Productivity Rises When Companies are Facing Closure
In companies that are slated to be shut down, productivity increases during the phase-out period itself. When management is busy dealing with matters other than daily operations, employees shoulder a greater responsibility for their work-and efficiency is enhanced. According to business economist Magnus Hansson at Örebro University in Sweden, this shows that it is possible to boost productivity considerably without investing. This is also an argument for longer phase-out periods, which would benefit both the employees and the company.
“Extending the shut-down periods creates better conditions for employees to find new jobs, for the surrounding business community to develop substitute jobs, and for company management to phase over production to other facilities.”
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May 10, 2008 | Filed Under General | Leave a CommentNew Evidence from Earliest Known Human Settlement in the Americas
New evidence from the Monte Verde archaeological site in southern Chile confirms its status as the earliest known human settlement in the Americas and provides additional support for the theory that one early migration route followed the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago.
The study was conducted by a team of anthropologists, geologists and botanists headed by Vanderbilt University’s Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Tom Dillehay and was reported in the May 9 issue of the journal Science.
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May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Archeology | Leave a CommentAmazon Under Threat from Cleaner Air
The Amazon rainforest, so crucial to the Earth’s climate system, is coming under threat from cleaner air say prominent UK and Brazilian climate scientists in the leading scientific journal Nature.
The new study identifies a link between reducing sulphur dioxide emissions from burning coal and increasing sea surface temperatures in the tropical north Atlantic, resulting in a heightened risk of drought in the Amazon rainforest.
Popularity: 7% [?]
May 8, 2008 | Filed Under Biology | Leave a CommentWhy Face Symmetry is Sexy Across Cultures and Species
In humans, faces are an important source of social information. One property of faces that is rapidly noticed is attractiveness. Research has highlighted symmetry and sexual dimorphism (how masculine/feminine a face is) as important variables that determine a face’s attractiveness.
But why are these traits attractive”
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May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Humans | Leave a CommentFirst Steps Toward Autonomous Robot Surgeries
The day may be getting a little closer when robots will perform surgery on patients in dangerous situations or in remote locations, such as on the battlefield or in space, with minimal human guidance.
Engineers at Duke University believe that the results of feasibility studies conducted in their laboratory represent the first concrete steps toward achieving this space age vision of the future. Also, on a more immediate level, the technology developed by the engineers could make certain contemporary medical procedures safer for patients, they said.
Popularity: 7% [?]
May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Medical | Leave a CommentEstimated 750,000 Problem Gamblers Among America’s Youth
Gambling activity is widespread among U.S. adolescents and young adults ages 14 through 21, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).
Results of the first national survey of its kind show problem gambling — described as gambling with three or more negative consequences (for example, gambling more than you intended or stealing money to gamble) in the past year — occurring at a rate of 2.1 percent among youth 14 to 21. That percentage projects to approximately 750,000 young problem gamblers nationwide.
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May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Humans | Leave a CommentAs Gas Prices Climb, Employee Productivity Plummets
Rising gas prices are affecting more than the family budget. More pain at the pump results in more employee stress on the job, says Wayne Hochwarter, the Jim Moran Professor of Management at Florida State University’s College of Business.
“People concerned with the effects of gas prices were significantly less attentive on the job, less excited about going to work, less passionate and conscientious and more tense,” Hochwarter said. “These people also reported more ‘blues’ on the job. Employees were simply unable to detach themselves from the stress caused by escalating gas prices as they walked through the doors at work.”
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May 6, 2008 | Filed Under General | Leave a CommentAlcoholism is Not Just a Man’s Disease Anymore
- A new examination of data on similarly aged groups, compared across decades, has found substantial increases in drinking and alcohol dependence among women.
- Increases were particularly notable among white and Hispanic women – beginning with those born in the United States after World War II.
Cross-sectional studies, which collect information at a single point in time, generally find that young Americans report having more lifetime alcohol problems than older Americans, despite having had less time to develop these problems. But these studies are hampered by the fact that people of different ages may remember or report problems to different degrees. A new examination of data, collected on similarly aged groups one decade apart, has found substantial increases in drinking and alcohol dependence among women – particularly white and Hispanic women – beginning with those born in the United States after World War II.
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May 5, 2008 | Filed Under Medical | Leave a CommentTurning Fungus into Fuel
A spidery fungus with a voracious appetite for military uniforms and canvas tents could hold the key to improvements in the production of biofuels, a team of government, academic and industry researchers has announced.
In a paper published today in Nature Biotechnology, researchers led by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute announced that the genetic sequence of the fungus Tricoderma reesei has uncovered important clues about how the organism breaks down plant fibers into simple sugars. The finding could unlock possibilities for industrial processes that can more efficiently and cost effectively convert corn, switchgrass and even cellulose-based municipal waste into ethanol. Ethanol from waste products is a more-carbon-neutral alternative to gasoline.
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May 5, 2008 | Filed Under Chemistry | Leave a CommentA Gentle Touch for Better Control
The Particle Whisperers
G. Volpe, S. Perrone, J. M. Rubi, and D. Petrov
As many parents know, it’s often easier to keep your kids under control by exerting less authority rather than more. A child who fidgets uncontrollably in a confining booster seat, for example, may be perfectly content on a plain old chair. A team of physicists at the Universitat de Barcelona has found that the same is true in controlling the movement of particles suspended in liquids. What’s more, they speculate that many microscopic systems, macroscopic ecosystems, and human social systems may respond to a gentle touch for the very same mathematical reasons.
In order to test their hypothesis that heavy handedness can lead to loss of control, the researchers used optical tweezers to grab hold of floating microscopic beads. They then dragged the particles back and forth in the fluid as they ramped up the intensity of the lasers that formed the tweezers. As they expected, increasing laser power provided an ever tighter grip on captured particles, but only up to a point. Eventually, ramping up the laser led to a poorer control of the particles, which jostled around more and more as the laser intensity increased.
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May 5, 2008 | Filed Under Physics | Leave a Comment
