Category: Experts Guide

Quoted: There are ?numerous? benefits to using covers on turf during the winter months, says Dr. Paul Koch, associate researcher of Turfgrass Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He cites protection from winter desiccation and early spring green-up as probably the most significant benefits. There may also be some protection from crown hydration when using an impermeable cover like a GreenJacket, although he says data is a little more mixed on that subject.

Dennis Dresang, professor emeritus of public affairs and political science and founding director of the UW-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs, said he would be surprised if her controversial argument held up in court.

“It is a bit of a trend,” says Jerry O?Brien, executive director of the Center for Retailing Excellence at UW-Madison. “The concept really is that malls are becoming more of a place to go for an experience rather than just to have the transaction of shopping.”

When it comes to Midwest farmland prices, Wisconsin is looking sort of like a tortoise in a field of hares. That?s because farmers in America?s Dairyland often reinvest their profits in cows rather than land, says University of Wisconsin-Madison agricultural economist Bruce Jones.

?The issue is that grapes, in particular, are very sensitive to growth regulator herbicides,? said Jed Colquhoun, UW-Madison horticulture professor. ?So it only takes a very low dose to cause damage and ? that can be quite expensive when it does happen.?

?People are going to scream about the insider politics, but every administration has insider politics,? said John Witte, professor emeritus of political science and public affairs at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison.

Hiking the minimum wage too much might actually hurt workers, in part by reducing employment opportunities, said Tim Smeeding, director of the UW-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty, but actions like this are ?worth doing.?

It has been 50 years since the iconic March on Washington, but America is still in the midst of a civil rights movement, says William Jones, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin?Madison. In “The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights,” Jones offers a new perspective on the 1960s and the profound impact that the march had on economic and social reform. He recently spoke with U.S. News about the goals of the organizers, the consequences of the march, and the potential for today?s civil rights and labor movements.

?Many police administrators look at this situation and are scratching their heads,? said Michael Scott, a UW-Madison law school professor and expert on police procedures. ?The protests had dwindled down to nothing. Why would you fan the flames and get it cranked up again??

On Aug. 28, 1963, the March on Washington, featuring Martin Luther King Jr.?s “I Have a Dream” speech, became the touchstone of the American civil rights movement. But our focus on one man and one speech has obscured some of the history and meaning of the event.

This compensation approach is common in the investment industry, according to Brian Hellmer, head of the UW-Madison Hawk Center for Applied Security Analysis.

?It was more than double what was expected, and I think that surprised even those closely connected to the march,? said UW-Madison history professor William P. Jones, author of ?The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights,? published in July.

Dear Editor: I have been tracking re-use plans for the former Badger Army Ammo Plant between Sauk City and Baraboo for years and we are now getting close to final decisions. This is a key parcel of land in an important area.

Noted: When people talk about that day, they tend to go in one of two directions, said William P. Jones, author of ?The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights? and a history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Susan Paskewitz, an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said, ?If they get a signal, CO2 or a little bit of movement, they may actually aggressively hunt you.?

Turns out there just aren?t that many untapped ways to beef up beef. ?We already, in American agriculture and the cattle feeding industry, use all the available nutritional information that we have to maximize growth rate of cattle in the feed lot,? says Dan Schaffer, an animal sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, ?so there is nothing that is held back.?

Instead, 19-year-old Jeremy Wand?s hopes of taking his case to trial probably rest on whether the judge in the case believes Wand?s pleas were entered correctly, if he understood what rights he was giving up and whether he gave them up voluntarily, said Cecelia Klingele, a UW-Madison assistant law professor who specializes in criminal law and procedure.

UW-Madison School of Business professor James Johannes also sounded a word of warning. Many banks are doing well because the Federal Reserve has held interest rates very low, and that has encouraged a lot of refinancing.

Interviewed: Math Professor Jordan Ellenberg.

The four-year delay in filing the complaint is not surprising, said UW-Madison professor of finance Mark Ready, formerly a chief economist for the SEC.

?The algae don?t care where their phosphorus comes from, so any source we can cut off is good,? said Steve Carpenter, a local lake expert who directs the Center for Limnology at UW-Madison.

Noted: Mr. Summers and Ms. Yellen were academic stars before entering public service. Menzie Chinn, an economist and professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin, said that both were ?at the forefront? of research undermining the idea that markets were self-correcting. By contrast, the former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan frequently argued that government regulation did more harm than good.

Quoted: ?The era of the lawn in the West is over,? said Paul Robbins, the director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin. ?The water limits are insurmountable, unless the Scotts Company develops a genetically modified grass that requires almost no water. And I?m sure it?s keeping them up at night.?

Quoted: Mike Wagner, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin, says the shoutfests “really helped create the impression that the public en masse had reached a boiling point.”

UW-Madison political science professor Donald Downs said the right to listen is an inherent part of the First Amendment protection of free speech.

Less than 1 percent of food-borne illness outbreaks in the United States involve dairy products because dairy plants use sophisticated processing and cleaning protocols to prevent contamination, according to Marianne Smukowski, an expert on food safety and quality for the Center for Dairy Research at UW-Madison.

UW-Madison economist Menzie Chinn has been tracking a lot of the data on his ?Econobrowser? blog. He noted recently that the state Department of Revenue in its latest Economic Outlook predicts Wisconsin will fall about 81,000 jobs short of hitting Walker?s 250,000 jobs target by January 2015.

The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research (WCFTR), housed in the Wisconsin Historical Society, is a ?hidden gem,? according to Vance Kepley, director of the center and a professor of film at UW-Madison.

Retired UW?Madison bibliographer David Henige, UW?Madison professor emeritus Arthur Eggert weigh in.

Michael Scott, a UW-Madison Law School professor and expert on police practices, said the details of what?s in the photo could make a difference in the public?s perception about whether the technology balances legitimate privacy concerns with what could be an effective tool for law enforcement.

Noted: Jake Vander Zanden, professor of limnology at UW-Madison, said perchlorate will be in the environment for a bit after a big fireworks show but won?t necessarily cause problems. ?There may be adverse impacts, there may not be,? he said. ?We?re not really sure.?

Quoted: David Shaffer, an educational psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his colleagues are using a similar enquiry-based approach to develop a virtual internship for undergraduate engineering students. ?When kids show up for their first year they?re all excited to design and build stuff,? says Shaffer. But first they have to spend two years taking maths and physics, and many get discouraged. Instead, Shaffer and his team get them building things right away.

Quoted: ?I would venture to say that photographs, likes, and comments are the aspects of the Facebook experience that are most important in driving the self-esteem effects, and that photos are maybe the biggest driver of those effects,? says Catalina Toma of the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin?Madison. ?You could say that Instagram purifies this one aspect of Facebook.?

What is a monsoon? (Steve Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, are guests on WHA radio (970 AM) at 11:45 a.m. the last Monday of each month.)

Quoted: Ed Jesse, an emeritus agricultural and applied economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the first thing to know about milk shortfalls or imports is that the government does not track the shipment of milk between states.  

A recent report from the Cooperative Children?s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that despite the increasing diversity in the U.S., the number of children?s books written by or about people of color continues to be very low. The CCBC found that of the 3,600 books it received in 2012, 68 were by African Americans and 119 were about African Americans. Just 54 of the 3,600 were about Latinos.

“The human visual system is primed for pattern detection, which is a key component of this game,” Heather Kikorian, an assistant professor of human development and family development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told ABC News. With Candy Crush, that pattern- solving strategy is core and becomes more and more challenging as the game goes on.

Experts say it?s a banner spring for dandelions because of last year?s drought. Dr. Doug Soldat, with the University of Wisconsin Department of Soil Science, said last summer?s dry weather means grass is thinner, leaving more room for weeds.

About a dozen children a year die in the U.S. when their parents choose prayer over medical care, according to Shawn Francis Peters, a University of Wisconsin lecturer who wrote “When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children and the Law.”

Noted: Still, the findings suggest that cities and governments need to do more to address the potential dangers posed by heat waves, said Richard Keller, an associate professor of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved with the study.