Around the World, Solar Powered

Robert Saunders, instructor in electrical engineering, is designing an auto-pilot system for a completely solar-powered airplane called Solar Impulse. The plane will attempt to fly around the world using nothing but the sun's energy.

Green Traveling via the Physical Internet

Russ Meller, professor of industrial engineering, has assisted in developing the Physical Internet – a concept, in which goods are handled, stored and transported in a shared network of manufacturers, retailers and the transportation industry. Once in place, the Physical Internet would benefit the U.S. economy and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Scientist Finds Six New Slime Molds in Panama

Laura Walker, graduate student in biological sciences, is the first scientist to collect slime molds from Panama's Barro Colorado Nature Monument. She has identified six species of slime molds never before recorded in Panama. Her work was supported by a Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute short-term fellowship.

The Red Planet has Water Flow?

Vincent Chevrier of the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences and former graduate student Edgard Rivera-Valentin, created a model that could well explain how water could produce the flow patterns seen by spacecraft orbiting Mars.

Tartar Tells ... 2 Million Years Later

In 2010, anthropologist Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and colleagues discovered the remains of an elderly female and young male that had been covered in sediment almost 2 million years ago.

When is the Same Thing Too Much of a Good Thing?

In today's dynamic global economic environment, companies or countries consider everything when it comes to expanding their economies. But when can global trade be too much of a good thing?

Deploying Harmony to Save Parks

According to University of Arkansas researcher, Gregory Benton, park interpreters can design programs to minimize negative effects from outside visitors to parks and educate visitors for the future.

Is Our First Response ‘Right’?

Low-effort thought – including rapid, distracted or intoxicated reactions – tends to coincide with conservative ideology, according to recent studies by psychologist Scott Eidelman and colleagues.

Green is Growing in the Hospitality Industry

Would you pay more to stay in a hotel that took steps to be “greener?” If you said “yes,” then Godwin-Charles Ogbeide, believes that you are not alone. His recent study, “Perceptions of Green Hotels in the 21st Century” has earned him the Resort and Commercial Recreation Association’s 2011 Excellence in Research Award.

Monitoring Health: Nano & Smart

An interdisciplinary team of engineers has developed just such a system. Via a lightweight and wireless module that snaps onto clothing garments, sensors communicate with system software that relies on a smart phone to collect information, compress it and send it over a variety of wireless networks.

Hemingway and Piggott, Arkansas: The Untold Story

Unbelievable Happiness and Final Sorrow, published by the University of Arkansas Press, is a biography of Ernest Hemingway’s private life and the role one woman played in his becoming one of the greatest literary figures of our time.

Tartar Tells ... Two Million Years Later

In 2010, anthropologist Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and colleagues discovered the remains of an elderly female and young male that had been covered in sediment almost two million years ago. A team of scientists has studied these remains, specifically the teeth, which proved to have unique properties because of how the hominins died.

Professor Fights Pollution in Cameroon

On a trip to Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 2009, Christophe Bobda, associate professor of computer science and computer engineering, noticed that the roads were crowded with old cars. The emissions from these vehicles were filling the air with pollution, and Bobda became concerned about the health of the people living in this environment.

Water + Biodiesel + Emulsifier = Lower Emissions

Researchers have found a low-cost way to lower hazardous emissions in diesel equipment manufactured before the advent of more stringent emissions regulations. Just add water to biodiesel, plus a little bit more.

Immediate Effects of Living Green Have More Influence

A University of Arkansas study suggests that “lifetime” savings claims on product labels are not the most effective method to reach consumers regarding the benefits and potential savings from using energy-efficient products.

Election-Year Blogging Examined

Blogs have become a key part of presidential campaign strategy. An analysis of political blogs leading up to the 2008 presidential election finds differences in the use of blogs by Democrats and Republicans.

Portal to the Point Generates Inventive Design

Marlon Blackwell, head of the architecture department, is a member of one of five multidisciplinary creative teams selected to participate in Portal to the Point: A Design Ideas Exploration. The teams will focus on public art and design at Point State Park, the most visible landmark in Pittsburgh, Pa. The 36-acre Point State Park is a popular recreational area on a triangular tract at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio River.

Innovation Pays Off

During the dedication of its new Nanoscale Material Science and Engineering Building, the University of Arkansas received a check for $375,000 from NanoMech, an innovative small business that uses nanotechnology to manufacture products with broad applications. The check is not a gift, but rather payment for intellectual property owned by the university and successfully commercialized by NanoMech.

Research Magazine Association Conference Comes to Arkansas

The University of Arkansas hosted the University Research Magazine Association in May. Thirty-five people from as far away as Hawaii and London, England, came to campus to learn from other editors and writers and share their experiences.

Does This Gene Make You Look Fat?

University of Arkansas researchers found a way to use fat development in fruit flies to help understand fat metabolism in other animals, including humans.

They have developed a genetic model to study a protein that regulates fat production and storage in fruit flies. This protein, which has counterparts in humans, will help researchers better understand the complex regulation of fat production and metabolism at the molecular level.

Planet Forward Following Hestekin Team’s Research

Jamie Hestekin and his team of undergraduate engineering students have won Planet Forward’s Innovator of the Year contest. As one of two Innovators of the Year, Hestekin and his team is featured on Planet Forward’s website and television special through 2012 as they work on a method of producing biofuel from algae.

U.K. Law Does Not End Corporate Political Spending

A finance professor analyzed a key British law on corporate funding of political parties and found that the law did not cause corporations to end political spending. However, the law did modify the spending behavior of some companies.

E. coli Test Confirmed by UA Center for Food Safety

Preliminary tests by scientists at the Center for Food Safety and a federal agency have confirmed that a technology developed by the center’s industry collaborator, Litmus Rapid-B LLC (LRB), works better than current conventional methods for detecting pathogenic E. coli bacteria.

Peripheral Developers Increase Product Quality

An information systems researcher has found that peripheral developers – those outside the core development team – make important contributions to product quality and significantly influence product awareness and adoption.

Virtual Reality Gives Insight on 3-D Protein Structures

James F. Hinton, University Professor of chemistry and biochemistry, worked with Virtalis, an advanced visualization company, to create a computer software program and projection system that lets researchers look at larger-than-life, 3-D structures of proteins in virtual reality. This allows scientists to walk inside, through or around a protein to investigate its structure and function.

‘Blockbuster’ Exhibit Imagines Increased Housing

Carl Smith wonders how continued population growth will make northwest Arkansas look in 40 years. In order to imagine it, he’s created an exhibition with thousands of tiny, wooden boxes.

Tiny Amounts of Neurotransmitter Offer Big Clues to Women’s Hypertension

Research took a step toward understanding hypertension in women by using a new technique to examine the release of a neurotransmitter in small blood vessels.

Combining Salt with Heat Shows Way to Reduce Salmonella

Poultry processors trying to keep Salmonella off their products may have a new procedure at their disposal: add some salt and turn up the heat. It’s more complex than that, but it’s the key point of recent research by Sara Milillo, a postdoctoral research associate in food science at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

Probe Used to Determine Efficacy, Toxicity of HIV Drugs

A biomedical engineer has developed a molecular probe that can simultaneously detect the presence of HIV-1 protease and toxicity levels of chemical compounds used to combat the deadly virus that causes AIDS. The probe can be used to investigate the efficacy and efficiency of HIV drugs, some of which are so toxic that many patients elect to stop treatment.

Scientists Tweak Soybeans to Increase Dryland Yields

Scientists at the Division of Agriculture are focusing on two soybean traits that could lead to new soybean varieties with improved drought tolerance.

Prevention of Workplace Violence for Nurses

When health care organizations don’t establish effective measures to prevent violence and protect nurses, the result is compromised quality of care for patients. Establishing a zero tolerance policy for violence is the first step, according to health science researcher Jean Henry.

‘Small-World’ Trade Networks Lead to Economic Growth

New research by economists decodes the mystery of what transforms a network of interconnections among firms into a single organism that functions as an economic powerhouse.

Will Obama’s Changes Open Doors to Minority Candidates?

On the campaign trail, “Yes We Can” was a powerful slogan, appealing to a broad spectrum of voters of different racial backgrounds. How well has its vision and promise translated to the Oval Office? A team led by political scientist Pearl K. Ford has examined the Obama campaign’s promise of change, his administration’s progress, and the potential impact on future minority candidates.

Art Professor Portrays History of Underground Railroad Town

“Painting the Past Alive,” an Arkansas 180 video, follows art professor John Newman as he paints a mural depicting the African Americans who crossed the Missouri River to freedom in Quindaro, Kan. Quindaro, a port community founded by Wyandotte Indians during the Civil War, was the only stop on the Underground Railroad between Missouri and Kansas.

‘Fingerprinting’ Breast Cancer Cells

Engineering researchers are building a library of synthetically produced antibodies that can detect and rapidly validate proteins secreted by breast cancer cells. Their work will accelerate the process of developing a simple blood test for early detection of breast cancer.

Enterprise Center Means Room for New Businesses to Grow

The Enterprise Center will allow for growth at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park, which in recent years has seen a boom of companies created from University of Arkansas research.

New Logistics Model Improves Forecast Accuracy of Orders

Examining the out-of-stock problem at a specific link in the retail and consumer-packaged goods supply chain, a logistics researcher and his colleague discovered that application of a common error-correction model improves the accuracy of forecasting orders.

Designing the Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit of the Future

Architecture students had an unusual audience for their work last summer – nurses and hospital staff from the neonatal intensive care unit at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital of Albany, Ga.

Researchers Examine Ways to Combat Flu Virus

Thanks to a grant from the National Institutes for Health, four researchers are studying novel ways to prevent and treat the influenza virus, which kills about 36,000 people each year and sends another 200,000 to the hospital.

Rebuilding Identity When Communication Is Impaired

What happens to a person’s identity when stroke or disease profoundly impairs the ability to communicate? In Neurogenic Communication Disorders: Life Stories and the Narrative Self, researchers explore “the messy but powerful relationships between communication impairment and maintenance of a viable sense of self.”

Researchers Skeptical of Claims by Online Dating Sites

With an estimated 40 percent of the 100 million U.S. singles trying online dating, researchers caution users that some Web sites’ claims of scientific justification may be “junk science.”

To Teach About Social Justice, Understand Injustice

An initial examination of how teachers understand and teach about social justice confirmed that “it is critical that teachers understand social injustice before teaching about social justice,” according to educator Sung Choon Park.

Incentive to Snitch Produces False Information

The secondary confession – also known as snitching – is widely accepted as valid evidence in criminal prosecution. Yet, the first behavioral study to investigate whether people will provide false secondary confessions has raised concerns about the use of such evidence when informants are offered incentives, said psychology researchers Jessica K. Swanner and Denise R. Beike.

Extreme Amp for the Space Environment

Space missions require “warm” boxes to protect electronic circuitry from extreme temperatures and exposure to radiation. Electrical engineering researchers have designed and successfully tested an electronic micro-amplifier that can operate in space without protection from a warm box.

A Short Treatise on Hindu Law

Steve Sheppard, William Enfield Professor of Law, provides an introduction to this reprint of the sole edition of a classic of the British Raj era. As the remarkable architecture of Calcutta is the physical embodiment of the synthesis of India and colonial Britain, so A Short Treatise exemplifies the synthesis of their legal traditions.

What’s Good for Big Business Not Necessarily Good for National Economy

In 1953, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to determine whether he would become U.S. secretary of defense, Charles E. Wilson stated that keeping his job as head of General Motors would not constitute a conflict of interest because “what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa.” New research by a business researcher suggests the opposite – that a stable group of large corporations is associated with slower economic growth, particularly in high-income countries.

Researchers Study Cave’s ‘Breathing’ for Better Climate Clues

Researchers studying the way caves “breathe” are providing new insights into the process by which scientists study paleoclimates.

Lava Lakes and Planetary Origins

A researcher and his colleagues have found differences in the iron isotope composition of basalts from a lava lake in Hawaii that point to new ways of studying the origins of the earth and other planets.

Consumers Misinterpret Trans-Fat Information

Without supplemental information on recommended daily value, many consumers don’t understand the meaning of trans-fat content on the Nutrition Facts panel, according to marketing researchers.

To Find Campylobacter jejuni, Look in the Biofilms

Campylobacter jejuni, a pathogen found in chickens, is the nation’s leading cause of foodborne bacterial diarrhea, so poultry producers look for ways to control it before the birds go to processing. The bacterium is susceptible to stress — so what keeps it going?

Modeling Health Care Logistics in a Virtual World

Inefficient health care delivery contributes to rising costs and compromised quality of care and patient safety. To address this problem, researchers are using Second Life, the popular three-dimensional virtual world in which people work and play online, as a platform for modeling efficient health care delivery.

3-D Atlas Reveals Undiscovered Sites

Researchers are developing an archeological atlas of the Middle East that can be used with contemporary mapping applications to pinpoint locations. This will make decades-old satellite imagery available to scientists who need to know what a landscape looked like before the spread of cities and agriculture.

Legal Case Will Influence How Lawmakers Address Water Pollution

Over the past 30 years, Oklahoma and Arkansas have engaged in three legal cases over the quality of water that flows from northwest Arkansas into northeast Oklahoma. A legal scholar says the most recent conflict highlights an issue of national significance and will likely influence methods in which legislators and policymakers address water pollution.

Experience, not Genetics, Affects Musicians’ Brain Responses

By looking at brains listening to Bach, Elizabeth Margulis, a music cognition researcher, has found evidence to support one side in a long-running debate among musicians. Practice, training and experience, it appears, are what develop a musician’s ear, not genetic predisposition.

Fighting Microbes with Microbes

Researchers have found a new way to reduce Salmonella in poultry before they go to the processing plant: use probiotics instead of antibiotics for treatment of the birds.

Habits Shape Information Technology Use

Employees may learn new technologies, but do they continue to use them? This question interests organizations, who invest millions of dollars in new programs and applications annually.

Stardust in Arkansas

Material from outer space will find its way to labs at the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences so that researchers can study their composition and age. This work will provide new insights into the formation and history of comets.

Best Friends, Different Races Equal Higher Test Scores

“Best friends forever” can make a difference in an unexpected way for some racial minorities. Having a best friend of a different race can improve academic achievement of black and Hispanic high school students.

Wind Industry Requires Innovative Solutions to Complex Transportation Challenges

Clean and plentiful, wind has always been viewed as a viable alternative to conventional energy sources, but harnessing it has not been economically favorable. In recent years, however, technological innovations, including better machine components and overall larger units, have reduced the price per kilowatt-hour to a point at which wind is competitive with coal. Rising costs of conventional energy systems, increased concerns about global climate change and governmental support of alternative energy sources propel further growth.

Downloading Songs Part of Protected Speech

An Internet law expert argues that automatically punishing those who illegally download music violates the First Amendment.

Researcher Helps Banks Predict Losses in Lending

In response to federal banking regulators’ concern about community banks’ increased participation in commercial real-estate lending, a researcher has developed a system that allows banks to perform stress tests on their commercial real-estate portfolios.

Writing Was Performance Art on Archaic Greek Pottery

A “communication explosion” in the early days of the Greek alphabet brought both writing and figure scenes onto pottery in the eighth century B.C.E. Whatever the purpose of an inscription, when writing appeared on ancient Greek pottery, it became performance art.

Lyrics Can Be a Scaffold for Literature

A former high school English teacher turned literacy researcher says that discussing song lyrics in the classroom can help students connect in multiple, complex levels with traditional literature. Christian Z. Goering now hosts a Web site for teachers to share links between literature and lyrics.

Researchers Develop Adaptive Technology for Visually Impaired Engineers

By adding features to commonly used chemical-engineering software packages, researchers at the University of Arkansas, the University of Akron and Chemstations Inc. have developed adaptive technology that allows blind or visually impaired students and working professionals to perform the essential functions of chemical-engineering process design.

Small Organisms, Great Proxies

The present and past compositions of communities of single-celled algae in several Canadian lakes and their relationship to the known climate record suggest that these organisms and the lakes they reside in are highly influenced by sun spot cycles.

Perception, Status and Bottled Water

Young and high-income people are more likely to purchase bottled water because they perceive it to be purer, safer and healthier than municipal water, researchers have found.

“Healthy” Potato Chips

The term “trans fat” leaves a bad taste in the mouths of health-conscious consumers. Typically, trans fatty acids are bad for health, but scientists at the Division of Agriculture have coaxed out health benefits by juggling the molecular structure of soy oil.

Manure as Fuel

A Division of Agriculture engineer has addressed two problems associated with poultry farming using chicken litter. His system will help protect the environment and could reduce individual farmers’ energy costs by as much as 80 percent.

Puberty and Panic

For most teenagers a run up the stairs is simply the quickest way to get from one floor to another, but for some the resulting breathlessness and pounding heart triggers anxiety or fear – possibly predicting a future vulnerability to panic symptoms.

Easier to be Green

The University of Arkansas has a new Web site devoted to its sustainability initiatives. The site, http://sustainability.uark.edu, emphasizes the importance of sustainable practices to the University of Arkansas.

Byron: More Than a Pretty Face

Lord Byron, the 19th-century Romantic best known for his epic poem Don Juan, has another, little-recognized side. Emily A. Bernhard Jackson, a Byron scholar, says Byron developed a philosophy of knowledge sharply at odds with the thinking of his time.

Biofuels as Invasive Species?

As the United States looks to crops as possible future sources of energy, an entomology researcher and his colleagues call for caution, citing the possibility of some biofuel crops becoming invasive species.

Fishbone Aisles

Customers ordering products online expect to receive their items quickly, and smart companies know that to be competitive, they must store and distribute goods efficiently. Therefore, warehouses have become an essential part of the supply and distribution chain.

Architect's HoneyHouse Wins International Competition

An architecture professor recently received a prestigious international award for his building's sophisticated relationship to a natural landscape within a small budget.

Mutant Bacteria Become Microscopic Motors

As technical devices become smaller, basic processes like fluid flow become more difficult. University of Arkansas researcher Steve Tung is creating a novel solution to this problem by incorporating living bacteria into microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to form living motors for pumps and valves. These tiny bioMEMS devices could be used in systems for drug delivery or DNA sequencing.

Guaging Web Customer Satisfaction

The U.S. economic downturn has produced a strange paradox: online retailers and dotcom companies are failing in record numbers, but online purchasing increased 24 percent in the past year. University of Arkansas researcher Vicki McKinney has developed a tool to help online retailers stay on the profitable side of this puzzle.

Shell-Shock: Students Find World-Record Fossil

On Jan. 20, three undergraduate geology students made a discovery that would have left Captain Nemo quaking in his boots: the fossilized shell of a prehistoric squid-like creature of gigantic proportions. Measuring eight feet in length, their find represents the longest actinoceratoid nautiloid fossil in the world.

School Nurses and Superintendents

Little Sarah has lice. Jimmy needs his Ritalin. And the sixth grade gym class is lined up and waiting for their scoliosis check.

Plus Ca Change...National Identity in Europe

A geosciences professor looked to Scotland to create a four-part model for nationalism that characterizes both the unity of the European Union and the individuality of its constituents.

Bear-ly There: DNA Shows Black Bear Relationships

Black bears in Louisiana and Arkansas have historically dubious pedigrees. Biologists have long debated whether the bears represent genetically distinct sub-species, deserving protection under the Endangered Species Act, or hybrids of Minnesota bears introduced when bear populations plummeted. University of Arkansas biologists have used genetic techniques to examine the genetic distance between the sub-species, and their results may change the way the two states manage their black bear populations.

Poultry Scientists Use Viruses to Fight Bacteria

Scientists at the University of Arkansas and the USDA Agricultural Research Service are updating century-old technology to fight illness-causing bacteria in poultry by infecting them with viruses.

Illinois River Standards “Unrealistic,” Researcher Says

As the controversy surrounding the Illinois River water quality heads into court, researcher Marc Nelson has determined that, although some improvements can be made, the phosphorus levels set by Oklahoma are unrealistic within the next decade.

University Of Arkansas Rocks With Virtual Museum Exhibt

Stick-like men caper across a cave wall. A ball of sun blossoms on the side of a bluff. Spiral gyres unwind on a blank rock face. These are just a handful of the ancient images carved or painted onto solid rock by the earliest inhabitants of Arkansas.

Researcher Suggests School Safety Strategies

Traffic botttlenecks and snarls around many public schools in the United States are causing accidents and creating a hazard for children. Researcher Jim Gattis is working to change that through improvements in school traffic design. Gattis, associate professor of civil engineering, was invited to write the section on traffic control for school areas in the Traffic Control Devices Handbook, a supplement to the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

Disgust, Not Fear, Drives Homophobia

Psychologists have determined that homophobia is not an actual phobia. Their recent study indicates that the condition arises out of feelings of disgust, not from fear or anxiety as true phobias do. Their findings also suggest close associations between homophobic tendencies and concerns about contamination as well as conservative views about sexuality in general.

Innovative Ideas For Financing State Universities In Africa

Fredrick Nafukho, assistant professor of vocational and adult education, uses an economic model to examine how African universities are advancing educational opportunities and looking at future directions that will help higher education prosper.

Factors Associated With Litigious Divorces In Families With Children

Law professor Janet Flaccus has shown that two factors are associated with post-divorce litigation in divorcing couples with children: being married less than seven years and filing a counterclaim. These findings may help judges, lawyers and counselors determine which divorcing couples need mediation to help settle their disputes.

Researchers Create Biosensors To Detect Food-Borne Pathogens

Biosensors can detect harmful bacteria during food processing in a matter of hours, much faster than conventional methods that take days to detect pathogens.

Employee Characteristics That Cost Companies Billions

Computers are the life-blood of business—affecting everything from parts to payroll, sales to shipping. Information technology (IT) professionals create and control these essential processes, but they also engage in illegal or inappropriate activities that cost their employers billions of dollars each year. In a recent study, researcher Paul Cronan found that six individual and situational characteristics of ethical behavior account for more than half of all IT misuse.

Political Activism Growing Among Disabled

Despite political involvement suffering a decades-long decline, researchers at the University of Arkansas and Rutgers University identified one social group in which activism has been growing. A nationwide telephone survey conducted by the two universities revealed that disabled Americans under the age of 55 have become increasingly active in political matters.

Increased employee control reduces health care costs

Increased employee control over workplace policies or procedures is the only stress-related factor that has a measurable impact on health care costs, according to University of Arkansas researcher Dan Ganster. Ganster is professor of management and chair of the management department in the Walton College of Business.

Business that hate fan sites may fan hate sites

Companies attempting to protect their trademarks on the Internet risk losing valuable information and alienating their most loyal customers, according to Steve Kopp.

Mothballed nuclear subs create environmental disaster

Russia’s attempt to raise the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk from the bottom of the Barents Sea generated concern worldwide about radiation leaks and environmental con-tamination. University of Arkansas chemical hazards expert Jerry Havens has found that concern about the Barents Sea and nearby Kola Peninsula are very real, if late in coming.

Communication rehabilitation should include caregivers

Health care professionals should look at the whole family and use an individualized treatment plan for stroke victims with diminished communication abilities, says Barbara Shadden, professor of communication disorders.

Rings tell tale of stringed historic instrument's origin

Malcolm Cleaveland, professor of geosciences, and his colleagues used tree ring records to accurately date the wood used in a famous violin purported to be made by Stradivarius and showed that the wood was hewn during the violin maker’s lifetime.

Petra disappearing under tourists’ feet

The colorful sandstone walls of an ancient city may disappear under the weight of tourists who wish to see it, according to a geosciences professor.

Protein Film Protects Against Food Pathogens

An edible protein film made from soybeans can help protect refrigerated and pre-cooked, ready-to-eat food from dangerous bacteria.

Teaching Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Settings

Imagine being a new teacher and stepping into a classroom for the first time. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 20 to 30 percent of the students you face will have special needs. Whether bringing mental retardation, emotional and behavioral disorders, hearing impairment, exceptional abilities ("gifted") or other conditions, all are there to learn to the best of their abilities.

Vietnam and the American Political Tradition

Despite a decade of public dissent and protests staged nationwide, it took a handful of senators to halt the war in Vietnam. A new book edited by distinguished professor of history Randall Woods examines the origins of their opposition. In the process, it suggests that challenging a president’s foreign policy can be both conscientious and patriotic — a fight for American values, rather than a betrayal of them.

It Started Here: Early Arkansas and the Louisiana Purchase

No single acquisition of land did more to shape the United States than the Louisiana Purchase. But when Thomas Jefferson bought the land from France in 1803, the boundaries and features of the territory were largely unknown. The quest to map and measure that mysterious land began at the territory’s edge in a wilderness that would one day be known as the state of Arkansas.

Reel Baseball

A convergence of two great American pastimes — movies and baseball — "Reel Baseball" focuses on the ways that baseball has been used in movies as a form of cultural shorthand. As an example, author David Pincus, who teaches management in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, points to the movie "Pearl Harbor."

Scattered Crumbs Mushin al-Ramli

In the wake of the Iraqi conflict comes a timely translation: "Scattered Crumbs," a novel by Muhsin al-Ramli, translated from the Arabic by Yasmeen S. Hanoosh. Set in an Iraqi village during the Iran-Iraq war, the book tells the story of a peasant family in turmoil. The father, a fierce supporter of Saddam Hussein — here called "The Leader" — clashes with his artist son, who loves his homeland but finds himself unable to paint the leader’s portrait for his father’s wall. Hanoosh says the novel "evokes the processes of deterioration undergone both by the country and by the individual characters caught up in the maelstrom."

Promises Kept: A Memoir

In "Promises Kept: A Memoir," by Sidney S. McMath, the former Arkansas governor discusses his early life in rural Arkansas, his military service, his political life and his career as a lawyer. He also helped change the rules that prevented black citizens from voting in primaries, and he worked with President Truman to keep the segregationist Dixiecrats from taking over the Democratic Party — and the presidency.

Researchers Release Terrorism Database To Scholars Nationwide

Sociology professor Brent Smith, University of Oklahoma sociologist Kelly Damphousse and the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism have released a database that contains information on nearly 500 indicted terrorists, spanning two decades of federal terrorist investigations from 1978 to 1999. The information could help scholars recognize trends in terrorist activity or aid prosecutors in sending known terrorists to jail.

Federal Lands Experience Potential Growing Pains On Borders

"Gateway communities," or towns that border national parks and other federally managed lands, have attracted growing numbers of people seeking to live near the Great Outdoors. These communities and their residents have a substantial environmental impact on the federal land that attracted them to live there in the first place.

How Good Organizations Go Bad

Bankruptcy, scandal and indictments seem to dominate business reporting as new instances of corporate corruption come to light daily. Organizational corruption is widespread, and is far more costly to society than street crime, according to assistant professor of management Vikas Anand.

Researchers Create Tiny Holes To Examine DNA Molecules

Researchers have created a nanoscale hole that can detect individual DNA molecules, a significant step on the path to simple sequencing methods for biologically and medically important molecules.

Fear Of Buying: Death Anxiety Influences Consumer Purchasing

Women report higher levels of death anxiety than men, but the health-related beliefs of consumers of both genders influence both the level of death anxiety and the purchase of goods typically associated with death, such as pre-planned funeral packages, according to associate professor of marketing and logistics Steve Kopp.

A Matter Of Milliseconds: Optical Mesh Networks Recover Rapidly

Most people don’t realize how much they rely on optical data networks in their daily lives until a cut in a cable or a faulty piece of equipment causes a split-second interruption in data flow. A massive power outage that crippled much of the northeastern United States in August demonstrated the incredible speed that optical data networks require to recover quickly from fault incidents and the serious consequences of a short interruption to critical systems.

Take Dietary Supplements With A Grain Of Salt

You can find bottles on a grocery store shelf in the vitamins and minerals section with names like "Super Charge," "Over Drive" and "Optimum Omega." These products promise to "enhance natural killer cell activity," "support cardiovascular health" and "support healthy joint function." If these promises sound too good to be true, it’s because they are, says nutrition sciences professor Jerald Foote. He says that the majority of these products—called dietary supplements—never have been tested to support the claims they make, and they vary in quality, efficacy and safety.

Shift In Reasonable Doubt Jeopardizes Presumption Of Innocence

Most Americans learned everything they know about courtroom law from Perry Mason and Jack McCoy, including the cornerstones of the American judicial system — "presumption of innocence" and "beyond a reasonable doubt." But law professor Steve Sheppard knows that the concept of reasonable doubt is changing, and that change may do away with the presumption of innocence.

‘Ambassador’ Unites Diverse Disciplines, Unique Research Capabilities

A well-traveled, multidisciplinary ambassador is helping scientists see things they’ve never seen before. This ambassador, known as HARLS-CS, is an integrated suite of high-tech equipment that offers mapping and modeling capabilities unavailable at any other U.S. research institution.

Science Writers in the Field

About 100 science writers from all over the country visited the University of Arkansas in the fall to hear about the latest cutting-edge research on campus and around the nation at the 42nd New Horizons Briefing put on by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. During that time, they took a field trip to the Ozark Mountains, where entomologist Fred Stephen talked to them about the red oak borer, an insect that threatens trees in the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks and represents a rare case in which an indigenous insect threatens to destroy its native ecosystem.

Researchers Discover Additional Mechanism That Regulates Protein Activity

Roger Koeppe, University Professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and his colleagues have discovered a new mechanism that regulates
the interaction of proteins in cell membranes. This discovery may lead to more efficient drug screening and possibly different methods for fighting infections.

Here’s the Buzz: A New Hornet Darkens Arkansas’ Horizon

As if Arkansas didn’t have enough insects already, a large, imported hornet recently moved into the state.

Short Poems Suggest Chaucer Sometimes Broke Conventions of Poetry

English professor William Quinn is taking a new look at Geoffrey Chaucer’s often-neglected short poems, and suggests the writer intentionally broke some of the rules he is famous for following.

Student Cheating Not Linked to Moral Principles

Most people view cheating as a failure of moral judgment. But research by accounting professor Timothy West shows that a student’s moral compass does not necessarily lead him or her away from cheating. Rather, students with high levels of moral judgment develop sophisticated ways to rationalize their cheating.

Eyewitness Report from Refugee Camps

In July 2004, while many listened in horror to stories about violence in Sudan, Samuel Totten, an education professor who specializes in genocide studies, joined the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project. He spent two weeks in Goz Beida, Chad, a desert village on a dusty plain encircled by mountains and site of a camp for 13,500 refugees from Darfur, Sudan.

An Architecture of the Ozarks

A mobile home, a candy-colored silo and lush Ozark vistas grace the first pages of the new book by architecture professor Marlon Blackwell, “An Architecture of the Ozarks,” recently published by Princeton Architectural Press. In his work and now in his book, Blackwell celebrates both the natural beauty and what he describes as “the good, the bad and the ugly” buildings of northwest Arkansas.

University of Arkansas Opens RFID Research Laboratory

Fifty-year-old technologies rarely have the potential to transform the business landscape. The University of Arkansas and 24 industry-leading companies believe one technology -- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) --can do just that; they have joined forces to create a multidisciplinary neutral, third-party research and testing facility, the RFID Research Center, a subunit of the Information Technology Research Institute in the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

Researchers Develop Clear Picture of ‘Birth’ of Semiconductor Nanostructures

University of Arkansas researchers have witnessed the birth of a quantum dot and learned more about how such atomic islands form and grow, using the ultrahigh vacuum facility on campus. This information will help researchers better understand and use materials that could lead to small, efficient and powerful computers, communication devices and scientific instruments.

Federal Funding for Domestic Violence Programs Not Reaching Intended Recipients

Federal funding for local domestic violence programs is not reaching underserved areas and people who most desperately need the services.

The Listeria that won’t die: how much damage they can do

Meat processors already know that dangerous Listeria monocytogenes bacteria can withstand some major assaults. They sanitize the food processing environment and heat their products to kill the bacteria on cooked and ready-to-eat meats, but a few of the bacteria are merely injured or starved and live to cause trouble another day.

UA Researchers Using Arkansas’ First Supercomputer

Researchers at the University of Arkansas have already produced results using Red Diamond, the state’s first supercomputer, and they have plans for more – developing the molecular structures of potential new drugs, examining tornados and volcanoes, and modeling global climate change. The machine boasts a cluster of 128 dual-processor computers and operates approximately 256 times faster than the typical new desktop computer.

Build Muscles, Feel Alluring

A study by Tina Penhollow, a University of Arkansas doctoral student, found that college students who exercise frequently and see themselves as physically fit are more likely to rate themselves higher with regard to sexual performance and sexual desirability than those who exercise less and don't rate themselves as fit.

UA Center for Protein Structure and Function Receives $10.2 million

The Center for Protein Structure and Function has received a $10.2 million award from The National Institutes of Health National Center for Research Resources. This new five-year grant, the largest competitive research grant ever received by the University of Arkansas, will provide funding to continue the center, which was established in October 2000 with a $9.6 million NIH grant.

Discussion of Women and Minorities in the Contemporary South

Political scientists and polling directors in 12 Southern states debated the political, social, educational and economic status of women and minorities in the contemporary South as part of the New South Consortium Inaugural Conference.

“Ga” Use Points to Shift in Japanese Politics

Tatsuya Fukushima, assistant professor of Japanese, believes that a simple word – “ga” – points to a political shift in Japan.

The Role of Courts in Autism Special Education Disputes

A law professor studied legal disputes between the parents of autistic children and public school districts regarding the adequacy of the child’s individualized education plan, and found that the courts often prefer to make decisions based on proper procedure rather than the appropriateness of the plan.

Chicken Fat Fuels Potential as Diesel

In the future, fat shaved off chicken breasts and other parts may power automobiles that emit less pollution.

Employment Circumstances Influence Responses to ‘Psychological Contract Breaches’

In most work situations, employees respond to perceptions of unfulfilled employer obligations by bad-mouthing the employer, skipping work or finding a new job. But Vikas Anand and Anne O’Leary-Kelly, management professors in the Sam M. Walton College of Business wanted to know how workers with limited employment options react to these perceptions, which are known as “psychological contract breaches” in labor-management relations

Report Rates Performance of Arkansas Schools

Schools often are judged solely by the test scores their students receive, but a new report by University of Arkansas researchers accounts for the advantages and disadvantages students bring to school with them -- and the report suggests that after adjusting for these characteristics, Arkansas students perform slightly better than the national average on standardized tests.

Staying Cool: Research Shows How Spray Cooling Works

Heat is a critical obstacle to developing smaller electronic devices. Engineering researchers have developed computer models that explain the complex process of spray cooling, a method used to remove heat from microsystems in computers and other electronic devices. The research could lead to development of smaller microscopic electronic systems, circuits and chips.

Telling History

For anthropology professor Jesse Casana, tells reveal an ancient tale worth telling.

What’s in an Oil?

If you are what you eat, researchers have found a rapid way to determine what you’re eating, if it contains fat. They have reduced the time it takes to characterize edible oils from several days to five minutes. This will help industrial food chemists and importers increase efficiency and reduce costs, which may one day lead to savings for consumers.

Hay Rides, Dude Ranches and Corn Mazes

Although Arkansas has many agritourism operations – Christmas tree farms, “you-pick” vegetable and berry farms, and at least one corn maze – the state does not have a formal program to support agritourism as a viable industry. Harrison Pittman, assistant research professor and staff attorney for the National Agricultural Law Center at the School of Law, examined such programs in other states and determined that Arkansas possesses the important elements to develop the growing industry within its borders.

Hopped-up Chickens

Poultry scientists have found that an herb used in brewing beer might work as a substitute for growth promoting antibiotics in broiler chicken diets.

Speed Safety

A transportation study by engineering researchers reveals that different speed limits for cars and large trucks on rural, interstate highways can compromise safety.

Mentoring Aggressive Children: Lunch Buddies Make a Difference

A second-grader who shoves other children on the playground and talks back to a teacher could be headed for serious problems in school and in life. But after aggressive children met for three semesters with different mentors, teachers reported to researchers that they could see changes.

Light Rail, Linked Cities

Fly into Northwest Arkansas, and you will gaze upon acres of raw red earth bristling with bulldozers and bare frames of new subdivisions, office parks and strip malls. Cities in Northwest Arkansas may triple, possibly even quadruple their footprints by 2050. The question is, where will this growth occur – and how?

Lovely Footsteps and Erotic Puns

What do you call a comedian whose repertoire relies on sexual puns about feet? Answer: an ancient Athenian.

On the Road No More

Recruitment and retention of good drivers is a chronic problem in the trucking industry. With turnover rates near 30 percent on average, trucking firms have instituted measures to address recruitment and retention of good drivers. But problems persist. Management researchers at the University of Arkansas say that both poor working conditions and pay issues may explain why many truckers put the brakes on for good.

Arkansas Models for Italy?

Landscape architecture professors and urban planners have helped create a multinational, interdisciplinary study center that will breathe life into Cervara di Roma, a tiny Italian hill town facing major problems. Their proposals for ecotourism, heritage trails and sustainable development are included in a three-volume publication, Verso Un Centro Studi/Toward a Study Center. The study center will open next summer.

The Economist as Liberal Thinker

At a time when the word “liberal” is sometimes referred to as “the L word,” political scientist Conrad P. Waligorski has published a study of one of the 20th century’s preeminent liberals, John Kenneth Galbraith. He places Galbraith’s ideas within the context of liberal theory “during a crucial time in its development” and addresses issues of American political and economic policy.

Obstacles to Reducing Medical Error

Both the United States and Japan try to reduce occurrences of injury and death due to medical error. Health officials in both countries realize that to develop successful quality-improvement programs, they must obtain accurate information on the nature, frequency and cause of medical errors.

True or False: How Do We Know?

A jury’s finding can depend on the recollection of an eyewitness to crime, but memory is a tricky thing. In the past 20 years, the notion of false memory has moved from the psychology laboratory to the popular media. People now understand that it is possible to have vivid, complex memories of events that never happened.

Layoffs and CEO Compensation

Finance professor Craig Rennie studied 229 firms that laid off employees at least once between 1993 and 1999 and found that governing boards reward chief executive officers for the decision to cut jobs. For the year after a layoff occurred, CEOs of these firms received 22.8 percent more in total pay than CEOs of firms that did not have layoffs.