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Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer? Ask a UMW expert

UMW Associate Professor of Biology Deb O’Dell was recently featured on “Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer?” which began airing Saturday, Aug. 18, on the With Good Reason public radio show. The program, broadcast in Fredericksburg on Radio IQ 88.3 Digital at 2 p.m. Sundays, explores O’Dell’s research on the possible carcinogenic effects of one of America’s favorite gadgets. Her results – she found that a single 25-minute exposure can significantly alter the activity of genes for up to 48 hours – “surprised and alarmed” her. “You don’t use your cell phone once every two days,” O’Dell told With Good Reason host Sarah McConnell, who said she was “amazed” by the research. “What I’m afraid of [is] that these changes are not being permitted to go back to their original state … but rather, by continually activating them, we’re causing them to change persistently and that could then lead to changes in how cells reproduce themselves leading then, maybe, to tumors.” Questions surrounding the safety of cell phones and the effects of the radiation they emit have long loomed large. O’Dell has spent years – and involved several UMW students – researching this phenomenon. If you are covering this topic and need to know more – Dr. Deborah O'Dell is available to speak with media. Simply click on her icon to arrange an interview. Source:

Helping or Hovering? The Effects of Helicopter Parenting on College Students’ Well-Being

Want to help your child succeed in college? Resist the urge to hover. “Ask how classes are going, let them know that you love and support them, but let them take the lead on how much information to share,” says helicopter parenting expert Holly Schiffrin. “It’s not your job to remind your child to complete assignments, help them with their work or try to resolve their roommate issues for them.” A developmental psychologist, Dr. Schiffrin has conducted extensive research on helicopter parenting and achieving happiness. Her works have appeared in such scholarly publications as the Journal of Child and Family Studies and the Journal of Happiness Studies. She is co-author of Balancing the Big Stuff: Finding Happiness in Work, Family and Life and has co-authored a chapter in Intensive Mothering: The Cultural Contradictions of Modern Motherhood. “The biggest gift parents can give their children is the opportunity to make their own decisions,” says Dr. Shiffrin. “Parents who “help” their children too much stress themselves out and leave their kids ill-prepared to be adults.” Dr. Schiffrin is available to speak with media regarding this topic. Simply click on his icon to arrange an interview. Source:

One Tweak That Can (Instantly) Add Significantly To The Value Of Your Business

If you’re trying to figure out what your business might be worth, it’s helpful to consider what acquirers are paying for companies like yours these days. A little internet research will probably reveal that a business trades for a multiple of your pre-tax profit, which is Sellers Discretionary Earnings (SDE) for a small business and Earnings Before Interest Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) for a slightly larger business. Ian Fitzpatrick is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Chartered Business Valuator. He is an expert in advising business owners and entrepreneurs on all aspects of corporate sales, mergers, acquisitions, litigation, succession and ownership issues. In a recent piece, Ian highlights how business owners can take simple steps to add significant value to their enterprises. To learn more, simply click on the short article attached at the bottom. To contact Ian directly, simply click on his icon to arrange an appointment regarding this topic. Source:

Focus on extreme polluters

In recent years, several scholars have recommended that countries reduce their energy-related CO2 emissions by setting carbon intensity targets for their electricity generating plants. Other research suggests that countries could substantially cut their emissions simply by focusing on lowering the carbon emissions of the most extreme polluters. Using a unique international data source on power plants, researchers Don Grant (U. Colorado); Wesley Longhofer, assistant professor of organization and management; and Andrew Jorgenson (U. Utah) inform this issue by analyzing the distribution of CO2 emissions and intensities within the electricity sectors of 20 countries. They find that the dirtiest 5 percent of power plants are responsible for huge shares of their sectors’ total emissions, noting that “if these plants continued generating the same amount of electricity but met particular intensity targets, the world’s total electricity-based CO2 emissions could be reduced by as much as 44 percent.” Source:

Going about business . . . and helping change

Politically oriented organizations, such as those advocating equal rights for lesbians and gays, have long been credited with effecting changes in public policy that reduce discrimination. But what about the role of “ordinary” commercial organizations, such as dry cleaners or insurance agencies or clothing stores, that are affiliated with a “challenger” group that has limited recognition in a political system? A recent article by Giacomo Negro, associate professor of organization and management; Glenn Carroll (Stanford); and Fabrizio Perretti (Bocconi) examines such organizations, which are often overlooked in the study of policy outcomes. The researchers find that “politically mundane” commercial enterprises linked to lesbians and gays can contribute distinctly to local enactment of nondiscriminatory policies. The researchers attribute this to the bridges created between these businesses and the larger community, and to the normalcy and legitimacy signaled by their familiar organizational forms. They find that the more diverse in nature these commercial organizations are, the greater their potential to bring about nondiscriminatory policies. But this potential is diminished, they note, in communities where political organizations, particularly those engaging in contentious action, have a larger presence. The authors conclude that commercial organizations are an important complement to political action and can helpfully challenge discrimination while enhancing community connections and awareness. Source:

Electronic health records and the impact on workflow and costs

Healthcare practitioners and hospitals were initially slow to implement electronic health records (EHR) due to the perceived cost. The financial incentives from Medicare/Medicaid to adopt EHRs helped alleviate some of that concern, but the actual impact on workflow and profits, irrespective of those incentives, are still under investigation. In a research study, Steven D. Culler, adjunct associate professor of finance, along with David J. Ballard (Baylor Health Care System); Edmund R. Becker (Emory University); Dunlei Cheng (U of Texas); Briget da Graca (Baylor Health Care System); Neil S. Fleming (Baylor Health Care System); and Russell McCorkle (HealthTexas Provider Network) analyzed administrative, payroll, and billing data from 26 primary care practices in a Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas-based fee-for-service network that implemented EHRs from June 2006 through December 2008. In the 12-month period following implementation, staffing expenses increased 3 percent and practice costs increased 6 percent. The data revealed that “productivity, volume, and net income decreased initially, but recovered to/close to preimplementation levels after 12 months.” Given the recent rollout of EHRs across the country, the researchers noted the need for a longer-term investigation of the impact on productivity and costs. Source:

The role of the economy on individualism

Past work has shown that as countries become wealthier, people often become more individualistic. In new research, Emily Bianchi, assistant professor of organization & management, takes the investigation a step further and finds that even subtle fluctuations in the economy are associated with changes in individualism. She finds that during good economic times, Americans are more likely to seek out ways to signal their uniqueness and individuality. For instance, during boom times, Americans tend to give their children more uncommon names and are more likely to prize autonomy and independence in child-rearing. They are also more likely to favor music featuring self-oriented lyrics. Conversely, during recessions, Americans tend to focus more on fitting in and tend to give their children more common names, listen to more relationally oriented music, and encourage their children to get along with others. Additionally, Bianchi discovered that recessions engender uncertainty, which, in turn, decreases individualism and encourages interdependence. The study results indicated that the “link between wealth and individualism is driven not only by differences in how people live, work, and learn but also by their sense of the predictability, orderliness, and certainty of the surrounding environment.” Source:

The process behind auditor judgement

Auditors are required to use considerable judgment in their job, assessing information from a number of sources to create financial reports, critique accounting estimates, and assess a company’s internal controls over financial reporting. But an auditor’s decision-making process is not well understood. In their paper, Kathryn Kadous, professor of accounting, and coauthors Emily E. Griffith (U Wisconsin) and Donald Young 13PhD (Goizueta, Indiana U) provide a framework for researchers to better evaluate the judgment of auditors and, in turn, improve audit quality. Prior research in this area presumes that “decision makers typically engage deliberate, analytical processes to solve problems (i.e., pursue goals) that they have specifically chosen, that they limit their decision inputs to items they view as relevant, and that they have access to the details of their own cognitive processing.” The trio notes that “nonconscious goals” and “intuitive processes” are also influential in the decision-making process and in the factors driving these processes. Kadous, Griffith, and Young conclude that their framework indicates researchers approach their investigation by taking into account “conscious and nonconscious goals” and “decision makers with conflicting incentives, as well as differing capabilities.” Source:

Significance of pricing and product-line strategies

In new research, Ramnath Chellappa, associate professor of information systems & operations management, and coauthor Amit Mehra (U Texas) investigate the business practice of IT “versioning,” whereby a company creates different models of a product in order to charge varying prices for each one. Much research takes into account economies of scale and a company’s marginal costs—the price of making an additional unit of a product. However, Chellappa and Mehra note that companies also need to consider consumer usage costs when they decide to create various versions of the same IT product. But for IT products and services, the “costs” are not monetary. The pair note the “time commitment and physical effort” to use IT products or services. They use the example of mobile devices: “One cannot enjoy these information goods without them consuming resources such as memory and processing power.” They determine that “this consumption-related disutility” is critical to feature bundling and consumer segmentation. The researchers create a model to test the consumer cost impact, using a “digital goods firm with a unique production cost structure and agents—consumers who face resource constraints in consuming these goods.” Given the usage costs, they determine that individuals may not necessarily prefer products with more features to lower-quality items. The pair concludes “marginal cost and consumers’ usage costs have the same impact on versioning strategy.” Source:

Understanding the influence of mobile promotions

Michelle Andrews, assistant professor of marketing, and coauthors Jody Goehring (RetailMeNot), Sam Hui (U Houston), Joseph Pancras (U Conn), and Lance Thornswood (JCPenney) cull together divergent streams of research to provide a framework to better understand how mobile promotions influence the in-store shopping behavior of consumers. Online promotions allow merchants to reach shoppers easier and faster, enabling traditional stores to text out online discounts or highlight specific products. Merchants can also use geolocation on mobile phones to text and target shoppers once inside of their store to feature merchandise or advertise a special offer. The authors identify a number of key areas for additional research to “enable long-term, value enhancing relationships between consumers and marketers.” For instance, they note the need for a better understanding of the role of privacy concerns on personal data collection via mobile devices. Andrews and coauthors also find that a deeper investigation of such things as return on investment, loyalty programs, upselling, proximity to purchase, and global promotions are required to get a true sense of the effectiveness of mobile promotions. Source: