Tag Archives: China

Facebook Blasts into Top Position in Brazilian Social Networking Market Following Year of Tremendous Growth

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 20121 commentTechnologyalex banks, brazil, brazilian market, China, Comscore, distrito federal, Facebook, google plus, Japan, orkut, poland, rio de janeiro, russia, social media, social networking market, social networking population, south korea, tumblr, Twitter, Vietnam, vostu, windows live profile

*Facebook Audience Triples in the Past Year while Engagement Grows Nearly Sevenfold*

São Paulo, Brazil, January 17, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data showing that Facebook assumed the top position in the Brazilian social networking market following a year of exceptional growth. In December 2011, Facebook.com attracted 36.1 million visitors – representing an increase of 192 percent in the past twelve months – to surpass Orkut as the leading social networking destination in the market.

“Facebook’s rapid ascent in the Brazilian market has certainly been one of the most interesting stories to develop during the course of 2011,” said Alex Banks, comScore managing director for Brazil. “Brazil has always been a particularly social market and currently owns the fifth largest social networking population in the world. But despite the cultural affinity for social media, Facebook adoption had traditionally lagged in the market. That has all changed in the past year, during which the site has tripled in audience size as engagement has grown sevenfold to assume the leadership position in the market.” (more…)

J. Timmons Roberts: What did Durban do for climate?

By Guest PostDecember 13, 2011Environment1992 earth summit, american, atmosphere, brown researchers, carbon dioxide, center for environmental studies, China, climate change, climate change negotiations, climate talks in durban, copenhagen, democrats, durban, environmental experts, fossil fuel emissions, global citizens, global network, greenhouse gas emissions, India, j timmons roberts, kyoto protocol, mood, republicans, richard lewis, rio de janeiro, South Africa, timmons roberts, united nations, united states

J. Timmons Roberts, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Environmental Studies, led a group of Brown researchers and students to the United Nations climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa. On his return, Roberts spoke with Richard Lewis, reflecting on the Durban meetings, the status of research, and the challenges of activism on issues of climate change.

Timmons Roberts, professor and director of the Center for Environmental Studies, has just returned from attending climate talks in Durban, South Africa. Roberts and a delegation from Brown — faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students — witnessed the negotiations up close as observers to ministerial speeches and negotiations. The talks ended with an agreement to extend the greenhouse gas emissions targets set under the Kyoto Protocol and a pledge to work on a replacement treaty incorporating the United States, China, and India.

Roberts spoke with Richard Lewis on the importance of the talks, the need for industrialized countries to compensate developing countries for damages from climate change, and the unique opportunity for people from Brown’s environmental program to attend the talks. (more…)

Chinese Health Coverage Improves With Government Efforts

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2011Economy, Generalbrown university, China, chinese government, chinese provinces, government interventions, health care, health care coverage, health care in china, health insurance, hongwei xu, policy interventions, population, rates, reimbursement rates, rural areas, rural chinese, susan e short, university of michigan, villages

*A new study of health insurance in nine Chinese provinces shows that individual coverage surged within a two-year time frame, from 2004-2006, coinciding with new government interventions designed to improve access to health care. The changes were most dramatic in rural areas.*

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Health care coverage increased dramatically in parts of China between 1997 and 2006, a period when government interventions were implemented to improve access to health care, with particularly striking upswings in rural areas, according to new research by Brown University sociologist Susan E. Short and Hongwei Xu of the University of Michigan. The findings appear in the December issue of Health Affairs.

Led by Xu, a former Brown graduate student, the study analyzed data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, which follows households in nine provinces that are home to more than 40 percent of China’s population. Xu and Short specifically focused on patterns of coverage among rural and urban residents. (more…)

Examining The Changing Face of Christianity

By Guest PostNovember 28, 2011Cultureafrica, anthropologist, asia, chaplains in guatemala, charismatic christianity, China, christianity, christians, diversity, downtown toronto, Europe, faith, girish daswani, god, ju hui judy han, kevin o neill, korean missionaries, latin america, nigeria, North America, north korea, pamela klassen, pentecostal christianity, pentecostalism, politics of global christianity, rural villages, ruth marshall, simon coleman, social process, spiritual warriors, university of toronto, valentina napolitano

U of T leading centre for study of global Christianity

A century ago, 80 per cent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America; today, nearly 70 per cent live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, making Christianity a predominantly non-Western religion.

A critical mass of scholars who are looking into the implications of this shift has made the University of Toronto a leading centre for the study of global Christianity.

Christianity today has more than 2.2 billion adherents worldwide. The majority are overwhelmingly poor, displaced from rural villages into overcrowded cities in search of work, and adhere strictly to the word of Scripture, which can command their loyalty far more than state or society. (more…)

Chinese Government and Businesses Continue to Embrace IBM Smarter Computing

By Guest PostSeptember 6, 2011Technologyadvanced it environments, andy ho, China, china national bureau of statistics, farmers, guizhou mobile, guizhou provincial health department, ibm, ibm powervm virtualization technology, ibm systems and technology group, ibm tivoli monitor, it infrastructure, nbs, new rural cooperative medical scheme, nrcms, remote villages, smarter computing systems, software, tourist sites, wireless city

*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…)

Yale Establishes Kissinger Archives and the Johnson Center for the Study of American Diplomacy

By Guest PostSeptember 2, 2011Politicscharles b johnson, charles hill, China, donald kagan, henry a kissinger, jackson institute for global affairs, james levinhson, john lewis gaddis, johnson center for the study of american diplomacy, jonathan spence, kissinger archives, nicholas f brady, paul kennedy, richard c levin, secretary of state, us foreign policy, White House, yale, yale faculty, yale students

Former secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger gave an address before Yale faculty, students and World Fellows during a ceremony to celebrate the establishment of the Kissinger archives and the Johnson Center for the Study of American Diplomacy.

The archives extend well beyond Kissinger’s years in the White House and span the nearly 40 years since he left public service. Kissinger’s papers will serve as the foundation for the newly created Johnson Center, made possible by generous contributions from Charles B. Johnson ’54 B.A. and Nicholas F. Brady ’52 B.A. The Center will be located within the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale. (more…)

Fossil Discovery Represents New Milestone in Early Mammal Evolution

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2011Nature, Scienceancestors of mammals, carnegie mammalogist, carnegie museum of natural history, China, chong xi yuan, chuck lydeard, dna based methods of dating evolution, earliest known fossil of eutherians, eomaia, eutherian mammals, evolutionary hypotheses, fossil, fossil record, genetic data, john wible, juramaia sinensis, jurassic, jurassic mother from china, kangaroos, mammal evolution, marsupials, metatherians, molecular clock, monotremes, national science foundation, northeast china fossil, nsf, paleontologist, placental mammals, platypus, qiang ji, qing jin meng, shrew like mammal, zhe xi luo

*Northeast China fossil provides new information about earliest ancestors of today’s mammals*

A well-preserved fossil discovered in northeast China provides new information about the earliest ancestors of most of today’s mammal species–the placental mammals. (more…)