Tag Archives: Europe

European Women Drive Majority of Engagement at Online Retail and Community Websites

By Guest PostJuly 2, 2012Technologycommunity website, Comscore, cosmetics, Europe, european women, fragrances, german, internet usage, odnoklassniki, online retail, otto gruppe, russia, russian internet audience, social networking site, tumblr, turkey

comScore Releases May 2012 Overview of European Internet Usage Showing Tumblr, Otto Gruppe and Groupon among Most Women-Oriented Web Properties

London, UK, 2 July 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing that 395.7 million Europeans went online in May 2012 for an average of 27.6 hours each. The data for May, which includes internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and individual reporting on 18 markets, also highlights the site categories and web properties with the highest concentration of usage among women in Europe. Tumblr.com had the highest concentration of usage among women, who accounted for 69 percent time spent on the popular social network. The report also showed that women generated the majority of time spent on multiple Retail subcategories, such as Fragrances/Cosmetics (71 percent share), Apparel (67 percent) and Department Stores (65 percent). (more…)

American Teens Are Less Likely Than European Teens to Use Cigarettes and Alcohol, but More Likely to Use Illicit Drugs

By Guest PostJune 5, 2012Culture, Generaladolescent behaviour, alcohol, american adolescents, american students, american surveys, american teens, anabolic steroids, cigarettes, cocaine, crack, eastern, Europe, european teens, france, future surveys, Germany, hashish, heroin, illicit drugs, inhalants, italy, jared wadley, lloyd johnston, marijuana, monaco, smoking cigarettes, university of michigan, western europe

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The U.S. had the second-lowest proportion of students who used tobacco and alcohol compared to their counterparts in 36 European countries, a new report indicates.

The results originate from coordinated school surveys about substance use from more than 100,000 students in some of the largest countries in Europe like Germany, France and Italy, as well as many smaller ones from both Eastern and Western Europe.

Because the methods and measures are largely modeled after the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future surveys in this country, comparisons are possible between the U.S. and European results. The 15- and 16-year-old students, who were drawn in nationally representative samples in almost all of the 36 countries, were surveyed last spring. American 10th graders in the 2011 Monitoring the Future studies are of the same age, so comparisons are possible. (more…)

Energy in Action

By Guest PostMay 16, 2012Scienceaction, ambre alexander, attraction, biomolecule, blind date, bulletproof body armor, crystallographic structure, dispersion method, dispersionless density functional, dldf, dutch physicist, energy, Europe, force, krzysztof szalewicz, molecule, motions of electrons, new method, nobel prize, physics, poland, polymorphs, rafal podeszwa, repulsion, thomson reuters, tracey bryant, tylenol, university of delaware, university of silesia, van der waals

For two molecules on blind date, new method predicts potential for attraction or repulsion

Krzysztof Szalewicz, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Delaware, and Rafal Podeszwa of the University of Silesia Institute of Chemistry in Poland have developed and validated a more accurate method for predicting the interaction energy of large molecules, such as biomolecules used to develop new drugs.

The research is reported as a communication in the April 27 issue of the Journal of Chemical Physics, which is the most highly cited journal in atomic, molecular and chemical physics according to Thomson Reuters. The journal is published by the American Institute of Physics. Despite appearing at the end of April, the paper was on the list of the 20 most-read articles in JCP for that month. (more…)

Mather Lecture

By Guest PostMay 14, 2012Environmentatmosphere, atmospheric moisture, biodiversity, charles j vörösmarty, China, climate change, computer model, cort willmott, deforestation, Europe, geospatial data, global water crisis, hydrology, India, industrializing place, john r mather, mather lecture, nancy targett, natural water systems, nitrogen pollution, noaa, river, sandra mather, stress, thermal regime, united states, university of delaware, water cycle, water management

Renowned expert Charles J. Vörösmarty addresses global water crisis

The world’s streams, rivers and lakes are under increasing stress because of human water management – and mismanagement – that threaten aquatic biodiversity and the water supply, Charles J. Vörösmarty said recently during the second annual John R. Mather Visiting Scholars Lecture.

Vörösmarty, professor of civil engineering with the City College of New York, presented “Global Water Crisis: The Slippery Slope” on May 3 at the University of Delaware’s Roselle Center for the Arts.

“The contemporary water system is really defined increasingly by the actions of humans,” he said. (more…)

The Success of Homo sapiens May Be Due to Spatial Abilities

By Guest PostMay 12, 2012Scienceaesthetic stone, africa, altai mountains, anthropology, ariane burke, climate stress, cold climate, daniel baril, environmental condition, environmental stress, eurasia, Europe, glacial, homo ergaster, homo sapiens, iberian peninsula, middle east, middle paleolithic period, mystery, neanderthals, necklaces, northern plains, nuts, paleoanthropologist, plants, population stress, postglacial period, sexually differentiated, shellfish, social behaviour, spatial abilities, stress, success, symbolic objects, upper paleolithic period, weapon decorations

While the disappearance of Neanderthals remains a mystery, paleoanthropologists have an increasing understanding of what allowed their younger cousins, Homo sapiens, to conquer the planet. According to Ariane Burke, Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Université de Montréal, the rapid dispersal of anatomically modern humans was not so much due to superior intelligence or improved hunting or gathering techniques, but rather to the creation of symbolic objects that allowed them to extend their social relations across vast territories.

Symbolism and social exchanges

Homo sapiens arrived in Europe some 45,000 years ago, from Africa. In less than 15,000 years, they managed to occupy the whole of Europe and Eurasia—an extremely rapid expansion. Neanderthals, on the other hand, were born of Europe, appearing on the continent more than 250,000 years ago, after their ancestors, Homo ergaster, had established there 600,000 years earlier. Though physiologically well adapted to the cold climate of the glacial and postglacial periods, why were Neanderthals not as successful as their newly landed rivals in colonizing the continent? (more…)

IBM Study Reveals Critical Shift in the Role of Chief Information Security Executives Globally

By Guest PostMay 3, 2012Technologyasia-pacific, ceos, chief attribute, cisos, david jarvis, Europe, evolution, ibm study, influencer, information security organization, it security, marc van zadelhoff, Technology

Analysis of 130+ interviews presents a new class of security chiefs; CISO role follows the evolution of CIO and CFO with more strategic organizational responsibilities

ARMONK, N.Y. – 03 May 2012: A new IBM study reveals a clear evolution in information security organizations and their leaders with 25 percent of security chiefs surveyed shifting from a technology focus to strategic business leadership role. (more…)

Q&A: Economic ‘Prophet’ Now Showing Classes How Theory Translates into Practice

By Guest PostMay 3, 2012Economyaleh tsyvinski, american goods, asia, China, economic, economic system, economist, Europe, france, Germany, global economy, globalization, Greece, ireland, italy, jackson institute, japanese economy, jeff garten, lessons of japan, macro debate, macroeconomics, michael marsland, minister of finance, morgan stanley asia, portugal, practice, prognosis, prophet, rick levin, school of management, som, spain, stephen roach, the next china, theory, united states, Wall Street, world economy, xiang huaicheng, yale

Stephen Roach is a respected authority on Asia — China in particular — and an often-cited and widely recognized prophet on the global economy.

Until recently chair of Morgan Stanley Asia and long the firm’s chief economist, Roach came to Yale in 2010 as a senior fellow in the newly inaugurated Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, with a joint appointment at the School of Management (SOM). This spring Roach announced he would be retiring from Morgan Stanley after 30 years with the firm to teach full time at Yale.

YaleNews recently met with the economist in his office to discuss his new career as a teacher and to get his prognosis on the future of the world economy. (more…)

International Team Uncovers New Genes That Shape Brain Size, Intelligence

By Guest PostApril 16, 2012Scienceadenine, alzheimer's disease, arthur toga, australia, bad gene, barbara franke, bigger brain, bipolar disorder, brain size, brain study, centers, cytosine, dementia, depression, derrek hibar, disorder, DNA, Europe, gene, genetic variant, geneticist, guanine, hmga2, human gene, intelligence, iq test, jason stein, margaret wright, memory, mental illnesses, neda jahanshad, nick martin, North America, paul thompson, project enigma, rita cantor, rudy senstad, schizophrenia, thymine

*UCLA-launched partnership identifies genes that boost or lessen risk of brain atrophy, mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease*

In the world’s largest brain study to date, a team of more than 200 scientists from 100 institutions worldwide collaborated to map the human genes that boost or sabotage the brain’s resistance to a variety of mental illnesses and Alzheimer’s disease.

Published April 15 in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Genetics, the study also uncovers new genes that may explain individual differences in brain size and intelligence. (more…)