November 4, 2009, 8:05 AM CT

Secret of great wines

The world's greatest wines are the result of a threefold synergy among grape variety, human input, and something called the "terroir" -- a term often defined as the vineyard site, soil, and climate.

Experts will discuss terroir with an emphasis on soil science in a symposium on Wednesday, Nov. 4 in Pittsburgh. "Terroir: Winegrapes and the Environment" will be presented in two parts at the 2009 Annual Meetings of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) in Pittsburgh, PA.

The symposium will feature a variety of experts who will discuss the complex interaction of grapes, viticulture, and soil needed to produce a great wine. The symposium could very well be called, "How Great Wines Come from Great Soils," as these experts will emphasize soil science in their presentations on "terroir," and will touch upon factors such as soil surface color, soil drainage, and chemical soil composition. Among the experts presenting papers in Pittsburgh will be:

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• Thomas Rice, professor of Soil Science at California Polytechnic State University, who has studied soil chemistry and viticulture, and soil resource inventories of vineyards.
• Amy Richards, soil scientist, CRC for Irrigation Futures/Fosters Group, who conducts work into managing root-zone salinity in premium, drip irrigated viticulture systems and the effect of salt on vine performance dependent on winter rainfall.........
  
  
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November 2, 2009, 11:34 PM CT

Nearly half of all US children will use food stamps

Holidays and tables full of delicious food commonly go hand in hand, but for nearly half of the children in the United States, this is not guaranteed.

"49 percent of all U.S. children will be in a household that uses food stamps at some point during their childhood," says Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., poverty expert at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. "Food stamp use is a clear sign of poverty and food insecurity, two of the most detrimental economic conditions affecting a child's health".

As per Rank, the substantial risk of a child being in a family that uses food stamps is consistent with a wider body of research demonstrating that U.S. children face considerable economic risk throughout their childhood years. "Rather than being a time of security and safety, the childhood years for a number of American children are a time of economic turmoil, risk, and hardship," Rank says.

Rank's study, "Estimating the Risk of Food Stamp Use and Impoverishment During Childhood," is reported in the current issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine Other study findings include:

• 90 percent of black children will be in a household that uses food stamps. This compares to 37 percent of white children.........
  
  
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October 29, 2009, 11:11 PM CT

How safe is motorcycle ride?

One of the joys of riding a motorcycle is the freedom that comes with that form of travel. However the absence of physical barriers to protect riders puts motorcyclists at a higher risk of injury than other motorists. Motorcycle fatalities have been on the rise for a number of years, as per the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Hence a group of scientists from the University of Miami (UM) and Florida International University (FIU) conducted one of the first longitudinal analyses of the effect of public policies to reduce motorcycle injuries and fatalities.

The scientists believe this study to be the first to use rigorous econometric techniques, to analyze whether traffic and alcohol policies affect non-fatal as well as fatal motorcycle injuries. The findings offer evidence that certain state policies can effectively reduce the morbidity and mortality linked to motorcycle riding. The findings were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Health Economics

As per the study, the most significant policy in reducing both fatal and non-fatal motorcycle injuries is the universal helmet laws. The findings indicate that about 489 lives could have been saved if universal helmet laws were in effect in all 48 states in 2005. The scientists also observed that required rider education programs can reduce non-fatal motorcycle injuries......... Posted by: Jim      Read more         Source

October 29, 2009, 10:11 PM CT

Cell phones become handheld tools

Mobile phones are on the verge of becoming powerful tools to collect data on a number of issues, ranging from global health to the environment.

Computer researchers at the University of Washington have used Android, the open-source mobile operating system championed by Google, to turn a cell phone into a versatile data-collection device. Organizations that want a fully customizable way to, say, snap pictures of a deforested area, add the location coordinates and instantly submit that information to a global environmental database now have a flexible and free way to do it.

UW computer researchers were already working on mobile tools for the developing world when Android, the first comprehensive open-source platform for mobile devices, was announced two years ago by the Open Handset Alliance, a group of companies of which Google is a member. For the past year UW computer science and engineering doctoral students Carl Hartung, Yaw Anokwa and Waylon Brunette have worked at Google's Seattle office using Android to create a data-collection platform for use in developing regions.

Their free suite of tools, named Open Data Kit, is already used by organizations around the world that need inexpensive ways to gather information in areas with little infrastructure. Seattle's Grameen Foundation Technology Center is using it to evaluate its Ugandan text-messaging information hotline; D-Tree International, a Boston-based nonprofit, is using it in Tanzania to guide health workers treating children under 5 years old; the University of California, Berkeley's Human Rights Center is using it to record human rights violations in the Central African Republic. This fall the Jane Goodall Foundation in Tanzania and the Brazilian Forest Service signed up to use it to monitor deforestation......... Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

October 28, 2009, 6:16 AM CT

Gossip in the workplace

Gossip in the workplace can be a weapon in reputational warfare or a gift and can offer clues to power and influence not found on organizational charts. New research from Indiana University details how the weapon is wielded -- and its influence muted -- in a rare study that catches this national pastime on video.

The study, reported in the recent issue of the "Journal of Contemporary Ethnography," identifies subtle ways that people who are targets of gossip are negatively reviewed during formal work meetings, including veiling criticism with sarcasm or talking up another colleague for comparison. It also discusses how efforts to embark on negative gossip can be effectively -- and again, subtly -- derailed, by changing the subject, targeting someone else for criticism or by pre-emptive comments that are positive.

"When you're sitting in that business meeting, be attentive to when the talk drifts away from the official task at hand to people who aren't present," said Tim Hallett, assistant professor in IU Bloomington's Department of Sociology. "Be aware that what is going on is a form of politics and it's a form of politics that can be a weapon to undermine people who aren't present. But it also can be a gift. If people are talking positively it can be a way to enhance someone's reputation."........ Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

October 27, 2009, 11:28 PM CT

How to book cheap flights to Australia

There was a time when Europe and the US were the center of the world. Tourists everywhere were vacationing in these places. That trend, however, seems to be on the wane. These days, there is a craze to see places that are just now getting on the tourist map. Australia is one such place.

In the recent past, Australia has been developing by leaps and bounds. There has been a huge influx of people from developing countries like India and China, and from many developed countries like the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. Due to the improvement in economy, the number of tourists coming to the Great Outback has also increased. All in all, flights to and from Australia are in demand and many people want to know how to book cheap flights to Australia.

Here are a few things to consider when looking for cheap flights to Australia.

Frequency: You will find the largest number of flights going to and coming from Sydney and Melbourne. So, most cheap flights to Australia will be from or to these places. Domestic flights between destinations within Australia are bound to be more expensive.

Destination: Although Sydney and Melbourne are the most frequented destinations and therefore the cheapest ones, it does not always make sense to book return flights to or from these places. Since the Australian Outback has huge expanses of land, it might sometimes be too costly and time consuming to get back to these places. Opt for Sydney or Melbourne only if you want to travel the east coast or are looking for work in and around these places. ........ Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

October 15, 2009, 5:36 PM CT

Local Soldiers Matter In Shaping War Opinion

Americans think locally when they consider whether the loss of U.S. troops overseas warrants troop withdrawals, a new nationwide study suggests.

Scientists observed that people were more likely to support withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq if one or more soldiers from their home state were killed there within the past two to three weeks.

That was true regardless of how a number of soldiers from other parts of the country had been killed recently, or how a number of total national casualties had occurred.

"If you want to gauge public opinion about the war, look at local coverage about the deaths of local soldiers - that seems to be driving opinion more than what's on national news," said Andrew Hayes, co-author of the study and associate professor of communication at Ohio State University.

This study adds a new dimension to past research that suggests American support for wars declines as casualties mount.

Most other studies examined how overall casualties in the war affected public opinion, and couldn't take into account the two key factors in this study: recent deaths, and those of local soldiers, said Teresa Myers, co-author of the study and a graduate student in communication at Ohio State.

"Local coverage of soldiers' deaths seems to have a more negative impact on public opinion than the more generalized view of how a number of soldiers across the country have died," Myers said......... Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

October 13, 2009, 7:58 AM CT

Self-sacrifice among strangers

Socially learned behavior and belief are much better candidates than genetics to explain the self-sacrificing behavior we see among strangers in societies, from soldiers to blood donors to those who contribute to food banks. This is the conclusion of a study by Adrian V. Bell and his colleagues from the University of California Davis in the Oct. 12 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Altruism has long been a subject of interest to evolutionary social scientists. Altruism presents them with a difficult line to argue: behaviors that help unrelated people while being costly to the individual and creating a risk for genetic descendants could not likely be favored by evolution: at least by common evolutionary arguments.

The scientists used a mathematical equation, called the Price equation, that describes the conditions for altruism to evolve. This equation motivated the scientists to compare the genetic and the cultural differentiation between neighboring social groups. Using previously calculated estimates of genetic differences, they used the World Values Survey (whose questions are likely to be heavily influenced by culture in a large number of countries) as a source of data to compute the cultural differentiation between the same neighboring groups. When compared they observed that the role of culture had a much greater scope for explaining our pro-social behavior than genetics......... Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

October 7, 2009, 7:13 AM CT

'Lamborghini Lab' brings composite parts to sports-car arena

A partnership between the University of Washington and the Italian sports-car company Automobili Lamborghini has been formalized, and the presidents of both organizations today attended the naming ceremony of the UW's Automobili Lamborghini Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory.

The UW is the first university in the country to collaborate with Lamborghini. The company has committed to provide substantial funding for lab equipment and support for UW undergraduate and graduate students.

"This partnership is a win-win situation," said Matthew O'Donnell, dean of the UW's College of Engineering. "It further establishes the Pacific Northwest as a leader in composites research, it funds equipment for a UW engineering lab and it provides students with valuable research experience that's directly tied to real-world applications."

The UW and Lamborghini have worked closely during the past two years. The UW lab has hosted Lamborghini engineers for month-long periods; UW faculty have traveled to Italy to conduct small classes on the fundamentals of composites design and certification; and the university has sent engineering graduate students for internships at Lamborghini's Bologna headquarters.

"Lamborghini remains committed to investing in its future, and advancing carbon fiber composite technologies is the key to achieving a number of of our goals," said Lamborghini president Stephan Winkelmann, who attended the ceremony. "The UW and its collaborations have enabled Automobili Lamborghini to proceed with confidence in the development of innovative, composite-intensive structures."........ Posted by: Jim      Read more         Source

October 6, 2009, 5:18 PM CT

Report on Cowboys facility collapse

A fabric-covered, steel frame practice facility owned by the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys collapsed under wind loads significantly less than those mandatory under applicable design standards, as per a report released on October 6 for public comment by the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Located in Irving, Texas, the facility collapsed on May 2, 2009, during a severe thunderstorm. Twelve people were injured, one seriously.

Based on the national standards for determining loads and for designing structural steel buildings, NIST scientists studying the Cowboys facility observed that the May 2 wind load demands on the building's frameworka series of identical, rib-like steel frames supporting a tensioned fabric coveringwere greater than the capacity of the frame to resist those loads.

Assumptions and approaches used in the design of the Cowboys facility led to the differences between the values originally calculated for the wind load demand and structural frame capacity in comparison to those derived by the NIST researchers. For instance, the NIST scientists included internal wind pressure due to the presence of vents and multiple doors in their wind load calculations because they classified the building as "partially enclosed" rather than "fully enclosed" as stated in the design documents. The NIST scientists also determined that the building's fabric could not be relied upon to provide lateral bracing (additional perpendicular support) to the frames in contrast to what was stated in the design documents and that the expected wind resistance of the structure did not account for bending effects in some members of the frame......... Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source