Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: Kurt Squire of the University of Wisconsin-Madison agrees.â??Students have a difficult time inferring whatâ??s happening in game play and connecting that to broader ideas that you might be discussing in class or that the teacher has presented,â? says Squire, an assistant professor in the educational communications and technology division of curriculum and instruction.

Quoted: Dr. Christopher Olsen, a swine flu expert from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he found it striking that of 32 H1 viruses isolated from pigs from June 2009 to February 2010, 10 were pandemic viruses.

A light wind threatened to disrupt all the information on the World Cup and South Africa that Raymond Kessel placed neatly on a table on a sidewalk on Monroe Street Friday morning.It was part of a World Cup party thrown by Kessel and his wife, Leah, just outside Calabash Gifts, an African arts store on Monroe Street that they own. The Kessels, both natives of South Africa, were hoping to draw plenty of children who could watch Mexico play South Africa in the World Cupâ??s opening match on television. â??Itâ??s unfortunate that itâ??s the last day of school because the whole thing was geared around having lots of kids, so that kids could watch without having to go to a sports bar and still have a festivity,â? said Raymond Kessel, who is a retiring professor of genetics at UW-Madison. Although the tournament is a boost for South Africa, itâ??s doubtful that the entire African continent will see a similar boost, says Michael Schatzberg, a political science professor at UW-Madison who is an expert on African politics and has researched the politics, economics and culture of soccer in Africa. â??What we know about other such mega-events â?? World Cups, Olympic Games â?? is that by and large the host country usually ends up in the red. Somehow the promise of economic benefits never materializes one way or another.”

Weâ??ve heard a lot of talk about the staggering racial disparities in the stateâ??s criminal justice system in recent years. Wisconsin has routinely ranked at or near the top of states for the rate at which it locks up blacks compared with whites. And Dane Countyâ??s progressive reputation has been tarnished by the rate at which it sends black offenders to prison – nearly half of black men between the ages of 25 and 29 residing in the county are either incarcerated or under court-ordered supervision.

According to a study by Pam Oliver, a UW sociology professor, black men in Dane County are 21 times more likely to be incarcerated than white men. And according to a Justice Policy Institute report in 2007, black men in Dane County were 97 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug crimes, the second-highest rate in the nation.

Mentioned: Marcia Carlson, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In the last year in Wisconsin, conservative candidates who once would have been fringe figures have capitalized of the national voter dissatisfaction. “Conservatives have really revitalized the Republican Party,” said pollster.com co-developer Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political science professor.

Quoted: But in the last year in Wisconsin, conservative candidates who once would have been fringe figures have capitalized of the national voter dissatisfaction. “Conservatives have really revitalized the Republican Party,” said pollster.com co-developer Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political science professor.

Quoted: Karl Malcolm, a graduate research assistant at the UW Department of Wildlife Ecology, says 10 or 15 years ago, even bears in central Wisconsin were a rarity. Now, theyâ??re old hat. And he says fast forward to southern Wisconsin: they may be old hat before we know it (or already are!).

The more time non-resident fathers spend with their kids, the better the relationship between the parents, finds a study co-authored by Marcia Carlson, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was presented to the Population Association of America in April.

Normally, the Public Service Commission does not dictate where telephone companies must provide broadband. Should the agency order TDS to provide the service to the complaining residents, it could set a precedent for other rural communities. Legally, itâ??s a step the PSC may be hesitant to take, said Barry Orton, a telecommunications professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dane County homeowners feeling overwhelmed by their mortgages can get expert advice and practical tools to help them manage their finances at a two-day, free workshop later this month in Madison. Since February, local homeowners in mortgage distress also have had the option of a new foreclosure mediation program offered through the courts and UW-Madisonâ??s Law School and supported by the task force. See what I wrote about this program in January here.

Quoted: Kenneth Mayer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Obey would be more effective in simply raising new donations for Lassa.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Andy Reschovsky said most of the basic assumptions used in the report were reasonable. The big question, he said, is whether the incentives were always needed.

Quoted: Reducing community stigma may help reduce transmission, said Geoffrey Swain, medical director at the Milwaukee Health Department and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Noted: In a study that appeared in the American Journal of Primatology, Sofia Refetoff Zahed and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin compared the responses of experienced fathers and inexperienced males when confronted with the sound of a fussy infant monkey coming from a distant cage.

Health care reform is expected to bring an end to pre-existing conditions, lifetime caps and the practice of cutting off someoneâ??s insurance when they get sick. It will also produce as many as 32 million more insured people who need someone to administer their prescription drug plans.In many cases, a third-party administrator called a pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, will process and pay their claims. “During the whole health care reform discussion, there was a lot of overhang on health care stocks in general, but PBMs were viewed as one of the sectors poised to benefit,” said Neil Chatterji, who earned an MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May and was a participant in the business schoolâ??s Applied Security Analysis Program.

Kenneth Mayer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Obey would be more effective in simply raising new donations for Lassa. “Itâ??s very important for him to keep that seat Democratic,” he said. “But the effect he can have in the race will be far more in terms of helping Lassa raise money.”

Quoted: â??I see current approval about in line with the fluctuations weâ??ve seen all year for each pollster,â? said Mr. Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin. â??Little evidence of real change.â?

Noted: It turns out that just as recent brain-imaging studies have begun to reveal the physical evidence of empathyâ??s erosion, they are now also beginning to show definitive signs of its cultivation as well. A group of researchers led by Richard Davidson, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, published a study in a March 2008 edition of the Public Library of Science One, showing that the mere act of thinking compassionate thoughts caused significant activity and physical changes in the brainâ??s empathic pathways. â??People are not just stuck at their respective set points,â? Davidson has said of the studyâ??s results. â??We can take advantage of our brainâ??s plasticity and train it to enhance these qualities. . . . I think this can be one of the tools we use to teach emotional regulation to kids who are at an age where theyâ??re vulnerable to going seriously off track.â?

Noted: Perhaps a youth-obsessed culture has difficulty believing such tidings. Yet a study by Midlife in the United States, a research project run out of the Institute on Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, concluded a decade ago that â??for most of us, at least some portion of the middle years may be the â??prime of life.â?? â?

James Stein of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said that the result was only barely statistically significant, and could be due to the fact that patients on ARBs lived longer and were more likely to get diagnosed with cancer. Moreover, there is no known biological reason these drugs would increase cancer risk.

Quoted: Dr. Damon Williams, vice provost and associate vice chancellor for diversity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, sees movement and hopes to see more. Williams has done considerable research making a case for expanding the role and reach of diversity officers. Both men have spoken to audiences around the country about the merits of the idea.

Quoted: Democrats are supporting Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett for governor, their only candidate in the race. In a surprise move earlier this week, he proposed making $1 billion in cuts to state government, if elected. UW-Madison Political Science Professor Charles Franklin says Barrett might be trying to appeal to moderate voters.

A UW-Madison expert sees some problems, and possible advantages, in the GOP race for Governor. The race has grown gotten increasingly nasty between former Congressman Mark Neumann and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. Political science professor Charles Franklin says that upsets what had seemed to be a clear cut path to the nomination for Walker, after he received the endorsement from the Republican Party at its state convention.

Quoted: The season has also arrived early for Judy Reith-Rozelle, assistant superintendent at UW-Madisonâ??s West Madison Agricultural Research Station in Verona, where she is running a strawberry research plot for the second consecutive year.

Quoted: Several medical physicists said in interviews that they were reserving judgment until they saw the specific changes. â??How it is implemented would make a big difference,â? said Dr. Bruce Thomadsen, a medical physicist at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: “This study is pretty consistent to what the research literature say so far,” said Dave Riley, a professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the UW.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the UW Madison, said he does not recall a similar event, or any high profile politico changing support for a candidate, as Klauser has done. Neumann is contesting the Republican primary race against Walker, with the winner to face the Democratic candidate, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in November.

But the group has as much responsibility to provide legal drugs as it does to control illegal ones, says David Joranson, founder of the University of Wisconsinâ??s Pain & Policy Studies Group, which works with governments to reform their palliative-care laws.

Noted: Thatâ??s all changed, Monteleone adds, thanks in large part to the Master Cheesemaker Program at the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Noted: Brain computer interfacing is also entering our everyday lives. This year, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered a way to post messages on the social networking site Twitter using their minds. Wearing a red cap fitted with electrodes, they concentrate on letters on a computer monitor to spell out a message.

Summer sports programs mean smiles for kids with potential sadness as well. A sports psychiatrist says if kids get bummed from making a bad play or losing a game itâ??s important not to sweep the situation under the rug. â??The most important thing I think is to acknowledge their childâ??s feeling about what happened,â? says Dr. Claudia Reardon of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

Quoted: “Our new study shows that in people with similar levels of chronic disease burden having a strong sense of purpose in life is linked with lower levels of inflammation,” said Elliot Friedman of the University of Wisconsin.

Andrew Grose, 14, is one of 273 brainiacs who will converge on Washington, D.C., this week for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This marks the second year in a row Grose has reached the nationals. Last year he finished one point shy of making the semifinals, missing a chance to compete in front of the cameras on ESPN. This year he stepped up his studies, training with spelling coach Jeff Kirsch, a UW-Madison professor and National Senior Spelling Bee champion.

Quoted: That finding undermined the idea that the genocide was planned before the assassination, said Scott Straus, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.