we have — for such a large group of species and with such a high degree of confidence — the full global picture of diversification in time and space,” said biologist Walter Jetz of Yale, lead author of the team’s research paper, published Oct. 31 online in the journal Nature. (more…)

UMD Study: Fiscal Cliff Could Trigger Deep Recession, Fear of Cliff Has Cut GDP Already

By Guest PostOctober 30, 2012Economyamerica, analysis, congress, debt burdens, defense spending, economic crisis, economic environment, effect, employment level, Europe, federal spending, financial crisis, fiscal cliff, fiscal shock, gdp, government policy, inforum, interindustry forecasting project, jeff werling, maryland, multiplier, nation, prediction, recession, sequestration, tax cuts, tax increase, tax reform, u.s economy, university

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The so-called “fiscal cliff” has already begun dampening the U.S. economy – even before it officially kicks in – and by year’s end will have cut 2012 GDP an estimated six-tenths of one percent, says a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland’s Interindustry Forecasting Project (Inforum).

The study, called Fiscal Shock: America’s Economic Crisis, is one of the first to look beyond the first year effects of the combined federal spending cuts and tax increases. It projects an escalating impact into 2014 and beyond, as “multiplier” effects of fiscal contraction kick in. (more…)

Bounce, Skid, Wobble: How Huygens Landed on Titan

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2012Science17th century, analysis, astronomer, cassini spacecraft, christiaan huygens, direction, dutch, earth, erich karkoschka, european, evaporate, friction, hazy atmosphere, horizon, huygens data, huygens impact, huygens probe, institute, lower atmosphere, max planck, methane, model, moon, moon surface, motion, mud like, NASA, nicolas altobelli, organic aerosols, ralph lorenz, saturn, space agency, splat, stefan schroder, substance, titan, titan atmosphere, undisturbed terrain

Piecing together the events of the farthest touchdown a manmade spacecraft has ever made on an alien world reveals new clues about Titan’s surface and helps plan future missions to moons and planets.

The Huygens probe, ferried to Saturn’s moon Titan by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, bounced, slid and wobbled its way to rest in the 10 seconds after touching down on Titan in January 2005, a new analysis reveals. The moon’s surface is more complex than previously thought.

Scientists reconstructed the chain of events by analyzing data from a variety of instruments that were active during the impact, in particular changes in the acceleration experienced by the probe. The probe was supplied by the European Space Agency and named after the Dutch 17th century astronomer Christiaan Huygens. (more…)

Analysis of Bacterial Genes May Help ID Cause of Dog Brain Disease, Say UF Researchers

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2012Health, Nature, Scienceanalysis, autoimmune, bacteria, balance, brain damage, brain disorder, brain inflammation, brain syndrome, brain tissue, cell, central, chihuahuas, christopher mariani, daniel brown, decreased alertness, dina michaels, disease, dog, florida, gene, genetic makeup, genital tract, gme, granulomatous meningoencephalomyelitis, immune system, karen vernau, macrophages, malteses, mycoplasma canis, necrotizing meningoencephalitis, nervous system, nme, pomeranians, pugs, renee barber, response, scott schatzberg, seizures, small breed, symptom, throat, university, viral agent, virus, yorkshire terriers

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — By analyzing the genes of bacteria, University of Florida researchers have moved a step closer to pinpointing how two brain disorders common in small-breed dogs occur.

The researchers found that the bacteria, known as Mycoplasma canis, invade dog’s cells and suppress their immune system responses. (more…)

Cracking the Oyster’s Code

By Guest PostSeptember 23, 2012Natureair exposure, analysis, atlantic, bioengineering project, cell, death, delaware, DNA, dynamic environment, evolution, factor, genetic code, genome, genome project, gulf coast, heat shock, immune response, oyster, pacific oyster, parasites, pathogen, patrick m gaffney, stress, survival, temperature fluctuation, toxic chemical, toxic metal, university

International team of scientists finds adaptations to stress in oyster genome

When it comes to stress, oysters know how to deal. The tough-shelled mollusks can survive temperature fluctuations, toxic metals and exposure to air, and a new study of their genetic makeup is helping to explain how.

An international team of scientists, including the University of Delaware’s Patrick M. Gaffney, professor of marine biosciences, sequenced the genome of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, in a Nature paper published on Sept. 19. (more…)

First Stars, Galaxies Formed more Rapidly than Expected

By Guest PostSeptember 9, 2012Scienceanalysis, anisotropy probe, Antarctica, astronomer, background, Berkeley, california, christian reichardt, cmb, cosmic microwave, cosmological evolution, data, earth axis, electron, Epoch, Galaxy, geographic, herschel satellite, high resolution, hydrogen atom, image, john carlstrom, kavli foundation, microwave, millimeter wavelength, national, neutral, neutral gas, oliver zahn, period, plasma, polar plateau, proton, radiation, reionization, s chandrasekhar, science foundation, south pole, star, telescope, ultraviolet light, universe, university, wilkinson

Analysis of data from the National Science Foundation’s South Pole Telescope, for the first time, more precisely defines the period of cosmological evolution when the first stars and galaxies formed and gradually illuminated the universe. The data indicate that this period, called the epoch of reionization, was shorter than theorists speculated — and that it ended early.

“We find that the epoch of reionization lasted less than 500 million years and began when the universe was at least 250 million years old,” said Oliver Zahn, a postdoctoral fellow at the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study. “Before this measurement, scientists believed that reionization lasted 750 million years or longer, and had no evidence as to when reionization began.” (more…)

Analysis of Election Factors Points to Romney Win, University of Colorado Study Says

By Guest PostAugust 23, 2012Politicsanalysis, Barack Obama, colorado, democracy, democrat, Economy, election, electoral college, factor, florida, kenneth bickers, michael berry, minnesota, new hampshire, north Carolina, ohio, Pennsylvania, prediction model, republican, romney, trajectory, university of colorado, us president, virginia, White House, wisconsin

A University of Colorado analysis of state-by-state factors leading to the Electoral College selection of every U.S. president since 1980 forecasts that the 2012 winner will be Mitt Romney.

The key is the economy, say political science professors Kenneth Bickers of CU-Boulder and Michael Berry of CU Denver. Their prediction model stresses economic data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia, including both state and national unemployment figures as well as changes in real per capita income, among other factors.

“Based on our forecasting model, it becomes clear that the president is in electoral trouble,” said Bickers, also director of the CU in DC Internship Program. (more…)