Untitled Document

Monday, September 25, 2006

Good morning! Here's today's summary of news coverage of Auburn University.
NOTE: Any errors in text are due to formatting by the publication.

Total Clips: 12

	Date	Outlet
Cable rantings boost ratings	09/25/2006	USA Today
Hybrid catfish hooking farmers	09/25/2006	Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Exploring the social frontiers of spaceflight	09/25/2006	The Space Review
Architecture meet to be held at AU	09/25/2006	Montgomery Advertiser
Veteran loses leg but gets new life	09/24/2006	Montgomery Advertiser
Scratch 'n' Sniff Special Canine Unit Knows to Nose Scat	09/23/2006	The Wall Street Journal
Imaging the Obese	09/23/2006	Advance for PA
Fueling for the future	09/22/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
AU Researchers Clean Food With Radiation	09/22/2006	WTVM-TV
Extension expert touts irradiation in combating foodborne illness	09/22/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Building Diversity	09/22/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Employee incentives increase profits, study shows	09/22/2006	Central Alabama Business Journal


Cable rantings boost ratings 09/25/2006 USA Today		Return to Top
AU journalism professor Dale Harrison is quoted in this story. On cable news, objectivity works well during the day. But as the sun begins to set, programmers have learned that viewers like some edge. And ranting helps. Fox News Channel was first to tap into this a decade ago when Bill O'Reilly began to sound off about his pet peeves. He is now the most popular talk-show host on cable. Others have since joined in, and their ratings have increased. Lou Dobbs, CNN's formerly staid business news anchor, has been railing against illegal immigration for three years. On Headline News, former prosecutor Nancy Grace goes after defense attorneys as a self-styled crime-victims advocate. And at MSNBC, Keith Olbermann lately has begun sounding off on the Bush administration. "People want more than just the headlines and facts. They want to know what the news means to them, why they should care and what they should think about it," says Auburn University journalism professor Dale Harrison. "In its heyday, network news served precisely these functions, but it has since become staid — even pusillanimous. "Rants add passion to news events and inspire people to take sides on issues," Harrison says. "That's not all bad, as long as viewers are skeptical about the facts presented on TV rants and balance their media diet with more reliable sources of facts and information." In bygone days, "journalists used to be referees: the better they did their job, the less you noticed them," says Robert Lichter, a journalism professor at George Mason University in Virginia. "But now, the way to make it in journalism is to stand out, to intrude into the story." The lowdown on four of the most popular ranters on cable news: Bill O'Reilly, Fox News Channel •Background: The 57-year-old former ABC News correspondent and Inside Edition host began at Fox on Oct. 6, 1996; in the early months, his O'Reilly Report averaged 112,000 viewers. A decade later, The O'Reilly Factor (8 ET/5 PT) averages a top-rated 2 million viewers each evening. •Recent rants: Sex crimes against children. He wants Jessica's Law — with tough sentencing and electronic tracking devices for sexual predators — passed in every state. He's against activist judges who he says use their biases to make decisions instead of interpreting the Constitution. And he favors coerced interrogation of suspected terrorists. •Notable: On ABC's 20/20 Friday to promote his fifth book, Culture Warrior, O'Reilly told Barbara Walters that he receives "death threats on a daily basis" and that "the FBI came in and warned me and a few other people at Fox News that al-Qaeda had us on a death list." •Key to The Factor's success: Political independence, O'Reilly says. "We don't flack for any political party. Our goal is to get solid information and fact-based opinion to the folks, and people have responded." Lou Dobbs, CNN •Background: Dobbs, 61, joined CNN when it was founded in 1980 as anchor of Moneyline. Founded website Space.com in 1999. Left CNN in 2000, rejoined in 2001 as anchor of more general-interest news program Lou Dobbs Tonight (6 ET/3 PT). •Recent rants: Opposes outsourcing of jobs in a segment called "Exporting America" and has been vocal about illegal immigration and amnesty for illegal immigrants in his "Broken Borders" segments. In the past year, ratings have jumped 69% from 499,000 to 841,000. •Are his rants a grab for ratings? "I find it fascinating when people accuse us of trying to drive ratings on important issues like the welfare of the middle class, lack of representation in Washington or outsourcing of American jobs when we are ignoring every sensational story that every other broadcast is weighing in on." •Why he keeps ranting: "One of the principal criticisms of every newscast in this country is that they have short attention spans, and producers usually rationalize it by saying viewers have short attention spans. We actually respect our viewers and believe in in-depth reporting. What some might call repetitive and relentless, we consider to be thorough and ongoing." Nancy Grace, Headline News •Background: The death of her fiancé 25 years ago during a robbery prompted Grace, now 48, to become a prosecutor in Georgia, which led to hosting Court TV's Closing Arguments. She still hosts the show two hours a day and Nancy Grace on Headline News (8 ET/5 PT). •Goal: "What I hope to do is give a voice to people who do not have a voice, middle America — and not the Ivy League elite — people who are in and out of our criminal justice system, the majority of them every single day as witnesses, jurors, victims and sometimes defendants." •Controversy: Guest Melinda Duckett, mother of a missing 2-year-old boy, killed herself Sept. 8 after Grace's aggressive questioning. Relatives blamed the suicide on Grace, but Thursday police said Duckett was the primary suspect in her son's disappearance. The boy has not been found. "I do not believe my questioning of her had an impact on her decision to commit suicide," Grace says. "And believe me, if I had the power to control somebody 2,000 miles away, I would have Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein commit suicide right now, OK?" •Of her popularity: "People have a curiosity about what lurks within the heart and mind of man," says Grace, who averages 534,000 viewers on Headline News, almost triple the time slot's previous average with a news-wheel format. "So often in court, you look over at a defendant, so well educated, and you wonder, 'Why would they do such a thing?' " Keith Olbermann, MSNBC •Background: Former NBC and ESPN sports anchor, Olbermann, 47, has hosted Countdown with Keith Olbermann (8 ET/5 PT) since 2003. •Why rants work on cable: "By 8 p.m., 90 out of 100 people already know nearly everything I'm going to tell them, thus an analysis or even a forecast on upcoming events seems to work. You can't really put on a 'traditional newscast' anymore, certainly not on cable. And to some degree a fervently expressed opinion is going to be good TV one way or another." •Recent tirade: On Aug. 30, Olbermann responded to a speech in which Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that the USA is fighting "a new type of fascism" akin to the Nazis, and that any "moral or intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong" in the battle with terrorists could weaken society. Says Olbermann: "I reject the idea that dissent or disagreement or questioning of the official interpretation of events (is) comparable to appeasing the Nazis. If somebody tells me that's who I am by asking questions, my automatic response is to ask more questions." •Why he won't rant nightly: "Howard Beale (the "I'm not going to take this anymore!" anchor in Network) would come to me and say, 'Back off a little, pal.' " Olbermann's four "special comments" since Aug. 30 have driven ratings up 33% to 495,000. "You can't do it every night. It becomes insincere; people who do it become caricatures of themselves."
Full Story

Hybrid catfish hooking farmers 09/25/2006 Arkansas Democrat Gazette Mark Minton		Return to Top
This story refers to an AU catfish breeding system. In the face of a continuing flood of Asian imports, a slick new example of American ingenuity is rolling off the line. It's an ultra-efficient hybrid. Only, this model has whiskers and runs on catfish chow. The global catfish wars aren't exactly General Motors versus Toyota, but they pack the same competitive juices into a shrink-wrapped package with an Arkansas flavor. After all, the state is not only the cradle of the U. S. catfish industry, it’s also No. 1 in catfish consumed per resident. As with cars, however, stiff competition from across the pond has taken a bite. When cheap catfish from Vietnam started pouring in six years ago, U. S. farmers beat them back with a successful anti-dumping case and a chorus of complaints that the Vietnamese were fobbing off a fraud that couldn't compare to an authentic, mud-loving American channel cat. "Never trust a catfish with a foreign accent," said one ad promoting the channel cat. A different species, the Vietnamese variety is still a catfish by scientific measures. But at the height of the trade dispute, Congress decreed that only the American type can be labeled "catfish" in grocery aisles. Now, with imports surging again, U. S. catfish farms are looking for a new edge. A few are introducing a new kind of catfish — a hybrid that promises to convert catfish kibble into fillets faster than the competition, lowering production costs and putting more money in farmers' pockets. 'quite claim to be an authentic American channel cat, either. In fact, the fish — a cross between a male blue catfish and a female channel catfish — doesn't have a place among the 2, 855 species that science has thus far placed in the catfish family tree, which includes one of every four freshwater fish. The hybrid can’t crack the list, because the channel and the blue are separate species that do not mate naturally. Actually, getting them together is no cinch even under the most controlled circumstances. "It’s a good fish, but it’s just a bear to hatch," said Sam Lawrence, chief executive of Eagle Aquaculture Inc., which is one of at least four hatcheries producing the fish in commercial quantities. Science delivered the first channel-blue hybrid in 1966. But the laborious process, in which the fish are plucked from the pond so their eggs and sperm can be harvested and combined artificially, has never been reliable enough to commercialize — until now. Eagle Aquaculture, which says it has fine-tuned a breeding regimen developed at Auburn University, delivered its first batch of 6-inch fingerlings to farmers' ponds in the fall of 2005. The compan'’s second batch is selling briskly, Lawrence said. Meanwhile, Harvest Select, an Alabama catfish producer controlled by Paul Bryant Jr., son of Alabama football legend Paul "Bear" Bryant, hatches hybrids primarily for its own farms. The Hybrid Catfish Co., a Mississippi startup founded by a former Harvest Select researcher, and the Baxter Land Co. hatchery near Arkansas City are selling their hybrid fingerlings to independent farmers. In all, the 2006 hybrid crop amounts to about 25 million fingerlings that are now putting on pounds in catfish ponds around the South, hatchery executives say. A few have already made it to market, but a consumer wouldn't notice. The hybrid fillets at the fish counter are labeled no differently than channel cats. The artificially bred fish are still a sliver of the $ 590 million U. S. catfish industry, which goes through about 700 million channel-cat fingerlings a year, according to farmers. Before the hybrid can capture the center of the plate, hatcheries will have to prove they can string together consistently robust hatches. DELICATE WORK While they claim significant gains, the spawning procedure still leaves something to be desired. For one thing, the male fish has to die. Even before he gets a look at his mate, the blue is dispatched with a thwack. Sliced open, its testes removed, the male is done — no small loss, producers say, because there is a shortage of mature males on the market. The channel-cat female is taken from the water for a pair of hormone injections spaced 14-16 hours apart. Then, when the time is right, hatchery workers wrap the anesthetized fish in a towel, gently squeeze out her eggs and mix in sperm from the blue. The three-day process, still part science and part art, yields eggs reliably. But the hatch is not nearly as predictable as the natural spawning that goes on beneath the surface of channelcatfish ponds. "You might get 150, 000, or you might get a million. You don’t know until they hatch," said Jeff " he said. "You stress one of these females, she’s not going to give you eggs." In Auburn, Rex Dunham, chief scientific officer for Eagle Aquaculture, won’' reveal the secrets of the company's spawning procedure, only that the "little subtleties" add up to "a quantum leap forward." Eagle executives also won't say how much the company has invested in the hybrid, its sole product, or whether the enterprise is profitable. But they are not shy about touting their creation. "We've come out with a better catfish," Dunham said. "It has potential to revolutionize the industry." While the fillets taste like channel catfish, he said, the hybrid grows faster and converts feed about 20 percent more efficiently, head-to-head studies with the channel cat show. (The blue, more vulnerable to parasites and slower to reach maturity, is not generally farmed. ) Overall production of the hybrid can be twice as high as the channel cat, Dunham said. One reason: The hybrid shrugs off diseases that can slow or wipe out a pondful of channels. A thicker fish with a smaller head, the hybrid also yields about 2 percent more meat than a same-size channel, Dunham said. 'ASIAN INVASION' Though Vietnamese imports fell in the wake of tariffs and the 2002 labeling law, the Asian fish are proving resilient: Imports from Vietnam hit a new high of 19 million pounds last year, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Cambodia and other Third World countries with deep pools of cheap labor are also shipping fish, bringing the 2005 import total to 30 million pounds of catfish. So far this year, the flow is looking stronger still. Most of the imports are bound for food-service companies and restaurants where, U. S. growers complain, the "inferior" product is too often presented as whitefish. Amid the streams of incoming fillets, Roger Barlow, president of The Catfish Institute, a Mississippi-based trade group, perceives a new threat: catfish from China. "What we have is an Asian invasion," said Barlow, worrying aloud that made-in-China fillets will soon land in Wal-Mart seafood cases. As a true channel cat, the Chinese fish can avoid the labeling snag that Congress wrote into the 2002 Farm Bill after a raucous, weeks-long debate. At one point, Arkansas' Rep. Mike Ross, a Democrat, said the Vietnamese catfish is "no more related to a catfish than a cat is to a cow." Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona countered that Southern catfish farmers were trying to jigger the definition of catfish to restrict free trade and squash a product that American consumers had shown they wanted to buy. Ross' side won. Under the new law, importers can no longer label any fish "catfish" if it is not in the family Ictaluridae. The Vietnamese fish had to drop "catfish" and are now marketed simply as basa or tra. They weren't the only casualty, according to the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Seafood. The walking catfish evolved into the walking clarias. The sea catfish became the whiskered fish. But, with the blessing of the FDA, the hybrid goes to market simply as "catfish." Because its parents are both in the Ictaluridae family, and thus are catfish, the hybrid is a catfish, too, said Spring Randolph, consumer safety officer in the Office of Seafood. LOOKING AT THE BOTTOM LINE Even with catfish prices up, any innovation with potential to cut production costs and position American farmers against the competition is critical, according to The Catfish Institute's Barlow. "Whether it is the hybrid or other breakthroughs, these are the keys for future viability," Barlow said. Alabama fish farmers have funded the industry's research and promotion for more than a decade, through payments voluntarily tacked onto feed bills. The Alabama Catfish Producers Association used some of the money to buy and customize a catfish car — a Volkswagen with dorsal fin and whiskers — but the bulk goes to Auburn's Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures. Eagle Aquaculture aims to turn Auburn's advancements into a 10 percent share of the fingerling market within five years. Other producers say farmers are eager to buy all the fingerlings they can make. No one would say what they're charging. Eagle claims the hybrid can mean $ 700 to $ 2, 500 more per acre for the farmer, but some fish farmers have yet to be convinced. "If I had to pick between excited and skeptical, I'd say more are excited about the fish," said Charles "Bo" Collins, director of the Catfish Farmers of Arkansas. "The bottom line is cost of production," he said. "That's what people are looking at." Several studies have been released — researchers have even tested the hybrid's swimming prowess in a "swim tunnel" — but even more are needed, said Andy Goodwin, associate director of the aquaculture program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the site of a summit meeting of hybrid-hatchery officials earlier this month. At the university's experimental catfish ponds, graduate student Ganesh Kumar cast out bucket after bucket of granulated catfish food one afternoon last week, making the waters churn with swirls and gulps. Hybrid fingerlings and channel-cat fingerlings each get all the chow they want, as part of a continuing head-to-head grow-out experiment. Early results seem encouraging, David Heikes, a catfish specialist based at UAPB, said as he looked out over the row of ponds, "but the jury's still out on whether this is 'The Next Fish. '" For now, he said, they can only continue feeding — and wait to see what comes out of the water.
Full Story

Exploring the social frontiers of spaceflight 09/25/2006 The Space Review Dwayne A. Day		Return to Top
James Hansen, a historian at Auburn University is mentioned as presenting a talk in this story about a conference in Washington, D.C.. On September 19–21, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and the NASA history office co-hosted a conference titled the Societal Impact of Spaceflight in Washington, DC. The conference featured over thirty speakers on this little-covered topic in space history. The speakers included authors, professional historians, and other serious observers of the space program. What follows is a brief overview of a number of the presentations at the conference. This overview is neither comprehensive nor detailed. It will not include every presentation and only touches on some of the more interesting and intriguing comments (in my opinion) made by a few of the presenters. A number of presentations are excluded not because they were uninteresting, but because I was unable to take notes during the full two and a half days of presentations. Fortunately, the conference organizers intend to eventually produce conference proceedings that will include papers by many of the presenters that will certainly explore these subjects in greater detail. National Air and Space Museum Deputy Director Donald Lopez gave a brief opening talk where he mentioned two upcoming events at the museum. One is the plan to mount a 10-meter-long nose and fuselage section from a 747 to one of the walls of the museum. The museum's impressive collection of aircraft lacks a vintage 747 and this new exhibit will close part of that gap. Another upcoming exhibition will cover 50 years of space art. The museum owns a vast collection of space art that rarely gets exhibited and this new display will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. McCurdy also noted that different cultures view space differently. While Americans have a positive image of the frontier, other cultures do not share this image or even the concept of a frontier, and certainly do not view it in the same romantic way as nineteenth century historian Jackson Turner. The keynote lecture was delivered by Howard McCurdy, a historian at American University and author of several books on NASA and social history. McCurdy noted that throughout history humans have changed how they define the world around them. For instance, for much of early American history the wilderness was a dangerous and forbidding place, hostile, and "full of bugs." But Henry David Thoreau and other writers reimagined the wilderness as a wonderful place and today people visit national parks on their vacations. McCurdy proposed that the same has happened with spaceflight. Space is a hostile environment, more hostile than any place on Earth. And yet space activists and even politicians have portrayed it as a great frontier, a challenge for humanity to explore, rather than a place filled with danger. McCurdy also noted that different cultures view space differently. Discussing a theme that later speakers would revisit, he explained that Americans have a positive image of the frontier. Other cultures do not share this image or even the concept of a frontier, and certainly do not view it in the same romantic way as nineteenth century historian Jackson Turner. These different narratives can shape different policies and public attitudes towards space exploration and development. Roger Launius, chief of the Division of Space History at the Air and Space Museum, spoke about turning points in history. He said that this is one way that historians have of trying to define and shed light on history, but that the definition of a turning point is fuzzy and this tool can obscure as much as it can illuminate. For instance, one survey of American historians identified fifteen turning points in the 20th century. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan was number one, and humans landing on the Moon was second, followed by the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Wright Brothers' airplane flight. However, Launius noted what was not on the list. Ballistic missiles, which made the possibility of instant annihilation possible, were not on this list, perhaps because they did not have a clearly defined moment in time but instead were developed over a period of years. It is important, Launius said, to not simply accept a master narrative that neatly sums up a history and shoves aside other important events and trends. James T. Andrews of Iowa State University spoke about his work writing a book about Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and how he has been used by various groups and people in Soviet society. Joseph Stalin recognized that Tsiolkovsky's notoriety could be useful for enhancing the image of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union. But, surprisingly to Westerners, Soviet society was not monolithic during the 1950s and 1960s, and there was published criticism of the Soviet government’s campaign to place space on the national stage. Western commentators long noted that the Soviet command-driven economy could deny its citizens consumer goods in order to build rockets, but what has been little recognized was that there were people—artists, writers, and others—who criticized this decision, albeit within limits. Andrew Chaikin, who is perhaps best known for writing a history of the Apollo missions A Man on the Moon and serving as an advisor to the award-winning HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, spoke about the Apollo program's place in American mythology. Images from Apollo have taken hold in American culture, such as MTV's appropriation of the image of an astronaut on the Moon. However, Chaikin also noted that the belief among some members of the public that the Moon landings were faked is not new, and as proof he showed a December 1969 article from the New York Times about people who claimed that the landings were actually filmed on a soundstage in the Nevada desert. He also asked a rhetorical question: is it possible that people were so preoccupied with other events during the 1960s—the war in Vietnam, the civil rights movement, assassinations. and social upheaval—that Americans did not celebrate the Apollo landings to the extent that they otherwise might have celebrated? He proposed that the lack of celebration of the event in the 1960s may have contributed to a desire to celebrate it later, noting that many of the people he worked with on the HBO miniseries were truly excited about paying homage to the Moon landing achievement. Is it possible that people were so preoccupied with other events during the 1960s—the war in Vietnam, the civil rights movement, assassinations. and social upheaval—that Americans did not celebrate the Apollo landings to the extent that they otherwise might have celebrated? Valerie Neal, a curator at the Division of Space History at the Air and Space Museum, discussed the popular image of the space shuttle over time. Since its inception in the early 1970s, the shuttle’s image has changed many times and Neal showed examples of NASA advertising over the years. The shuttle was touted as an amazing piece of hardware at first, and Neal noted the surprising lack of human figures in the early NASA artwork of the shuttle. It was supposed to usher in "a new era of routine spaceflight," but was later billed as a boon to science, then a moneymaking business. When the Challenger was destroyed it had been carrying a communications satellite, yet President Ronald Reagan hailed the deceased astronauts as heroic explorers, resorting to a common theme of the space program even if it did not fit the reality. Later the shuttle was contributing to the goal of "permanent presence in space." One image that Neal did not discuss is the popular media portrayal of the shuttle as a mistake or failure, an attitude adopted by many journalists after the Columbia accident and bound to dominate the discussion of the shuttle’s impending retirement. John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at the George Washington University, spoke about space in the post-Cold War environment and asked if the end of the Cold War had changed how the United States conducts its various space programs. Logsdon noted that at the end of the Cold War a "blue ribbon commission" addressed the issue of the future of the American space program and called for substantial changes in the way that the United States operated. For instance, the commission called for essentially ending the separation between the military and intelligence space programs, and reducing the security classification of much of the intelligence space program. This integration did not happen, although some declassification did occur. There were no major changes in the way that the space program was executed, although there were changes in goals and conditions. As one questioner pointed out, the space station was going to die and in many ways it was the end of the Cold War that saved it, making it possible for Russia to become a partner. Logsdon, though, noted that although there have been benefits to this partnership, it is currently American policy to slowly extricate the United States from it. James Hansen, a historian at Auburn University who is perhaps best known in the space community as the author of the Neil Armstrong biography First Man, spoke about how Chinese culture is adapting and developing to that country’s new human spaceflight program. When Yang Liwei was launched into space in late 2003, the Chinese government decided to turn him into a national hero and surprisingly played up his individual achievement in a society that almost never celebrates the individual. Hansen also pointed out that, in contrast to their treatment of Liwei, the Chinese government has kept the two taikonauts who flew on China’s second human spaceflight mission in relative obscurity. According to Hansen, the Chinese government put Liwei on a tour of various Chinese cities where he was often the centerpiece hero of major events attended by tens of thousands of people. When Liwei visited Hong Kong for a "human spaceflight exhibition," local newspapers and business leaders criticized the visit as propaganda to designed to prop up the Communist government. Although the popular media was cynical about his trip, Hansen said that there was substantial evidence that local Hong Kong residents were excited about Liwei’s visit, and separated his individual achievement from government politics and propaganda. Hansen also said that the Chinese government played up Liwei’s relationship with his young son in a society where the father-son bond is a powerful tradition. Liwei’s son was featured in ceremonies and is himself a hero to children in China. Phil Scranton of Rutgers University talked about how the history of spaceflight has been practiced in the United States. In particular, Scranton noted that there has been almost no attention paid to corporate history in this area. Space achievements have been studied in terms of how NASA built and operated spacecraft, even though the majority of the design, development and manufacturing of spacecraft—and substantial parts of their operation—were done by contractors. Because Air Force leaders did not foresee the incredible range of uses that GPS was later put to, they had no reason to ensure that it advanced quickly. Henry Lambright of Syracuse University talked about the change in how NASA's leadership viewed the agency's mission. Throughout the 1960s NASA leaders viewed their mission as exploring space and were ambivalent about environmentalism. But in the early 1970s NASA administrator James Fletcher brought a Mormon's view of stewardship to the agency and declared that NASA was an environmental agency. He changed the focus of the agency and developed Earth remote sensing programs. Soon NASA gained the "lead agency" role in Earth remote sensing. This was a gradual development with generally positive consequences for the nation as a whole, but somewhat mixed consequences for the agency itself. As Lambright and JPL historian Erik Conway noted, NASA’s increased role in Earth remote sensing also inserted it into the political debate, first about pollution and the Earth’s ozone hole (which conservative skeptics initially denied but later accepted) and then global warming (which conservative skeptics also initially denied, but have now generally accepted). Rick Sturdevant, the historian for Air Force Space Command, spoke about the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Sturdevant noted that several factors slowed the system’s progress, resulting in it only becoming fully operational in the early 1990s. One impediment to progress was the fact that GPS initially started primarily as a targeting system for precision weapons. Because Air Force leaders did not foresee the incredible range of uses that GPS was later put to, they had no reason to ensure that it advanced quickly. Another factor delaying its operational availability was the 1986 Challenger accident, which grounded the planned launch vehicle for GPS satellites and forced the Air Force to reopen production lines for expendable launch vehicles. Roger Handberg of the University of Central Florida discussed the bubble in space commerce. Handberg said that the United States used to be totally dominant in space commerce, but over the years has lost much of its lead. This decline has been self-inflicted, Handberg said, through limits on exports and other government policies that have either hindered American competition on the world stage or encouraged competitors to attempt to grab market share from the United States. Glenn Hastedt of James Madison University spoke about reconnaissance satellites and their role in globalization and stabilization. The problem today is that intelligence agencies have moved from looking for secrets to solving mysteries, and reconnaissance satellites are not well-suited to accomplishing this. But in response to a question, Hastedt said that human intelligence was not really the solution to the limitations of satellite reconnaissance. Human sources are difficult to develop and it can take decades to cultivate them. It is not possible to simply decide to acquire better human intelligence, and then go and do it in the short timespan needed to improve intelligence collection in the war on terror. Glen Asner of NASA's History Division discussed the use of social history to interpret the societal impact of spaceflight. According to Asner, there is virtually no academic research on race relations in the aerospace industry, and he agreed with Philip Scranton that corporate aerospace history is almost nonexistent as well. Andrew Fraknoi, of the Foothill College & Astronomical Society of the Pacific, spoke about the changing attitude toward the study of astronomy in American education. At one time astronomy was a requirement in American schools. This was part of the "mental discipline" model of education, which was based on the belief that study of subjects like Latin, Greek, and astronomy was good for training students how to think, even if they would not later use the knowledge in their lives. However, American science education transformed into the study of biology, chemistry, and physics. Astronomy became a subset of physics, often ignored completely. Now, with the "No Child Left Behind" act, there is no room for astronomy in American schools because astronomy is not included in standardized tests that teachers must prepare their students to take. Margaret Weitekamp, of the Division of Space History at the National Air and Space Museum, spoke about her museum’s collection of “space collectibles.” The museum has over 3500 objects in this collection, which is growing constantly as collectors retire and donate their cherished collectibles to the museum. These objects can include everything from trading cards to dolls to mission pins and polo shirts. She said that she is currently struggling with deciding which objects to include in the museum’s collection and which ones to exclude. Weitekamp is also considering writing a book about why people have collected space objects and what they may signify. Mendell also warned of a potential generational gap in visions of space. Younger people no longer have the shared vision of those raised during the Apollo era. Space is no longer a frontier to be explored and conquered, but instead is a place from which to try and solve Earth’s problems. Asif Siddiqi of Fordham University spoke about pre-Sputnik Russian spaceflight culture and asked a provocative question: why does space achievement not resonate outside of the United States and Russia? Siddiqi noted that Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was a strong believer in eugenics and thought that it was necessary to exterminate imperfect plants and animals. His belief in perfecting humankind extended to his vision of a spacefaring civilization. But this was in many ways an extension of earlier Russian philosophical ideas about traveling into space to retrieve the souls of the dead. Ron Miller, a well-known space illustrator, discussed the role of early science fiction on popular understanding of spaceflight. Miller explained that there were many whimsical stories about journeys to the Moon, but it was Jules Verne who made the first serious effort to apply know scientific and engineering techniques to his fictional story about a journey to the Moon. Alexander Geppert, of the Free University of Berlin, discussed the European perception of spaceflight. Geppert also exhibited one of the more fascinating cultural images during the conference—an ad paid for by the German space industry as part of a 2005 national advertising campaign. Bemoaning the lack of government support for spaceflight, the ad stated "Berlin, wir haben ein Problem…" The phrase, which translates to "Berlin, we have a problem," is an obvious homage to the famous Apollo 13 phrase. Wendell Mendell, of NASA's Johnson Space Center, talked about how interest in spaceflight shares many characteristics with religion. He noted that for many years people who were interested in space from an economics standpoint were belittled by the believers. But in recent years we have seen the strange development of rich believers who have sufficient money to express their belief by funding entrepreneurial space companies. However, Mendell also warned of a potential generational gap in visions of space. Younger people no longer have the shared vision of those raised during the Apollo era. Space is no longer a frontier to be explored and conquered, but instead is a place from which to try and solve Earth’s problems. He also mentioned that over the years he has encountered numerous people who felt betrayed by the Apollo program. They believed that it was the beginning of something bold and exciting, but when it ended many of them lost their jobs and their dreams. Progress and political movements Taylor Dark, of California State University at Los Angeles, discussed the view that spaceflight is a measure of progress. He said that Americans long ago unabashedly embraced the idea of "progress." Progress, in the American view, has three primary tenets: there are no limits, the values are mutually reinforcing, and there is an innate directionality—in other words, developmental tendencies that ensure that human civilization will move "upward" and will not regress. However, starting in the 1970s American society experienced a crisis in the idea of progress. An important change was the claim by writers and philosophers, starting in the 1960s but gaining traction during the 1973 oil crisis, that there are limits to growth. This combined with a belief that there are negative spinoffs to technology, such as pollution and accidents. Finally, there were doubts about the directional mechanisms and grand narratives. American society was not necessarily moving towards a better future, but could also regress. Dark said that space activist movements that grew up during this time revived the idea of progress, with space development serving as a vital component. Groups such as the L-5 Society viewed space development as a means of countering the crisis in the idea of progress. Space provides infinite resources, meaning that there are no limits on economic expansion. Space provides an endless frontier, leading to an endless source of innovation and new knowledge. And expansion into space meant that there were no limits on the lifespan of the human race because humans could migrate off the planet and also protect it from threats such as hazardous asteroids. However, advocates of this view also argued that humanity was entering a "critical period" because the limits to growth and other threats to humanity could possibly overwhelm society before space was developed. Dark proposed that this American belief in progress has been a powerful influence on government policy, perhaps more so than scientific or economic justifications for the space program. But he ended with a question: will spaceflight be more like Las Vegas or the Salton Sea? According to Dark, there are several mutually reinforcing values to this new belief system. One is that although technology can be dangerous, over time it is always a net gain for society. Another is the "Overview Effect," or the belief that expansion into space will encourage peace on Earth and in space. And finally, because science is cumulative, it provides an innate directionality to society, with knowledge improving the human condition. But Dark noted that there are also some contradictory aspects to the space development philosophy. It shares a trait with Marxism-Leninism where the philosophy argues that the outcome is inevitable, yet still requires calls to action to make the "inevitable" outcome occur. Dark proposed that this American belief in progress has been a powerful influence on government policy, perhaps more so than scientific or economic justifications for the space program. But he ended with a question: will spaceflight be more like Las Vegas or the Salton Sea? Vegas is the goal of many space activists: a sprawling city freed from many of the constraints of normal society, thriving in a hostile environment. But Dark noted that the developers who built hotels and resorts along the Salton Sea earlier in the 20th century had high hopes to achieve essentially the same thing, but the environment and economics defeated them, and their failed efforts are still visible as ruins along the Sea's semi-toxic shoreline. Chris Gainor, currently a graduate student at the University of Alberta and author of a book about how Canadians participated in the Apollo program, discussed American domestic political movements and their views of spaceflight. Gainor explained that although one can find evidence of hostility toward the Apollo program in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, this opposition was largely topical and opportunistic. In fact, few civil rights leaders have mentioned the space program at all in their memoirs and they have largely forgotten about it. Gainor also noted that in the 1970s there was actually liberal space activism. For example, the publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog was inspired to publish Gerard K. O'Neill’s book Space Colonies. Many pro-space groups were based in California and concentrated on education, advocacy, and research. Over time, however, the nature of pro-space support changed in the United States. Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative divided groups over security issues. The Space Frontier Foundation picked up the pro-colonization banner and adopted an anti-government attitude. Gainor noted that many of these pro-space groups make little or no reference to public opinion, and ignore the possibility that the government may be pursuing the space policy that the public wants them to. He also noted that human spaceflight is still perceived by many in the public as an "optional activity" and not something that is necessary to human survival or even human welfare. Gainor was asked if there was any evidence that NASA had responded to the counterculture of the 1960s. He said that there was no fundamental change until a decade or more later. NASA did not admit women and African Americans to its astronaut corps until the late 1970s, and did not change its policies to focus more on Earth's environment until the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, several other conference participants challenged this view. One noted that Richard Nixon’s 1969 Space Task Group divided into two factions. One faction wanted to continue solar system exploration, primarily by sending a human mission to Mars. The other wanted the space agency to focus its gaze on Earth. However, the group was largely unsuccessful at influencing Nixon. Another participant noted that a substantial portion of the Skylab program was devoted to Earth observation, and much of the literature produced from that program emphasized the space program’s role in improving life on Earth. Gainor also noted that in the 1970s there was actually liberal space activism. Over time, however, the nature of pro-space support changed in the United States. The closing keynote speech was delivered by M.G. Lord, author of Astro Turf: the Private Life of Rocket Science. Lord discussed the influence of written science fiction on the space program, but spent much of her time discussing the radiation hazards to humans venturing beyond Earth orbit. It is entirely possible, Lord proposed, that radiation is so dangerous that it makes the dreams of space colonization untenable—human settlers would be forever faced with cancers and other tissue damage and lifespans would be short. There is the possibility of better drugs and selective screening of astronauts, but these options present difficult choices and challenges. For instance, Lord noted that women are more susceptible to radiation tissue damage than men, so an extreme option would be to simply not allow women on long-duration space missions. Beyond the radiation threats are the psychological risks. Can a small group of people survive for years in extreme confinement? And what should the crew do when one of their members is sick or injured and they lack the resources to help them? Lord's talk was provocative and engaging. Her theme was a common one for the conference: that our dreams and expectations for spaceflight may be far removed from the actual reality. Lord also drew the biggest laugh from the audience. While discussing the works of Robert Heinlein, she compared the residents of conservative "red states" to the population controlled by alien brain slugs in Robert Heinlein’s novel The Puppet Masters. Despite this, the conference largely avoided politics, snobbery, and the academic jargon typical of social history discussions. Toward a social history of spaceflight The conference organizers, NASA historian Steven Dick and Air and Space Museum Space History Division director Roger Launius, plan on producing conference proceedings in the next year or two. Hopefully they will also sponsor a second conference to revisit and expand on the subject. There were many provocative ideas voiced at the conference that will hopefully lead to further research and publication. The conference featured a large number of speakers—too many to foster much dialogue or interchange of ideas and knowledge. But as a first step toward the development of a social history of spaceflight, it achieved impressive results. The fact that many bloggers appear to embrace a free-market, libertarian, decidedly anti-NASA attitude also deserves more attention. Why are there no liberal pro-space blogs? Even though the speakers covered many topics, there were some surprising omissions. Although several speakers mentioned politics and political identification, this subject deserves far more attention than it received. For instance, there was no empirical research into political support for space exploration or development. Although several speakers noted that those on the left of the American political spectrum are less likely to support spaceflight (or at least human spaceflight), and also noted that there is a stridently libertarian, anti-government, pro-space activist community, nobody at the conference sought to explain why NASA has received relatively bipartisan support over the decades. Another subject that received relatively little attention was space and the Internet, particularly the blogosphere. Of course, anybody with the right software and an opinion can start a blog, and just because a blog exists does not meant that anybody is reading it. But with over 100 blogs that have some kind of space theme, one would expect that at least one commentator would have addressed this subject in some depth, but the blogosphere was largely ignored by the speakers. The fact that many bloggers appear to embrace a free-market, libertarian, decidedly anti-NASA attitude also deserves more attention. Why are there no liberal pro-space blogs? Another surprising omission was virtually no mention of Star Trek and its influence on the space program. Many speakers mentioned the powerful influence that written science fiction has had on shaping attitudes and expectations for spaceflight, but the most popular and well-known science fiction program of the last four decades was ignored by the speakers. Nor did any of them discuss other popular science fiction television shows or movies, which have reached far more people than science fiction literature ever did. Do television shows like Stargate SG-1 or Battlestar Galactica play any role in shaping public perceptions of spaceflight today? Both are niche programs with limited audiences. But what about mass market science fiction movies like Space Cowboys or the Star Wars movies? Similarly, Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, wrote a novel about a NASA conspiracy called Deception Point that was on best-seller lists for many months. The novel has a decidedly negative attitude toward the space agency, and demonstrates poor understanding of its subject, but has probably been read by many people who have had little other exposure to spaceflight. Has it had any impact in shaping societal attitudes? Finally, a subject deserving greater attention is how different societies have viewed spaceflight. Several speakers such as Siddiqi, McCurdy, and Geppert noted that the American view of spaceflight is not necessarily shared by other cultures in Europe and around the world. To what extent can these different attitudes explain the different levels of effort among the world’s space programs? That, too, is worthy of further research. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dwayne A. Day served as a chair for one of the conference sessions. He is currently an adjunct professor of political science at The George Washington University.
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Architecture meet to be held at AU 09/25/2006 Montgomery Advertiser		Return to Top
About 100 scholars from around the world will gather Wednesday through Saturday at Auburn University for the annual conference of the Southeastern Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians. AU's College of Architecture, Design and Construction will be host to the conference, during which scholars will present papers and study the architecture of Alabama. Participants will include architects, architectural historians, planners and historic preservationists who will share their research on a variety of scholarly issues related to architecture. "We are thrilled about coming to Alabama to view the rich architectural resources of the state," said SESAH president David Gobel of the Savannah (Ga.) College of Art & Design. "Auburn beckons with the allure of a true Southern home." University of Virginia professor Dell Upton will deliver the keynote address at Auburn's Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Special exhibits at the museum will be open to the public.
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Veteran loses leg but gets new life 09/24/2006 Montgomery Advertiser Lisa Horn		Return to Top
Veteran studying for master's degree at AU AUBURN -- If Capt. Matt Bacik had lost his leg fighting in World War II, he probably would have died. But he didn't. He lost it fighting in Iraq, and today, he's very much alive. Bacik is one of roughly 500 service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are missing limbs, according to the Pentagon. Because of better protective gear and medical advances, soldiers wounded in combat today are surviving injuries that would have killed them in previous wars. What hasn't changed over 60 years, soldiers and veterans say, is the way the enemy fights. "The tactics are all basically the same," said Everett Cole, who lost his right leg in 1969. "When I was injured in Vietnam, those same injuries would have killed me in World War II, possibly Korea." Cole, a former Veterans Affairs official, joined about 250 others in Auburn last week for a national conference on how to help wounded veterans adjust to family life and find work. Bacik, who is working toward his master's in business administration at Auburn University, spoke on a panel with two of his fellow wounded veterans. "If we can't come up with a solution to assist their hopes and dreams, who can?" asked Gov. Bob Riley, who addressed veterans and representatives from federal agencies and veterans organizations. On July 22, 2005, two weeks into his third deployment, Bacik was injured by an improvised explosive device. His right heel was severed, his ankle crushed and shrapnel entered both of his legs. Deborah Bacik remembers the phone call from her then-boyfriend. "He told me that he had a little scratch on his leg and that they would be sending him back to the States," said Deborah, who is pursing a doctorate at Auburn University in chemical engineering. "Of course, I knew better. "They don't send you back to the States for a scratch on your leg." Bacik, 27, came back to Fort Benning, near Columbus, Ga., after spending two months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Military and civilian doctors insisted on saving Bacik's leg. The leg, though, didn't heal. It became infected -- and stayed infected. Bacik knew he would have better mobility with a prosthesis. "I would have had to walk with a cane," said Bacik, who can run two miles with his artificial leg. "I didn't know what else I could do better for myself because the infection kept coming back." The couple were married Feb. 10, and just 10 days later a civilian doctor in Columbus amputated Bacik's leg. In March, Bacik received his first of many protheses made by George Gatewood, who owns Gatewood Prosthetics in Columbus. Gatewood praises the military for making strides in helping wounded veterans. In years past, Gatewood said, soldiers were kept at Walter Reed until they fully recovered. Weeks and months passed before veterans had extended time with family outside of the hospital. Recognizing the benefits veterans gain by recovering in their homes, the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs are contracting with civilian physicians and prosthetists or allowing local post hospitals to provide care. "I truly believe that's the best way," Gatewood said. "Ultimately, it's a better result for the candidate if they're back in their own community. It worked out for Matt." Gatewood is making a "water leg" so Bacik can swim, and the Baciks are in Orlando, Fla., this weekend looking at the latest technology to make his prosthesis stay on better during long runs and other activities. They did think they might find time to visit Walt Disney World. And they both had homework they were taking along.
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Scratch 'n' Sniff Special Canine Unit Knows to Nose Scat 09/23/2006 The Wall Street Journal Lauren Etter		Return to Top
Larry Myers, a dog-nose expert at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine is quoted in this story. At 10,000 feet on the rugged Continental Divide, a German Shepherd named Camas embarks on a five-mile backcountry odyssey, nosing her way through thorn bushes and leaping over granite boulders. She is in hot pursuit of a scientific treasure: the droppings of large carnivores. While most dogs get scolded for sniffing such scat, Camas wins high praise. "Go find it!" yells trainer Alice Whitelaw. Dogs have long been used for their incredible sense of smell -- sniffing out leaks along natural-gas pipelines, nosing criminal suspects in lineups and detecting drugs in luggage. This mission in the Centennial Mountains -- the jagged peaks that form about 62 miles of the Montana-Idaho border -- is slightly different. Camas is a member of an elite canine team whose job is to help track the movements of the grizzly bears, black bears, cougars and wolves that prowl these parts. By mapping out the location of their scat -- and sampling animals' DNA -- researchers are able to collect all sorts of behavioral clues. Information garnered from the DNA, including an animal's unique genetic fingerprint, helps to determine a species' population density and patterns of movement. Maps of scat deposits can show whether the animals are using the Centennials as a migratory route between Montana and Idaho. The scat trail also lets researchers pinpoint areas where human activities, such as road building, may be preventing animals from establishing a permanent habitat. Until recently, field biologists have tracked big game by shooting the animals with tranquilizer guns and then attaching radio collars. But doing that requires permission from either the state or federal government. Moreover, it's expensive. Radio collars with global-positioning systems can cost about $3,000 a piece. Throw in manpower and equipment -- vehicles, tranquilizing drugs, heart-rate monitors -- and the price for tracking a single animal can exceed $10,000, according to Christopher Servheen, a grizzly-bear expert from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For many nongovernmental groups, the bureaucratic and cost barriers to collaring big game are just too prohibitive. The alternative -- sniffing animal excrement -- well, that's a dog's destiny. Working Dogs for Conservation Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Three Forks, Mont., has trained dogs since 2000 to be used in conservation projects around the world. Although any breed can make a good scat detector, not all dogs can make the cut. About 60% of animals selected end up failing, says Ms. Whitelaw, a strict but gentle 45-year-old trainer. She notes that most dogs, with their limited attention spans, just "don't have the mental capacity" to endure arduous hikes through rough terrain -- places like Hell-Roaring Creek and Nemesis Mountain. Most training dogs come from the pound, but Camas began as a puppy, straight from a breeder. She displayed the most important traits: a good attitude and intense "ball drive" -- an instinct to chase thrown balls. The pooches must be willing to rough it. For starters: No cans of Kibbles 'n Bits. Once on the team, the dogs survive on a bland diet of high-protein dog food -- and the occasional scrap of steak from a campfire meal. Camas and trainer Alice Whitelaw searching for scat. Given their traits, Ms. Whitelaw says the perfect scat-smelling dog is often "difficult to live with," and may not be a pet owner's first choice. "This is not the kind of dog that comes in and hangs out on the couch," she says. The dog needs to be able to sit and behave on command, but it also needs to have a wild, curious spirit. Camas -- who dons a blaze-orange vest embroidered with the words: "Don't pet me, I'm working" -- was schooled using techniques adapted from programs that train dogs to discover narcotics and cadavers. She is conditioned to associate finding scat with receiving a highly prized reward, in this case a ball. She knows how to sniff out the scat of nine different animals, from kit fox to wolf. She's also programmed to ignore the scat of those she isn't supposed to detect, like moose. Camas' ability to distinguish between scents lies in the physiology of her nose. A dog nose has 20 to 40 times as many receptor cells as a human nose, says Larry Myers, a dog-nose expert at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. So far, scat dogs have been used in far-flung projects, including one in Kenya hunting for cheetah droppings. A similar program is underway in far eastern Russia, where scat dogs are tracking Amur tigers. Centuries ago -- before pioneers pushed West, before barbed wire, before highways -- large carnivores roamed freely across mountains and plains. Since then, the animals' wandering routes have become stitched in by interstate highways and housing developments. There are 2.5 million miles of paved roads in the U.S., up from 1.2 million in 1960, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. At the same time, animals once on the verge of extinction are making a comeback. For example, there are currently about 1,400 grizzly bears in the lower 48 states, up from a few hundred since being listed as endangered in 1975. In 2003, Jon Beckmann, a field biologist from the nongovernmental Wildlife Conservation Society, heard about the scat dogs and figured they'd allow him to research federally protected animals without a permit. Mr. Beckmann, a rough-hewn, 32-year-old from Kansas, says the goal of his project is to determine if human activity is cutting off a potentially critical "linkage zone" that would allow bears and wolves to journey between the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Montana and Idaho and the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho. Large carnivores are a mark of a healthy ecosystem, says Mr. Beckmann. But when they are crowded in isolated wilderness pockets, the animals are in danger of losing their genetic diversity due to inbreeding. There's also risk of extinction if a natural disaster or disease wipes out a local population. During a recent trek through waist-high weeds with Camas and Ms. Whitelaw, Mr. Beckmann called out: "Your dog's got something!" Sure enough, Camas was hovering over a giant specimen nestled in a bed of pine needles. The pile was likely from a grizzly bear or black bear. But the species won't be known until DNA tests are run, since even a trained human eye can rarely tell the difference between the two animals' scat. "Good girl," yelled Ms. Whitelaw. She tossed the ball, which Camas caught and gaily chewed until commanded to get back to work.
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Imaging the Obese 09/23/2006 Advance for PA		Return to Top
AU College of Veterinary Medicine's imaging technology is mentioned in this story. Imaging examples Though most animal facilities will not image people because of liability, some have done so. At Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Hathcock recalls three patients who were imaged on the school's MR and computed tomography (CT) machines a 320-pound football player with a bad back, a 500-pound patient experiencing pelvic pain, and a geriatric power-lifter with back pain. The patient with pelvic problems was referred by an emergency room physician on Christmas day. Dr. Hathcock suspects radiologic technologists at the hospital where he was imaged were not well-trained or lacked experience with large patients. Our techs are accustomed to big body parts-and were able to get some images, says Dr. Hathcock. I do not know if they were good enough for him, as [the physician] never called back one way or another. So much for a Merry Christmas. Years ago, Oklahoma State University's Center for Veterinary Health Sciences in Stillwater imaged a patient suffering from chronic biliary obstruction on a now-defunct piece of equipment. I thought the image looked awful, but the MD said he was satisfied with the results, thanked us and left, says Robert Bahr, DVM, DACVR, associate professor of veterinary radiology at the center. The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Va., has imaged human cadavers for researchers. Ohio State University's animal hospital director in Columbus is open to human imaging if liability waivers are signed and a medical team performs the procedure. Colorado State University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Fort Collins, Colo., is seeking approval for human MRIs for research, although administrators are proceeding cautiously, says Susan Kraft, DVM, PhD, DACVR, associate professor of radiology at the college. Withstanding legal ramifications, some veterinary doctors are philosophically opposed to using their equipment for people. I think it is degrading to ask a human to lie on a horse table, not to mention any liability issues, says Sue Newell, DVM, MS, DACVR, veterinary radiologist at Ocean State Veterinary Specialists in East Greenwich, R.I. One patient's experience Lynn McAfee, director of the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination advocacy group in Mt. Marion, N.Y., dropped from 520 pounds to under 400 over the last several years. The Stowe, Pa., resident, who sees a doctor monthly for everything from pulmonary hypertension to sleep apnea to arthritis and a tumor in her heart, says she now fits into one local CT machine. But that wasn't always the case. In the late 1990s, she was referred to a local veterinary hospital for imaging because she could not fit into the equipment at nearby hospitals. Though the animal facility would not image her, she says a surgeon at a hospital agreed to operate on her blind because physicians had diagnosed her abdominal problem as cellulites, a life-threatening bacterial infection. It turns out McAfee only had a hernia and was left with massive scarring and Grade 3 lymphedema, a deforming skin condition known as elephantiasis, she says. Now she advocates for obese people's medical rights and offers tips to improve their clinical experiences. For instance, McAfee suggests they schedule separate appointments to see if they fit into imaging equipment, and encourages them to call imaging manufacturers to verify actual weight limits, since some vendors post lower limits for warranty reasons. We are people who have different needs, McAfee says. Many times, people are let go because there's nothing that can be doneI think doctors who grasp at this vet thing just want to tell people something [can be done to help them].
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Fueling for the future 09/22/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Tamiko Lowery		Return to Top
AU College of Agriculture professor David Bransby is featured in this story. As Americans pay more and more at the pump, visionaries like Auburn University professor Dr. David Bransby say it's high time for alternative methods in producing future fuel. Bransby's speech Thursday at Saugahatchee Country Club was met with interest by a packed room of Opelika Kiwanians, who looked as if they could have long listened to the South African native who for 20 years has called Auburn home. Fueled by farmland, Bransby said fields of "switchgrass" in the Southeast are waiting for Washington to harvest. Test plots of switchgrass at AU have produced up to 15 tons of dry biomass per acre, and five-year yields average 11.5 tons - enough to make 1,150 gallons of ethanol per acre each year. The U.S. Department of Energy believes that biofuels made from crops of native grasses, such as fast-growing switchgrass, could reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, curb emissions of the "greenhouse gas" carbon dioxide, and strengthen America’s farm economy. Bransby, who grew up on a small dairy farm, says it's time to do something else with land besides turning out consumption crops. "We need to produce energy," he said. "In Alabama, 70 percent of power comes from burning coal. Birmingham now imports 60 percent from Wyoming; that's not good. What if someone blew up a couple of bridges in Wyoming? We'd be in trouble. Our neighbors, Florida and Georgia, have no coal at all. Without power, we cannot pump gas. We are vulnerable." Immersed in switchgrass research, Bransby's impassioned words were weighted by an underlying need to enlighten the gas-guzzling public to the possibilities of switchgrass. "We've already got the capability to turn switchgrass into fuel," said Bransby, who teaches energy crops and bioenergy in the agronomy department of the College of Agriculture at AU. "We can harvest switchgrass and commercially produce ethanol." Ethanol is a clean-burning, high-octane fuel that is produced from renewable sources. At its most basic, ethanol is grain alcohol, produced from crops such as corn. Because it is domestically produced, ethanol helps reduce America’s dependence upon foreign sources of energy, according to www.ethanol.org. The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), a grass-roots voice of the U.S. ethanol industry, states E10 is 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent unleaded gasoline. E10 is approved for use in any make or model of vehicle sold in the U.S. In 2004, about one-third of America’s gasoline was blended with ethanol. E85 is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent unleaded gasoline. E85 is an alternative fuel for use in flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs). There are currently more than 4 million FFVs on America’s roads today, and automakers are rolling out more each year. In conjunction with more flexible-fuel vehicles, more E85 pumps are being installed across the country, according to ACE. Already Wal-Mart Corporation is considering installing E85 pumps at its onsite gas stations across the country. "Wal-Mart could do this within the next three years," Bransby said. He spoke of a "25X25 movement," already circling the state House and Senate with support generated from U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions and U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers and Terry Everett. "By 2025, America's working lands will provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States while continuing to produce abundant, safe and affordable food, feed, fiber and fuel," according to www.agenergy.info. Bransby says Washington needs a "wake-up call." "We've got to have a better policy; our existing policy tells us to continue to use fossil fuel," he said. "Anything we can do with fossil fuel we can do with biomass. President Bush has said that by the year 2012 we can commercially produce ethanol by biomass; there's no question in my mind we can do this. Forty years ago, this country put people on the moon. It’s feasible." Already race cars are rounding U.S. tracks fueled by ethanol and winning races, he said. Fresh from a workshop in New York, Bransby said there's a high chance that American industries will debut commercialized production of ethanol before the government does. "I learned they're more apt to go ahead and take the risk and just do it and then the whole thing will just take off," he said. "To domestically produce our own fuel is a peaceful way of getting out of Iraq." Essentially it is the forward-thinking American farmer who can take the production of fuel to the next level. "American farmers are the most efficient people in the world," Bransby said. "Farmers are some of the most innovative people you'll ever find; you’ve just got to give them a fair market." He spoke of a friend of his who lives a simple yet advanced way of life. Instead of rolling up to a gas pump, his buddy burns wood chips to power his work truck. "It takes two pounds of wood chips for him to drive a mile down the road," Bransby said. He recalled a certain Sunday when the two experimented with "chicken poop," but that's another story.
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AU Researchers Clean Food With Radiation 09/22/2006 WTVM-TV Brock Parker		Return to Top
When you think of gamma radiation applied to something green, the "Incredible Hulk" may come to mind. However, Auburn University researchers are using it to clean bacteria from fruits and vegetables. Researchers are cleaning fruits and vegetables in a radioactive chamber. Gamma radiation is used to kill off all bacteria and make them safer to eat. "You expose it for a certain period of time. You take the source down, you bring the product out. It looks like it did before. Nothing's changed," said Dr. Jean Weese. Nothing except that harmful bacteria, such as e-coli, is completely killed. Weese said this process is a lot more effective than using chemicals. "We know the bacteria can get up inside the plant, get into the root system, go up into the leaves. Therefore, you have the e-coli, or whatever type of bacteria, inside the plant," Weese said. For example, Weese said they irradiate strawberries. She also said despite what some critics think, the vitamin content of the fruit stays intact. "We found that the vitamin C reduced only by maybe one percent. We actually put e-coli on the strawberries, brought them out of the chamber and it was gone," Weese said. Since radiation kills all bacteria, the food will also last a lot longer. "If it gives it more shelf life and doesn't change in terms of nutrients, then I would be in favor of it," said Pat Padgett, a Lee County resident. Researchers say radiating the food is similar to putting it in a microwave. Treating fruits and vegetables this way isn't common in the U.S. yet because it costs more than chemicals.
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Extension expert touts irradiation in combating foodborne illness 09/22/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Donathan Prater		Return to Top
With at least one E. coli-related death linked to an outbreak from tainted spinach causing sickness for more than 160 U.S. citizens, federal health officials are calling for tightened regulations on fresh spinach processing. One possible solution to the current outbreak is the same one a local researcher has been a supporter of for years - irradiation. Jean Weese, a nutrition and food science professor with Auburn University and employee with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, said, irradiation is a process in which foods are briefly exposed to a radiant energy source such as gamma rays within a shielded facility. In addition to eliminating harmful bacteria on the surface and throughout produce items, irradiation helps to reduce spoilage and delays ripening in produce. 'Its a very simple, easy and safe process,' Weese said, who added that Auburn University has a Cobalt 60, a gamma radiation source on its campus, something it has safely maintained for more than 50 years. 'Many items you find in your everyday life are irradiated like baby bottles, pacifiers and a number of personal hygiene items.' 'What youre left with after irradiating produce is a product that looks, tastes and feels the same before it was treated,' said Weese, who has done extensive irradiation research and is working with her colleagues to develop even more methods to safely remove bacteria from produce. And while the word radiation may be part of the term 'irradiation,' irradiating produce does not make food radioactive, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 'People hear the word radiation and that sometimes makes them nervous,' said Weese, a proponent of irradiation. Irradiation has been slow to catch on in the United States, but is already widely used in Europe. In some types of produce, such as strawberries, irradiation has been shown to double the products shelf life, one produce item most susceptible to spoilage. But some of the problems with E. coli-contaminated produce may come from the method in which organic produce is grown. In a study conducted with lettuce plants, Weese learned that potentially deadly E. coli pathogens from tainted soil could find their way into the stems of the plants in only a few days after planting them. The explanation was a simple one for Weese. 'When you raise things in manure, youre going to be exposed to bacteria,' said Weese in an earlier press release. Weese, however, likens the irradiation process to that of pasteurization of dairy products, which involves heating them to a point to safely kill off bacteria. 'The difference between pasteurization and irradiation is that with irradiation you dont potentially lose any of the vitamins you would by heating the produce,' Weese said. Irradiation, however, is not a substitute for good food handling practices in processing facilities or homes, according to the USFDA. The additional expense to irradiate food is one factor Weese speculates to as why the process may not have taken off in the United States, but there is one thing she is absolutely sure of. 'If all the fresh spinach linked to these latest E. coli outbreaks and deaths had been irradiated, no one would have died due to that spinach,' Weese said. dprater@oanow.com \| 737-2559
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Building Diversity 09/22/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
It's a basic idea. Auburn University should be a microcosm of the world around it. As the diverse nature of the world changes and grows, so should the population at AU. But it's not as easy as it sounds. It's going to take money, people and programs to change the face of Auburn. Diversity has become a major goal of the university under President Ed Richardson. His main advocate is Dr. Overtoun Jenda, associate provost for diversity and multicultural affairs. Since Jenda took the role in January, he's been working tirelessly to build a staff to transform Auburn through various programs and initiatives. Jenda's latest appointment was naming Dr. Donna Sollie as assistant provost for women's initiatives. He said she was a natural candidate since she had been responsible for several programs as the special advisor to the provost for women's leadership. A major focus of Sollie, who's been involved with women's issues her entire professional career, the last 20 at Auburn, is to close the gender gaps throughout campus. Although undergraduate enrollment is about equal, there are large disparities in some colleges. The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, for instance, has 2,433 male students and 410 females enrolled this fall. The discrepancy can be even worse with faculty. Numbers from last year show males made up nearly 90 percent of all full professors and almost 70 percent of the associate professors. Among all full-time faculty, males out number females 2.5 to 1. Sollie hopes to fix the imbalance by encouraging more women to not only teach at Auburn but get on the tenure track. If more women came and were guided along the path to full professor, there will be more women on campus in that high-level position to mentor new female faculty to not only stay on campus but follow in their footsteps. And with more women faculty at Auburn, young girls might be more apt to enroll in Auburn, seeing them as role models - some encouragement and guidance and after a while, the numbers will be equal. "We need to figure out ways to make the environment attractive to them," Sollie said. Jenda said efforts need to start before high school to get young ladies, including minorities, to come to Auburn and graduate. Community outreach efforts by AU will start next year. "We need to be accommodating to everyone," he said. "We need to have programs that take care of the pipeline." A Women's Mentoring Program for female faculty was started last year to pair more experienced faculty with newer ones to help advise them on everything from balancing work and family to achieving promotion and rank. Research says support structures are effective in acquiring and retaining women and minorities. "It really works across several different levels," Sollie said. Male faculty are being encouraged to serve as mentors because the pool of potential females mentors is small, she said. Sollie started a coffee and tea gathering for faculty women this year to provide an opportunity for new and veteran members to meet and network with other women on campus. A similar program for female staff is being planned. By the end of the semester, a Women's Resource Center will be located in Mary Martin Hall. The initiative is meant to address health and safety needs and foster leadership development and advancement of all women, including students. A Women in Science and Engineering Institute will be in place by next year as well. Jenda said it will be designed to encourage women to enter predominately male-dominated fields, like science, technology, engineering and math. It boils down to creating role models for young people to look up to. Auburn doesn't have enough in those areas right now, he said. "The mentoring role is very, very important," Jenda said.
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Employee incentives increase profits, study shows 09/22/2006 Central Alabama Business Journal		Return to Top
AUBURN -- A study of nearly 20,000 organizations shows that employee incentives really are good for business. Data from 19,319 organizations reveal that when a company emphasizes human resource activities such as incentive pay and flextime, it can enjoy a 10-20 percent improvement in employee retention, employee productivity, profitability and stock price, according to an upcoming study in Personnel Psychology. Meanwhile, companies that cut these programs can expect a 10-20 percent reduction in their bottom line. "Over the last 25 years, corporate America has debated whether the human resources function adds value or if it is just a necessary evil," said Dave Ketchen, study co-author and Lowder Eminent Scholar at Auburn University. "Our results show that negative images of human resource managers miss the mark. Skilled HR managers can make the difference between a company making a profit or losing money." The study also found that human resource activities make a bigger difference among manufacturing firms than among service firms. "Manufacturing jobs often involve complex and dangerous machinery," Ketchen said. "In high-performing companies, the services that the human resource function provides, such as safety and training, support other programs such as quality management and lean manufacturing systems to make sure that workers are safe, motivated, and productive." The study used a technique called meta-analysis to mathematically combine the findings of 92 previous studies published since the mid-1980s. Co-authors with Ketchen on the project were James Combs, Yongmei Liu, and Angela Hall, all of Florida State University.
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