Society and Culture

Top News
Top news RSS feed
Most Popular
Most popular RSS feed
before and after bridge renovation

Neighborhood park renovations enhance visitor behaviors and experiences

4/9/13

Renovating public parks enhances visitor behaviors and experiences, according to researchers at Penn State, who note that although the outcomes may seem obvious, funders of such improvement projects are requiring more scientific evidence that demonstrates the impact of such financial investments.

Video: Curators give talk, tour at Palmer Museum of Art

4/3/13

At a recent Research Unplugged program at Penn State's Palmer Museum of Art, curators Joyce Robinson and Dana Carlisle Kletchka presented a talk and tour, "Behind the Scenes at the Museum: What Do Curators Do?"

Robinson, curator of art and affiliate associate professor of art history, is a specialist in modern American and European art, and teaches courses primarily on African American art.

Organizations benefit from fluid team dynamics, less rigid authority lines

3/28/13

Organizations can benefit by making more use of team members’ skills and enhancing creativity, rather than adhering to more rigid authority lines and hierarchies, according to a paper on team dynamics co-authored by Stephen Humphrey, associate professor of management at the Penn State Smeal College of Business.

Smeal research studies effects of opening, closing retail stores on firm value

3/27/13

For many large chain retailers, closing store locations is more strongly associated with increases in firm value than opening new stores, according to a recent study. Decisions on store openings and closings are commonly made to effect performance at the product and consumer levels, but this study is one of the first to examine how these openings and closings impact overall firm value.

food 1 - buy it with thought 2 - cook it with care

Probing Question: Why do we waste so much food?

3/25/13

Chalk it up to one of the many contradictions of modern life in developed nations: we cajole our kids into eating all the food on their plates "because children in poorer countries are starving" at the same time as we face a growing obesity epidemic worldwide. Is there really not enough food on the planet, or are we just wasting the food we have? Bryan McDonald, a Penn State assistant professor of history and author of the book Food Security, offers his perspective.

Video: Sibling rivalry a mix of conflict and close feelings

3/21/13

Susan McHale, professor of human development and director of Penn State's Social Science Research Institute, spoke on "Sibling Wars: Why Brothers and Sisters Fight (And What to Do About It!)" at a recent Research Unplugged event in downtown State College. In this video excerpt from her presentation, McHale tells a story about aggression between a brother and sister in order to illustrate the unique nature of sibling relationships that can include both conflict and closeness.

man in Balaklava, orange and green blocks of color

Violence returns to the streets of Northern Ireland

3/13/13

In 1998, the Real Irish Republican Army, an IRA splinter group, detonated a car bomb in a shopping area of Omagh, Northern Ireland, that killed 29 people. Since then, violent Irish Republican groups have re-emerged as a major security threat to Northern Ireland, according to a Penn State terrorism expert.

Montage of graduate studies at Civil War Research Center

Richards Center trains next generation of Civil War scholars

3/13/13

From its original mission of interpreting and reflecting on the transformative experience of the Civil War itself, Penn State's Richards Civil War Era Center and its scholarship now encompass themes spanning Atlantic World slavery, emancipation, constitutionalism, the expansion of democracy, religion and social movements, women's rights, immigration, western expansionism, war and society, and the struggles of labor. In addition to fostering this forum, the Center is training scholars who are making significant contributions in the field.

College enrollment does not lead to problem drinking in adulthood

3/12/13

Despite high levels of binge drinking that take place on college campuses, college enrollment does not lead to substance abuse problems later in adulthood, and it may actually prevent adult substance abuse among youth who would not be expected to attend college, according to Penn State researchers.

Partner abuse counseling for women insufficient

Partner abuse counseling for women insufficient

3/8/13

Only about one in five central Pennsylvania women who have experienced intimate partner violence is asked or counseled by a health care provider about abuse, according to Penn State medicine and public health science researchers. Overall, approximately only one in nine women has received preventive counseling about violence and safety.

Pages

2 female researchers standing on staircase with 2 male researchers

Prevention Research Center aims to help families and their children

5/22/13

With research and programs aimed at changing risky behaviors, Penn State's Prevention Research Center promotes well-being in children, teens, and families.

Established in 1997 with an endowment by alumna Edna Bennett Pierce, the Prevention Research Center is the largest of its kind in the nation. It also is recognized as one of the best. "What sets us apart is our broad range of focuses," says acting director Ed Smith. "While we're similar to other prevention centers in that we promote effective programs and work in communities to ensure they're being done well, we incorporate a strong research component."

Marques Paige, recent Penn State Harrisburg graduate

Undergrad theses examine topics from body image to recycled tires

5/15/13

Eight seniors in the Penn State Harrisburg Capital College Honors Program presented their theses -- on topics ranging from body image to green roofs and recycled tires -- just before graduation May 4. All said working on their projects -- which in some cases took two years to complete -- has given them direction.

Benner's Hill on the Gettysburg Battlefied

Guide adds new voices to history of Gettysburg battle

5/15/13

For three days in July 1863, thousands of Gettysburg civilians and tens of thousands of soldiers were caught up in a battle that left often conflicting data and anecdotes. This makes writing about the Battle of Gettysburg both a dream and a nightmare for Civil War historians, according to a Penn State researcher.

three women researchers sitting around a table

The Mexican Children of Immigrants Program: Interpreting the numbers

5/8/13

Language barriers, fear of deportation, and community prejudice are problems often faced by Mexican immigrants that contribute to dramatic disparities in health and well-being between immigrants and the native-born U.S. population. These problems may be compounded by family and community characteristics, making it especially difficult for the children of immigrants to receive the basic services needed to promote a healthy future. Such complexities are the focus of a three-pronged program of investigation by a research team at Penn State's Penn State's Population Research Institute (PRI).

A seller's conspicuous consumption may undermine bond with consumers

5/7/13

What kind of judgments do buyers make based on the way a sellers present themselves? How do these judgments impact buyers’ willingness to close a sale? Researchers addressed these questions in a recent Penn State Smeal College of Business study, specifically examining the effects of sellers’ conspicuous consumption on the buyer-seller relationship.

female student crossing police line at mock crime scene

Probing Question: Do women dominate the field of forensic science?

5/7/13

Exhuming corpses, analyzing bloodstained clothing, collecting "crime scene insects" (yes, maggots)...these are some of the grittier realities of life as a forensic scientist. Yet defying the stereotype that females tend to be squeamish about such things, an entire generation of young women have become entranced by the profession. In fact, they've pursued this career in such numbers that—unlike almost every other scientific discipline—one could argue that the booming field of forensic science is a female domain.

avatar wearing a backpack

Bonding with your virtual self may alter your actual perceptions

5/2/13

When people create and modify their virtual reality avatars, the hardships faced by their alter egos can influence how they perceive virtual environments, according to researchers presenting their findings at 2013 Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Paris today (May 2).

tissues in white boutique box

People may welcome talking tissue boxes and other smart objects

5/1/13

Just as people have embraced computers and smart phones, they may also give their blessing to talking tissue boxes and other smart objects, according to Penn State researchers. "Smart objects will become more and more a part of our daily lives," said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory.

2 young men with game controllers

Leadership emerges spontaneously during games

4/29/13

Video game and augmented-reality game players can spontaneously build virtual teams and leadership structures without special tools or guidance, according to researchers. Players in a game that mixed real and online worlds organized and operated in teams that resembled a military organization.

A group of Penn State faculty visit Taiwan

Penn State teams up with Taiwanese university to create learning sciences center

4/24/13

Penn State University and National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) have developed a collaboration to establish the Advanced Center for the Study of the Learning Sciences. Under a proposal funded by the Taiwan National Science Council, center researchers will devise ways for educators to keep pace with rapidly changing information and technology in society. Behavioral and neuro-cognitive research will serve as focal points for the center’s work.

Marketing Professor Rajdeep Grewal

Marketing activities can lead to better IPO performance

4/22/13

If managers want to position their young firms for better performance as they enter the public market, they should devote more resources to marketing activities early in the firm’s lifecycle, says a recent study from researchers at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business and Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business.

elemental symbol for helium

Probing Question: Are we running out of helium?

4/22/13

Some scientists are sounding the alarm about the wastefulness of using helium -- a rare, non-renewable gas -- to fill party balloons. Why? As an essential resource in technologies such as medical imaging, rocket engines, and surveillance devices, it turns out that helium does a lot more than give our balloons a lift. And despite being the second most abundant element in the universe, most of our supply in the Earth’s atmosphere simply floats off into space and is lost.