Help Me Help You: Working with Public Information Officers

Why work with public information officers? Should I reach out to a PIO? Tips for working with a PIO. Multimedia. Draw in lay readers. Illustrate concepts. The interview. When the PIO sends you the first draft… Be prepared to speak with external media

The impact of movie reviews vs. word of mouth on post-viewing evaluations of films

Moviegoers regularly encounter movie reviews and word of mouth (WOM) prior to seeing a film. This thesis examined (1) whether reviews and WOM influence moviegoers\u27 post-viewing opinions of a film and (2) whether this information\u27s influence is moderated by moviegoing frequency. Using a between-subjects factorial design, the study gave participants positive or negative information about a film that they were led to believe came from either professional movie reviews or students at their university. Participants then watched the film and gave their opinions of its quality. The study found that, regardless of valence or source, this information did not significantly influence participants\u27 post-viewing opinions of the film. In addition, frequency of moviegoing did not moderate the information\u27s impact on those opinions. Potential explanations for these results and future directions for study are discussed

Help Me Help You: Working with Public Information Officers

Why work with public information officers? Should I reach out to a PIO? Tips for working with a PIO. Multimedia. Draw in lay readers. Illustrate concepts. The interview. When the PIO sends you the first draft… Be prepared to speak with external media

Temperature-dependent release of ATP from human erythrocytes: Mechanism for the control of local tissue perfusion

Copyright @ 2012 The AuthorsThis article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Human limb muscle and skin blood flow increases significantly with elevations in temperature, possibly through physiological processes that involve temperature-sensitive regulatory mechanisms. Here we tested the hypothesis that the release of the vasodilator ATP from human erythrocytes is sensitive to physiological increases in temperature both in vitro and in vivo, and examined potential channel/transporters involved. To investigate the source of ATP release, whole blood, red blood cells (RBCs), plasma and serum were heated in vitro to 33, 36, 39 and 42°C. In vitro heating augmented plasma or ‘bathing solution’ ATP in whole blood and RBC samples, but not in either isolated plasma or serum samples. Heat-induced ATP release was blocked by niflumic acid and glibenclamide, but was not affected by inhibitors of nucleoside transport or anion exchange. Heating blood to 42°C enhanced (P < 0.05) membrane protein abundance of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in RBCs. In a parallel in vivo study in humans exposed to whole-body heating at rest and during exercise, increases in muscle temperature from 35 to 40°C correlated strongly with elevations in arterial plasma ATP (r2 = 0.91; P = 0.0001), but not with femoral venous plasma ATP (r2 = 0.61; P = 0.14). In vitro, however, the increase in ATP release from RBCs was similar in arterial and venous samples heated to 39°C. Our findings demonstrate that erythrocyte ATP release is sensitive to physiological increases in temperature, possibly via activation of CFTR-like channels, and suggest that temperature-dependent release of ATP from erythrocytes might be an important mechanism regulating human limb muscle and skin perfusion in conditions that alter blood and tissue temperature.This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

Science Literacy: Using Research-Based Facts to Make Real-World Decisions

Science Literacy: Using Research-Based Facts to Make Real-World Decisions As the next generation of leaders is entering the educational pipeline, it’s important to have an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to solve the grand challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050

NIC to house Nebraska\u27s first self-driving shuttle

Nebraska Innovation Campus is living up to its name. The university’s epicenter of forward-thinking initiatives will temporarily house the state’s first self-driving shuttle, which was announced June 20 at Nebraska Innovation Studio. The City of Lincoln, which won a $100,000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to test the autonomous system, plans to release a public riding schedule for the shuttle within the next two weeks. Expected to remain in Lincoln through at least mid-July, the electric-powered shuttle will be monitored by an onboard operator. It carries up to 15 passengers. With the announcement, Nebraska becomes one of the first Big Ten institutions – and among just a few universities nationally – to feature an autonomous shuttle system. “Nebraska Innovation Campus is proud to be part of Lincoln’s autonomous shuttle project,”said Dan Duncan, executive director of the campus. “NIC is designed to facilitate and grow partnerships between the public and private sector. Housing the shuttle at Nebraska Innovation Studio and hosting the initial test rides are great examples of public-private partnerships in action.” Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler encouraged members of the university and city communities to ride and provide feedback on the autonomous shuttle, which is produced by the French company Navya (http://navya.tech/) . Input from riders will inform the city’s application for a$1million or even $5 million Bloomberg grant later this year. Those larger grants, given to four of the 35 cities awarded the initial$100,000, would fund the production of up to six autonomous shuttles that would traverse fixed routes through downtown Lincoln as early as2019. Like many of its self-driving counterparts, the Navya shuttle features a series of cameras,global positioning systems and laser-based sensors designed to orient the vehicle and detect obstacles. The 15-foot-long vehicle continuously plugs that data into algorithms that help direct its acceleration, braking and trajectory

The impact of movie reviews vs. word of mouth on post-viewing evaluations of films

Moviegoers regularly encounter movie reviews and word of mouth (WOM) prior to seeing a film. This thesis examined (1) whether reviews and WOM influence moviegoers' post-viewing opinions of a film and (2) whether this information's influence is moderated by moviegoing frequency. Using a between-subjects factorial design, the study gave participants positive or negative information about a film that they were led to believe came from either professional movie reviews or students at their university. Participants then watched the film and gave their opinions of its quality. The study found that, regardless of valence or source, this information did not significantly influence participants' post-viewing opinions of the film. In addition, frequency of moviegoing did not moderate the information's impact on those opinions. Potential explanations for these results and future directions for study are discussed.</p

NIC to house Nebraska\u27s first self-driving shuttle

Nebraska Innovation Campus is living up to its name. The university’s epicenter of forward-thinking initiatives will temporarily house the state’s first self-driving shuttle, which was announced June 20 at Nebraska Innovation Studio. The City of Lincoln, which won a $100,000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to test the autonomous system, plans to release a public riding schedule for the shuttle within the next two weeks. Expected to remain in Lincoln through at least mid-July, the electric-powered shuttle will be monitored by an onboard operator. It carries up to 15 passengers. With the announcement, Nebraska becomes one of the first Big Ten institutions – and among just a few universities nationally – to feature an autonomous shuttle system. “Nebraska Innovation Campus is proud to be part of Lincoln’s autonomous shuttle project,”said Dan Duncan, executive director of the campus. “NIC is designed to facilitate and grow partnerships between the public and private sector. Housing the shuttle at Nebraska Innovation Studio and hosting the initial test rides are great examples of public-private partnerships in action.” Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler encouraged members of the university and city communities to ride and provide feedback on the autonomous shuttle, which is produced by the French company Navya (http://navya.tech/) . Input from riders will inform the city’s application for a$1million or even $5 million Bloomberg grant later this year. Those larger grants, given to four of the 35 cities awarded the initial$100,000, would fund the production of up to six autonomous shuttles that would traverse fixed routes through downtown Lincoln as early as2019. Like many of its self-driving counterparts, the Navya shuttle features a series of cameras,global positioning systems and laser-based sensors designed to orient the vehicle and detect obstacles. The 15-foot-long vehicle continuously plugs that data into algorithms that help direct its acceleration, braking and trajectory