24
September
2012
|
18:00 PM
America/New_York

Story Ideas for Media 9/25/12

News

Ohio State Leads Project to Develop “Science DMZ” on Internet. A $1 million federal grant will fund the construction of a unique computer network devoted to helping scientists collaborate over the Internet with minimal interference from security measures.
Headquartered at Ohio State University, the two-year project is charged with creating a safe and resilient network architecture dubbed the “Science DMZ” – a play on the term “demilitarized zone.” In this case, instead of being a neutral area between warring nations, the DMZ will be a sub-network on the Internet where institutions normally protected by firewalls will be able to freely and safely share information with each other.
Since its inception, the Internet has sped the pace of scientific discovery, but the necessary firewalls that protect institutions from malicious online activity can hinder data sharing among research partners, said Caroline Whitacre, vice president for research at Ohio State and principal investigator of the project.
“We need the Internet to effectively collaborate with colleagues around the world, but using it poses a challenge,” Whitacre said. CONTACT: Beth Haas, Ohio State Office of Research, (614) 688-4725; Haas.23@osu.edu.SEE: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/ScienceDMZ.htm

Ohio State to launch Nurse/Health Athlete Program. The Ohio State University College of Nursing has teamed up with Wellness & Prevention, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, to offer the Nurse/Health Athlete program, the first under the college’s Health Athlete initiative to promote healthy practices in nurses and healthcare professionals.
“This program is a win-win for nurses, physicians, managers, and the entire healthcare team and system, both in terms of improving the quality of health professionals’ personal and professional lives and patient outcomes,” said Bernadette Melnyk, chief wellness officer, associate vice president for health promotion, and dean of The Ohio State University College of Nursing. “In 2011, we started talking with Wellness & Prevention, Inc. about the program and knew it had terrific potential for healthcare professionals.”
The College of Nursing plans to launch public workshops for the new program in January, 2013. CONTACT: Kathryn Kelley, (614) 688-1062 or kelley.81@osu.edu. SEE: http://www.nursing.osu.edu/news/news-headline-articles/Nurse/Health-Athlete.html

Research

Media Coverage Influences Value of Presidential Debates for Viewers, Study Finds. The presidential debates offer viewers a lot of substance about the issues of the campaign -- but post-debate media coverage can undermine the value they have for voters. The study was led by Ray Pingree, assistant professor of communication at Ohio State.
Results showed that post-debate coverage that focused on the debate as a competition led viewers to think less about policy issues. By comparison, coverage that focused on the substance of the discussion increased the likelihood that viewers would come away with specific thoughts about candidates’ policy proposals.
The researchers conducted two different studies in which young Americans viewed actual clips from the 2004 and 2008 presidential debates and then read media coverage of the debate.
Afterward, the researchers asked the viewers to describe the debate as they would to a friend. From these descriptions, the researchers were able to tell how the media coverage affected what viewers chose to focus on in reflecting back on the debates.
"With the level of substance in the debates, there is some hope that this could be a positive moment in which people really engage in the important questions of policy,” said Pingree.
But whether viewers actually did that depended a lot on the media coverage.
“The media have a strong influence on whether viewers think of the debate in terms of a discussion of the issues or simply as a competition between the candidates,” he said. CONTACT: Jeff Grabmeier, (614) 292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu. SEE: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/postdebate.htm

Events

Ohio State hosts international environmental conference – Sept. 30-Oct. 5. More than 1,500 delegates from 75 countries will visit Columbus and Ohio State for EcoSummit 2012 Sept. 30-Oct. 5.
The weeklong conference brings together the world's most respected minds in ecological science to discuss restoring the planet’s ecosystems. The speakers are a who’s who of the ecological restoration movement, including Harvard ecologist E.O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize winning author Jared Diamond and the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson.
It is the first time the EcoSummit has been held in North America. In addition to the academic conference, delegates will participate in mid-conference field trips to central-Ohio ecological sites.
Conference organizers selected central Ohio so participants could have a firsthand experience with cutting-edge sustainability projects, such as the sustainable urban food ecosystem in Weinland Park and the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park at The Ohio State University.
EcoSummit 2012 is sponsored by The Ohio State University and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. CONTACT: Amy Murray (614) 292-8385. SEE: http://www.ecosummit2012.org/

The person listed as the CONTACT will have the most current information about the story. Call on our media relations staff for help with any Ohio State story: Liz Cook, (614) 292-7276 or cook.17@osu.edu; Jim Lynch, (614) 247-4110 or lynch.270@osu.edu; or Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385 or murray-goedde.1@osu.edu