Quoted: “Currently, if you make a charge on your credit card, the interest rate could change in the future. It could go up considerably,” notes University of Wisconsin financial specialist Michael Collins.
Quoted: Despite the formidable resources a Wal-Mart brings to bear on any market it enters, Mason Carpenter, a University of Wisconsin business professor, said that he doesn’t see harm coming to Epic.
“I wouldn’t say they are a threat at all to Epic,” he said.
Quoted: UW-Madison Grainger School of Business economist Mason Carpenter told 27 News, even if AIG contract bonuses cannot be rescinded, new federal legislation should be enacted to more tightly require such bonus payments to reflect company performance, if a company receives federal funds.
Quoted: But given the term’s widespread use, UW-Madison professor Thomas O’Guinn said he was surprised the state was seeking trademark protection. O’Guinn, director of the school’s Center for Brand and Product Management, said a quick Internet search revealed broad use in the public domain.
Also: University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor Anuj Desai said he doubted the state would have legal problems. As long as there is no risk that consumers will confuse the state’s marketing with someone else’s, the likelihood of problems is low, he said.
Quoted: James Seward, an associate professor of finance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Mark Sager of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a physician and specialist in aging issues and Alzheimer’s.
Quoted: “Age is a very poor criteria to judge competency,” said Mark Sager of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a physician and specialist in aging issues and Alzheimer’s.
“It’s ability, it’s competency, it’s performance that is the most important indicator of their ability to do a job,” Sager said.
Quoted: Pension borrowing deals are analogous to individuals borrowing on margin – a loan backed by stocks and bonds – and using the money to buy more stocks, said James Seward, an associate professor of finance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The risk rises with interest rates and the relative health of the financial markets, he said.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin history professor John Sharpless said that the two crises are different.
“There are some similarities but I think overall, the differences are enormous. Nothing rivals the Great Depression at all,” said Sharpless.
Sharpless marks the differences as double-digit unemployment, families divided because parents couldn’t afford children at home and bank failures in the thousands.
“I think when that generation looks back and obviously, there are fewer of those people in our society, it was a big deal. It was enormous. It produced a generation that didn’t want to ever be in debt,” said Sharp
Quoted: Dr. Dennis Maki, professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said it’s time for the government to become more proactive in stopping food-borne illnesses.
Marketing professor Deborah Mitchell recalls watching a hushed, serious scene on NBC’s “ER” that involved a stricken victim and the clicking of a dialysis machine. After the scene faded to black, she was surprised by a sudden change in tone, from soothing to stentorian, as an ad blared forth for snack food.
“How inappropriate! It’s one thing to have your creative be relatively upbeat, relatively perky, and you hope it’s not going to come right after a scene like that, very somber,” said Ms, Mitchell, a senior lecturer at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business. The sound is jarring, she said, but it certainly grabs the viewer.
Quoted: “The governor’s proclamation is an acknowledgment of importance of eating right to improve the health of Wisconsin citizens and the need for more emphasis on prevention and wellness in our health care system,” said Susan Nitzke, a registered dietitian and professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
When ice is under pressure, a thin surface layer melts, and this causes slipperiness, says Jonathan Martin, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW-Madison. “All our body weight is concentrated on the bottom of your shoe, and that exerts enough pressure to melt the ice, creating a layer of liquid water on the surface. Thatâ??s the substance on which we slide.”
Quoted: â??This is definitely great news,â? said Jason D. Walker-Crawford, the pharmacy manager at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, in Madison. â??This gives us an opportunity to go back to those companies and see what they might do for us.â?
Quoted: “Most lenders are very afraid of you going into default and more afraid of you going into foreclosure because they lose a lot of money. So they are willing to work with you,” says University of Wisconsin financial specialist Michael Collins.
Quoted: The calm that meditation engenders produces physical and emotional changes that represent the flip side of fight-or-flight. For those with overtaxed lives, a bonus of meditation is that a little of it apparently goes a long way.
One study of individuals who were new to meditating showed measurable brain and behavior differences after just two weeks of daily 30-minute sessions, says Richard Davidson, director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But meditation is like any other workout: To reap the benefits, don’t stop.
Q: How do ice ridges form on the lake?
A: Lake ice formation is dynamic. Even when a lake is completely frozen, the ice is not stagnant. It expands and contracts as it warms and cools.
CURIOSITIES We ask the experts your questions about our world.
Q: When we think about how hot or cold it feels, why do we worry about only wind at cold temperatures (i.e. wind chill), and only humidity at high temps (i.e. heat index)?
Quoted: There are several possibilities, speculated UW-Madison School of Business finance professor Jim Seward. It could be short sellers â?? investors who borrowed the stock and sold it with the idea they could buy it back later at a lower price â?? or it could be individuals watching the low price and thinking it may climb a few pennies.
A showdown is shaping up in some of the nationâ??s most conservative states over embryonic stem cell research, as opponents draw language and tactics from the battle over abortion to counter President Barack Obamaâ??s plan to ease research restrictions.
Legislation granting fertilized embryos “personhood” has gained momentum in at least three state legislatures. The strategy – which has been used to try to undermine the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion – is now aimed at embryonic stem cell research. The scientific field uses stem cells from human embryos, which can develop into different kinds of adult cells, to seek answers about human health.
Quoted: Alta Charo, professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, said a new line of legal thought holds that scientific inquiry should be protected by the First Amendment, “like a political or religious statement or activity.”
Noted: Chris Marnay, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has been working on microgrids for 10 years. He’s been working with Prof. Robert Lasseter at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who came up with one concept of a microgrid that involves small generators that monitor voltage and frequency nearby in the microgrid and use the information to maintain safe and stable operation when “islanded” from the larger grid. The challenge has been to create microgrids that have control when they are independent of the larger grid, as well as the ability to seamlessly disconnect and reconnect to utility power, says Marnay.
Noted: University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business Dean Michael Knetter said he’d stick to investments in the middle of the road.
“I would probably take a somewhat defensive and cautious position yet,” Knetter said. “What am I doing? I’m getting my flat screen TV for $1,000, maybe I’m keeping $1,000 in something fairly liquid, and I’m putting $3,000 in the market and probably betting on the technology sector in the U.S. to really carry the day.”
Quoted: “It is particularly important to test for contaminants at this time of year when snowmelt and spring rains recharge our water supplies,” said UW-Madison Water Resources Institute director Anders Andren. “We use more than 800 million gallons of groundwater each day, and Wisconsin is not immune to water contamination.”
The executive order President Obama signed Monday to remove previous barriers to stem-cell research has garnered praise from the scientific community and criticism surrounding its controversial nature.
f you ever wondered whether scientists knew how to party, Monday night was your chance to find out (I like to think they serve drinks in beakers and play â??pin the hydroxylysine on the glycoproteinâ?). On a day that will go down in lab coat-and-goggles history, President Barack Obama continued his â??Undo Everything Bush Did â??09â? Tour by lifting the federal funding limits on embryonic stem cell research.
In an executive order signed Monday, President Barack Obama lifted limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research imposed by former President George W. Bush, igniting a flurry of support and opposition in one of the nationâ??s ongoing debates.
Quoted: Don Waller, professor of botany and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Sometimes I just want to cut my nose off. Or maybe just suck all the mucous out with a vacuum. My nose is either stuffy, runny or crusty. Sometimes I wish it didnâ??t produce a quart of mucous a day. But it does, and so does yours.
President Obama is set to sign an executive order Monday reversing President Bushâ??s ban on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.
Quoted: Sue Robinson, a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has followed The Capital Times’ transformation, says it’s too soon to say whether the move online will succeed.
Quoted: But even well-qualified women choose technical educations and careers less often than men, said Amy Wendt, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-director of the universityâ??s Women in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute.
Quoted: Walter Dickey, a University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor and former Department of Corrections secretary, said truth-in-sentencing has come with a high cost to the state. He doesn’t expect early release would have an impact on public safety. Those inmates eventually would be released anyway.
Quoted: â??I donâ??t think that fluoride added to domestic potable water is a hazard,â? said UW-Madison water quality specialist Jim Peterson. â??Part of the problem with fluoride is that it was considered a Communist plot to kill all of us capitalists in the â??50s and is considered a governmental interference with individual rights by some vocal folks. … Bad but interesting science takes a long time to beat down,â? he said.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, an economist at UW-Madison, said school boards will be faced with increasing property taxes in an uncertain economic climate.
â??School boards that are making these decisions will be, if anything, under a lot of pressure to lower property taxes,â? Reschovsky said. â??Districts, particularly, property-poor districts, will get a lot of push back to lower property taxes.â?
Quoted: So why are kids doing it? Bradford Brown, Professor of Educational Psychology and Human Development at UW Madison, says this is where communication has progressed for youths.
Noted: Q: How do snow fences work?
A: Snow picked up by winds can reduce visibility and cover roads.
We cannot switch off the wind, but we can slow it down.
Quoted: Walter Dickey, a University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor and former Department of Corrections secretary, said truth-in-sentencing has come with a high cost to the state. He doesn’t expect early release would have an impact on public safety. Those inmates eventually would be released anyway.
Quoted: Thunder and lightning during a snowstorm is different from a run-of-the-mill snowstorm; it is extremely rareâ??fewer than 1 percent of observed snowstorms unleash thundersnow, according to a 1971 NSW study. But recorded observations of the phenomenon date back to 250 B.C., say ancient Chinese records translated in 1980 by atmospheric scientist Pao-Kuan Wang, now of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Others have come to the administrationâ??s defense. The Washington Postâ??s editorial board and the University of Wisconsin economist Menzie Chinn, for example, have noted that the White House numbers were in line with other economistsâ?? estimates, even if the White House estimates were on the more optimistic side.
Quoted: Ann Althouse of the University of Wisconsin Law School suggested yesterday that the reaction to Jindal and his speech might be racist: â??If thereâ??s someone of a different race, and you just have this gut feeling that somethingâ??s not quite right, why are you so confident that itâ??s not coming from racism?â?
Quoted: Rob Meyer is head of the Value Added Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is contracting with Chicago.
Quoted: “Prices were forecasted to be lower in 2009, but no one forecasted prices this low,” Bob Cropp, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wrote in a dairy industry outlook last month.
Quoted: The public’s concern about the diversion of food to fuel in the growing move to developing fuels from plants has to be balanced with the global challenge to produce both food and fuel, said Randell Fortenbery.
The Renk Professor of Agribusiness at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said the production of biofuels is a global issue in a global market.
Quoted: Rusty Bishop, director of the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After raw milk has been pasteurized, he says, “there’s no difference in composition, other than that you’ve killed off a significant number of bacteria that were in the milk.”
Two climate experts told a crowd at the University of Wisconsin Thursday Wisconsinâ??s climate and economy will suffer consequences as a result of climate change, but state officials and scientists are already working hard to help the state adapt.
Exquisitely detailed and beautifully symmetrical, the snowflakes that David Griffeath makes are icy jewels of art. But don’t be fooled; there is some serious science behind the University of Wisconsin-Madison mathematician’s charming creations. Although they look as if they tumbled straight from the clouds, these “snowfakes” are actually the product of an elaborate computer model designed to replicate the wildly complex growth of snow crystals.
Q: What is the jet stream?
A: A jet stream is a narrow current of strong wind that blows through the upper regions of the troposphere about 7 miles above ground.
Quoted: Michael Scott, director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing at UW-Madison, said the Madison Police Department recently adopted a written policy stating that someoneâ??s personal or professional relationship to an officer or to other influential people should not be a factor in exercising discretion.
Quoted: Bruce Jones, an agricultural economist at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: â??I think house prices will be done declining within the year,â? says Morris Davis, a University of Wisconsin economist who studies real estate. But, given todayâ??s uncertainties, he cautions that â??anyone that tells you that they know, doesnâ??t know.â?
Retirement accounts have taken a brutal beating over the past year. Not only have many lost substantial value, what’s left is being raided by the people who put the money there in the first place.
“If you really have no other source of savings, tapping your 401k or retirement account may be your best option. But, you should think about that as a loan to yourself and that you’re going to pay that back,” advises University of Wisconsin financial specialist Michael Collins.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that Barton’s comments on Twitter border on risky.
“The comment that’s intended to be humorous, but if you don’t hear it right, you don’t read it right, it comes across in a very negative light,” Franklin said.
University officials said Tuesday the construction of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery building is on track for completion in December 2010.
From Broward County, Fla., to Flint, Mich., homeowners might be facing exorbitant hikes in property taxes. In one of the more extreme cases, residents of West New York, N.J., are fighting a planned 27% bump in their property tax rates.
What gives? Squeezed by foreclosures and falling revenues, many local governments are facing unprecedented budget shortfalls. To fill some of the gap, more municipalities will have to raise property taxes, says Sharon McCabe, associate director of the Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the University of Wisconsin.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Stephen Malpezzi said that house prices could stabilize by this summer and a broader recovery could follow. But Malpezzi said it could be the summer of 2010 before things fully turn around.
“Who knows,” said James Johannes, associate dean for executive education at UW-Madison. “November 19, 2009 — that is my over/under date on the end of the recession, and if I am wrong the reporters do not have to pay for me for my forecast.”
Jim Seward, associate professor of finance, investment and banking at the UW-Madison School of Business simply said, “We’ll know when we know.”
Tim Riddiough, director at the UW-Madison Center for Real Estate said that, realistically, to get the economy back on track, it’s going to take the stabilization of the banking industry and the bottoming out of the real estate market.
Directors of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery announced Friday 12 finalists to possibly take part in thematic research after the buildingâ??s opening in 2010.
Quoted: Al Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities.
With last fall marking the end of Plan 2008 and another diversity initiative on the horizon, a University of Wisconsin leader called for â??inclusive excellenceâ? on campus Thursday to pursue diversity in the coming years.
Four faculty members from UW-Madison recently received a prestigious, competitive research award.
Diversity leaders on the UW-Madison campus gathered in front of students and faculty Thursday to express their ideas about what a diverse campus should look like.
