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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

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Total Clips: 7

	Date	Outlet
Recalls Gets Consumers, Experts Talking	02/21/2007	WRBL-TV
Film on Rural Studio to be screened	02/21/2007	San Antonio Express-News
Children & Families: Sleep-Loss Impact Tied to Race, Income	02/21/2007	Education Week
Former Hoover teacher to leave post at White House	02/21/2007	Birmingham News
Specter of herbicide resistance haunts Southeastern farmers	02/20/2007	Southeast Farm Press
Alabama opens trade development center in India	02/20/2007	Southeast Farm Press
The Art of Ads and Brands	02/20/2007	OhmyNews.com


Recalls Gets Consumers, Experts Talking 02/21/2007 WRBL-TV Jaime Lakin		Return to Top
AU sources for this story include Donald Conner of the Poultry Science Department, Bryan Chin, Detection and Food Safety and James Barbaree, Biological Sciences Department. If recent headlines have you wondering if the food in your refrigerator is safe, you're not alone. "It makes me not want to buy some things," said Columbus resident Frances Mott. Her friend Sarah Arroyo of Smiths Station agrees. "With spinach and lettuce there for a while I just stopped buying it, until they talked about it being safe," Arroyo said. Most recently, some Dole-brand cantaloupes, six ounce packages of Oscar Mayer/ Louis Rich Ready-to-Eat Chicken Breast Strips with rib meat and certain jars of Earth's Best Organic 2 Apple Peach Barley Wholesome Breakfast baby food were recalled. But some local experts said recalls are not a bad sign, just an indicator that the system is working. "We've actually had fewer incidents of people getting sick from food-borne illnesses in the past 10 to 12 years," said Dr. Donald Conner, head of AU's Poultry Science Department. Conner credits the trend to increasingly aggressive monitoring and testing by regulatory agencies and producers in the food industry. A sentiment that is shared by the director of the Auburn University Detection and Food Safety Dr. Bryan Chin and Dr. James Barbaree, chair of Auburn's Biological Sciences department. "Recalls indicate that the system has become better," Chin said, adding that advances in technology and the more-vigilant nature of the nation's post-Sept. 11 mentality have also contributed to strengthening the system. Recalls are now being made sooner, they said. Allowing the potential problem to be caught before it hits a plate. "It used to be a long time ago that we had to have thousands of cases before anybody knew what was going on," Barbaree said. "Now, there doesn't even have to be an outbreak." That was the case with the recent chicken recall. According to the Associated Press, the chicken was recalled after a random inspection at a supermarket by the Georgia Department of Agriculture found Listeria monocytogenes. No illness was reported as a result of anyone eating the chicken, according to the report. With all that's being done now to protect the food supply, Barbaree said it's his opinion that those things together should make the consumer feel better. The FDA, in addition to listing all recalls, provides information about food safety on its Web site (www.fda.gov), including links to sites that specifically target food issues such as www.foodsafety.gov. The site provides information about food safety, including safeguards that should be taken at home. Safeguards like separating food items during the preparation process that can cross-contaminate, properly refrigerating and storing what you eat and making sure you thoroughly cook items at the recommend temperatures. Lucky, for Arroyo, she said she already has some safe food habits. "I was brought up in a time where you scrubbed your vegetables that you brought out of the garden," she said. But even with those habits in place, she admits, the recalls have made think twice about it. "I know I wash lettuce more carefully that I used to," she said. "Actually, better than before."
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Film on Rural Studio to be screened 02/21/2007 San Antonio Express-News Mike Greenberg		Return to Top
Students of the influential architect Samuel Mockbee design and build projects for an impoverished Alabama community in a documentary film that opens the 2007 lecture series of the San Antonio chapter of the American Institute of Architects. "If Walls Could Talk: The Rural Studio" is to be screened at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Witte Museum's Prassel Auditorium. Admission is free. Mockbee, who died in 2001 soon after the film was shot, won wide acclaim for an approach to architecture that relied on indigenous and inexpensive materials — often recycled, salvaged or scavenged — to create first-rate contemporary houses and community buildings for the poor. Mockbee established the Rural Studio in 1993 as an opportunity for Auburn University architecture students to further their learning in design and construction while creating practical and beautiful buildings for communities that otherwise could not afford them. Chuck Schultz's film follows the Rural Studio students as they design and build a house for a family of seven, a farmers market and a community center — with a dramatic glass skin made of overlapping salvaged car windows. The goals and methods of the Rural Studio have been emulated in various degrees by other architecture schools, including the one at the University of Texas at San Antonio, which is co-presenting the film with AIA-SA. Lucifer Lighting Co. sponsored the local showing.
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Children & Families: Sleep-Loss Impact Tied to Race, Income 02/21/2007 Education Week Linda Jacobson		Return to Top
This story is about research conducted at AU. Sleepless nights can drag down academic performance for any child. But a new study suggests that interrupted sleep can be an even bigger problem for African-American children and for those from lower socioeconomic levels. Conducted by researchers from Auburn University and the University of Notre Dame, the study focuses on a sample of 166 African-American and Caucasian children ages 8 and 9 from a variety of socioeconomic levels. The children each wore a small activity monitor for one week to measure their habits while they slept. They also kept diaries of their bedtimes and wake-up times, and gave reports of problems such as feeling sleepy during the day. Cognitive tests measuring a range of different skills were used to determine how a child might be performing in school. The results showed that when children slept well and had fairly consistent sleep schedules, the performance of African-American and poorer children was relatively similar to that of the white children on the tests. But when their sleep was disrupted, black children from all income levels and children of both races from lower-income families did not perform as well on cognitive tests as did more affluent white children whose sleep was disrupted. The findings held true even when specific sleep problems such as asthma were taken into account. "The results build on a small but growing literature demonstrating that poorer sleep in children is associated with lower performance on school-related tests," writes Joseph A. Buckhalt, a counseling and school psychology professor at Auburn and the study's lead author. Why African-American and disadvantaged children are more vulnerable to academic problems when they experience a lack of sleep is not yet known, he writes. Mr. Buckhalt recommends further research on the issue and on intervention strategies that might benefit minority and disadvantaged children. The article, "Children's Sleep and Cognitive Functioning: Race and Socioeconomic Status as Moderators of Effects," appears in the January/ February issue of the journal Child Development.
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Former Hoover teacher to leave post at White House 02/21/2007 Birmingham News Associated Press		Return to Top
AUBURN - Susan Dryden Whitson, a former Hoover High School teacher who has served as first lady Laura Bush's press secretary for the past two years, said last week she's leaving the White House in the coming months to hopefully start a new career - as a mother. Whitson, speaking before a capacity crowd at Auburn University's Foy Union Building, said she doesn't want to leave, but she and her husband want a family, and both have jobs that keep them apart. They figured out they spent five months apart last year. "And Blackberries don't make babies either," she said, with a smile and a laugh. Whitson, who graduated from Auburn in 1991, appeared on campus as the College of Education's 2007 Keystone Leader-in-Residence. She told the group of educators and future educators how she went from being Taylor Hicks' ninth-grade English teacher to being Laura Bush's go-to-gal. She said she mentioned Hicks, last season's winner of "American Idol," because his stardom gets the attention of some younger crowds more than the president's wife. It got a boisterous laugh from the crowd. Whitson said she always knew she wanted to be an educator, but she never imagined her degree from Auburn would lead to a job at the White House. She remains an educator, but instead of facing students everyday, she stands before reporters. Whitson spent six years doing what she loved at Hoover High, but after a summer working for then U.S. Rep. Bob Riley, her life took a drastic change. He asked her to be his press secretary. She admitted she didn't know what the job was but took the offer nonetheless. "To this day, I am grateful for him," she said. Her experience with Riley opened doors in Washington, D.C., from Capitol Hill and the Department of Justice to the FBI's National Press Office. Burned out on national security issues, but still wanting to be in "the thick of things," Whitson joined the 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential campaign. She had gotten to know both Barbara and Jenna Bush, but it wasn't until after Jenna stuck her tongue out at the national media that Whitson became the press secretary for both Bush daughters. That detail led her to Mrs. Bush. Besides serving as the first lady's chief communications adviser and the key spokesperson on issues the first lady helps advance, such as education, literacy and international women's issues, Whitson is also involved in "fun stuff," such as floral arrangements and china patterns for state dinners. She keeps up with the news each day by meeting with press secretary Tony Snow and other members of the White House communications staff. She also reads about six newspapers a day and has the TV on all the time. "I do engage with the West Wing a lot," she said. Whitson may have experienced a series of fortunate events that got her to the White House, but she said it couldn't have happened without a foundation of academics. "I've held a lot of titles over the years, but the one I'm most proud of is teacher," she said. WHITSONXX -- WHITSON: Press secretary set to start a family
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Specter of herbicide resistance haunts Southeastern farmers 02/20/2007 Southeast Farm Press		Return to Top
Mike Patterson, ACES weed scientist and AU professor of agronomy and soils, is quoted in this story. With mounting concern, weed scientists throughout the region — and the world — are cataloguing a growing list of weeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate, which comprises the cornerstone of crop planting systems throughout the Southeast. The bugbear of weed resistance — the one that keeps weed scientists awake at night — is a type of pigweed known as Palmer amaranth. One biotype of this pigweed has shown resistance to glyphosate, while others have developed resistance to ALS herbicides, a class of chemicals comprising several key herbicide products. The good news for Alabama growers is that the weed is still confined to southern Georgia. The bad news is that if it ever makes it into Alabama, the results could be catastrophic. And there is every indication it inevitably will get into the state. Mike Patterson, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System weed scientist and Auburn University professor of agronomy and soils, describes Palmer amaranth as the mother of all monkey wrenches. If these resistant biotypes gain a firm toehold in Alabama, they potentially could undermine the cropping system that cotton and soybean growers have depended on for years to control weeds and save on operating costs — one that combined use of glyphosate-resistant plants with limited-tillage systems to reap huge savings in chemical and equipment costs. "For a lot of Alabama growers, their whole system is based on reduced-tillage and the use of postemergence herbicides, such as Roundup and the ALS herbicides," Patterson says. "If weed resistance forces them to abandon these products and return to some of the older soil-based herbicides, they may to have to go back to some of the older tillage systems, too." That could deal a major blow to many Alabama growers who are still reeling from last year's drought. "I think a lot of our growers, especially because of last year's drought, are standing on the edge economically," Patterson says, "and if they can't produce the crop economically anymore due to this increased weed resistance problem, they could be put out of business." At least for now, there is not much Palmer amaranth to speak of in Alabama, and, as far as Patterson is aware, there are none of the biotypes causing farmers in neighboring Georgia such fits. Fortunately for Alabama growers, these non-resistant pigweed biotypes are easily controlled by Roundup. Moreover, Patterson believes the threat from these resistant biotypes will not necessitate a wholesale abandonment of Roundup Ready technology, which is, after all, effective on a broad range of weeds — roughly one hundred different species in all. "I don't believe we're going to stop using Roundup, but we're going to have to supplement it with soil-applied products to try and slow down pigweed until our crop reaches an adequate height." It's a strategy that has been employed with cotton in the past. "If you have a big cotton plant and a small weed, you can post-direct your spraying underneath it with a non-selective herbicide and stay ahead of the weed," he says. Even so, Patterson says the threat of pigweed should not be discounted or minimized. "If the pigweed is a resistant biotype, and it comes up with the plant, our options are limited. It is a nightmare situation, and if it turns up, we’ll be virtually powerless to deal with it." Weed resistance has become a pressing problem not only in the Southeast but also worldwide, Patterson says. Scientists already have documented 313 resistant biotypes of weeds and 183 different species worldwide (110 broadleaf species and 73 grasses). Alabama is not immune. Researchers already have identified three such species in the state, including marestail, a winter annual predominant in the Tennessee Valley and resistant to glyphosate; common cocklebur, which has developed resistance to the MSMA and DSMA classes of herbicides; and goosegrass, found in Cherokee county and resistant to Prowl and Trifluralin, which are used to control small-seeded broadleaf species such as pigweed.
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Alabama opens trade development center in India 02/20/2007 Southeast Farm Press		Return to Top
AU and Tuskegee University are mentioned as possibly participating in a veterinary school exchange with India. Commissioner Ron Sparks has announced the opening of the Alabama India Trade Development Center in New Delhi, India. The Center will seek new opportunities for sales of Alabama products to India. The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries has been working cooperatively with other Southern states in promoting value added food products, poultry, pulp and paper, newsprint, and introducing pecans to Indian consumers for the past two years. The potential for Alabama companies in India is not only for food and traditional agricultural commodities. Because India's economy continues to spur infrastructure improvements, Alabama is well positioned to provide industrial components to Indian companies from forest products to aircraft parts, from agricultural machinery to construction equipment. By opening this center, Alabama companies will have a unique opportunity to have staff on the ground in India seeking a fit for Alabama products into the Indian market. "India has a population of over one billion," said Sparks. "Of that one billion, 300 million are considered to be part of the consuming middle class of the country. That is more than the entire population of the United States. At the Department of Agriculture and Industries, we evaluated our companies in Alabama and determined that the Indian market would be a good match for our products." India is expected to import over $8 billion in U.S. goods this year. Predications show that within the next 5 to 10 years, India will become the second largest economy in the world, behind China and above the United States. "Some people may ask: Why are these figures for India important to us here in Alabama? Because Alabama companies are poised, ready and able to sell many products to Indian buyers," stated Sparks. "For example, poultry meat is one of the fastest growing sectors on global meat demand and as you know, Alabama is one of the largest producers of poultry in the U.S. We have been actively seeking additional outlets for our poultry to help our farmers grow and sell more birds. "Alabama is the second state in the U.S. to open an office in India and I believe this Center will have a tremendous impact on sales of Alabama products to India." The Center will be funded in part through the Department of Agriculture & Industries as part of the Southern United States Trade Association’s (SUSTA) New Delhi operations. The staff will consist of foreign nationals from India who have experience with U.S. markets. The staff will promote Alabama products by participating in trade shows and in store promotions, meeting with prospective importers, working on behalf of Alabama companies to ease import barriers, organizing visits of Alabama companies, and arranging networking opportunities for those companies. Commissioner Sparks was accompanied by a delegation from the Alabama legislature. While in India, the group visited New Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai. In addition to the opening of the Trade Center, the delegation met with India's Secretary of Agriculture, the U.S. Ambassador to India, the Mayor of New Delhi, pulp and paper importers, pet food importers, and visited a veterinary school to discuss the possibility of an exchange program between the school and Auburn University and Tuskegee University.
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The Art of Ads and Brands 02/20/2007 OhmyNews.com George Burns (Sergio)		Return to Top
AU's Michael Soloman, professor of consumer affairs in the College of Human Sciences, is a source for this story. It occurred to me while walking in Edinburgh, art is all around us. In architecture, in the clothes we wear and in the cars we drive. But, more especially in the millions of images and copy of all those advertisements and brands that clutter our world. A great and fascinating mountain of symbols, signs, logos and blurb which rush in on us from our televisions, reading material, internet and mobile phones. We are what we believe we decide to wear, drive, drink, listen to, while simultaneously being sold this dream of "ourselves" by clever marketing people. It's like staring into the looking glass from both sides. It's like being in a room full of two-way mirrors (with apologies to Jimi Hendrix) "People buy goods because of what they mean, not because of what they do," says Dr. Michael Solomon of Auburn University, Alabama. "The product imagery that surrounds us, from Nike to Gucci, Ford to BMW, MTV Europe to Vogue, form 'consumption communities' that define who we are -- and who we want to be. Indeed, the strategic goal of many firms is not to build market share -- it is to build share of mind." In the Doric Bar in Market Street (I am not walking anymore) I witness a myriad of styles and a titanic struggle of cultures, nicely chiming with such features as age, personality and status. The girl with the bright purple hair, face piercings and dark garb and her equally striking boyfriend -- electrified jet black hair -- are young, Gothlike and probably students. The gentleman at the bar in the pin stripe suit and carrying a brown, leather brief case by Pierre Cardin, a middle-aged professional, I would imagine. The people who create ads and organise marketing campaigns for transnational corporations, no doubt take cognisance of such differences. They astutely understand that a large chunk of our self-construction and world-view -- Goth or professional -- is reflected in how we consume. That is, how we interact with, interpret and make sense of ads and brands, what they say to us, and what that...says about us. "...In many cases advertisers are like anthropologists," Antonio Lopez, Media Producer with New York based World Bridger Media explained. "They do ethnographic studies and psychological profiling. In the case of cool hunting, marketers have cultural spies who search for cultural trends that can be quickly turned around..." Advertisers have created many ingenuous ways of gaining an insight into "what we want" and perhaps, more importantly, how to reach us. For ads and brands merchants it's a sort of the public gets what the public wants and we'll decide motto. So, for example, and as Antonio Lopez explains in his education material, sex, fear and humour are the most common marketing tools used by ads people to identify with the target audience. Cute hooks such as children, animals and family situations are also utilised, as are celebrity endorsements and hype (overbloated propaganda regarding a product or brand). In fact the list of devices and sleight of hand employed is almost endless. Anything from camera angles to carefully constructed copy to accompany psychologically considered visuals are all used to engage with customers. "Ads seek to bypass the rational mind through the use of symbols that generate quick emotional reactions," Antonio told me. "They appeal entirely to the irrational. I like to think of advertising as corporations dreaming your mind." Later, as I sat in the cafe Florentin in St Giles Street checking my notes, I was struck by how awesome the image produced by Antonio's line "Corporations dreaming your mind" was. This also resonated with what Dr Solomon had said about coporations not building share of the market but that their "strategic goal... is to build share of mind." "Ads are there to build mindshare," Antonio continued. "They usually have nothing to do with the product, but rather the corporate brand and its logo. This is to boost the value of the brand's stock value. The ad tries to wink and flatter the consumer by pretending to identify with his or her needs." Are we saying that the ads people have gained access to our minds and are squatting in there without us realising? Individuals programmed via television, the internet, various publications or our mobile phones to simply find the nearest shopping mall and purchase items we don't really need? Presumably we do this in a Doctor Who Dalekesque voice: "I must have Levi jeans, Coca Cola, a Nokia phone... I must have Timberland boots, Philadelphia low fat cheese... for...erm... my diet, The Green Food Start-Up (Lose Six Stone a Week!) as advertised by..." Or, is that too simple? Every day we are subjected to a whole barrage of ad and brand symbols, telling us something about how our lives could be so much better and enhanced if only we possessed their product. From the psychedlic landscapes of Volkswagen driving to the magic numbers of Orange mobile systems. From the "Just Do It" culture of Nike to the "Impossible Is Nothing" of Adidas to the Honda corporation and its "Power Of Dreams." From sex on the beach perfumes to the intellectual smartness and middle-class mores of Parisien lovers plugging a compact little motor car, ad personnel are trying to grab us and convince us that this is "you" and you need their product to be "you." And me? I am wearing a blue "Paul Smith" shirt, Zantos jeans (cheap and grungy and black) and my adorable, chrysalitic Caterpillar boots. As I sit and watch the sunset falling over Edinburgh castle I find myself wondering: "What does that really say about me?"
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