From doing yard work to finishing up the last few classes required for a college degree, consumers struggle to get things done. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, the way consumers think about deadlines can determine whether or not they start tasks and accomplish their goals. "Our research shows that the way consumers think about the future influences whether they get started on tasks. In particular, if the deadline for a task is categorized as being similar to the present, they are more likely to initiate the task," write authors Yanping Tu ...

BOULDER -- Unregulated trash burning around the globe is pumping far more pollution into the atmosphere than shown by official records. A new study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research estimates that more than 40 percent of the world's garbage is burned in such fires, emitting gases and particles that can substantially affect human health and climate change. The new study provides the first rough estimates, on a country-by-country basis, of pollutants such as particulates, carbon monoxide, and mercury that are emitted by the fires. Such pollutants have ...

Do you feel sadder watching a documentary about war or a drama about a young person dying of cancer? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers mistakenly believe they will have stronger emotional reactions when stories are based on true events rather than fiction. "Consumers may choose to read a tragic fictional story because they assume that knowing it was fictional would make them less sad than reading a less dramatic, but true story," write authors Jane E. J. Ebert (Brandeis University) and Tom Meyvis (New York University). "However, the ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – You've probably seen – or even participated in – promotional contests offered by retailers in which they say "no purchase required to win." But if you're a loyal customer of that retailer, you don't necessarily believe that, a new study suggests. You figure you must have some secret advantage over other, less-devoted customers. In fact, the new research finds that loyal customers of a company feel that they are more likely and more deserving than others to win perks from the business – even those that are randomly given out. "This is driven by people's ...

A Fortune 500 company is redesigning a popular product using materials that are friendlier to the environment. How will consumers respond to the newly redesigned, "greener" product? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers are more likely to purchase a product if they think helping the environment is not the intended purpose of a product improvement. "When a company makes a product that is better for the environment, consumers are actually less likely to purchase it if the environmental benefit is perceived as intentional rather than the ...

As their moral perspectives change, disillusioned churchgoers find it increasingly difficult to remain associated with their church, yet many also find it difficult to leave. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, former churchgoers experience deep identity crises as their most important relationships and beliefs are put at risk. "Our research examines currently unsatisfied and former members of the Mormon Church, exploring the experiences of people who have lost their faith in the institution that structured both their morality and their day-to-day ...

26 August 2014 - A team of engineers from Singapore has successfully piloted the world's first ZigBee wireless sensor network (WSN) for satellite communications. With the weight of payloads being a major constraint in satellite design, constructing a lightweight, low power-consuming, wireless communication system to do away with cabling inside the satellite has always been a challenge for system designers. The engineering team at the Satellite Research Centre of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore launched VELOX-I, which consists of a nanosatellite weighing ...

VIDEO: The contemporary view of running mechanics has been heavily influenced by the simple spring-mass model, a theory first formulated in the late 1980s. The spring-mass model assumes the legs work... Click here for more information. The world's fastest sprinters have unique gait features that account for their ability to achieve fast speeds, according to two new studies from Southern Methodist University, Dallas. The new findings indicate that the secret to elite sprinting ...

Genetic changes that occur in patients with the bowel condition Crohn's disease could hold clues to fighting the illness. Scientists have identified chemical changes in the DNA of patients with Crohn's disease that could help to screen people for the disease. These changes can be detected in blood samples, opening the door to a simple test for Crohn's disease. The findings also offer clues to how the condition develops and reveal possible targets for new treatments. Several genes have been linked to Crohn's disease but not everybody who inherits these genes will ...

Big Data presents scientists with unfolding opportunities, including, for instance, the possibility of discovering heterogeneous characteristics in the population leading to the development of personalized treatments and highly individualized services. But ever-expanding data sets introduce new challenges in terms of statistical analysis, bias sampling, computational costs, noise accumulation, spurious correlations, and measurement errors. The era of Big Data – marked by a Big Bang-like explosion of information about everything from patterns of use of the World Wide ...

The illegal use of waste cooking oil in parts of the nationwide food system is threatening the public's health in China. Now scientists led by Professor Ding Hongbin at the Dalian University of Technology, in northeastern China, present a new means to confront this problem. In a study published in the Chinese Science Bulletin, Ding and fellow researchers at the university's School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering outline the potential use of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to rapidly distinguish between "gutter oil" and safe, edible oil. ...

By using the same-beam VLBI technology, differential phase delay successfully monitored the lunar rover's movement during the Chang'E-3 mission when rover and lander was carrying out the tasks of separation and took photos of each other. The sensitivity of rover motion monitoring was between 50-100mm.Furthermore, relative position between rover and lander was precisely measured by taking the use of the DPD's changing trend. Professor LIU Qing hui and his student ZHENG Xin from the Shanghai Astronomical of observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, obtained this result when ...

Quartz glass does not conduct electric current, it is a typical example of an insulator. With ultra-short laser pulses, however, the electronic properties of glass can be fundamentally changed within femtoseconds (1 fs = 10^-15 seconds). If the laser pulse is strong enough, the electrons in the material can move freely. For a brief moment, the quartz glass behaves like metal. It becomes opaque and conducts electricity. This change of material properties happens so quickly that it can be used for ultra-fast light based electronics. Scientists at the Vienna University of ...

Previous studies that have suggested an increased risk of autism among children of women who took antidepressants during pregnancy may actually reflect the known increased risk associated with severe maternal depression. In a study receiving advance online publication in Molecular Psychiatry, investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report that – while a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder was more common in the children of mothers prescribed antidepressants during pregnancy than in those with no prenatal exposure – when the severity of the mother's depression ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new analysis suggests the planet can produce much more land-plant biomass – the total material in leaves, stems, roots, fruits, grains and other terrestrial plant parts – than previously thought. The study, reported in Environmental Science and Technology, recalculates the theoretical limit of terrestrial plant productivity, and finds that it is much higher than many current estimates allow. "When you try to estimate something over the whole planet, you have to make some simplifying assumptions," said University of Illinois plant biology professor ...

Scientists have shown how to better identify and measure vital molecules that control cell behaviour – paving the way for improved tools for diagnosis, prediction and monitoring of cancer. Researchers from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute based at The University of Manchester – part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre – and the Institute of Cancer Research, London, looked at protein kinases, molecules that control various aspects of cellular function. The study, funded by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)/Pfizer CASE studentship ...

For those affected, breast cancer is a dramatic diagnosis. Patients often have to endure chemotherapy and surgery, which, depending on the individual scenario, may mean breast conserving surgery or breast removal—mastectomy. In the aftermath, many women experience symptoms such as pain, fatigue/exhaustion, or sleep disturbances. However, the symptoms are highly individual, as Stefan Feiten and colleagues emphasize in a recent study reported in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2014; 111: 537-44). The authors state that it is crucial for good aftercare ...

A lack of education, an unhealthy diet, and unemployment go straight to the heart—quite literally, because all three range among the risks that cause ischemic heart disease or contribute to its development. According to a recent study reported by epidemiologists Andreas und Maximilian Stang in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2014; 111: 530-6), the risk factors for heart disease are higher in Saxony-Anhalt than in all other German states, and more persons die from heart disease in the state. Many of the risk factors could be treated in a more targeted ...

26.08.2014: Antarctic glaciers respond sensitively to changes in the Atmosphere/Ocean System. Assessing and projecting the dynamic response of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula to changed atmospheric and oceanic forcing requires high-resolution ice thickness data as an essential geometric constraint for ice flow models. Therefore, a Swiss-German team of scientists developed a complete bedrock data set for the Antarctic Peninsula on a 100 m grid. They calculated the spatial distribution of ice thickness based on surface topography and ice dynamic modelling. Daniel Farinotti, ...

Decades of experiments have verified the quirky laws of quantum theory again and again. So when scientists in Germany announced in 2012 an apparent violation of a fundamental law of quantum mechanics, a physicist at the University of Rochester was determined to find an explanation. "You don't destroy the laws of quantum mechanics that easily," said Robert Boyd, professor of optics and of physics at Rochester and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics at the University of Ottawa. In their 2012 version of the famous Young two-split experiment, ...

For the 2.2 million Americans battling glaucoma, the main course of action for staving off blindness involves weekly visits to eye specialists who monitor – and control – increasing pressure within the eye. Now, a tiny eye implant developed at Stanford could enable patients to take more frequent readings from the comfort of home. Daily or hourly measurements of eye pressure could help doctors tailor more effective treatment plans. Internal optic pressure (IOP) is the main risk factor associated with glaucoma, which is characterized by a continuous loss of specific retina ...

Scientists from the University of Liverpool have demonstrated the effectiveness of a fibre-based dietary ingredient that makes people feel less hungry and consume less food. Hunger is a major barrier to successful weight control and consumers need healthy foods that will help them control their appetite. Although fibres have the potential to modulate appetite without adding additional calories, they can make foods less appealing. Moreover, most studies employing fibres have failed to demonstrate positive effects on either appetite or food intake, and certainly no effects ...

A study from the University of Liverpool has recommended investing in dog owner education and facilities as a strategy to target physical inactivity and problems such as obesity in both people and their pets. In a review of scientific papers published since 1990, the researchers found that access to dog-friendly walking environments and better education about dogs' physical needs, could all motivate people to get out and take more exercise with their pets. It is estimated that 40% of dog owners don't take their dogs for a walk. In the UK, almost a quarter of households ...

The risk of eating disorders has been shown to be increased in some somatic illnesses. Many of these illnesses, such as type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel diseases, present autoimmune etiology. In addition, a prior autoimmune disease has recently been shown to increase the risk of mood disorders and schizophrenia. Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Central Hospital and National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland, aimed to address the prevalence and incidence of autoimmune diseases in a large Finnish patient cohort with anorexia ...

A series of experiments conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) researchers is shedding new light on the photosynthetic process. The work also illustrates how light sources and supercomputing facilities can be linked via a "photon science speedway" as a solution to emerging challenges in massive data analysis. Last year, Berkeley Lab and SLAC researchers led a protein crystallography experiment at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) to look at the different photoexcited states of photosystem ...