Sunderland City Council has teamed up with a group of academic researchers to put on an exciting interactive event aimed at making internet users more aware of the problems of disclosing personal information online. The event forms part of the nationwide Festival of Social Science which is run by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) – the leading funder of social science research in the UK - and is intended to help the general public discover more about the world of social science.
Culture
France had the first one back in the 12th century. In 1980, less than 60 existed worldwide. But since then, the number had doubled.
Stock markets, once a way to manage debt and create capital for companies, have seemingly become a status symbol for some nations, or are used as a means for countries to access international funds for development.
But Michael Lounsbury, in the University of Alberta's School of Business, argues that the global rush to develop modern financial institutions-including stock markets-has had a huge downside.
ELDORET, KENYA (5 March 2010)—As East Africa recovers from the worst drought in decades, an innovative program launched today will use a low-cost, mobile phone payment and data system, and automated, solar powered weather stations, to offer thousands of farmers in parts of Western and Central Kenya affordable, "pay as you plant" insurance to protect their investments in desperately needed high-yielding seeds, fertilizers, as well as other farm inputs.
Unfortunately labelled 'organic' foods have been a bonanza for farmers who have no shame, but if you like paying $15 a dozen for free range chicken eggs, at least your liberal guilt for being able to afford $15 a dozen eggs is assuaged.
Not so in wine where quality matters more than process or cultural placebos. "Green" labels do not seem to pack the same financial wallop for California wines that they do for low-energy appliances, organically grown produce and other products, it actually decreases the price consumers are willing to pay, a new study has found.
Is a happy life filled with trivial chatter or reflective and profound conversations? Psychological scientists Matthias R. Mehl, Shannon E. Holleran, and C. Shelby Clark from the University of Arizona, along with Simine Vazire of Washington University in St. Louis investigated whether happy and unhappy people differ in the types of conversations they tend to engage in. Volunteers wore an unobtrusive recording device called the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) over four days. This device periodically records snippets of sounds as participants go about their lives.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Debate has simmered for a half-century over why firms pay out cash dividends, siphoning money away from business-building investments and often creating an added tax burden for the shareholders who collect them.
New research has uncovered a surprising springboard for thousands of smaller companies and banks that share profits with investors instead of sinking everything back into the business.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Geologists have found evidence that sea ice extended to the equator 716.5 million years ago, bringing new precision to a "snowball Earth" event long suspected to have taken place around that time.
Led by scientists at Harvard University, the team reports on its work this week in the journal Science. The new findings -- based on an analysis of ancient tropical rocks that are now found in remote northwestern Canada -- bolster the theory that our planet has, at times in the past, been ice-covered at all latitudes.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — For the work-weary, the word "vacation" may conjure images of leisurely, carefree days at the beach sipping umbrella drinks. But according to published research by a University of Illinois expert in tourism and recreation, genealogical tourism is one of the fastest growing markets in vacation travel because it represents a conscious shift away from relaxation and into the realm of personal enrichment and fulfillment.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study shows that the more graphic and intense war news is, the less likely that viewers – regardless of political beliefs – will remember the advertising that follows the news.
However, the researchers did find that lower-intensity programming resulted in a better recall of the advertising by proponents of the war.
The youth of London have a message for the world about life in the capital and what the Olympic Games and its legacy really mean for those living in its shadow; it hasn't meant much in the way of improvement, especially with the cameras gone. Generation 2012, an event which is part of the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Festival of Social Science, is a community digital storytelling project that gives them the opportunity to 'tell it like it is'.
A new study by Texas AgriLife Research scientists finds that contrary to widespread perceptions, springs in the Edwards Plateau, which provide much of the stream flows, have not been declining as a result of increased encroachment of woody plants. In fact, spring flows are twice as high as they were prior to 1950.
Like the rest of the UK, Scotland is undergoing social and economic change. The population is declining, ageing and becoming increasingly diverse and the definition of what it means to 'be Scottish' is ever more complex.
University of Alberta researcher Nese Yuksel says pharmacists could be integral to the education and screening of people for osteoporosis, as pharmacists are easily accessible and are playing a greater role in health promotion and disease prevention.
According to Osteoporosis Canada, after the age of 50 one in four women has the disease and at least one in eight men. Yuksel says a major issue is that it's a silent disease that often goes undiagnosed, and that's where pharmacists can help.
The residents of Stassfurt in Saxony-Anhalt are lucky. They are able to voice opinions about construction plans even before redevelopment commences. This is made possible by software from the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF in Magdeburg, which represents open lots, individual buildings, neighborhoods and even complete industrial parks true-to-scale and photorealistically in virtual 3-D projections.
ST. LOUIS – In the last month, Anthony Scalzo, M.D., professor of toxicology at Saint Louis University, has seen nearly 30 cases involving teenagers who were experiencing hallucinations, severe agitation, elevated heart rate and blood pressure, vomiting and, in some cases, tremors and seizures. All of these teens had smoked a dangerous, yet legal substance known as K2 or "fake weed."