New research from North Carolina State University shows that informal social networks play an important role when it comes to finding jobs in both the United States and Germany, but those networks are significantly more important for high-paying jobs in the United States – which may contribute to economic inequality.
“It is interesting to note that the open market system in the United States, with minimal labor regulations, actually sees people benefiting more from patronage – despite the expectation that open markets would value merit over social connections,” says Richard Benton, a Ph.D. student at NC State who co-authored the research. (more…)
EAST LANSING, Mich. — The secret to the deadly 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany has been decoded, thanks to research conducted at Michigan State University.
The deadliest E. coli outbreak ever, which caused 54 deaths and sickened more than 3,800 people, was traced to a particularly virulent strain that researchers had never seen in an outbreak before. In the current issue of the academic journal PLoS ONE, a team of researchers led by Shannon Manning, MSU molecular biologist and epidemiologist, suggests a way to potentially tame the killer bacteria. (more…)
Facebook Paid Advertising Generated 130 Percent Uplift in Purchase Behaviour on Asos.com in 4-Week Period Following Campaign Exposure
London, UK, 18 July 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, and Facebook today released the third white paper in The Power of Like series, The Power of Like Europe: How Social Marketing Works for Retail Brands, focusing on European retail brands such as ASOS, H&M, La Redoute, Topshop and Zara. This research illustrates how these popular consumer brands are utilising Facebook to deliver media impressions at scale, achieve brand amplification and resonance, and ultimately drive desired behaviours among key customer segments. The analysis leverages data and insights from the comScore Social Essentials™ and comScore AdEffx™ products. To download a complimentary copy of the report, please visit: www.comscore.com/likeEU.
“The findings from this study offer several valuable insights to brand marketers and advertisers who want to better understand the marketing effectiveness of their paid and earned media campaigns on Facebook,” said Mike Shaw, Director of Marketing Solutions at comScore. “With a framework for measuring the value and impact of paid and earned media campaigns, brands will gain the insights needed to optimize their social marketing efforts. While every campaign is unique and may vary in its ultimate effectiveness, this research demonstrates how Facebook marketing can be effective in reaching consumers and influencing their actual purchase behaviour.” (more…)
A team of researchers, including Mary-Frances O’Connor at the UA, has found a genetic variability linked to stress and inflammation that may impact the health of some widows and widowers.
The death of a spouse can be one of life’s most distressing events, and for many years bereavement researchers have noted increased mortality risk in some widows and widowers. This has been called the “widowhood effect.”
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Hannover Medical School in Germany, the University of Ulm in Germany and the University of Arizona have found a genetic variability linked to stress and inflammation that may impact the health of some widows and widowers. (more…)
A groundbreaking book presents new evidence that challenges the way we understand British and Irish responses to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
Almost 100 years since its outbreak, A Kingdom United presents the first ever fully-documented study of British and Irish popular reactions to the outbreak of the First World War. University of Exeter historian Dr Catriona Pennell has explored UK public opinion of the time and successfully challenges the myth of British ‘war enthusiasm’ and Irish disengagement.
Treating the UK as the state that it was in 1914 – the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland – the research is based on a vast array of contemporary diaries, letters, journals and newspaper accounts from across the country. The book explores what people felt and how they acted in response to an unanticipated and unprecedented crisis. (more…)
Teheran, 1958. Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death. As he hopes for its arrival, he plunges into deep reveries, with dreams as melancholic as they are joyous, taking him back to his youth and even to a conversation with Azraël, the Angel of Death, who reveals the future of his children… As pieces of the puzzle gradually fit together, the poignant secret of his life comes to light: a wonderful story of love which inspired his genius and his music…(more…)
Student winners from across the globe, including United States and Thailand, are honored at the 10th anniversary of the Imagine Cup.
SYDNEY — July 10, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. announced the winners of the 10th annual Imagine Cup, the world’s premier student technology competition, honoring student technology innovations that address the world’s toughest problems. The winning Software Design project developed by Ukrainian Team quadSquad allows deaf individuals to communicate verbally using custom-designed sensory gloves and a smartphone application to translate sign language gestures into speech. Games focused on the environment from Thailand team TANG Thai and math education from U.S. team Drexel Dragons won the two Game Design competitions.
The Imagine Cup 2012 competition winners were announced tonight at the Imagine Cup World Festival and Awards Ceremony at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, in front of 106 student teams. The event was the culmination of a five-day celebration of technology, teamwork and innovation. (more…)
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…)
