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Page last updated: Saturday, November 07, 2009 0:36
RESEARCH & EXPERTISE NEWS
| News about significant campus research and expertise (scholarly research, discoveries, etc.) that promotes and distinguishes the University of Arkansas as a nationally competitive research university serving Arkansas and the world. |
Posted:11/5/2009
Arkansas Poll: Arkansans Mixed on Health Care Reform; Too Soon to Tell on Senatorial Race
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With senatorial elections a year away and health care reform on the congressional docket, the 11th annual Arkansas Poll finds Arkansans of mixed minds about changing the health care system and that it’s too early to tell about next year’s senatorial race. The poll also surveyed Arkansans about various social issues, including beliefs about the effectiveness of the death penalty. |
Posted:10/15/2009
Researcher Edits Book on In Vivo Glucose Monitoring
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Scientists hope to provide people who have diabetes with a glucose monitoring system that doesn’t require needle sticks and lasts for six months or more, but they are still a long way from this goal. A new book edited by a University of Arkansas researcher and her colleague brings together the most current research in this area and outlines the challenges that remain on the path to creating a better glucose monitor. |
Posted:10/14/2009
Health Care Supply Chain Immature and Expensive Due to Lack of Data Standardization, Study Shows
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A comprehensive survey conducted by researchers at the University of Arkansas reveals that the American health care supply chain is an immature and expensive system with significant barriers to efficiency. Specifically, stakeholders – manufacturers, distributors, group purchasing organizations and providers such as hospitals, surgical centers and long-term care facilities – lack good and accurate information because they have not implemented universal standards for data, despite a recent movement in this direction. |
Posted:10/14/2009
Psychology Researchers Recommend Ethical Ban on Torture by Psychologists
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas psychology professor Jeffrey Lohr and colleague David Tolin have documented the history and criticisms of the ethics policy of the American Psychological Association and recommended remedies to restore ethical standards to the profession. |
Posted:9/30/2009
Fall Issue of Research Frontiers in Print, on the Web
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Readers can now find the fall issue of University of Arkansas Research Frontiers magazine online and read about research in organic fruit production, copyright law and the Internet, a virtual classical city and light rail. |
Posted:9/28/2009
Researchers Find New State of Material at the Nanoscale
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Researchers at the University of Arkansas and University of California-Los Angeles have discovered a new kind of quantum state of material at the nanoscale level that appears at low temperatures. |
Posted:9/21/2009
Researchers Examine Ways to Combat Flu Virus
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Four University of Arkansas researchers will look at ways to prevent and treat the influenza virus thanks to a grant from the National Institutes of Health. |
Posted:9/15/2009
Seniors and Less-Educated More Concerned About Terrorist Attacks on Water Supplies, Study Shows
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A University of Arkansas study on terrorism and water supplies demonstrates that less-educated people – those with a high school diploma or less – are significantly more concerned about terrorist attacks against municipal water supplies than individuals with at least some college credits. The study also revealed that older people are more concerned than young people, women more than men and religious people more than those who consider religion as only “fairly” or “not very” important. |
Posted:9/10/2009
Researcher Discovers New, Better Method of Treatment for Superficial Bladder Cancer
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A biomedical researcher at the University of Arkansas and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute have discovered a superior method for treating superficial bladder cancer, which leads to muscle-invasive and then metastatic bladder cancer, the fifth most common form of cancer in the United States. David Zaharoff, assistant professor in the department of biological and agricultural engineering, combined Interleukin-12 (IL-12), a powerful cytokine, which is a type of protein, with chitosan, a biocompatible and adhesive polysaccharide, to successfully cure mice with bladder tumors. |
Posted:9/8/2009
Research Investigates Rebuilding Identity When Communication Is Impaired
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – What happens to a person’s identity when a stroke or a disease profoundly impairs the ability to communicate? In Neurogenic Communication Disorders: Life Stories and the Narrative Self, University of Arkansas researchers challenge readers to explore “the messy but powerful relationships between communication impairment and maintenance of a viable sense of self.” |
Posted:9/3/2009
Arkansas Receives $3.3 Million Grant From National Science Foundation
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas scientists, students and information-technology workers will benefit from a new $3.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The award, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will enable researchers at the University of Arkansas and other colleges and universities in the state to build and support cyberinfrastructure and to train students and workers in information-technology systems, tools and services. |
Posted:8/27/2009
New Study Shows RFID Significantly Improves Item-Level Inventory Accuracy
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A new study on the use of radio-frequency identification tags on individual retail items shows that inventory accuracy decreases or diminishes over time with conventional systems that rely on barcodes and/or human counting to track inventory. The research, conducted by the RFID Research Center at the University of Arkansas, also demonstrated that the use of an RFID-enabled system could improve inventory accuracy by more than 27 percent over a 13-week period. |
Posted:8/26/2009
Researchers Use Golden Nanotubes for Imaging Agent to Detect Tumor Cells, Map Sentinel Lymph Node
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Biomedical researchers at the University of Arkansas and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock have developed a special contrast-imaging agent that is capable of molecular mapping of lymphatic endothelial cells and detecting cancer metastasis in sentinel lymph nodes. The new material could be used as a more efficient and less toxic alternative to nanoparticles and fluorescent labels used in the non-invasive, targeted molecular detection of normal cells, such as immune-related cells, and abnormal cells, such as cancer cells and bacteria. Findings were published Sunday in Nature Nanotechnology. |
Posted:8/13/2009
Research Examines Fairness in Olympic Funding and Support for Amateur Athletics
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In the first study to examine resource allocation in Olympic sport, research led by Stephen W. Dittmore of the University of Arkansas revealed a gap between what administrators of U.S. National Governing Bodies thought was fair and how they believed funding would be distributed by the U.S. Olympic Committee. |
Posted:
High-Oil Soybeans in Pipeline for Arkansas Variety Development
 ROHWER, Ark. — “If we build it they will come,” could be the motto for an initiative to develop Arkansas adapted soybean varieties with higher than average oil and protein content in the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s soybean breeding program. |
Posted:8/3/2009
Give Information Technology Employees What They Need to Thrive, Research Finds
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – To reduce voluntary turnover in the information technology field, managers should provide information technology employees with working conditions closely related to what they consider unique to their profession, researchers at the University of Arkansas suggest. Information technology employees consider their profession to be unique and expect employers to provide opportunities for job rotation, knowledgeable managers and colleagues, and a departmental disposition toward learning and change. |
Posted:7/30/2009
Stimulus Funds Will Help Researchers Modernize the National Power Grid
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Electrical engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina were informed this week that they will receive federal economic stimulus funds via the National Science Foundation to continue and strengthen their efforts to modernize the national power grid. The award will establish an NSF center of excellence, known as an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. |
Posted:7/27/2009
Building the Future: Enterprise Center Means Room for New Businesses to Grow
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – As the first walls on the Enterprise Center go up, the Arkansas Research and Technology Park will celebrate with the university community and with potential clients for the 65,000-square-foot facility at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 30, on the lawn next to the Innovation Center. |
Posted:6/25/2009
Poultry Science immunologist invited to participate in vitiligo road map
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Gisela F. Erf, immunologist for the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture, has been invited to participate in the “vitiligo road map,” a newly developed program of the National Vitiligo Foundation, because of her research in the field of vitiligo. |
Posted:6/17/2009
Summer Students With Eyes on the Stars
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – College undergraduates from all over the world will be traveling to the Natural State to do summer research on astronomy, including studying black holes, water on Mars, spacecraft instrument design, moon rocks, asteroids and meteorites – all thanks to a grant awarded to the University of Arkansas by the National Science Foundation. |
Posted:6/15/2009
Copyright Law Chills Fair Use, Free Expression
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Current copyright law has a chilling effect on Internet expression, a University of Arkansas law professor argues. In “Proving Fair Use: Burden of Proof as Burden of Speech,” assistant professor Ned Snow says judicial interpretation of fair use – a 150-year-old doctrine that allows people to use copied material in their speech – has become so constricted that it inhibits speech. |
Posted:5/27/2009
To Teach About Social Justice, Understand Injustice, Educator Says
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – 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 University of Arkansas educator Sung Choon Park. |
Posted:5/14/2009
Social Responsibility Does Not Mitigate Negative Market Response Due to Crisis, New Study Finds
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Clients of the major accounting firm Arthur Andersen sustained negative stock-market returns following public announcement that the firm had shredded documents related to its infamous Enron audit in 2002. In a new study, a University of Arkansas accounting researcher reports that corporate social responsibility on the part of some of these firms did not prevent a drop in their market value following the Enron audit failure. |
Posted:10/14/2008
Cheers and Jeers: Team Blog Is Virtual Corner Bar
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A well-run blog can offer a sports organization a two-way exchange of information with fans to keep them close to their team even when they live far from the ballpark. In a study of the Los Angeles Dodgers team blog, Stephen W. Dittmore found that the blog was a popular and effective way for fans to learn about the Dodgers and communicate commitment to their team. |
Posted:4/30/2009
Research Raises Questions About Age Progression Photographs of Missing Children
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When a child goes missing, law enforcement agencies often digitally alter old photos to show how the child might have aged. In one of the first laboratory studies to test the effectiveness of these photographs, researchers at the University of Arkansas came away with troubling findings and more questions for an ongoing study of computerized age progression. |
Posted:4/28/2009
Lasting Questions from the Last Indian War
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story, University of Arkansas historian Elliott West offers a revealing analysis of a time in which the American nation was transformed. The Nez Perce war of 1877 was a pivotal moment in a period West calls the Greater Reconstruction. |
Posted:4/23/2009
Sensor Detects Onset of Acute Myocardial Ischemia
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have fabricated and tested a unique biosensor that measures concentrations of potassium and hydrogen ions in the human heart with high specificity. The research could lead to a superior method of monitoring indicators of acute myocardial ischemia, or AMI, one of the leading causes of cardiovascular failure. |
Posted:4/22/2009
Research Probes What it Takes to Spot Wanted Fugitives
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When asked to be on the lookout for a fugitive, only a small percentage of participants in University of Arkansas studies spotted the wanted man or woman, even with the promise of a financial reward. |
Posted:4/16/2009
Treasury Returns Affected by Liquidity and Information Risks, New Study Finds
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Building on a seminal study recognizing the effect of liquidity on U.S. Treasury securities, a new study by a University of Arkansas researcher documents a strong, positive relationship between expected return on Treasury securities and risks associated with the liquidity of the U.S. Treasury market. The study also revealed a strong relationship between return and what is known as information risk – experts’ varying interpretations of important announcements about the U.S. economy. |
Posted:4/14/2009
Exploring the Enigmatic Worlds of Europa and Enceladus
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The solar system is full of interesting moons – the majority of which orbit Jupiter and Saturn. Two of these moons exhibit evidence of liquid water close to the surfaces: Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus. Amanda Hendrix, a Cassini scientist on the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph at NASA/JPL, will present a lecture titled “Exploring the Enigmatic Worlds of Europa and Enceladus” at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 16, in the Space Center Theater in the Old Museum Building. The lecture is part of the Spring 2009 Arkansas Public Lectures in Space and Planetary Science and is free and open to the public. |
Posted:4/13/2009
Historic Drought in Mexico Suggests Human Influence
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas researchers and their colleagues have examined recent climate patterns in Mexico and determined that the country underwent severe drought conditions between 1994 and 2008, and that human changes related to land use and global warming may have aggravated the dry, warm conditions. |
Posted:4/8/2009
Magnetic Vortex Switch Leads to Electric Pulse
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Researchers at the University of Arkansas have shown that changing the chirality, or direction of spin, of a nanoscale magnetic vortex creates an electric pulse, suggesting that such a pulse might be of use in creating computer memory and writing information. |
Posted:3/31/2009
What's Good for Big Business Not Necessarily Good for National Economy, New Study Finds
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In 1953, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to determine whether he would become U.S. secretary of defense, Charles E. Wilson famously stated that keeping his existing 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.” A new study by a University of Arkansas researcher suggests the opposite – that a stable group of large corporations is associated with slower economic growth, particularly in high-income countries. |
Posted:3/26/2009
Silicon Micro-islands and Nano-spikes Channel Water on Glass Slides
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Working at the nanoscale level, University of Arkansas engineering researchers have created stable superhydrophilic surfaces on a glass substrate. The surfaces, made of randomly placed and densely distributed micron-sized silicon islands with nano-sized spikes, allow water to quickly penetrate textures and spread over the surface. |
Posted:3/24/2009
Research Shows an Incentive to Snitch Produces False Information
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – 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 significant concerns about the use of such evidence when informants are offered incentives, according to University of Arkansas psychology researchers Jessica K. Swanner and Denise R. Beike. |
Posted:3/17/2009
Women Vital to Retaining Yaqui Identity
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Among the Yaqui people of Sonora, Mexico, the daily work of women is vital to preserving and constructing the identity of a people with a history of displacement. |
Posted:3/9/2009
Researchers Design Electronic Amplifier Capable of Functioning in Extreme Temperatures
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Missions to space require “warm” boxes, which protect electronic circuitry from extreme temperatures and exposure to radiation. Electrical engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have designed and successfully tested an electronic micro amplifier that can operate directly in the space environment without protection from a warm box. |
Posted:2/25/2009
Supreme Court and 8th Amendment Fail to Provide Direction on Sentencing of Juveniles, New Study Finds
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A quick survey of cases demonstrates that U.S. trial courts impose identical and harsh sentences on juvenile murder accomplices, regardless of the circumstances of the homicide or their degree of participation in it. In a new study, a University of Arkansas law professor argues that this occurs because the U.S. Supreme Court and the Eighth Amendment – the section of the U.S. Constitution that addresses “cruel and unusual punishment” – do not provide direction to lower courts on sentencing juvenile accomplices in murder cases. |
Posted:2/17/2009
Accounting Study Reveals Firms' Failure to Disclose Environmental Sanctions
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A University of Arkansas accounting researcher studied corporations with large environmental sanctions over a 10-year period and found that 72 percent of the companies failed to disclose that information to the Securities and Exchange Commission as required by law. SEC regulations require corporations to disclose environmental sanctions of $100,000 or more, regardless of the regulating entity. |
Posted:2/12/2009
Dental Analytics Describe Evolution of Human Diet
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - University of Arkansas anthropology professor Peter Ungar spends hours crouched in forests in remote locations studying monkeys; he uses dental techniques to create molds of teeth; and he uses modern-day technology to study the wear and tear on those teeth to look at what modern-day primates eat - and for clues as to what our ancient human ancestors actually ate. |
Posted:2/9/2009
Discrimination and Achievement: Impact of Exemptions to Florida's Promotion Policy
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When researchers at the University of Arkansas studied Florida’s test-based promotion policy, they found evidence of discrimination in how schools grant exemptions. Further, they found that students who were held back a grade outperformed those who received an exemption, “indicating that on average exemptions have not been granted to those individuals who would benefit from promotion,” the researchers wrote. |
Posted:2/5/2009
Runaway Daughters and the Liberalization of Mexico
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A pivotal era in the history of Mexico is examined from an unusual angle in a new book by University of Arkansas historian Kathryn A. Sloan. She is the first historian to mine a rich collection of 19th century court records to reveal both the significant role that the working class played in liberalizing social codes of conduct and honor, as well as the state’s expanded role in family life. |
Posted:1/15/2009
Video: The Role of Teaching and Research in Student Success
Over the past several months, the University of Arkansas has been renewing its commitment to putting students first in all aspects of university operations – including within mission-central functions of teaching and research at the university. |
Posted:1/14/2009
Wash Your Hands for a Healthy State: Hygiene Propaganda in the Soviet Union
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – By making the personal political, hygienists in the early days of the Soviet Union attempted to improve public health dramatically and played a key role in the establishment of the Soviet state. In The Body Soviet: Propaganda, Hygiene and the Revolutionary State, historian Tricia Starks examines the extensive collections of health care propaganda and records of medical monitoring institutions to reveal the centrality of public health campaigns in founding the revolutionary state. |
Posted:1/13/2009
Special Nanotubes May Be Used as a Vehicle for Treating Neurodegenerative Disorders
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Electrical engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have demonstrated that magnetic nanotubes combined with nerve growth factor can enable specific cells to differentiate into neurons. The results from in vitro studies show that magnetic nanotubes may be exploited to treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease because they can be used as a delivery vehicle for nerve growth factor. |
Posted:1/10/2009
UA Q&A asks: What is a carbon footprint?
 To see the reply by Nick Brown, executive assistant for sustainability at the University of Arkansas, please visit http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu. |
Posted:12/18/2008
Nanomedicine: Arkansas Researchers Publish First Textbook of Emerging Field
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Formalizing progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology, engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have published the first textbook on the emerging field of nanomedicine. Nanomedicine – Design and Application of Magnetic Nanomaterials, Nanosensors and Nanosystems presents a comprehensive treatment of a rapidly developing field that is changing the way biologists, physicists, chemists and medical researchers address a variety of health conditions, including cancer and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. |
Posted:12/9/2008
The Odor of Sanctity: Poetry Rising Up From Sadness
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In his newest volume of poetry, Michael Heffernan, creative writing professor at the University of Arkansas, often mixes the lofty and the wacky. The resulting “mildly irreverent” poems rise up from the sometimes-sad circumstances of life. |
Posted:12/5/2008
Video: Technology brings unseen artifacts to public eye
You can now visit museums or conduct archeological research in your pajamas, thanks to researchers at the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies. The scientists have used a short-range scanner to create hundreds of three-dimensional representations from a collection found at the Hampson Archeological State Park in Wilson, Ark. The result is the Virtual Hampson Museum. Please visit http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu/14094.php to see a video on the virtual museum. |
Posted:11/25/2008
Award Will Help Researchers Develop Novel Method of Storing Thermal Energy in Concrete
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas will receive a $770,000 award from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a novel method of storing thermal energy in concrete. The award and research project are part of the federal government’s initiative to develop technology for low-cost energy storage of solar power. |
Posted:11/20/2008
When the Stress is Critical, Avoid Pseudoscience, Psychologist Says
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A case study of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, known as CISD, shows that this approach to crisis management meets all criteria for a pseudoscience. The good news is that scientifically validated approaches are available to respond effectively to critical situations, according to University of Arkansas psychologist Jeffrey M. Lohr. |
Posted:11/17/2008
Lecture to Focus on Using Glass Shaped by Light to Create Tiny Satellite Systems
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Satellites provide us with lots of information about our planet, but they can be expensive, bulky and heavy. Researchers like Po-Hao Adam Huang, a member of the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences and professor of mechanical engineering, are working to shrink satellite systems to get more power from small products. |
Posted:10/23/2008
Arkansas Poll: In Arkansas 'It's the Economy' and It Is Also McCain
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In response to the 10th annual Arkansas Poll, a strong majority of Arkansans ranked the economy as the most important problem facing Arkansas. Although this finding lines up with national polling results – results that appear to give Sen. Barack Obama the edge in the presidential race – voters in Arkansas prefer Sen. John McCain to Obama, 49 percent to 36 percent. |
Posted:10/21/2008
Researchers Resolve 40-Year Dispute Over Disappearing Physical Property
_rdax_121x145.jpg) FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A property that can be used for memory in electronic devices disappears at high temperatures, and University of Arkansas scientists and colleagues in the Czech Academy of Sciences have used both theory and experiment to resolve a 40-year-old dispute over how this property disappears. |
Posted:10/9/2008
New Observations and Model Suggest Multiple Magma Reservoirs Affect Volcanic Eruption Cycles
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Discovering what happens beneath an active volcano is a job that’s often too hot for researchers to handle, but a University of Arkansas scientist and his colleagues have created a new and better way to “look” at what’s going on in the molten magma that lies beneath a volcano’s surface. Their model not only reaches some interesting conclusions, but also allows the researchers to make a prediction as to what the system will do over time. |
Posted:10/7/2008
Grant Allows Researcher to Examine High Blood Pressure in Women
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The American Heart Association reported earlier this year that rates of high blood pressure among women had increased from 17 percent to 22 percent between the early 1990s and the early 2000s. The study cited by the association also found that, in every state, women had higher uncontrolled hypertension prevalence rates than men did. |
Posted:10/7/2008
Fall 2008 Research Frontiers in Print, on the Web
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Videos featuring a song, a mathematical principle and a rehabilitation professor can be found at the Research Frontiers Web site, along with articles from the fall 2008 issue of the magazine. |
Posted:9/30/2008
New Atlas to Reveal Landscape and Undiscovered Archeological Sites in 3-D
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – New methods developed at the University of Arkansas will make decades-old satellite imagery readily available to archeologists and others who need to know what a landscape looked like before the spread of cities and agriculture. For the first time, archeologists can see three-dimensional views of the landscape of the Middle East from 40 years ago. |
Posted:9/26/2008
UA Q&A
What is a weed? |
Posted:9/29/2008
Two Projects Target Relationship Aggression Among People with PTSD
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Living with posttraumatic stress disorder can strain any relationship – sometimes to the point of violence against a loved one. University of Arkansas psychologist Matthew T. Feldner is part of two national research projects aimed at preventing relationship aggression in couples coping with PTSD and treating this type of aggression when it has already developed. |
Posted:9/23/2008
Arbitration Disputants Should Share Bids before Decisions on How Much to Invest in Case, Study Says
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In the first academic study to examine bidding and investment strategies in final-offer arbitration, economists at the University of Arkansas found that it is socially optimal for parties in conflict to make bids publicly observable before deciding how much time, effort and money to invest in building a case. The results provide insight into how final-offer-arbitration procedures might be standardized to minimize inefficient investments and generate moderate bidding behavior. |
Posted:9/18/2008
Network Approach May Be the Answer to Understanding Financial 'Contagion,' Study Finds
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers: As the major dominoes of the financial sector continue to fall at an alarming rate and the Federal Reserve attempts to forestall a systemic meltdown of the domestic financial network, University of Arkansas economists find that a network approach to the study of financial “contagion” – the transmission and impact of financial crises – be applied to understand the current turmoil in the U.S. banking sector and the need for a systemwide response by the Fed. |
Posted:9/11/2008
UA Q&A
What is the difference between arbitration and mediation? Please visit http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu to see the answer from Cary Deck, associate professor of economics in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. |
Posted:9/11/2008
Morales Case Focused International Attention on Plight, Rights of Street Children
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Through her analysis of Villagran Morales v. Guatemala, the first case involving street children to come before an international adjudicatory body, a University of Arkansas law professor argues that international human rights litigation can be a powerful political tool to protect abused and victimized children worldwide. The landmark 1999 decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights may also mobilize communities to work for social and economic welfare of all children, especially those who are poor and living on the street. |
Posted:9/4/2008
UA Q and A
 What is a brand and why are brands important? Please visit http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu to see the answer by Ronn Smith, assistant professor of marketing in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. |
Posted:9/4/2008
Is There a 'Mozart Effect'? Ask a Neuroscientist AND a Musicologist
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Neuroscientists and musicians have learned that looking at the brain on music can yield valuable insights into how the mind works. Yet, University of Arkansas music theorist Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis cautions that such research has produced some unintended consequences, such as the mistaken notion that listening to Mozart in particular boosts brainpower. |
Posted:8/28/2008
UA Q&A
 What is Greenwashing? |
Posted:8/27/2008
Modeling Health Care Logistics in a Virtual World
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Inefficient health care delivery – not patient care but business and support operations, including logistics and supply-chain networks, database- and inventory-management systems and patient-information systems – contributes significantly to rising costs and compromised quality of care and patient safety. To address this problem, University of Arkansas 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. |
Posted:8/25/2008
Grant Goes to Study Supermassive Black Holes
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A group of astronomers from the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences now has $1.4 million to study supermassive black holes and their role in the evolution of galaxies. |
Posted:8/21/2008
U of A Q and A
 What is the difference between RFID technology and barcodes? |
Posted:8/12/2008
Turfgrass Scientists Focus on Drought Tolerance
Some grass varieties can go without water in the summer for up to 60 days with no damage and even retain some green color, says turfgrass scientist Mike Richardson, a horticulture professor with the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture. |
Posted:8/13/2008
Legal Case Will Influence How Lawmakers Address Water Pollution in United States
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – 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 University of Arkansas legal scholar says the most recent conflict, despite its regional nature, highlights an issue of national significance and will likely influence methods in which legislators and policymakers address water pollution in the United States in coming years. |
Posted:8/12/2008
Experience Confirms 18 Steps to School Bond Success
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – School districts faced with aging facilities can be squeezed between the needs of students and the reluctance of voters to approve new taxes, but a book written by a University of Arkansas education researcher offers a practical guide to superintendents considering a bond initiative that, when followed, leads to success. |
Posted:8/5/2008
Study Shows Promise for Item-Level Use of RFID in Retail Environment
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A new study by the RFID Research Center at the University of Arkansas shows further promise for the use of radio-frequency identification tags on individual retail items. Researchers tested three popular retail scenarios, and the technology yielded read-rate percentages at or near 100 percent with one or more combinations of tags and readers. The results are encouraging for managers looking for better methods of tracking and managing inventory through all phases of a retail operation, including point of sale. |
Posted:8/5/2008
Campaign Changes Bring Small Donors Back
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A study of the “money primary” suggests that changes in the fundraising environment have important implications for the 2008 presidential election and beyond. |
Posted:7/31/2008
Veterans Oral History Project Reveals Cost of Combat to Soldiers
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Research at the University of Arkansas suggests that the very training that prepares soldiers to react quickly in combat leaves the individual vulnerable to a variety of emotional and psychological problems upon return to civilian life. Conditions in Iraq have produced particularly traumatic effects among troops. |
Posted:7/17/2008
Research Reveals Patterns of Terrorist Preparation
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Analysis of an extensive terrorism database housed at the University of Arkansas has revealed patterns in activities of terrorists preparing for an attack, information that can be invaluable for law enforcement agencies seeking to prevent terrorist attacks. |
Posted:7/1/2008
Genomics Research Focuses on Rice Variety Improvement
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Crop varieties can be improved through the study of genomics without creating genetically transformed varieties. That is the mission of a multistate research project led by the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture. |
Posted:6/30/2008
Mixed Review for Music in Charter Schools
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Are charter schools embracing or excluding the arts? The first investigation of the status of music education in charter schools suggests the answer is neither. |
Posted:6/26/2008
Researchers Test Canine Tooth Strength for Clues to Behavior of Early Human Ancestors
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Measuring and testing the teeth of living primates could provide a window into the behavior of the earliest human ancestors, based on their fossilized remains. Research funded by the National Science Foundation and led by University of Arkansas anthropologist Michael Plavcan takes us one step closer to understanding the relationship between canine teeth, body size and the lives of primates. |
Posted:6/10/2008
Recession Is Here, Local Residents Say
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – While leading economists continue to debate the issue, a solid majority – 73.5 percent – of Northwest Arkansans think the U.S. economy is now in a recession. Almost half – 47.3 percent – of local residents say they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, and only 22 percent expect to be better off financially a year from now. These and other findings from the Northwest Arkansas Omnibus Survey were released today. |
Posted:6/10/2008
Remembering the Faces of Missing Children: Researcher Suggests How to Improve Recall
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Photos of missing children posted at supermarket exits are one effort by law enforcement agencies and foundations to reunite children and families. Research led by James Michael Lampinen of the University of Arkansas revealed, however, that few customers could identify the children’s faces upon leaving the store. |
Posted:6/9/2008
Three Southern Women Confront the Tragedy of War in A Dangerous Age
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Ellen Gilchrist’s most recent novel, A Dangerous Age, follows three women from the Hand family, the Southern dynasty that has appeared in many of her previous works, as they live through and respond to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq. |
Posted:5/14/2008
IT Budget Levels Connected to Performance and Shareholder Returns, Study Finds
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In 1978 information-technology expenditures accounted for only five percent of firms’ fixed investments, but by 2005, that figure had risen to 22 percent, for a total of $283 billion. Despite this large increase and the continuing trend toward greater investment in information technology, relatively little is known about the effects of information technology on financial performance. |
Posted:5/6/2008
Strong Relationships Increase Commitment of Information-Technology Personnel in Public Sector
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In one of the first studies to focus specifically on state government information-technology personnel, researchers at the University of Arkansas found that key interpersonal relationships – both mentoring and different types of exchanges between supervisors and subordinates – have a major impact on employees’ commitment to an organization. |
Posted:5/5/2008
Survey Research Center Celebrates 10th Anniversary, Begins New Omnibus Survey
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Survey Research Center at the University of Arkansas will begin collecting data Tuesday, May 6, for the Northwest Arkansas Omnibus Survey, a short, service-oriented poll to measure local residents’ perceptions about the economy and a variety of other topics. |
Posted:4/24/2008
UA Q&A: Why is it important to get enough protein in my diet?
 Why is it important to get enough protein in my diet? Please visit http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu to see the reply from Marjorie Fitch-Hilgenberg, associate professor of dietetics in the School of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of Arkansas. |
Posted:4/24/2008
Researcher to Study Gene Flow 'Hot Spots' in Canola
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A University of Arkansas researcher and her colleagues have won a joint grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency to look at the combined effects of global climate change on weed biology, focusing in particular on transgenic hybrid weeds created by cross-pollination with genetically modified crop plants. The joint award of $520,000 is one of only four in the country. |
Posted:4/24/2008
Preserving a Language and Culture: Teaching Choctaw in the Public Schools
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Choctaw, a language that once was used for government, commerce, school and church in the Oklahoma Territory, faces extinction. In a program that could become a model for other threatened languages, Freddie A. Bowles, foreign language educator at the University of Arkansas, works with the Choctaw Nation to preserve and revitalize this indigenous heritage language. |
Posted:4/23/2008
Magazine Focuses on Sustainability Research
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Designing landscapes, creating efficient power sources, developing better business practices, examining human impact on small creatures – through these and other projects, University of Arkansas researchers work to create a better world for the long term. The work of these faculty and others is showcased in the spring 2008 issue of Research Frontiers. |
Posted:4/23/2008
In a 'My Campaign' Era, Wedge Issues Trump National Interests
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The days of a national election
resulting in a presidential mandate are over, and a new era of segmentation and
personalized pitches to voters has serious implications for democracy,
according to Todd Shields, a University of Arkansas political scientist. |
Posted:4/8/2008
Habit Plays Major Role in Continued Use of Information Technology, Study Finds
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Business and
management researchers generally acknowledge two basic stages of
information-systems usage: adoption and continuance. Past research has focused
on adoption, the initial, critical stage in which users are introduced to a
given computer application or program, learn about it and come to accept it.
But recently, organizational managers and researchers have
begun to explore the importance of continuance, the post-adoption stage of
information-systems usage. |
Posted:4/3/2008
UA Q&A: What Makes a Poet an Imagist?
 Many poets use images. What makes a poet an Imagist? Please visit http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu to see the response by
Michael Heffernan, professor of English in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. |
Posted:4/2/2008
Test Scores Go Up with Best Friends of Different Race
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Having a best friend of a different race can make a big difference in the academic achievement of black and Hispanic high school students, according to a University of Arkansas study. |
Posted:3/27/2008
University of Arkansas Researchers Study Effects of School Consolidation on Students, Educators
FAYETTEVILLE,
Ark. - School consolidation affects the students and teachers who move to a new
school more than it affects students and teachers in the receiving school, a
new study by University of Arkansas researchers found. The study also indicated
that students affected by consolidation were more resilient and able to adapt quicker
to their new settings than their teachers and parents. |
Posted:3/24/2008
Innovative Warehouse Design Concept Implemented by Wisconsin Generator Manufacturer
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - An innovative, alternative warehouse-design concept developed by a University of Arkansas researcher and his colleague at Auburn University has been implemented by a Wisconsin generator manufacturer. In its newly designed warehouse in Whitewater, Wis., Generac Power Systems built a non-traditional aisle and rack system based on concepts created by Russell Meller, professor of industrial engineering, and Kevin Gue, engineering professor at Auburn. |
Posted:3/13/2008
UA Q&A: Why do Some Foods Spoil Easily, While Others Don't?
Why do some foods spoil easily, while others don't? Please visit
http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu to see the reply from Michael
Johnson, professor of food science in the Dale Bumpers College of
Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas. |
Posted:3/13/2008
RFID Improves Inventory Accuracy, University of Arkansas Study Finds
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A preliminary
analysis of the effect of radio frequency identification on
retail-inventory accuracy demonstrated that an automated, RFID-enabled
inventory system improved accuracy by about 13 percent in test stores compared
to control stores. The investigation, conducted by researchers in the RFID Research Center, a research unit of the Information
Technology Research Institute in the Sam M. Walton College of Business,
also revealed that manual inventory adjustments by store personnel
significantly declined in test stores due to the automated, RFID-based system. |
Posted:3/3/2008
Keeping Traditions in a Modern-Day Bedouin Village
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - University of Arkansas researchers have used modern digital-mapping technology to uncover an ancient tradition still practiced by a Bedouin tribe that once roamed Jordan but now has settled into a modern village. The findings appear to have no parallel anywhere. |
Posted:2/28/2008
Dismal Rock: Poetry That Captures a Fading World
 FAYETTEVILLE,
Ark. - An award-winning collection of poetry by Davis McCombs uses the language
and terrain of the burley tobacco country of south-central Kentucky to reveal
the complexities of a fading way of life. McCombs' book, Dismal Rock, was recently published by Tupelo Press. |
Posted:2/25/2008
Novel Materials Research Nets Physicist NSF CAREER Award
A University of
Arkansas physics professor will create and explore novel interface-controlled
materials at the nanoscale to explore their physical properties, many of which
are not attainable in bulk materials. His research in this area earned him a
$410,735 CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to continue the
research, which was cited by Science
magazine as one of the top 10 breakthroughs of 2007. |
Posted:2/13/2008
University of Arkansas Q&A: What is the difference between a stock and a bond?
 What is the difference between a stock and a bond? Please visit the
Research Frontiers Web site at http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu to see
the answer by Craig G. Rennie, Clete and Tammy Brewer Professor of
Financial Markets in the Sam M. Walton College of Business and managing
director of the Garrison Financial Institute. |
Posted:2/12/2008
Faculty Members Birth New Baby Products Company
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - University
of Arkansas faculty members Li Cai and Mark Zweig have launched Good Parents, a
company offering innovative and high-quality infant and baby products. Anchored
by a novel diaper-changing pad designed several years ago by Cai, research
professor of electrical engineering, the company has already sold a few items
even before its Internet store opens Feb. 15. |
Posted:2/6/2008
UA Q&A: What happens to fish when a stream dries up?
What happens to fish when a stream dries up? Please visit
http://www.researchfrontiers.uark.edu to see the reply by Dan
Magoulick, associate professor of biological sciences in the J. William
Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. |
Posted:2/5/2008
NASA Announces Intent to Fund Researchers to Study Stardust Samples
 FAYETTEVILLE,
Ark. - University of Arkansas researchers are receiving a grant to examine
material from a comet sample brought back to Earth from outer space. They will
try to determine its composition and age. This work will provide new insights
into the formation and history of comets. |
Posted:1/31/2008
Research Suggests Experience, Not Genetics, Affects Musicians' Brain Responses
FAYETTEVILLE,
Ark. - 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. |
Posted:1/28/2008
Focus the Nation: University of Arkansas to Participate in National Teach-in on Global Warming
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.
- The University of Arkansas
will participate in Focus the Nation's Teach-in on Global Warming. On
Wednesday, Jan. 30, and Thursday, Jan. 31, more than 1,000 educational
institutions will focus on global warming in an effort to educate young people
about the pressing need for changes to sustain the planet and to outline
actions people can take now to reduce the effects of global warming. |
Posted:1/16/2008
Drought Length Influences Survival of Fish in Stream Pools
FAYETTEVILLE,
Ark. -University of Arkansas researchers have found that not all pools of water
are equal from year to year when it comes to housing fish species during dry
spells - a finding that becomes increasingly important during unusual and
prolonged drought conditions. |
Posted:1/16/2008
Drinking to Cope in College Linked to Drinking Problems
 FAYETTEVILLE,
Ark. - Although discomfort in social situations and drinking are both
recognized features of college life, the complex relationship between social
anxiety and drinking is not well understood. Research by University of Arkansas
psychologist Lindsay Ham into motives for drinking shows that drinking to cope,
in particular, can be associated with drinking problems for socially anxious
college students. |
Posted:1/15/2008
University to receive $4 million nanotechnology grant from the state
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Gov. Mike Beebe announced today that
nanotechnology researchers at the University of Arkansas will receive a $4 million grant from the
state's General Improvement Fund. The money will benefit research and
facilities in the College of Engineering and the J. William Fulbright
College of Arts and Sciences. |
Posted:1/9/2008
Researchers Develop Tool for Securing Rural Transportation Networks
 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Researchers in the Mack-Blackwell
Rural Transportation
Center at the University
of Arkansas have completed a
seminal study on the security of U.S.
rural transportation networks. The study provides a low-cost and efficient tool
to assess the vulnerability of rural transportation assets and will help officials
develop and implement plans for emergency preparedness. |
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Jails could be a point of strategic intervention in helping homeless people access treatment for substance abuse and mental health problems, according to a study at the University of Arkansas.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – It’s not often that Simon and Garfunkel and Pink Floyd songs are connected to literature such as Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Green Building Initiative recognized the University of Arkansas for two of its sustainable buildings and the environmental-friendly construction.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas researchers have characterized a membrane receptor protein and its binding mechanism from chloroplasts in plants and determined that it shares a commonly shaped binding site and mechanism with a similar protein found in E. coli._rdax_100x145.jpg)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A study by information systems researchers at the University of Arkansas shows that as many as three out of four college students may be illegally copying and downloading digital material, including copyright-protected music, movies and software.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The school funding system in Arkansas now aggressively targets additional resources to districts that serve disadvantaged student populations, a University of Arkansas study found.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The spring issue of University of Arkansas Research Frontiers explores the legacy of Charles Darwin and examines current research in light of evolutionary theory through two feature stories.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Should the Internet be a tool to enable competent democratic citizenship or an information superhighway leading to global economic power? Europeans and Americans began with different visions, but by the beginning of the 21st century, the two approaches had dovetailed.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A University of Arkansas researcher studying the way caves “breathe” is providing new insights into the process by which scientists study paleoclimates.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In the first academic study to examine of the relationship between company reputation and financial-reporting quality, a University of Arkansas accounting researcher found that high-reputation companies are less likely to produce low-quality financial statements.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas researchers have used chemistry and geology to create a model that may explain the mystery of how modern-day gullies form on the surface of Mars.
Please visit 
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Who would guess that a little over two years after beginning graduate school at the University of Arkansas that Chris Angel would be speaking at an international conference about his research on the Bedouin city of Um Sayhun, Jordan? Not Chris Angel himself.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In the first study to examine the impact of Federal Home Loan Bank membership and funding on commercial bank risk, a University of Arkansas researcher found evidence to suggest that member banks have somewhat higher risk profiles than non-member banks.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a neural probe that demonstrates significantly greater electrical charge storage capacity than all other neural prosthetic devices. More charge storage capacity means the device can stimulate nerves and tissues with less damage and sense neural signals with better sensitivity.
Why do birds flock together? Please visit 
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In a campaign season marked by almost non-stop polling, there is one poll in which residents of Arkansas will want their voices heard, according to political scientist Janine Parry – the Arkansas Poll. Calling for the 10th annual Arkansas Poll begins Wednesday, Oct. 1.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Kaiming Ye, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Arkansas, has received a $244,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a new technology that will generate glucose-responsive, insulin-producing cells from human embryonic stem cells. The research will lead to a new generation of cell-based therapies for treating diabetes. 
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Students at the University of Arkansas are designing a sustainable future using algae from local streams.
What is the difference between crows and ravens? Please visit 
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Humans have used symmetrical patterns for thousands of years in both functional and decorative ways. Now, a new book by three mathematicians offers both math experts and enthusiasts a new way to understand symmetry and a fresh way to see the world.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - New findings suggest that the ancient human "cousin" known as the "Nutcracker Man" wasn't regularly eating anything like nuts after all.
Will alternative fuels be better for the environment, and, if so, how?
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Rural herbalists from Cherokee and European American backgrounds come from different traditions, yet research at the University of Arkansas shows they end up adopting similar patterns of plant use.
FAYETTEVILLE -
Diverse cultures, diverse education, diverse landscapes, diverse ways of
expression - the University of Arkansas Press celebrates all of these in the
spring 2008 catalog.
Why do some microbes cause illness, while others don't?
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The irony of wind as a clean,
renewable source of energy is that the modern tools used to exploit it are less
than sustainable. Researchers at the University
of Arkansas are
evaluating means to make these tools more efficient and sustainable. 
Please visit http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu to see the reply by
Don Steinkraus, professor of entomology in the Dale Bumpers College of
Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.