Communications Media

More Internet information means more disinformation,warns a Dartmouth engineering professor

Why is the stock market fluctuating wildly these days? Is it poor earnings reports? Is it questionable accounting practices or CEO inefficiency? Or do investors trade frantically after they’ve read something on the Internet? If an investor reads a seemingly authoritative report about a company’s performance, he or she might be influenced to buy or sell stock.

Sometimes what

Viewing of internet ads does lead to future sales

Contrary to popular e-wisdom, measuring Internet banner ads only by the number of times that viewers click through is faulty, according to a paper presented today at a conference of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®).

The paper contends that the more often consumers see online banner ads, the more likely they are to make a purchase, even if they don’t click through immediately to the

The siting of radio masts is one of the topics that today seem guaranteed to grab the attention of both the public and the newspapers. With passionately held views springing from all sides, sometimes accompanied by graphic accusations, how should businesses and professionals involved in this potentially controversial area try to steer a course in dealing with public perceptions of risk?

The answer to is be guided by a set of `golden rules` of communication, according to Dr Simon Gerrard, a s

We`ve got digital television. Next comes digital cinema. Thanks to ESA, cinema-goers in five European countries will be able to get an early taste of the new technology later this summer. As part of an ESA-funded project, ten cinemas in Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK will be screening movies transmitted and played digitally rather than by the conventional analogue method.

The advantage to the cinema-goer should be no blemishes on the moving image and greater and consistent clarity

’Cell-free zones’ recommended

Preliminary results of a University of Rhode Island analysis of the eye-movements of automobile drivers using cell phones found that the drivers have a reduced field of view – tunnel vision. Further studies may have significant implications on the use of cell phones in automobiles.

URI industrial engineering Professor Manbir Sodhi and psychology Professor Jerry Cohen used a head-mounted, eye-tracking device on volunteer drivers and con

Probiotics (microbes that protect their host and can prevent disease) can prevent diarrhoea associated with the use of antibiotics, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.

Researchers at the Hammersmith Hospital in London reviewed nine trials carried out to study the benefits of probiotics in the prevention of antibiotic associated diarrhoea. In all nine trials, the probiotics were given in combination with antibiotics and the control groups received placebo and antibiotics.

They found t