Mainstream car shoppers are simultaneously ignorant and apathetic about plug-in electric vehicles. That?s the essential finding of a new study from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The study, which is based on a survey of 2,300 adult drivers in 21 large American cities in fall 2011, is a snapshot of driver sentiment 18 months ago.
Since that time, E.V. marketing efforts for such cars as the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt have only modestly increased awareness, according to researchers. ?Based on sales data of electric vehicles, and subsequent surveys, we would be very surprised if the result would be much different today than in August 2011,? said John Graham, who designed the study. Dr. Graham is the dean of the university?s School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
The results of the study raise this question: If respondents know so little about electric cars, what are they basing their answers on ? except preconceived notions about E.V.?s not necessarily based on facts?
?We found substantial factual misunderstandings of electric cars in our sample of 2,000,? Dr. Graham said. ?In some cases, the misunderstandings would cause one to be more pessimistic about the vehicle than they should be. And in other cases, it would cause people to be more optimistic than they should be.?
He said people underestimate the price premium carried by plug-in electric vehicles. The respondents know that E.V.?s cost more, but not a few thousands of dollars more, as can be the case. Dr. Graham says he believes that car buyers experience sticker shock at the dealership and walk away.
At the same time, mainstream car buyers don?t understand that the higher upfront cost could be recouped, at least in part, by cost saving on fuel. ?They don?t realize how cheap the electricity is,? Dr. Graham said. ?And it is very cheap, like 70 to 80 percent less expensive on a per-mile basis than gasoline on average.?
Consumer awareness of other E.V. advantages ? like quicker acceleration, a smoother and quieter ride and better handling ? were not evaluated in the Indiana University study.
Only about 4 percent of respondents indicated a serious consideration of buying a plug-in electric vehicle. Of those who expressed a relatively high interest in a plug-in car, only 22 percent were interested in a pure electric car, while 78 percent expressed interest in a plug-in hybrid. A plug-in hybrid, like the Chevy Volt, uses a gas engine to extend range by hundreds of miles. Limited range was cited as one of the primary disadvantages of a plug-in electric car, even though plug-in hybrids are no more limited in range than gas-powered cars.
The distance traveled per day reported by respondents was 28.35 miles (as a mean), a range that can easily be covered in a single charge by electric cars. ?The data is consistent with the view in the industry that a lot of new-car buyers purchase vehicles for the occasional imperative ? the weekend trip, the vacation,? Dr. Graham said. ?They buy for the peak demand, not for the ordinary use of the vehicle.?
Despite the misgivings expressed by respondents, drivers in some cities were more amenable to plug-in electric vehicles than others. San Francisco, Chicago and Boston ranked highest out of the 21 cities. Interest was greatest among highly educated, conservation-minded people, especially those who already own a conventional hybrid.
Dr. Graham says he believes that familiarity and more exposure to the cars would increase acceptance. ?That definitely would be the case,? he said. ?But it?s going to be a decade before we figure out if plug-in vehicles can become the norm, rather than an interesting curiosity of a niche buyer.?
The findings were published online by the journal Transportation Research. The study was written by Dr. Graham, Sanya Carley, Rachel Krause and Bradley Lane.
A business plan is great once entrepreneurs have tested the market and know what they're going to sell. But for starters, they really need to model their business.
By Dr. Jeffrey R. Cornwall,?Guest blogger / December 27, 2012
In this December file photo, 12-year-old entrepreneur William Zsigo enjoys one of his own chocolate confections as he poses for photos at his home in Haslett, Mich. Before entrepreneurs write up a business plan, they should model their business visually.
Greg DeRuiter/The State Journal/AP/File
Enlarge
When advising people about what they need to do as they get ready to launch a business, there are two distinct approaches recommended by experts.
Skip to next paragraph Dr. Jeffrey R. Cornwall
Jeff is the Jack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
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The first, which has been the traditional approach, tells aspiring entrepreneurs that writing a business plan is the first critical step.
In business schools the business plan was the core of our entrepreneurship curriculum for decades. ?Writing a business plan that?s thickness is measured in inches is still a rite of passage in many top entrepreneurship programs.
However, there is a growing chorus of experts questioning why business plans get so much attention.? After all, most entrepreneurs will tell you that once the business gets going it can quickly look fundamentally different than described in their original business plan.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? When it comes to the nation's budget challenges, congressional leaders are fond of saying dismissively they don't want to kick the can down the road.
But now, a deadline hard ahead, even derided half-measures are uncertain as President Barack Obama and lawmakers struggle to avert across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts that comprise an economy-threatening fiscal cliff.
Congressional officials said Wednesday they knew of no significant strides toward a compromise over a long Christmas weekend, and no negotiations have been set.
After conferring on a conference call, House Republican leaders said they remain ready for talks, urged the Senate to consider a House-passed bill that extends all existing tax cuts, but gave no hint they intend to call lawmakers back into session unless the Senate first passes legislation.
"The lines of communication remain open, and we will continue to work with our colleagues to avert the largest tax hike in American history, and to address the underlying problem, which is spending," the leadership said in a statement.
A short while later Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. countered that the House leadership should allow action on a Senate-passed bill that lets income tax rates rise only on incomes above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. The measure could "pass tomorrow" if put to a vote, he said.
The Senate is due in session Thursday, although the immediate agenda includes legislation setting the rules for government surveillance of suspected spies and terrorists abroad, including Americans, as well as a measure providing $60 billion for victims of Superstorm Sandy.
Obama decided to cut short his Hawaii vacation for an overnight flight expected to get him back to the White House on Thursday.
Apart from the cliff, other financial challenges loom for divided government, where political brinkmanship has become the norm. The Treasury disclosed during the day it would take accounting measures to avoid reaching the government's borrowing limit of $16.4 trillion by year's end. The changes will provide about two months of additional leeway.
Separately, spending authority for much of the government will expire on March 27, 2013.
After weeks of negotiations, the president urged lawmakers late last week to scale back their ambitions for avoiding the fiscal cliff and send him legislation preventing tax cuts on all but the highest-earning Americans and extending unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless. Longer, term, he said he still supports deficit cuts that were key to the earlier talks.
"Everybody's got to give a little bit in a sensible way," he said at the White House.
The House has no plans to convene, following last week's rebellion in which conservatives torpedoed Speaker John Boehner's legislation to prevent scheduled tax increases on most, while letting them take effect on million-dollar wage earners.
"How we get there, God only knows," the Ohio Republican said of efforts to protect the economy ? and taxpayers ? from the tax increases and spending cuts.
"Now is the time to show leadership, not kick the can down the road," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said a little over a week ago after Boehner announced he would shift his own focus from bipartisan talks to the approach that eventually was torpedoed by his own rank and file.
It's a phrase that political leaders use when they want to suggest others want to avoid tackling major problems, and one that Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and even Obama as well as Reid have used.
"We have a spending problem. We have to address it, And we're not going to address it by kicking the can down the road," the speaker said at a news conference late last week when he was asked about setting a vote on a plan that Democrats find acceptable.
Cantor recently used the same approach in challenging Obama to agree to savings from Medicare and other benefit programs. "This has to be a part of this agreement or else we just continue to dig the hole deeper, asking folks to allow us to kick the can down the road further and that we don't want to do," he said on Nov. 28.
In fact, it's a phrase that has been in use for over a year as Obama and Republicans jockey for position on pocketbook issues.
In July 2011, when he was struggling with Republicans over the threat of a first-ever government default, Obama said he had "heard reports that there may be some in Congress who want to do just enough to make sure that America avoids defaulting on our debt in the short term. But then wants to kick the can down the road when it comes to solving the larger problem, our deficit."
A few months later, an extension of a payroll tax cut was the issue, and Boehner was insisting on a year-long renewal rather than the temporary plan that passed the Senate with votes from lawmakers in both parties.
"How can you do tax policy for two months?" he asked on Dec. 18, 2011. "I believe that two months is just kicking the can down the road.
"The American people are tired of that."
At issue now is series of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to kick in with the new year that economists caution could send the economy into a recession.
___
AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber contributed to this report.
Piranha kin wielded dental weaponry even T. rex would have admiredPublic release date: 26-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sandra Hines shines@uw.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington
Taking into consideration its size, an ancient relative of piranhas weighing about 20 pounds delivered a bite with a force more fierce than prehistoric whale-eating sharks, the four-ton ocean-dwelling Dunkleosteus terrelli and even Tyrannosaurus rex.
Besides the force of the bite, Megapiranha paranensis appears to have had teeth capable of shearing through soft tissue the way today's piranhas do, while also being able to pierce thick shells and crack armoring and bones, according to Stephanie Crofts, a University of Washington doctoral student in biology.
"If our calculations are correct, Megapiranha was probably a bone-crushing predator taking bites of anything and everything," she said. Crofts is co-author of "Mega-Bites: Extreme jaw forces of living and extinct piranhas," published Dec. 13 in the online journal Scientific Reports.
The bite force of Megapiranha, which lived 10 million years ago, was extrapolated from the first field measurements of the biting force of Earth's largest piranha today, Serrasalmus rhombeus or black piranha. One 2 pound fish delivered a bite with a force of 320 newtons, or about 72 pounds, which is 30 times its body weight. The force is nearly three times greater than the bite force of an equivalent size American alligator.
Based on the 2 pound piranha and other specimens tested in the wild, the scientists calculate that Megapiranha paranensis, which weighed approximately 22 pounds, could have had a bite force anywhere from 1,240 to 4,750 newtons or 280 to 1,070 pounds and possibly more.
Other scientists have previously estimated that T. rex slammed its jaws shut with 13,400 newtons, or 3,000 pounds of force, but that's nowhere near 30 times its body weight.
Pound for pound, Megapiranha and black piranha have the most powerful bites among carnivorous fishes, living or extinct, the paper said. "For its relatively diminutive size, Megapiranha paranensis' bite dwarfs other extinct mega-predators" including the enormous whale-eating Carcharodon megalodon and the monstrous Dunkleosteus terrelli, a four-ton armored fish.
The same was true when the scientists corrected for body size and made comparisons with today's barracudas, hammerhead sharks and great white sharks.
"We were surprised that in spite of their long history and infamous reputations that no one had ever measured their bite forces," said Justin Grubich, with the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and lead author of the paper. "When we finally started to get the data, we were blown away at how tremendously strong the bites were for these relatively little fish."
As the paper says, "While anecdotes of piranha-infested waters skeletonizing hapless victims are generally hyperbole, the effectiveness of their bite is not."
Just how does one measure the bite force of a piranha living in the wild? Well, you get out your rod and reel and go fishing. Land a specimen, then hang tight to the tail with one hand and use your other hand to support its belly while offering the fish a chance to bite the plates of a customized force gage.
"Piranhas are ornery little fish so they bit down as hard as they could," Crofts said based on what she was told by those on the fishing expedition along tributaries of the Amazon River.
The black piranha's bite is so powerful in part because of its massive jaw muscles and rope-like tendons that together account for 2 percent of the fish's overall weight, the scientists found. Further the shape of their jaw has evolved into a powerful lever, "one of the highest jaw-closing mechanical advantages ever identified in fishes," the paper said.
Crofts' main contribution involved analysis of how Megapiranha teeth handled stresses and how breakable the teeth might have been. The scientists were particularly interested because Megapiranha's unusual teeth appear to do two things at the same time, one the piranha-like ability to shear soft tissues and the other an ability to bite like the nut-crushing pacu, piranha's close relative.
Based on a fossilized jaw and three teeth, Crofts conducted a computer generated "finite element analysis" for the team.
"We found the Megapiranha teeth had the same maximum strength like you saw in regular piranha, but then the patterns of stress distribution within the tooth was also similar to fish able to eat hard-prey," she said.
The actual diet remains a mystery, but during the time when Megapiranha lived a lot of potential prey species were gigantic.
"Thus it is reasonable to assume the food resources available to Megapiranha would likely have required jaw forces and dental weaponry capable of capturing and processing very large prey," the paper says.
###
Other co-authors on the paper are Steve Huskey with Western Kentucky University, Guillermo Orti with George Washington University and Jorge Porto with the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amaznia.
Funding came from the National Geographic and the Field Museum of Natural History.
For more information:
Crofts, croftss@uw.edu, phone for Crofts ask Sandra Hines.
Suggested websites
Paper
National Geographic video on YouTube with Justin Grubich
Stephanie Crofts
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Piranha kin wielded dental weaponry even T. rex would have admiredPublic release date: 26-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sandra Hines shines@uw.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington
Taking into consideration its size, an ancient relative of piranhas weighing about 20 pounds delivered a bite with a force more fierce than prehistoric whale-eating sharks, the four-ton ocean-dwelling Dunkleosteus terrelli and even Tyrannosaurus rex.
Besides the force of the bite, Megapiranha paranensis appears to have had teeth capable of shearing through soft tissue the way today's piranhas do, while also being able to pierce thick shells and crack armoring and bones, according to Stephanie Crofts, a University of Washington doctoral student in biology.
"If our calculations are correct, Megapiranha was probably a bone-crushing predator taking bites of anything and everything," she said. Crofts is co-author of "Mega-Bites: Extreme jaw forces of living and extinct piranhas," published Dec. 13 in the online journal Scientific Reports.
The bite force of Megapiranha, which lived 10 million years ago, was extrapolated from the first field measurements of the biting force of Earth's largest piranha today, Serrasalmus rhombeus or black piranha. One 2 pound fish delivered a bite with a force of 320 newtons, or about 72 pounds, which is 30 times its body weight. The force is nearly three times greater than the bite force of an equivalent size American alligator.
Based on the 2 pound piranha and other specimens tested in the wild, the scientists calculate that Megapiranha paranensis, which weighed approximately 22 pounds, could have had a bite force anywhere from 1,240 to 4,750 newtons or 280 to 1,070 pounds and possibly more.
Other scientists have previously estimated that T. rex slammed its jaws shut with 13,400 newtons, or 3,000 pounds of force, but that's nowhere near 30 times its body weight.
Pound for pound, Megapiranha and black piranha have the most powerful bites among carnivorous fishes, living or extinct, the paper said. "For its relatively diminutive size, Megapiranha paranensis' bite dwarfs other extinct mega-predators" including the enormous whale-eating Carcharodon megalodon and the monstrous Dunkleosteus terrelli, a four-ton armored fish.
The same was true when the scientists corrected for body size and made comparisons with today's barracudas, hammerhead sharks and great white sharks.
"We were surprised that in spite of their long history and infamous reputations that no one had ever measured their bite forces," said Justin Grubich, with the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and lead author of the paper. "When we finally started to get the data, we were blown away at how tremendously strong the bites were for these relatively little fish."
As the paper says, "While anecdotes of piranha-infested waters skeletonizing hapless victims are generally hyperbole, the effectiveness of their bite is not."
Just how does one measure the bite force of a piranha living in the wild? Well, you get out your rod and reel and go fishing. Land a specimen, then hang tight to the tail with one hand and use your other hand to support its belly while offering the fish a chance to bite the plates of a customized force gage.
"Piranhas are ornery little fish so they bit down as hard as they could," Crofts said based on what she was told by those on the fishing expedition along tributaries of the Amazon River.
The black piranha's bite is so powerful in part because of its massive jaw muscles and rope-like tendons that together account for 2 percent of the fish's overall weight, the scientists found. Further the shape of their jaw has evolved into a powerful lever, "one of the highest jaw-closing mechanical advantages ever identified in fishes," the paper said.
Crofts' main contribution involved analysis of how Megapiranha teeth handled stresses and how breakable the teeth might have been. The scientists were particularly interested because Megapiranha's unusual teeth appear to do two things at the same time, one the piranha-like ability to shear soft tissues and the other an ability to bite like the nut-crushing pacu, piranha's close relative.
Based on a fossilized jaw and three teeth, Crofts conducted a computer generated "finite element analysis" for the team.
"We found the Megapiranha teeth had the same maximum strength like you saw in regular piranha, but then the patterns of stress distribution within the tooth was also similar to fish able to eat hard-prey," she said.
The actual diet remains a mystery, but during the time when Megapiranha lived a lot of potential prey species were gigantic.
"Thus it is reasonable to assume the food resources available to Megapiranha would likely have required jaw forces and dental weaponry capable of capturing and processing very large prey," the paper says.
###
Other co-authors on the paper are Steve Huskey with Western Kentucky University, Guillermo Orti with George Washington University and Jorge Porto with the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amaznia.
Funding came from the National Geographic and the Field Museum of Natural History.
For more information:
Crofts, croftss@uw.edu, phone for Crofts ask Sandra Hines.
Suggested websites
Paper
National Geographic video on YouTube with Justin Grubich
Stephanie Crofts
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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People who use online dating websites, soon discover there are a number of common online dating lies. Men tell white lies to make themselves look better, in the hopes of getting a date.
Common Online Dating Lies: White Lie #1: What his profile says: I am tall, dark and handsome. What he means: I am average in every way.
White Lie #2: What he says: I am reevaluating my goals: What he really means: I am unemployed, and I live in my parents basement.
White Lie #3 What he says: I am changing the direction of my life. What he really means: I have prison for the past few years.
White Lie #4: What he says: I make more than $200,00 a year. What he really means: I am dreaming of the day I win the lottery, but for now, I work as a waiter at a local dive.
White Lie #5 What he says: I work out every day. What he really means: I have not seen the inside of a gym for more than 10 years.
White Lie #6 What he says: I am a social drinker only. What he really means: I am a party animal, on a first name basis with every bartender in a 10 mile radius.
White Lie #7 What he says: I am the Chief Executive Officer at my job. What he really means: I work in the mail room. I get to talk to the CEO everyday, when I deliver his mail.
White Lie #8 What he says: I am 29 or younger. What he really means: I know that you like younger guys, but I haven?t seen 29 in the rear view mirror for more than a decade.
White Lie #9 What he says: I am a world traveler. What he really means: I love watching television shows, about people who travel around the world.
White Lie #10 What he says: I am interested in opera, art, museums and culture. What he really means: I know this will make me look cultured, but I haven?t been to a museum, since I was in grade school.
White Lie #11 What he says: I weigh 175. What he really means: I wish I weighed 175. I haven?t seen that number on the bathroom scale in years.
Online dating lies serve the purpose of trying to get a date, and hoping the other person will overlook their small deception. The following 11 common online dating lies require women to be discerning, before they agree to meet anyone in person.
Nielsen?s State of the Media: The Social Media Report 2012 reflects on various social media trends of 2012, as well as the potential impact they will have on the coming year. There is no denying that social media is more popular than ever with consumers, and that having a social media presence is critical for SMBs? online marketing strategies in 2013.? Here are a few highlights from the report.
Mobile Usage Is Not Slowing Down
As you might have guessed, the amount of time consumers spent on PCs and Smartphones increased between July 2011 and July 2012.? Time spent on these devices grew by 21%, while time on apps rose 120% in that same period.? While PCs still remain our primary source of Internet access, the usage of mobile Web and apps are increasing at a significant rate. Small businesses can?t afford to ignore mobile any longer, and should invest in mobile-friendly advertising and sites to reach this growing audience.?
Time Spent on Social Networks Grew 37%.
From July 2011 to July 2012, the time consumers spent on social media sites grew from 88.4B minutes to a whopping 121.1B minutes. Nielsen attributes this substantial growth in part to the rise of mobile apps, which enable us to stay connected to our favorite sites while on the go. In fact, we spent seven times more minutes on apps than on the mobile Web. Time spent on these sites means social media access is not only on the rise, but also that we are more engaged when we do visit them. For small businesses, this means being active on social media is more important than ever in order to reach consumers spending a large portion of their time there.?
Consumers Value Social Customer Service
For more and more consumers, social care, also known as social customer service, is becoming an increasingly important, and valuable social media trend for SMBs to leverage. Nielsen reports that one in three social media users prefer social care to contacting a company by phone. That means that more consumers are using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and the company blog to reach out to businesses and brands in the hope of resolving a customer service issue. SMBs are not immune to this trend, and many will see an influx of customer complaints through these channels, which can impact their online reputation. As a result, it?s vital for businesses to monitor their social media pages regularly and respond to customer questions, complaints, and more as soon as possible.?
As we?ve seen throughout the year, mobile and social media continue to top consumers? online behavior. And as 2012 winds down, it?s important for small businesses to think about whether they have successfully taken advantage of some of these social media trends, and how they can incorporate them in the future. You can read the entire Nielsen social media report here.?
How do mobile and social media fit into your online marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments!
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About the Author
Tamara?Weintraub?helps equip small business owners with information about local online advertising, social media, and content marketing as a writer for?the?ReachLocal?blog.