Research

In working to bring technology to developing countries, people often think big: classroom computer systems, state-of-the-art farm equipment, and the like. But Bentley’s Alina Chircu says the key to technological advancement may come in a much smaller package.

The associate professor of information and process management has spent five years studying how technologies are adopted in emerging economies such as India and China. Her research identifies a staple of everyday life in the developed world — the cellphone — as a prime conduit in the process.

Corporate capitalism has been debased by “misguided faith. Until it is redeemed by a “strong” or “good faith,” it will continue to be riddled by impropriety and scandal.

Sometimes good people make bad choices. It’s a part of life because we are human.

Yet, over the past decade, characters doing just that have become the focus of many television dramas. Why are antiheroes as a character archetype so abundant and popular on the small screen?

Have you ever taken ginger to sooth an upset stomach or been needled by an acupuncturist? These and other forms of traditional Chinese medicine have found favor with a surprising number of U.S. adults. Surprising, too, is the intertwined history of medical traditions in the East and West.

Assistant Professor of History Bridie Andrews-Minehan is well acquainted with the opposing and inseparable nature -- the yin and yang – of the two traditions.  As she puts it: “There is no way to draw a boundary between Western medicine and Chinese medicine, in either direction.”

New genetic “multiplex” testing reveals the risks for multiple health conditions, but little is understood about the psychological factors that affect whether healthy young adults will undergo the test. Research by Professor Samuel Woodford and colleagues assessed the multiplex genetic testing model (MGTM) — which delineates worry, perceived severity, perceived risk, response efficacy and attitudes toward testing — as a predictor of interest and ultimately actual participation in multiplex genetic testing.

History, it is said, is written by the winners. At the dawn of the modern era, those authors were the great colonial powers. The nations of Europe, and later the United States, fired up the machines and know-how of the Industrial Revolution and carved out economic empires across the world.

A new book by Associate Professor of History Cyrus Veeser tells another side of the story.

Dipayan Biswas wants to know what you like. More to the point, he wants to know why you like it. The associate professor of marketing has studied people’s responses in sampling “experiential” products -- beverages, music, fragrances, and the like – which appeal directly to the senses.

His research into the factors that influence consumer preferences has turned up a surprise: A product’s impression on the taste buds or ear drums matters less than you would expect. More influential, perhaps, is the order in which products are sampled.

A hurricane, tornado or flood that destroys homes and property goes beyond individual harm. Entire communities suffer.

In the aftermath of an event like Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the New York-New Jersey shore in fall 2012, we naturally ask how people can rebuild their lives. But on a broader level: what makes one community or region better at responding to a natural disaster and surviving its aftermath? 

Jeff Livingston would like to change the way that fellow economists see the world. His research challenges the “rational pursuit of self-interest” as the standard driver of market behavior. Where did he find evidence to back an alternative view that incorporates trust? On eBay.

Malaria, that ancient scourge, survives. Over the past century, as sanitation and medical advances have conquered or controlled other diseases, malaria has resisted eradication. In 2010, the disease infected about 219,000,000 people and killed 660,000, almost all in developing countries.

Why?