Maastricht Week of Entrepeneurship '12 - mark your calendar. Virtual Fair & Careers Fairs | bpvirtualfair.com. Economists, Scientists Debate Research Efficiency. Economists, Scientists Debate Research Efficiency Tanya Lewis In a series of comments in Nature, economists suggest ways to reduce financial inefficiency in academic research, but some researchers don’t believe science should be managed like a business. In today’s economic climate, academic institutions are seeking to maximize their investment in research. While financial and productivity experts agree that inefficiencies exist within the system, their suggestions for improvement vary. Last week, Nature published three commentaries (1–3) on research efficiency by authors from academia and consulting. Academic research, like other fields, could improve its efficiency, consultants say.
Source: Aaron Logan In one of these articles, economist Paula Stephan from Georgia State University argues that the problem lies with damaging incentives that do not accurately reflect career prospects. “It’s like a pyramid scheme,” Stephan said. But here Lyon and other online commentators strongly disagreed. WE'RE BLOWN AWAY: This Startup Could Literally Change The Entire Software Industry. Marital Prenups? A Look at CEO Severance Agreements by Peggy Huang. Companies pull ads from Muslim reality TV show. NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A pair of snake-handling Pentecostal preachers are getting their own reality television show. “Snake Salvation” is set to debut Sept. 10 on the National Geographic Channel.
The series will feature Andrew Hamblin of Tabernacle Church of God in LaFollette, Tenn., and Jamie Coots of Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name church of Middlesboro, Ky. They are among a handful of believers in Appalachia who practice the so-called signs of the gospel, found in Mark 16: “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Coots said the series will feature scenes from church services where worshipers handle snakes, as well as the day-to-day struggle to live out their faith. Coots said he welcomes the attention that the show will bring.
Corporations tweets | Iain Macadair Twitter. Un nouveau modèle de consommation. Dernière mise à jour: 05-12-2011 | 11h51 Il s'agit de jeunes sociétés internet s'adressant à ceux qui préfèrent se prêter des voitures plutôt que de les posséder, séjourner dans une chambre familiale désertée plutôt que dans des hôtels ou lever des fonds auprès d'amis plutôt qu'auprès des banques. «Nous sommes au cœur d'une révolution de la propriété», affirme Rachel Botsman, auteur du livre What's Mine is Yours qui illustre le basculement vers un modèle de «consommation en collaboration». «Nous ne voulons pas de DVD, nous voulons de la musique», ajoute Mme Botsman.
«Nous ne voulons pas de voiture, nous voulons aller d'un point A à un point B. Partage De jeunes pousses comme Zimride, TaskRabbit ou Airbnb capitalisent sur cette tendance en fournissant des services permettant respectivement de partager des trajets en voiture, des tâches ménagères ou des chambres vides. Airbnb a récemment été valorisé à un milliard de dollars, selon des médias. Service en ligne. S 12 Consumer Trends for 2012. Introduction | This year, much as in previous years, some brands may be staring into the abyss, while others will do exuberantly well.
And while we can’t offer any help to defaulting nations or bankrupt companies, we do believe that there are more opportunities than ever for creative brands and entrepreneurs to deliver on changing consumer needs. From Canada to Korea. Hence this overview of 12 must-know consumer trends (in random order) for you to run with in the next 12 months. Onwards and upwards: In 2012, department stores, airlines, hotels, theme parks, museums, if not entire cities and nations around the world will roll out the red carpet for the new emperors, showering Chinese visitors and customers with tailored services and perks, and in general, lavish attention and respect.
Read RED CARPET in full (including examples from Hilton, Starwood and Harrods) Read DIY HEALTH in full (including examples from Jawbone, Ford and Lifelens) Will coins and notes completely disappear in 2012? Gamification | Gamify Your Company Website with Our Gamification API. Apple, la tyrannie du cool. Apple: The Numbers [Infographic] World’s largest tech company: check. Larger than Microsoft and Google combined: check. World’s largest company by market cap: check. But how? We all know that iPhones, iPads, iPods, Apps and Apple computers all sell like hotcakes globally – but a look at the numbers provides a staggering realisation. No one needs to be told that a large chunk of the world’s population are “Apple addicts” but did you know it was a 67 million iPad, 25+ billion app, 365 million iOS device kind of addiction? Reddit-chart-illusion-choice.png (PNG Image, 960x568 pixels)
Envisioningtech1. Free Visio BPMN, Free Visio BPMN 2.0. Simple process authoring within Visio using the most recognized business process notation standard. Quickly and easily create professional BPMN 2.0 looking diagrams and models in the environment that you are most comfortable with. Use the BPMN Visio Modeler or the BPMN Web Modeler.
Or better yet use both to collaborate transparently. Create engaging professional BPMN 2.0 diagrams and models in just a few clicks using a comprehensive feature set. Benefit from your existing process assets by automatically migrating them to BPMN 2.0. Startersdag zaterdag 3 november. Microsoft Xbox 720 Presentation. Can We Really Do More With Less? This is a community post, untouched by our editors. sustainable consumption… in reality, it comes down to price and quality almost every time Tweet Share Martin Wright meets the authors of the latest report on sustainable consumption. Sustainable consumption: holy grail or oxymoron?
It’s a question that’s been tantalising activists and business leaders alike since the phrase was first coined 20 years ago or more. It should be a no brainer. Meeting our needs and desires without draining the world’s finite resources on which we all depend – how hard should that be? But there’s no doubting the urgency of the task. Carrying on consuming as we are now, then, is not remotely an option. That’s the conclusion of a new report, ‘More with less: scaling sustainable consumption and resource efficiency‘. A sustainable consumption mindmap via thevalueweb.org Part of the answer is that, at last, leading businesses agree action is desperately needed. The last element is crucial, adds WEF’s Sarita Nayar. Welcome to the Anthropocene. Watch 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds. Don't Have Flash? Watch this video on your iPad or iPhone here While temperatures soared for many this summer, this video takes the longer historical view. It comes to us from our friends at NASA and is an amazing 26-second animation depicting how temperatures around the globe have warmed since 1880.
That year is what scientists call the beginning of the “modern record.” You’ll note an acceleration of those temperatures in the late 1970s as greenhouse gas emissions from energy production increased worldwide and clean air laws reduced emissions of pollutants that had a cooling effect on the climate, and thus were masking some of the global warming signal. The data come from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures.
Pushing for Greater Transparency on Sustainability: the #AsktheQ Twitter Campaign. This is a community post, untouched by our editors. via Anya Hart Dyke In a nutshell, the #AsktheQ campaign aims to bring pressure to bear on all sectors to improve their regard for the environment. Tweet Share Shoppers cast a vote every time they spend their money and because this is an everyday action, it can have a far greater impact on policy than stating an electoral preference every few years.
As the influence of social media grows, consumers have an unprecedented opportunity to share concerns with thousands of people about governmental and corporate failure to protect our environment. Consumers crossing swords with companies on social media is a tried and tested driver of change. I started ‘#AsktheQ’ on 10th May this year, on my way up to Edinburgh on East Coast Trains. Via Flickr user photologue_np Of course you can’t believe everything you’re told, particularly where staff members … may be ill-equipped to give you an answer Tweet Share June mtg of @GuardianSustBiz now online. Geoengineering: Risky to Do, Riskier to Ignore. This is a community post, untouched by our editors. I’ve got to admit I’m not the world’s biggest fan of geoengineering, and I’ve said so quite publicly. The idea is that if we fail to cut back greenhouse gas emissions and the planet’s temperature soars to potentially dangerous levels, we’ll have to do something. Since greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun, that something could be finding a way to block sunlight — by lofting particles of reflective sulfur dioxide up into the stratosphere, for example, or by “seeding” clouds with a fine spray of seawater to make them whiter, or even, in one of the more farfetched schemes I’ve heard about, by sending little mirrors into space.
Or, since CO2 stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years after its emitted, the something could be a new technology, like “artificial trees,” which would suck that most important greenhouse gas back out of the air. An oceanic phytoplankton bloom in the South Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Argentina. A Little SPF Spray for Earth? This is a community post, untouched by our editors. While there have been some amazing social advances that have resulted from technology developed over the past century, these advances have come at a price; a price too high for our environment to sustain.
Our growing demands are beginning to take their toll on the earth, and the effects of global climate change are becoming increasingly apparent. It is evident, now more than ever, that we must take drastic measures to control and reverse the negative impacts we have inflicted on our environment. Widespread complacency in the behaviours that epitomize our disposable society has resulted in incredibly unsustainable lifestyles, and practices that have put great strains on our Earth. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and achieving a carbon neutral or carbon negative state, is a major determining factor in just how much we will be impacted by global climate change in the coming years.
Source: Wikipedia Humans like sharing... are you one? Making the Chocolate Last. This is a community post, untouched by our editors. Cocoa harvests are shrinking, but The Cocoa Parternship, launched by Cadbury, is bringing stakeholders together to restore them and ensure a healthy crop in years to come. Plaza de secado (drying plaza). Woman collecting some cocoa away from the sun. Chuao. Venezuela (Photo credit: Wikipedia) On the basis of sales figures alone, it’s tempting to conclude that chocolate is one industry which could blithely ignore the fragile state of the worldwide economy.
Behind the scenes, shrinking cocoa harvests are leading to predictions of a serious slump in supply, while a striking lack of young people willing to take over family farms is compounding the problem. No surprise, then, that one of the world’s largest purchasers of cocoa beans should be concerned for the future security of its vital supplies. This article originally appeared in Green Futures, the magazine of independent sustainability experts Forum for the Future. Top 5 Noteworthy Responses to Sustainability Campaign #AsktheQ. This is a community post, untouched by our editors.
#AsktheQ asked @mcdonalds why it uses Hoki fish from as far away as Asia Pacific. For sustainably-sourced white fish ‘must look beyond UK’— Anya Hart Dyke (@AnyaHartDyke) August 7, 2012 Since May this year I have been asking companies, organisations and local authorities what they are doing for the environment. I have been tweeting what I’ve been told using the hashtag #AsktheQ. The following examples are particularly noteworthy and offer readers the opportunity to help get some answers, with suggested tweets. 1. I travelled on Virgin Trains in June and tweeted that the staff member could not tell me if the company recycled their on-board waste.
Suggested Tweet: @VirginTrains Have you met your mid-2009 on-board recycling targets? 2. Source: misocrazy (Flickr.com) WH Smith tweet-told me that ‘most’ cards in-store are sourced from ‘sustainable forests where farmed timber is used & replanted no [sic] natural forests destroyed’. 3. 4. 5. Top 5 Holiday Questions for the Sustainably Minded. This is a community post, untouched by our editors. Image via Flickr / Alexander Kruel Going on holiday this summer? Here are five easy questions you can ask companies about their concern for the environment, before you finalise your travel arrangements. 1. If you’re flying somewhere for your holiday or travelling by coach or even train, ask the airline, coach or train company if they’re doing anything to offset their carbon emissions. 2. If you’re booking a holiday with a travel agent, ask them specific things to be aware of where you’re travelling to. 3. If you’re taking a guide book on holiday ask the publisher whether they print their books on recycled paper or whether it comes from responsibly-managed forests. 4.
If you need to buy suncream for where you’re going ask the retailer, whether a chemist, grocery store or supermarket whether they stock organic sunscreen products. 5. Don’t forget to tweet what you’re told using #AsktheQ. Newsletter August 22 is Earth Overshoot Day - Footprint Network News. Dear Global Footprint Network friends, Today, August 22, is Earth Overshoot Day, marking the date when humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. We are now operating in overdraft. For the rest of the year, we will maintain our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Earth Overshoot Day (from a concept devised by the UK think tank new economics foundation) helps conceptualize the gap between what nature can regenerate, and how much is required to support human activities. Similar to the way a bank statement tracks income against expenditures, Global Footprint Network tracks humanity’s demand for, and supply of, natural resources and ecological services.
Global Footprint Network’s calculations show that in just eight months, we have used up the renewable natural resources and CO2 sequestration that the planet can sustainably provide this year. Sociale Innovatie. What the heck is arbejdsglaede!? PNA Group. OKE4U.