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QONQR triumphs in fierce mobile games market

By Guest PostJune 20, 2013Technologyandy pickett, conquer, donn felker, jeff diercks, jessy houle, justin peck, microsoft bizspark, microsoft sql azure, microsoft technologies, minneapolis, mobile games market, player in tokyo, qonqr, scott davis, twin cities startup, windows phone marketplace

Microsoft BizSpark startup combines an inspired gaming premise, rigorous execution and progressive business choices to rise above competition.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 20, 2013 — Mobile users can choose from a vast array of games, so how can game makers stand out in the saturated competitive market?

Typically, success comes either from spending a fortune on marketing or from simply getting lucky, according to QONQR CEO Scott Davis. QONQR (pronounced “conquer”) has crafted a third path: Making a number of contrarian choices that helped lift the startup to profitability and gain a growing base of rabidly enthusiastic customers. (more…)

Corporations Favor Elite Nonprofits

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2012Economyann glynn, art institutes, business, christopher marquis, corporation, five percent club, gerald davis, minneapolis, nonprofit, nonprofit organization, private schools, resources, st paul, symphony orchestras, twin cities, university of michigan, vessel

ANN ARBOR — Businesses are good for nonprofits, but they are especially good for nonprofits that directly benefit the corporate elite such as art institutes, symphony orchestras and private schools, according to research from the University of Michigan.

The study asked how locally headquartered corporations influenced the growth of two different types of nonprofit organizations—those oriented to the elite and those focused more broadly on social welfare—in the largest 100 U.S communities from 1987 to 2002. (more…)

The Right to Vote

By Guest PostOctober 6, 2012Culture, Politicsamerica, american public, bartender, cartogram, christopher uggen, civil war, crime, criminal, criminal history, data, drug offense, electorate, felon disenfranchisement, florida, floridians, former felon, gpa, grad, inmate, jeff manza, kentucky, key battleground, locked out, maine, marker, marriage, minneapolis, minnesota, new york, november, owatonna, policy, policy maker, presidency, right, rob stewart, same sex, sarah shannon, society, states, united states, university, us house, us senate, vermont, virginia, vote, voter id

A lot is up for grabs this November in America—the presidency of the United States, for one. Not to mention a third of U.S. Senate seats, all seats in the U.S. House, and state-level amendments on issues ranging from voter ID to same-sex marriage (Minnesota has both on the ballot).

But almost six million Americans will sit this one out because of something they’ve done. They’re felons—perpetrators, at some point in their lives, of a serious crime. (more…)

Better Monitoring of Food Quantity Makes Self-Control Easier

By Guest PostAugust 27, 2012Healthamerica, carlson school, consumption, eat less, food quantity, joseph redden, kelly haws, mechanism, minneapolis, monitoring, obesity problem, satiation, self control, st paul, twin cities, university of minnesota

UMN study shows eating less is about reduced desire as well as willpower

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL — New research from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management suggests learning how to stop enjoying unhealthy food sooner may play a pivotal role in combating America’s obesity problem. The research, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, explores how satiation, defined as the drop in liking during repeated consumption, can be a positive mechanism when it lowers the desire for unhealthy foods.

“When people talk about self-control, they really imply that self-control is willpower and that some people have it and others don’t when facing a tempting treat,” says Joseph Redden, an assistant professor of marketing at the Carlson School and lead author of the ‘Healthy Satiation: The Role of Decreasing Desire in Effective Self-Control.’ “In reality, nearly everyone likes these treats. Some people just stop enjoying them faster and for them it’s easier to say no.” (more…)

Fish-tailing Robots

By Guest PostAugust 9, 2012Environment, Naturealgorithm, asian carp, common carp, environmental parameter, fish behavior, fish tailing robots, gps position, internet, invasive fish, josh vander hook, lakes, minneapolis, oregon, patrick plonski, peter sorensen, pratap tokekar, radiotagged carp, robotic boats, staring lake, Technology, track, trash fish, university of minnesota, volkan isler

Robotic boats track radio-tagged common carp in area lakes

As a stiff breeze sweeps across Staring Lake in suburban Minneapolis, a five-foot, antenna-sporting robotic boat plies the water in a back-and-forth pattern.

On the shore, Volkan Isler follows the action as two graduate research assistants launch a second boat.

Today Isler, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Minnesota, and graduate students Pratap Tokekar and Josh Vander Hook have come to the lake to test the newer of the boats. Their mission: developing a new technology to track invasive fish. (more…)

Art Detective

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2011Cultureamerican identity, annika johnson, art detective, artist, bill magdalene, clara mairs, depression era, detective, digital revolution, enigmatic status, historical fiction, industrial revolution, minneapolis, minnesota artist, minnesota historical society, minnesota state, paintings and prints, st paul, united states, university of minnesota

*A forgotten artist’s work can help us understand ourselves, says U graduate*

“I am a detective of sorts,” Annika Johnson says. “And I find clues in paintings, documents, and letters that tell me about who the artist was that made them and when, where, and why they made them.”

Johnson, who received her art history degree from the U this past May and is now applying to graduate schools across the country, did undergraduate research on Clara Mairs—a little known Minnesota artist from the depression era. Johnson describes Mairs’ work as “playful yet psychological, monumental yet humble” and says she not only helped activate the state’s modern and avant-garde art movements but also was central in the early development of arts education in St. Paul. (more…)

Rich Country, Poor Country: Economists say Financial Sector Key Driver of Economic Growth

By Guest PostOctober 3, 2011Economyamerican economic review, computer-based economic model, economic growth, economic landscapes, emerge from poverty, federal reserve bank, finance and development, financial sector key driver of economic growth, francisco j. buera, jennifer roche, joseph kaboski, minneapolis, poor country, relationship between development and finance, rich country, ucla, university of california, uUniversity of notre dame, washington university, yongseok shin

Economists have long suspected that one reason developing countries struggle to emerge from poverty is that they lack robust financial sectors, especially when compared to wealthier nations.

Although it may seem obvious that a weak financial sector would stifle growth within a developing country, few economists until now have tried to determine just how this phenomenon occurs. This has made it difficult for policymakers and investors to understand how financial markets may be failing and to create effective solutions to correct them.

Economists Francisco J. Buera of UCLA and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Joseph Kaboski of the University of Notre Dame, and Yongseok Shin of Washington University in St. Louis present important insights into this phenomenon in a paper recently published in the journal American Economic Review. (more…)

A River Ran Through It

By Guest PostOctober 17, 2010Nature, Sciencealan tessier, arizona state university, climate change, colorado, colorado river delta, downstream, ecosystems, food chain, grand canyon, humans, irrigation, jacques finlay, john sabo, las vegas, los angeles, minneapolis, Mississippi, new york city, Phoenix, river flows, rivers, sea of cortez, small tributaries, storm floods, streams

About the image: A now dry Colorado River delta branches into the Baja/Sonoran Desert near the Sea of Cortez. Image credit: Pete McBride

Rivers and streams supply the lifeblood to ecosystems across the globe, providing water for drinking and irrigation for humans as well as a wide array of life forms from single-celled organisms up to the fish humans eat.

But humans and nature itself are making it tough on rivers to continue in their central role to support fish species, according to new research by a team of scientists including John Sabo, a biologist at Arizona State University.

Globally, rivers and streams are being drained due to human use and climate change. These and other human impacts alter the natural variability of river flows.

Some affected rivers have dried and no longer run, while others have seen increases in the variability of flows due to storm floods. (more…)

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